When the glass started to come down, Janna did a little "go me" dance in her seat. They had never done it this fast before. They ruled. Plain and simple. And there was something watching her. She looked sharply to her left and encountered a pair of beady black eyes staring at her. "Oh my God!" she gasped. She got out, knowing the fluffy-tailed rabid rat was watching her. "SQUIRREL!" she screamed, jumping out of the car to get a stick. It must have come in through the moon roof, but she was sending the little hell-beast back to its dark master special splattered delivery.

There had been a storm last week, and there were several branches from trees that had broken lose and were on the floor of the forest. Janna swiped one up, heavy and firm still. It was plenty to whack that little fuzzy demon right back to…

"Signora?" a voice right behind her called.

Janna whirled around, faster than she ever thought she could move before. She didn't mean to, but the stick in her hand was already raised, and it slammed into the newcomer's head. Janna gasped in shock. There wasn't supposed to be anyone around! The man swayed for a second, and then crumbled to the ground in a heap.

"Oops," Janna squeaked, dropping the stick. She leaned over him, and gingerly touched his neck. Please don't be dead, she thought desperately. I didn't mean to hurt you! To her relief, her fingers felt a strong pulse beneath them. She had just knocked him out. Thank God.

"Base!" Cam yelled, getting her attention back. "Alarms all over…"

Janna jumped back into the truck, ignoring the scampering of the squirrel. Her eyes lit over the screens and she gasped. What the hell had just happened? Her fingers flew over the keys. Whatever had been done, she had to undo it quickly or else there were two cousins that were going to be in a heap of trouble. Had being away for just a few seconds caused this whole mess?

Inside, the bad news was that alarms were going off all over. The worse news was that bars had come slamming down to cover the windows. Cameron wasn't worried about himself. All of the noise was heading towards the other side of the building where the intruder was obviously coming through.

(liz?)

(heading out of this funhouse now…are you okay?)

(fine…just about….there, got it…i'm out…going to go kill janna now)

(right behind you)

Liz waited for another couple of seconds. The bars were not planned, but she could manage. She'd super-speed to a far window, lift the bars, and jump. Everyone else would be coming here. She hoped. No matter. She'd go out the front door if need be. God, she was going to kill Janna. As a matter of fact, she was going to snatch that little statue that Janna wanted so much and break it on the way out. That would be fitting.

Liz slid down the hall, about to make her move, when her brother's thought exploded in her mind, the shock and fear broadcasting out loud enough to cause physical pain.

(OH MY GOD…HOLY HELL…NO, IMPOSSIBLE…OH MY GOD)

Instead of veering left, Liz shot right down the hall, heading to whatever was after her brother. Her hand automatically reached out, grabbing the statue off of the table as she moved. If anything happened to him, this thing was going to have to be surgically removed from one of Janna's orifices.

When Cameron got the necklace free from the clasps holding it onto the velvet board, he was positive they were home free. The bars on the windows were a situation that they had dealt with before, and he knew that Liz wasn't worried. If she wasn't afraid, then she was about to get out of there, and he was fine to take off as well.

He dropped the necklace in his side pouch and turned, ready to make a quick exit when he was frozen in his tracks. A young woman was standing in front of him. For a moment Cam thought she might be the Conte's sister, but then he realized that he was seeing through her. It was like looking through a balloon of sorts with the other side slightly misshapen, but still visible. She was wearing some sort of dress that looked like it belonged in the middle ages or something like that. In his moment of shock and distress, he had absolutely no control over the terrified thoughts that were being broadcasted to all that could hear.

The woman frowned silently, staring at his pouch. Her mouth opened, and then shut quickly. A slight smile appeared on her face. And then she simply disappeared.

(CAMERON!!!)

Liz's call broke through to him, and he realized that she was coming after him.

(no, it's okay liz, don't worry about me…you're never going to believe what just happened, but get out and i'll tell you)

Liz stopped in the hall, torn between going after him anyways and getting out. She knew what the chances were of a successful escape if they both went out that way. Absolute zero. And Cam would stay to get her out and then both of them were toast.

(liz, go!)

"Remote," Janna finally piped up, "bars are coming up."

"Bout damn time," both twins hissed at the same time.

Cameron heard people coming down the hall, but he was out the window in a flash as the bars slid up about a foot off of the sill. He slid over to the ledge, and then the bars slammed shut again. "Base!" he barked. "What the hell?"

"Get out now, target or no target!" Janna ordered. "We're having problems." No kidding, both of them thought simultaneously.

(liz!)

(still in, just go and i'll catch up in a second)

(two minutes and i'm coming back in!)

Liz could feel Cam's hesitation, but then he jumped down. She wasn't feeling all that confident herself, but she knew that she was better at getting out of trouble than he was. She was smaller and far more coordinated. Experience had taught them that men didn't see her as a threat, and she could rip them a new one before they could blink. In any case, she needed to get out of there. Cam was serious when he said he would come back. Breaking out of an Italian prison didn't seem like the best way to spend the holidays, so it was time to get moving.

