Janna knew her cousin far to well to be fooled. They had been tossed into
a small room, separated from Cameron. Liz didn't seem worried in the
slightest. There was a desk and a chair in the room and Janna thought that
this wasn't a place they had ever intended on holding hostages. They were
trying to figure out what they were going to do with the three or four of
them now. Liz had plopped into the chair, propping her feet up and leaning
back in an attitude of complete relaxation. Janna knew better.
After the door had first slammed shut and Liz sat down, her lips had twitched a few times. She was talking to Cameron. Reassuring him, probably to keep him from bashing out of wherever he was and coming after them. Liz could double talk, but if she weren't talking to someone out loud, then sometimes she would accidentally mouth the words she was speaking to her brother mentally. Even when that stopped, Janna knew Liz wasn't relaxed. She needed her body to be relaxed so that her mind would have greater range. It was tiring to do what she was doing and Liz didn't know how long or how much she was going to have to keep this going.
Liz opened her eyes after a few minutes. She glanced at her cousin and blinked once, long and slow. Janna relaxed a little. They had a whole system of non-verbal communications. The Morse code blinks could get a little tiring after a while, but it worked well. And there was the fact that either of the twins could read her mind when she wanted them too, so really it was a matter of them being able to talk to her. The long slow blink was shorthand for "everything is fine for now". It still didn't give Janna the warm fuzzies since they were hostages, but they would have to deal. And Janna was still worried over what happened to Antonio. Nobody had mentioned him at all. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe they didn't want to mention killing an Italian guy in her apartment. Liz might be able to find out, but then again, chances of Liz killing her instead if she knew what had happened between Janna and Antonio was much higher than Liz just letting it go and finding out.
Bentley came in a minute later, slapping a pen and piece of paper in front of Liz. "Draw the first symbol," he growled. In his anger, his mind was far too open. They knew what the first symbol was and if Liz didn't get it right, then she was lying and they were all dead. Liz almost sighed. As soon as these guys relaxed just a little, then she was grabbing Janna and they were so out of there. Been kidnapped fifteen minutes and it was already getting boring.
She picked up the pen and fluidly began drawing the symbol out, remembering to add the little scratchy mark in the upper part of the curved line. The artistry left a lot to be desired. Janna would have fainted if she saw the stick figure, but Liz never claimed to be an artist. She could sketch an engine, but that was out of practice more than talent. She held up the paper with a smug smile. "Here's the first two symbols," she smirked. "Your boss wants to see another one, I see my brother. Got it?"
Bentley snatched the paper from her and left the room, instructing the guards that they were not to go in there for any reason. Liz smirked. He had seen them in action earlier and was afraid. He wanted to just kill them and run. Southwood was in a far worse predicament. If he didn't get this money, then he was a dead man himself. This little rift was very exploitable. It had to be at least. Any break in the ranks could be used. Little gem of wisdom from mom.
"Why are you pushing them?" Janna whispered when he was gone.
Liz thought for a second. "I think...if they're mad they're going to make their moves too fast. And that's what we're going to need. They need to be reacting to us, and the wrench in their plans that we've caused. They start acting and we're screwed."
"And this isn't being screwed?"
Liz shrugged and gave her cousin a tight-lipped smile. She leaned forward. "The parents know," she whispered. Janna went white. "Heather found out. I'll fill you in later, but do you really think they're going to let someone else kill us when they want that pleasure?"
"Mine know too?"
Liz had to bite back a laugh. "You're lucky. You might not get locked in a closet for the next twenty years. I think Max was a little jealous she never fenced anything for as much as we get." Janna smiled. Dad was going to kill her, but Mom had very little room to talk. She'd probably critique the work.
Liz knew that they just needed time. Heather wasn't going to be far behind and chances were that she had the parents with her. Maybe some aunts and uncles and a bored cousin or two to boot. As terrified as she was of her parents and what they were going to do to her, at least they might, if they were very, very lucky, be tempered with some small grain of love. Or they would get out a lot of the violence on Southwood and his men and call it good. That was the biggest hope. If not, then her and Cam were toast extraordinaire.
