The People's Alpha ✔

35: The Offer

We passed the same endless arrays of greenhouses that I had passed on the way to the emergency congress. We saw a phalanx of soldiers in training, led by their commander, all of them dressed in the same black fatigues.

We arrived at the enormous pair of wrought-iron gates that led to the inner sanctum. I hadn't paid much attention to them last time, but now I watched intently as they slowly swung open. I assumed they were automatic; I saw no sign of an operator's booth.

As we rounded the fountain and pulled up at the front portico of the pack house, I noticed for the first time that there was a three-car garage, on the left hand side of the house, Into which the aide was already stowing my car.

Adlai led as we entered the cavernous foyer. Wide, ornate staircases on either side led upwards. The last time, we had gone straight down the corridor to the grand meeting hall. This time, Adlai led me into a doorway on the right, leading into a light-filled sitting room that looked out onto lush sprawling gardens which reminded me of the botanic gardens in Corviston. In the centre of the garden was a small pond, filled with koi.

Right next to the window there were two armchairs around a round coffee table, which seemed to been arranged for the occasion. Adlai gestured for me to sit.

A maid entered the room, carrying an enormous bowl heaped with a bewildering array of fruits, and a plate filled with similarly diverse selections of biscuits. She placed the items on the table and left as discreetly as she had come.

"Help yourself." Adlai motioned at the bowl.

"I'm not hungry." I stared at it, mesmerised for a moment by the droplets of water on the fruit. He picked up a plum from the middle of the bowl and bit into it. "I had this all picked fresh from the orchards this morning. Please." He gestured towards the bowl once more.

I shook my head. Adlai moved on. "Now, where were we? You wanted to know my motivations behind all of this. Well, that's very simple, Jim. Just go into the Industrial Zone, Jim. Go into the rogue settlements. Look at the filth and the misery and the wretchedness around you. How can you look at that every day on the way to work and not want to change it for the better?"

Adlai continued. "It's a shame, really, because the Special Industrial Zone was a brilliant concept. The rogues would be able to settle in a place where they could live and work in dignity, and you would be able to prosper beyond your wildest dreams off the back of their labour. But then you Alphas became too greedy. Cameron with his get-rich-quick schemes. Alphonse with his wheeler-dealing. Clayton with his excesses. And people like you and Wethermore and all the others, who just stood in the corner and watched. And soon we got to where we are today.

"My intention, Jim, is to take over the Industrial Zone and run it the way it was intended to run. Stop the corruption and graft that has permeated every inch of our society. Uphold the rule of law and the dignity of everyone, regardless of their rank or affiliation."

"But why would you target the East Side if your goal is to uplift the rogues?" I asked.

"We'll get to that," Adlai replied, an slight edge appearing in his voice. "All in good time."

Outside, a gardener was skimming the pond with a net. "What's going to happen to the packs?"

"I assure you, Jim, it has never been my intention to harm any of the packs, despite the suffering that they have caused. Many of my advisors have quite the opposite view, but that is their opinion."

"They will never accept you taking over their property." I stated.

Adlai looked at me as if I was a petulant child. "I think you will find, Jim, that very soon they will have to. My men have already secured most of the Industrial Zone. Very soon we will have all of it. And they will have to beg with me for a compromise, because they are too weak to fight back." "So what was that squad you sent out to Salmon Creek all about?"