Imhotep’s Key
By Joseph Black
Disclaimer: Red Storm and Tom Clancy own Rainbow and Characters. Joss Whedon owns Buffy and Characters. Anyone
else belongs to me. I make no profit of the following except to have a little fun.
Spoilers: Buffy to present. Rainbow to Bear and the Dragon.
Authors note 1: I am adjusting the Buffy time line slightly, this fic starts just after "Never Leave Me",
moving things back about a month.
Authors note 2: I can’t seem to get Fanfic to except my special formatting. So anytime you see this ‘{*}
anything inside is in a foreign language. And if you see this [*] it’s some ones thoughts.
Authors note 3: This is a continuation of the story started in ‘Rainbow Over Sunnydale’. It would be
helpful to read that fic first.
Thanks to all that reviewed. Constructive criticisms always welcomed. Flames cheerfully ignored.
Jack Ryan, President of the Untied States is informed that a US General, in charge of a top-secret anti-supernatural taskforce, believing him to be the Anti-Christ has gone AWOL with most of his unit. Investigation of the files left behind led Secretary Brentano to believe that the Generals plan is to open the Sunnydale Hellmouth to thwart Jack’s plan for humanity.
Ryan and his Senior Staff are briefed as to what the Hellmouth is and who is defending it. President Ryan decides that he cannot send normal Special Forces troops to the Hellmouth because General Billingsly had been recruiting from these troops. Instead he decides to send the anti-terror group Rainbow, commanded by an old friend and colleague John Clark to defend it.
Outside Bob Holtzman, a reporter with the Washington Post had been alerted to the meeting by a source and managed to get photos of the Finns as they arrived.
Riley Finn and his wife Samantha brief Clark and his partner Ding Chavez on what goes bump in the night, and the goings on in Sunnydale while they are on their way to Sunnydale. Sam left to gather the rest of their team that had been on leave while Riley, Clark, and Ding head to Sunnydale. Reaching Sunnydale they meet Buffy Summers on patrol and watch her dispatch four vampires.
Back in Washington Ryan is calling it a night when Andrea Price-O’Day, the head of his Secret Service detail informs him that she wishes to investigate the possibility of recruiting some of the Scoobies, and possibly Faith into the SS to help protect Ryan better. Ryan okay’s the mission but insists that he is the final word on Faith.
Riley explains to Buffy what is going on and points out that a group of trained soldiers striking when and how they choose may be more than she can handle. Buffy invites the three men back to her house where Anya informs everyone that Clark is a former CIA agent that D’Hoffryn is interested in because of a campaign of vengeance against a group of drug dealers that had killed Clark’s girlfriend many years ago.
Clark and company stood watch. During Clark’s watch he had Riley brief him in on some of the stuff that had come up that night. Then talked to Buffy and set up some ground rules. He also hires Buffy to help train his men against some of the stuff they might run into around Sunnydale.
The next morning a Forest Ranger shows up at the front door and explains that he has a family treed in a local national park and he would like Buffy’s help as the mother of the family claims that it is invisible wolves that did it. Ding volunteers to go with Buffy and when the Ranger, Robert Broadman discovers that Ding doesn’t have a rifle they stop by a local gun shop where Buffy discovers that her secret ID is even less secret than she thought. She gets a new crossbow and Ding picks up a rifle and puts an order in with the shop owner to add some more heavy weapons to Rainbows arsenal.
The Scoobies and Clark meanwhile research and discover that the demon that has the family treed is likely a ‘shadow hound’, a beast that is used to hunt down people but that can go feral very easily.
Holtzman met with a source he had at Andrews Air Force Base who told him that Clark and Chavez, two people that Holtzman had him looking for had taken off last night with two people that sounded like the Finns. Holtzman had been able to identify Riley from his West Point Year Book. He managed to find Samantha from a story done about her escape from ‘drug runners’ that had wiped out the village where her Peace Corp group had been. He also learned that Riley had been there from a photo he received from a friend that showed that Riley had been in the area of the attack. From the same friend he learned that Riley had been a teaching assistant at the University of California at Sunnydale after he had disappeared into what Holtzman assumed was the world of black ops. Holtzman had also questioned the explosion in London and found out from one of the staffers on the paper that the building had been the HQ for a shadowy organization called The Watchers Council, which the staffers source believed was an Illuminati type organization that believed could possibly had been the power behind President Ryan’s ascension. At the site Holtzman discovered an Email by ‘lttlrdwtch’ that didn’t think too much of that idea. Asking the head of The Post’s IT department to run down this person he was soon handed a piece of Dooggie Howzer Fan Fiction. He was about to throw it away when he noticed that the Author had a UCSD email address. He sent an email off to her asking for an interview.
Fearing that one of his girls may be a potential Slayer Ryan calls Sir Basil the head of English Intelligence and asks him what he knows about the Watchers Council. Basil replies that they are dead. He goes on to explain that an explosion that had happened in London was in fact the Watchers Council HQ. Basil then informs Ryan that it appeared that a Watcher had in fact survived and had fled to the US. Ryan promised to alert Law-Enforcement to help find Rupert Giles, and three young ladies traveling with him.
Willow asks Clark what he knows about Bob Holtzman and panics that he might want to interview her. Clark tells her not to worry and to just write him back and insist that any interviews be done face to face. He assures her that no editor would pay to send a reporter on so flimsy a piece of evidence as an email.
Buffy, Ding, and Broadman manage to rescue Dr. Sandra Sanchez and her two kids. They get them down off of the mountain and into ambulances. On the way back to Sunnydale they fail to notice that a Reporter for the Sunnydale Press watching on the side of the road. He uses a cell phone to contact someone, and then destroys the phone.
Clark had contacted Dan Murray Director of the FBI about the possibility to remove Andrew Wells, the last surviving member of the Troika to Los Angles. Andrew had been captured by Willow while he was buying blood in an attempt to complete a ritual that The First Evil was trying to get him to do. He had already murdered Jonathan Levenson the other survivor of the Troika in an attempt to do this.
Murray sent Pat O’Day, one of his chief troubleshooters, who was in San Francisco on a serial killer case to pick Andrew up, and to check out the local FBI office. Clark Pat, and Willow went to the local FBI office and quickly discovered that the two agents there were aware of what went on in Sunnydale. The had originally been sent to cover the office when the former agents had either died, been arrested, or disappeared in the wake of the investigations spawned by the death of Mayor Wilkens in the graduation explosion. The agents had discovered the true nature of Sunnydale when Agent Conners, the junior agent at the office was attacked by a vampire one night while jogging. When they reported what they had found they discovered that the Initiative was in town already and said they were handling the problem. Frayne Murphy, the SAC of the office, and Sue Connors were then kept in Sunnydale because they already knew what was going on.
O’Day and Clark agreed that the two FBI agents where probably on the level and briefed them on what was going on and called Dan Murray the Director of The FBI to let him know. The night before Clark had had a Radar Imaging Satellite map the underground of Sunnydale. Murray sent the take from the satellite to Sunnydale,
Buffy and Ding returned from rescuing Dr. Sanchez and her kids. Buffy had just found a note from Willow to call her when she heard Giles downstairs. Buffy got down there and found Ding and Giles facing off against each other. Buffy broke it up by introducing the two. Ding and Buffy were surprised when three young women came into the house. Giles introduced them and explained that The First had destroyed The Watchers Council and that the three girls where potential Slayers. He went on to explain that he had sent word out for all potentials to gather in Sunnydale as The First was trying to destroy the line of The Slayers.
Buffy remembered that Willow wanted her to call her. When Willow picked up she pretended that Buffy was someone else and ducked into another room. Willow explained that the President had told Clark that the British had requested that Giles be put into custody. Before Buffy could respond Clark, who had followed Willow requested that he be allowed to talk to Giles. Buffy told him that he couldn’t have him and Clark reassured her that he wasn’t interested in putting him in jail. Clark talks to Giles and convinces him to come down to the FBI office so they can talk.
Riley and Xander had gone out to look for a base for Rainbow and his team to use. Xander showed him the warehouse where Buffy had first run into Glory. Riley decided to take it, then asked Xander about some of the things that had happened while he was gone. Xander let slip that Buffy had died and they had been brought back. Riley was so upset he ordered Xander to wait in the car. While he was getting his temper back under control D’Hoffryn appeared and told him some stuff that Xander had left out, such as the fact that Spike had tried to rape Buffy the year before. D’Hoffryn offered to do something to Xander if Riley would give John Clark an amulet so Clark could contact him. Riley refused, but told the demon lord that he would let Clark know that you wanted to talk him. Once outside the warehouse Riley punched Xander in the head.
Xander and Riley headed for the FBI office. Outside the office Xander returned the favor and decked Riley. Inside Riley told Clark that the warehouse would be suitable. Clark asked Riley what had happened between him and Xander. When Riley explained Clark told him that if he couldn’t work with the Scoobies he would be sent back to Washington.
Buffy and the rest arrived and examined the maps. Giles and Clark reached an agreement then Buffy and Giles went to check out where Buffy had last encountered The First. Their Buffy ran into a powerful vampire who Giles identified as Trifurcates, the first vampire. While she was beaten Buffy still managed to get away.
While Holtzman is researching Sunnydale his editor comes in and tells him that he needs to go with the President because the President seems to have declared war on a US Senator that is running for reelection. Holtzman locks up his files and heads out.
Rainbow Team One arrived and Clark sent Willow and Ding to meet it and secure some place to stay since Buffy’s house was full between the potentials, Giles, and Anya, plus the people that normally lived there.
On Air Force One Holtzman meets and old colleague John Plumber who has information on Clark and the Explosion in London. Holtzman explains some of what he knows and Plumber some of his stuff. Plumber mentions that the man the Brits are looking for, and that which the US is not giving up was a librarian in Sunnydale for several years. Holtzman sighs and begins negotiation with the other journalist as to how they are going to share the story.
Willow, Ding and Colonel Stanley the XO of Rainbow got rooms at a local hotel and Willow performed a revocation ceremony to make them vamp resistant.
Team One arrived at the FBI office and Clark explained what was going on. Major Peter Covington looking the office over told General Clark that he didn’t think that the office was defensible and that they should find a different site to set up if possible. Riley and Xander managed to get the warehouse so as soon as Buffy got back they moved there.
Once there Colonel Stanley discovered that one of the potentials was a niece that he and his family had believed killed in a traffic accident with her mother 13 years ago. He confronted Giles with this information. Buffy stopped it from getting physical, but when she found out that sometimes the Council did kidnap potentials she went to work off some steam. Ding followed her into gym where he watched as Buffy pushed herself through exercises to burn off some of the anger. Buffy explained that the council did have killers working for them, and told him about how she and Faith switched bodies. Ding asked about Faith and Buffy filled him in.
Clark followed Giles up on to a catwalk. Giles explained some of his back history, and the back history of the Council, promising to look into the circumstances of Molly being in the council’s care. Clark accepted this but told him he wanted the stories on the other two girls too.
Everyone got back together to be briefed. One of the troopers, Lt. Kenshin Hiedoki, a loaner to Rainbow from the JSDF told Maj. Covington that one of his ancestors had been a Slayer, and that he had served on the team that deals with the supernatural in Japan. At the briefing Clark laid out who was going where, and what the equipment load out would be. Two of the soldiers that had been assigned super soakers loaded with holy water were a little upset but Clark explained how effective holy water was.
The soldiers still complained about it while waiting to leave and Annabelle, one of the potentials overheard them and panicked. Once everyone had left to do the mission she snuck out. Trifurcates who had fought with The First over keeping Spike alive had gone out to feed. Annabelle was noticed missing and Clark, Riley, and with the two FBI agents to act as guides went looking for her. Clark heard her scream when Trifurcates grabbed her and he managed to kneecap him and escape with Annabelle before she was killed.
Willow had agreed to accompany Pat O’Day back to LA when he transported Andrew Wells. On the road back they were ambushed by a group of thugs that were after O’Day. The First had detected them trying to remove Andrew and brought the thugs along to deal with all of them. Andrew was shot saving Willows life and she lost it. The First noticed something going on back in Sunnydale and left right before Willow changed. She disarmed and immobilized all of the gang bangers and was about to start on them when Pat discovered that Andrew was still alive but fading fast. He pointed this out to Willow so she performed a spell that she said would bind her and the gang-bangers together and told them that they needed to go and confess to whatever crimes they had committed. If they didn’t she warned that she would look them up when she had more time on her hands. She then gathered up Pat and Andrew and disappeared.
The attack on the base was largely a success. They managed to rescue Spike with a minimum of casualties and got some experience going up against supernatural creatures.
At the hospital where Willow teleported them to they got Andrew the hands of doctors and into surgery were they began working on him. Willow was depressed at how close she had come to being ‘Darth Willow’ again and O’Day not understanding what that was about had no way of snapping her out of it. The local police in the form Lt. Jonathan O’Connell show up to question them about the shooting. Pat told him an edited version of the story and O’Connell left apparently satisfied. Buffy and the and the crew who had raided the lair brought their wounded in. Spotting Willow she found out what happened and decided to take Willow home. Clark and the people from the warehouse showed up and Clark informed her that President Ryan was going to be in the neighborhood and wanted to meet with her.
Trifurcates managed to get back to the lair and found The First looking at the manacles where Spike had hung. He chided the First about how he should have let Trifurcates kill him when they had the chance. The First seemed unconcerned. When Trifurcates asked him what they were going to do about it, The First told him that, "That in times of trouble a girl should have her family around her."
Radisson Hotel and Convention Center
295 N. E Street
San Bernardino CA
27Oct2002 - 2145 hrs
President Jack Ryan stood behind the podium in his trademarked blue jacket, tie, and white shirt. He finished his prepared speech by saying, "Questions?"
Reporters immediately shot to their feet trying to get his attention. When Ryan said, "Tom?" Pointing at Tom Donner, John Plumber’s ex-partner, everyone else sat back down. Bob Holtzman listened to Donner’s question with half an ear as he was trying to decide if he wanted to run up to Sunnydale after the press conference and look around.
