Elemental: Earth

by L. E. Washington

  “Brother, for divinity such as that, I’d be content to be a mosquito. At least I could bite her and drink her in, literally. Who is she? Who are they?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been watching them since I got here and spotted them. It seems like they’re just some girlfriends on vacation, but who comes here on a vacation? Who would even know to come here on a vacation? Something just isn’t right about it. From what I can tell, the one that’s got you all hot and bothered and the one in the red bikini have some sort of higher rank or something over the rest of them. They seem to know each other quite well. They spend the most time together, but get this--some of it is in the dead of night, while the other two are sleeping, almost like they’re sneaking around to have conversations that they don’t want the other women to hear or know about. And then there’s this distinct vibe I get that the other girls, the Lesser Ones, hardly know either of the two in charge—almost like they’re playing a role. Something’s rotten in Denmark, but I can’t quite decide what.”

  Giles put his arm around his brother and leaned in close to Gavin’s ear. “You know, if I didn’t know you like I know you, I’d think you were a creepy stalker, listening to you talk about these women and their secret meetings. You sure do have a lot of details on them. Obsess much?”

  Gavin shrugged Giles’ arm off his broad shoulders and turned his dark blue eyes on his brother. Anger glittered in the depths. “It’s my job. You’re too infatuated with all the fun you can have here. Someone has to keep an eye out. We’ve been free for far too long. The government isn’t completely incompetent. They have resources to rival our own powers. Don’t you think they gained anything from us while they had us all those years? They don’t hire stupid people either. Some of the best minds work for them, and the Powers That Be will stop at nothing until they’re the Be-All Power. That means we’re gone, and call me crazy, but I have a feeling that when they catch up to us, all those years of experiments will seem like a day at the circus compared to what they will do to us.”

  “If,” Giles corrected under his breath, just audible enough for Gavin to hear.

  “Say that again?”

  “If,” he said with emphasis. “You said ‘when’ the asswipes catch up to us. It’s IF.”

  Gavin sighed and tried to smile. This was what he loved most about his brother, Giles, and Gavin loved it when the feisty, fun-loving and innocently positive Giles showed up instead of the Giles consumed with too much bitterness and revenge. Gavin tried to nurture that Giles as much as he could, so he reached out and ruffled his younger brother’s silky red hair.

  A sudden burst of female laughter caught their attention, and Giles and Gavin were drawn back to the bathing beauties.

  “So, what do you think their story is? Plants?” Giles asked.

  “Could be,” replied Gavin. “Logically, it works. This is a Wednesday. They arrived on a Sunday, not a weekend. No one really comes here, and here they are, too, in the middle of the day hanging out at the beach. Who does that here?”

  “We do,” Giles replied.

  “Yeah, but our story’s different. Everyone around here knows that we’re all wealthy orphaned children whose parents had promised them they would one day bring them back to the land of their great-grandfather, but died on an overseas mission with the UN. No one is suspicious of us. This, on the other hand, screams ‘trap’. . . except. . . I just don’t know.”

  “What’s wrong? Isn’t your Spidey-sense tingling at all?”

  “I just can’t seem to break through completely. I see the danger, most definitely. It’s all around the red-head especially, and I can see a slight shadow of it, I think, dancing with the blonde, and the other one, but for some reason, I’m not seeing it with the one in the red bikini.”

  “Maybe you just don’t want to see it, Bro.” Giles said it with a teasing tone, but he was actually quite serious—and worried. If Gavin’s warning signs weren’t easily visible, they could be in for some real trouble.

  “Maybe I just need some rest.”

  “Maybe you just need some lovin’. I think we ought to meet up with these beauties. You know it’s a lot easier to read a person when you’re right there in their face.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t feel good about it. I just feel this uneasiness that doesn’t seem to fit anything. We can try to set them up and figure out some details, but we could find out that we’re in for it.

  Giles sighed. “Yeah. Maybe. But what a way to go.”

  “Do you think that’s them?” Melissa consulted the digitally enhanced photo of their targets.