Time passed slowly. The girls didn't dare converse much for fear of being overheard. Liz occasionally let her mind sweep out, but not much was going on. There was still that reassuring place deep in her mind that let her know Cam was fine. They didn't always need to be in direct communication. No matter how far apart they were, they always knew when the other was in distress. Cam was doing fine. More fine than he should, actually. Odd. She would have jumped and asked, but that would have been a waste of strength.
And then one of Liz's slow mental trawls hooked a big one. Janna noticed her cousin's body stiffen, her eyes flying open. Liz leaned forward, oblivious to the real world, eyes narrowed into slits, a ferocious snarl twisting her mouth. For a moment, she looked more like her mother than even Heather did. "Oh hell, no" she growled.
"What?" Janna whispered urgently.
"Hold on." Liz leaned back in the seat, her eyes closing again as she relayed the distress message to her brother. Wait. Something was really up with him. It kind of resembled what had been bothering Janna earlier. Who cared? This was an emergency.
Communication broke off and Liz sat back up. Janna was watching her expectantly. "They decided they only need one hostage for me to cooperate." Janna paled. "I think I pissed Bentley off more than I intended."
"I am so kicking your ass later."
"Save it. Cam's going to ditch the place in a few."
The next few minutes took hours, days to pass. Civilizations rose and fell. Mountains rose from the sea in a flood of lava and crumbled into dust. Stars were born and winked out before the door was thrust open. Liz wasn't completely on her feet, but Janna knew the stance. She was about to spring and make someone really, really wish they had never been born. Instead of a gun-toting minion, a young woman was roughly shoved into the room and the door slammed again.
Liz thought she looked vaguely familiar. She was a couple of years older than Liz, rather pretty girl actually. Her blouse was torn and she was crying. The minute the door slammed shut, the waterworks seized and she looked rather pleased with herself.
"Emilie!" Janna burst out.
Emilie perked up with a wicked smile. "I knew you weren't French." Janna winced. She had just blurted out the word without thinking.
"Well...never mind that," Janna stumbled, "what happened to you?" Emilie was smirking too much for Southwood to have gone after her. In the seconds of Janna's concern, she was very much open and Liz was able to pick out of her mind who Emilie was and that she was the person Janna had been worried about when they had come in to make the trade for Janna.
Emilie looked over at Liz curiously. Cameron had said there would be no mistaking his sister and he had been quite right. She knew a couple of transsexuals that had facial feminization done. They had a surgeon go in and reconstruct their faces to make them look more feminine and delicate. Cameron wouldn't ever have to wonder what he would look like if he had that done. All he would have to do was look at his twin.
"Bit of a disagreement with my roommate," Emilie answered. She wondered if Liz was as adept at mind reading as her brother. "He thought he could take a few liberties too many. Had to explain the error of his ways." That should satisfy anyone listening. Mentally, she "yelled" that she worked out a plan with Cameron and he got out and she thought he made it out and Southwood was furious that he lost his best hold over Liz.
Liz flinched slightly at the volume. It was like someone was yelling in her ear. And then it hit her. Emilie had no doubt that she would be able to hear the mental call. "You know his real name and ...this?" she whispered. Emilie nodded brightly. Liz groaned. "I am going to hurt him," she muttered and then glanced over at her cousin. "At least you know better than to tell strangers your real name and you were there a hell of a lot longer."
Liz didn't have time to question that really weird look that flashed across Janna's face for a second. Bentley stormed back into the room. "Get up," he barked. Several men with guns were right behind him, ready to fill the room with lead if any of them breathed wrong. "We're leaving right now," he added. He eyed Liz coldly. "Looks like your brother decided to get stupid and try and make a run for it. My condolences on your loss, but I don't think he suffered too much. At least not until the salt hit the open wounds. That probably hurt, but he's in a much better place now, right."
He smirked at the look of horror on all three women's faces. "Anyone else wants to join him, then try something funny. Now move."
(cam?)