"Mr. President," Donner began, "Senator Kincaid has responded to the charges you leveled against him earlier today. He called them unfounded and partisan mud-slinging. He claims that you are just trying to stifle dissent. How do you respond to that?"
Ryan had been taking a drink of water as Donner asked his question. He replaced the water glass on the try before answering. "Tom, I think that the Senator’s record speaks for itself. I support everyone’s freedom of speech, and the right of an American to dissent to what his or her government is doing is one of the most cherished rights that we as Americans possess. But what Senator Kincaid is doing is not dissent, which implies that the person taking the stand has studied the issue and has reached the decision that the government is wrong and must be resisted. In Senator Kincaid’s case he has simply set himself up as the Anti-Me, it doesn’t matter what position that I take Senator Kincaid will take the polar opposite with no rhyme or reason to what it is. In one case he even lobbied against a bill that HE introduced that I agreed was a good and needed piece of legislation. That’s not dissent, it obstructionism. As far as the partisan mudsling-charge goes, how can I be partisan? I don’t belong to either of the main political parties. Mud Slinging is defined as making malicious or slanderous remarks about another person. The charges I leveled against Senator Kincaid are taken right from the congressional record. I am lobbying against Senator Kincaid because I think that he is an unnecessary roadblock in the smooth running of this government. He has attempted to block every piece of legislation that I have introduced since the reinstitution Congress and there is every indication that if he is reelected he will continue this trend. As we have seen several times in my Presidency we do not always have the time for such theatrics. I feel strongly that he needs to be removed before we find ourselves in another such situation. Next?"
The reporters surged back to their feet with hands raised calling, "Mr. President!"
"Bob?" Ryan said pointing at Holtzman.
For a moment Holtzman toyed with the idea of asking, "So Mr. President, what’s going on just down the road in Sunnydale?" But that was a question that he wasn’t going to ask till he already knew the answer. So instead he asked, "Looking at what State Senator Burstan is saying he is at least as strong a critic of you as Senator Kincaid, would you really be gaining that much from having him elected?"
Ryan nodded, "Good question," he conceded. "I think though that you are doing State Senator Burstan a disservice by comparing what he is doing to Senator Kincaid actions. Thomas Burstan opposition to me is based on a logical thought process, not political ambition. He believes that I have on several instants overstepped my Presidential authority. But he has also praised my efforts on several other issues. With that I believe that I will be able to work with Thomas Burstan and reach compromises with him. That will be an improvement over Senator Kincaid. Next?"
Holtzman sat back down and wrote up the notes to his question, while listening to what the other reporters were asking. There was something else there, he could feel it, After about twenty minutes Holtzman glanced at Congresswomen Sheila Tucker, he decided that if she didn’t get reelected she could go into acting because she really didn’t look all that unhappy that the only questions concerning her and her candidacy where from the local reporters, and even some of them were going with questions about the Ryan-Kincaid feud.
When the Press Conference ended with the Sergeant-at–arms saying, "Thank You Mr. President!" Holtzman headed for the outside, he wanted to get some fresh air before he went in and covered the meet and greet that Ryan would be doing. Outside the entranceway he found numerous of his colleagues who had not yet kicked the smoking habit stocking up for the time that they would not be able to smoke inside. This annoyed him a little, after all he quit, they could too. Not wanting to breath in the second hand smoke he headed around to the back of the building. He spotted a picnic table lit by a streetlight and headed there. He had just about reached it when he realized the area was already occupied by someone. Holtzman noticed with annoyance that this person was also smoking. He had just about decided to do a walk around the outside of the convention center when he happened to notice the persons press pass, it said, "Sunnydale Press." Holtzman took a second to look the man over, brown hair, dark eyes, medium height and build, wearing a decent suite with brown jacket and tan pants. Walking up to him he held out his hand, "Bob Holtzman."
Jurgis Ewel had watched the other man approach him and had come to the conclusion that he was going to ask him for a cigarette. In surprise he dropped his and held out his hand, "Jurgis Ewel. I’m sorry Mr. Holtzman I didn’t recognize you. I read your column as often as I can, but you don’t look like your picture.
Holtzman smiled, "I keep it ten years out of date on purpose. It’s easier to get people to talk if they don’t recognize you."
Ewel smiled, "If I ever become a big time columnist I’ll have to remember that."
Holtzman nodded, "I’ve been working on a story and Sunnydale came up in it."
Ewel looked interested, "Anything I could do to help I would be happy to."
"Thanks," Holtzman said, "I’m working on a story on Eric Shallot’s disappearance."
Ewel frowned, "I wasn’t aware he had disappeared. When was this?"
"Last year. He was working on a story and had a lead that led him to Sunnydale; he checked into the motel and then went out. No one ever saw him again."
"Man, can’t believe I missed that one," Ewel said, "I can ask around and see if anyone knows anything"
"Thanks, "Holtzman said, "I’ll quote you as a source. I was thinking of running up and doing a quick look around after the press conference tonight."
Ewel frowned, "That’s not a real good idea, we get a lot of unexplained deaths in Sunnydale. It would be better if you had someone to show you around. I’d offer but my editor wants this story on his desk first thing in the morning."
Holtzman nodded, he had mostly come to the same conclusion himself, but it was nice to hear a local confirm his decision.
"If you can come out later in the week I would be happy to show you around, there’s not a whole lot to see," Holtzman offered.
"I’ll see if I can get my editor to cough up the money for a plane ticket."
"So do you know why Shallots came to Sunnydale?" Ewel asked.
"He was following a lead for a script he was doing. He came across some information that indicated that one of the main players had been in Sunnydale right before and he was interested in finding out about him.
"So how long have you worked at The Press?" Holtzman asked he wanted to get a better read on him.
"A little over three years, I started there right before the high school blew up," Ewel answered.
"I hate those kinds of stories," Holtzman said, "What happened there, I checked the our archives, there was a blip the day it happened, then it was like everyone just forgot about it."
"I wasn’t there when the explosion happened. The Mayor had a crony on The Press that covered his appearances. I heard about it on the TV and headed over. I got there about thirty minutes after the blast so all I got to do was interview the survivors. I still remember one. I caught her as she was exiting the crowd and asked her what happened, and if she was all right. She looked at me and said, "Fire bad. Tree pretty," and then headed off down the street."
Holtzman smiled, "I’ve had interviews like that. It’s usually a Congressman though."
Ewel smiled. "We never really found out what happened just before the blast. The people who survived didn’t really talk about it. The crony disappeared without filling a story. It looked like he hit his apartment, packed, and was gone in about fifteen minutes. His cameraman was found in an autistic state with his camera smashed and all of his film exposed,"
"Did you buy the gas explosion story?" Holtzman asked.
"Never heard any other explanation for it, and no one at the paper was interested in looking for another one," Ewel explained. "Personally I expected it to be blamed on gangs on PCP."
Holtzman looked confused.
"Anytime there is a violent incident the story that the local cops give out is that it is gangs on PCP. They’ve gotten better about it in the last couple of years, but looking through the morgue it was just about standard for any number of crimes."
"Like what?" Holtzman asked. He had noticed when going over the back stories that it did seem that Sunnydale had to have one of the biggest drug problems in the country with the number of times that excuse had popped up. Which was interesting because it had never made the list of troubled cities on national polls. Then again Sunnydale seemed to be good at keeping out of the public eye.
Ewel began explaining a number of cases he had come across. They had been doing a give and take for about five minutes when they noticed a black Ford Explorer pull up next to the loading dock of the hotel. Holtzman had noticed the Secret Service agents that had been guarding the entrance and had half expected to be rousted out of here. One of the agents entered a pool of light at the corner of the dock next to the stairs and Holtzman recognized Andrea Price-O’Day waiting for it. Six people got out of the vehicle, four men and two women. Holtzman recognized two of them, The First was John Clark, and he was dressed in a blue sport coat and gray pants. Getting out of the driver’s door was Riley Finn, he was dressed in a dark polo shirt and khaki pants. The other four he didn’t recognize. Two were women; well one was a young blond woman, petite, dressed in a suede skirt and a dark top. The other woman was taller than the first and dark haired. She looked younger too and was dressed in a floral skirt with a black top. The two men were split in age too. The first was younger, black haired, dressed in a dark top, either navy or black with tan slacks. The older man was taller than his companion with graying hair and seemed to be wearing tweed. Andrea went met them at the top of the stairs and shook Clark and Finn’s hands and was then introduced to the others. Holtzman thought he saw some hesitation when it came to taking the small blonds hand but he wasn’t close enough to be sure. She then led them back inside the building and the other agents resumed their positions.
Holtzman turned back to Ewel and found him looking at him. Ewel smiled and said, "You tell me who you recognized and I’ll tell you who I did."
Holtzman thought about it and decided that it would be worth it to know who Ryan was meeting with this late. "Remember the story that Elliot Shallot was looking into?" Ewel nodded that he did. "The tall blond was the story. Shallot was working on a screenplay for a docudrama on Samantha Webber. You might remember her, she was the only survivor from a Peace Corp group that were killed when the village they were in was attacked by drug dealers."
Ewel thought about it for a second, then said, " I kinda remember it, never caught most of the details though."
"The guy’s name is Riley Finn he’s an Officer in the US Army, he was supposedly down in Mexico on leave and escorted her home. It must have been some escort too; they ended up married a couple of months later. Shallot discovered that Finn supposedly was a TA in Sunnydale a month or so before the escort so he came down to Sunnydale to find out if his source was right. He disappeared the first night he was here."
Ewel looked thoughtful, "Sounds like he found something."
Holtzman nodded, "Or something found him." He then looked at the other reporter.
Ewel smiled, "This is the night for coincidences. The blond?" Holtzman nodded. "She was the interview I told you about from the school explosion."
‘You aren’t think of any numbers right now are you?" Holtzman asked.
Not seeing the relevance Ewel said, "No."
"Ah well. I was hopping we could get together another psychic flash and split a lottery jackpot."
Smiling Ewel went on, "Her name is Buffy Summers. I met her again at the new school. The old Principle was killed in the explosion so they had to hire a new one. His name is Robin Wood, a little young but he seems to know his stuff. He has some ideas for improving parent participation that I am looking forward to see if they work."
"Like?" Holtzman asked.
"We’re having a big exchange program this year right before Christmas. He is going to bring exchange students in from all over and then right before they leave he is going to have this big awards banquet/parent teacher’s night to draw the parents in. It’s going to be impressive from the sounds of it."
"Who’s paying for it?" Holtzman asked. Sunnydale didn’t seem to be that affluent of a town.
"Wood got corporate sponsorship for the event. The Nakatomi Corporation has always been interested in educational experiments. They are footing most of the bill."
Holtzman nodded, "When this event goes down send me your notes and I’ll see about running it in The Post under your byline. If nothing else I’ll mention it in my column and source you."
"Thanks, I will," Ewel told the reporter. "Her name is Buffy Summers, her story is kind of impressive too. She got kicked out of her high school down in LA after she burned down the gym. She got in here and got into trouble a couple of more times while she was there."
"What kind of trouble," Holtzman asked.
Ewel filled Holtzman on Buffy being suspected in the death of two different people. The first had been someone who had been dating her mom who turned out to be a serial killer. Buffy had killed him accidentally in the middle of fight when she had pushed him down the stairs. At the time no one had known what he had been up too and there had been talk of first-degree manslaughter charges against her. After a search of his home had turned up the bodies of his previous victims charges had been dropped. The other was in the death of a still unidentified Jane Doe that had been killed in the school library. Her friends had been able to clear her once they had recovered from the wounds they had received in the attack.
"After she graduated she went to UCSD. Her mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago and ended up dieing from complications from the surgery a couple of months later. She dropped out of school and has been raising her sister since. Robin Wood hired her because he thinks she has a touch with kids and is using her as a councilor at the school. That’s one that I’m not sure about, but so far I haven’t been aware of any complaints against her."
"Dang, that sounds like it would be a hell of a human interest story," Holtzman said.
"I thought so," Ewel said grimly.
"What do you mean?" Holtzman asked.
"I was warned off," Ewel replied.
"By who?" Holtzman asked.
"My editor. He suggested that looking into Ms. Summers background might not be the healthiest move I could make."
"You take his advice?" Holtzman asked now becoming really interested.
"Right now."
"Let me know what you find out."
"Does this mean we’re partners?" Ewel asked smiling.
Holtzman nodded, "On this story anyway.
"The older guy, His name is John Clark. He’s an assistant to President Ryan."
"What is he a troubleshooter?" Ewel asked.
"That’s a fair description for what he does," Holtzman agreed with a straight face. "I didn’t know anyone else." He saw no reason to let Ewel know that the head of the President’s Secret Service Detail had met them.
"I know most of the others. The brunette I don’t know but if I had to guess I’d say that was the sister. The younger guy is named…it’s something weird… Harris is his last name… Xander, that’s it. I think he’s the foreman for a construction crew in town. The older guy I’m surprised to see. Last I heard he was back in England. He’s the old high school’s librarian, his name is Rupert Giles."
Holtzman managed to hide his surprise. That had to be the guy that John Plumber had said that the US was refusing to hand back to the Brits over that bombing that had happened in England. What could all of these people have in common, and why were they meeting with President Ryan?
Holtzman and Ewel exchanged contact information and then headed back into the rally to go back to work. They separated in the lobby. Holtzman went looking for Plumber to tell him that the man his friend in British law-enforcement was looking for was upstairs meeting with Ryan, and that he was accompanied by some locals from Sunnydale. He thought about hanging out and confronting Clark on his way out, but no one really knew that he and Clark had made contact on several occasions and he wanted to keep it that way.
