Seven continents. Thousands of islands. Hundreds of countries. The twins
debated their options and came to the same conclusion each time: there was
no place on the face of the planet that they could run to where their
parents couldn't find them. The deepest jungles in Africa? Liz knew Mom
had been there. More than once. Even if they couldn't find them by some
miracle, was there a way to hide from the rest of the family? Not likely.
They knew that Heather wasn't going to arrest them or anything. And she
couldn't either since they hadn't done a thing in the United States.
Still.it might have been better than sitting in a room waiting for their
parents to come up there and talk to them.
Maybe the parents would understand once they were away from everyone else and they could explain more what and why they had been doing it all. It wasn't anything different from things they had done when they were their age. Well, less killing, but that was a good thing right? And Mom was more pissed about being caught then actually doing something bad. Dad would be all over them about doing stupid stuff to expose themselves and getting into trouble, but the only person to know what was going on only knew because Heather had been the one to blab about what they were and all the other stuff.
They were going to be okay, right? Parents didn't kill their young, right? No telepathy was needed to come to the mental consensus. They were totally screwed.
Liz's cell phone chirruped. The strange number that came up almost made her not answer it, but she hit the talk button anyways. Maybe it would be a telemarketer of some sort that she could let loose on. "What?" she snapped.
"Good morning my clients," Janna said cheerfully in her Jaqui voice. Liz rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for this playfulness now.
"We've got a problem," Liz said quickly, letting the conversation "backfire" to Cameron so that he could "hear" it as well. "We got home and."
"I have a gun to my head," she interrupted just as brightly as when Liz answered the phone. Liz was about to make a sharp retort over being interrupted when Janna's words registered. Her jaw landed somewhere on the floor then snapped shut. The twins exchanged a glance, their shock mirrored in each other's eyes. Okay, so it was possible to start having a worse day. Murphy was, as always, still in effect.
"Who.what." Liz sputtered, any ability to speak deserting her.
(find out if she's hurt!)
"Are you okay?" Liz asked quickly, her brother's sensible suggestion echoing in her head.
"Quite well," came the reply. She could have been describing the weather for all of the worry in her voice. It was a great act, but neither of them was fooled. They knew her far too well. The calmer and more cheerful she was in a bad situation, the more afraid she was. She was freaking terrified at the moment, but the game face was on and nobody was going to break it.
"However," Janna continued jauntily, " we do have a bit of a problem. I do hope that you are not terribly attached to that statue that you took during the last contract. It would seem that Monsieur Southwood was quite attached to it and would like it back. Would you be so kind as to come back for a bit and give it to Franz and Anna? I shall let Monsieur Southwood know that they will be more than happy to deliver it to anywhere in the world he would like it to be sent."
"Where are you?" Liz asked desperately. She didn't care if they had to give the statue or even the fees back to Southwood, but he didn't exactly seem like the kind of guy you could trust even if he did get it back. If they could get to Janna.
There was the sound of a slight scuffle and a squeak of outrage from Jaqui. "In twelve hours the other two are going to be called with delivery instructions," a harsh voice said in a lousy copy of a British accent. "If they have nothing to deliver, she is going to curse your names before she dies." The line went dead.
Liz hit the "end" button on the phone, looking up at her brother. "Tell the family?"
Cameron thought about it for a second. "After we get back," he answered, grabbing his backpack that still had the statue in it. "Right now."
"No time to explain," Liz agreed, opening the window. She blew out a breath. "Two weeks," she muttered. "What's going to happen in two weeks? Next time she says that, I'll kill her myself." She swung her legs over the edge, dropping lightly to the ground as Cameron followed her down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Don't lose it, Janna thought as she hung up the phone. As long as they don't know that you're scared, they can't use it against you. Oh, but she was. Janna was at least. Janna was huddled in a corner absolutely terrified as to what they were going to do to her, and more importantly, had they done anything to Antonio? He hadn't been far behind her. Had they taken her away before he got there or was he.no.she wasn't going to think that way until she knew for sure. But how was she supposed to ask them without it giving them ammunition against her. Luckily, they had no clue as to her internal struggles.
Jaqui gave Southwood and his various thugs a rather charming smile when he slammed down the phone. It made them nervous that she was so calm when she should be intimidated. "There, gentlemen," she said brightly. "My clients will be on the next flight from where they are and give the statute to some mutual associates who will be more than happy to deliver it to any place that you name." She wasn't about to tell them that Franz and Anna were the names that Liz and Cam used when they were her German bodyguards. Whatever happened, it was best that these guys never know they had their hands on the actual clients.
