Gem Stone

by Dale Mayer

  "Well, keep an eye out for the girls, just in case."

  "So what if one of them does come back? It's not like there's anything left to see now. We fixed it already, days ago." He cast a last glance to where they'd seen the girls. "Besides they're just kids. What would they care about a couple of strangers down by the creek?"

  "We've probably fixed it. We have to get this last water sample tested, to be sure. That doesn't mean they weren't exposed in the first few days. This area was supposed to be deserted but it's not." With a grim smile, and glaring into his younger brother's eyes, he said, "If they were here a few days ago, when it happened, they could still show some of those symptoms he told us about.... Skin rashes, hell, even internal bleeding if they'd swallowed any of the water with those damn chemicals in it. We cleaned up what we could, but…What do we know? The scientists said a few more days, so a few more days it is."

  "The area was supposed to be deserted in the first place. So we can't trust our source," the kid brother snapped.

  "Remember, no one knows about this spill. It's our job to make sure no one ever does. We don't want anything to lead back to the company." He shot his younger brother a dark look before checking for the arrival of their cohorts. "We do have to tell the boss about them snooping around."

  And the boss, their cousin, wouldn't be happy at all. All big businesses, doing shady deals, hated it when things went wrong. Secrecy was everything to them. The girls nosing about down here could be bad news…and the boss was paranoid to begin with. He and his brother were supposed to keep an eye on the creek every day. And they had. But they had to eat and sleep sometime. So far everything had gone smoothly. They'd seen no one…until today.

  The girls had better stay away.

  He didn't want to hurt them, but…the money was too damn good to pass up.

  ***

  Gemma attached her pictures to an email then sent them to herself at a second email address for safekeeping and so she could access them from her laptop. Her other photos didn't matter. She also cleared her camera and transferred the images to her flash drive then closed down the computer.

  Checking her watch, she realized a full hour had passed and she hadn't even finished her homework. She was distracted by what was going on down by the creek and knew she couldn't get down to studying until she'd found out. Damn. Glancing around quickly, she considered squeezing in a quick trip outside. She still had a few minutes until curfew.

  The sun had lowered enough for the heat to dissipate. The coolness of the evening air would be welcome. She decided to slip out of the property then head back where the stone wall around the property had crumpled into ruin. All the kids used it as a quick exit when necessary.

  "Are you ready to go upstairs? It's almost curfew. You know John made it earlier to encourage us to go to bed sooner." Misty stood in front of her.

  Gemma pondered the question. Misty was usually up for a slip-out-the-back kind of adventure. "I was considering snapping a few more pictures. There could be some interesting light going on out there." Not that she was planning to bring her flash. Pictures were just her excuse.

  Throwing up her hands, Misty said, "You and that damn camera. I don't get it. So what if it's a unique light? No one gives a shit."

  What an idiot. Gem shrugged. "Okay, I'll go alone."

  "Good. You do that."

  With that Gem headed to the back door. John would set the alarm soon and she wanted to slip out before he did. The security system was only triggered by certain doors and windows. This was one of them. Major was sleeping on the kitchen floor in front of the stove. He never even twitched when she slipped past him.

  Within minutes, she stood outside in the courtyard, breathing deeply of the cool, clean air. The door closed behind her. Misty in her headlong rush to catch up, bumped into Gem.

  "Sorry, I changed my mind," she whispered.

  "Yeah, whatever. Let's go over the wall." So saying, Gem's long legs ate up the distance quickly. The open field by the creek was deserted, as usual. Good thing.

  "Why are we doing this again?" Misty hissed, her voice carrying easily in the settling dusk.

  "I want to check to see if those men are still there, by the creek."

  "Really? Why didn't you say that before? I love cloak-and-dagger stuff."

  "Figures." Misty's face was barely visible in the half-light. Gem would be lucky to navigate her way to the right spot now.

  At the stone wall, Gem quietly removed a few stones to widen the gap that already existed then squeezed through to the other side. Misty scrambled after.

  Walking in silence, Gem considered her surroundings. Willows grew on her left by the creek. A large rock pile sat a little forward and to the left. That meant one picture she'd taken was of the area over to the right. Good thing she'd explored this area many times and was quite familiar with it.

  She walked methodically. There was an expectant silence to the place. Damn eerie. She should hear crickets, or scurrying squirrels, owls – something out. It was a clear evening, no storms in the offing so why was there no wildlife about?

  "What are you doing?" Misty's voice squeaked, so close behind her that it startled Gem.

  She turned to snap at her, but noticed Misty's nervous glances at the darkening sky. "I told you already. I'm looking for something."

  "You could have brought a flashlight. It would make this a hell of a lot easier." Misty took several nervous breaths, the sound shockingly loud in the silence.

  "It's not that dark. Besides it could be seen from the house and it's past curfew. I wasn't looking to get caught, you know."

