For a group that had this much cat DNA, how the hell did we manage to keep from landing on our feet this time, Cameron wondered as they separated him from his cousin and twin. Had he really lost contact with Liz he wouldn't have allowed it without a struggle but as it was, she reassured him, asking him to just play cool and all would be well. They were going to feel safer this way and when they were more at ease, it would be easier to strike.

Liz was close enough that he could still talk to her but it was more tiring with a distance. They were going to have to save as much strength as possible. Mental reserves were going to have to be spent more on restraint anyways because that was the only way he was going to keep from strangling the little redhead he was now sharing a room with. Emilie. The one that Janna was so worried about. Cameron was worried about her too, but for much different reasons. He was more or less sure that he was going to kill her or at least make Southwood promise to do it.

He had been shoved into the room, the door slamming behind him. Only his sister's constant communication detailing exactly where they were being directed kept him from freaking out. Not that it would have helped, but the point was that it was something to do. He had barely taken note of the girl sitting on the cot.

"Don't tell me you're the one that was supposed to be rescuing Jaqui," she said with a rather charming Irish lilt to her voice. "And if you were, I think you might have needed some lessons on how to do the job properly."

She sounded amused. Vaguely Cameron picked up on the fact that she used amusement to cover the fact she was scared, but he really didn't care. "Oh, shut up," he growled, forgetting that he was supposed to be German. Like it really mattered now.

"I heard a bit of shooting out there," Emilie said, sounding a little unsure of herself. "Jaqui didn't get herself hurt did she?"

"She's fine," Cameron said absently, looking around the room. There had to be a way out of this place. There was always a way out of all places. There was no perfect prison. If they had learned one thing listening to their parents and aunts and uncles, it was that. Always a way out. Despite the camera that they had tried to hide up in the corner and knowing that it was being watched. Good job on the camera hide, but he wasn't the usual prisoner, now was he?

"If she was fine then she wouldn't still be here," Emilie observed brightly. "Got a the rescue thing a bit bollixed did we?"

Cameron finally spared a moment to glare at her. She was nervous about who he really was, scared he was really working for Southwood and Jaqui was really dead and he was there to play yet another one of Southwood's mental games. Fine. She was scared. Blah blah. She was also annoying the hell out of him. And why wasn't Liz talking to him anymore? That was what he was really worried about.

(stop worrying...we're fine for now)

(liz...how far are you...can you get out)

(not right now...if there's a problem then i'll let you know...and the chick you're with can explain the deal with the hieroglyphs and a map)

And then she was gone. He wasn't going to panic. That was not allowed. But he had always done better alone than she did. He was more worried about what his twin was feeling than what he was going to do. He took a breath and started to think things out. It was almost like being on an archeological dig. You just had to sift through things one layer of sand at a time until you found what you were looking for. It was time for patience. He could do that. But he knew Liz and patience didn't go well together. When she finally decided that she was bored, all hell was going to break loose and he needed to be there when it did.

Emilie was wondering more what was up with this guy. Twice he had stopped in his observations of the room and his head was cocked ever so slightly. He was listening, she decided. To someone that made a career out of language, you knew what it looked like when you heard someone speak. He was listening to someone. That worried her a bit more because it looked like Jaqui's big trump card was merrily listening to the little voices in his head and she was locked in a room with him. Maybe he was one of Southwood's little minions sent in to frighten her into being more submissive. That didn't seem right though. He was a fine-looking chap though. Maybe he had been sent in to seduce her into submissiveness and was just too busy trying to remember what his cereal had told him to do this morning.

Cameron focused on the girl in the room. He knew from Liz that the hieroglyphs on the statue were the important thing that Southwood had really wanted. But a map? What map? They should never have taken this assignment. They'd be in New York right now if they hadn't. Doing a little ice-skating with Tanya. She was so cute on skates. Hitting up some of the guys he knew at the museums and seeing who was going on a dig next season and if he could come along. Most of them were very generous even though he didn't have a formal education. They could see his experience and the donation checks made everything else not as important. The family wouldn't be pissed at them and he wouldn't be in mortal terror of what his parents were going to do when this was all over. Maybe Southwood killing them was the better alternative.

"Jaqui said there was a map or something," Cameron finally said to Emilie. "The statue was destroyed and...and the third member of our party is the only one that knows what they are." Emilie's eyes widened. "So what's the deal with the map?"

"I've only seen it once," she replied cautiously. He was talking about saner stuff now. This was good. Maybe the voices had gone on holiday. "Same story you've seen in a thousand movies. Young Spanish nobleman goes off to seek his fortune but never returns. Legend says that he died or whatnot before getting his treasure home and it's all sitting there in some hidden location waiting to be discovered."

Cameron blinked. "You're not talking about the legend of Al-Naron are you?"

