Something was nagging at Cole

Something was nagging at Cole. It was like when you can't remember the name of an actor that played in a movie, or the name of an old TV show. He knew there was something he should have thought of, but it was dancing just out of reach, mocking him. He knew it had to be something intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer, but he couldn't think of what it was. He had a feeling that it was very important, something that could alter the present situation, but it was still just a finger's length out of reach.

The guards weren't talking about what was going on with Heather and Jon, but a few that did know had replaced a couple of the guards that were around him, and Cole had picked out the information he needed easily. Three men went after Heather and Jon. One of them was injured when his snowmobile somehow flipped several times. Long years of military training kept Cole from grinning when he heard that. Little Bit had some cold-hearted men scared of her now. One man was starting to think they should give up on the kid since they had the adult. He didn't know if she was deliberately trying to scare them, but fear was a soldier's best weapon and worst enemy.

Jon had apparently skied down a very steep and dangerous slope. Cole's opinion of the kid went up when he "heard" that. The kid was a quick thinker. Only one of the mercenaries had been skilled enough to attempt to follow Jon down the slope, but there was a well-timed avalanche, and the kids were missing now. Cole didn't know if Heather was strong enough to create and control an avalanche, but he wasn't putting anything past her.

Cole was a little surprised at how easy it was to pick through the minds of the guards. Most of their thoughts were irrelevant, but the important details were being broadcasted the most. Cole knew he was skilled at getting in and out of someone's mind without them realizing that anything strange had happened, but this was ridiculously easy. There were a few that were tough, and their leader was impossible, but the ones around him were easy. He would think they would try to shield a little at least. By this point, he knew about Tundra, and how one liked to secretly cross-dress and how three of them killed that fourteen-year-old girl last year in Korea. Why weren't they trying to shield their thoughts a little at least?

For a fraction of a second Cole paused in mid-step as what was nagging at him suddenly came closer and the pieces fell into place with an almost audible click. Janice mentioned the kids' abilities, but not his. Click. Brickman didn't know about him, so Kevin wouldn't either. Click. Why wouldn't Janice say that he was telepathic? Because if she had, they would have tried to shield their thoughts. They would have known that she had a one-way communication possible with him if she chose to broadcast. She very deliberately held back that information. But why would she do that, unless…unless…

He let his mind wing out to Janice's. The language of pure mind to him had always been more complex than hieroglyphics, but he could roughly translate running into a shielded mind in visual terms. It was like floating at the center of a smooth black wall that stretched forever up and down, left and right. Most walls like this had cracks in different places, but the wall was huge, and searching would take too much time that he didn't have. When he had tried to read her when they first met, he knew immediately that she would be tough to crack if she didn't want him in there.

This time it was like there was a homing beacon calling him to a specific place on the wall. He was drawn to a place, a crack that she had deliberately made. He knew she wouldn't know how to do it, but there was something on her mind that she wasn't trying to hide, something she wanted him to know. He could feel the emotion surrounding it, fear, anger, worry, and a pulse of something else so faint it was eluding him. Still, it didn't change the image that she couldn't get out of her mind. It was Heather, tied to a surgical table, her blue eyes wide with pain and fear as she struggled against her bonds while faceless people hacked and sawed at her. Cole could hear Janice's voice speaking one sentence, a constant echo of a powerful emotion. "This will not happen while I can still change things."

Cole had slipped into her mind covertly, but now it was time for a tactical risk. He didn't think she was lying about this. It was much harder to mentally fake emotion. If Janice really meant what she was letting out, she was going to have to give him proof of it. They had just come into a clearing and time was gone. It was put up or shut up. Mentally, he "tapped" on the wall, announcing his presence to her. It was up to her now to let him in. Then he would know the truth behind her actions. If she were friend or foe, he would know for certain.

**********

As they approached the clearing, Janice knew that time was up. She had known they were badly outnumbered and needed time. She had bluffed them all into thinking that she would be able to get Heather easily. They hadn't sent more people after the kids, instead wanting to keep them to make sure Cole didn't escape. Kevin didn't know about Shadow or any of the others, so he couldn't have told Tundra about them. She glanced over at Kevin, the pity and anger warring with each other.

It wasn't right what he was planning. It was not him. She knew this was temporary, that he was a good man, but just misguided from grief right now. She was closer to him than her blood sister, but she wouldn't let an innocent child be killed so that he could get over his pain. Once he calmed down and stepped back, he would see it too and thank her for not letting him do such a thing.

They walked into a clearing in the middle of nowhere, and suddenly Janice got the weirdest feeling in her life. It was like when you're alone in your house, but you're sure you just heard someone say your name. It was very unnerving to suddenly get a crawly feeling like there was someone under your skin with you. The feeling made her start thinking about ghosts. Like there was a…presence of some sort. Wait. Presence? Cole?

Cole had told her that she had strong mental shielding, so she had tried to think loudly, however you did that. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't really going to help them catch Heather, and that she wanted Cole to escape as well. She wasn't going to sell any of them, no matter what. Janice didn't know if Cole was getting the message, the trouble with one-way communication, but now she was thinking that he might have gotten it. He was here, somehow, in her head, wanting…wanting something? Bloody hell, he was the telepath, not her. What the hell did he want?

Tundra keyed her comm. equipment. "We're at the rendezvous site," she announced.

A voice came back. "No sign of the girl yet. We'll be there in five minutes for the pickup." Tundra smiled and turned back to her men. "Five minutes and the buy will be complete gentlemen," she announced. "We'll have the girl tonight, and then I think we've all deserved a week or two down in Jamaica." The mercenaries cheered, and even Kevin smirked.

