Jon checked the map again

Jon checked the map again. They weren't terribly far now, he thought as they hiked the side of a steep gorge. Another hour at this pace and they would probably be at the lodge safe and sound. From what Heather had said, nobody was going to be able to get at them with her parents being there. He was tired, and being safe from anyone chasing them seemed like a pretty good idea. He didn't care if Heather's parents were going to give him a massive interrogation before taking Heather out, as long as he got out of the cold for a while.

It had almost been fun walking with Heather after the incident with the helicopter. She told him more about her family, and he had almost died laughing thinking about her cousin Janna as a little half-ling. She was a couple of years younger, but her reputation as a hell-raiser proceeded her already. Jon had heard one teacher say that she was glad she was going to retire before having to have Janna Cale in her class. It made sense that Janna was more advanced than anyone thought.

He told her about his family, and his uncle and all the fun they had together in Utah. They talked about plans for the future, and what they wanted to do, and where they wanted to go to college. It was weird that the rules about getting to know someone that you were interested in had been totally thrown out the window. They were just holding hands and talking as they walked. If there weren't bad guys out to kill or kidnap them, it would be the totally best first date he'd ever been on.

Heather couldn't wait to get back to the lodge. Chances were, Uncle Cole and Miss. Miller were already there, if not, they were off kicking the bad guys right back to England, especially that woman. She was scary. Like Mom with an attitude scary. Maybe worse since Heather knew her mom wouldn't just start killing people for sport. That other woman might hunt people just cause she liked to.

"So, I was screaming 'Janna Jacqueline Cale, don't even think about it'," Heather was saying, laughing as she told the story of how Janna and the twins almost wrecked the christening of one of their cousins. "And everyone was inside, and Uncle Zane wasn't thrilled about the whole deal anyways, but his girlfriend said since he wouldn't marry her, he didn't get to choose. Anyways, Elizabeth gets hold of…" her words trailed off. She stopped and cocked her head slightly, her enhanced vision scanning the area. She could have sworn she heard something.

Jon looked around, but he couldn't see or hear anything. He opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, but she made a shushing gesture. She looked around, and then continued talking, but her expression clearly said she wasn't satisfied. There was something there. "Thought I heard something," she said as brightly as she had just been talking. Her eyes weren't as bright though. They started walking again, and Jon could tell that Heather was listening more than talking this time.

"So, um, how many kids does your uncle have?" Jon asked in what he hoped was a normal tone. If Heather wanted to act like nothing was wrong, then he better play along.

"Five," Heather replied, glad that Jon had gotten the hint. "By five different mothers." She sighed. "He had to leave Alabama because the third one was the county sheriff's daughter and Karen's daddy had the law looking for him since Karen was seventeen and he was twenty-seven when they started their affair. The man needs to be more careful." Jon grinned. Well, it was kind of a funny story. Dad hadn't thought it was funny. He had used words like soprano and eunuch for a month every time Zane was mentioned.

While she talked, Heather kept using her enhanced vision trying to find what was out there. Sure, it could have been an animal, but it didn't sound like one. It was moving deliberately, the noise an accident. An animal would have kept making noise if it had been spooked and was running through the woods. Whoever it was, they were keeping low and undercover. Heather really wished they were already at the lodge. She had come to the conclusion that she wasn't cut out for the cloak and dagger kind of life. Too bad her existence was a cloak and dagger move in and of itself.

There was the noise again, but closer this time. Too close. Damn, where was he? There was too much cover above them, and they were too open walking on this ledge. It was faster travel, but they should have gone the long way, Heather thought angrily. She knew better than that. The noise was behind them. Time to widen the gap.

"On three, run," she hissed. Whoever was after them would run too. They'd expose themselves, and she knew she could take them out as soon as she had them. Her parents or Uncle Cole or Miss Miller would have identified themselves by now. It had to be enemy forces.

Jon felt his heart accelerate at her whispered order. Not again. Screw it, they'd gotten away once, they'd do it again. "One," she murmured, her lips barely moving, "Two…THREE!" she shouted and they both started running. Heather wasn't going all out; she was keeping pace with Jon. She could have left him in the dust easily, but she wasn't going to abandon him. The noises behind them weren't subtle anymore. They were more constant, and…oh God…they seemed just a bit closer.

Heather grabbed Jon's hand, tugging him to get him to run up the slope so they could get into the trees. They changed direction suddenly, scrambling up the incline. There was a short vertical wall, and they threw themselves up it, the safety of the trees dead ahead. Heather was able to jump up easily, turning, and grabbing Jon to get him the rest of the way up. They both spun around and stopped dead.

There was a man there. He was new to them. Mostly new. Heather thought he might have been at the caves, but she wasn't sure. The high-powered rifle he was aiming at them made introductions rather pointless. He wasn't dumb though. His eyes were on Heather but the rifle wasn't aimed at her. It was at Jon.