(CAMERON?)
Distant. Scratchy. Like a bad connection on a cell phone.
(he's right...salt does hurt where i cut the crap out of my finger...no stress...still here)
As the goons hustled them out of the room, they didn't notice the ghost of a wink Liz dropped Janna and Emilie. Cameron was fine. She just wished she could say the same about them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
For some reason Heather wasn't surprised when there wasn't a message of success on her phone from Cameron or Liz. And she was even less surprised when she couldn't reach either of her parents. Their phones were off which meant one thing. They were in transit. Heather had not the slightest doubt that they knew where they were all headed and might actually beat them there. She left a message anyways as they headed to the warehouse. Jon wasn't happy about it, but Heather knew she was going to need them. Sure, she had plenty of training in hostage rescue, but none of it was practical experience yet. Her parents...well, there was very little that they had not experienced, she was sure of that.
Antonio had wanted to go right up to the warehouse and barge right on in. Differences in upbringing, Heather thought, both annoyed and amused at him. She knew that they had to be careful and how to approach unseen, survey and then return and report. Antonio was a man used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it. And he was determined that he was going to get Janna back. Unfortunately, the men they were dealing with weren't going to be intimidated in the slightest by any of them. At least not until they were given a reason to be.
The three of them halted at a warehouse close to the target, peeping around the corner to survey the address that Cam had left. "Camera over the door," Heather said softly, pointing.
"I see nothing," Antonio muttered.
"You wouldn't. But I can see it and that's what counts."
"Are the windows covered?" Jon asked quickly, staving off Antonio's biting retort. Those two had agreed to work together, but that didn't mean either of them liked it. He was spending more time playing referee then helping in a rescue.
"Just the door. They probably aren't expecting anyone to be able to go through the top floor." Heather glanced up and Jon and smirked. He shook his head.
"Not by yourself. You don't know how many and where the twins are." Telekinesis only went so far. If the twins had been taken, then that meant there were enough men in there to handle two transgenics, plus Janna. In that case, it was a much better idea to wait for the parents to get here and then make it a group effort.
"I'm going to go to the roof and do a little reconnaissance," she said. Jon gave her a warning look. "I know how much I can handle. If there's too many then I'll pull back and we keep them contained until my parents get here."
She glanced up at the warehouse next to them. It was only a couple of stories high, about the same height as the one they needed to get into. Heather easily jumped up, landing on the top of a window casement and then jumping again quickly, her hands catching the edge of the roof. She swung up onto it and silently crossed the expanse, staying low to minimize chances of being seen. The area wasn't busy, but there was no need to take unnecessary risks. Had she known about it, she would have taken a moment to be amused by Antonio's shocked expression. There was a big difference in knowing what someone could do and actually witnessing it for the first time.
Antonio noticed Jon's look of bemusement. "Is she always such a display?" he asked irritably.
Jon grinned. "Not always. Sometimes she really shows off." Antonio could only shake his head. In many ways he truly wished he had never started searching for the necklace on his own. Of course that would mean he would never have met Janna, but then he wouldn't have had to deal with this pair. And Jonathan had said their parents were worse. Perhaps Janna would consent to remaining in Europe while her parents continued living in America.
Heather dashed across the roof, leaping to the next one easily. She slid over to a side window and rolled through it silently. Heather crouched on the floor and listened, all of her enhanced senses on high alert. She could hear a few rats scratching through the walls, but nothing else. Not a murmur of a human voice anywhere. Why was it she was the only kid in the family without the slightest touch of telepathy? That would have been really helpful about then.
Heather went down to the first floor and got the same feel. She had spent a lot of hours in training, learning how to find someone hiding in a big building. She had excellent instincts for when a place was empty. This place was a tomb. She grabbed her cell and called Jon. "They're gone," she said flatly.
A few minutes later Jon and Antonio came in as she was poking around. They saw her crouched over a spot on the floor and came up behind her cautiously. "Dried blood," Heather said very calmly, pointing at the dark patch on the floor. "There are bullet holes in that post over there and dried blood on the floor."
