Resident Evil: Underworld Read Online Free PDF Page B

kind of help we want or need.”
    He tipped his head at John, who reluctantly let go of Trent and stepped back. Not very far back, Claire noticed.
    If Trent had been worried at all, there was no sign of it. He nodded at David, and in his low, musical voice, started to speak.
    “As I’m sure you’re all aware, Umbrella, Inc., has facilities in locations all around the world, factories and plants that employ thousands of people and generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Most of them are legitimate pharmaceutical or chemical companies, and have no relevance to this discussion, except that they’re quite profitable; the money generated by Umbrella’s legal enterprises allows them to finance their lesser-known operations—operations that you and yours have recently had the misfortune to come across.
    “These operations fall into a division known as White Umbrella, and most have to do with bioweapons research. There are very few who know all of the ins and outs of White Umbrella’s business, but the ones who do are extremely powerful. Powerful, and committed to creating all sorts of unpleasantness. Chemical weapons, fatal diseases… the T and G series viruses that have been so troublesome as of late.”
    That’s an understatement, Claire thought nastily, but was intrigued in spite of herself. To finally know something about what they were up against…
    “Why?” Leon asked. “Chemical warfare isn’t all that profitable, anyone with a centrifuge and some gardening supplies can come up with a bioweapon.”
    Rebecca was nodding. “And the kind of work they’re doing, applying rapid fuse virions to genetic redistribution—it’s incredibly expensive, and as hazardous to work with as nuclear waste. Worse.”
    Trent shook his head. “They’re doing it because they can. Because they want to.” He smiled faintly. “Because when you’re richer and more powerful than anyone else on the planet, you get bored.”
    “Who gets bored?” David asked.
    Trent gazed at him for a moment, then started talking again, blatantly ignoring David’s question. “White Umbrella’s current focus is on bio-organic soldiers, if you will—individual specimens, most genetically altered, all injected with some variation of virus intended to make them violent and strong and oblivious to pain. The manner in which these viruses amplify in humans, the ‘zombie’ reaction, is nothing more than an unexpected side effect; the viruses Umbrella creates are designed for nonhuman use, at least at this point.”
    Claire was interested, but she was also getting impatient. “So when do we get to the part about why you’re here, why you don’t want us going to Europe?” she asked, not bothering to keep the anger out of her voice.
    Trent looked at her, his dark eyes suddenly sympathetic, and she realized that he knew why she was angry, that he knew all about her reasons for wanting to go to Europe. She could see it in the way he gazed at her, his eyes telling her that he understood— and she suddenly felt deeply uneasy.
    He knows everything, doesn’t he? All about us…
    “Not all of the White Umbrella facilities are the same,” he continued. “There are some that deal strictly with data, some only with the chemistry, some where specimens are grown or surgically pieced together—and a very few where these specimens are tested. And that brings us to why I’m here, and why I’d rather you postponed your plans.
    “There’s an Umbrella testing facility about to go on line in Utah, just north of the salt flats. Right now, it’s staffed by a very small crew of technicians and… specimen handlers, and is scheduled to become fully operational in about three weeks. The man overseeing the final preparations is one of White Umbrella’s key players, a man named Reston. The job was supposed to have been handled by another fellow, a despicable little man by the name of Lewis, but Mr. Lewis had an unfortunate and not entirely unplanned