Ewel went toward the men’s room. As he entered the door he glanced in the direction that Holtzman went off in and smiled. That aught to keep The Slayer occupied for a while
Clark followed the group as Andrea led them to were they would be meeting with Jack. The way Buffy had acted the night before when he told her that the President wanted to meet with her had been a riot, he thought that she was going to bolt for the door dragging Willow behind her. He had managed to calm her down explaining that Jack just wanted to meet and talk to her, it wouldn’t be a diplomatic function. She had smiled weakly looking relived and then saying good night had lead Willow out. He had waited with Pat and the others as Andrew and Pete were being worked on. Covington had been done inside an hour, he had been sent home with prescription for painkillers and antibiotics. Alistair, Ding and the others took Pete back to the motel to get some sleep. Alistair had Benton stay behind to be a bodyguard for the General. Clark had tried to send him on too but Benton was adamant, he was staying. Pat gave him a run down on what had happened out on the road and all that Willow had done. Clark was impressed. He was also kind of curious, the KGB had supposedly played around with this stuff back in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. If they had he wondered why they hadn’t been able to make it work. He knew they hadn’t because if they could of done some of the things that Pat had described there is no way he would be standing here. He told Pat about running into his friend Crudge, Pat remarked that if the big demon kept popping up like that he could be a serious problem. Clark agreed, but hoped he took the hint and left them alone.
A pretty Hispanic Doctor came out of the operating area and approached Clark and Pat, "Which one of you is the FBI agent?" She asked.
Pat identified himself.
"Andrew made it thru surgery. It’s still too early to tell if he will make it though. The bullet nicked his liver, and we had to take out his spleen and about six inches of his large intestine. If he manages to fight off the infection then he should be okay."
"How soon can we transport him?" Pat asked.
"I’ll be able to tell you better in the morning. Right now I would say at least a week," Dr. Sanchez answered.
Pat frowned, turning to Clark he said, "I’ll have to call Dan and see about getting some more help out here. I’ll stay until they get here so we can cover Wells till he can be moved."
Clark had agreed with him and told him to feel free about using either Murphy or Connors, the local FBI agents to spell him. Pat thanked Clark then asked Dr. Sanchez where Wells was recovering at. Clark had left then and gone back to the motel. As he was walking to his room he noticed that two different curtains were pushed back as he walked to the end rooms that he was sharing with Ding. He found Ding asleep and quietly had changed out of his clothes and slipped between the sheets.
Clark awoke the next morning and saw that it was after nine. Ding’s bed was empty and there was no sounds coming from the bathroom so he assumed that Ding wasn’t in the room. After taking a shower and changing into clean clothes he went out and found the door to the room that Frank Miller and Cory Unger shared open. Sticking his head in he had found Miller and Unger lying on their beds watching CNN on the tiny television on the room’s dresser.
"’Morning Sir," Unger said, "The Colonel left us behind to let you know that the unit was over at the warehouse getting it set up for Xander’s crew that will be showing up tomorrow."
Clark nodded and thanked the Sergeant. "I’m heading over to the Summer’s residence once I grab some breakfast. I’ll probably be there for a couple of hours."
Unger nodded that he understood. Clark headed down the stairs and was getting into his car when he saw the two of them now wearing jackets were locking up their room.
Clark grabbed a quick breakfast that his wife probably wouldn’t of approved of and headed for Revello Drive. He parked his car and headed up to the door. Annabelle opened the door and smiled embarrassedly at him, "Good morning General," she said as she stepped out of the way, "I want to thank you for saving my life last night. I also want to apologize for putting you and your men’s life in danger."
"Thank you Annabelle," He said as he came in and looked around. The other two potentials and Anya were in the living room going through some thin volumes, Clark didn’t recognize them from yesterday. Giles was in the dinning room talking to someone on his cell phone.
Turning to the teenager he said, "Just please don’t do it again."
Annabelle smiled ruefully, "Not much chance of that, Buffy laid down the law last night when we all got home. If we want to leave we’re free to go, but if we stay, we fight. I’m staying."
Clark smiled at her, inside though he cringed, young girls weren’t supposed to be on the front lines.
Kennedy snorted, "Yeah that was some speech, right out of Patton."
"I rather liked it," Molly said. The only tenseness that happened last night was when Alistair had said that Molly would be staying with him and Giles had pointed out that she would be safer with Buffy. Ding had stepped in and agreed. When Covington had also came down on Ding’s side Molly’s Uncle had been forced to agree. He made arrangements to have lunch with his niece the next day though. "Especially the end. It gave me something of an uplift."
Kennedy reluctantly nodded, "I liked the, ‘It’ll Swallow me whole and it’s going to choke on me’ part myself." Molly nodded agreeing with the other black haired potential.
Annabelle returned to her chair and picked up the volume that she had been reading. "What are you researching now?" Clark asked.
Dawn answered from her corner, "The First, this is all that Giles could find in The Council’s Library before it blew up."
Clark winced at the slim amount that they had. An idea occurred to him, "I could talk to Jack, he has some contacts inside The Vatican, maybe they have some stuff on this thing."
Giles said into the phone, "One moment please. General Clark I would appreciate if you not involve The Vatican in this. They have been trying to penetrate The Council since The Middle Ages and I’d prefer if they stayed on the outside."
Clark turned to face the Watcher, "At this point I would think that you would want all the help you could get."
"It may come to that, but The Catholic Church would demand too high a price for the information."
Clark sighed; he could see he wouldn’t be winning this argument so instead he asked, "Where’s Buffy? I want to talk to her about tonight."
The girls smothered giggles, Clark looked around and saw that even Dawn was getting into the act.
Dawn took her hand down from her mouth and said, "She’s upstairs with Willow trying to decide what to wear. She’s been up there for about two hours."
Clark thanked her and headed up stairs. Once she was sure that Clark wasn’t at the top of the stairs Dawn put down her book and went to Giles. "Why do you really not want the Vatican involved? Their library is supposed to be second to none," she asked the Watcher.
Giles sighed and took off his glasses and pinched his nose, "How do you think The Church would react to the fact that Willow and the others resurrected Buffy? That it was even possible for humans to do it?"
Dawn gulped.
Clark stopped at Buffy’s door and knocked, "It’s John Clark," he called.
"Come on in," Buffy’s voice came from inside.
Clark opened the door and entered the room. The first thing he noticed was the mound of clothes on the bed. Buffy was over by her closet dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt and was holding a peach colored dress. Willow was leaning up against Buffy’s dresser her hair pulled back into a ponytail and dressed also in jeans and a pink patchwork shirt. "What do you think?" Buffy asked Clark.
"Nice, kind of formal though." Clark replied.
"I am meeting The President," Buffy reminded him.
"This will be a working meeting Buffy, just wear what you would to work. Jack isn’t a stickler for formality, plus if you wear formal wear he won’t be able to relax around you. Trust me you’ll score brownie points if he’s able to relax a little."
Buffy frowned not sure if she was going to take his advice, still she had that suede skirt that she had picked up last week. "Okay, but if he gets upset then I’m going to blame you."
Clark leaned back against the wall, crossed his arms and replied, "I’ll take my chances. On a related subject, have you decided among yourselves who’s going?"
Buffy began putting clothes back on hangers and hanging them back into the closet. Clark knew they all had to come out of there but looking at the mound he didn’t see how. Still his wife and daughters seemed to be able to perform the same magic so maybe it was intrinsic to the female of the species. "It’s going to be Giles, Xander and me," she said from inside the closet.
"You’re not going?" Clark asked Willow in surprise.
Willow shook her head, "I’m still not recovered from last night so I wouldn’t be a whole lot of help, plus someone has to watch the potentials."
Clark nodded, it made sense, Willow was probably had the most defensive capabilities of any of the Scoobies, plus from what Pat had said when she went on the offensive she wasn’t too shabby either. "Can I make a suggestion?"
Buffy stuck her head out of the closet and said, "Sure."
"Take Dawn with you."
Buffy frowned, "Dawn?"
Clark nodded, "She’s smart, and has pretty good instincts. She’d be good to have around."
Buffy picked up nodding when Clark stopped and said, "And?"
"And… Andrea is a little nervous about you and Jack in the same room with each other. You bringing Dawn will show that you aren’t planning anything."
Buffy thought about it for a couple of seconds and then frowning said, "I don’t like using my sister as a voluntary hostage."
"You wouldn’t be doing that, rather think of it as a peace offering," Clark replied. "Andrea gets paid to raise paranoia to unbelievable heights. This would show that you appreciate what she is going thru."
Buffy nodded returned to putting clothes away.
Turning back to Willow he said, "That was some good work you did last night."
Willow blushed, "I almost lost it last night."
"But you didn’t," Clark pointed out. Willow still wasn’t convinced.
"Out of curiosity, who all could you cast that spell on?" Clark asked.
Willow shrugged, "Just about anyone, why?"
"Some times we deal with people who might be playing both ends against the middle, it might be nice if we could keep track of them."
"What I used last night wouldn’t help you that way at all," Willow said, shrinking into her self a little.
Clark seeing that she was uncomfortable didn’t want to push too hard, but also wanted to know the answer to her statement. "Well yeah I can see were you might not want to track the double agent, but I was wondering if you could set it up so that someone else could."
Willow shook her head, "What I meant was that I’m not tracking Soma and his thugs at all. I planted a suggestion that if they didn’t do what I said a red mark the shape of my thumb would show up on their forehead and if they let it go long enough it would start to itch or burn. I didn’t have time to do anything fancy, I needed to get Andrew to the hospital, so I had that one worked out from when I was in my ‘magic is the answer to all things’ phase and we had a shoplifting problem at The Magic Box. If I hadn’t wowed them with what I had done before I doubt that they would have been impressed."
Clark looked at the redheaded witch with respect. He definitely needed to get her on the payroll. "You know what I said yesterday about if you ever decide to lose your amateur status? Don’t call anyone else, call me." Willow smiled at the older man.
While they were talking Buffy managed to get her clothes back to were they were supposed to be and coming out of the closet she headed for the door. "Dawn needs something new to wear so we are heading for the mall. Kennedy mentioned about wanting to do some clothes shopping too so I might as well take any of them who want to go too," she said as she breezed thru the door, "Want to come?" She asked Clark.
Clark stood up straight and shook his head, "I want to see if Giles has time for ‘Hellmouth 102’." Buffy shook her head that anyone would rather talk about the Hellmouth than shop and headed down the hallway, "Dawn! Get your things you need a new outfit to meet The President!" She called down stairs. Dawn’s exited squeal was the answer she got from downstairs.
Clark smiled to himself remembering the young girls excitement that looking at the bounce in her stride she still hadn’t got over. Andrea stopped and opened a door to a conference room. She smiled at Clark and waved him in as he came even with her. The first thing he saw as he entered the room was a huge table. There was still space in the large room to comfortably walk around the table, but only just. Clark had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing, "[I said distance Andrea, but lord!]"
Buffy was thinking similar thoughts. She realized that the table had to be the Secret Services answer to her and Jack in the same room. She thought that she wouldn’t tell the Agent that she could probably pick up the table and hit The President with it.
To a certain point agents on the detail almost had to be mind readers. Andrea didn’t need much to pick up the amusement off of Clark and the bemusement off of Buffy. Good they saw what she wanted them to see. Under the table was a flash-bang device rigged to go off if the table was moved more than four inches in any direction. If what Dan had told her about Ms. Summers senses were true it should have more effect on her than anyone else. In case that didn’t work she had stopped at FBI Armory in LA and talked to the guy in charge. She hadn’t been overly specific on the nature of the threat, just that it would be short range and she had to be able to hit a nimble target. He had an answer ready for her. It was a double-barrel shotgun, sawed off to five inch barrels. She had pointed out with the way shot would spread out from that short of a barrel she would be as great a threat to her principle as the assailant. The gunsmith had smiled and showed her what the shells would be loaded with. It was a six-inch circular net made of piano wire with #4 fishing weights attached to it. She had test fired the piece with two and three-quarter inch shells and been impressed by the size of the holes that the rounds had left in the targets. She had the gun loaded with three-inch magnum rounds and eight-inch nets. She really didn’t expect Buffy to try anything, especially with her sister along, but her motto had always been, "Better to have and not need than need and not have."
She motioned the Sunnydale crew to the other side of the table then took her seat next to the one with the Presidential Seal. Buffy found her seat without problem. It was directly across from the presidential chair, it was also adjusted so that a short person was at the proper level for the table. Dawn sat down next to her, then Giles and Xander. On her other side Clark sat down next to her, then Riley.
"The President will be awhile yet, we snuck you in at the beginning of his meeting with people after his speech. While we are waiting I was wondering if you would be willing to answer some questions?"
"Sure," Buffy replied.
"I want to talk about some of the precautions that I have been taking against supernatural threats. Since I just found about this stuff the day before yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to talk to some experts before I put anything into effect."
"Anything we can help with we would be happy to," Buffy said.
"Okay then this is what I have done so far," Andrea dived right in.
About forty-five minutes later Ryan had just finished shaking hands with one of the local dignitaries when he turned to Arnie and asked. "Do I need to meet with anyone else?"
Arnie shook his head, "No that’s the last of them."
"Okay then I think I’ve left Ms. Summers waiting long enough," Ryan said and headed for the door. His detail let everyone know that he was moving and cleared the doorway for him. He found Congresswoman Tucker surrounded by some of her supporters and said to her, "Congresswoman, I want to wish you good luck next Tuesday and I want to apologize that your event was somewhat overshadowed by what I did earlier today."
Sheila Tucker smiled broadly, "That’s okay Mr. President. I understand how important it is to be a team player. Sometimes you have to support the team."
Ryan smiled and made his good-byes. There was a round of applause as he exited the room. Once pass the reach of the press and their microphones Ryan turned to his Chief-of-Staff and asked, "What bill does she want my support for?"
Arnie smiled to himself, his boy was growing up. There was a time that Ryan wouldn’t have recognized what the Congresswoman was saying. "She wants support on the Irrigation Bill."
Ryan frowned, stopping and turning to his Chief-Of Staff, "I thought that was up in the Washington Area?"