Jon knelt beside her. "You don't know whose it is."
Her face turned towards him slowly, eyes flat and cold with restrained terror. Her words came out slowly and measured with emphasis. "I know they did not call me and let me know they're okay. I know they're not here. I know there was a hell of a lot of shooting in here and someone bled quite heavily. And you know what Jon? I don't like knowing these things. I don't like knowing them one bit." She looked back down at the dried puddle and all three of them were very quiet.
"Yeah, like ten guys shooting and not one could hit us. It was great."
The trio on the floor jumped a mile at the voice right behind them. Heather tried twisting around and ended up flat on her butt, jaw somewhere between her knees with Jon sprawled beside her. Antonio spun around, an explosion of Italian curses escaping him when invisible hands picked up the young man that had crept up behind them and slammed him against the wall.
Cameron woofed as the wind got knocked out of him. It had been a while since Heather had done that to him and Uncle Cole was right. She was so much stronger now then she was as a kid. He kicked a couple of times, but his toes were dangling a good three feet off of the ground. "Heather, put me down!" he yelled. There's not much time!" Words to regret when he was suddenly dropped, landing in a heap.
All of them got to their feet. Heather was wondering if her heart was going to get out of the vapor lock that it went into when Cameron started talking. That was not funny. Not in the slightest. Little smart ass. Nothing changed with him. He was the same now as he was at thirteen. Well, he was slightly different at the moment. Cameron was soaking wet and had a bloody strip of cloth tied around a finger.
Cameron glanced at Antonio curiously. "Who..." he got out, but there was no need to go further. Antonio had been shocked into letting his natural mental shields go down and everything was right there. Cameron got a whiff and then jumped in to grab whatever was there. And there was a whole lot for the grabbing. In three seconds he knew exactly who Antonio was and why he was there.
Cameron looked at Heather and Jon, his eyes wide. "Oh hell no," he managed to get out. "You..." he sputtered, pointing. "That's...are you nuts?" he yelled and then followed it with a gout of explicative that actually would have rivaled anything their mother could have come up with even when she was in the worst of tempers.
"Don't even start on me!" Heather yelled back at her brother. "It's your fault we're all here in the first place and your darling cousin's fault that he knows about everything else to boot!"
"What in God's name is going on?" Antonio demanded.
Jon slid up beside him. "Telekinesis," he said, pointing at Heather. "Telepathy," he added pointing at Cameron. "Together...this is pretty typical. You should see holidays."
"Okay," Cameron said dismissively. "I'm kicking Janna's ass later for this one." He looked over at Antonio disgustedly. "And stop thinking about her! Yeah, fine, she's hot, but damn, she's my cousin and I don't need the visuals on her naked." Antonio flushed. Was nothing sacred in this family? "Be in love with her all you want, but keep it to yourself," Cameron added.
"I am not," Antonio protested automatically.
Cameron let out a snort. "You'll realize it soon enough. That's not important anyways. What's important is that the girls are on their way to Egypt right now and we need to get there ASAP."
Heather and Jon both glanced at Antonio, the absurdity of the situation making them both want to laugh despite everything. Maybe it was more relief that obviously Liz and Janna were still alive and couldn't be in too much danger. There was no way Cameron would leave his twin if she were in mortal danger. Heather had to bite back a smirk. Antonio had been warned about what would happen if he messed with the family. But...Janna hooking a guy like Antonio that easily? They had thought she was more like her father, but once she decided to show off what she had inherited from her mother, the girl had gotten off with a big bang.
"First, what happened and how are you free and they're not?" Heather asked. "And why did you come back here?"
Cameron adjusted the bandage on his finger. "Because I knew you'd be showing up soon. Everything was fine and then Liz broke the statue 'cause there was no way to get Janna out alive too and then they...I'll explain on the way." He glanced at Antonio. "A plane? Sweet. Call the pilot and get him ready. They got a head start, but I know where they're taking them."
"Stop that!" Antonio yelled. Cameron smirked.
