BXBX NOVEL Chapter 700 - JoAnna Meets Jesse (1)
~ Los Angeles, White corp. HQ ~
Sarah and Aiden brought Jesse to the White corp. HQ to meet with JoAnna.
They spent few hours early morning at the Beach house training grounds with their kids and Jesse, and as soon as they finished with tests, they headed back to Los Angeles.
Based on their previous conversations, Sarah and Aiden concluded that there is a high probability that Jesse has a tracker hidden inside his body, and they are in a rush to confirm that and take appropriate measurements if their assumption is correct. After all, if they are right, Jesse is putting everyone around him in danger.
"OK… I'm burning to ask this since you called this morning asking me to meet here. Who is he?" JoAnna pointed at the closed capsule-looking-machine which was buzzing.
Sarah glanced toward Aiden who was standing few steps behind her. His expression is complex, and Sarah knows why… Aiden is not confident that they are doing the right thing. Bringing Jesse with them might invite more problems on top of what they are already facing… and he is not sure if he hopes that JoAnna will find something with this full-body-scan or not. It's not that Aiden does not want to help Jesse, but if having Jesse close is putting Sarah in danger, Aiden can't accept that.
Sarah turned toward JoAnna. "We call him Jesse. He joined us from Sierra Leone."
"Jeff told me that you went to sort out a mine and you came back with more kids… this is not a kid." JoAnna half-mocked Sarah.
"Yeah…" Sarah admitted. "We increased our tribe by nineteen kids, and Jesse."
JoAnna was shocked. "Nineteen? With your seven that is twenty six! Don't you think you are overstretching? And why did you adopt a fully grown man?"
Sarah laughed at JoAnna's exaggerated reaction. "He is not adopted… I know you are busy, but I hope you can come to our beach house and meet the newcomers. When you see them, you will know why we could not leave them behind. And we can handle it." Sarah turned toward Aiden, asking for confirmation. "Right?"
Aiden smiled faintly and nodded before his gaze landed back on the capsule looking machine.
"What will you do with him?", JoAnna asked.
"He offered to be our bodyguard. This morning we tested him, and…" Sarah glanced at Aiden while carefully choosing her words. "…he did very well."
JoAnna exhaled while focusing on the computer screen which is filled with data from the ongoing scan. "What am I looking for?"
Sarah was happy that JoAnna switched topic to the task at hand. If she probed more about Jesse and his abilities, Sarah is not sure how she would respond. Sarah remembers Aiden's dark expression when she praised Jesse's results earlier that morning, and she does not want to remind him of that.
Sarah did her best to focus on answering JoAnna's question. "We suspect that he might have a tracking device inside his body. He does not remember having any surgeries. It will be something small… the device needs power, so it will have a battery."
JoAnna nodded in understanding and glanced at Aiden. "Why does brother-in-law not look happy?"
"He has concerns about Jesse. Some people are after him, and Aiden worries that Jesse might bring them to our doorstep." Sarah explained briefly.
JoAnna understood. "Ah, that is why I'm looking for a tracking device."
"Yes." Sarah confirmed.
"What kind of people are after him?" JoAnna continued asking. She was curious about the situation.
"We don't know." Sarah admitted.
JoAnna found it interesting that Sarah and Aiden don't know who is after Jesse. With their skills, it should not be a problem to find out, right? "Did you try to find out?"
"Not yet." Sarah thought that they can look up that information for Jesse and even locate his family, but she needs to talk about it with Aiden… when Aiden calms down. Right now, Aiden is not in a happy place (mentally).
"Do you plan to keep Jesse to work for you?" JoAnna saw that Sarah responded with a nod and continued: "So, in exchange of keeping him hidden from his pursuers, he will stay by your side?" JoAnna knows that Jeff will provide new identities to the newcomers. It's not difficult to connect the dots.
"Yes." Sarah was happy that JoAnna understood the situation and there is no need to explain further.
JoAnna glanced toward Aiden and leaned closer to Sarah. "Tomorrow is your last safe day…", she whispered. "Don't forget the condoms… or I might be an aunt second time."
"I know." Sarah frowned and scolded her sister with a look. She is not comfortable that JoAnna is talking about it… not in front of Aiden.
JoAnna grinned seeing how Sarah got flustered, and continued whispering: "On a second thought, don't use condoms. If you have a child of your own, you might stop adopting random kids wherever you go."
"How about you worry about yourself?", Sarah whispered back with urgency. She can only hope that Aiden didn't hear this… how embarrassing. Sarah glanced at Aiden and exhaled in relief when she saw that he is focused on the capsule-looking machine.
JoAnna giggled.
Few seconds later, capsule-looking machine stopped buzzing.
"Scan is done!" JoAnna announced. "It will take few minutes until I get all the results. See if he needs help getting out."
…
Jesse waited outside in the hallway while JoAnna went through the results.
Sarah and Aiden held their breaths when JoAnna's expression changed.
"Found something…", JoAnna mumbled. "It's in his tooth, lower left, number nineteen."
"What is it?", Sarah asked.
"It is something made out of metal and small enough to fit inside of the tooth." JoAnna explained while pointing at the screen.
Aiden walked to the door and called Jesse to come in and join them.
"When was the last time you went to a dentist?", Sarah asked Jesse.
Jesse thought how the question is unusual, but still responded: "Two years ago, until then I went every six months."
"Any procedures?", Sarah continued.
"Few fillings, but mostly cleaning. Why?"
"You have something inside your tooth. Lower left." JoAnna explained.
"Do you have a dentist you trust?" Sarah asked JoAnna.
"I can just pull it out." JoAnna grinned.
Jesse looked at JoAnna. "Do it."
JoAnna's eyes flashed from excitement. She likes experimenting, and this man in front of her volunteered!
Sarah and Aiden glanced at each other, silently approving Jesse's determination. And then they thought about JoAnna. She is not a dentist… does she know what she is doing?
'If only JoAnna could tone down her excitement, she would look less like a mad scientist…', Sarah thought while looking at JoAnna who happily skipped toward the adjacent room.