"It is, Sheila is doing a three way deal between her, Congressman Witchel in Washington, and Congressman Beumont in Kamas. They all have some hot potatoes so they’re switching."
Ryan nodded wearily, "Okay no big then, I was going to support the bill anyway."
"The environmentalists aren’t going to like it." Van Dam warned.
"Arnie, in this case the farmers need access to the water. I’d rather back the people growing our food. But just incase the environmentalist had a point I sent Benton out to look into it. His study indicates that given normal rainfall patterns for the area by the time the farmers need the water that fish that the original rules were put into place to protect will be far enough along in it’s life cycle that the lowering of the water levels in the river will have a marginal impact. I’m going with my Presidential Science Advisor on this one."
Arnie nodded already rehearsing the strategy that he would use to deflect the criticism that this move would generate.
Ryan had become so used to just following his Secret Service Detail he sometimes wondered if he found himself alone in some part of these sprawling hotel complexes if he would be able to find his way back to where he started. But his guide seemed to know where he was going and Jack soon found himself being led through a door into a conference room. Jack stopped just inside the door and just stared at the table in it. He wondered briefly, which of the Navy’s carriers had sacrificed its flight deck to make it? Andrea and everyone were standing and he looked at the too innocent expression on her face and had to stop himself from making a comment. Instead looking across the table at the people from Sunnydale he smiled. The small blond smiled back and Jack started around the table. Andrea snarled to herself, and followed her principle.
Giles and the others saw the President coming and got up and let Buffy thru. She met Jack Ryan about half way down the length of the table and stopped looking up at him. Jack smiled down at the small blond, and held out his hand. Buffy smiled back and carefully took his hand. "I’m Jack Ryan, and on behalf of myself, my family, and the country I want to thank you for all that you have done."
Buffy blushed and replied, "I was just doing what I had to do Mr. President. You don’t owe me any thanks."
"Yeah, I know how that works," Ryan replied seriously.
Despite his tone Buffy’s first response is that he was kidding her, but when she looks into his eyes she realizes that Ryan was someone who understands how duty works. He’s someone who has been there and understands. She smiled shyly at him in thanks.
Ryan went on, he turned and presented the man who had come around the table with him, "This is Arnie Van Damm he’s my Chief of Staff. I guess you already met Andrea."
Buffy nodded and said, "This is my sister Dawn," Ryan shook her hand. And this is Rupert Giles, my Watcher."
Ryan shook his hand too, "Mr. Giles, I talked to Tony today and he tells me that they have a branch of their intelligence service that they use for these kinds of cases. They aren’t dedicated to supernatural things but they take care of it if one comes in. They’re going to send one of their senior people over to talk to you."
"Thank you Sir," Giles stammered, and then he realized who ‘Tony’ was and said, "Thank you for going so high to straighten this out."
Ryan shook his head; "John tells me that Buffy needs you here, so I’m going to do what ever I can to make her life easier."
Xander was feeling left out in the background till Buffy turned to him and said, "And this is Xander Harris, he’s one of my oldest friends and has been fighting with me since I moved to Sunnydale."
"Mr. President," Xander said with a firm handshake, "I voted for you."
"Thank you Mr. Harris, that means a lot," Ryan told him.
"And I think you know Riley and General Clark," Buffy finished.
Ryan smiled, "We’ve met."
Arnie made his greetings; Buffy noted that he had no hesitation in taking her hand. Once Arnie had finished greeting people Ryan said," Let’s get this meeting started, I don’t want to rush you but unfortunately I have another day of campaigning tomorrow," he said the last bit with little enthusiasm as he moved back to the other side of the table.
Once everyone was settled Ryan asked, "What else can we do to help you out?"
Buffy chewed her lip for a couple of seconds then said, "Very little right now."
Ryan looked surprised, "You do realize that I just put the full resources of the United States at your disposal right?"
Buffy looked over at Giles and made a ‘go ahead’ motion with her hand. Ryan noticed that Riley looked surprised, and Clark gave him a ‘No Clue’ signal. Dawn looked disgruntled, while Xander looked pissed.
"Mr. President while we appreciate the offer, The Watchers Council has always been autonomous of governments. We find that no mater how just and good they are, invariably they fall. I have no doubt that you are a just and honorable man. You have proven that again and again. However you will be in power at most for another six years, possible only for two. While I don’t doubt that you will be able to hand pick your successor, eventually a person who isn’t just or honorable will come to power. If that were to happen at a delicate time and we allow ourselves to become addicted to the ease of operations that you could arrange then the world could well be forfeit, or The Council could be forced into becoming just another intelligence organ for that nation.
"In the short term, we also would have trouble with several of the Potentials that are coming. They hale from countries and societies that view the Untied States as the source of evil in the world. If we are accepting aid from the US Government how hard would it be for The First to plant the seeds that this is all some scam to turn them against their home countries?" Giles explained in his most reasonable, librarian voice.
Ryan sat there for a minute and thought about what Giles had told him. "We could keep the aid covert, make sure you have food in the larder, provide some transportation on the side, they need never know where it comes from. For that matter we could get potentials that wouldn’t view the US Government as a threat out of their countries and provide cover for them to get to Sunnydale."
"I doubt that the CIA is up to dealing with Bringers and the other forces that The First could bring to bear." Giles told POTUS.
"I wasn’t thinking the CIA as much as a military unit of some type. Reports from last night seem to indicate that troops can encounter these things successfully. What do you think John?"
"Riley?" Clark turned to his expert.
"Aside from the fact that a Marine Company swooping down to retrieve a young girl might generate some questions that we don’t want to answer. Whatever unit we decided to use would have to be briefed in. Rainbow’s troopers handled last night pretty well, but I don’t think that it’s sunk in yet what they actually fought last night. Right now they are still going on training and adrenalin. Once it sinks in that their parents lied to them about monsters not being real we’ll see what happens. With the Initiative we lost about fifteen percent of are people who couldn’t deal with the truth. We might get luckier with Rainbow because the troopies are older and more experienced, but that could work against us too."
"So you’re saying to back off too?" Ryan asked the Initiative Trooper.
"If Giles thinks he can get them out, I say go with it." Leaning over so he could catch Giles’ eye he said to him, "I hope that if it turns out that if you do need help you won’t be too proud to ask for it."
Giles looked uncomfortable but nodded at Riley.
Ryan didn’t like it much; he had hoped that he could come out of this meeting generating a much closer working relationship between the Scoobies and Rainbow, so he decided to back off rather than push and maybe do damage.
"Okay," Ryan told them, "I can’t force you to accept aid, but keep in mind that the offer will always be valid. If you decide you need help it’s here."
Giles nodded and for a second Ryan thought that Buffy was going to overrule the Watcher but in the end she decided to let ride.
Ryan decided on a different tack, "What help can I give you?"
The Sunnydale crew looked confused, "I thought we just covered that." Giles checked himself, "Pardon me, I don’t wish to be insulting."
"No problem, I probably didn’t make myself clear," Ryan replied. "Before I offered the help of the USA, this is a personal offer. You’ll find my personal assets aren’t in the same galaxy as what the US could offer you, but I’m pretty well off and I want to help."
Giles hemmed for a second when Dawn spoke up, "Would you consider floating a loan?"
Ryan didn’t hesitate, "How much?"
Buffy glared at her sister, "We aren’t that tight Dawn, especially when my retainer starts coming in."
Dawn glared back, "Not for US, for the Magic Box. If we are having all of these girls coming it might be a good idea to have the extra space, and the extra bathroom. Plus it would be better to be able to train in the backroom than our basement, higher ceilings and more room. It would give Anya something to do, and the extra money and access to magic supplies would be good too."
Arnie watched as the group bickered, the dynamics going on between them were interesting. Buffy was in charge, but Giles had obviously talked her out of accepting aid. They must have had it out before they left for the meeting, Buffy obviously went with her Watchers experience, but it was equally obvious that neither Dawn nor Xander were happy with the position. He would talk to Jack about it.
Giles looked up from the mini-huddle that the Scoobies had gone into and said, "I’m forty percent owner of the store so we would have to get Anya’s permission before we agreed to anything."
Ryan nodded, "We have phones so you can call her. So how much are we talking about for repairs?"
Giles reluctantly said, "Fifty Thousand for the physical repairs, I’m afraid that Buffy and Willow did a superior demolition job on the interior of the store. Then about forty-thousand to replace lost stock."
Ryan thought about it for a moment, "Okay I can loan you one-hundred and twenty-five thousand, and so it doesn’t count as a gift for tax purposes would three percent interest be acceptable?
"Three per…" Giles sputtered. "I’d have to contact Anya, one moment please," he requested as he got his cell phone out.
Andrea tensed for a moment, her finger on the detonator for the flash-bang under the table but Giles only hit the speed dial on his phone and waited. "Hello Willow. Is Anya there? Yes I’ll wait. Anya? No we are still with him… Yes I will tell him you said hello. Anya, he has offered to loan us the money to fix the store… Yes it should be more than enough to do the job… Three percent… No, not weekly, period…" Giles suddenly pulled the receiver of the phone away from his ear. "I’ll take that as a yes then and that you are giving me power to sign the papers?"
When Ryan saw Giles pull the phone away from his ear he turned to Andrea and ordered, "Have someone go and get my check book."
Andrea motioned to one of the agents that were in the room with them and sent him off.
Giles said his good-byes to Anya and turning to The President stated, "Anya agrees to your terms and has given me permission to sign for the check. She asks for a grace period before she starts paying the loan off."
Ryan waved it away, "Get the store back on its feet first. If this thing blows up on us it won’t make much of difference anyway.
"How are you set up for cash personally Mr. Giles? I know how much it cost to keep a worldwide intelligence agency going. If you couldn’t afford the ninety-thousand to fix the store, how are you going to afford to operate?"
"When I was reinstated as Buffy’s watcher I gained access to several accounts, while they are not bottomless they should see us through this crisis with enough left over to hire someone to ferret out the remaining Council accounts around the world," Giles told him.
Ryan smiled, "The US Government employees some of the best forensic accounts in the world. If you wish we could let them see what they could find of these accounts."
Giles considered the offer, and not seeing anyway of stopping Ryan from doing it anyway said, "That would be very kind of you to do that Mr. President. The extra cash would be welcomed."
Ryan nodded no problem. Turning to Andrea he ordered, "When we get back to Washington have someone remind me to get George Winton’s people on this."
Andrea nodded and made a note.
Turning back to Giles Ryan said, "I have a personal question. I have two daughters, what’s the chance that either of them are potential Slayers?"
Giles thought about it for a moment then said, "My father was head of The Council when you saved the Prince and Princes of Wales. I believe your older daughter was with you at the time. If she were a potential I think my father would have mentioned it to me. I can’t say about your younger daughter. There are tests that can be performed, or I can ask a coven of witches that is helping us if they can tell. The tests can be somewhat time consuming and I’m afraid I’ll be busy for the foreseeable future. If I can squeeze the time in I will, but more likely it will have to wait till the immediate crisis has passed."
Ryan was about to say something when an aid came in and said, "Flash Traffic Mr. President."
Any messages that were marked as Flash Traffic when received where to be put before the President for him to read within ten minutes of receipt. Ryan read the message and frowning handed it to Andrea who read it and getting up said, "Excuse me, I need to check some things."
Ryan turned back to the group and said, "That message notified me that someone broke Liz Elliot out of the hospital that she has been in since she lost it the night that Denver was nuked. They killed two security guards and a floor nurse doing it."
Office of Tucker Contracting
Madrid, Spain
28Oct2002 - 0910 hrs
Hank Summers got off of the elevator and went thru the glass doors into his company’s Spain office. He navigated thru the cubical to the back corner of the office. Normally he worked from the villa that he rented and shared outside the city, but he had gotten a call first thing in the morning that Steve Miller his boss wanted to see him pronto.
During the drive in Hank could not figure out what Steve wanted. The Rodrigo account was ahead of schedule and it had been four months since the Gurtmug project. Surly if something had been going to go wrong there it would have shown up before now?
Getting to his boss’s office he greeted Steve’s secretary with a cheery, "Good morning Consuela!"
Consuela frowned at him and said, "Senior Miller will see you now." She hit the intercom button to let Steve know he had arrived.
Hank was starting to worry; Consuela always had a smile for him. Something was definitely wrong here. Going thru the door Steve was sitting behind his desk with as angry an expression on his face as Hank had ever seen.
Steve waved him to a chair in front his desk and began right in, "Hank we got a letter from the California Department of Youth Services this morning concerning you."
"Why would they send something to you?" Hank asked.
"Because apparently you were ignoring them." Steve replied. "According to them over the last eighteen months they have sent you no less than ten letters, including a register letter that was signed for."
Hank started to sweat, "Steve you have to believe me, I haven’t seen anything from them since right after Joyce died and they let me know that Buffy was appointed guardian for Dawn."
Miller passed the manila envelope over to the other man and ordered, "Check out the top sheet."
Hank did as he was told and saw a photocopy of a tag from a registered letter, Sheila had signed for it. "Steve she never showed to me. You know how she is, she’s convinced that Child Services is trying to foist Dawn off on me, I’ll talk to her when I get home."
Steve shook his head, "I’m afraid that it’s gone a little far for that Hank. The other part of this letter is a notification that if you don’t get this settled then they are going to ask us to attach your paycheck. I don’t think I need to go into details as to what that would mean.
If possible Hank went even paler, "I’ve been making child support payments for Dawn since Joyce’s death, I have it taken right out of my pay. You know that."
Miller shook his head, "They looked at Buffy’s income and they altered what you owed per month. You know how old man Tucker is about family responsibility. I warned you when you cut yourself off that he wouldn’t be happy. Hell if you weren’t such a producer you probably would have been gone then. And before you say anything I know how Shelia is about the girl, but Tucker isn’t going to look at it that way."
