The Sands of Seth (S2E16): Episode Tag

Disclaimer:  I do not own either of the Mission: Impossible series or any of the characters therein.  I receive no compensation or any other tangible benefit from this story.  I am just a fan who enjoys taking the team out for an adventure every now and then.  🙂

*****

The flight back from Cairo was exhausting. None of the agents particularly wanted to meet up at Jim's condo, to participate in the customary debriefing. But they knew what was expected of them, so they were all here.

This mission had been one of the team's more elaborate cons; they had utilized Grant 's technology to forge an ancient scroll, and they'd even gone so far as to construct a tomb. All of this had been done to stop the murderous Horace Selim and preserve U.S. peace efforts in the Middle East.

This mission, like others, had not been without danger. Max was attacked by half a dozen of Selim’s men - though he held his own against them until one pulled a knife on him. Nicholas was nearly one of Selim’s sacrifices to the ancient god Seth. And Jim and Shannon were sealed in the airtight tomb and would have suffocated without the team's collaborative efforts to save them.

Any number of things could have explained why the team members were quieter than usual on the way home. For the most part, everyone alternated between reading and napping during the long plane ride.

Everyone, that is, except Max.

Max sat in stoic silence for the entire trip, staring out the window with his chin in his hands, moving only to use the restroom once. One by one, each of the other agents took turns trying to talk to him, but they were unsuccessful. Both Shannon and Nicholas inquired about his well-being, and both were answered with an abrupt, "I'm fine," and nothing more.

Toward the end of the flight, Max's four companions had huddled together, in hushed tones speculating among themselves about what might be wrong with their friend and looking toward their leader for guidance. Jim had agreed that an intervention was necessary, but a crowded commercial jetliner was not the place to do it.

But now, here, in the privacy and familiarity of Jim's condo, there would be a different sort of debriefing.

Once everyone had chosen their seats - Max and Shannon on one couch, Nicholas and Grant on the other, with Jim in his chair in the middle - Jim began to speak.

"Max," he said, his voice gentle, "we need for you to tell us what's bothering you."

It wasn't at all what Max expected his leader to say, so it took him a moment to process the words. Finally, he responded. "Nothing, Jim. Everything's fine."

"Is it?" Shannon questioned softly, reaching for Max's hand.

Max pulled it away. "I guess I'm just tired, that's all," he muttered, not meeting her eyes.

"I think there's more to it than that, partner," Grant chimed in. "You hardly spoke to any of us on the flight."

Max stood up and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Look, if we're not going to have a debriefing, then I'm heading home."

Nicholas also got to his feet and stepped between Max and the front door. "Max, we're not letting this go." He laid a hand on Max's shoulder, his voice low. "Please, Max. We're your friends. Talk to us."

Max sighed heavily. He knew he was being difficult, but in truth he wasn't sure how to articulate what he was feeling. Still, he knew he had to try; the others wouldn't give up until he did so.

Max returned to his seat on the couch, and his friends waited in silence. Finally, he looked at Jim and Shannon, and his voice was quiet as he spoke.

"The two of you could have died in that tomb because I didn't warn you we were coming," he mumbled. "I can't stop thinking about it."

Shannon let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and reached for his hand again. She should have guessed that was still bothering him. She had seen his face when Selim slapped her at the tomb's entrance, had heard his protests when the tyrant had ordered them sealed inside. But the mission had ended successfully, and she'd all but forgotten their brush with death in the airtight chamber.

Max hadn't forgotten.

"We're okay, Max," Shannon reassured him, squeezing his hand. "We're both just fine."

"Yes, Max, everything worked out all right," Jim added quickly.

"But you two were supposed to be someplace safe, away from the tomb, when Selim showed up," Max protested. "I should have found another way."

"But you did find another way, Max," Nicholas reminded him, with gentle insistence. "You let me know what was happening while I was hiding in the sarcophagus."

"And Nicholas was able to tell me as soon as he laid out Carnac," Grant added, recalling with a stifled shudder how quickly he'd moved from the ruins on the hill to get back to the tomb.

"Yes, but by then it was almost too late," Max muttered. He met Jim's eyes with his own, and Jim winced at the pain that he saw there. "I should have kept better track of my communicator. And I shouldn't have left you there and gone with Selim.”

Jim rose up from his chair and walked over to take a seat on the other side of the couch next to Max. He laid a fatherly hand on Max's shoulder.

"Max," he said softly, "out of all of us, you had the most vital part of this mission. You were the one who had to get the scroll to Selim."

"Selim was supposed to come meet you at the market," Grant interjected. "You couldn't have anticipated that he would send his goons after you instead. It wasn't your fault that the communicator was lost."

Jim nodded at Grant 's words. "You had to go with him, Max, to forge that alliance." His heart ached at the thought of what Max had gone through, playing his part while knowing that Jim had been knocked unconscious and he and Shannon were inside that tomb. "Otherwise, we would never have found out about Selim’s plans to kill all those leaders and throw the Egyptian government into chaos."

"We know you didn't want to leave us there, Max," Shannon soothed, "but Selim was a madman. He forced you to choose. And we all know that if you hadn't, you'd have been trapped in there with us." Shannon left the rest of the thought unspoken: with an extra person using up air, and nobody to get help on the outside, they'd have all been dead before Grant got back from the ruins.

"And let's not forget," Nicholas added, "that if Selim hadn't taken you to the temple, it might have been someone else wrapping that setant around my throat."

"And we couldn't have made Seth the giver of life, instead of its taker," Grant finished, recalling how the team had utilized the rising sun beaming down through the "eyes" of Seth to look as if the ancient god had raised the secret policeman from the dead, causing Selim’s followers to turn on him and cast him into the unforgiving sand.

"There is danger in all of our missions, Max," Jim summarized, as only the team leader could do, "and very rarely do things ever go exactly as planned. But we are successful because we are a team - a strong team built on friendship and trust. That hasn't changed."

Slowly, the pain and guilt etched into Max's conscience began to drift away as he recognized the implication of Jim's words. They did forgive him. They didn't blame him. And they still trusted him. At that moment, the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders and his face slowly curled into a smile.

"Thanks, guys," he said sincerely, as Jim squeezed his shoulder and Shannon gave him a soft hug. "I needed that."

"We know you did, Max," Jim smiled.

"Will you be okay?" Shannon whispered.

Max smiled at her. "I'm all right now," he replied, "thanks to a little help from my friends."

The End

(c) 2016