Author's note: All characters are over 18, as established either in Chapter 1 or in 'Master of Elements', to which this is a sequel.
The Mind Element: Chapter 2
"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." Marcus Aurelius
Randall Ness was not an easy man to impress, but he had to concede Colonel Baker and his men had done an outstanding job in obtaining Athena Makris and Matsu Chen, well worth the large fee he had paid. Ness was sufficiently pleased to offer Baker a further contract to inspect the security arrangements on the private island he had prepared for the purpose of holding the women, and to make any recommendations for improvements Baker saw fit. So it was that the Colonel and a dozen of his men remained on the island after the delivery of the 'goods' they had been hired to obtain.
Colonel Baker duly carried out his inspection and reported back to Ness. There were some aspects that surprised and impressed him, notably the amount of military grade weaponry his employer had somehow acquired on the black market. Baker was not sure exactly why Ness felt he needed surface to air missiles or torpedoes but the fact that he had managed to get hold of them at all was a testament to the power of extreme wealth. Less surprising was the generous provision of machine guns and small arms, which Ness had bought in abundance.
Baker did inquire why all this equipment was housed in bunkers buried along the coastline of the small island and in the slopes of its central mountain. "Because if we are discovered and attacked nothing much on the surface is likely to survive," Ness had replied.
"Attacked by what?" Baker asked, not for the first time thinking Ness more than a little paranoid. "Are you expecting an assault by the Marine Corps?"
"Oh, firestorms, hurricanes... that sort of thing; I would add a tsunami, except I have Miss Chen under lock and key. Of course, even underground bunkers would not help if Jennifer Kitaka was to unleash earthquakes on us, but I am confident that while we have hostages we are safe from that. They couldn't run the risk of bringing the mountain down on top of us when they might also harm their friends. Anyway, I'm working on something much, much better than guns or missiles. When I have that, I will have nothing to fear."
Baker looked calmly at his employer, his expression carefully concealing what he really thought of this insane rant, so Ness simply asked him if he had found weaknesses and had any recommendations. "Your armaments and physical defences are well placed and look adequate for most purposes. Your problem is your men," Baker replied flatly.
Ness looked surprised. "Why? They are tough enough and they know weapons; what's wrong with them?"
"Oh, they are tough alright, but it takes more than that to make a soldier - above all you need discipline. I've looked through the files on your men. They're criminals, thugs, murderers and rapists. I guarantee you that at some point one or more of them will do something stupid. You can't trust people like that not to - you can't even trust them not to act against you if the price is right or maybe just because they feel like it."
"Are you angling for another contract Colonel?" asked Ness.
"No, I'm simply telling you the truth," said Baker.
"Well, if you're right, then maybe I should offer you one anyway. Would you and some of your men agree to stay here and oversee security for the next couple of months? I should be able to get what I need in that time."
Dan Baker was far from sure about the offer. There was a lot he didn't like or understand about this whole situation and the biggest thing was Ness himself. Seeing him hesitating, Randall Ness named his fee. For two months work it was twice what Baker would normally expect to make in a year. Mercenaries can't be too choosy about their employers and money is money at the end of the day. Baker accepted the contract.
*****
In Naples Christopher Ward called a meeting that morning so he could fill Brigit and Fay in on what he had learnt the night before. He was surprised when Fay brought a young Italian man she introduced as Marco Ricci to the briefing but he noticed that his wife showed no surprise. Chris made a move to question Marco's presence, but Fay said she wanted him to stay, Marco explained how desperate he was to find Professor Makris and Brigit suggested they needed all the help they could get. Chris was much too tired to argue with them so he let Marco stay.
He had been awake all night and unlike with Fay and Marco there had been nothing pleasurable about it. It had been a difficult and brutal time and Chris had done what he had to do to get the information he needed.
It had started with what Fay had told him at the reception he had held for those who might help with finding Athena. He had invited representatives of the Neapolitan mafia because he realised that the underworld potentially had contacts and sources of information that the police did not. What he had not expected was that when Fay had casually read their minds, just as she had done to everyone else in the room, she had discovered they were involved in Athena's kidnapping. She hadn't had time to probe for details, but she had no doubt of it.
