After Jessie landed, she took a cab from the airport to John Wellington’s office building. She got out of the car and walked right inside, then took the elevator up to the top floor. When the doors opened, Wellington’s security detail was waiting for her. Her attire must have put them on edge.
“I’m sorry Miss you cannot be on this floor.”
“I need to speak with Mr. Wellington.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No.”
“You won’t be able to see Mr. Wellington today.”
One of the men squared Jessie up and imperceptibly moved closer to her. Jessie stepped back just a bit to give herself a little room. Like a bolt of lightning, she struck the man in his trachea with a sharp fist. He grabbed his neck heaving hard and gasping for breath. When the other bodyguard lunged for her, she struck him hard in the nose and heard it crunch as blood spewed everywhere, then she kneed him in the kidney and pushed him out of her way.
Jessie went around the corner toward the doors she’d entered just a day before. Wellington’s Administrative Assistant tried to stop her, “Wait...wait! You can’t go in there.”
Jessie walked right past her and through the doors. She drew her gun because it appeared as though Wellington was in the process of drawing his.
“That might not be a good idea for you,” Jessie said as she went over, took his gun, and patted him down just to make sure he didn’t have anything else. Then she waved her gun toward the direction of the chair usually reserved for guests and pushed him down in it. “Why did you send me on a wild goose chase?”
“I didn’t. The Jalanni Militia has the most motive to want Dr. Sheitz.”
“Why would they want him?”
“My company and Dr. Sheitz have developed a technology that can change everything you know about the world.”
“If that were the case then I’d already know about it.”
“Ms. Ramsey, I’ve been able to keep this off the grid because it doesn’t need or use any electro-magnetic energy. But, it’s so powerful, it can be used to close the hole in the ozone layer or blow it wide open.”
That raised the hairs on the back of Jessie’s neck, “I’m listening. Go on.”
“In the wrong hands everything that you know could cease to exist.”
“Mr. Wellington, if what you say is true, I don’t think this technology should be in the hands of any one individual.”
“Perhaps.”
“You can’t blame me for being somewhat skeptical. I will need more proof than just your word that what you’ve told me is true.”
Wellington nodded his head toward one of the fine arts pieces on the wall, “May I?”
Jessie paused at first before agreeing.
Mr. Wellington walked over to his wall safe. He opened it only after his retina security eye scan was successful. He pulled out an old beta video tape. “Everything you want to know is on this tape.”
“Anything can be manipulated, including older technology. It might be harder but not impossible to manipulate.”
“Kyoshe said you were very cautious and very good. Ms. Ramsey, I am not doing this for selfish reasons. I’m doing this because I’m afraid of this technology being in the wrong hands. If I can’t control it, then I’d rather it be destroyed. Unfortunately the only way to destroy the technology completely also means terminating the scientist who developed it and hoping that he hasn’t already given it away.”
How’d he know Kyoshe? Less than a dozen people knew she existed.
“Mr. Wellington, you’ve given me a lot of information that needs to be verified.”
“I understand, but please know time is not on our side.”
Jessie nodded her understanding, “No, it’s not. If what you say is true you might want to find a safe location and stay there until Dr. Sheitz can be found.”
Jessie took the envelope and left the office. She called Max to cancel the surveillance of Wellington and told them to meet her back at headquarters.
It had taken about an hour and a half, but Jessie’s plane was finally taxiing on the runway. Once she was airborne, she opened the envelope and put the VHS into a device that could read it as if it were a digital chip.
The video showed Dr. Sheitz, John Wellington, and a couple of other scientists performing tests in a desert with a device about the size of a coffee saucer. Sheitz pointed and pressed a button. First, there were little tremors. Then all of a sudden those tremors weren’t so little. The machine appeared to bring on a full scale earthquake. The next thing Jessie saw was that the entire city turned into a raging ball of fire. Jessie’s mouth fell open. She pulled out the report and read it. Not only could this device create earthquakes, but tornados, fire storms, and any other manner of climate disturbances. It was also highly unstable.
The video seemed to show the experiment was limited to the area in which they tested it. It went far outside the expected range into a small town of several thousand. The town became a raging inferno. Apparently, everyone in the town was killed. There were no survivors. The damage that little device could do was unbelievable.
Jessie was so engrossed in the report that when her phone rang on her secured line, she almost missed it. It was Téa. “Jessie you’re never going to believe this. I’ve just decoded some of the cache of documents that I found. It looks like Dr. Sheitz was working for both Mr. Wellington and another group. This other group is fronted by incredibly rich religious fanatics who appear to want to create an ‘Armageddon’ so they can build ‘the new world’. It’s been hard for me to get sound out of the compound because it’s so deep into the ground.”
“Téa, I’m elevating this situation to a level nine. Have Jake and Gray put two teams on alert. We’re going to need them to go into that compound.”
“What did you find out…?”
Jessie’s other phone rang. It was Kyoshe. “Téa, I’ve got to take another call. I’ll call you back with details.”
Chapter 19
Kyoshe never spoke to Jessie in English. So Jessie spoke to her in her native Mandarin tongue, “Kyoshe…what is going on? It feels like all hell is going to break loose.”
“Wellington was telling you the truth. What he doesn’t know is that Dr. Sheitz only worked for him so that he could continue his research. Wellington had the resources. Once the research was finished, he took it and staged his ‘abduction’. The Council only recently found out about this device.”
“I know where both he and the device are. I have two teams on standby plus my team. We can be ready to go if you can provide us with more Intel of the layout of the compound. We can extract and terminate on site.”
