Chapter 35: Integration

Location: Port Stanley, East Falkland

Unit: GOU

Date: 27th April 2022 CE

Zeller stepped off the vessel. Carrying a duffel bag over her left shoulder, she watched James pass, "I'm gonna kill him," she brought her fist close to her mouth while looking at the town, "it's cold and windy as fuck, but there is ZERO snow."

Baker tapped her on her shoulder, "We should get to the safe house, I don't wanna be out here for too long in case the people start asking questions."

Zeller nodded as James continued walking down the street. He remembered his conversation with Mclaw, "No, you cannot take the fucking pistol."

James remembered reasoning with him, "I'll keep it concealed!"

Mclaw stared at him, "No," He remembered Mclaw snatching the pistol straight from the palms of his hands and pulling off the slide, "If you want your precious little pistol, you can have a part of it."

Back in the current day, James snarled, pulling the pistol slide from his pocket. Zeller walked up behind him, hitting him over the back of the head, "You good, Runt?"

James stopped turning around, "Runt?"

Zeller smiled, "You heard me," she kept on walking.

James smiled at her, "Shut it, Swiss."

She turned back and stared James down. James was expecting her to strike, then Baker appeared behind her, striking her on the back of the head with a chop, "Stop pissing each other off."

Zeller turned around and sighed, "You're no fun..."

Baker walked behind her, and James followed.

They followed road after road, lugging their bags through the streets. James complained, "He had to pick the house furthest away from the port?"

Baker smiled, "You get used to it."

Baker quickly opened the door and Zeller pounced onto the couch. Feeling underneath it, she noticed a rifle shape. Smiling, she stood up. Looking closer she noticed uneven bits of furniture, shelves with removable bottoms and unbalanced cupboards.

Moving the carpet she saw a removable panel. Pressing it, a keyboard was displayed, and she started to type in code after code, first guessing Loyalist then Reaper, then GOU, then Global.

And the panel slid off as she looked back, "Oi Baker look at this," Baker walked over pulling out a flashlight, "Holy shit, is that a fucking minigun."

James looked over her shoulder, "looks more like a GAU-19 to me."

Both of them looked at him and frowned, "What?"

Looking closer, James grabbed his flashlight, "Looks to be quite a few old weapons down here, few L86s, M2 brownings, a shit load of SLRs," he paused focusing on one weapon, "No... it can't be."

He jumped down, "It's a fucking wall of Baker rifles."

Pasted across the wall were thirty extremely old rifles, Baker looked over the ledge, "My rifle's back at the compound, though."

James slapped his forehead, "Zeller, hit him, please."

Baker stepped back, "Don't."

James started to climb back up the ladder, "How the hell did you get in here anyway?"

As James climbed out, Zeller closed the hatch and hit lock as the panel closed over the keyboard, "Mclaw or one of his lackeys decided to set the password as GLOBAL."

Baker chuckled, "I'm gonna go get unpacked, Mclaw probably wouldn't like us going through his shit."

James nodded, walking upstairs and removing a passport from his pocket. Throwing it onto the bed he noticed it open, looking closely he analysed it, the name 'James Gale,' that was his new identity. His third identity. 'James Thompson', 'James Masa', and finally 'James Gale'. He flipped it shut as he noticed a weird shape under his bed

Pulling the item out, he realised it was a bag. He opened it up, noticing it had a note on the inside. It was written using a printed font, 'If you need to leave fast, grab this, remove the large mirror and drop.'

He looked at the large mirror on the wall, moving it slightly he saw a metallic part of the wall. He smiled letting it drop back into place.

Stepping back, he threw himself onto the bed. Sighing, he rubbed his eyes...

***

A few weeks passed, and James would be starting his job today, "Fucking Mondays." He swore, zipping up his coat.

He walked downstairs picking up a set of keys from a drawer. Grumbling as he exited the house he started to walk down the street.

He noticed it was much quieter than both England and Japan, now and then a vehicle would pass him but it wasn't too common.

As he walked down the windy streets he felt his short hair being pushed back and forth after every gust. He hooked up his hood over his face as he passed a small group of boys. He felt malicious intent from them, they seemed all older and taller than him.

Entering an alleyway, he noticed a few shadows follow him. Walking through the alleyway and passing a house he entered a large shop. Pulling his hood down, he felt his body temperature increase with warm air being blown around the building.

Then someone approached him, it was a young man, clean-shaven, "Good afternoon, you must be Mr Gale."

James smiled, "Mr Gale is my father, call me James," he held out his hand reciting the line that had been repeated probably several billion times throughout history and storytelling.

The manager chuckled, "A true English man, eh?" he paused, "Don't see many of you looking for work here."