Chris thought afterward that he was rather reckless in what he did next. For one thing, he should have taken Brigit with him - true, he didn't want to put his wife in danger, but she would have been an invaluable backup; the Mistress of Fire possessed a lot of power. However, at the time he had been consumed by a mix of anger that someone involved in Athena's abduction had had the brazen cheek to come to the reception he had organised to find her, and fear that they might now escape him. So, after confirming with Fay what she knew, he had immediately set off to find them.
Fortunately, he had a lead, namely the phone number he had originally obtained - at considerable cost in bribes - to make contact with the relevant people. Chris thought quickly as he stood on the pavement outside the hotel where the reception had been held. He needed bait to get these people to see him again and the thing which would work was money - what else did criminals care about when you got down to it? He would set a trap for himself, walk into it, get what he needed and hope he came out again. He was not exactly powerless himself.
Acting on this plan, he had made contact, claiming he had thought of something additional and offering a lot of money for further information. It had worked; he had been given an address to go to, which had proved to be a seedy nightclub, undoubtedly an underworld front. Once inside he had been shown into a backroom. Here he was in luck; there were only two men present, including one of those that had been at the reception earlier. No doubt they thought that was sufficient to deal with one harmless ex-accountant.
Chris had some control of all five of the elements. Individually he could not match the strength of each Mistress of Elements in her own field but he had a versatility they lacked and his power had grown over time following the events of two years ago with the defeat of the Creature and obtaining the Theia Stone. And now he wasted no time in making use of the power of Aether to control the men's thoughts, although he was grateful there were only two people present. Humans were complex and controlling them was difficult, but he could do it with concentration. It was best to keep your instructions simple and reasonable if you wanted them obeyed.
"You don't want to harm me," he had said and, with docile expressions, they had agreed that was the case. "You're going to tell me everything you know about the abduction of Athena Makris," Chris had continued. The one who had been at the reception had duly done so, his English heavily accented, but Chris had got the general drift.
They had just been finishing, when things had taken a turn for the worse. A fire alarm went off, which Chris guessed was someone's idea of how to clear the place of the public before violence ensued. He had ordered the two men out of the room and a glance into the main part pf the nightclub had told Chris that it was filling with Mafiosi, far too many to control all at once. He had shut the door, his enemies no doubt thinking him trapped as there was no other exit, then he had fully justified the earlier alarm by setting the place on fire - and it was elemental fire, which burned with a fierce intensity.
This move was intended to cover his escape; he knew that the fire would rapidly engulf the building and his enemies would be too busy escaping to worry about him. He hoped no one died in the fire, but he couldn't care too much about people who had been involved in the kidnap of Athena and were now trying to kill him. Once the fire was well ablaze, Chris used the power of Earth to collapse the back wall of the room and escaped through the resulting hole, leaving the burning building behind him.
Chris now related these adventures to Brigit, Fay and Marco and, more importantly, what he had learned about Athena.
"She was kidnapped by a group of mercenaries. The guy didn't know their names or why they wanted her but they needed help to get Athena out of the country, so they contacted the mafia in advance. They arranged things for a fee, people smuggling being something they have experience in. The bottom line is that she was put on a flight to the far-east - the Philippines to be exact."
"So what now Chris?" Brigit asked, concern in her voice.
"I'll let Freya and Jenny know what I've learned - the odds are that the same people took Matsu, so it may provide a lead. Then we follow Athena east. I think I need to get out of here anyway. The local news said that nightclub burned to the ground; I'm guessing I won't be too popular once they discover I didn't die in the fire. So we leave as soon as I can arrange a flight."
"I want Marco to come," said Fay, "And I ask, my Emperor, that you fix things with his university so he can."
"Look, I don't have time to waste arguing about this..." Chris began.
"Then don't, Chris," said Brigit decisively. "Let him come if he wants to. "
"Do you? It is probably going to be very dangerous," Chris asked, addressing Marco directly.
"Yes please, sir. I want to help find the Professor."
Christopher Ward looked at him a moment, thinking that while that might be true, he guessed it had as much to do with a certain young purple-haired girl as it did Athena. Still, he carefully picked which fights to have with his wife and this wasn't worth one. "Alright, on your head be it, but don't blame me if you end up dead. I'll have a word with your university; consider yourself to be on sabbatical. I think if you really want to come then maybe you are just as mad as the rest of us, so welcome to the team."
