Water (20 page)
Alex sat back in his chair with his arms crossed and sulked. Shawn shrugged his shoulders and went back to stuffing his mouth. Micah and I caught each other’s eyes. It was the first time we really looked at each other in what seemed like ages, and I immediately felt my heart soften. I purposefully recalled what happened in the greenhouse; I couldn’t just let it pass. I needed to look out for myself more than ever now that I knew what he was capable of.
After shaking the last thoughts from my head, what Micah just said clicked. "Meeting? What meeting?"
Without looking at me he explained, "Cato has a contact in the environmental protection authority of France. We are supposed to meet with him and the Charles de Gaulle Airport Board of Directors to discuss joining the campaign for airport water conservation."
I looked at Alex and Shawn, and realized for the first time they were all wearing casual business attire. I looked down at my own wrinkled shorts and t-shirt and immediately panicked.
Micah lowered his voice and said, "The plan was for you to wait here for us, but I’m not sure that is the best idea anymore."
"She can’t go in looking like that," Shawn said.
I glared at him again. It may have been what I was thinking, but that didn’t make it all right for
him
to criticize my appearance.
Micah waved him away. "Alex, take her to buy another outfit. Meet us back here in 45 minutes."
"Our trip budget is tight. I don't think – "
Micah interrupted Alex, "Make it work." Alex sighed, hung his head in defeat, then held his arm out for me.
I replaced the shoe, complete with microchip, and left the table. It was better than sitting with those two bastards.
I walked through the airport with a slight limp, overcompensating for the foreign object lodged in my shoe. Alex brooded by my side, but I was grateful for the temporary reprieve from Micah. It felt less crowded trying to negotiate the airport amongst the swarms of people and suitcases than it did sitting at a table with him. After visiting the overpriced airport shops, I had a new dark blue skirt suit with matching shoes and even a necklace and earrings that complimented the outfit in less than half an hour. I dug my makeup and hair brush out of our carry-on luggage and put it to good use. After gaining approval from Alex, we quickly headed back to the café only to find Micah and Shawn had dumped out the contents of Alex’s carry-on bag. They were sorting through a mass of brochures, reports, and other paperwork on the table. They looked panicked.
Alex joined them, his eyebrows creasing similarly. "What is going on? Are you ready? We are supposed to be there in five minutes!"
"None of the packets are put together!" Shawn said.
"You were supposed to do that at the Chakra." Micah gave Alex a dark look then looked up at me, explaining their incompetence. "Business school is not a requirement to join the Seven."
Feeling partly responsible for throwing around Alex’s luggage to get it on the boat, I stepped in front of Alex in defense. "He was a little busy, apologizing for your actions."
Micah tightened up, but didn’t reply.
I took a deep breath, trying to quell my anger, for now. "Ok – how many packets do we need?"
"About twenty," Micah answered.
I took charge, putting my organization skills to good use. "Shawn, pull that table over here. Alex – start separating everything into piles." I turned to Micah, "What are you putting everything in – do you have folders?"
"Yes, in here I think."
"Count out twenty-five of them." Everyone followed my orders without question. Five minutes later, due to a very efficient assembly line, we had 25 packets assembled and were on our way to the meeting.
We met a receptionist by an ‘employees only’ entrance and she led us through several offices into a conference room. There was a sea of older men stuffed inside blue and black suites, all swiveling their chairs to look as we entered. I felt a few too many gazes linger on me and suppressed the urge to check for food in my teeth. Shawn and Micah took positions at the head of the table while I helped Alex pass out our freshly-assembled packets.
"Gentlemen, I want to thank you for taking the time to meet us here today," Shawn started. "Also, our thanks to Mr. Vasser for arranging the meeting. Cato sends his regards and regrets he couldn't make it; especially considering the high end hotel suites you have arranged for us in Spain." A few of the men chuckled. One of the men toward the front nodded his head at Shawn’s acknowledgement. "Unfortunately, we don’t have much time until our flight so I will get right to the point."
Micah began translating Shawn’s brief into French. I took a seat in the back of the room, happy to observe. Alex was opening a suitcase and passing out reusable water bottles. He tossed me one of my own and winked at me. I inspected the water bottle as I listened to Shawn and Micah. Besides the ‘made from 100% recycled material’ notice on the bottom, it only contained one symbol – the same one I saw on the doors to Cato’s office, the spiral of life.
Shawn started out by listing all of the other airports they had already visited, highlighting the Canberra Airport in Australia, known for their water conservation efforts. He went into detail about their initiatives. He spoke for a half hour, pausing every so often to let Micah catch up with his translations. He finally finished and opened it up for questions.
A large man sitting halfway down the long conference table cleared his throat before speaking in a thick French accent, "More like a comment, really. Much of what you’ve, ah, suggested, won’t be worth the costs. Beyond that, I don’t see a reason to take such drastic measures." A series of mumbling around the table revealed that half the room agreed with him and half the room disagreed. He addressed his opponents, "I’m just saying what we’re all thinking. During our tenure of running this airport, it will only increase costs significantly and we won’t see the benefits nor be rewarded or recognized once they finally come about. We’ll be long gone by then."
Shawn attempted to address his concern but his voice was overpowered by the Board of Directors arguing amongst themselves. Their agitation caused them to revert to their native language and Shawn could no longer keep up. Micah couldn’t even translate as they talked over one another.
