“Yes.”
Everyone looked slightly confused and finally Max spoke out, “According to this dossier, John Wellington is a civilian looking for Dr. Jerrod Sheitz. Why aren’t the police handling this?”
“That’s a good question. It’s a very sensitive situation. Honestly, this isn’t typically the kind of case we would take, but he was referred to us by a couple of special clients.”
“Téa, we have Dr. Sheitz’s computer here. It’s most likely been wiped cleaned, but I’m hoping you can find those bread crumbs that only you can find. Everything has been brought here for you to do what you do. Everyone works on more than one laptop, smartphone, computer and all of their electronic information is somewhere in the ‘Cloud’. So see what else is out there. Gray I want you to work with Téa on this one.”
“Jake, Mr. Wellington thinks the Jalanni Militia might have something to do with this abduction. Find out everything you can about them and their capabilities. Just do a preliminary analysis since they might not even be involved.”
“Max and Tony, I want eyes and ears on Wellington at all times. I was able to engage a couple of tracking devices while I was there, but I don’t think it’s enough. I’ve already sent the data-tracking piece down to the bunker. And its contents have been uploaded to the plane. It’s ready to go to Mongolia.”
Max nodded, “Got it.”
Jake offered, “This would be a great time to get one of the newbies more experience. I think Shelly is ready.”
Jessie swiveled her chair towards him, “You sure?”
Jake nodded. “Yes. She’s good Jessie…and eager.”
Tony co-signed, “I’ve worked with her on a couple other assignments. She’s ready.”
“Well, if you both think she’s ready, then take her, but Tony you’re 100% responsible for her.”
Max laughed, “…And I’ll be responsible for both of them.”
Jessie stood up, “We’ll meet back here in six hours for an update. Jake, let me get changed and I’ll ride down to the bunker with you. I want to speak with Shelly before she goes out into the field.”
Chapter 17
Téa’s phone buzzed. Michael had sent her a text
“Crazy morning. I think it’s funny, Brian not so much. His PR team is doing damage control. I’ve sent you a link.”
Téa opened the link. “Umm…Jessie you might want to take a look at this.”
All the talk in the room stopped as Jessie looked at Téa’s phone. She was on the front cover of Chatter Magazine with the caption “Superstar Brian Wright’s Secret Lover”. The horrified look on Jessie’s face made everyone else gather around to see the message, too.
“Oh...my...
Goodness
! This is crazy!”
Everybody, except Jessie and Téa, thought it was funny. Actually, Téa thought it was a little funny. Jake put his arms around Jessie’s shoulder, “We all
know
this isn’t true.”
Tony whistled, “At least they didn’t get a picture of you looking busted. You look almost sexy in your running gear.”
Jessie was more concerned about Brian than anything else, but slightly offended that everybody assumed it couldn’t be true. “It’s not true, but
why
would you think it couldn’t be, Jake?”
“Because we all know you and you are married to your work. I can’t remember the last time you gave a guy the time of day.”
Gray had to put his two cents into the conversation, “No offense, but do you even remember how to date?”
The laughter continued.
The more everyone thought her love life was a joke the angrier Jessie became. Max noticed that she wasn’t seeing the humor in this situation so he thought he’d better take the reins, “Hey guys, we don’t have much time to find Dr. Sheitz. We can get back to harassing Jessie later. In the meantime, we should get moving.”
Téa wanted to stay, but could tell by the firm set in Jessie’s jaw that she should probably give her some time to herself.
As everyone filed out of the office, Jessie yelled out to Jake, “I’ll catch you down stairs. I need to make a couple of phone calls.”
Everyone but Max walked out of her office. “You ok?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. I know you like to keep things low key but you got to know hanging out with Mr. Hollywood is going to bring you unwanted attention. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before now.”
“We’re not dating, Max.”
“I didn’t say you were but you and I both know how this game works. The press will build up their own storyline which means they’ll start digging into you past.”
“I know. I’ll handle it.”
“Good. I won’t see you in the bunker, but I’ll call you once we get to Mongolia.”
“Safe travels.”
Max was the last to leave her office. She closed the door behind him and walked over to her desk to call Brian. Hopefully, he won’t be too bothered by this article.”
Jessie didn’t have much time to spend on this situation, but she at least wanted to reach out to Brian and apologize. She picked up the phone and called him. After a couple of rings he answered.
“Brian?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“I just saw the article. I am so sorry.”
“I can’t really talk because it’s kind of crazy around here right now. The studio is panicking because they want to sell us and our movie as a couple. We don’t have much time to fix this since it’s coming out this weekend.”
“Well, again I’m sorry. Do they think it’ll hurt ticket sales?”
“It’s no need for you to be sorry, Jessie. I’m always being linked to somebody. This story seems a little meatier because I’m dating my co-star. Who knows if it will hurt ticket sales?”
“If you like I can have our legal team issue a statement disputing the claims?”
“I never comment on my personal life and I won’t start now. My team is working on it, so you and I don’t have to. They’re planning some high-profile public outings to prove all is fine with us.”
“Have you talked to Brigitte? Is she okay with everything?”
“She was a little upset, but after I reassured her that we are just friends, she calmed down.”
It still hurt Jessie that all she would ever be to Brian was a friend.
“Jessie…did you hear me?”
“I’m sorry I must have blanked out for a sec. I missed that last part. What did you say?”
“You left pretty abruptly and Téa had to fly in for work. Is everything alright on your end?”
“We’re working through a very sensitive situation, but I’m hopeful it will be.”
Jake sent Jessie a text while she was talking to Brian. It simply read:
“Hurry up!”