"You're the one that insisted you wanted to come," Heather chirped, liking her little brother more than she had in a long time. Antonio cursed again and grabbed his cell phone as they raced out the door, telling the pilots to get ready once again. There were still miles to go on this journey.
After the door had first slammed shut and Liz sat down, her lips had twitched a few times. She was talking to Cameron. Reassuring him, probably to keep him from bashing out of wherever he was and coming after them. Liz could double talk, but if she weren't talking to someone out loud, then sometimes she would accidentally mouth the words she was speaking to her brother mentally. Even when that stopped, Janna knew Liz wasn't relaxed. She needed her body to be relaxed so that her mind would have greater range. It was tiring to do what she was doing and Liz didn't know how long or how much she was going to have to keep this going.
Liz opened her eyes after a few minutes. She glanced at her cousin and blinked once, long and slow. Janna relaxed a little. They had a whole system of non-verbal communications. The Morse code blinks could get a little tiring after a while, but it worked well. And there was the fact that either of the twins could read her mind when she wanted them too, so really it was a matter of them being able to talk to her. The long slow blink was shorthand for "everything is fine for now". It still didn't give Janna the warm fuzzies since they were hostages, but they would have to deal. And Janna was still worried over what happened to Antonio. Nobody had mentioned him at all. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe they didn't want to mention killing an Italian guy in her apartment. Liz might be able to find out, but then again, chances of Liz killing her instead if she knew what had happened between Janna and Antonio was much higher than Liz just letting it go and finding out.
Bentley came in a minute later, slapping a pen and piece of paper in front of Liz. "Draw the first symbol," he growled. In his anger, his mind was far too open. They knew what the first symbol was and if Liz didn't get it right, then she was lying and they were all dead. Liz almost sighed. As soon as these guys relaxed just a little, then she was grabbing Janna and they were so out of there. Been kidnapped fifteen minutes and it was already getting boring.
She picked up the pen and fluidly began drawing the symbol out, remembering to add the little scratchy mark in the upper part of the curved line. The artistry left a lot to be desired. Janna would have fainted if she saw the stick figure, but Liz never claimed to be an artist. She could sketch an engine, but that was out of practice more than talent. She held up the paper with a smug smile. "Here's the first two symbols," she smirked. "Your boss wants to see another one, I see my brother. Got it?"
Bentley snatched the paper from her and left the room, instructing the guards that they were not to go in there for any reason. Liz smirked. He had seen them in action earlier and was afraid. He wanted to just kill them and run. Southwood was in a far worse predicament. If he didn't get this money, then he was a dead man himself. This little rift was very exploitable. It had to be at least. Any break in the ranks could be used. Little gem of wisdom from mom.
"Why are you pushing them?" Janna whispered when he was gone.
Liz thought for a second. "I think...if they're mad they're going to make their moves too fast. And that's what we're going to need. They need to be reacting to us, and the wrench in their plans that we've caused. They start acting and we're screwed."
"And this isn't being screwed?"
Liz shrugged and gave her cousin a tight-lipped smile. She leaned forward. "The parents know," she whispered. Janna went white. "Heather found out. I'll fill you in later, but do you really think they're going to let someone else kill us when they want that pleasure?"
"Mine know too?"
Liz had to bite back a laugh. "You're lucky. You might not get locked in a closet for the next twenty years. I think Max was a little jealous she never fenced anything for as much as we get." Janna smiled. Dad was going to kill her, but Mom had very little room to talk. She'd probably critique the work.
Liz knew that they just needed time. Heather wasn't going to be far behind and chances were that she had the parents with her. Maybe some aunts and uncles and a bored cousin or two to boot. As terrified as she was of her parents and what they were going to do to her, at least they might, if they were very, very lucky, be tempered with some small grain of love. Or they would get out a lot of the violence on Southwood and his men and call it good. That was the biggest hope. If not, then her and Cam were toast extraordinaire.
