Alliance

Chapter Ten

At noon we were ushered out of the conference room and into a van. The windows were blacked out, making it impossible to see the city. 

Reaching our location, the van came to an abrupt stop. The two Alliance officers who drove the van ordered us out. They gave us our guns and gas mask before they sped off.

Before us stood a department store sandwiched between two tall buildings. The paint on the walls were faded and peeled in spots. No markings building made it look unique. There were only large windows. Behind the glass, display mannequins stood in various positions and various levels of clothing.

"Home sweet home," Rossi said. He and Carlos took the lead while I walked in the back of the group with Ben.

I rotated my head toward him, my eyes flickered to Carlos and back to Ben, an eyebrow raised. Ben's lips only pulled in tighter. He knew what I meant by the look. It seemed Carlos and Rossi would take the lead and become our unofficial leaders. Or at least Carlos had that air around him. Rossi rein in his alpha male powers. Carlos, not so much.

The first floor was dim and things were everywhere. Clothes hung on racks around the room. Things littered the floor, like rocks, rubble, clothes, shoes, and something furry that I didn't want to investigate. In the very back of the room was a U-shaped counter where old cash registers sat.

Carter lifted some rubble out of the middle of the U. "Cadets, go hide the flag. We will set up camp here."

Carlos nodded and pulled out the red flag that glowed in the dim room. "Upstairs would the best spot." He went straight for the stairs without waiting for anyone else to agree, nor did he turn to see if we were following him. Bailey followed closely behind, but Wong and I shared a glanced before moving.

The upstairs was just as dirty as the downstairs. The only difference was that the clothes on the floor below were geared toward men and this floor for women.

"How are we going to hide this?" Carlos turned to us in the middle of the room.

"Hide it in a piece of clothing?" asked Bailey.

Wong shook his head. "That is a little too obvious."

"Oh, do you have any good ideas there, genius?" Bailey said it was enough of a snap that I rolled my eyes and walked around the room. There was racks upon racks of clothes. Shelves of jeans lining the walls. Hiding it in a piece of clothing felt too obvious. If another team was here, they would expect it to be in a piece of clothing. It would take them some time to find the flag but they would find either way. No, we had to hide it somewhere else.

Ben had a lesson on hiding things. If the Alliance officer thought they would be caught, they would hide the object so they could go back to it or save it from someone else to grab. In that same lesson Ben talked about setting traps. 

We could hide it in plain sight. Hide it in plain sight but set a trap around it. Something that would raise an alarm or catch the thief.

An idea struck when I reached the back corner by the restrooms.

I trotted back to where I left the guys arguing. Carlos and Wong were nose to nose and Bailey watched with great interest. "Guys," I tried to butt in.

"Just because you are big doesn't mean you can dictate." 

"Oh, you think you are so smart." 

 "Guys!" I pushed them apart and ripped the flag out of Carlo's hand. All three boys glared at me.

"I got an idea." I turned to Wong. "How good are you with explosives?"