Janice got up, and went back to where the supply box was. She dug through it to the bottom, and found the ration bars at the bottom. They were high-energy, lasted forever, and were marginally edible. There were some bottles of water there, and she blessed whoever remembered to leave the place the way they found it. She grabbed a few, and sat back down near Cole.
"Hungry?" she asked, offering him a bar.
"Always," he replied, accepting it. He'd had plenty of these in his life. They could sustain life, but not one worth living. Still, they satiated hunger. It never ceased to amaze Cole the amount of food a Manticore required. Maybe they just tended to be more active and needed more calories to compensate, but he was always munching on something. Alicia had always stunned norms with the amount of food she could consume. When they were in high school she could put the big football players to shame.
Cole leaned back, his eyes mostly shut while he evaluated the situation. His knee was swollen and hurt like hell, but he couldn't allow himself to sleep it off. The situation was bad, but it was far from grim. Janice could easily decide to sell them out to save herself, especially with her knowing he was injured. Still, he knew a little more about her now. Nightshade was nearly legendary and invulnerable. Janice Miller had weak points. Dad had taught them to use weaknesses. She showed any signs of selling out, he'd ask her if she'd like to see Kevin's little boy sent to her one piece at a time. It had been a while since he'd had to do something really nasty like that, but he was still more than capable of doing it. In his mind Heather's safety was far more important than any other child's.
He hoped that she was going to play straight with him though. She had grit, and he had to admire the way she had tried to protect Heather when they met up. He had told her about Manticore so that she wouldn't go looking into it on her own. His version was much more palatable than what it was really like, and he knew he could make it seem like they were just normal people with revved abilities. He was still expecting some disgust or fear. She had just dealt with it. Pretty rare to find someone that could.
Janice sighed, and his eyes flicked open. She caught his gaze, and let out an embarrassed little laugh. "Didn't mean to disturb you," she said. "I was just thinking this was one of those days when I really regret quitting smoking."
He had to smile. "I know what you mean," he replied.
She thought about that for a second. "Wait a minute," she said sounding incredulously amused. "Are you telling me that the US government pours billions of dollars into creating the perfect body for the perfect soldier, and he damages it by smoking?"
"I appreciate the compliment," he said, and she immediately blushed. He'd been referring to the perfect solider remark. Wasn't she being facetious about the perfect body remark? Had she checked him out? Cole really wished he could read her better. "But," he continued, "it helped at the time. I actually haven't had one in almost fifteen years. I think if someone offered me one right now, I'd probably grab the whole pack from him."
She laughed. "I quit about five years ago," she said. "I think we'd have to race for that pack today though." She was so glad he didn't say anything else about her "complimenting" him. He had unzipped his coat, and she did have to admit he had a nice body, genetically engineered or not. He was too mature to be described as cute, but he was attractive, especially when he smiled. She could tell that not all of his smiles were real ones though. The real ones touched his eyes, the rest were a façade. She liked the real ones better.
Cole looked thoughtful for a moment. "Five years?" he muttered. "Isn't that about the time of that little incident in Cairo?" he asked her directly.
Janice shrugged. "What can I say, I was going through nicotine withdrawal. I warned them to stay out of my way. They chose not to, and well, it was better than breaking my promise to quit."
Cole had to laugh thinking about one of the greatest upheavals in the world of cloak and dagger being caused by nicotine withdrawal. "What about you?" she asked. "I can just imagine the amount of ass getting kicked when the genetically engineered starts wanting a cigarette."
"Actually, Heather made me quit," he replied. "I was sitting beside her in the car, and she was about eighteen months old, and she grabbed the pack from my pocket, sniffed them, and yelled out, "Uncle Cole, yucky!" and threw them out the window. After that, I just didn't want to anymore."
"That's just disgusting," Janice said. That was so not fair. It had nearly killed her to quit, and he just stopped wanting too.
She was pretty Cole decided suddenly, watching that look of envy. Whoa…that came out of left field. She was a couple of inches shorter than him, tall for a woman, but she carried it without looking masculine like some of the other tall women he knew. When he saw her at the Pentagon, her dark hair was severely short, but now she was letting it grow out. It brushed her shoulder, a few of the wisps twisting into natural curls around her face. But it was her eyes that were the most magnetic. They were a very deep brown, the heavy fringe of eyelashes making them almost unfathomable, but he had a feeling they were very expressive when her guard was down.
If he didn't have to kill her, he just might ask her out when this was all over.