Time passed slowly. The girls didn't dare converse much for fear of being overheard. Liz occasionally let her mind sweep out, but not much was going on. There was still that reassuring place deep in her mind that let her know Cam was fine. They didn't always need to be in direct communication. No matter how far apart they were, they always knew when the other was in distress. Cam was doing fine. More fine than he should, actually. Odd. She would have jumped and asked, but that would have been a waste of strength.
And then one of Liz's slow mental trawls hooked a big one. Janna noticed her cousin's body stiffen, her eyes flying open. Liz leaned forward, oblivious to the real world, eyes narrowed into slits, a ferocious snarl twisting her mouth. For a moment, she looked more like her mother than even Heather did. "Oh hell, no" she growled.
"What?" Janna whispered urgently.
"Hold on." Liz leaned back in the seat, her eyes closing again as she relayed the distress message to her brother. Wait. Something was really up with him. It kind of resembled what had been bothering Janna earlier. Who cared? This was an emergency.
Communication broke off and Liz sat back up. Janna was watching her expectantly. "They decided they only need one hostage for me to cooperate." Janna paled. "I think I pissed Bentley off more than I intended."
"I am so kicking your ass later."
"Save it. Cam's going to ditch the place in a few."
The next few minutes took hours, days to pass. Civilizations rose and fell. Mountains rose from the sea in a flood of lava and crumbled into dust. Stars were born and winked out before the door was thrust open. Liz wasn't completely on her feet, but Janna knew the stance. She was about to spring and make someone really, really wish they had never been born. Instead of a gun-toting minion, a young woman was roughly shoved into the room and the door slammed again.
Liz thought she looked vaguely familiar. She was a couple of years older than Liz, rather pretty girl actually. Her blouse was torn and she was crying. The minute the door slammed shut, the waterworks seized and she looked rather pleased with herself.
"Emilie!" Janna burst out.
Emilie perked up with a wicked smile. "I knew you weren't French." Janna winced. She had just blurted out the word without thinking.
"Well...never mind that," Janna stumbled, "what happened to you?" Emilie was smirking too much for Southwood to have gone after her. In the seconds of Janna's concern, she was very much open and Liz was able to pick out of her mind who Emilie was and that she was the person Janna had been worried about when they had come in to make the trade for Janna.
Emilie looked over at Liz curiously. Cameron had said there would be no mistaking his sister and he had been quite right. She knew a couple of transsexuals that had facial feminization done. They had a surgeon go in and reconstruct their faces to make them look more feminine and delicate. Cameron wouldn't ever have to wonder what he would look like if he had that done. All he would have to do was look at his twin.
"Bit of a disagreement with my roommate," Emilie answered. She wondered if Liz was as adept at mind reading as her brother. "He thought he could take a few liberties too many. Had to explain the error of his ways." That should satisfy anyone listening. Mentally, she "yelled" that she worked out a plan with Cameron and he got out and she thought he made it out and Southwood was furious that he lost his best hold over Liz.
Liz flinched slightly at the volume. It was like someone was yelling in her ear. And then it hit her. Emilie had no doubt that she would be able to hear the mental call. "You know his real name and ...this?" she whispered. Emilie nodded brightly. Liz groaned. "I am going to hurt him," she muttered and then glanced over at her cousin. "At least you know better than to tell strangers your real name and you were there a hell of a lot longer."
Liz didn't have time to question that really weird look that flashed across Janna's face for a second. Bentley stormed back into the room. "Get up," he barked. Several men with guns were right behind him, ready to fill the room with lead if any of them breathed wrong. "We're leaving right now," he added. He eyed Liz coldly. "Looks like your brother decided to get stupid and try and make a run for it. My condolences on your loss, but I don't think he suffered too much. At least not until the salt hit the open wounds. That probably hurt, but he's in a much better place now, right."
He smirked at the look of horror on all three women's faces. "Anyone else wants to join him, then try something funny. Now move."
(cam?)
(CAMERON?)
Distant. Scratchy. Like a bad connection on a cell phone.