  “I can’t be one-hundred percent but my instinct tells me, yes, and you know how right my instincts usually are.”

  Tessa and Melissa were speaking in low voices as Dara returned to her previous position-- face down upon the sand. “I don’t care if it’s them or if it’s the freakin’ Pope. I’m lying right here until this damn headache goes away,” she mumbled.

  Melissa rolled her eyes. “You’d never make it one day in basic, Princess.”

  Dara raised her head and shot Melissa a look of daggers. “Guess that’s the difference between me and you, G.I. Jane. I get to play with the boys. You try to be a boy.”

  Melissa stiffened. For a moment Tessa thought she was going to stalk over to ‘princess’ and knock the shit out of her.

  “Alright, alright. Cut it out, you two.” Tessa was getting tired of the issues that randomly popped up between Melissa and Dara. One minute they were fine, civil like friends should be. Then, without any warning, there would be knives thrown and backs stabbed. . . metaphorically, of course. Well, for now anyway. Who knew? They could easily decide to forgo the poetics and make it all real, and Tessa wouldn’t be surprised.

  “We have our mission and it’s quite clear. The only way we’re going to achieve this is to work together. We all took an oath to accomplish this mission to the best of our ability as one cohesive unit despite any differences. While we’re out here, we’re the best of friends, period, end of discussion. Once it’s all over and we’ve reported back to the chief, you two can kill each other or ravage each other, whatever. I don’t care. But for now, when you’re under my command, you will suck it up and behave, damnit!”

  Melissa and Dara dropped their gazes to the sand quickly. “Yes, ma’am,” Melissa said with seriousness.

  Tessa turned and looked at the other woman expectantly. “Dara?”

  “Yeah. Ok. Whatever.”

  Geez, I have enough to worry about just tracking down four brothers with these crazy powerful abilities and returning them to the chief. I shouldn’t have to worry about babysitting a bunch of high school prom queens in the mix, Tessa thought. This effing assignment is going to be the death of me.

  Of course, nothing was a secret between the four women. They all knew each others’ background. The chief had briefed them on each other in detail in separate interviews and training. Tessa was a whiz-kid. Recruited by the government at the age of sixteen, Tessa had first caught the chief’s eye when she was suspended for hacking into her school’s mainframe, switched up students’ class schedules and grades, and added letters of condemnation or recognition to specific teachers’ files. Then, she doctored several transcripts of a few special seniors. Her best friend, previously ranked fifth in the class, suddenly became valedictorian, making her eligible for countless state scholarships, providing a pathway to an education she knew Kaitlyn couldn’t afford because of her single mother’s cancer bills and treatment.

  Her nemesis, Dylan, fell from grace and was no longer listed as the busybody he truly was. His class activities and certain test scores disappeared, causing him to have to take a few of the local tests over before authorities ever discovered Tessa’s little trick. Because the local college had sent an official letter awarding Kaitlyn a full scholarship, she was able to go to school, in spite of the truth when it came out. The provost at the college was so moved by Kaitlyn’s story and the dep
th of friendship that had caused Tessa to commit such a crime on her behalf, he actually drummed up the money from enough shareholders to honor their commitment, and now Kaitlyn worked for Hospice, an Angel of Mercy for those families who suffered just as she had during her formative years.

  That was when the chief had called Tessa. She remembered thinking it was a joke, but when she discovered the chief could explain to her exactly what she’d done and the time in which she did it (less than four minutes total), she began to believe that Big Brother had been watching, and it wasn’t just an urban legend told to scare every American into submission.

  “But that’s not why I’m calling,” Chief Jameson had growled. “I’m calling because I’d like for you to come take a few tests for us. The security you had to breach in the time you accomplished this was little less than amazing.”

  “Whatever, dude. This is so bogus. If it were true, you’d be talking to my parents. I’m a minor.”

  “Tell ya what, Missy. Why don’t you have a conversation with your folks. I’ll touch base with you after that. Maybe you’ll get your head out of your ass then.” Chief Jameson slammed the phone down.

