"Do you think he's really a threat to Devon

"Do you think he's really a threat to Devon?" Kevin asked Janice. They had ridden snowmobiles for a while, but had to walk the rest of the way through some trees to the clearing where the buyer was going to be waiting for them. He was quite eager when he heard he was getting a second Manticore, one of the adult ones at that, and it was for a bargain price. He had told them he still wanted the girl, and Janice just shrugged and then told him the girl was going to be easy. Besides, without the girl Kevin wasn't going to get his fee, and she was going to be much easier than the other three. Those would be forthcoming, but it would take a bit longer. The buyer seemed well pleased with her answer.

"In a few hours he's going to be long gone," Janice replied, sounding totally unconcerned. She glanced back. Even injured, Cole was moving over the snow much more easily than his six guards. His wrists were tied behind his back, the nylon rope looping around his neck in a noose. In order to undo his bonds he would have to strangle himself. It was an easy way to tie up a very dangerous prisoner and very effective as well. If they had tried it on her rather than rely on Delastic, Janice knew she would have been screwed. Still, even tied up and hurt Cole managed to radiate danger to the point that the tough veterans guarding him were on edge. No surprise that Kevin was worried about his kid. Cole was just downright scary without having to say or do a thing.

"The girl is nothing to worry about," Janice continued. "And none of her siblings are trained soldiers either."

Kevin still looked worried despite Janice's reassurances. They had just gotten the news that Heather had gotten away again. She supposedly had little to no training, but she was ducking highly skilled mercenaries like it was nothing. Janice swore it was just luck, but he was a little worried nonetheless. Bad luck could ruin the best-laid plans. Most people in their field denied the existence of luck, but he firmly believed that in every situation there was still the element of the random that could screw you over every time. This person behind them, no, this superfluous military equipment, he could be that element of the random.

In truth, Cole wasn't worried at all about the future. Being caught wasn't part of his plans, neither was Janice turning traitor for that matter, but he'd been trained to think fast and improvise as needed. Hell, they'd been through drill where the mission objective changed in the middle and you damn well better complete it or else. It wasn't too dissimilar to real life situations. They only question mark was Heather, and he knew she had gotten away on the snowmobile. It didn't look like they were going to keep her from the lodge; once she got there nothing was going to get her from Alicia and Zack.

Janice could claim Heather was an easy mark all she wanted, but Heather had two parents that were far more vigilant than Janice could ever imagine. They would never have let her go on this trip if Alicia didn't know he spent every Thanksgiving in Colorado with Dad. Not to mention that for a non-telepath, Zack was an excellent judge of character. Cole had never really warmed to Zack, but he did have to give him credit for that. Better judge than I am, Cole thought ruefully. Zack probably would have caught Janice's duplicity from the start.

As for what was in store for him, he knew the drill. Norms didn't change pattern unless they were blasted out of their pitiful little ruts. They were going to drug him, throw him on a helicopter, and fly him to a larger aircraft for transport out of the country. They would give him enough drugs to knock him out, but they probably had no idea how fast he would process tranquilizers meant for norms. They'd give him what would have a norm sleep for days. He'd be up, and fully regenerated, in two hours.

Wherever he woke up, they were bound to have him chained. That might take about two minutes of his time to get out of. The rest was simple. He should be on the larger aircraft by then. They wouldn't be expecting him to be awake and healed that quickly, so there wouldn't be many guards around him. He'd take out enough to get to the cockpit, take out the pilots, and then depressurize the plane to knock out anyone else aboard. There would be enough oxygen in the pilot's mask to get them back to the US. All he'd have to do then was make sure the mask's straps were tight and head on home.

Cole knew he'd have to get hold of Xander and Shawna. They would be pissed if they missed out on interrogating the prisoners before the prisoners were eliminated. Lon actually owed him a big favor. He wouldn't like going against his whole "upholding the law" thing, but he would get that kid for Cole. The kid that Janice considered a nephew. Both her and the kid's father were going to watch the kid die before Cole took them both out. Nasty, yes, but object lessons usually were. He'd been given a few in his life, and had demonstrated a few more. This one certainly wouldn't be his last. The right people would hear about this, and it would be understood that you do not go after a Manticore unless you want the fury of Hell unleashed.