(he's right...salt does hurt where i cut the crap out of my finger...no stress...still here)
As the goons hustled them out of the room, they didn't notice the ghost of a wink Liz dropped Janna and Emilie. Cameron was fine. She just wished she could say the same about them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
For some reason Heather wasn't surprised when there wasn't a message of success on her phone from Cameron or Liz. And she was even less surprised when she couldn't reach either of her parents. Their phones were off which meant one thing. They were in transit. Heather had not the slightest doubt that they knew where they were all headed and might actually beat them there. She left a message anyways as they headed to the warehouse. Jon wasn't happy about it, but Heather knew she was going to need them. Sure, she had plenty of training in hostage rescue, but none of it was practical experience yet. Her parents...well, there was very little that they had not experienced, she was sure of that.
Antonio had wanted to go right up to the warehouse and barge right on in. Differences in upbringing, Heather thought, both annoyed and amused at him. She knew that they had to be careful and how to approach unseen, survey and then return and report. Antonio was a man used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it. And he was determined that he was going to get Janna back. Unfortunately, the men they were dealing with weren't going to be intimidated in the slightest by any of them. At least not until they were given a reason to be.
The three of them halted at a warehouse close to the target, peeping around the corner to survey the address that Cam had left. "Camera over the door," Heather said softly, pointing.
"I see nothing," Antonio muttered.
"You wouldn't. But I can see it and that's what counts."
"Are the windows covered?" Jon asked quickly, staving off Antonio's biting retort. Those two had agreed to work together, but that didn't mean either of them liked it. He was spending more time playing referee then helping in a rescue.
"Just the door. They probably aren't expecting anyone to be able to go through the top floor." Heather glanced up and Jon and smirked. He shook his head.
"Not by yourself. You don't know how many and where the twins are." Telekinesis only went so far. If the twins had been taken, then that meant there were enough men in there to handle two transgenics, plus Janna. In that case, it was a much better idea to wait for the parents to get here and then make it a group effort.
"I'm going to go to the roof and do a little reconnaissance," she said. Jon gave her a warning look. "I know how much I can handle. If there's too many then I'll pull back and we keep them contained until my parents get here."
She glanced up at the warehouse next to them. It was only a couple of stories high, about the same height as the one they needed to get into. Heather easily jumped up, landing on the top of a window casement and then jumping again quickly, her hands catching the edge of the roof. She swung up onto it and silently crossed the expanse, staying low to minimize chances of being seen. The area wasn't busy, but there was no need to take unnecessary risks. Had she known about it, she would have taken a moment to be amused by Antonio's shocked expression. There was a big difference in knowing what someone could do and actually witnessing it for the first time.
Antonio noticed Jon's look of bemusement. "Is she always such a display?" he asked irritably.
Jon grinned. "Not always. Sometimes she really shows off." Antonio could only shake his head. In many ways he truly wished he had never started searching for the necklace on his own. Of course that would mean he would never have met Janna, but then he wouldn't have had to deal with this pair. And Jonathan had said their parents were worse. Perhaps Janna would consent to remaining in Europe while her parents continued living in America.
Heather dashed across the roof, leaping to the next one easily. She slid over to a side window and rolled through it silently. Heather crouched on the floor and listened, all of her enhanced senses on high alert. She could hear a few rats scratching through the walls, but nothing else. Not a murmur of a human voice anywhere. Why was it she was the only kid in the family without the slightest touch of telepathy? That would have been really helpful about then.
Heather went down to the first floor and got the same feel. She had spent a lot of hours in training, learning how to find someone hiding in a big building. She had excellent instincts for when a place was empty. This place was a tomb. She grabbed her cell and called Jon. "They're gone," she said flatly.
A few minutes later Jon and Antonio came in as she was poking around. They saw her crouched over a spot on the floor and came up behind her cautiously. "Dried blood," Heather said very calmly, pointing at the dark patch on the floor. "There are bullet holes in that post over there and dried blood on the floor."
Jon knelt beside her. "You don't know whose it is."