Holding up another letter he went on, "This is a forty-five day notification. It’s asking us to set things up so that if in forty-five days you haven’t straiten out this problem that the attachment order will be ready to go into effect. I talked to Human Resources, they tell me that it will take them ten days to get this processed, So what I am going to do is give you a thirty-day leave of absence. I expect you to get this straitened out in that time."
Hank recognized the only chance he was going to get so all he said was, "Thanks," as he headed out the door.
"Don’t thank me," Miller called at his back, "Just get this solved."
Stopping at Consuela’s desk he leaned over and asked the receptionist, "Consuela, I need to get to LA as quickly as can be set up. I don’t care what it costs, who I fly, or where I have to lay over."
Consuela still had a frown on her face and said, "LA? Don’t you mean Sunnydale?"
"I need to talk to my lawyer first and get everything set up. I doubt they would want to see me anyway."
"Si Senior Summers, I will do what I can," She said grudgingly.
"Thanks, I owe you a big one," He said.
"Take care of your daughters Senior Summers, and we will be even."
Hank hesitated, and then headed out.
On the way home he cursed Shelia, lately he had started to come to the conclusion that she had been perhaps the biggest mistake of his life. When the divorce had gone thru Sheila had suggested he take a European posting so he could leave his past behind. He had let her talk him into it, "[Oh come on Hank. You were more than thrilled to leave your ex and kids behind. What was it you called it? Oh yeah, REFRESHING, that’s it. Made you feel like a new man,]" said his conscience quite nastily. Hank turned up the radio so he didn’t have to think.
The house that he shared with Shelia was on a hill overlooking the city. Given the different cost of living between the US and Spain it was much nicer than what he had in the US. As he walked in thru the front door he saw that Shelia was on the back deck by the pool sunning herself. His cellphone rang as he was heading upstairs to pack. "Yes?" He asked into the phone.
"Senior Summers, this is Consuela, I have you booked thru to LA, and the driver will be there in twenty minutes. You need to be ready to catch your first flight."
"Thanks Consuela," he said sincerely into the phone, "I really owe you one."
He went into his room and pulled an overnight case out of his closet. He threw some clothes into it, stopped in his bathroom for his shaving kit and was heading for the door when Shelia came in behind him and asked, "Business trip?"
"Kind of," Hank replied guardedly. "I got a letter from California DYS today at work." He noticed the tightening of the skin around her eyes. "They are going to attach my salary if I don’t get this thing fixed so I have to go."
Shelia’s face darkened, "We decided when we left California that you were going to forget you past, that we were going to start over."
Putting his case down he went started over toward her and said, "You can ignore the fact that I have a minor child. DYS is not going to give me that luxury."
"They want to make you take Dawn," Sheila said, starting to get a little shrill.
Hank stopped about halfway to her, "Somehow after three years I doubt that that’s going to happen. This is going to be a simple trip to straiten out some problems with the amount of child support that I am paying, that’s all."
Sheila sauntered over and Hank felt the urge build up in him. Sheila was everything that Joyce hadn’t been. She had long strait black hair. She had blue eyes, intense under the dark mass, and a slim aquiline face. She was slim with out being skeletal, and she was a little shorter than Joyce. When she got close to him she rubbed up against him and said, "Come on Hank. Forget going back. I found a spot in the garden that I don’t think the neighbors can see," she said, her eyes promising everything.
Hank for a split second reached for her. But then common sense reared its ugly head. Taking a step back he said, "Haven’t you been listening? They are going to attach my salary! Old man Tucker is a fanatic about stuff like that. He feels that if have to be made to take care of your family then you aren’t trustworthy. The last guy who got his paycheck attached wasn’t with the company long enough for it to show up in his check. I. HAVE. TO. GO!"
Sheila wasn’t hearing it though. She started pouting and nearly screamed, "You just want to bring that brat here and spoil our fun!"
Hank at loss turned and started out the door.
"If you walk out that door don’t think about coming back!" She screamed at his back.
Hank who had just picked up his overnight case turned angry for the first time, "Sheila, the house is in my name, and I pay the rent and the bills. If you want to take over those just let me know and I’ll switch it over."
Sheila’s face had gone nearly purple, "All right then, If you leave I won’t be here when you get back!!!" She screamed.
Hank turned back to the door. As he was going thru it he said tiredly, "Do what you have to do Sheila, that’s what I’m doing."
He closed the door and tuned out the tirade that came after him. He walked down to the end of the drive feeling oddly free. When he got down to the end the car wasn’t there yet but he saw the mailman coming down the block. Looking him over he saw that it wasn’t the regular one.
"{Is Miguel sick?}" Hank asked the mailman in Spanish.
"{Yes Senior,}" He replied, "{I am Pedro.}"
"{Do you have anything for Summers?}"
"{Yes, bills only I’m afraid.}" Pedro said as he passed over several envelopes.
"{Pedro, I would appreciate it if you could pass on a couple of things.}"
"{I would be happy too,}" Pedro told him.
"{First thing is, anything from California Department of Youth Services comes directly to me. If necessary I’ll give you number that I can be reached at. Second, I’m going on a trip and Ms. Parsons might be leaving. If the mail starts piling up then could you hold it at the post office please?}"
"(I will pass these requests on to Miguel, I see no problems.}"
"{Thanks,}"
"Ad Nada," The postman replied as he headed off down street. At the corner he turned and vanished around the fence.
The car that was to take Hank to the airport pulled up then so Hank was busy climbing in when a black bird flew up from behind the fence so he didn’t notice it. Even if he had he probably wouldn’t of thought anything of it. Hank didn’t know enough about birds to ask what an American Raven was doing in central Spain.
Buffy glanced around her side of the table and saw that only Clark and Riley seemed to know what The President was talking about. "Who?" She asked for the benefit of the Sunnydale crew.
"Elizabeth Elliot was President Fowlers National Security Advisor. She was the liaison between The White House and the Initiative when it was first put together. She had a bad breakdown the night they nuked Denver and she couldn’t handle the situation. She’s was being treated at a federal institution in Southern New York till earlier tonight. Someone broke her out and killed a couple of the staff doing it. According to what I was given it looks at first blush that it was a Special Forces operation." Ryan explained.
Clark thought about it, "It had to be Billingsly’s people. What would they want her for though?"
Ryan looked over at the Initiative representative here and asked, "Riley?"
Riley considered for a minute then said, "Dr. Walsh and Dr. Elliot were friends, Dr. Walsh mentioned her to me on several occasions. Dr. Elliot had already had her breakdown by the time I was brought on board so I never met her. I know that Dr. Walsh would send her recorded messages from time to time. It was never about what we were actually doing, but I think they might have been using some form of personal code because some of the comments seemed to be too inane for Dr. Walsh to be making."
"So you think that Billingsly might be looking for something that Liz might have been told?" Ryan questioned.
"It’s possible. There is another thing though," Riley went on thoughtfully.
"After Dr. Walsh was killed they did an audit of her files and equipment. They came up empty on a bunch of prototype equipment. Dr. Walsh said she destroyed the stuff but there was no official record of it actually being destroyed, instead it was listed as disposed of," Riley postulated.
"What sort of prototypes?" Andrea asked.
"I was UA when they did the audit. Graham was there and he told me the story. I think he mentioned that about ten of the blaster’s where missing and a bunch of early control chips. Also some of the other equipment like our pheromone detectors and stuff like that." Riley finished.
"Blasters? Like Star Wars?" Ryan asked.
Riley shook his head, "They were basically tasers without needing the wires. They were good for stunning things. That was about it."
Andrea scowled, "What kind of range are we talking about for these things?"
"About twenty-feet," Riley responded. "In a fight between people with blasters and people with guns, bet on the guys with the guns. I doubt that they will come after us with them."
"What about the control chips?" Ryan asked.
Riley shook his head, "I’ll contact Graham and find out about them. If they were what we used on Spike then I can’t see how they would be of use."
Giles frowned, "Could they have been the kind used on you?"
Riley nodded.
"Okay Major, see what you can find out," Ryan told him.
"Uh, I’m a captain Mr. President," Riley corrected him uncomfortably.
Ryan smiled, "Since Rainbow One and Two are run by Majors we thought that a promotion was in order for you so that you will be on an equal footing with them."
Riley smiled, "Thank you sir."
"Congratulations Riley," Clark said.
Riley just nodded.
Ryan smiled, and then got back to business, "Since I have some stuff I need to look at before I can get to sleep and Ms. Summers has to do her patrolling lets wrap this up. I would in the future like to have a longer meeting but we’ll have to see how things work out. Before we call it a night though what about the local law enforcement community? Will they be on our side, or Billingsly?"
Riley thought about it for a minute then said, "Probably neither on their own, they seem good at ignoring things." Xander snorted his agreement.
"I wouldn’t be too sure on that count Mr. President," Clark cautioned.
Turning to his old friend Ryan ordered, "Explain."
"I talked to Pat last night while we were waiting for word on Andrew Wells. He said that when Lt O’Connell of the Sunnydale PD showed up to question him he came loaded for bear and that he seemed to be aware that Willow might be a serious threat."
Buffy nodded also, "I hate to admit it but I think he may be right. Ranger Broadman said that he found out who I was through the local police. I think they might know a lot more about what happens around town than we ever gave them credit for."
Ryan nodded, "Okay, lets make contact with them and get them on our side."
Riley looked glum, "I shouldn’t be the contact person then Sir. Dr. Walsh used me for that and she and they did not have the best of relationships. In fact if possible it might even be a good idea for them not to know that I am even back in town."
POTUS looked over at the newly minted Major and asked, "She did that good of a job alienating them?"
Riley nodded at his Commander-in-Chief, "When we first arrived they were still largely disorganized after the corruption investigations in the wake of the high school blowing up. They didn’t seem to be that useful. Once they got their acts together Dr. Walsh feared that there was still a lot of corruption in their ranks so she wanted them to have nothing to do with us. She threatened their federal funding if they interfered. Things got really strained when Adam got loose and started his killing spree with a twelve-year old. They rapidly figured out it was something to do with us. I think if things went on much longer they would have gone public."
"What can you tell us about them?" Ryan asked.
"When Gideon Scott was elected Mayor in a special election he made a point to not interfere in any of the corruption investigations. He let the state and federal investigators clean out the rotten apples. He appointed Stewart Donaldson as Chief of Police. Donaldson had been a detective second class before the blast and he came through the investigations with pretty much flying colors. Anything he was guilty of was sins of omission rather commission. Donaldson promoted anyone within the department that he felt was worth it then went looking for outside help. One of his first hires was Jonathan O’Connell.
"O’Connell has duel citizenships with the UK and the US. He went to the NYC Police Academy where he graduated somewhere in the middle of the class. He didn’t work for NYPD though; instead he got picked up in New Orleans. The one interesting thing is that he seems to only work the nightshift. He rapidly rose through the ranks and made detective in New Orleans within five years. He was the second in command of their nightshift when Chief Donaldson offered him the position to run the nightshift in Sunnydale. I’ve had a couple of run ins with him, he likes to pretend that he is a dunce but don’t let the act fool you. He is a tough and able investigator."
Ryan digested what Riley had told him, and then turning to Clark he said, "Why don’t you do the contact then, or if Pat is still in town let him introduce you. These sound like they may be people we can work with. If they aren’t then we need to know." Clark nodded that he understood.
"Can I ask a favor?" Buffy questioned.
Ryan glanced over and said, "Sure."
"Could you hold off talking to them for a couple of days? I’d like to talk to them first. I think they owe me an explanation as to why they didn’t make contact with me for the last seven years. Well the last four anyway. When they worked for The Mayor I doubt that I would have liked to talk to them."
Ryan nodded, "Fair enough. John, hold off to Tuesday or Wednesday to talk to the SPD." Clark again nodded.
Ryan then stood indicating the meeting was over. Everyone else stood and Buffy wasn’t sure of the protocol at this point. Ryan moved over by the door and seeing everyone standing on the other side of the table smiled and said, "It’s going to be hard to shake you hand and say goodbye with you on the other side of that slab of wood."
Buffy smiled embarrassedly and followed Giles and Xander out from behind the table, faithfully being followed by Clark and Riley. When Buffy got to Ryan he handed her a small card with a phone number on it. "If at anytime you need to get a hold of me that number is to the duty desk at The White House. Someone there will be able to get in contact with me day or night. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask." Buffy nodded in thanks and slipped the card into her bag. While Clark was shaking his hands Ryan gave him the signal that he wanted him to call him tomorrow. Clark indicated that he understood.
As he was being escorted to his rooms Ryan turned to Arnie and asked, "What do you think?"
Arnie considered for a second and then said, "I think she has potential. The Xander kid is someone I would want in my corner, he didn’t say a lot in there but he was sure paying attention."
"What did you think of Rupert Giles?" Ryan asked
"Is it too late to give him to the Brits?"
Ryan smiled, "Yeah, I think so. Plus I don’t think the damage that it would do to our relationship with the Sunnydale crew would be worth it. He’s scared Arnie. He was at best a mid-level supervisor; he suddenly had the whole thing thrust on him. Believe me when I say it always looks easy from the outside. You learn how hard it is when your there and it’s suddenly your call. He’s so scared of doing the wrong thing that I’m afraid he might frighten himself into inaction."
"You didn’t do to bad when it happened to you." Arnie pointed out.
Ryan gave his friend and advisor a ‘look’, "Thanks."
Arnie smiled, "No Problem."
Ryan reached his door, turning around before he went in he said to his Chief-of-Staff, "If Giles moves thru an area that I am in and we can arrange a quiet meeting set it up. Hopefully I can talk some sense into him."
Van Damm nodded.
"Okay Arnie, go hit the sack. I won’t be too far behind you.
"Good night Jack," Arnie said as he headed for his own room.
Orange County Correctional Institute for Women.
Los Angeles CA
28Oct2002 - 0134
Faith was screaming, she was sure of it. She couldn’t hear it though with what sounded like a hundred jet engines roaring around her. She had her eyes closed because with the abuse her hands were taking she was pretty sure that if she opened them she would be instantly blinded. Her hands were around something that felt like a metal pipe that she was holding onto with a death grip. Her body wasn’t on the ground but was suspended by the force of the wind on it. She tightened her grip on the metal pole, but it felt like her hands were being sandblasted. As suddenly as she found herself in this situation the wind was gone and she found herself slammed to the ground. She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes.
