A Ghost Encounter: My Time with Simon "Ghost" Riley

Part Forty-Six: Chicago

Chicago here we come.

Laswell's fine skills for gathering information have determined that the third and final missile is located at Arch Industries Tower in downtown Chicago, a building owned by a company of the Las Almas Cartel.

While the members of Task Force 141 were stationed in Iran, Laswell was stationed in Las Almas, working side-by-side with two men: Alejandro Vargas and Rodolfo Parra.

Colonel Alejandro Vargas is a Tier One Mexican Special Forces Operator (the leader of Los Vaqueros) and now an ally of the Task Force.

Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra—his counterpart—is his second in command in Los Vaqueros.

Laswell received word from the Mexican Special Forces that Hassan had been spotted working with "El Sin Nombre", whose true alias, discovered by Laswell, is Valeria Garza. Valeria Garza is the leader of the Las Almas Cartel.

Valeria figured that if she got into bed with terrorist organizations, the U.S. government would hone its sights on global terrorism and not on the war on drugs. Valeria and the Las Almas Cartel helped Hassan smuggle the missiles into the United States as part of retaliation.

Laswell, with the help of Alejandro and Rodolfo, had captured Valeria. In turn for her freedom, Valeria informed Laswell of the location of the final missile: Chicago. This deal was broken due to Shepherd sending the Shadows to eliminate traces of the bomb.

Valeria has now been imprisoned by Mexican Authorities.

With all this being said, we now know exactly how to locate and capture the final missile.

Myself, Ghost, Laswell, Price, Soap, and Gaz all board a flight straight to Chicago.

Once we land, we have our first objective in sight: infiltrate Arch Industries Tower and retrieve the missile.

After landing, we head straight to the tower. Exiting the car, I am overwhelmed by the sheer mass of the building.

"How do we know where the missile is?" Soap looks at Laswell.

"We don't," Laswell sighs. "The 54th floor holds the server room that controls the missile. Although Hassan is no longer with us to set the missile off, that doesn't mean that we are in the clear. Hassan worked with many dangerous individuals who would love to see the U.S. burn." Her jaw clenches.

Shit, she has a point. I never thought to consider another individual who might be carrying out Hassan's perverted ideologies. If someone is in the server room, who could it be?

"Price and I will stay on the ground and work to locate the missile. Gaz and the other marines will work their way up the tower from the ground floor while Soap and Breanna take a helicopter to the top of the tower and work their way down, boxing in whoever could potentially be inside the server room. Ghost, you take a helicopter up to a clear top across from the objective for overwatch," Laswell directs us.

I don't like the idea of being separated from Ghost but it's time to put on my big girl pants and finish this mission once and for all.

"Roberts." I hear Ghost call for me.

"Yes, L.T." I've heard Soap call him that on occasion.

"No," Ghost deadpans.

"What?" I chuckle. "I heard Soap ca-"

He cuts me off with a simple and stern, "No".

Ugh, whatever.

I look at him with bafflement, roll my eyes, and take a deep breath. "What is it?"

"Be careful." He places a hand gently on my shoulder.

"You too." I smile softly.

Ghost and I have made it this far and I have no doubts that we can make it all the way.

Respectively, we all make our way to our designated areas and the hunt begins.