  “Bastard asshole,” Tessa mumbled.

  “Excuse me, young lady?” Her mom had always had the knack of walking into the room just at the wrong moment.

  “Nothing. This kook called saying he was from some government agency and wanted me to consider working for him, yada, yada. It’s crap. Why do people think I’m going to fall for that junk? They miss all of the obvious details, like, duh, man, I’m sixteen. You have to talk to my parents first. You can’t just up and offer me some secret government job.”

  Her mother had put her hand in her pocket and drew out a business card with the American flag in shadow on the back. There, written clearly for Tessa to see, was the name-- Chief J. D. Jameson, Director, Special Task Forces and a D.C. number.

  Tessa looked up at her mom with questions in her big brown eyes.

  “Hon, your father and I already met with him. It’s all legit. You can believe whatever he said to you on the phone, and I think you also have some decisions to make.”

  “What the hell, Mom? You have this whole conversation with freakin’ O’Brien of Oceania to plan out my life and you don’t see fit to even enlighten me to these events?”

  “First of all, Tessa, you will watch your tone. Do I need to remind you of how much trouble you’re in already? As far as your father and I are concerned, that military school application is already filled out. You’re supposed to be using this time to educate and edify yourself, serve your community, and decide better ways to use your gifts as well as how to make amends for the damage you’ve done.

  “Secondly, I do not need your approval or permission regarding how I spend my time or with whom I spend my time. If I want to meet with someone, I get to decide that, not you. And if I want to discuss you and your future with someone, as the woman who housed you within her womb, brought you into the world, and has cared for you ever since, then, by God, I will have that discussion, with or without you, your knowledge, or your consent. Do I make myself understood?”

  Tessa was fuming. This was going to be a stalemate at best. She knew she was already in enough trouble not to have any bargaining power, so she was just going to have to suck it up and cower to the power for right now. “Yes, Mother,” she sneered.

  “What?” Mrs. Brooks knew her daughter too well. After all, Tessa was a carbon copy of her. The haunting words of her own mother came back to her too often, and now was not the first time today. “You reap what you sew, sweetie. Just wait until you have a daughter of your own.”

  “I meant ‘yes, ma’am’,” Tessa corrected herself. Maybe a talk with that goon wouldn’t be a bad idea? Jameson? He might just be her ticket out from under her mother’s crushing thumb. She’d made plans to call him within the next week.

  And here I’m, Tessa thought. Godforsaken, Argentina with a beauty queen and a gymnast. At least Gillian doesn’t think she’s supposed to be waited on hand and foot. I swear, I might just let Melissa tear Dara up one day. Accidents happen. It’s South America for crying out loud. People go missing all of the time.

  “Hey. I think there are two of them walking over here. Giles and, um, Gavin I think.” Gillian’s lips didn’t even move when she reported the news. And from where Tessa was seated, she couldn’t even tell that Gillian was looking anywhere near the two brothers.

  Picking up her iPhone, Tessa could easily see in the reflection that the targets, indeed, were headed straight for them. She was ready. She knew she’d smoke them out.

  “Took ‘em long enough,” she muttered under her breath, then, in a full voice, she said, “What? Who?” She turned to look across the sand at the brothers strolling towards them.

  “Hi,” she purred as the men neared them.

  “Hola,” Giles returned. “Como esta?”

  “Um, bien, gracias, y tu?” Tessa could speak Spanish fluently along with Italian, Portugeuse, German, and Mandarin Chinese, and there were times when she hated playing the dumb female role. It went against everything she believed as a woman, and she actually wanted to impress these two for some reason. Though she had seen plenty of pictures and secret footage of the four targets, she wasn’t prepared for the experience of being face-to-face with them. Their energy hummed, and Gavin’s blue eyes penetrated and caressed her like a lover who’s familiar with every centimeter of his paramour. They were the most intense shade of blue she’d ever seen. And the vine tattoos on his arms running from his fingers up and around his biceps made her itch to trace them. He smiled at her, and she could have sworn the earth trembled between them.