"This is too easy," Bentley growled to his boss. "We didn't have to do anything to get it from her where the statue was. They're not going to just give it up."
"And why not?" Jaqui questioned. "The statue was a whim, a lark if you will. It has no value to us and does to you. They've no reason to keep it." Especially considering the fact that they she was the one that wanted it in the first place. Next time.actually, this made it official. There was no next time. She was so retired.
"Besides," she continued, as relaxed as if they were sipping tea in a public bistro somewhere, "what is the point of me trying to refuse to tell you where the statue is? You seem disappointed that you didn't have to torture it out of me. As I said before, the statue is of no discernable value to me. I see no percentage in going through pain for something that is meaningless. You want the statue. I want my freedom. It is a fair enough trade to me."
"You better hope they come through for you," Southwood said menacingly. Her smile didn't waver in the slightest.
"I have every bit of faith in my clients. As you must know, they never fail in what they set out to do. And delivering a statue is a rather simple task, wouldn't you think?"
Southwood didn't reply to that jab. He grunted at one of his minions who stepped forward immediately. "Put her in with the other one," he snapped and then stormed out of the room.
Minion was probably supposed to scare her into submission. He was tall and dark with a wicked scar twisting the left side of his mouth and turning down his eye. He leered at her, letting her know without saying the words what he wanted to do to her, and would do if the boss would allow him. She didn't flinch when he grabbed her arm. He might look tough, but obviously he had been on the losing end of a fight before. And he was walking with a slight stiffness on the left side. Uncle Zane had taught her to notice stuff like that. That meant he probably had a bad knee or had torn an Achilles tendon at some point. In other words, he had a weak point that could be used if needed.
But now was not the time for resisting. Reinforcements had been called in and with a little luck, the twins would get here and make the trade in less than twenty-four hours and then they would all be scampering back to New York. Janna would call Antonio and let him know that she was fine and that all was well. She had promised to try and get the necklace back, but at this point, staying way below the radar seemed like the best idea. He would understand. Then again, he probably had connections of dubious reputation of his own. The irony of the situation was almost too much. She might have to depend on her victim for protection from the person that hired them.
Minion took Janna down a short hallway and then turned a corner. They went down a second corridor and stopped in front of a locked door. Janna had absolutely no idea where she was or if in that room she could have a few moments alone to collapse in a corner and hyperventilate. She had no idea how much time had passed between her getting home and then waking up on a bare concrete floor. When she had woken up, her head felt like she had gone through an entire bottle of Jack on her own and her back felt like, well, like she had been sleeping on a concrete floor. She was also tied up which didn't make the situation any better.
She didn't think much time had passed since waking up and making that phone call. She had been hauled to her feet and dragged from whatever room she was in into the central room and there was good old Southwood, chewing on the end of a cigar and glaring at her. Janna wanted to scream, but luckily Jaqui was there to take the reins and figure out what to do next. It had come down to that statue. Janna started to get a sick feeling like the necklace was just a ploy and everything had revolved around the statue from the beginning. Were they supposed to have gotten caught? In the middle of everything, the statue was to have disappeared and they would have been to blame for everything? This was so not good.
But Jaqui had prevailed. She had gotten Southwood to let her call her clients and, thank God, Liz answered her cell phone. Now it was just going to be a matter of waiting for twelve hours while Liz and Cam got back to Europe and make the trade. Twelve hours. She could do that. Sure. No problem.
Minion unlocked a door and shoved her through it, locking the door behind her. Before she could even look around, a rich Irish brogue seemed to fill the room. "Oh, now what is this now? Are they thinking that they can send in a woman now and I'll feel all this companionship? That I'll want to do it for them? Ha! I'll lead you straight to Hell I will!"
The room wasn't large, but it took Janna a second to locate the girl tucked down in the corner, sitting on the floor. She couldn't have been more Irish if she was wearing green and had a fifth of whisky in one hand. Dark red hair cascaded around her shoulders and her bright green eyes were snapping emerald fire at Janna as she sat there, casually dangling a bright red shoe off of her big toe. The girl saw Janna's gaze fall on her and her chin went up a little further, daring her to do her worst.
"I believe I am going straight to Hell without a guide quite well on my own," Jaqui replied, choosing to sit down on the small cot that was the only furniture in the room. "And with a bit of luck we will not be together long enough for companionship to occur so I believe you are safe on that count."