Looking around the first thing she saw was a retreating wall of swirling debris. Suspended inside of it she saw boards, trees, and occasionally she thought she saw an old tractor flying around in it. Glancing behind her she saw that what she had been gripping was an old manual water pump like they had used in the Old West. She could see where she had been holding on because she had left indentations in the metal. Seeing the indentations reminder her about her hands. When she thought about them they started burning. Glancing down she saw that they looked like they had been dragged across asphalt. She was just starting to look around to figure out where she was when something slammed into the small of her back.
Faiths eyes snapped open and she looked right, then left. She saw she was still in her prison cell. Lifting her hands she saw that they were unmarked, but they still had the ghost of the burning pain from the dream.
"Shit Faith," Sheila, her cellmate and the occupant of the lower bunk who had provided the kick that had woken Faith up said, "Could you F’en keep it down? I got to be up at Three-Thirty to help with breakfast."
A flashlight suddenly illuminated the cell, "You okay NLN?" a voice asked.
Faith rolled her eyes. Brannigan insisted on calling everyone by their last names, since Faith refused to give hers she was listed as NLN or No Last Name. "Yeah, just a dream."
Brannigan growled, "If this is going to happen often then I want you to get something from the Pharmacy to help you sleep. If you don’t, I will."
Faith nodded that she understood.
After Brannigan left Sheila whispered up, "I hate to agree with that prick Faith, but if you’re going to be doing that much I’d F’en appreciate it if you would."
"I doubt it’ll happen again," Faith assured the other prisoner. Sheila just grunted as she rolled over to try to get back to sleep. Faith leaned over the bunk and said, "If it does don’t kick me."
Sheila rolled back so she could look at her cellmate, "Kick you? Faith I’ve watch you do reps with five hundred pounds on the bars. You start doing push-ups when I leave for to help with breakfast and are still doing them four hours later. Believe me Faith; I nudged you with my foot, that’s all. You got some other preferred method of being woke up let me know."
Faith grunted and rolled onto her back. She could not fall back to sleep though, she was sure that the dream she just had was a Slayer dream. The last one had sent her after Kakistos, which had started her little odyssey that had led to her current lodgings.
Ordinarily when a Slayer had one of these dreams they would go to their Watcher and tell him about it. But the last time that she had met with her Watcher she had beat him, kidnapped him, and then tortured him over several hours. She doubted that he would be interested in explaining this dream to her. She supposed she could call Angel and ask him to pass it on, but she had heard that Angel and Wesley weren’t exactly on speaking terms. Sitting in the dark staring at the ceiling for about twenty minutes, the dark-haired Slayer decided that she would have to call Angel. He could then maybe get in touch with either Buffy or Giles and maybe they could figure out what it meant.
Having reached a decision Faith rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. If that had been a Slayer dream and she had been awakened before the finish. She hoped that if it restarted it would skip the first part and just start where it left off.
The Pentagon
Arlington, VA
28Oct2002 - 09:34 hours
Major General Marion Diggs got out of the staff car and waited for his Operations Officer Colonel Duke Masterman to catch up with him before continuing into the huge building. "Find anything else out?"
Showing their ID’s to the guard at the entranceway they were waved thru the metal detectors inside the door. Once they were past the security checkpoint and heading to where the briefing was supposed to be Masterman shook his head and told his commander, "Bernie couldn’t find anything else out. The only thing going on that he can find is that bombing in London last week. He says that those anti-terror guys that helped us in Russia got called somewhere, but no one knows where."
Diggs frowned; he had a bad feeling about this. He had been dubious when he had received orders to come back to the US from his command of The First Armored Division in Germany to evaluate some of the first efforts to beat the Individual Vehicle Information System that US vehicles had onboard that allowed them to share information about what was going on around them and to coordinate with their fellow soldiers much easier. Diggs had been in command both times that it had been used in combat. It was first used in the Persian Gulf during the Bio-War, then in Russia against the Chinese earlier in the year. In both cases it had been a major asset that had helped his forces triumph. The encrypted note from the Mickey Moore, the JCS, ordering him to expedite his return had convinced him that there must be something more to it. While his orders didn’t say to bring anyone with him he was a two-star general so could basically bring who ever he wanted. So Duke Masterman his G-3 got a free trip to DC out of the deal. He had set Col. Bernie Torpon his new intelligence officer to looking to see if they could figure out exactly why he was being summoned. So far there had been no luck.
"I’m being transferred," Diggs told Hamm about two minutes into the walk.
"For what? You performed beautifully against the Chinese. Between us and those Air Force weenies with those Smart Pigs we set ‘em up and Ivan knocked them flat."
"I think that’s the problem. I’m the best we have," he said with little modesty. "There has to be something going on somewhere that we can’t see." While he was speaking they arrived at the door of the briefing room. Being a major general Diggs opened the door and went in. He was surprised to find that aside from Masterman he was the junior officer present.
Waiting for him was General Mickey Moore the Joint Chief of Staff, also present was Tony Brentano the Secretary of Defense. "Pull up a chair Mary we got some things we need to go over," The JCS said.
Looking at the brass Diggs and Masterman sat down. "I guess this means that I’m not going to be evaluating the IVIS decoys eh?"
Pouring a mug of coffee from the carafe on the table, and motioning for the new arrivals to do the same Tony Brentano began, "No General, you will be doing that too. That will be the cover, we need you in that area though," The JCS told the black officer.
"If that’s the cover, what’s the job?"
Brentano looked grim when he said, "How does CinC-CONUS* sound?"
General Marion Diggs thought about it for second, and when he couldn’t come up with a credible threat asked, "Who’s going to be invading us Martians?"
With no humor in his voice Tony Brentano said, "Close."
"[Okay…]" Diggs thought to himself. "I’m a little light up here," He said instead, pointing at the two stars on his shoulder boards.
Mickey Moore smiled and reaching into a shirt pocket he took out and slid a small jeweler’s case over to Diggs. Picking it up and opening it Diggs found the collar insignia of a full general in the US Army. He stared down at the two sets of four stars. Looking back up at his superiors he asked, "What about Pat?" General Patrick Auslander was the current CinC-CONUS.
The JCS replied, "Pat is probably the best administrator and logistical person in the Army. Unfortunately the largest combat command he had was a company in Vietnam. You are the best general officer that has recent command experience in combat.
"Right now we don’t know if this is going to brew all the way up. If it does we need someone who we know can think on his feet and the best we have is you. What we want you to do is to put a command staff together and look at the situation and make recommendations. If nothing happens then it was just an exercise and no harm done. On the other hand if the balloon does go you put on the extra stars and you’ll be in a position to move right in and take over. In that case Pat would be your logistics officer."
"What’s the situation then?" He finally asked.
In reply, Brentano pushed the button on his intercom and said, "Could you send Major Decker in please?"
Major Sheila Decker entered the room and was surprised at the brass that was waiting for her. She wasn’t overly nervous, she had been stationed at The Pentagon for eight months now and Generals, Colonels, or even The Secretary of Defense didn’t hold the same awe that they once had. Still this was the first time she had been called into a meeting with him. She wondered why General Diggs was there; last she heard he was in Germany commanding the First Armour Division.
"Major please take a seat. Mary, if Sheila will take the job we’re going to offer her then she will be the CO closest to the problem area. We thought it would be easier to just brief all of you in at the same time," The JCS explained. Diggs nodded that he understood.
"Before we start the formal briefing we want to show you a video, so just hold your questions." Tony Brentano the Secretary of Defense was more comfortable around computers than the JCS so he started the presentation. The three newcomers watched as it began playing on the screen in the room. It started abruptly, with whirling chaos of a hand-to-hand combat. Diggs managed to pick out that there seemed to be two sides. Side one was dressed in green non-descript uniforms favored by black-op troops, their assortment of weapons also supported that hypothesis. The other side though, no two were dressed the same. Most seemed to favor leather of some kind, the one thing Diggs couldn’t figure out though were the masks, so he asked, "Why are the bad guys wearing Halloween masks?"
"Those aren’t masks," Mickey Moore said bluntly.
"What?" The three officers that were being briefed said almost simultaneously.
Tony Brentano stopped the playback and turning to the three newcomers said, "What you are looking at are the final moments of a black-op operation that went wrong. The group was called The Initiative." He then went on to explain about The Initiative and what it was all about. At first none of the briefee’s wanted to believe what they were being told, but they kept looking up at the screen.
When the briefing finished Diggs finally said, "Well I guess that answers why I was getting such crappy intel from the guy.
Turning more serious Diggs then asked, "Before I answer yes, I got to ask, is there any chance that Billingsly is right about NCA?" (National Command Authority, The President.)
Brentano shook his head, "No, If you knew Jack you’d know it was ridiculous. Plus there is a group that specializes in this stuff that looked into it and they gave him a clean bill."
"What group was that?" Masterman asked.
"They were called The Watchers Council. They specialize in supernatural threats. They had quite an organization set up too.
"Were?" Major Decker asked.
"That explosion in London was their headquarters. There was only one survivor," Brentano said grimly.
"Are we in contact?" Diggs asked.
"Yes, our on site forces is Rainbow, plus Initiative team that didn’t bolt. They contacted the locals Friday and have a base they are setting up in Sunnydale."
"Okay how soon can I get with these Initiative people who didn’t take off?"
"The Locals have some of their own problems so they might not be able to take time off to meet with you. We’ll try to set it up though."
Masterman asked, "How good are they?"
Brentano smiled. Hitting a key on his computer he ordered, "Watch."
Everyone turned back to the screen, for a minute or so it was just the same gut-wrenching action. While it was clear that the Initiative soldiers were giving a good accounting of themselves, it was equally clear that they were slowly losing. Suddenly from the bottom corner of the screen a "V" of people charged into the melee. In the lead were two blonds, a guy wearing a black duster and black pants, and a girl in a white top and black pants. Behind them came a redheaded young woman, a black haired young man, and an older man. The two blonds in front pushed the demons back while the other three ducked back out of camera. The male in the duster was amazing, when he turned back to the camera the three newcomers were surprised when they saw his facial distortion and realized he must be some kind of demon that was helping out. Whoever he was he was a vicious fighter, not quite a berserker, but that kind of a fighter. The small blond woman though was out of this world. They saw her doing things that didn’t seem possible for someone that size.
Diggs like many military men was a history buff. Though his own area of interest was mainly the American Civil War he had studied a little of all military history. He had read of warriors that armies went around rather than trying to go thru. He had never really believed that such a person could be real. Watching the small blond in action he changed his mind. While the bad guys didn’t know she was there they just tried to take her on like anyone else. As they began realize she was there she actually started to push the demons back just by her presence, as she moved they tried to get away from her. A funny moment came when a demon not realizing her proximity suddenly noticed her, even though the demon had at least two feet of height on her, and probably weighed at least three times what she did, none of it fat, he actually turned and looked like he was tiptoeing away. A stream of soldiers began to file behind the two blondes and off screen following the blonde’s companions. The last soldier to file past was also a blond who called to the two fighters and they began falling back too. The group exited the screen with the surviving demons just standing there watching them go.
"The blond girl is Buffy Summers, she was the Watchers Council’s big gun. She’s what’s called a Vampire Slayer. She’s the leader of the Sunnydale group. The other fighter goes by Spike; he’s a vampire that helps them out. The Initiative caught him and put a chip in his head that prevents him from hurting humans. I’m not sure how he got hooked up with the Slayer and her group but he’s helpful enough that they did a mission last night to get him out of an enemy headquarters. That soldier who was the last out is Riley Finn, he’s the CO of the Initiative team that didn’t desert." The Sec-Def explained.
"Okay now that you know the basics here is what I want you to get started on." He went on for about another fifteen minutes explaining and going into more detail, when he was finished he asked, "Any other questions?"
"What limits are there on me for picking my command staff?" Diggs asked.
"Effectively none. It would be good if you could spread your choices out a little to avoid raising suspicion, but if you need them their yours." Brentano answered.
"How about retirees?"
"If they agree they are in."
"Promotions?"
"What ever you need to do, do," Brentano told the General.
Diggs nodded, those were orders that he liked.
"When am I going to take over command of this base?" Major Decker asked.
"Probably not for at least two weeks. We want Rainbow and Team 3 to both be spun up before we affect the change of command."
When the others indicated that they had no further questions Brentano dismissed them, "We set an office up for you to use, the yeoman outside will give you the information. I’m afraid you won’t have much of a staff at the present, but we’ll get them to you as quick as we can. One other thing, Colonel McCloud is being put under your command, he’ll report directly to you."
"How far can we trust him?" Masterman asked.
"If we didn’t think he was trustworthy he would be in Leavenworth," the JCS replied.
Diggs and Masterman exchanged a look; they would both keep an eye on the CO of the Initiative.
Brentano then dismissed the officers and the meeting broke up. Walking to their offices Duke Masterman grew steadily paler. Diggs noticed and asked, "Are you all right Duke?"
"No," Masterman answered truthfully. "I’ve never been real religious, it’s a funny feeling finding out you were wrong about something like that."
Diggs stopped and turned to his operations officer, "I’m going to need you Duke, are you going to be alright? If not I need to know soon."
"I think I’ll be fine, If not I’ll let you know," The Colonel replied.
The trio continued down toward their new office. Diggs turning over what he had just learned, he had never been real religious either…oops.
The Situation Room
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington DC
Jack used the remote to turn off the TV and turned to his Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the INS. Both men were visibly shaken and looked back at their president. "Okay, what I want from you two is for you to go thru your agencies and make sure that there isn’t someone in a small basement office that handles this kind of stuff. If there is someone like this then I want to talk to them."