Emilie looked a little surprised. The general tale might be a staple in books and movies, but he knew the exact thing she was talking about. "You've heard it before?"

"Yeah," Cameron said a little excitedly. Okay, this was irrelevant to the situation, but it was really cool. "Two seasons ago I was out and Dr. Nah..." his words trailed off as he realized how much he was about to give away.

Emilie rolled her eyes. "I already know who you are. So you're going to have to decide later what to do with me. In the meantime, keep talking. With the exception of Jaqui, the only conversation I've had in weeks has been some hairless ape pointing and grunting something that is supposed to be an order to go here or do that."

Her smile was way too charming. He knew better. But she was actually interested in stuff that he loved. As much as he loved his twin, if it wasn't a special that they had seen on The Discovery Channel, then she would get this glazed over look when he started to talk about historical places and events. Mom was cool for discussing military history, but there was a lot more than just battles that had been won and lost over the ages. Cameron debated for a second and then just gave in. What the hell.

He sat down beside her. "I was with Dr. Naharazzi two seasons ago working on his dig of that temple outside of Ja'hal."

Emilie practically bounced on the cot. "The one that was constructed to end the great famine?" Cameron grinned and nodded. She crossed her arms and pretended to pout. "That is not fair. I spent a month helping him translate the documents that pointed him in the right direction and couldn't go. And you were actually there when they were excavating!"

Cameron snickered. "It's amazing how friendly he gets when you make a sizable donation to his research." She laughed. Funding was the bane of all archeologists. People thought it was like the movies with a bullwhip and a handsome professor, but so much time was spent trying to procure research grants. "And why weren't you allowed to go if you had worked on it?"

She rolled her eyes. "And let the linguist out of the library? Are you mad?" Cameron was easily able to pick out of her mind more about her and her skills. Whoa. She was without a doubt the best there was and he knew a dozen different people that would have given their hind teeth to have her do their translations for them.

"So," he continued, picking up the story from where he had left off. "We were doing the excavations and Dr. Naharazzi is full of those old legends and myths and tales. He loves to talk about treasure hunters. I think it was because there were several grad students there and he was warning them that this was real archeology, not what the movies say. Indiana Jones died nine years ago and Lara Croft wouldn't be able to fit herself into most of the passages we're going to see, that kind of thing." Emilie was smiling, remembering the doctor's many impassioned speeches about how Hollywood had caused so many problems for real scientists.

"And we got to talking one night about legends in this area and he told us how supposedly not too far away were some hidden caves that housed a huge treasure. There was a poor Spanish nobleman that was in love with a beautiful woman but he was too poor to marry so he left to go east and get rich and come back. He never made it back to Europe but according to a servant of his, he had made it to Egypt with a fortune. He didn't know where his master was, but he had a map that showed where the master had put the fortune while waiting for something very important that was to be delivered. The master gave the map to the servant along with a letter to his lady and sent him on. But the master never showed up and the map disappeared."

"It did disappear," Emilie replied. "And I don't know how but our host got his hands on it. He seems to know where the cave entrances are and he's determined to find it." She looked down for a moment, trouble crossing her features. "And he's been bloody ruthless on doing everything to get it. You three threw him for a loop and he's not the forgiving sort."

Cameron nodded. "I figured as much. But I'll have to worry about that one thing at a time. Right now...the map you saw, it looked authentic?"

She nodded. "Not many people in the world can write in medieval languages and trust me, they don't sound a thing like they do today. It's either the best forgery I've ever seen or the genuine article."

"I guess we have to wait for Southwood's next move then," Cameron said. And somewhere down the line the statue had been made with the key to deciphering the map on it and Cameron was willing to bet some di LiCossa ancestor thought it would be just right for that hall and bought it. They were probably turning in their grave right now. "You think he really found the caves? Lot of people have looked before and come up with nothing."

She shrugged. "He's damn certain. 'Course he's half buggered as well."

The snort of laughter jumped out of Cam before he could stop himself. She laughed as well and then looked at him almost shyly. "You know," she teased, "I'm not exactly accustomed to sharing a bed with a man when I don't know his name."

Cameron looked down and finally realized that they were sitting on a cot. He laughed again. Oh God, this was not the right thing to do. "Cameron," he said with a little shrug. He had always thought that people that were open to him mentally would be easy to shrug off. They had been in the past. You read them, got what you wanted and then walked. Of course he hadn't got what he wanted from her. She was open yes, but there were a hell of a lot of layers. He'd have to figure out what he wanted from her before he was able to get something from her.

Emilie regarded him suspiciously for a second. A smile touched the edges of her mouth. "That really is your name."

Cameron shrugged. "I'd say you could ask my mother, but lately to her my name has been Goddamnit Cam, so I guess you'll just have to wait until you meet my sister for confirmation."