  Damnit, I sound like a freakin’ romance novel. Fifty Shades of freakin’ Blue, she thought to herself. This was not her. She needed to remember herself and not the character she was supposed to play. If she was going to lose anything on this mission it was going to be pounds (or maybe Dara), but it wasn’t going to be herself!

  “Don’t let her fool ya,” Dara said with a slightly forced grin. “She’s a whiz with languages. Teaches world languages, in fact.”

  I’m going to kill her, Tessa thought. “I do,” she said, playing along while shooting Dara an icy glare. “You boys just caught me off guard. For some reason, I was expecting you to greet us in English. I don’t know why. We are in South America after all. Just, I thought with the leather vests and motorcycle boots you guys were Americans—bikers. Maybe on a world tour. You don’t see many bikers around these parts.”

  “Don’t see many tourists, either,” Giles commented as he slid a glance over Dara.

  She was accustomed to being the object of men’s attention, women, too, for that matter. She knew the power that her beauty held for her, and she relied on it a little too heavily. It had caught up with her, however. All those pageants and all those silly local commercials didn’t pay enough for Dara to live the lifestyle she deserved. So what if she didn’t pay taxes on a few of those pageants’ winnings? It wasn’t like the government really needed her measly little dollars. She had far more use for them. But you can only fool Uncle Sam for so long, and you can only avoid the court subpoenas for so long until you find yourself in an overly-dramatic shade of orange from shoulders to toes, and just because you’re in a female prison ward does NOT mean you cannot be raped. Everyone had wanted a piece of her until she’d started the rumor that she had herpes. Then they seemed to back off a little bit. Well, at least most of them backed off. Loony Lisa didn’t seem to really comprehend English or consequences or reality for that matter.

  So when the warden had called Dara into her office and introduced her to Chief Jameson, Dara barely heard him describe the details of the mission before she had promised her duty, her loyalty, and her first born child if they would only get her out of ‘this rectum of a hellhole’ and now! (She was even more excited to sign on when it was revealed she would be hunting down these ‘dangerous’ rebels who looked more l
ike they should be in Calvin Klein ads. Time Square would never be the same if you were standing there life-sized in CK’s latest underwear design, Dara thought as she allowed her long-lashed, hazel eyes to travel up Giles’ legs, hugged by his dark denim, to the bulge just below his waistband, to what she could already tell would be the tightest of abs and stomach giving way to broad shoulders, and trying to see behind the mirrored shades.

  Giles grinned at her, enjoying the attention from the copper-haired beauty. As a friend of his from Georgia used to say, ‘She looked like a tall, cool glass of sweet iced tea’ and he was about to thirst to death.

  “Hot?” Giles asked Dara, hoping the double entendre wasn’t lost on her.

  “Oh, yes,” Dara responded, smiling with amusement. “I’m sure these beers are warm by now. Do you fellas know where we can find some nice cold ones?”

  “Yeah,” Giles volunteered.

  “Nope. Sorry,” Gavin responded at the same time.

  The brothers looked at each other as the four women laughed.

  Did the woman have no sense of subtlety? Not to mention a sense of self-preservation! If she blew their mission with her stupid mouth, she was going to strangle the bitch and leave her in the jungle! “Don’t be silly, Dara! These guys are gentlemen. They aren’t going to lure four women off somewhere without at least knowing their names first,” Tessa said easily, struggling to keep the anger out of her voice. “Can’t you tell they were raised better than that?”

  Tessa was smooth, but Dara was sick and tired of her stepping in and ruining any potential for fun that they could have. Just because they were on a mission didn’t mean they couldn’t have a good time while they were at it.

  Who knew when or even if they’d get around to visiting Argentina again? Dara mused. She knew, or at least suspected, that now that the government had caught up with her and she was doing favors for them, she wouldn’t be off their radar when she was finished. She’d been flagged and now she’d have to pay her taxes, give up the pageant circuit, get a ‘real’ job, and that would put a serious dent in her enjoyment of life. Life was over when she got back to the States, so she’d better party now.