The Secretary of the Interior spoke first, more that he got himself under control first than his superior position. "Mr. President, I assure you that there isn’t any secret office in my department. The only thing that comes close is that situation out in Nevada, but we have confirmation of fossilized remains of the creature in Mexico so it’s prehistoric not demonic."
"My information suggests that demons have been around that long so that doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t a demon of some kind."
"Twitchel, the man we have monitoring the situation would probably agree with you." The Sec-Interior agreed.
The Director of the INS spoke up, "Sir as far as I know we have nothing to deal with this kind of situation. With our borders it would not be hard for things to pass into and out of the country unnoticed."
"I understand Gentlemen, you might not find anything, but I want to KNOW that there is nothing there rather than just guessing."
Both men nodded that they understood and Ryan thanked them for their time and dismissed them. On the way out Gordon Sellby the Sec-Interior turned and asked, "When are we going to inform Congress of this?"
Ryan looked and replied, "I want to wait till after the Mid-terms, see who we are dealing with."
The Secretary nodded that he understood and left the briefing room. Ryan looked at the stuff on his desk and judged he had about three hours worth of work to do, a light night. Which was good after his weekend."
The Washington Post Building
1150 15th St. NW
Washington DC
28Oct2002 - 1740 hrs
Bob Holtzman headed for his office. He had to finish his story on the President’s trip quick because his wife had managed to set a dinner meeting with her Mexican contact and he needed to get home in time to make it to Falls Church, VA by eight PM. As he came around the corner he saw two people waiting for him outside his office. One was Tom Messenger the head of The Post’s IT department and Oscar Opgood the intern that Holtzman had gotten the Rosenberg lead off of. Messenger simply handed him a stack of printouts and said, "This is what I could find out about the people you asked me to check out." Holtzman thanked the retreating back of the computer expert.
Turning to Oscar he quirked an eyebrow. "Do you have a minute? I found some stuff on the Watchers Council you might want to check out."
Holtzman considered a second then nodded. He opened the door to his office and waved the other man in. Once inside he pulled a chair out to indicate where the intern should sit then sat behind his desk and started leafing through what Messenger had given him. It wasn’t much. Rosenberg seemed to be known in hacker circles but she wasn’t that active. She had been pulling down Suma Cum Laud grades till last year then she dropped three classes at the end of May last year. Holtzman made a note to talk to Messenger about crawling thru people’s private files; The Post didn’t need that kind of scandal. Looking up at the Intern he asked, "What did you find out?"
"The Brits put a lot of their archives up on the net. It’s mostly as scanned jpegs so it’s a pain to go thru. I took a chance and looked thru around the date of the founding of the Council and I got lucky," He pulled out a printout and passed it to Holtzman, it was however in Latin so Holtzman didn’t have a clue to what it said. "William and Mary granted the Council the land their headquarters sat on in perpetuity and gave it to them tax free."
"They say why?" Holtzman asked, interested.
"For services to The Crown by The Slayer, The Slayer was capitalized," Oscar, explained.
"I don’t know much about English History but weren’t William and Mary considered to be good guys? I wouldn’t think that they would have a professional killer on the payroll."
"I wouldn’t think they did either. So I also checked to see if maybe this Council provided royal executioners but I couldn’t find any relationship between them and the Tower of London. So I did a net search on "The Slayer" to see if I could find anything. I got a lot of hits for the Rock Band and one that was interesting." He pulled out another download and handed it to Holtzman, "I have to say before hand if you didn’t like the conspiracy page you are going to absolutely hate this one."
Holtzman looked down at the sheet of paper in his hand and read, "They Walk the Night!" It was the screen shot of a web site supporting an occult bookstore in New Orleans. He gave the intern a very dubious look.
"I know," Oscar agreed, "But it was the only hit I got so I checked it out. According to the guy who does the page he swapped a ‘Gwendolyn Post’ for this info, She was supposedly a Watcher. Now I checked and there was a Post family associated with the Council so I figured what the heck. Brother Rimply, the guy who runs the store is something of an expert on artifacts and the like that supposedly has mystical properties. Ms. Post swapped him the information on The Slayer for the location of something he called the Glove of Myhnegon. Gwen told Rimply that the Slayer was a chosen warrior of good, one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to hunt the vampire and stop their spread. She then went on to explain training and stuff. I’m not saying that I believe this stuff but I thought it was an odd coincidence that of all the names he could pick he managed to tag one that had Council relations."
Holtzman wanted to dismiss this out of hand. Vampires? Get real. But then he remembered the small blond woman that met with Jack last night and the hesitation he thought he saw when Andrea went to shake her hand. "See if you can dig anything else up on this stuff," He ordered the intern. "This is probably nothing, but see were it leads." Oscar nodded and collected his stuff and left.
Holtzman looked at the file that Messenger gave him; he should really get his story done before he dived into that. He decided he had to make a phone call first though. Grabbing his Rolodex he fished a thru to the ‘S’s’ and then found the number he wanted. Glancing at the time he decided that she would be at home so he called her there. She answered on the third ring and said, "Yes?"
"Sarah Jane? Bob Holtzman."
"Bob! Lets see, it’s not my birthday, and Christmas is still two months off, so what do you want?" The voice on the other end of the line asked jokingly.
"Now couldn’t I just call to say hi?" Holtzman returned.
"You could, but you don’t," was the reply.
"Okay you got me," Holtzman conceded. "I need a favor of the research kind."
"Okay just let me get a pen and some paper and let me know what you need," Was the reply.
"I need you to find out why a Rupert Giles left his curatorship in the British Museum to take a High School Librarian job in California about seven years ago."
"He didn’t give a reason beyond family business," came the immediate reply.
"You’re working on the London Bombing too?" Holtzman was impressed that she had turned that information so quickly.
"I’m working the bombing yes, but this isn’t the first story I’ve done that Mr. Giles was the center of," was the reply.
"Oh?"
"About five years ago we had a series of murders were the body of the deceased disappeared. In one case there was a pile of goo found next to the victim that tested positive to one of the previous victims DNA. Well you know how it is; if a weird case comes up I get it. My editor says I have a better survival rate than the other reporters and he doesn’t want to have to break in any more new people. I did a little research and found out that they were all part of a group in collage. They were apparently into some dark stuff, drugs and some told me magic. One of their number died from an apparent overdose and that seems to have done it for the group. About twenty-five years later they started dying under strange circumstances. From what I found the only two to survive are Giles and a chap named Ethan Rayne. When I went looking for him I got a visit from Interpol asking me what my interest in him was. It seems that Mr. Rayne is an international operator, and not a nice one either.
"Giles apparently went straight after his friend died. He bore down and managed to graduate Magna Cum Laud from Oxford with a dual major in Ancient Cultures and Mythology. He got a job at the British Museum and was quite happy there, even up for a curatorship when he walked into the office of the curator and turned in his notice."
"That makes no sense," Holtzman complained.
"Tell me about it," Sarah Jane agreed.
"Could you dig around some more and see if you can find out anything more?" Holtzman asked.
"Why the sudden interesting Giles?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Not over the phone, do you still have that encryption key I sent you," Holtzman replied.
"Sure,"
"Okay I’ll send you an email explaining this. It’ll probably be tomorrow sometime I have a lot on my plate right now."
"All right I’ll see what I can find out in the mean time," Sarah Jane said as she made her farewells.
Holtzman hung upon his end and turning to his computer he started to type. He finished his story in about thirty minutes then went back and proof read it. Making a couple of minor corrections he saved it and set if off to his editor for tomorrows addition. He then called it a night and headed home.
Libby his wife met him at the door with a kiss and a hug. As he jumped in the shower Libby sat outside the shower curtain and asked, "Are you going to tell me what this is about?" So he filled his wife in on what he had discovered in the last couple of days. She snorted at the conspiracy and supernatural stuff. She asked him since he was out there why he hadn’t gone and talked to this Rosenberg girl, so he sent her to look over the printout of headlines that he had kept. That kept her busy till he was out of the shower and getting dressed. "Are these real?" she finally asked.
"As far as I can tell, yes."
"Then I think you did the right thing staying away." Libby was an old school reporter, very little got in the way of her getting a story, but those headlines put a shiver thru her.
Libby finished getting dressed and they took off for Falls Church. Holtzman easily found the restaurant that they were meeting at and pulled in and parked. The place called the "The Malibu Grill" was a chuprascaruia style Brazilian restaurant. The parking lot was packed so it took Bob a couple of minutes to find a parking place. Holtzman helped Libby out of the car and they went to the door. The Maitre de met them and asked, "Yes?"
"Reservations for three, Holtzman," He told the other man.
Scanning his list he found their names and said, "Very good sir, your table is ready, your guest has arrived and he is in the bar."
Holtzman nodded and headed for the bar with Libby since she knew what Pedro de la Hoya looked like. It turned out that it was easy to find him. He was at the bar with a stool on either side of him, and it turned out that Holtzman did know what he looked like, because he had seen him before. Right next to Riley Finn watching Samantha Weber being wheeled into the emergency room of a Mexican hospital.
The Maitre’-d led the party to their table, and then held out the chair for Libby as the two men seated themselves. Holtzman had been surprised when Libby had chosen the churiascaria to eat at. While he enjoyed the restaurant with its emphasis on meat dishes, Libby, while no vegetarian, ate meat in moderation. A churiascaria was basically a buffet, but instead of having steam tables to get your food from waiters brought the various types of meat around to your table on spits. There was a center table that held the salads and cold dishes, as well as the soups that they had for today. Normally Holtzman enjoyed The Malibu Grill, but tonight he wanted to get at his dinner guest. Unfortunately with the waiters coming around constantly to see if you were interested in the meat they were carrying it was impossible to carry on a confidential conversation. Holtzman suddenly realized that must be why Libby picked this restaurant to meet de la Hoya. She must have known that he liked to keep business till after dinner, so she had made it so her husband had to do that. There were advantages and disadvantages to being married. Realizing he would have to wait, Holtzman decided to enjoy the meal and told the waiter he would have a glass of merlot to start his meal. It would be the only one he allowed himself tonight.
The dinner was good as always. Libby contented herself with stuff from the cold table till they brought around a cart with a Chilean Sea Bass on it and had that as her meat portion. De la Hoya favored beef for his meat, while Holtzman had lamb and sausage. During dinner the conversation was light. Bob found Pedro to be a funny and charming dinner companion. He explained that he was a cultural attaché at the embassy and that he enjoyed the job. Personally Libby was pretty sure that he was associated with Mexican intelligence, she wasn’t sure if it was their Civilian or Military Agencies. Holtzman found in talking with him she was probably right. Considering the photo, Holtzman figured he must be military. Finally with dinner over and the trio enjoying their deserts. Holtzman had chosen a Crème’ Brulee’, Libby liked their rice pudding so contented herself with one, and de la Hoya had chosen a flan. The coffee was excellent so they enjoyed a cup till finally de la Hoya put his cup down and started to reach into his coat pocket. He stopped when he remembered that the restaurant was non-smoking and put the cigar back. Holtzman could sympathize, he had quit a couple of years ago, but after a good meal he still got the urge for a good cigar to finish it off. However the week of being banished to the couch by his wife till the stink left his skin wasn’t worth it.
"So Senor Holtzman, while I would never turn down an invitation to having dinner with your charming wife. I must think that there was some ulterior motive to get me to this wonderful restaurant."
Holtzman nodded, "I’m working on a story. A movie producer named Eric Shallot disappeared last year while working on a script. It was going to be a movie about a village in Mexico that was wiped out by rival drug gangs, and about the lone survivor."
"Aldea de Santa Maria," de la Hoya said quietly. Making sure the reporter knew the name.
"Yes," Holtzman agreed.
"I’m afraid I know little about the event beyond what I read in the newspaper. It was a terrible thing. Three hundred people were slaughtered. The whole village, save for Ms. Weber were killed."
"That’s too bad. I was hopping you could tell me what involvement the US Government had in the event," Holtzman asked, baiting the hook.
De la Hoya looked surprised, "I’m afraid your source must be mistaken. While it was originally a police matter, the nature of drug smugglers was such that it was necessary to send the Army in to deal with them. But it was the Mexican Army, not the American," Pedro told the two reporters.
"That’s interesting," Holtzman said as he pulled two photos out his jacket pocket. He passed them over to Pedro.
To his credit, and confirming to Holtzman that he was some kind of intelligence agent, his expression did not change at all. He glanced at both of the pictures and then slid them back to Holtzman. "What is it you want to know?"
"What happened, how was the US involved, and was it a mistake on your part that got Aldea de Santa Maria wiped out?"
Pedro looked at him when he said the last and Holtzman saw some real pain in his eyes, and also a fair amount of anger in them. "No Senor Holtzman, it was no mistake on our part that destroyed that village’" he said tightly, "That mistake was made by the drug lord who forgot, sometimes you need to be careful of the weapons you use, because they can effect a wider area than you originally intend. As for the rest, I would prefer to hold that conversation elsewhere. I have a good memory of this meal and I don’t want to spoil it. De la Hoya wrote an address out on a piece of paper that he pulled out of an inside coat pocket and handed it to Holtzman, "I will meet you there and we will discuss this. I must insist on a quid quo pro from you, this will be an exchange of information, not an interrogation."
Holtzman agreed to this and started to get up. Pedro held up his hand, "I must do this so my conscience is at peace. I strongly advise you and your wife to go home and forget this story. There is nothing at its end but blood and death, and Libby is too young to be a widow."
Libby took a step back, and Holtzman looked at the other man sharply, "Did you just threaten me?"
De la Hoya shook his head, "No Senor Holtzman I did not. I just do not wish your blood on my hands. I will not harm you, nor will my government. I doubt that the US government would either. But you will be treading in Columbus’s footsteps and unless you have your eyes open and are prepared for what you will find you will follow this person that you are doing this story on into oblivion. I will wait at the club for forty-five minutes. If you don’t appear then I will say a quiet prayer of thanks and leave. If you come, I will tell you a story." So saying he turned and walked out. Holtzman settled the bill and the tip, and then they followed him out.