Janice knew that Kevin was still worried about Cole. She had never seen him so nervous about a captive before. Of course they had never had a captive like Cole before. Cole wasn't saying anything, and his silence was far more frightening and unnerving than any yelling or cursing that he could be doing.

"I think I finally matched a name and face," Janice said to Kevin, nodding towards the leader of the mercenaries. "British MI5, she was part of Operation Ratsnake, code name Tundra, right?" Kevin nodded and Janice added, "I knew something was going on with her when I left, but I never knew what happened exactly."

"You remember that little town that the Irish Republican Army wiped out about two weeks before you left?" Kevin asked.

Janice made a face. "Yeah, I heard about it. I couldn't believe that people really thought the IRA was involved. Nothing about it was their style at all."

"Well, you know the news is just there to feed the sheep," Kevin said. "You know that a senior member of the British Parliament and an American businessman were killed there, right?" Janice nodded. Their deaths led to practically open warfare against the IRA and they lost a great deal of sympathy when some of the people in the IRA claimed credit. It had led to a split in the organization, and caused tidal waves of repercussions.

"The Brits knew their guy was going to be there," Kevin continued. "He was secretly a sympathizer, so they were thinking it wasn't going to be a loss either way. They get rid of him, and sympathy goes their way. But at the last minute his American friend decided to go along with him during his tour of Ireland."

"Anyways, the friend was a sympathizer as well, but he was a very diverse one. Some of his friends were the Brits' friends, and ours as well, and you know how that mess goes." Janice nodded. She knew the situation all too well. "Tundra was in charge of the mission, and she was supposed to abort it, but she didn't."

"A lot had gone into the mission," Kevin continued. "I don't know all the details, but I do know the people that claimed credit for the IRA were her people undercover. If the mission didn't proceed there were going to be major repercussions. Agents were going to be exposed and things like that. So, she just didn't let her people know that there was a last minute cancellation."

Janice sighed. "And I'm the one with a price on my head."

"You're the one who left the field altogether," Kevin reminded her. "She went mercenary, and became worth more alive than dead. Some of her clients that have given her a retainer already would be pissed as hell if she was eliminated and they couldn't get their contracts filled."

Janice laughed softly. "I bet. This buyer is eager as hell to get his contract filled." She looked at Kevin questioningly. "Okay, fess up," she said with a smile. "Where did you get all this information on Manticore? I never even heard of it before, and here you are with all of the good dirt." She accentuated her words with a playful punch to his shoulder.

Kevin looked a little embarrassed for a second. "Brickman's been doing research on it. Since I was taken out of fieldwork, I have plenty of time at Langley. I was bored and poking through some stuff and found his files on Manticore. I couldn't get to all of his stuff, but I did get the information on the four X-7 kids. It's not complete information, like the stuff about how high their mental abilities are is missing, but there was enough to start stalking them. We were going to make a grab for the oldest one of the X-7's, but this seemed like a better opportunity."

"Anything on the older ones?" Janice asked. "The other X-6, I mean. Do you know who they are or where they are?"

"No," Kevin said, sounding disappointed. "I think it was in the stuff I couldn't get to. Everything I saw just used designation numbers instead of names, except for the kids." He shot her a conspiratorial grin. "Maybe my sister and I could get the rest of the good stuff."

She returned the grin and they high-fived. "Been there, done that," she said with a little laugh. "We got one, I bet we could find out who the others are, especially if they still do government work like this one does." Kevin just grinned. With him and Janice working this, they were going to be filthy rich very soon, and then it was off to Rio de Janeiro.

They were both quiet for a minute. Janice knew they were coming up to the meeting site very soon. She was starting to get very nervous now, but slammed the emotion down. She had everything she needed, and there wasn't time for nerves. She knew what she had to do, and as much as it pained her, she knew she was going to have to do it. There was no backing down now.