The girl eyed her with less anger and a glint of amusement. "Are you the 'bloody frog' that took their statue from them?" she asked.
Jaqui blinked. "Southwood actually called me that? I would think he could have one of his minions come up with a better insult than that." She thought for a second. Be careful, she warned herself. This could be another trick. "Of course he was not happy to learn that I don't have the statue at all. I just knew who could get it."
The girl laughed. "You certainly got that blighter's knickers in a twist over that. I think if he didn't need me so much he would have killed me when I laughed so much I was crying over hearing that. Told him that it was justice, I did. He stole me and then the last piece he needed was stolen from him. I was hoping that you wouldn't get caught too." She shrugged. "Good run though. Amused the hell out of me every time he cursed you."
"I am Jaqui," she finally introduced herself, holding out a hand.
The girl took it in a quick shake. "Emilie McCormick," she announced.
Janna blinked. She knew that name. Oxford. That's from where. She had been in England at an art seminar and Emilie McCormick had been giving a lecture there about dead languages. She looked at Emilie more closely and realized that it was the same girl. Janna had been between lectures and had dropped in on this one for a while. Mostly because it was hot and she had a blister on her toe rather than wanting to hear the lecture, but it had been actually slightly interesting. She couldn't follow much of what Emilie was saying, but Emilie's bio on the back of the lecture agenda was pretty cool.
She was a child prodigy in languages. By the age of ten, she could speak, read and write fluently in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. Then she had started on dead languages. At 23, she was one of the few people in the world that could speak or read in medieval languages. Her lecture that day was on how languages change over time and how the changes make the language into practically an entirely new one over a few centuries or so. Janna had left before it was over but she had been doing a decent job of making an utterly boring subject into a lecture that didn't make her want to gouge her eyes out to get out of listening to it. Janna couldn't say that about some of the lectures she had just been to in her own field of interest.
So what was she doing here anyways? What was so important about the statue and why was a linguist needed? She also wondered if it would be possible to ask Southwood for the necklace back since it wasn't what he had been interested in anyways.
"I am a bit at a loss as to what is going on," Jaqui said. "I was under the impression that there was another object of greater value to them."
Emilie shrugged. "The necklace? That was nothing to them. All I've seen them drool over is that bloody map." She noted Jaqui's blank look. "The one they need the hieroglyphics on the statue to unlock? The one I'm supposed to translate for them?" She smiled at Jaqui's continued stupefaction. "According to the bit I've read off of that map, that statue is the key to finding a fortune enough to buy that bloody necklace that they decoyed you with a dozen times over."
Maybe the parents would understand once they were away from everyone else and they could explain more what and why they had been doing it all. It wasn't anything different from things they had done when they were their age. Well, less killing, but that was a good thing right? And Mom was more pissed about being caught then actually doing something bad. Dad would be all over them about doing stupid stuff to expose themselves and getting into trouble, but the only person to know what was going on only knew because Heather had been the one to blab about what they were and all the other stuff.
They were going to be okay, right? Parents didn't kill their young, right? No telepathy was needed to come to the mental consensus. They were totally screwed.
Liz's cell phone chirruped. The strange number that came up almost made her not answer it, but she hit the talk button anyways. Maybe it would be a telemarketer of some sort that she could let loose on. "What?" she snapped.
"Good morning my clients," Janna said cheerfully in her Jaqui voice. Liz rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for this playfulness now.
"We've got a problem," Liz said quickly, letting the conversation "backfire" to Cameron so that he could "hear" it as well. "We got home and."
"I have a gun to my head," she interrupted just as brightly as when Liz answered the phone. Liz was about to make a sharp retort over being interrupted when Janna's words registered. Her jaw landed somewhere on the floor then snapped shut. The twins exchanged a glance, their shock mirrored in each other's eyes. Okay, so it was possible to start having a worse day. Murphy was, as always, still in effect.
"Who.what." Liz sputtered, any ability to speak deserting her.
(find out if she's hurt!)
"Are you okay?" Liz asked quickly, her brother's sensible suggestion echoing in her head.
"Quite well," came the reply. She could have been describing the weather for all of the worry in her voice. It was a great act, but neither of them was fooled. They knew her far too well. The calmer and more cheerful she was in a bad situation, the more afraid she was. She was freaking terrified at the moment, but the game face was on and nobody was going to break it.