  "Oh." Misty shot a nervous look back at the brightly lit home, a shining beacon in the growing darkness. "Can they see us now?"

  "No, but they'll hear you if you don't keep your voice down." Gem laughed at Misty's face; it looked like she'd sucked on a lime. "Come on. I think the place I want is over here."

  Crashing through tall grasses, Gem led the way to the spot she'd recognized in the pictures.

  Only there was nothing out of the ordinary there. Damn. She didn't know what she'd expected to see, but…hoped she'd find something. A clue to explain why the men were by the creek earlier. Gem strode around in a large circle, checking the ground carefully. Even if she'd brought a flashlight, she realized she'd left it too late. It was too dark to see if there were tracks that could lead them to something else.

  "I swear they were here." Frustrated, Gem blew her bangs out of her eyes.

  "Who? You mean those guys we saw? Cause I'm sure lots of people come here; government guys, environmentalists, even teenagers. If it matters that much to you, we can come back tomorrow and check again." The hope in Misty's voice almost made Gem smile. Almost.

  But Misty was right. They could come back in the morning. At least then they'd be able to see something.

  "Yeah. I guess." But she didn't like leaving without something. She sensed whatever she'd seen going on, had been important.

  "Gem? Let's go back now. It's late. I've been in enough trouble lately." Worry crept into Misty's voice.

  She was right again. "Fine. Let's go back the way we came."

  They hadn't made it twenty feet toward the wall when they heard a loud crash that brought them to a dead halt. Misty snugged up close against Gem.

  "What was that?" she asked.

  "Sshh? I don't know," Gem whispered.

  Crouched low they stared at each other. Only the whites of their eyes showed in the dark.

  Without warning, a bright light flashed on, then its beam circled through the woods around them, shining light where there shouldn't have been any.

  "Come on. Let's make a run for it." Gem stood up and at a dead run, bolted for the opening in the stone wall behind the center.

  They were almost there, with Misty crashing behind Gem, when the searchlight swung toward them from the right.

  Pouring power into her muscles, Gem ran faster. Realizing the light was going to catch them, she snagged Mist
y and pulled her to the ground.

  "Shit. Shit. Shit," Gem whispered softly, turning to stare at Misty sprawled in wide-eyed panic while the light panned above their heads.

  "What do we do now?" hissed Misty.

  "We keep our heads down, wait a few seconds longer for the light to move off, then we run. It's not far. Let's bail through the wall into the backyard and run around to your bedroom. One, two three… Go!"

  The one good thing about Misty was she understood and took orders well. Jumping to her feet, she sprinted the short distance, her legs pumping as hard as they could. Gem's longer legs easily caught up and passed her. At the wall, Gem dove through, grunting at the hard landing on rocks and gravel on the other side. She'd be covered in bruises tomorrow.

  "Hurry up," she whispered to her friend. "Come on!"

  After Misty clambered through, Gem quickly replaced two of the rocks in the wall. She needed it to look like nobody had gone through.

  At her side, Misty gasped for breath and held her side. "Damn, that was close."

  "I don't think we're out of trouble yet," Gem warned. They both hunkered down at the edge of the wall and watched the brilliant beam of light bounce toward them through the cracks and holes in the wall.

  "Are they chasing us?" Misty's horrified voice had risen to a high-pitched squeak.

  "Shhh!" Gem pulled Misty back down to the ground when she tried to stand for a better look.

  "We didn't do anything wrong." Misty said it in a normal voice, as if she didn't understand what this was all about.

  "Doesn't matter. Hush." Gem's heart stopped at the crunch of footsteps coming toward them from beyond the fence. Her heart slammed against her chest.

  Reflexively, Gem slapped a hand over Misty's mouth as Misty tried to speak again.

  Neither moved. They stared at each other in frozen horror.

  "I thought they went over here?" shouted a deep male voice. "Could they have jumped the wall?"

  "Don't think so. There's no sign of them anywhere."

  "Damn it."

  Gem closed her eyes and shuddered with relief as the footsteps retreated, the voice fading slightly as it called out, "Let's check the woods on the left."

  She waited another long minute. Then removed her hand from Misty's mouth. "Come on. Let's get back inside."

  Moving quietly, they headed around to Misty's bedroom window. Giving Misty her knee as a step up, they both almost fell back in shock as Mark's shadowed face appeared in Misty's window. He grabbed Misty's arms and hauled her up.

  "Get in here before you're seen," he hissed. Gem jumped up to where she could pull herself in and found Mark's strong arms reaching around her and dragging her inside…just ahead of the searchlight's cycling beam. The two stood locked in place behind the curtain as the light bounced off the window and onto the wall beyond.

  Gem shuddered when it passed by. Thank you.