Emilie raised her eyebrows. "You're admitting that your sister is involved? I know you're related to Jaqui somewhere down the line and she refused to admit to it."

"We're twins and trust me, it's really hard to deny when you see us together."

Made sense to Emilie. "I thought my family was a wee bit on the odd side."

"You don't know the half of it." Enough with the family talk. Time to get things interesting again. "So what did you find that led to the temple being discovered?" Cam asked. "I know they had some evidences of a volcano blowing a thousand miles away and it causing famine in Egypt, but there wasn't anything to make the direct connection and..."

"If people would just start reading what the women have to say then a lot more unsolved history would be solved," Emilie said, her tone saying this was one of her favorite pet peeves. "If she wasn't a ruler or high powered, then she had to be a nobody and not worthy of attention, but they wrote a lot about what their husbands were doing and more importantly where they were doing it. Some did everything but practically draw the map and give street directions."

Cameron laughed. "I wouldn't have thought about reading a diary."

"That's because you're a twit." Emilie teased. "It's not the first time. Like once I was buried in this library in Moscow and..."

Cameron lost track of the amount of time he spent in that little room with Emilie. The more time the better he thought. Heather was on her way and chances were that the parents were right there with her. He would love to see Southwood try to deal with Mom and Dad when they were in a mood. And Aunt Max was going to be right there in the mix. A telekinetic, two telepathic X-7's plus a couple of really irritated X-6's and an X-5 was probably going to be more Operation Overkill than a rescue. He was just going to have to keep Emilie down low. As long as she didn't see anything, then there was no need to do anything to her. She'd be grateful for the rescue. Grateful enough to keep quiet. Maybe she was actually a witch. Janna had wanted to keep her safe and now he was feeling like he didn't want anything to happen to her either.

"So then," Cameron was saying to a giggling Emilie, "There we were with half of the Egyptian Army surrounding us and the project leader faints dead away in the sand. We've got one old guy that speaks Arabic and he's refusing to say a word until he gets paid for the day and none of us have any money because it's all still back at the camp."

(get out now)

(huh?)

Oh no, not again, Emilie thought when Cameron broke off his story, that curious listening gesture back. She was starting to think that maybe she had been wrong earlier. She had been seeing more into things than was really there. He had just had an ache in his neck that he had been stretching. Since then he had admitted to doing some crazy things, all in the name of archeology, but nothing that she wouldn't have done if given half a chance. He'd been charming and intelligent and well able to hold his end of a conversation. Now he was listening again and she couldn't hear a thing.

(cam, get the hell out of there right now)

Cameron could feel his heart rate accelerate at the intensity of his sister's mind tone.

(like i'm leaving you behind)

(get out or janna's dead...they don't need two hostages to keep me cooperating and they have my twin)

(liz!)

(cameron please! follow us, i don't care, but get out now! )

(ten minutes?)

(think so...five would be better)

(see you on the other side)

The communication was broken and Cameron glanced around the small room, his senses on full alert. It took a matter of seconds to reach into the minds of the guards outside the door. There were only two of them and they were busy watching the camera screen making bets on when the two in there were going to start fooling around. They were pissed because there was no sound. No sound? A wire was broken but they hadn't been able to fix it yet. Didn't matter because they didn't care what he was saying to get her naked, but....

Cameron shook his head slightly to clear those thoughts. Perv. Why was Emilie staring at him like that? Oh hell. Liz warned him that when he got into a mental conversation, he had the tendency to let the rest of the world go. She was an expert at double-talking. He didn't do it enough to keep it from being obvious.

"Emilie..." he started to try to speak. He had no idea what he was going to say, but he had to say something.

"It's quite all right," she said quickly. "I get it now. You're a bleeding loony."

"Damn it Molly," he snapped, stopping short, both of them looking startled. But she was about to panic and that wouldn't look good to the camera. Cameron grabbed her quickly, yanking her close to him, his face turned towards her as he forced her head to turn into him. On the camera he knew it would look like the guys outside had started to get their wish."

"We're on camera," he hissed in her ear. "Don't you dare try and fight me."

There was something in his tone that made Emilie relax her fingers and stop digging her nails into his skin. "Why did you call me Molly?" she hissed back.

"I don't know."

"Like hell you don't. Only one person has ever called me Molly and I want to know why you called me that name, damn you."

Christ. "Because you were nervous and trying to be brave or something, I don't know, and there's some association with that and Molly, and if you'd think clearer, then I'd know for certain." That was either going to get her attention or get some fighting going again. He didn't want to hurt her. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, but the girl had some sharp nails and he was pretty sure she had drawn blood already.

She stiffened. "Stop acting like you got that out of my mind." So what if she was thinking that when he said that to her. The bravest person she had ever known in her life was her mother. Her mother had called her Molly from infancy and whenever she wanted to be brave, she thought of her mother and how to her mother she had always been the adventurous and fearless Molly McC. That had gotten her through a lot of tough nights since she'd been kidnapped.

