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."Do you think she ever existed at all?""Maybe as a kid," Steve said."There was this olderguard at the prison who said he'd seen her once, liketwenty years ago.Back when Alexander Ashford ranthings."For a few seconds, they just stared around the room,Steve thinking about how Alfred had looked when he'dseen himself in the mirror.It had been so pathetic, he'dalmost felt bad for the guy.Thinking all this time that his sister lived here - proba-bly the only person in the world who didn't think he was atotal prick - and it turns out he doesn 't even have that.Claire shook herself like she'd had a sudden chill andgot them back on track."We'd better look for those keysbefore one of the twins comes back."She nodded toward the narrow ladder at the head ofthe bed.It led up to an open square in the ceiling."I'mgoing to look up there, you check around here."Steve nodded, and as Claire disappeared through theopening in the ceiling, he started to open drawers andrifle through them."You wouldn't believe what's up here," Claire calleddown, just as Steve discovered a drawer full of silky lin-gerie, panties and bras and a bunch of other stuff hecouldn't begin to guess at."Ditto," he called back, wondering what lengths Al-fred had gone to in order to play Alexia.He decided hedidn't really want to know.He heard Claire thumping around overhead as hewent to the dressing table and started to dig.A lot ofmakeup and perfume and jewelry, but no proofs or em-blems, not even a house key."Nothing yet, but.hey, there's another ladder!"Claire shouted.Good thing, Steve thought, finding a box of stationerywith little white flowers on the paper.He was getting morenervous about Alfred coming back, and wanted to get outof his freaky room of sister psychosis as soon as possible.There was a tiny white card on top of the stationeryenvelopes.Steve picked it up, noting the strong, femi-nine hand.Dearest Alfred - you are the brave, brilliant soldier,ever fighting to reinstate the Ashford name to its formerglory.My thoughts are with you always, beloved.Alexia.Ick.Steve dropped the card, making a face.Was it justhim, or had Alfred created a seriously unnatural rela-tionship with his imagined sister?Yeah, but it wasn't real, it wasn't like they could doanything.physical.Double ick.Again, Steve decidedhe'd rather not know."Steve! Steve, I think I found them! I'm comingdown!"Overwhelmed by an instant rash of hope and opti-mism, Steve grinned, turning toward the ladder, thewords music to his ears."No shit?"Claire's shapely legs appeared, her voice much clearer,and he could hear the same excitement in her response asshe quickly descended."No shit.There was this littlemerry-go-round up there, and an attic room above that -- oh, and you gotta check out this dragonfly key."An alarm suddenly started blaring, echoing throughthe giant house, loud and insistent.Claire jumped off thebed, holding three proof keys and a slender metal objectin her hand.They locked gazes, exchanging a look ofconfused fear, and Steve realized he could hear the alarmoutside, too, with the hollow, metallic sound of an an-nouncement being made over a cheap sound system.Itsounded like it was being broadcast over the entire island.Before either of them could say a word, a calm voicebegan speaking through the bleating sirens, cool and fe-male, the voice of a recorded loop."The self-destruct system has been activated.All per-sonnel evacuate immediately.The self-destruct systemhas been activated.All personnel.""That bastard," Claire spat, and Steve was right therewith her, silently cursing the pompous little freak, butonly for about two seconds.They had to get to that plane."Go," Steve said, scooping up Alfred's rifle andputting his hand on Claire's back, urging her toward thedoor.Umbrella's Rockfort Training Facility and Detain-ment Center - the place where Steve had grieved hismother and lost his father, where the last descendant ofthe Ashford line had quietly gone mad and Umbrella'senemies had unleashed the beginning of the end - wasabout to go bye-bye, and he didn't particularly want tobe around when it did.Claire didn't need any advice on the matter.Together,they hustled through the door and ran, leaving the sadremnants of Alfred's twisted fantasy behind [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]