Brian released Brigitte. His response didn’t go unnoticed by her. “What do you mean you hope she makes it back in time?”
Michael knew, even if Brian didn’t, that he was in love with Jessie. He touched his brother’s shoulder to offer comfort. “She’s on a plane on her way back here. But contingencies are being made because she’s not scheduled to be back before everything is set to happen.”
The color drained from Brian’s face and the anger immediately dissipated. “She knew she might get caught out there in whatever the hell this is when she called me? I need to talk to her. Can someone get me through to her?”
Téa’s throat was bulging with a lump of emotion, “Once she got confirmation that we were all here, she jammed all communications to her. The only thing we can do is track her plane. I can’t see her or talk to her either, Brian.”
The only thing any of them could do now was hope and pray that she made it back safely.
*****
Jessie was monitoring what was happening on the ground from the plane. She felt so helpless. None of the satellite images had shown any unusual disturbances or weather patterns. Maybe Kyoshe was wrong. Everybody could be wrong at least once…just as the words left Jessie’s lips her monitors started going haywire. The readings that it was giving over Europe was impossible! It had begun.
The pilot came on over the intercom, “Jessie, my instruments are going haywire, I need you up here to help me co-pilot. I’m going to have to fly this bird using blind skill.”
The plane started to shake uncontrollably.
Chapter 22
Everyone had gone back to their own rooms. Téa and Michael were alone lying in bed, just holding each other. “Téa, I’m still so pissed at you that I could choke you. But if these are my last moments alive…I wouldn’t want to spend them with anyone else.”
Téa reached up and cupped his face looking deeply into his eyes. She gently kissed him on the lips, “I love you, too.”
A piercing buzzing sound snatched them out of their kiss. “It’s the alarm. Oh my god, it’s starting. I’ve got to go.”
Michael’s protective instincts kicked in, “Where are you going?”
“As much as I’d love to stay here with you, duty calls. My team needs me in the control room.” Téa hopped off of the bed, put on her combat boots, grabbed her tactical gear, and ran out of the door.”
The instructions coming through the intercom was asking everyone to return to their rooms. But, Michael wanted to be with Brian. Just as he was about to find his brother, Brian walked into Michael’s room with Brigitte.
Brian saw Téa running down the hall. He tried to catch her to see if they’d heard anything from Jessie, but she was too fast for him. The alarm was so loud they had to yell over it, “Do you know if they’ve heard anything about Jessie!”
“Not yet.”
Brian raked his hands through his hair, “I can’t sit here and wait. I’ve got to find out what’s going on. Do you know where Téa went?”
Michael yelled over the alarm, “She said something about the control room.” Brian looked desperate and he understood, “I’ll take care of Brigitte while you find out what’s going on.”
Brigitte looked from brother to brother, “Wait…no I want to go with you Brian!”
It was too late. Brian had already left to find that room.
*****
It was all hands on deck in the control room. Only the elite members were allowed there. And it was controlled chaos; however, the MEGA-AX1 team was in place, Max, Téa, Tony, Gray, and Jake. Although Jessie wasn’t there, Max had left her chair empty. He would not sit in it as long as there was a possibility she was still alive.
Instead, he stood in the center of the room where he could see what was going on no matter where he turned.
Téa and Jake had the monitors up and running. Jessie had uploaded them the video and report so that they had an idea of what the coming attack would look like. They each had one of the six quadrants on the monitors.
Tony and Gray were monitoring the compound from the outside. Making sure they were ready for anything that might come their way.
There was a commotion outside the door. Somehow, Brian had managed to find the control room and was trying to get inside.
Against his better judgment Max signaled to the guards to let him inside.
Just as he was asking Téa about Jessie, “When was the last time we got anything from Jessie’s plane?”
“Nothing from her in the last half hour. I’m still trying to get eyes on it from the satellite.”
Jake bellowed, “Oh…shit. Monitor three right over France!”
Everyone turned to look at monitor three. It was unbelievable. It was like a ball of fire was churning through the land like a tornado but it was everywhere all at once. It engulfed everything it came into contact with. If you ever had an image of hell, this was it on earth.
Gray was incredulous just like everyone else, “My god. No one who is above ground will survive that.”
Tony responded to him, “Hell, we don’t know if anyone who is below ground will survive it either.”
Max started calling out orders, “Tony and Gray seal the compound right now!”
Téa pleaded, “Can’t we give just a few more minutes?”
Tony and Gray waited for Max’s response…hoping against hope.
“You don’t think I want to wait? To give Jessie more time…I understand what this means but we can’t take the risk. I’m responsible for all the lives down here. We’ve got to seal the compound right now.”
Tony and Gray’s fingers started moving on their keypads. They needed to type in
