Alliance

Chapter Thirty

It took half the day to fly to Chicago from York in a helicopter. It was late in the afternoon when we finally landed on top of a large building. Ben explained to me on the way over that Chicago was like Old York. It was a thriving city and it also housed Alliance headquarters. While the Military headquarters was in York, Alliance was in Chicago. The founders of Alliance thought it would be best to have the Alliance base away from York in case of an attack on the capital.

From the sky, Chicago looked like a mini Old York, with smaller buildings and fewer skyscrapers.

We landed on the building once called Sears Tower that was transformed into the Alliance headquarters. Two men waited for us on the pad as we jumped off.

"Welcome to the Tower, Alliance Headquarters," announced Commander Cedar. Beside him stood Doctor Hunt.

"Why do you two always pop up out of nowhere?" I asked as we shook hands in greeting.

"Told you day one, I show up like a bad penny," Cedar stated. The two men ushered us into the Tower after we grabbed our duffle bags. "We have a busy afternoon. First a team meeting. You two arrived late, so we need to go straight down there." We entered a reception room that held an elevator. A young boy stood by the buttons waiting patiently.

"Willi, could you take Chief Collin's and Ensign Sparrow's bags down to their rooms?" Cedar asked as the boy who pressed a button for a floor. He nodded, his hands held out to take our bags. We gave him the bags that was larger bigger than him. I wondered where the kid came from, the only rational thought was his parents were stationed here and he wanted to help. 

The elevator stopped and I followed the men down the hall. The halls at the base were boring compared to the Palace. No art were held on the off-white paint halls.

We entered a control room. I didn't know where to look at first. To the right was a wall of maps that were pinned up with colorful lines drawn on it and little flags pinned to it. Straight ahead was a wall covered with computers monitors. To the left, desks and tables lingers against the wall. Somewhere the bubbling sound of a coffee pot was brewing a fresh pot.

In the very center of the room sat an oval conference table. The ceiling lights around the room were dimmed but the two lights above the conference table illuminated it brightly.

There were a lot of faces I did not know as I walked in behind Ben. But one face I did recognize at the conference table.

"Hey!" Blair stood from her seat and embraced me in a hug.

"Hey to you! What are you doing here?" I tried to keep my voice at a normal level but I was excited to see her. The wide smile on my face was hard to hide.

"I am promoted to Operation Peace. Finally got out of that hell hole and into something fun!"

We walked to the table. "Glad you are here." I looked around at the other faces. All men. It seems everyone was there but two seats at the head of the table remained empty.

"The director and admiral are on their way," Cedar announced as he sat beside Ben to talk to him.

"So," Blair pulled out my chair that was between Ben's and hers. "Tell me about Old York." We both sat.

"There is so much to tell."

The door behind us opened. "You'll have to tell me later," Blair said with a smile as two men walked around the table to the two empty seats.

As they stepped into the light I knew one of the men was Admiral Welch. The other... My heart stopped.

Everything stopped.