The winter had just ended, but as the new night had just fallen, a cold and torrential rain had started on the city of Paris. The lights of the buildings, like an ocean of lamps, were visible, and the Eiffel Tower, majestic and lit, rose like a giant lighthouse in the middle of the darkness. Everywhere in the streets and on the sidewalks, cars and civilians circulated, all going about their business without worrying about anything else.

From the roof of a downtown building, a man, closer to fifty than forty, dressed all in black and carrying a bulletproof vest, and a gun in his hand, silently contemplated life unfolding in the streets, throwing the rest of his cigarette on the ground and crushing it under his boot. Short black hair, his face was unshaven, marked and stern, his dark blue eyes showing great experience. His name was Chris Redfield, an agent usually operating in the service of the BSAA, but who for some time had been operating freelance leading his own elite squad, the Hound Wolf Squad.

While Chris remained silent, lost in his thoughts and displaying a most serious look, one of the men of his squad, Dion Wilson alias "Canine", also equipped and armed, approached him.

_"Captain, we are all in position. We are waiting for your signal."

_"I'm coming." Chris replied calmly.

The two men headed for the other side of the roof, where a third member of the squad had taken up position: Rolando Elba, alias "Umber Eyes", who with his sniper rifle with a night scope, was in firing position, looking towards the top floor of the apartment building opposite, which at first sight seemed most ordinary.

_ "So, Umber, anything new?" Chris asked, coming into position beside him, crouching behind the roof railing to hide as much as possible, even if the night and the rain offered effective natural cover.

_"Nothing at all. No movement. It's absolute calm." Umber confirmed, looking through the scope.

_ "That's what bothers me." Canine commented, having taken a position next to Chris. "Seriously, am I the only one who finds this too easy? The Connections usually don't get so exposed."

_"It's true that it's unusual." affirmed Chris, also showing a certain wariness. "But we can't pass up this opportunity. If the sources are correct, one of their most important agents is in this apartment, posing as just a foreign trader."

_"And, do we have an idea of what he is carrying to take so many risks?" Umber asked.

_"Modified samples of the Mold. Those bastards have managed to synthesize a new strain, and their agent will try to bring them back to their accomplices in the United States."

_"Modified samples?" Canine asked, a bit confused. "You mean...that they're going to try to create bio weapons even more dangerous than Eveline, right?"

_"Surely." Chris replied simply, not thrilled by such a possibility either.

_ "Damn motherfuckers..." Umber Eyes grumbled under his hood.

_ "That's why we're here today, guys..." Chris told them, beginning to activate his walkie-talkie. "This is to prevent the incident with the Bakers from happening again on a global scale... Ok, guys, Alpha Leader here. Are you all in position?"

While speaking into his communicator, Chris took out his night vision binoculars, and looked up at the roof of the target building. He could see silhouettes of the other members of his squad in the distance, all with their weapons and having taken up position, just waiting for orders.

_"Night Howl, ready."

_ "Lobo, ready."

_ "Tundra, ready."

_"Very well." Chris answered them. "Let's go, it's time. Prepare the cables."

Canine took the cable launcher in her hands, aimed and fired a small harpoon which lodged in the wall, just above the large balcony of the target apartment. Hopefully the sound of the heavy rain will have masked the noise. Canine checked the strength and stability of the cable, pulling on it several times and signaling to Chris that everything was ok.

_ "Night Howl. Lobo. Tundra. Go ahead. Trigger the first phase." ordered Redfield without wasting time.

_"Understood." Tundra answered.

On the roof of the building opposite, just above the apartment where the undercover agent of the Connections lived, Night Howl, Lobo and Tundra prepared their ascension cables, attaching them to their belts, and in the largest silence, abseiled down the front of the building, until they finally reached the large balcony. From the roof opposite, Umber Eyes, through his sniper scope, had watched everything, and saw Night Howl signaling to him that everything was ok.

_ "They are in position, Captain." warns Umber.

_"Okay. Our turn."

As expected, Chris, followed by his two men, slid down the cable that stretched several dozen meters above the street, and joined the rest of the squad on the balcony. A few rumbles of thunder were heard with the rain, adding a bit more to the sound coverage.

Chris Redfield counted the delay of seconds between each clap of thunder and took advantage of the loud noise of one of them to nudge in the glass of the glass door of the balcony, thus being able to slip his hand in the hole and the open from the inside. Chris then signaled to his squad to activate their night vision, and everyone entered one by one, in the greatest silence.