"Stand down," he ordered coldly. He didn't have to say anything else. It was her life or Jon's and there wasn't an Uncle Cole nearby to bail her out this time. The options were quite clear, and none of them offered a solution that Heather liked. Surrender or Jon would die. If the gun was pointed at her, she could dodge it and telekinetically yank it out of his hands. But if he knew she could do that, and after everything, he just might, he was probably holding onto it too tight for her to get it out of his hands fast enough to keep him from shooting Jon. Jon couldn't move fast enough to dodge, and at this range, he would be dead before he hit the ground.

He's going to be too fast anyways, Heather thought, as she slowly raised her hands. He was behind us, and he managed to get around me. He had to be from Manticore, or maybe that Canadian thing, what was it, Project Hades? Whoever he was, he had the upper hand…for the moment. Heather knew she wasn't going down without a fight. This was just a tactical surrender.

"I'm the one you want," she said calmly. "I'll go with you, just let him go. He doesn't know anything, I swear." She hoped that was convincing enough.

"Then if you're not careful, he won't know why he gets killed," the man replied. There was absolutely no sanity at all in his gaze. He couldn't be reasoned with. Jon was watching him closely. Whoever he was, he was insane. He'd had to go visit his cousin in a mental ward, and the look in their eyes, the ones who had completely lost base with reality, it was a look you never forgot. And he could see it very clearly in this guy. Neither of them was getting out of this. He was going to kill them both.

Heather stepped to the side, away from Jon. Swing it towards me, she thought angrily. Why are you being so smart you jerk? I just need a diversion. Just a second. Even if he is enhanced, I still have a chance. Even Dad has a hard time dealing with me when I go kinetic on him, and he can't be better than Dad.

Jon didn't say anything. He was waiting. When Heather stepped away from him, the guy's attention went to her. Adrenaline flooded Jon's body. God, this was insane. But it had to be better than being led to the slaughter.

Jon jumped to the side and forward, grabbing the barrel of the rifle, and pushing it down. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. The explosion of the rifle going off was deafening, snow melting and flying everywhere, and then suddenly the rifle was out of his hands, hung suspended in the air over the gorge for a heartbeat, and then fell towards the rocks below. The man, his hands suddenly free hit Jon, knocking him hard into Heather, throwing them both to the ground. Pain from a sharp use of telekinesis dulled Heather just for a second, long enough for him to pull out a nine-millimeter pistol.

For a second everyone was frozen in place. Heather and Jon were on the ground, and now he was going to kill them both right then and there. Over the side, Heather's mind ordered. Throw him over the side now! The man didn't notice his feet lift a few inches when the shout rang out.

"FREEZE!" The words boomed out as a man and a woman came around a corner, both armed, and aiming for the strange man. Heather dropped him, making him stumble a step, but he was recovered instantly. Jon glanced at Heather and she shrugged. It would seem everyone had been invited. Whoever they were, they could temporarily be classified as friends.

"Don't even breathe, Hawk," the man ordered their assailant. The woman wasn't saying anything, but the disgust on her face said more than words could.

"Well, well," Hawk sneered. "So the illustrious Mr. Brickman decides to come down from on high and make sure his little charges stay classified huh? What got you slumming it today? Actually getting into the field and doing real work instead of being an armchair spy like always?" He looked at the woman. "So what, I'm a terrorist now? Hey, you know where your commander got the idea for that barcode? It was from watching some semi-humans play. He got you to mark yourselves like animals."

Brickman and the woman ignored his taunts. "Put the gun down and back away from the kids," Brickman ordered firmly.

Hawk's sneer turned malicious, but his fingers opened and the gun fell to the snow. None of them noticed it slide back so that it was within Heather's reach. "There," Hawk said. "Totally unarmed now. By your own precious laws you just have to uphold, you have to take me in now. Can't kill an unarmed man, and there's witnesses to prove I gave up." His grin was triumphant. He'd been trained to break out of any prison, no matter what the security. They knew that. But, what were they going to do? They were slaves to the law. They were nothing.

"You know Xan," the woman finally spoke up, addressing Brickman, "he is right. The law says since he surrendered, he has to be taken into custody." Her lips suddenly curved up in an almost feline smile. Oh my God, Heather thought, her eyes widening in shock. That's Mom's smile!

"But there's one nice thing about being semi-human," she said to Hawk, her tone nothing short of deadly. "Laws meant for humans just don't apply to us. We learned that at a very young age."

The triumphant look Hawk was wearing fell off of his face like a mask shattering on the snow. He understood. In that brief moment, the gun barrels enlarged, and he knew. Brickman hadn't been assigned as the Manticore keeper. Not at all.

"And most importantly," Brickman said quietly, "you should never have fucked with our niece." Both of them pulled the triggers at the same instant, three times in rapid succession. Hawk reeled backwards, blood spurting from the wounds in his chest and torso, one bullet finding its way to his heart, dropping him to the ground. He let out a gasp of air, a bubble of blood from his mouth staining the snow, and then was silent.