"However," Janna continued jauntily, " we do have a bit of a problem. I do hope that you are not terribly attached to that statue that you took during the last contract. It would seem that Monsieur Southwood was quite attached to it and would like it back. Would you be so kind as to come back for a bit and give it to Franz and Anna? I shall let Monsieur Southwood know that they will be more than happy to deliver it to anywhere in the world he would like it to be sent."
"Where are you?" Liz asked desperately. She didn't care if they had to give the statue or even the fees back to Southwood, but he didn't exactly seem like the kind of guy you could trust even if he did get it back. If they could get to Janna.
There was the sound of a slight scuffle and a squeak of outrage from Jaqui. "In twelve hours the other two are going to be called with delivery instructions," a harsh voice said in a lousy copy of a British accent. "If they have nothing to deliver, she is going to curse your names before she dies." The line went dead.
Liz hit the "end" button on the phone, looking up at her brother. "Tell the family?"
Cameron thought about it for a second. "After we get back," he answered, grabbing his backpack that still had the statue in it. "Right now."
"No time to explain," Liz agreed, opening the window. She blew out a breath. "Two weeks," she muttered. "What's going to happen in two weeks? Next time she says that, I'll kill her myself." She swung her legs over the edge, dropping lightly to the ground as Cameron followed her down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Don't lose it, Janna thought as she hung up the phone. As long as they don't know that you're scared, they can't use it against you. Oh, but she was. Janna was at least. Janna was huddled in a corner absolutely terrified as to what they were going to do to her, and more importantly, had they done anything to Antonio? He hadn't been far behind her. Had they taken her away before he got there or was he.no.she wasn't going to think that way until she knew for sure. But how was she supposed to ask them without it giving them ammunition against her. Luckily, they had no clue as to her internal struggles.
Jaqui gave Southwood and his various thugs a rather charming smile when he slammed down the phone. It made them nervous that she was so calm when she should be intimidated. "There, gentlemen," she said brightly. "My clients will be on the next flight from where they are and give the statute to some mutual associates who will be more than happy to deliver it to any place that you name." She wasn't about to tell them that Franz and Anna were the names that Liz and Cam used when they were her German bodyguards. Whatever happened, it was best that these guys never know they had their hands on the actual clients.
"This is too easy," Bentley growled to his boss. "We didn't have to do anything to get it from her where the statue was. They're not going to just give it up."
"And why not?" Jaqui questioned. "The statue was a whim, a lark if you will. It has no value to us and does to you. They've no reason to keep it." Especially considering the fact that they she was the one that wanted it in the first place. Next time.actually, this made it official. There was no next time. She was so retired.
"Besides," she continued, as relaxed as if they were sipping tea in a public bistro somewhere, "what is the point of me trying to refuse to tell you where the statue is? You seem disappointed that you didn't have to torture it out of me. As I said before, the statue is of no discernable value to me. I see no percentage in going through pain for something that is meaningless. You want the statue. I want my freedom. It is a fair enough trade to me."
"You better hope they come through for you," Southwood said menacingly. Her smile didn't waver in the slightest.
"I have every bit of faith in my clients. As you must know, they never fail in what they set out to do. And delivering a statue is a rather simple task, wouldn't you think?"
Southwood didn't reply to that jab. He grunted at one of his minions who stepped forward immediately. "Put her in with the other one," he snapped and then stormed out of the room.
Minion was probably supposed to scare her into submission. He was tall and dark with a wicked scar twisting the left side of his mouth and turning down his eye. He leered at her, letting her know without saying the words what he wanted to do to her, and would do if the boss would allow him. She didn't flinch when he grabbed her arm. He might look tough, but obviously he had been on the losing end of a fight before. And he was walking with a slight stiffness on the left side. Uncle Zane had taught her to notice stuff like that. That meant he probably had a bad knee or had torn an Achilles tendon at some point. In other words, he had a weak point that could be used if needed.
But now was not the time for resisting. Reinforcements had been called in and with a little luck, the twins would get here and make the trade in less than twenty-four hours and then they would all be scampering back to New York. Janna would call Antonio and let him know that she was fine and that all was well. She had promised to try and get the necklace back, but at this point, staying way below the radar seemed like the best idea. He would understand. Then again, he probably had connections of dubious reputation of his own. The irony of the situation was almost too much. She might have to depend on her victim for protection from the person that hired them.
Minion took Janna down a short hallway and then turned a corner. They went down a second corridor and stopped in front of a locked door. Janna had absolutely no idea where she was or if in that room she could have a few moments alone to collapse in a corner and hyperventilate. She had no idea how much time had passed between her getting home and then waking up on a bare concrete floor. When she had woken up, her head felt like she had gone through an entire bottle of Jack on her own and her back felt like, well, like she had been sleeping on a concrete floor. She was also tied up which didn't make the situation any better.