She moved quickly back down the hall, trying to get to the other window that she had come through. It wasn't the window where the breech was shown, so there shouldn't be many people around there. She stepped into the hallway, whipping around a corner, and going face first into a young woman. The woman stumbled back a step as Liz managed to somewhat gracefully stay on her feet.

The girl's eyes went wide at the masked person in the house. Her sudden scream was piercing, making even Janna and Cam wince hearing it over the microphone. Now Liz could hear people rushing to them as lights in the hall all flooded on. The girl was still screaming bloody murder, and the time for subtleties was officially over.

Liz took off at full run, not caring who might see what. "Get those bars up now!" she shouted, slowing down to round a corner. A hand grabbed her arm, whipping her into a wall. She bounced off of it easily, an odd memory of the times Heather had kinetically thrown her around flashing across her mind. The guy that grabbed her was big. He also had a gun.

Liz didn't hesitate. She jumped in fast, grabbing his wrist, and spinning into his body, her elbow slamming into his ribs. She felt the bones cracking under the force of the blow, knocking the breath out of him. Her knee flashed up, hitting his wrist hard and sending the gun flying down the hall. He grabbed at her again, but only came up with air as she used her inhuman speed to step back from him, and whirl into a roundhouse kick that took him off of his feet and into the wall, where he slumped to the floor. Liz almost laughed. Mom would be proud of that move.

A single gunshot rang out, striking the wood just above her head. More people coming. Seriously time to go now. Liz could feel Cam getting ready to come back in, and that was the worst idea possible. She looked up. There was the window, but the bars were still down.

"Three seconds!" she yelled into the microphone, taking off at a dead run. If Janna couldn't do it, Liz knew she was going to be slamming into metal bars. Probably getting shot in the process as well. This was Italy. Police didn't have to be called. Nobody would find the body.

Janna's fingers flew over the keys. Something was not right. Seriously not right. If she didn't know better, she would swear they knew something was going to take over the security system. It was quiet, and then the system started fighting her tooth and nail. Well, it didn't know Janna Jacqueline Cale. And she was not going to give up. She always had another trick to pull out. She executed another program, and the red light on that window to indicate locked switched to green.

The bars started rising, and if Liz had had the moment to think, she might have cried with relief. That is, until they started closing again. Desperation gave her an extra burst of speed as she dove through the window headfirst, feeling the bars scraping the bottom of her boot on the way down. At that speed, she overshot the ledge, sailing down the three stories. At the last moment, she flipped over, landing hard, and falling to her knees. Cam was already there, coming out from behind some trees in a flash. He grabbed her hand, hauling her up as they both raced into the woods.

Janna started the car, and then jumped out quickly to check on the man that was on the ground. He was still breathing. She wanted to call an ambulance or something, but there wasn't time, and it would be a little hard to explain. She knelt beside him for a second, and his eyes fluttered and he groaned lightly. Relief flowed over her. She couldn't have hurt him too bad, despite the blood on his forehead.

"I am very, very sorry," she whispered in Italian. Her Italian wasn't that great, so she hoped she was apologizing. She really meant it. "Nobody was supposed to get hurt," she added. She heard noises in the woods, approaching rapidly. "I really am sorry," she said again, jumping back in the car, and throwing it in gear.

The twins were barely able to get into the car before Janna had it in motion. She glanced in her rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of the man slowly getting to his feet. That was a relief. But she had two very, very angry cousins to deal with now, and they also had to make their escape. Not a big deal. Sure. Shouting and driving always made for a good combination.

The words being yelled back and forth blended as they were all yelling at each other. "If you nearly got us killed over a squirrel…" "You told me to go and there was a guy with a gun…" "You broke plan and went down another hall…" "Two of us couldn't have made that window…" "You said you had security under control…" "There wasn't supposed to be that many people in the house…"

"STOP!" Cameron suddenly yelled, his deep voice topping Liz and Janna's shouting. Janna hit the breaks on the car, skidding them to a stop. They were on a rocky back trail, deep in the woods, taking some godforsaken roads back to the town they were based out of for this grab. "Just listen," he said quietly. All three of them were silent for a moment, enhanced hearing on high alert. There was nothing at all except for the wind rustling the trees. And then Cameron pulled out the necklace.

"We did it," he said, breaking out into a grin. The two girls stared at the necklace for a moment, the diamonds seeming to glitter even without light. "Three of us plus the target," he said, still grinning. Liz and Janna started to grin, realizing what he was saying. They had done it. Nobody was chasing them. They were free and had the necklace.

Loud whoops of victory filled the car as the animosity was forgotten in the face of victory. Besides, who ever said that good things come easily anyways? They had the necklace. In less than thirty-six hours Jaqui would be giving it to Southwood, and they were going to be so rich. And then it was home for the holidays.

"We only got one life to live!" Janna chanted the words from the old song.

"Let's get it over with!" all three of them practically shouted as Janna hit the gas again, heading towards the dawn.