He dropped his bags right where he stood. His back was still to her, “What can you possibly say to me to make this okay?”
“I…don’t…know, but I’m going to try because I love you.”
Michael closed his eyes. It hurt to hear her says those words to him. He turned around, his eyes hot with anger, “How could you possibly love me? Look at you? You’re a whole other person that I don’t even know!”
“I wanted to tell you so many times.”
“But…you didn’t. You had over a year’s worth of chances to tell me. From the looks of things, you live a pretty dangerous life. Téa, I run a Hollywood talent agency and…you…I don’t even know what you do!”
“I’m the technology guru for this outfit. When I said I handled the communication systems security that wasn’t false, it just wasn’t the whole truth. I’m also a member of an elite Black-Ops team, Mega-AX1. We work mainly for a secret world organization responsible for making sure we don’t destroy ourselves.”
Michael looked at her like she’d grown a third head. “You let me put my family in danger, and I didn’t have a say as to whether I wanted any part of it. Can you imagine the guilt that I feel? I introduced all of this to Brian!”
“I know and I’m sorry!”
“Téa, I was prepared to make you my wife? Hell, is your name even really Téa Carlisle?”
“It is now.”
Michael sat down on the bed, “Unbelievable.”
Téa sat down next to him, “Believe it or not I was going to tell you everything this weekend and then all hell broke loose. Michael, I love you. I would never have married you without telling you everything.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As furious as he was with Téa he still loved her. “Why are we here?”
“You’re here because we weren’t able to stop the world from going to hell.”
Somebody knocked on her door. Téa got up to open it. It was Max. She threw her arms around him, “Oh thank god you made it.”
Michael got up and walked over toward them. As mad as he was with Téa he sure as hell didn’t want to see her wrapping her arms around another man. “I sure hope that’s your brother.”
Max was still hugging Téa and looked up to see a jealous-looking Michael. He released Téa and smiled at Michael. “I’m the closest thing to it.” Max held out his hand, “And…you are Michael, the fiancé. I’ve heard a lot about you. Sorry we’re meeting like this.”
Michael shook his hand as Téa closed the door, “Well, I’m sorry I can’t say I’ve heard anything about you.”
Max understood his frustration and didn’t take his comment personally. Téa ignored his remark.
Max turned back to Téa, “Have you heard from Jessie? Is she close?”
Téa shook her head no. “I haven’t heard from her and I can’t see her. She jammed the amulet; although, they are still tracking the plane. The fireworks are set to possibly start in a couple of hours, and she is still at least three hours out.”
The tension was so thick Michael could cut it, “Is Jessie in danger?”
Téa’s eyes welled up with tears and she had to clear her throat, “Yes.”
“Okay can someone finally tell me what…is…going…on? This feels bigger than some thug wanting to kill us.”
“It’ll probably be easier if I told you, Brian, and Brigitte all together.” Téa asked one of the guards outside the door if they could go get them.
Chapter 21
Everyone was assembled in Téa’s suite. She’d introduced Max to Brian and Brigitte. Téa still couldn’t understand what Brian saw in Brigitte; she seemed so fragile.
When Jessie wasn’t available Max was in command. She gave him the floor to explain.
“I hate to have to meet you under these conditions and then have to be the bearer of this type of news. If Téa hasn’t explained to you already, we are a special team of Black-Ops operatives. We’re known as Mega-AX1. Our job is to prevent catastrophes from destroying our way of living from rogue nations or people.
This is Jessie’s operation, but most of our missions come from an organization called the Council. It’s a group of people who live in the shadows. They watch, they listen, and they take action when necessary. MEGA-AX1 is a part of the muscle. I’m Jessie’s second-in-command and Téa is the head of technology.”
Max tried to add some levity to an extremely tense situation. “Don’t let Téa’s smile fool you…she can build a supercomputer out of toothpicks and a piece of gum and she can physically take you down just as easily.” The humor fell flat. Everyone was tense.
“Anyway, we are here today because there is a threat that’s so big we expect it to destroy two-thirds of the world as we know it in possibly less than two hours. We are not sure that we are safe here, but we have more of a chance of surviving in this bunker than we do out there.”
Brian couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This whole situation would make for a great script if it weren’t happening in real life. “If this ‘Council’ is the eyes and ears, how the hell could they have missed something so big? And if this is Jessie’s operation, where is she?”
Téa noticed Brigitte move into Brian’s arms when he mentioned Jessie. As much as she felt there was something strong between Brian and Jessie, she could also no longer ignore that Brian must really have strong feelings for Brigitte to bring her here.
“Those are very good questions. My guess is that no matter how hard you try, you can’t always see and hear everything. For example, we’ve been here in Phoenix for nine years and no one would ever know we do more than just