“Brian, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. I’ve got to get moving and I’ll talk with you soon.”
They said their goodbyes and Jessie disconnected the call.
Chapter 18
Téa had been in her office for the past nine hours. It wasn’t really an office but more like a laboratory. She had laptops, computers, super computers, and all kinds of gadgets sitting on counters and tables everywhere. To the naked eye the room looked like a mess, but Téa knew exactly where everything was kept.
She’d finally found a crumb in Dr. Sheitz’s computer. Whoever tried to kill the contents of his hard drive was almost successful, but they left just enough for Téa to chew on. Thank goodness everything at some point was put in the Cloud. She was able to link onto an IP address of someone who’d been phishing his system. Of course it bounced to several phony addresses, but after working some of her magic, she was finally able to locate its origins. Now, it was her turn to do some phishing.
Téa came upon some information that she couldn’t believe she was seeing. It made her sit up in her chair. “Oh shit. Jessie needs to see this right away.” She called Jessie on their secured line, “Jessie you need to come over here like…now!”
Jessie had been in the bunker working with Jake and Gray when she got Téa’s call. She couldn’t imagine what she’d found that would make her call her on the secured line within headquarters.
“Guys, keep working on that. Our satellite should be able to pick up any movement in that compound. Téa needs me, so I’ll be back in a bit.”
Jessie walked into Téa’s office, “What’s up that you needed to use the secured line?”
Téa hopped off of the stool she was sitting on and motioned for Jessie to sit there, “Take a look at that.”
Jessie looked at the screen then back to Téa, “What the hell is this? Are you sure that information is authentic?
“Yes. I am very sure.”
Why was Dr. Sheitz being phished by the Council? And he wasn’t in Tanzania, he was in Pakistan.
“I’m trying to decode these documents. This is a pretty sophisticated encryption. This isn’t the work of a security company that was hired by a hedge fund billionaire. I can break it but it might take some time.”
“Keep working on it and give Jake these coordinates. Dr. Sheitz is probably there. Let him know that this has been elevated from a level two to a class seven and plan accordingly. Also, call the tower to let them know to get the other plane ready. Call me as soon as it is ready. It looks like I’m going back to Mongolia. Mr. Wellington has some more questions to answer.”
“Can’t you just call Kyoshe?”
“It doesn’t exactly work like that. I’ll send word for her to contact me, but I might be able to get more answers from Wellington before I can get them from her.”
*****
Jessie walked to her other office in the bunker to change. Fully armed guards were stationed at multiple intervals throughout this wing of the compound. As she passed them in the hallway, everyone stood to attention. The guards outside her office door made sure to salute.
Jessie changed into her all-black tactical gear and grabbed her bag of munitions. She opened it to make sure she had enough magazines for her Sub 2000 Rifle and Kel-Tec PLR 16. She then strapped her Kel-Tec 9’s to her inner jacket and ankle. She quickly threw her hair into a ponytail and put on her black military hat. Just as she finished getting her things together, she got the call that the plane was ready.
There was an airstrip on the MEGA-AX1 headquarters property. Deep underneath the beautiful offices was a bunker that could withstand a nuclear, chemical, and biological attack. MEGA-AX1 was a private military facility outfitted with the best technology money couldn’t buy. The facility was run completely on a special technology that required recycled oxygen. It housed a small fleet of fighter planes and other military vehicles that used the same technology. An electronic disturbance would have no effect on anything in the compound. If Armageddon came today, anyone lucky enough to be in the confines of M-AX1 could survive at least another two to five years.
M-AX1 employed almost twenty-five of the best trained assassins and mercenaries and twenty support staff. They were the most sought after private Black-Ops firm in the world. A person couldn’t just call information and walk into the M-AX1 building. Even world leaders had to know someone who knew someone to get access to them. In part, it was because of Kyoshe.
Kyoshe was the head of the Council, an organization that many thought of as just a myth. They were made up of a group of powerful people who moved around in the shadows and made sure the world didn’t go to hell. If Council found that there was a situation that needed a special type of expertise, M-AX1 typically got the call.
Jessie took the elevator up to the garage. As soon as it opened, she stepped out of the garage and a jeep pulled up to drive her to the plane. The plane sat on an air-lift that would take them to the surface. When Jessie boarded and was seated the pilot pressed the button. It rose to the surface of the airstrip. Once in position, the tower gave the signal that they were cleared for take-off.
After they were airborne, Jessie finally called Kyoshe on her special phone. As expected there was no answer. All Jessie could do was wait for her to make contact.
While in flight, Jessie synced up with her team on the ground. Hours later, Téa was still working on breaking the encryption code for the documents. Max and Jake had landed in Mongolia and were already on the ground and in place. Tony and Gray were still surveilling the property in Pakistan so that they could develop an entrance and exit strategy for all contingencies.
Tony and Gray needed to speak with Jessie, so they appeared on the plane using the amulet technology. It was as if Jessie were sitting right next to them in the lab.
“Jessie, we’ve got a visual on Dr. Sheitz. From what we can tell without any sound, if he’s a victim of abduction, he looks pretty comfortable. We can’t confirm this yet, but Téa is working on getting sound,” Tony informed her.
“Good. Going forward make sure when you contact me by phone it’s on the secured line. If we have access to their compound, they may be able to pick us up. I should be landing in the next half hour. I’ll check in after my meeting with Wellington.
Everyone disconnected. Jessie continued to review Wellington’s file to see if there was anything she’d missed. She knew something was off at that first meeting, and she should have probably followed her initial instincts.
Exactly a half an hour later, Jessie was getting instructions to prepare for landing. A flight that should have taken at least thirteen hours was completed in six.