He's thinking by the time she gets back we'll have the rest of the Manticore technology ready for sale, Janice thought bitterly. She leaned against a tree, and glanced over at Cole. He was looking back at her, and suddenly she understood that feeling of presence. He needed to know for certain what she wanted, what she was planning. He wanted in.

Janice wasn't sure exactly how to drop her mental shields. He was the one that knew they were there; she just knew that she was good at guarding her expressions. An idea occurred to her. It might not work, but there weren't many options. It was creepy to think of letting someone else in her mind, but she knew it was the only way he was going to understand her motives. She closed her eyes, and stretched. To an observer, it looked like she was just stretching her arms after a long walk. Internally, she relaxed her mind using a meditation technique she had learned in India, hoping it would be enough.

Cole had kept the contact, waiting for her to make a decision. The wall was holding solid except for that one small break, and that was too small for him to dig into. Physically, he saw Janice lean against a tree and then stretch a moment later. Mentally, the wall around her mind suddenly started to crack wildly, fissures appearing as she intentionally forced herself to open to him.

He didn't hesitate to "jump" through the fissures. Mental walls were one way. They could keep you out, but they couldn't keep you in. In a matter of seconds he was running though everything that made Janice Miller herself. Glimpses of childhood, I'm starting school today Cyra's pretty Santa brought me a bike for Christmas, and then adolescence, Bobby likes me stupid biology teacher Craig I want to leaving for college tomorrow, whipped past Cole with hurricane force. He respected her privacy enough to not to look into her memories, but went after what he knew was going to be there. Likes, dislikes, emotion, everything was swirled around in a tight topography that could never be really mapped.

And then there it was. She wanted to lull them. The mercenaries were lax at that moment. The buyer was coming by helicopter. They could take it and search with it, find Heather, and get back to the lodge. Again, there was that beat of emotion that was so hard to define before. Closer to the source, he understood it now. Honor. She would never, ever, dishonor herself and what she held as virtue for the sake of money. It went deeper than the bonds of brotherhood. It was the bond of heart, mind and soul, and she could not let it be broken, or else the person she was would cease to exist. Everything was in a mass, jumbled to the point where Cole knew Janice herself would have a hard time separating it, but an outside observer could see where everything fell into place.

Janice gasped softly, unable to hold back in the shock of intrusion. She bit her lip lightly, trying to hold back another cry as every secret place in her mind was suddenly exposed. For a brief moment she felt as exposed as if she was standing there completely naked. She had no idea it would be like this, like someone running their hands over the bookshelves of thought in her mind. He had no mercy, no tact as to what he was running through, and for a moment she regretted allowing him this entry point.

And then it was gone. Not completely, Janice had a feeling like Cole was still touching her lightly, keeping a feathery kind of contact, but that brutal intrusion had pulled back.

"Jan, you okay?" Kevin asked. She looked up at him, suddenly aware that she was breathing a little hard. Kevin had heard her gasp, and then got concerned as she paled.

"Muscle cramp," she lied smoothly. The intrusion felt like it had taken hours, but in reality couldn't have taken longer than thirty seconds. She pushed out her right leg, and rotated her foot up as if stretching out her calf muscle. "Guess I need more potassium," she added like nothing was wrong. She could feel herself shaking lightly. That contact…she had no idea how intense it would be. God, what had he seen in there?

Janice looked over at Cole. Faint on the wind was the sound of helicopter blades. It was now or never time. Her eyes met Cole's and just for the barest second a touch of a smile curved the edge of his mouth. He knew. Think loudly, she told herself. He was still somehow connected to her, she knew that, but could he hear specific thoughts?

She focused on him. Can you hear me? She shouted the thought in her head. The helicopter was getting closer. Cole's head dipped for a moment, and then came back up. To an observer it looked like he was feeling defeated. To Janice, it was a clear nod. The one on your left doesn't have ammo in his rifle, she thought loudly. Break right, helicopter is goal.

Janice looked up at Kevin. "I feel a little bad," she said, nodding towards Cole. "I think he liked me."

Kevin shrugged. "Not much we can do now." Plenty we can do know, Janice thought fiercely. She started sauntering over towards Cole. "Be careful," Kevin called out to her. She grinned back at him.

"I really should say I'm sorry," she said in a teasing tone. It was a very Nightshade kind of thing to do, and he smiled when he recognized the behavior. She always got in a nasty dig at the end, just to rub it in that the other guy lost. It was just an ice-cold maneuver that was very distinctly Nightshade.

She walked up to Cole and smirked. The helicopter was starting to come over the trees and Tundra was approaching with a medical kit. In a few seconds Cole was going to be very well drugged. "You know," she said. "I did have a good time in the caves and all, but this is just, you know, why life's a bitch."

"And so are you," he replied with a cold smile, but his eyes were bright. He could hear what was behind the words. Damn, she was smart.

Before any of the mercenaries could react, Janice had a knife in her hand, the blade against Cole's throat. She pressed lightly, a thin trickle of blood welling. He didn't flinch. There were suddenly a dozen guns pointed at her, all attention pointed at her as well. For that tense moment, their attention had been turned away from the one person who they shouldn't relax around for even a second.

"Damn straight and don't you forget it," she whispered, a grin touching the edges of her mouth. With a single deft flick, she sliced the cord around his neck. He spun as she ducked low, the knife cutting the cord around his wrists, and then they both went into full action.