  She breathed deeply, taking in Mark's musky scent. He always smelled great. Looked it too. Casual strength, young arrogance – all packaged in a muscled, six-foot frame. But she pulled back those thoughts. She thought Mark wanted to get something going with Misty, but…she wasn't sure. She stepped back.

  "Christ, that was close."

  Standing beside the window, peeking into the night, she tried to see who'd chased them.

  The woods were silent and still. And dark.

  "What the hell were you doing out there?" Mark asked, trying to peer out into the night from the side of the window.

  "I thought I saw something earlier and wanted another look. Then these guys appeared out of nowhere…with a search light…chasing us." At the time, she had no idea what was going on, but her instincts had sent her running home.

  He snorted.

  She gave him a wide grin. "We didn't do anything wrong, honest. Those guys scared the crap out of us."

  "If anyone wants to know, I'm already asleep." Misty giggled from under the covers. She rolled over to face the wall, a tiny hump barely visible in the dim light.

  Gem whispered, "G'night." She opened the bedroom door a crack to make sure the hall light was out and they slipped out. After Mark disappeared down the hall she walked across to her room. Once there, she breathed a sigh of relief. After putting on her pajamas, she crawled into her own bed. Both girls had bottom bunks in rooms of their own – at least until the new kids arrived. Personally, Gem thought they had the right number of residents there now. Anymore and there'd be trouble and competitions for space as well as computer time.

  Mark shared a room with Reid and Stephen had a room to himself, but only until the next male arrived. Creepers had said more girls were coming. Yuck. That meant cat fights and boyfriend issues.

  Just as she started to relax and drift off to sleep, the front doorbell of the house rang. She froze. Glancing at her clock, she realized it was just before eleven. Still early in the city, but late for country folks who went to bed when the sun went down.

  The doorbell rang again, more insistently.

  Major's deep bark resonated through the house.

  Gem could hear heavy footsteps heading to the front of the house. John. Muffled voices sounded. She strained to hear, but no words came through clear enough. The voices raised in crescendo. Shit. She slipped lower in her bed.

  Sounds of footsteps filled the main floor as several people walked through and then up the stairs. Gem turned to face the wall, her back rigid with fear. What they'd done didn't merit a visit from the authorities... Surely?

  A knock sounded on her door and it opened slightly. Gem held her breath when a head popped around the corner. "Gem, are you here?"

  Gem sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. "John? Did you say something?"

  "Not to worry." John started to close the door. "Sorry to disturb you. Go back to sleep."

  In the hallway, bits of the conversation filtered through to her. "I told you everyone is in. The kids don't go out wandering around after dark. You must have seen someone else. Maybe town kids, though they don't come this way much. Probably campers or something…"

  "How do you know that no one left and came back?" That voice. Gem bolted upright. Oh no. It was the voice of that man at the wall.

  "I don't. But these kids haven't given me a spot of trouble since they arrived. They're all older, several are almost adults."

  "Which means they could have been out wandering the entire countryside and you'd never know." Disgust laced the man's hard voice.

  John opened Misty's door. "Misty?"

  Gem waited tensely for Misty's answer.

  "Misty?"

  Gem's eyes widened. Come on Misty, answer.

  The stranger asked, "Is she asleep?"

  "No. Her bed's empty."

  No. No, that couldn't be. Gem had seen her roll over and face the wall. Maybe she'd gone to the bathroom? That had to be it.

  Gem got up and headed to the bathroom herself. She'd get her and they'd see. Misty had to be there.

  "Hey. What's the matter?" She yawned for effect as she stumbled toward the bathroom. And stopped. The door was open and the small room empty. She spun slowly to see into Misty's room and noted the empty bottom bunk.

  The blanket she'd watched Misty roll up in, was tossed on the floor. The discarded blanket made Gem's stomach heave. Misty never would have thrown around her stuff like that. Misty, like the others, had few possessions and what she had she took care of.

  Scared now, she faced the two men who were watching her. John ran his fingers through his hair. Confusion and the beginning of fear were obvious on his face.

  Gem studied the official-looking man at John's side. Her gaze caught a smirk before it disappeared under a look of heavy disapproval. Dressed in a three-piece suit, this guy looked like an authority of some kind. The man beside him was a different story. No attempt to cover up his true character would work – it still shone through in the curl of his lip and freakin' scary look in his eye. This man was hired muscle – a thug. And it was…Humpty.

  Uh
oh.

  She asked her question again, eyeing the strangers suspiciously. "What's wrong? Where's Misty?"

  John answered – his face grim. "I don't know. She appears to be missing."

  CHAPTER THREE

  Mark sat as close to Gem as possible on the living room couch, without touching. Plain and serviceable, the couch could hold a lot of people – uncomfortably. Doris sat in her favorite chair, a tissue to her red nose, worry evident in her teary eyes. Everyone had been roused from bed, dressed, and the whole house searched. Misty's window was found to be wide open but there was no sign of her anywhere in the house or yard.