BANG!
The heavy brass lamp base slammed into the side of Spence’s face before he could raise a hand.
He stumbled back against a control console, blood dripping from his lip.
Matt lunged forward to finish him, but a sharp crack echoed through the control room.
BANG!
A bullet grazed Matt’s shoulder, tearing through his jacket and leaving a streak of red.
He gasped, dropping to one knee.
“Don’t move!” Rain barked, stepping forward with her pistol aimed squarely at Matt’s chest.
“Drop the weapon or the next one goes between your eyes!” To Rain, Spence was a fellow operative assigned to guard the Hive’s surface entry.
Matt was an unidentified intruder claiming to be an officer.
Tactical protocol left no room for debate: she protected her own.
Matt gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with fury, but he slowly let the brass lamp clatter to the metal deck.
“You think you can lay hands on me, you piece of garbage?” Spence spat, wiping blood from his mouth.
Stepping up to the kneeling man, Spence drove a brutal punch straight into Matt’s ribs.
Matt doubled over, gasping for air.
Chu Feng and Alice made a move to intervene, but Chad immediately stepped in front of them, raising his sidearm.
“Stay back!
Nobody moves!” “Hit you?” Matt rasped through gritted teeth, glaring up at Spence with absolute hatred.
“You murdered my sister!
I’m going to tear you apart!” “Your sister?
Are you insane?!” Spence yelled, kicking Matt in the chest.
“I don’t even know who you are, let alone your sister!” “Her name was Lisa!” Matt roared from the floor.
“If you hadn’t released the T-Virus, she’d still be alive!” Lisa…
The name hit Spence like a physical blow.
The neurotoxin fog in his brain cracked open, and memories flooded his mind in a dizzying flash.
He saw a recording of a secluded courtyard.
Alice meeting secretly with Lisa Addison.
A hidden wiretap picking up their conversation.
“I can get you the pathogen,” Alice’s voice whispered in the memory.
“I have the access codes to bypass security, but you have to promise me one thing—use it to bring Umbrella down.” Alice hadn’t been plotting with Spence; she had been plotting with Lisa.
Then came the second memory: Alice asleep in their shared quarters.
Spence slipping past her, using the stolen passcodes to enter the vault alone.
Packing the T-Virus and antiviral cylinders into a metallic briefcase.
Opening one tube of the blue pathogen, shattering it on the lab floor, and sealing the door behind him.
He had planned to escape via the underground express train, sell the virus on the black market, and let the outbreak kill every witness.
But he hadn’t anticipated the Red Queen’s swift protocol—she flooded the train with neurotoxin before it cleared the perimeter, wiping his memory and leaving him slumped in the car where the squad later found him.
Spence’s eyes widened as the realization settled in.
“Rain, don’t listen to him!” Spence shouted, backing away toward the central console.
“He’s a fake cop!
He’s trying to turn us against each other!” Rain hesitated, her eyes flicking between the two men.
“Spence…
what is he talking about?” Before Spence could answer, Alice stiffened.
The flood of triggered memories hit her as well—remembering her contract with Lisa, her intention to expose Umbrella, and waking up alone on the mansion floor after Spence had already fled.
“Chu Feng was right,” Alice said, her voice dropping to a dangerous coldness.
“It was Spence.
He stole the virus and released it to cover his tracks.” Rain’s head snapped toward Alice.
If a fellow corporate operative was confirming it, the situation had shifted entirely.
Rain swung her pistol away from Matt, centering her sights on Spence’s chest.
“Spence, step away from the console and keep your hands where I can see them—” Spence didn’t wait.
Exploiting the severe zombie bite on Rain’s right arm, Spence lunged forward and slammed his hand hard against her injury.
Pain spiked through Rain’s arm, forcing her fingers to open.
Spence snatched her Beretta out of her grip mid-air, spun around, and leveled the barrel straight at her head.
Chad’s eyes widened.
“Spence, what the hell are you doing?!” Chad tried to swing his own weapon around, but Spence was faster.
With a cold, practiced motion, Spence shifted his aim directly toward Chad’s face.
“Put the gun down, Chad,” Spence said, his tone devoid of warmth.
“Or I’ll put a hole through your head right now.” Chad froze, his hands trembling as he slowly lowered his sidearm.
Spence backed toward the main server terminal, holding the entire room at gunpoint with a cruel smile spreading across his face.
“Former comrades or not…
once I get out of here with the virus, I’m set for life.
Don’t test me.”