She found Jacob's Diner to be cozy and the service was perfect. They rode here on the bikes and the morning air still held some chill from the night. She was glad she wore her jeans and boots yesterday, and that Cole tossed her the leather jacket he bought for her since hers was too thin and strictly for use as fashion, not protection.

 

She brought with them three hundred from her just-in-case stash bag, telling Cole that she needed at least a change of clothing and some basic necessities which they didn't have time to gather yesterday evening.

 

"Angie will take you for a full shopping trip, I'm sure, but yes, there's a super-store we can stop at on our way back to pick up what you need today. Just keep in mind the size of the saddle bag while you shop," he told her.

 

"Are those the largest size?" she asked curiously.

 

"Without going custom, yes. Why?"

 

"Just wondering, as I plan on going on trips with you in the near future," she said and leaned over for a kiss.

 

After he kissed her, he looked at Brian who was studying traffic through the large windows, "Any word from last night's raids? Rat said his group hit three places and came away with a sizable amount of cash, as well."

 

"Pillaging is one of the great wealth bringers known to man," Brian said without turning from the window. "There's a car across the street, two men in the front seat. A Cougar, I believe. Red. See them?"

 

She searched at the same time and found it just as Cole said, "Got them. What's up?"

 

"They were outside the club at the curb down from where we were. We were most likely the first patch-holders out on the sidewalk this morning."

 

"I'm not liking where this is going," Cole growled.

 

"Me neither," Nicole piped.

 

"How do you want to play it?" Cole asked Brian. When Brian turned a little with a raised eyebrow, Cole said, "Don't give me that look. I'm a street fighter. Learned all I know from gang fights and getting jumped in the wrong neighborhoods. I only have one tactic: kill them. That's as far as planning ever gets with me. However, Jim tells me you're a walking Art of War and I follow directions very well."

 

"Thanks," Brian told him. "You're senior and thanks for letting me handle this for you."

 

"Hey, buddy, I like breathing. So you lead. I'll follow."

 

Brain nodded his thanks again and then looked back out the window. "Well I doubt they are coming in here. If they decide to, we'll spot them long before they get here. Are you armed?"

 

"Yeah, the cops took mine last night since it was the weapon that was used, but I have extras," Cole informed him.

 

Brian nodded to the wisdom of this and then asked, "Who is up and close right now? Got their numbers?" Brain asked.

 

"Yeah," Cole said, taking out his phone and looking over to her. "Hey, baby, eat. It's still good food. Best breakfast in Chicago."

 

"I seem to be losing my appetite." She murmured.

 

"Not a good time for that," Cole told her. "You're going to need all the energy you can get."

She looked at him wide-eyed and then Cole added, "Well, you're going shopping after this, right?"

 

She didn't quite get it, but when it hit, it was lame and cute, and funny as hell under the circumstances. She laughed and gave him a smile, "That is so chauvinistic. I'm shocked you think of me like that."

 

He returned her smile and started to eat. She checked the car outside again and followed suit.

 

Cole reported, after a few calls, that he could get two men there in ten minutes. Brian nodded and told him where he wanted the men to arrive at, what direction they needed to come from, and what to do.

 

Cole listened and she watched his expression, and the growing concentration in his eyes as Brian's words built up the scenario like a model in his mind. could almost see the plan unfolding in his facial expressions as it controlled the enemy’s movements, forced the men in the car to divulge their intentions, and then killed them after the plan revealed they were looking to do the same thing to the Horsemen.

 

Through her studies, Nicole came across descriptions of people who possessed eidetic memories – memories that were highly visual in nature. These memories tended to degrade very slowly over decades, not hours, with amazing recall clarity. Cole had told her during their first evening together that he never finished high school -- yet he reads Shakespeare. She felt a low, deep sadness that Cole's life hadn't allowed him to make use of a gift like his, if he in fact possessed such a gift, and the odd connection between them was telling her he did.

 

Cole had quit eating halfway through the plan, falling into a state of pure mind power as he concentrated on what Brian was laying out for him. When Brian finished, she watched Cole's eyes as they continued to move around the table, as if he were replaying it and studying it from different angles. "Shit, Brian,” Cole announced after a few moments,” Jim sold you short. That's fucking brilliant."

 

"Thanks," Brain said and calmly took a sip of his coffee while Cole got back on the phone and told Mark and James the plan, and their parts in it.

 

When that was done, they paid the check, but were set to wait for twenty more minutes.

"Cole? What was I wearing for our first ride together?" she asked, unable to control her curiosity.

 

Cole recited her outfit without hesitation and from what she remembered, which she felt was fairly accurate since she spent a lot of time picking out her clothing, it was near perfect. In fact, she felt he was dead on. "What color were the eyes of the first man you saw on the boat that day?" she pressed.

 

"Green," he said, "You going someplace with this?"

 

But Nicole noticed that Brian was suddenly very interested, as well. How he might have picked up on where she was going with this, she didn't know. Fucking brain trust in this group of motor junkies. "That car across the street, did you see it at the hotel?" she asked.

 

"Yeah, just where Brian said it was, but I didn't notice it here until he pointed it out," Cole explained.

 

"What's the license number?" she pushed.

 

Cole, again, told her without a second of hesitation. There was no brain searching. It was just there, in his mind, like magic.

 

"Wow," Brian said, not bothering to hide his amazement and sat back looking at Cole, "Eidetic memory?"

 

"What's that?" Cole asked, looking from Brian to her and then back again.

 

Nicole walked him through what she knew about eidetic memory, admitting that the subject, at the time she came across it during her research, didn't hold much interest for her, so her understanding was limited. "No one has ever brought that up to you?" she asked him with slight wonder.

 

Cole shrugged, "I get the visual part. I use that a lot and certainly during every fight I'm in." Then Cole ran a play by play with the boat ambush he walked into, even moving pieces like the salt and pepper and sugar packages around as he explained how he knew where the attackers were behind the curtain, or at least the couple of places physics would allow them to be and used that to aim.

 

"Again, wow," Brian said with a little more wonder in his voice. "I've heard about it, too, but listening to how you use it puts chills in my spine knowing I was so close to going up against it."

 

Cole checked his watch, "It's time. We can talk about my brain after we take care of this little chore."

 

"No we won't," Nicole told him, "You're going to avoid the subject like a plague." She smiled teasingly while she rose from her chair and shrugged into her jacket, "aren't you?"

 

Cole grimaced at her.

 

"I don't know what impresses me more, your memory or how well she knows you," Brian laughed. "You two have quite a connection with each other."

 

Cole looked at him, "Buddy, you have no idea."