“They authenticated the visual and voice recognition information we sent?”
“You’re good at what you do, and I’m good at what I do. Of course there was a visual and voice recognition authentication.”
Jessie laughed, “Okay, okay. Then, I guess it’s time to assemble the team.” Jessie got her personal assistant on the phone, “Liz, please contact Elite Team One, I’m going to need them here at Mega Headquarters in the next six to eight hours. Thanks.”
*****
Six hours later Tony, Jake, Max, Gray, and Téa were assembled in her office at the round table. Max and Téa were the only ones who needed to fly into Phoenix.
Liz had prepared a dossier on the client and the target for each member.
“We’re already starting behind the eight ball in that our target has been missing for at least seventy-two hours….”
Tony was confused, “So, wait, is this a missing persons case?”
“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
