Alliance

Chapter Nine

Ben didn't said one word to me about what we were doing when we got into the military issued SUV and drove an hour to Detroit. He gave no explanation still when we parked in a parking lot to a grand building that was built miles away from Detroit or when we beelined it to a conference room in the building.

Two men sat in the room when we arrived. One with the skin of beautiful brown and one with an almost pale complexion with black hair and narrow eyes.

Living so far north, people of different diversity were rarely seen. At home, it was all Caucasian. We hardly saw people with ancestors from Africa or Asia. Most people with different ancestors came from the Capital Region or Coast Region because of the access to the ocean. By the skin and features alone I could tell these two men were most likely from the Capital Region.

The dark skinned man stood with a wide smile and a hand outstretched over the table toward Ben. "Chief Collins! It is good to see you, man. How long has it been?"

"Too long," Ben replied back, "How was England-France?"

"The same as ever." The man's dark brown eyes were almost black looked over at me. "You are Cadet Sparrow," he said in a tone that made me feel uncomfortable. I knew pretty damn well I never met this man before but somehow he knew my name. Despite that something about him made me like him.

I leaned over the table and shook his outstretched hand. Without effort, I smiled at the man as I said, "Yes it is, please call me Mel."

The man nodded, "I am Chief Carter, this is my cadet, Wong." Carter pointed a thumb to the young man beside him who seemed like he wanted to absorbed into the chair. His eyes kept flickering from the table to Ben back to the table.

"Did you hear about the other four in our group?" Carter asked.

Ben answered as he ushered me around the table to sit beside Wong. "I did. Read the report last night. We have a good group this year."

Ben and I sat the door swung open. A large man who reminded me somewhat of Alec, burst into the room. "Aye Carter! And Ben!" the man boomed. He took two large steps toward the table to shake hands with the two men.

"Chief Rossi," Carter welcomed. "It is good to see you."

"And you," Rossi said. He turned back to the door where the other man stood who was like a younger version of Rossi. They could almost be twins with their broad shoulders and muscular arms. "This is my cadet, Carlos." Carlos walked up to his mentor's side.

Beside me, Wong wanted to sink more into his chair as his eyes watched Carlos take a seat across the table from us.

Perhaps it was Carlos' size that intimidated Wong. But in Wong's defense, Carlos and his mentor did carry the alpha male trait well.

"What are we doing here?" Carlos asked Carter as he sat, "Someone won't tell me what this is all about."

It took all my willpower not to glare at Ben. Ben done the same on the ride over. I asked him several times what we were doing and he never said a word. It was clear it wasn't because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't tell me.

The door opened once more and two more men walked in. One was short and had tan skin. The other was pale, tall and gangly, with bright red hair.

"Hello gentlemen," the tanned skin man said. The man's accent was a surprise. It took a minute to register his Spanish accent. The man's eyes fell on me and he added, "And lady."

I smiled at the newcomer. Like Carter, I instantly liked this new mentor.

"Rodriguez!" Rossi stood and shook hands with the shorter man.