She didn't think much time had passed since waking up and making that phone call. She had been hauled to her feet and dragged from whatever room she was in into the central room and there was good old Southwood, chewing on the end of a cigar and glaring at her. Janna wanted to scream, but luckily Jaqui was there to take the reins and figure out what to do next. It had come down to that statue. Janna started to get a sick feeling like the necklace was just a ploy and everything had revolved around the statue from the beginning. Were they supposed to have gotten caught? In the middle of everything, the statue was to have disappeared and they would have been to blame for everything? This was so not good.
But Jaqui had prevailed. She had gotten Southwood to let her call her clients and, thank God, Liz answered her cell phone. Now it was just going to be a matter of waiting for twelve hours while Liz and Cam got back to Europe and make the trade. Twelve hours. She could do that. Sure. No problem.
Minion unlocked a door and shoved her through it, locking the door behind her. Before she could even look around, a rich Irish brogue seemed to fill the room. "Oh, now what is this now? Are they thinking that they can send in a woman now and I'll feel all this companionship? That I'll want to do it for them? Ha! I'll lead you straight to Hell I will!"
The room wasn't large, but it took Janna a second to locate the girl tucked down in the corner, sitting on the floor. She couldn't have been more Irish if she was wearing green and had a fifth of whisky in one hand. Dark red hair cascaded around her shoulders and her bright green eyes were snapping emerald fire at Janna as she sat there, casually dangling a bright red shoe off of her big toe. The girl saw Janna's gaze fall on her and her chin went up a little further, daring her to do her worst.
"I believe I am going straight to Hell without a guide quite well on my own," Jaqui replied, choosing to sit down on the small cot that was the only furniture in the room. "And with a bit of luck we will not be together long enough for companionship to occur so I believe you are safe on that count."
The girl eyed her with less anger and a glint of amusement. "Are you the 'bloody frog' that took their statue from them?" she asked.
Jaqui blinked. "Southwood actually called me that? I would think he could have one of his minions come up with a better insult than that." She thought for a second. Be careful, she warned herself. This could be another trick. "Of course he was not happy to learn that I don't have the statue at all. I just knew who could get it."
The girl laughed. "You certainly got that blighter's knickers in a twist over that. I think if he didn't need me so much he would have killed me when I laughed so much I was crying over hearing that. Told him that it was justice, I did. He stole me and then the last piece he needed was stolen from him. I was hoping that you wouldn't get caught too." She shrugged. "Good run though. Amused the hell out of me every time he cursed you."
"I am Jaqui," she finally introduced herself, holding out a hand.
The girl took it in a quick shake. "Emilie McCormick," she announced.
Janna blinked. She knew that name. Oxford. That's from where. She had been in England at an art seminar and Emilie McCormick had been giving a lecture there about dead languages. She looked at Emilie more closely and realized that it was the same girl. Janna had been between lectures and had dropped in on this one for a while. Mostly because it was hot and she had a blister on her toe rather than wanting to hear the lecture, but it had been actually slightly interesting. She couldn't follow much of what Emilie was saying, but Emilie's bio on the back of the lecture agenda was pretty cool.
She was a child prodigy in languages. By the age of ten, she could speak, read and write fluently in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. Then she had started on dead languages. At 23, she was one of the few people in the world that could speak or read in medieval languages. Her lecture that day was on how languages change over time and how the changes make the language into practically an entirely new one over a few centuries or so. Janna had left before it was over but she had been doing a decent job of making an utterly boring subject into a lecture that didn't make her want to gouge her eyes out to get out of listening to it. Janna couldn't say that about some of the lectures she had just been to in her own field of interest.
So what was she doing here anyways? What was so important about the statue and why was a linguist needed? She also wondered if it would be possible to ask Southwood for the necklace back since it wasn't what he had been interested in anyways.
"I am a bit at a loss as to what is going on," Jaqui said. "I was under the impression that there was another object of greater value to them."
Emilie shrugged. "The necklace? That was nothing to them. All I've seen them drool over is that bloody map." She noted Jaqui's blank look. "The one they need the hieroglyphics on the statue to unlock? The one I'm supposed to translate for them?" She smiled at Jaqui's continued stupefaction. "According to the bit I've read off of that map, that statue is the key to finding a fortune enough to buy that bloody necklace that they decoyed you with a dozen times over."