"The how do I know that your mother wanted to name you Molly but your father said that you'd end up a actress or a hooker with the name Molly McCormick? Both were equally bad to him so they named you after...one of their mothers." He had to calm her down. Why in hell was he telling her the truth?

"My father's," she whispered back fiercely. "And all that tells me is that you've done a bloody lot of research. All interested in history and know my background. I was really thinking you weren't one of his men, you bastard."

"Calm down and think of something," Cameron said. Her mind was such a jumble that this wasn't going to be easy. "Just calm down and think about a object or something very clearly. Favorite place or food or something else very personal to you."

She'd show him! She closed her eyes, not thinking about her favorite anything. Prove it now. Cameron moved slightly as if he was kissing her neck and ear now. "Green wall," he murmured. She stiffened a little, her eyes popping open. "Almost the exact same color as your eyes." He'd noticed her eyes? She could feel him smile against her ear, his breath tickling her slightly. "Beautiful eyes. Kind of hard to not notice them. But it's not the wall you're thinking about anyways. That's just where it hung at...your aunt's home. It's the painting you liked. It was just steps going up in some garden...hey, was it a Thomas Kinkade? Looks like his work."

He pulled back slightly so that he could see her stunned face. "Oh my God, you really did...read my mind." She looked a little uncomfortable. "Stop it. But you really were listening to someone when you came in here and then just a minute ago."

He smiled. "I already did stop. But I have to go."

Her expression became questioning. "With you, it's images, feeling, some thoughts. With my twin, it's full two-way communication. They only need one hostage to keep her cooperating. I'm a lot better than our cousin. I go, she lives."

"Think you could, ah, take me with you?"

He wanted to say yes. And the worst part was that he could. "I take you then they aren't valuable anymore. Molly...sorry, Emilie, I want to..."

"I understand." His eyes met hers and he realized that she really did. "Now attack me."

"What?"

"I'm the prize. We're on camera. If they can't hit me then they won't let you hurt me either. Might make me too upset to be able to read right proper if I'm sobbing and wailing and eyes are swollen shut and the like."

Cameron was horrified. "I'm not going to hit you."

"I think you can fake it. You hit me hard and I'm going to be right pissed for a long time to come."

He could pick the lock, but that could get too much attention. Oh God, this was the best way. And he could tell from the guards' thoughts how valuable Emilie was. She was very right that they would come to her defense. He felt ill. "I'm going to grab you, push me away and slap me hard."

"Sounds like half my first dates in college." How could she be funny at a time like this? He couldn't keep her. He wanted to. But he had to leave her. This sucked. He let his mind go out to the guards and keep track of them. They were excitedly waiting for things to progress and were mentally cheering when he pulled her a little closer, his hand plunging down the front of her shirt, capturing her full breast in his hand.

Emilie gasped at the contact and she had to admit that if there was just a little more time and they weren't on camera, she might have let herself have a few seconds to enjoy his touch. She started to squirm violently, shoving him backwards roughly. Her blouse tore and she hauled off and slapped him.

Cameron knew what was coming, but he wasn't expecting it when Emilie started screaming at him at the top of her lungs, cursing him in at least three different languages. Now the guards outside were concerned. He had to do this. Had to. Cameron jumped up, yelling back at her and calling her a no-good tease, before hauling off and slapping her, but barely hard enough to make her face red and not enough for a bruise. Emilie played it well, acting as though it was hard enough to knock her to the floor.

Cameron pounced on her. Her green eyes widened. This wasn't part of the plan. Then she realized that he was listening again and he wasn't on top of her really. He was in more of a springing position. The doors flew open and the two guards came in, shouting and cursing, ready to beat Cameron into a bloody pulp.

Emilie had seen boys getting into scraps before in a schoolyard. She had seen movies where the hero was a martial arts expert. But she had never seen anything like this before. Cameron suddenly was off of her, literally back flipping over the two men as she rolled over to get in a corner and out of the way. Neither of the guards had a chance as he unleashed every skill, both mentally and physically on them. They couldn't land a punch and he moved around them and suddenly in a couple of kicks the first one was unconscious. A punch later and the other one was in a heap as well.

Cameron took a step towards the door and then suddenly changed direction and was in front of where Emilie was crouched. On impulse he leaned over, his lips brushing against hers. "You won't see me," he whispered urgently. "But I'm going to be half a step behind, I promise. I'm not letting any of you get out of my sight." And then he was gone, flying down a corridor, his inhuman speed making pursuit impossible. He hit a side window and dove through it, swan diving into the waters below.

It might be possible to have a day that could suck worse, he supposed. But as he had no intentions of say, getting the genitals pierced the same day as having a rectal exam, he couldn't think of much else that would make this worse.