The apartment, rather richly decorated and with a rather vintage style, was immersed in silence and complete darkness, adding a heavy atmosphere. The target must have been sleeping, but to avoid talking as much as possible so as not to make noise, Chris gave the instructions to his squad by the usual military signs. The squad split into three duos: Redfield with Tundra. Umber Eyes and Canine. Night Howl and Lobo, and began to carefully inspect all the rooms of the large apartment, while being careful not to make any noise. Outside, the pouring rain and thunder continued.

But suddenly, as Chris cautiously moved forward, the stealthy, growling form of an infected man appeared from a corner of the living room and attempted to stab him with a kitchen knife. Chris, with his reflexes, avoided the blow by taking a quick step back.

_"Watch out!" Tundra said, immediately killing the infected with a bullet to the head.

Three other men, also infected and with beastly behaviors, came running out of one of the rooms, but were also quickly overpowered and eliminated by the squad members. Chris killed the last one with a pistol shot to the head.

_"What the fuck is this bullshit?!" Lobo growled.

Inspecting the bodies one by one, Chris recognized one of them as the Connections agent he was trying to apprehend. He also noticed a mark on each of their necks, like the tip of a syringe.

_"Damn... They voluntarily infected themselves with Mold rather than being captured. They knew we were coming..." Chris breathed, annoyed and passing a hand over his face.

Meanwhile, the rest of the squad continued to search the apartment, taking care that no other infected were hiding, but luckily there were no others. All luggage was searched meticulously, but nothing of real interest was found.

Night Howl manages to hack the password to the laptop he found in the bedroom, but unfortunately...

_"Ah, the bastards, they erased all the files."

But Chris was taken by a doubt by hearing that.

_"Given the huge importance of these samples and files for their organization, they necessarily had to copy and save them."

Chris then began to search the bodies one by one, and finally, after insisting, noticed something, very well hidden under the skin of one of the dead infected. There was something hard under the skin of the arm. With the blade of his knife, Chris delicately cut the flesh, and found underneath a small USB key protected in a hermetic plastic bag.

_"Bingo." Redfield smiled. "Our source had really gotten the information right."

_"You'll have to tell us who this informant is who gave you all his information about the Connections." Umber Eyes then said.

_ "No idea who it is." Chris replied honestly. "He refused to say his name and used a nickname, Hermes, to talk to me."

Redfield didn't wait any longer and plugged the USB key into the computer, which then opened a page giving access to a series of files classified in alphabetical order. Chris, with his whole squad around him, began to explore the files which seemed to him the most important.

_ "Look at this. Apparently they were to take these samples in the town of Oakville, Canada, to one of their scientists, Dr. Gleen Shepard, a brillant biology researcher, according to the official report."

_ "Okay, well, at least we know who we need to go see now." said Tundra.

But another file caught the eye of Chris who, seeing the name, raised an eyebrow. The folder "Bio Organic Weapons - Lords Files." Lords? He had never heard of such a category of weapons, and knowing that if it was in a Connections file, it could only be important. He clicked on it, opening a series of files and all showing reports and photos of several people considered as living weapons. Three of the files, names Miranda, Salvatore Moreau and Daniela Dimitrescu, bore a red cross and the description: deceased. Chris focused his reading on the files of the other remaining entities and looking at the photos, read the names one by one.

Alcina Dimitrescu. Mathias Derune. Karl Heisenberg. Donna Beneviento. Bela Dimitrescu. Cassandra Dimitrescu. The Duke.

_"What is that?" Chris huffed, puzzled, but having a very bad feeling about it.

_"ON THE GROUND!" suddenly yelled Canine throwing all his weight on Chris to fall to the ground with him. The other members of the squad did the same, as a rocket came at full speed into the apartment and completely blew up half of the apartment in a monstrous explosion.

Half buried in debris but fortunately not sustaining any serious injuries, Chris and his squad rose to their feet, shaken by the explosion and half blinded by the smoke, but very quickly focused their gazes on one nearby buildings from where the rocket had been fired. Unfortunately, and despite the Umber Eyes sniper, no presence was detected in the surroundings.

_ "I don't see anything at all." warns Umber.

_"They are really ready to do anything to prevent us from continuing." Chris commented darkly. "But if they think they're scaring us, they're wrong. Let's get out of here before the police come... We have work to do."