“No. I’m afraid it is too late for that. The compound is a virtual Fort Knox. We intercepted a carrier who confessed to us that they plan to use the device within the next six to twelve hours. You’ve seen the damage it can do, and that video showed it being tested on its lowest levels.
Apparently, they’ve divided the world up into six quadrants and plan to use it on four. North America is one of them. The only thing you can do now is get the people you love into the bunker just as I will do.”
For the first time ever, Jessie heard Kyoshe’s voice in English. “I hope and pray like hell that we survive this thing so we can live to fight another day. If not, I love you my daughter.” The line went silent.
Jessie was stunned and confused by that display of emotion. Kyoshe believed to show emotion was weakness, so Jessie was stunned and confused by the unexpected display.
My daughter
? Did Kyoshe think of her in that way? She didn’t know what to say, but was humbled and honored. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much time to process her words.
Jessie pressed her amulet twice. Téa, Max, Jake, Tony, and Gray appeared, “Change of plans, my friends. We will not be infiltrating the compound. I’m afraid there isn’t enough time. This situation has just been elevated to a level ten.”
Everyone started talking at once. Jessie closed and rubbed her eyes. “Listen, please. Not only is this a level ten, but we also need to activate our survival protocol.”
It suddenly got really quiet. Max spoke out, “Is this a drill or a test?”
“It’s neither. I’ve just confirmed that the damage that is going to be done will affect millions. They won’t survive it. And…time is not on our side; this action is scheduled to happen in the next six to twelve hours.”
“Jessie how long have you, Max, Tony, and Shelly been in the air?” Téa asked what everyone else was coming to realize.
“They’ve been in the air about an hour and a half. They should make it before the process starts. I’ve been in the air about twenty minutes.”
Gray cursed, “Is there any way you can be here within six hours?”
Jessie smiled weakly, “I can talk to the pilot but I’m guessing no. We’ll do our best though.”
It was silent, again. Jessie couldn’t stand the look of helplessness in their eyes. She hoped it wasn’t a mirror of hers.
She was the leader. She set the tone and the tone needed to be survival, “Look, we’ve all got the amulet. Let’s activate the protocol and get our loved ones to safety. We’ll check back with each other in two hours.” Jessie tapped the amulet twice and all the people she loved disappeared.
*****
Jessie had to make one more call. She dialed Brian’s number. “Hi. It’s me. Can you talk?”
Brian could hear in Jessie’s voice something was really off. “What’s wrong? Hold on a minute.” There was some shuffling and muffled voices, and then it was all quiet before he spoke again. “You okay?”
After a long pause, Jessie exhaled, “Not really. I’ve had better days. I need to tell you something that’s going to sound so unbelievable you might think I’m crazy. But, every word of it is true.”
“I don’t like the sound of this. You’re making me nervous.”
“When we met, I told you that I owned a Network and Security Management Firm. Which is true. But, what I didn’t tell you is that it’s a little more intricate than just protecting internet passwords. I’m the leader of an elite Black-Ops team who works mostly with a world organization that nobody really knows exists.”
Jessie paused for Brian’s reaction. He was silent…too silent. “Brian are you still listening?”
His voice was tight, “Yes. We’ve known each other over a year now, why are you just now telling me this?”
“So many reasons but mostly to keep you safe. I can’t imagine how angry you must feel, but I’m hoping you can put that aside for now because I really need you to trust me.”
“Are you serious Jessie? You’ve lied to me for over a year! I let you into my hea…my house. You know I live in a world full of cut-throats and lying snakes and how important honesty and trust are to me.”
Jessie threw her head back onto the headrest. She whispered to him, “I know and I wanted to tell you so many times. As angry as you rightfully are, I need you to put it aside and trust me one last time. I need you to drop everything you are doing and go home. Pack a few things and wait for a couple of my men to pick you up. They are going to bring you to a safe place.”
“Are you kidding me? What are you talking about? You’re right, you do sound crazy. I have the opening of my movie tonight! Don’t forget the press is still having a field day with the mini-PR crisis from this morning. I can’t just up and disappear.”
“Brian your life depends on it.”
All the anger drained from his body, “What? Is this some kind of a sick joke?”
Sounding more and more exhausted, “I wish it were but it’s not. You and Michael are not in a safe place.”
“Is there like a crazy assassin looking for me because of the work you do?”
“No. It’s bigger and broader than any one individual.”
“Then tell me what it is?”
“I can’t. Not over the phone. You’re line is not secure.”
“If this is not about me, then whatever is happening, will it affect other people I care about?”
“Yes.”
More silence. “Is Brigitte safe?”
“No.”
“Then, I want her to come with me.”
“You’ll have two hours to get your things together, and I’ll tell my men to expect three.”
Chapter 20
There was a flurry of activity at the MEGA-AX1 compound. Jessie uploaded the video she’d gotten from Wellington so that everyone knew the magnitude of the situation.
There was a steady flow of family members coming to the compound and being set up for who knew exactly how long. M-AX1’s headquarters could comfortably house more than a couple hundred people. The underground bunker was like a self-sufficient city.
Téa was nervous. She’d just gotten confirmation that Michael, Brian, and Brigitte had arrived. They were on elevator 3. She hadn’t had an opportunity to tell Michael about her secret life before this situation arose. She’d planned on doing it this weekend. However, when they talked briefly on the phone she could tell he was beyond angry.
So there she was anxiously standing around with other M-AX1 employees waiting for her loved ones to arrive. The elevator dinged and the door slowly opened. It was full of people. It took a moment, but there they were, Michael, Brian, and Brigitte.
Michael’s eyes connected with hers immediately. He was furious. Both he and Brian were furious while Brigitte looked on like a deer in headlights.