Her face turned towards him slowly, eyes flat and cold with restrained terror. Her words came out slowly and measured with emphasis. "I know they did not call me and let me know they're okay. I know they're not here. I know there was a hell of a lot of shooting in here and someone bled quite heavily. And you know what Jon? I don't like knowing these things. I don't like knowing them one bit." She looked back down at the dried puddle and all three of them were very quiet.
"Yeah, like ten guys shooting and not one could hit us. It was great."
The trio on the floor jumped a mile at the voice right behind them. Heather tried twisting around and ended up flat on her butt, jaw somewhere between her knees with Jon sprawled beside her. Antonio spun around, an explosion of Italian curses escaping him when invisible hands picked up the young man that had crept up behind them and slammed him against the wall.
Cameron woofed as the wind got knocked out of him. It had been a while since Heather had done that to him and Uncle Cole was right. She was so much stronger now then she was as a kid. He kicked a couple of times, but his toes were dangling a good three feet off of the ground. "Heather, put me down!" he yelled. There's not much time!" Words to regret when he was suddenly dropped, landing in a heap.
All of them got to their feet. Heather was wondering if her heart was going to get out of the vapor lock that it went into when Cameron started talking. That was not funny. Not in the slightest. Little smart ass. Nothing changed with him. He was the same now as he was at thirteen. Well, he was slightly different at the moment. Cameron was soaking wet and had a bloody strip of cloth tied around a finger.
Cameron glanced at Antonio curiously. "Who..." he got out, but there was no need to go further. Antonio had been shocked into letting his natural mental shields go down and everything was right there. Cameron got a whiff and then jumped in to grab whatever was there. And there was a whole lot for the grabbing. In three seconds he knew exactly who Antonio was and why he was there.
Cameron looked at Heather and Jon, his eyes wide. "Oh hell no," he managed to get out. "You..." he sputtered, pointing. "That's...are you nuts?" he yelled and then followed it with a gout of explicative that actually would have rivaled anything their mother could have come up with even when she was in the worst of tempers.
"Don't even start on me!" Heather yelled back at her brother. "It's your fault we're all here in the first place and your darling cousin's fault that he knows about everything else to boot!"
"What in God's name is going on?" Antonio demanded.
Jon slid up beside him. "Telekinesis," he said, pointing at Heather. "Telepathy," he added pointing at Cameron. "Together...this is pretty typical. You should see holidays."
"Okay," Cameron said dismissively. "I'm kicking Janna's ass later for this one." He looked over at Antonio disgustedly. "And stop thinking about her! Yeah, fine, she's hot, but damn, she's my cousin and I don't need the visuals on her naked." Antonio flushed. Was nothing sacred in this family? "Be in love with her all you want, but keep it to yourself," Cameron added.
"I am not," Antonio protested automatically.
Cameron let out a snort. "You'll realize it soon enough. That's not important anyways. What's important is that the girls are on their way to Egypt right now and we need to get there ASAP."
Heather and Jon both glanced at Antonio, the absurdity of the situation making them both want to laugh despite everything. Maybe it was more relief that obviously Liz and Janna were still alive and couldn't be in too much danger. There was no way Cameron would leave his twin if she were in mortal danger. Heather had to bite back a smirk. Antonio had been warned about what would happen if he messed with the family. But...Janna hooking a guy like Antonio that easily? They had thought she was more like her father, but once she decided to show off what she had inherited from her mother, the girl had gotten off with a big bang.
"First, what happened and how are you free and they're not?" Heather asked. "And why did you come back here?"
Cameron adjusted the bandage on his finger. "Because I knew you'd be showing up soon. Everything was fine and then Liz broke the statue 'cause there was no way to get Janna out alive too and then they...I'll explain on the way." He glanced at Antonio. "A plane? Sweet. Call the pilot and get him ready. They got a head start, but I know where they're taking them."
"Stop that!" Antonio yelled. Cameron smirked.
"You're the one that insisted you wanted to come," Heather chirped, liking her little brother more than she had in a long time. Antonio cursed again and grabbed his cell phone as they raced out the door, telling the pilots to get ready once again. There were still miles to go on this journey.