James smiled, "Well parents move around quite a bit so I'll be with you for the next few months."

The manager led James through the shop, "As we are open 24 hours a day we have shift workers. Of these there are three, you will be our fourth."

James walked behind the manager as he entered a room with a few people sitting in chairs in front of a projector, "Right lads, this James Gale he will be joining us."

A single tired whop came from the crowd, the manager looked at James, "Cheery bunch, eh?" he said under his breath.

James stepped forward taking a seat at the front, when another voice spoke, "So was the announcement that we have another member of your 'family' or is there some other business matter we have to attend to?"

The manager sighed, "Straight to the point as always Klay?"

James looked back, Klay Engel, 20 years old, works the night shift. Had been working here for three years by this point, making him the second in command. James remembered reading the file he had been given to him. He had been on the Falklands since birth like the other two.

Another spoke, "To be fair to him, Leo, he was napping when you forced him up."

The manager, Leo Steward, was 23 years old. He had messy blonde hair and had been the cofounder of this business when he was 18 after coming home from his post-16 education in the UK. Leo sighed, "Yeah, fairs, honestly," he turned around, hitting the board, "Anyway, we need to drum up business again, as my father did two years back. I'm not losing sales to those fuckers across the Port again."

James looked back, not sure exactly who these 'Fuckers' were. Thinking back to the loyalists' examination of the island's societal situation he couldn't think of who they could be referring to. As he considered it, he heard a shatter come from the front of the shop. Immediately, the manager ran out into the main room, "What the hell was that!"

James followed him out seeing the boys who had followed him down the alley, they were chuckling to themselves standing over several items knocked on the floor, "These those 'Fuckers' you were talking about, Leo?"

A kid walked from behind James, Charle Holme. He had a darker brown shade of hair than James and a sharper jaw, "Your boss sent you to attempt to mess up our shit again?"

The leader looked at the group, "Ahaha, what boss? We come here of our own free will to exercise our right to look around a shop."

Leo walked forward, "If this was of your own free will, I'd suggest you leave before I make you."

The leader turned back to his gang, "Ready?"

James swore, "Fuck it," noticing a fight was about to break out, he looked around noticing a set of pipes sitting on the shelves.

The group nodded, pulling something out of their belts, hammers and other blunt weapons. Just as Leo noticed a figure appeared behind them. The group froze as they felt a chill down their spine, and then a voice spoke, "Is this shop open?"

Leo nodded, "It should be."

The figure turned down an aisle not showing his face beneath the hood. Leo looked at the group of boys as they concealed their weapons, "Is that all I can do for you today boys?"

The leader nodded as they left the building. James stepped into the aisle attempting to get a better look at the customer...

But there was no one there. Not in that aisle, nor the next one.

James gulped realising exactly who it was, "He's watching?"

Leo tapped him on the shoulder, "Where's the customer?"

James shrugged his shoulders, "No clue, he just disappeared."

Leo bit his lip, "Huh... interesting, anyway, I'll show you how the till works and how things work around here, follow me."

James followed Leo as he instructed him on how he wanted the shop to run.

***

James sat at a table with the rest, as Leo walked in, "Yo, lads... You know that destroyer I was talking about yesterday?"

Charle raised an eyebrow, "The one that you apparently saw off West Falkland over the weekend?"

James perked up as Leo continued, "Yep, that one," he paused, "Turns out it wasn't a destroyer, it was a Frigate, HMS Sutherland. Fastest ship in the Royal Navy."

Klay sat up, "What the fuck is Sutherland doing down here?"

James listened closely as Leo moved closer to the group, "I've been hearing rumours that a special forces unit is training here."

James coughed as he heard the prediction, "Why the hell would a Special Forces unit come down here?"

Leo looked at him, "There have been rumours of a large base in Antarctica for a while now, they probably plan to attack it."

James tilted his head to the side, "How on earth do you know this?"

Leo chuckled, "It's more just an educated guess, I hear a lot."

Klay looked at James, "He means he looks at quite a lot of military forums. You know the one where they leaked several classified military documents in one day?"

James nodded, "Of course."

Leo glared at him, "What do you mean of course?"

James looked left and right, "Uh... doesn't matter."

Charle interrupted, "How exactly do you know it was this one really obscure ship?"

Leo pointed at him as he pulled his phone, "Well it was also spotted off the coast of Brazil and someone who overheard the sailor talk said that they were near the Falklands area."

Klay tapped his mouth, "We should keep this quiet, this could endanger a mission or the course of the whole war."

Leo nodded, "But getting a promotion from one of these soldiers would be quite a boost in popularity would it not?"

The room fell silent as they thought, James contemplated what to do. He had to act very carefully over the next few days.