In everyday life cross talk (cross-talk, crosstalk) means people talking across each other: "a situation in which two or more people in a conversation are talking at the same time" (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/crosstalk). It may therefore appear as a phantom metaphor when used in technical writing, although it is now used as a technical term:
"Describes the process inside a cell that occurs when the same signal is shared by two or more signaling pathways. Usually, a signal caused by the binding of a substance to a molecule on or inside a cell is passed from one molecule to another in the same pathway."
NIH National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer Terms
