Way Home

11 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 2020....

I was sitting in the hold of the military cargo plane.

'LANDING IN 1 MINUTE' I heard the pilot speak over the intercoms. I could feel the metal of the plane shake beneath me as it tilted downwards and cut through the air current. A few moments later the plane touched down in San Francisco's Airbase. The cargo hatch opened and when I stepped out I was greeted by CIA director Vince Harold or better known as CHIEF. He was an old man in his late forties but he had a fit shape his hair was white, he's eyes were a deep blue, wrinkles covered his face here and there but to my eyes he didn't seem that old. He was dressed up in a black suit. A black Sedan was parked behind him.

He also had two more guys standing behind him, probably his bodyguards and they both seemed sharp and alert. They looked at me sceptically as if I was a dangerous animal. Maybe I was but I didn't dwell much on it.

"Welcome home Tyler," Vince Harold said. It was the first time that someone had officially called me by that name and in truth I liked it.

"Yes," I replied. My duffel bag as strapped along my shoulder and it was starting to itch up. I pulled on the strap and flexed my shoulder.

Vince noticed and said, "Shall we?"

He gestured towards the Sedan. I swiftly nodded.

"Alright then," he said and led me towards the back door. He opened the door and I went in to sit in the backseat after him.

His bodyguards went and sat in the front seats, one behind the wheel and the other riding shotgun. The engine of the Sedan gave a soft him as it came to life and with that we drove off the runway and went past the front entrance before moving onto the highway. Vince periodically looked at me from the corner of his eye but I didn't even bother giving him my attention because my eyes were glued to the window as I looked outside at the passing pedestrians as well as the buildings and other cars moving along the road. San Francisco wasn't as noisy as New York but it was equally busy. We drove to a five star hotel called Paradise Hotel. It was a fifty story building with a brandished reception area on the ground floor, the floor had shiny black tiles, white fluorescent bulbs gave off a bright white colour that gave the place a stunning appearance. Vince and his two bodyguards led the way to the reception's counter. They was a desktop computer on the surface, a tip jar, a credit card reader and a fresh stack of white papers.

Behind the counter was a young man in his twenties, he had a friendly aura around him as he smiled at our approaching forms.

"Welcome to Paradise Hotel," he said, "Are you here to make a booking?"

Vince cleared his throat. "We already booked the entire 20th floor," he replied.

The entire floor?! I thought in surprise. Even the receptionist was surprised but he quickly pretended to act casual.

"Of course," he gave Vince a black key card before clapping his hands twice. As if by magic a girl appeared standing before us. She was wearing a red Porter's uniform and she had blonde long hair. She also seemed to be in her twenties.

"Susie here will lead you on your way," the male receptionist said

"Right this way sirs," the Susie the blonde led us towards the elevator not too far from the reception. With me only having my duffel bag and Vince not having any luggage on him, Susie just had to lead us up to our floor using the elevator.

Our floor had a total of five rooms that were numbered 95 to 100. After Susie had led us up Vince had decided to let her go because we didn't really need her help at all.

"You'll take room 98 over there, rest up. Take a shower. Relax for a while and then I'll be joining you to brief you on how you are to live your life away from…your previous one," he said and I just nodded before walking off to my designated room.

_ _ _

Two hours later and I had done everything that the CIA director told me to do. I was currently lying on top of a comfortable bed wearing only a white bathrobe and flippers. A bowl of popcorn was on my lap as I surfed through the channels on my TV. A tray of ice cream laid beside my bed and my only concern was that it would melt if I waited too long to eat it up. A few more hours passed and I was actually thinking that Vince might have bailed on me (I went through a special training course to help me with my teen slang and I must say I enjoyed it).

I was halfway down with my ice cream when someone knocked at my door. "Come in!" I said and Vince emerged into the room. He took one look at me and said, "Seems you're enjoying yourself"

"Yeah well you took so damn long there was nothing else I could do," I replied while taking an ice cream spoon in my mouth.

"Sorry to keep you waiting but I'll say it's good to see you finally acting your age," he said and I tossed a pillow in his direction.

"Shut up Gramps"

"Now then let's talk about you finally meeting your family tomorrow, shall we?"

Vince then proceeded to brief me on the status of my family which wasn't very different from what I was told at the ACD. I had an aunt who lived here in San Francisco by the name of Caroline Calvin. She was 37 years old, unmarried worked at a pharmaceutical company, she liked to spend her Friday nights at the club with her two friends Lucia Johnson and Clara Chambers but she never got too drunk and was always home by 10:30 because she had a responsibility of taking care of my sister Laura Calvin who was one year older than me and was a student at Crimson Academy High school which was probably going to be my new school. Laura was 18 years old and was in her fourth year in high school. Vince also took the liberty of giving me a file concerning the Academy and when he was done briefing me he left me the files so that I could study them.

Lunch approached and went. The evening set in. And I was still studying the files. I had reached a point where I had memorized almost everything. Room service brought in my dinner and I went to bed right afterwards.