False Flag

Chapter 1

Leon Scott Kennedy drummed his fingers on his coffee mug while waiting for the latest mission briefing to start. He had arrived ten minutes early as always and took the time to add milk and sugar to his fresh cup of coffee—a luxury he never had when out in the field. Staring absently into the light brown liquid, he wondered what the new assignment would be. The incidence of biohazard threats worldwide had slowed down significantly since Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar killed Albert Wesker in West Africa over a month ago; Leon had actually spent some measurable amount of time behind a desk for once, catching up on the relatively mundane task of bioterrorism-related paperwork. He knew the quiet wouldn't last, however. Wesker was but one of the many players in the clandestine world of Bio-Organic Weapons, and it was only a matter of time until someone rose up to fill the power vacuum he left behind.

Director Blake walked in, distributing mission dossiers as she walked to the front of the room, and Leon snapped himself out of his own thoughts.

"Good morning people, I hope the recent lull hasn't completely dulled your senses," she said as she opened the manila folder to the first document. Leon followed her lead.

"As you are all aware, six weeks ago Albert Wesker was confirmed as killed by a joint venture between the BSAA North America and West Africa branches. That was the good news. The bad news? I've received a list of deep-undercover government operatives who've since gone missing or turned up dead."

Leon started scanning names on the list. They appeared to be in alphabetical order.

Brooks, Marcus
Status: Deceased
Cause of Death: Pending Investigation

Franco, Russell
Status: MIA
Last Known Location: Krakow, Poland

"We do not know if the missing operatives have gone into hiding or if they have been taken into custody by whoever is doing this. Or if they're still alive, for that matter. The last communication we have is a standard check-in from three weeks ago, from an agent named Rosa Gonzalez."

He scanned down the list to her name.

Gonzalez, Rosa M.
Status: MIA
Last Known Location: Vienna, Austria

"Obviously, our operatives have been compromised—every one we've lost contact with is involved with the B.O.W. field. An internal investigation is being launched to find the security leak."

Richardson, Annika
Status: Deceased
Cause of Death: Pending Investigation

Troy, Aaron
Status: MIA
Last Known Location: Bratislava, Slovakia

"Your mission will be to locate the missing operatives and extract them to safety…or retrieve the remains if you're too late. You're also to find out what you can about who is behind these disappearances."

The final name on the list jumped out at Leon and became the focus of his entire field of vision; every other word on that piece of paper ceased to exist for him, save for that last entry:

Wong, Ada
Status: MIA
Last Known Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Ada…what the hell? He stared the photo of her clipped to the file. It was a grainy, low-quality screencapture of a video transmission, but the sight of her still took his breath away—short, dark hair, stunning deep brown eyes, and a slightly naughty playful smile. She was still as drop-dead gorgeous as she had been when he'd seen her last year in Spain.

Memories of the Las Plagas incident only raised more questions in his mind. How long has she been a government operative? Why didn't she tell me? Was she really working for Wesker?

Is she okay?

If anyone else in the room saw him suddenly tighten his grip on the list of names, they were kind enough not to call any attention to it.

"The last page of the dossier has your location assignments. You'll leave at 2000 hours tonight. Any questions?"

Leon immediately flipped to the final page to find his name. Bratislava. They were sending him to Bratislava, which wasn't going to help him find Ada at all. The logical part of his brain told him it was for the best, that his feelings and personal history would compromise the mission if he went to Prague. A deeper intrinsic part of him screamed out that mission or no, he needed to find her and make sure she was safe.

"Sir! Permission to be on the mission to Prague." He wasn't aware of what he'd blurted out until he felt all eyes in the room turn to him.

Director Blake regarded him curiously with crossed arms on her chest. She was a good leader, and he had a great deal of respect for her. He tried not to show any uncertainty under her scrutiny. "Any particular reason, Kennedy?"

"I have some contacts in Prague, I think it would help the mission more if I worked from there." It was an outright lie, but the truth definitely wouldn't get him to where he needed to be. He forced himself to maintain eye contact with his superior.

Blake tilted her head almost imperceptibly, like she didn't quite believe him but didn't have a reason to doubt him either. After moments of silent regard, she spoke again. "Carter, you mind switching with Kennedy?"

"Well I'd love to go rescue this pretty lady in Prague, but sure, I'll head to Bratislava. The beer's great there, anyway."

"All right, it's settled then. Kennedy, you will head to Prague. Carter, you will go to Bratislava. The rest of you have your assignments. Dismissed."

Everyone gathered up their dossier papers and began to shuffle out of the room. On the way out, Carter, the self-professed ladies' man, clapped him on the back jovially. "Hey Leon, go get the girl!"

You have no idea, Carter. Leon tried his best to not react too much, managing to shoot him a wry grin. "That's the plan…"

He made a beeline to his desk and quickly began to pull up any information he could on Prague. Every piece of information counted, because he'd never even set foot in the Czech Republic before. In another computer window he ran a search for anything pertaining to Ada Wong. Leon could have looked her up in the government database before, but it was something he could never bring himself to do. After three years of silently mourning her memory, he only found out she survived Raccoon City because she happened to be mentioned in a report outlining Wesker's B.O.W. activities. In the heady mix of relief that she had survived Raccoon, abandonment that she never bothered to contact him, and betrayal that she was working with Wesker, it hurt too much to try to dig deeper.

After that, he had tried somewhat unsuccessfully to push thoughts of Ada from his mind, but little things constantly reminded him of her. Sometimes it was the fluttering of a deep crimson butterfly in South America, sometimes it was the lightly shiny scar tissue of the bullet wound in his left shoulder looking back at him in the mirror. Then they crossed paths once more in Spain, and Leon knew he'd never be able to truly let go of her. He accepted the fact that he'd be dead had she not helped him on that mission. But more than that, he felt that some force in the universe had reunited them for a reason. Leon was never completely sure if he believed in fate or not—but he sure as hell wanted to when he looked into her beautiful face for the first time in six years. Then as quickly as she appeared, she flew away with the Master Plagas, leaving him with nothing but a set of jet ski keys in his hand and a heavy pang of disappointment in his heart. At the moment he took some solace in discovering her status as a government operative, but he knew deep down he'd drop everything and go chasing after her in Prague regardless.

The search window flashed, indicating that the results were ready. There were less than a dozen files that mentioned Ada Wong, most of them archived activity reports about Albert Wesker and Umbrella. None of the reports indicated she was working for the government. None of the reports mentioned Spain either, but that was because Leon neglected to include Ada in his report and asked Ashley to keep quiet about her. One particular file was locked, but it required a Level 2 security clearance, which was above even Leon's. He closed the window in mild frustration, took a swig of his now cold coffee, and resumed his research on Prague; his flight was leaving in less than nine hours and he needed to be prepared.

He felt a light twinge at the site of his old bullet wound and touched his hand to it.

Wherever you are, Ada, be safe.

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To be continued.

Author's Note:

If you're curious as to what a false flag is, Wikipedia has a nice succinct article explaining it.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it at all, then I'm happy. I've always been a big fan of Leon/Ada; I think they have a wonderfully complicated dynamic. See you next chapter!