Unable to sit still any longer, I stood up and made my way to the end of the table. Perhaps the mere reminder that a woman was present would keep the men cordial. It partly worked; the men sitting closer to me calmed down but the others didn’t even notice. Shawn and Micah certainly noticed; though they were too far away to do anything to stop me. Never having learned the talent of a shrill, two fingered-whistle, I used the only other talent that came to mind. I summoned a small amount of energy and expended it in the form of wind. I had practiced it only a few times, so it wasn’t steady, but it had the right effect. Papers in the room flew up as the wind raced away from me, then settled as I willed the air to change direction. It pulled everyone’s attention toward me along with it.
I released the energy and quickly said, "If I may…"
The beginnings of a wall, a Shawn-made block, clearly exuded ‘
you may not’
, but Micah placed a hand on his shoulder, and the wall crumbled away. I turned to the Frenchman and began, "Perhaps the end of humanity won’t occur for another five or six billion years; and that your children’s children will even be long gone by then. In fact your entire family line may no longer exist." I recalled some of the facts from the reading material, "But consider this; climate change will begin to affect urban water supply within the next 80 years. That means the next generation will face a water crisis, which may warrant some action now, don’t you agree?" Without waiting for his response I went on, "Up until now, most conflict in this world has occurred due to land or border disputes and more recently - oil rights. Can you imagine what kind of conflicts might occur over freshwater resources? How bloody will those battles be? And who will be blamed for the problem?"
The question hung in the air, echoing off the walls like an empty canyon until one word sliced through the silence, "Us." It was spoken by a nameless face at the table, but the one word reflected everything I was trying to say.
I made my way through the crowded floor to stand behind the original pessimist. I leaned over to lay my chin on his shoulder, admittedly brazen on my part for sure, but it had the effect I wanted. I whispered the word again in his ear, "Us."
His eyes and facial expression told me he understood. I took my place in my seat, the room remaining respectfully quiet until I did so. Shawn broke the silence, "Thank you, Kaitlyn, for making that point. On that note, let’s open up the floor for questions."
By the time we made our exit, a commitment was made to arrange another meeting between the Canberra and Charles de Gaulle Board of Directors.
We headed to our gate and Micah slowed his pace to walk by my side, "What did you think?"
As much as I didn’t want to compliment him, I had to admit it. "Impressive."
He smiled humbly then returned the compliment. "As were you – thanks for all your help."
"So is that it? Will there be any follow up?"
"No – we’ve said our piece. We’ve brought to light the right thing to do, and provided much of the information necessary to proceed. It is up to them now. If they need anything else, they’ll let us know."
I nodded, then busied myself by looking at artwork on the wall as we passed it. I was determined to maintain a cold attitude toward him.
Dirty Boots
After another flight and a short taxi cab ride, we arrived at a beautiful beach front hotel. Checking in, we received keys to two different suites, side by side, with two rooms in each. Our bags already upstairs, the four of us stood awkwardly in the hallway, staring at each other. Room arrangements obviously hadn’t been discussed.
"Well if no one wants the bitch, I’ll take her," Shawn said crassly, trying to put his arm around me.
"Asshole! You’re the only one that is out of the question." I ducked his arm and moved behind Alex.
"I figured as much. Well you three figure it out, I need a shower." Shawn grabbed one of the keys and went into the room, slamming the door behind him.
Alex and Micah both looked at me for a decision.
I froze.
"It might be safer if Kaitlyn stays with me," Micah said, looking at me. "There are two rooms in each suite, anyway."
I didn’t say anything, trying to sort through the possible consequences in my head.
Alex took a step closer to me, lowering his voice. "He has a point. If anything gets out of control, he is the most likely to stop it." He looked at my face and back tracked. "But it is totally up to you, whatever you want."
Micah nodded. "Yeah. Whatever you want."
I sighed and relented. "Fine." I entered the suite quickly leaving Micah and Alex staring after me. It was a large suite with a full kitchen and even bigger common area. With leather couches and a huge flat screen television, Mr. Vasser spared no expense. Two separate bedrooms with king sized beds sat across from each other on either side of the common area. I chose a room and locked the door behind me. Spotting the attached bathroom, I took full advantage of it for the next hour. In the lavish, Spanish-tiled shower, with water pouring over me, it was almost possible to forget the past few days. Almost, but not quite. I released a breath.
Just a few hours away from the Chakra, and I already felt like I was dragging. I suddenly craved the caffeine that kept me going in my normal, day to day life. I went into the bedroom and dressed in a light, cotton dress I hadn’t worn yet. It fit well, showing off curves that weren’t easily seen in the shorts and t-shirts I had been wearing the past few weeks. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked – good.
He almost raped me. Fuck the dress.
I changed into baggy pants and an oversized sweatshirt and looked in the mirror again.
Nope – not gonna bring myself down a peg because of what he did.
Back into the dress I went.
"Kaitlyn?" Micah spoke through the door, giving a light knock.
I tensed. "Yes?"
"Don’t unpack okay? In case we need to leave in a hurry."
"Okay." I was short in my response hoping to get rid of him quickly.
After a few moments of silence he spoke again. "The guys are here. When you’re ready we need to go over the plan for tomorrow."
"Okay."
A few more moments of silence. "Okay."
His footsteps retreated.
I wasn’t about to hurry for any of them, so I finished getting dressed and took the opportunity to delay by drying my hair and applying some light makeup. Satisfied with my appearance, I delayed the inevitable even longer by opening up the curtains to my room. I was taken aback by the view. The sun was setting behind us, bathing the sky and beach below in soft pinks and oranges. The bright blue water, accented by frothy white, licked the shore in small waves. Except for the tourists that dotted the coastline, it was a postcard-perfect picture. I frowned at the people below, annoyed by their tacky umbrellas and towels and all the trash they brought in, much of which would probably be left behind.