Sunnydale Police Station
256 Main St.
Sunnydale CA
28Oct2002 - 1645 hrs
Lieutenant Jonathan O’Connell looked up at the face of the police station; you could barely see where the masons had replaced the bricks that had been torn out last May. He hoped that Stew had kept their number, he had a bad feeling it might be needed.
He walked into the foyer of the station and was immediately greeted with, "Hey L.T.! The chief wants to talk to you!" From the desk sergeant.
"Thanks Tom," He said back as he headed up the steps. Sheila the chief’s secretary just waived him thru.
Stewart Donaldson, The Chief of the Sunnydale PD, sat behind his desk reading reports. He glanced up and waived O’Connell to a chair, which O’Connell plopped down in. He passed O’Connell an envelope. Jonathan glanced at the postmark and saw that it was from Vatican City in Rome. Pulling the letter out he was unsurprised when it turned out to be a letter of resignation by Tom Gritner their staff psychologist. Tom had been originally hired because he had done a Masters thesis that suggested that people who claimed that the supernatural was real might not be as crazy as normally believed. They had decided to let him discover for himself that he was right. Unfortunately the day after he had come to O’Connell for confirmation of what went on in Sunnydale he had put in for a leave of absence. He had left town the same day and they had gotten a letter from Rome a week later, stating that he was studying at the Vatican and needed a little more time. That had been six months ago, looked like he would be studying there permanently.
Chief Donaldson passed O’Connell a file over. He took it from The Chief and glanced inside, it was empty. "That’s the file where we keep resumes of people who are interested in become staff psychologists. I don’t think I have to remind you then that if we lose Ms. Fraser, we loose federal funding. If that happens a lot of your toys are going to have to go back, including those additions to our armory that Mendi brought in Friday."
O’Connell winced, "With what seems to be coming that might not be the best idea Chief. We’re going to need that firepower."
"It won’t matter what kind of firepower we have Jon, if we lose federal funding we won’t have anyone to use it," Stew replied leaning back into his chair, resting his head on the back of it and closing his eyes. "Is Rachel any closer to figuring out what actually goes on around here?"
O’Connell leaned forward in his chair and shook his head, "I haven’t talked to her in a while, but from what I hear she’s still looking at the casualty rate around here as a manifestation of some kind of chemical poisoning. I think she just spotted the dip in the statistics when The Slayer first came to town and is looking around to see if a business went under, or changed their manufacturing style around that time. I think she believes that it’s some kind of interaction of several chemicals that’s causing the death rates."
"Think about how you’re going to react if she does find out. Your approach with Tom was less than successful."
O’Connell actually looked hurt, "We picked the guy because we thought he could take the truth. With the guff he took because of his paper you’d figure he would be happy to be vindicated. How was I to know he would run off to the Hallowest ground he could find?"
"I’m not blaming you, just pointing out that you need to come up with a better way to do it than, ‘Yeah your right, vampires and demons are real. So, you up for pizza?"
O’Connell winced, deciding to change the subject he said, "Got a call from Dave Whitman today." Stew looked up interested. "Riley Finn is back in town and it looks like he may be staying awhile."
"What makes you say that?" Stew asked darkly.
"He and Xander Harris took that warehouse Dave had on Front St, off of his hands Saturday."
"Any chance they’re just going into business with each other?"
"Unless you think an ex-soldier and a construction foreman can come up with a million dollar unsecured loan," O’Connell replied.
"Unsecured?"
"They transferred the money directly from an account. No mortgage at all."
"Damn," Stew said quietly, "Oh well, at least this time we won’t be guessing where their HQ is."
"You want me to talk to Finn when he comes in? I know what it does to your blood pressure when you do." Jon offered.
Donaldson was actually tempted to let his junior officer do it, but said instead, "Nah, that’s what they pay me the big money for."
"Okay," O’Connell said agreeably, his blood pressure went up during those conversations too. Then remembering something, "Did you see my report on the Wells’ shooting Saturday?"
Donaldson nodded, "I doubt that it was coincidence that a FBI agent was taking Wells out of town, and then Finn buys a warehouse. Assuming that the guy actually was a FBI agent."
"He was, I checked him out with a guy I know in the New Orleans’ Office. Patrick O’Day is Dan Murray’s chief troubleshooter. Murray is the director of the FBI. According to my source though he is supposed to be up in San Fran helping them on a serial killer case."
"Why is that name familiar?" Donaldson asked.
"He was the guy who saved Presidents Ryan’s daughter in that shootout at the daycare center." O’Connell told him. Chief Donaldson nodded as he remembered the incident, and said a silent prayer that nothing like that ever happened around here.
"Okay, we deal with Finn when he gets here. Anything else I need to know about?"
"No Sir," O’Connell replied getting up.
"Okay, watch out for yourself tonight," Donaldson told his nightshift commander, then returning to his reports.
O’Connell left the chief’s office thinking about the briefing he was about to give. "Lt. O’Connell?" A female voice called from behind him.
O’Connell groaned. Turning he saw Rachel Fraser coming down the hallway toward him. Rachel was average height, solid in build, with auburn hair worn just short of her collar, blue eyes, and a pretty face. Today she was dressed in a pull over shirt and khaki pants with brown sensible shoes. "What can I do for you Ms. Fraser?"
"I was wondering if I could have a few moments of your time? I’ve been trying to discuss my theories with the other officers and they all point me at you."
"I’m sorry Ms. Fraser but I have to give the evening briefing and after that I have some things I need to check out. Perhaps tomorrow, after the morning briefing?"
Rachel smiled, it didn’t quite get to her eyes, "I’m told that you rarely come to morning briefings Lieutenant, but I can wait till after the briefing to talk to you."
O’Connell nodded for a moment then shook his head, "I’m sorry, but the things I have to check out can’t wait. Maybe sometime next week?"
"I won’t be taking any of your time detective, I’ll be riding along with you."
"You’ll what?"
"According to regulations I’m allowed to ride along with any officer once a year to evaluate their psychological health. I’m riding with you tonight."
O’Connell felt a migraine starting behind his eyes. He quickly thought of anyway to get out of this, but couldn’t see one. He’d have to grab Mendi and have him do the checking he wanted to do tonight while he kept Rachel out of harms way. "Very well Ms. Fraser, the briefing is this way."
"Rachel, please Lieutenant, if we are going to be riding together."
Afterward he wasn’t really sure what he said at the briefing, he managed to corner Carlos Menendez, "Mendi," his XO, and gave him his instructions without Rachel overhearing the conversation. He had worked out what he was going to do tonight while listening with half an ear as Rachel explained her theory to him. If he didn’t know what actually went on in and around Sunnydale he had to admit it made sense. As he walked out of the garage door and headed for his car he stopped. Leaning up against his car with her arms crossed was a small blond figure. Rachel did not notice him stop so he had to catch up as she chatted animatedly as she walked toward the car. O’Connell noticed that Rosenberg and Harris were across the street. Harris was absently reaching into a bag of what looked like popcorn as he watched the police officer and his companion approaching The Slayer. As they got up to the car Rachel was finishing up her explanation saying, "So you see Lieutenant if I can just figure out the proper mix of chemicals I can finally figure out what has been killing people here in Sunnydale."
O’Connell was about to say something when the blond next to the car turned to Rachel and said, "You want to know what’s killing people in Sunnydale? Vampires, some demons, but mostly vampires."
Andrea Price-O’Day’s Office
Old Executive Office Building
Washington DC
28Oct2002 - 2035 hrs
Andrea stood aside and invited her guest into her office. "Thank you for coming this time of night Dr. Golden. I apologize for the late request but I wasn’t completely sure if we would make it back to Washington today."
Dr. Clarice Golden entered the office and smiled at the Secret Service agent. "That’s okay Agent Price, I was seeing patients tonight so I doubt that I could have got here much earlier anyway," the psychologist explained.
Andrea offered the doc a seat and going over to a serving set she asked, "Coffee or tea?"
"Tea would be nice, if I have the coffee I’m afraid that I will not be sleeping well tonight."
Andrea poured some hot water into a mug and placed next to Dr. Golden with a saucer with a tea bag, creamer and sugar. Dr. Golden fixed her tea as Andrea poured herself a cup of coffee and sat behind her desk. While the doc finished fixing her tea, Andrea studied her. Dan Murray called this woman his own personal Dr. Ruth. Andrea had studied her file and was impressed with her credentials.
Once Clarice took her first sip she put the cup down and stared across the desk at Andrea. Andrea began, "There is a young woman out in a California prison that I would like you to evaluate. She has some unique qualities that I think would be very useful on my team."
Clarice was interested, usually a stint in prison disqualified you from the Secret Service, "She must be very special if you are interested in recruiting her, why don’t up just make the pitch yourself?"
"I need to be sure that she still in prison because she thinks she has something to answer for, rather than she doesn’t trust herself outside of prison," Andrea explained.
Dr. Golden was confused, "You make it sound like that if she decided to that she could walk right out of prison."
"They wouldn’t even be able to slow her down," Andrea told the psychologist.
"I…see," Clarice said.
"I doubt that Doctor."
"Before we go any farther you need to be warned, the things that you will learn in this case will completely change your world view. If you aren’t interested I understand and we can end this now. If you are interested then I have some tapes I want you to watch."
"When you put it that way, I’m dieing of curiosity, so by all means let’s watch the tapes." She told the Head of The Presidents Bodyguard.
"I hope you won’t be sorry Doc," Andrea told her guest as she started the VCR in her office.
Twenty minutes later Dr. Golden had given up on her tea and had a neat scotch in front of her. "I’ll have to remember that you don’t use hyperbole Agent Price," she told her host. Clarice Golden took a stiff drink then settled back into her chair. She closed her eyes and said a brief prayer of thanks that she had never had a patient that had tried to convince her that vampires or demons were real. Finally opening her eyes she looked across the desk at the Secret Service agent and said, "This Faith, she has the same abilities as this other girl?"
"As far as we know, yes, if that makes you uncomfortable Dr. Golden I understand. "
"No, No Agent Price, I would be happy to talk to this girl for you. It might need a lighter approach than normal, but it should be okay. I won’t be able to start for three or four weeks though, I have some other cases that I need to handle before I can start this. If you want I can give you the name of several psychologists that should be able to help you out."
"Several weeks should be acceptable, if there will be any further delay’s let me know. There is one other thing, considering the nature of the person The President wishes that you not identify who it is you’re working for in your initial meetings with Faith. We don’t wish to get her expectations up and then if we find her not acceptable to dash them."
"I don’t think I’ll be able to get her to open up to me if I don’t give her some reason to trust me. I don’t have to identify myself as an agent of the government; however, I think that if she directly asks me I have to tell her the truth. I don’t think I would have to let her know that I might be her ticket out of prison. I can tell her that I am doing a study, which would be true, as far as it goes, but it wouldn’t raise any false hopes," Clarice explained.
Andrea nodded considering, "Okay Dr. Golden, I’ll pass your concerns onto The President."
Clarice finished her scotch and gathering up the files she had been given deposited them in her brief case. Andrea came around from her side of the desk and showed the psychologist out of her office. There were two agents waiting in the outer office. "Bill, Ted, could you make sure that Dr. Golden gets home okay?"
Clarice started to say that she was okay to drive but Andrea smiled at her, "That was a stiff scotch you had. I wouldn’t want you to get pulled over for Drunken driving, and these two need something to keep them out of trouble."
Clarice smiled and handed her keys over to the taller of the two agents. As they were leaving Andrea said, "Thank you for your help with this Dr. Golden."
The psychologist turned and said, "Thank you for broadening my horizons Agent Price."
"Excuse me," Rachel told the blonde, "This is a serious discussion."
She was about to go on in that vain when O'Connell said, "Rachel," He said it quietly but she heard the command 'Shut up' very clearly in how he said her name.
"Can I help you Ms. Summers?" He asked.
The angry hazel eyes turned to him, "[Okay I distracted her from our psychologist, yay me.]"
"Ooo… the man knows my name!" Buffy said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You know for seven years I've been telling people that we shouldn't bother the cops, that they had no clue what was really going on in the world and if we involve them they would just get themselves killed. You guys must have been laughing into your donuts about me doing your job for you."
Put on the defensive O'Connell began, "It wasn't quite like that…"
"Then how was it?" Buffy cut him off angrily. She came off the car and moved in close to O'Connell. O'Connell took an involuntary step backward but Buffy followed him, her hazel eyes never leaving his brown.
O'Connell gulped and risked a look at Rachel. She had also backed off but was looking toward the entrance to the station. Buffy suddenly glanced over his shoulder and he saw Rosenberg and Harris come off the wall they had been leaning against.
"You okay LT?" A voice asked from behind him.
Risking a glance O'Connell saw that Bob Lee and Pete Hill had come out of the station and were standing about twenty feet away with their hands on their service weapons.
"I'm fine Bob, Ms. Summers and I are just having a talk," he reassured the Oriental officer.
"Look Ms. Summers, this probably isn't the best place to have this conversation. Do you know where Grendel's Pub is?"
Buffy nodded.
"Why don't we have dinner there tonight? We can meet around 7:30 and talk. I'll try to explain what went on the last couple of years, " O'Connell tried to be conciliatory.
Buffy thought about it for a couple of seconds then nodded. "I'll be there, but make it 7:00 I have some things to do tonight," she said as she turned and started out of the parking lot.
O'Connell's eyes followed her out of the parking lot. He'd always thought it was inevitable that they’d meet. He'd hoped that the initial meeting would have gone better than this had. Turning to the two members of the squad, who didn't remove their hands from their guns till The Slayer and her friends had disappeared around the corner, and said, "Thanks for the back up. Glad you played it cool."
Both officers nodded to their CO, "How much back up do you want tonight?" Bob Lee, the senior of the two, asked.
"The whole squad, plus when word gets out I imagine half the force will be in there to watch the show. Just play it low key, she has good reasons to be pissed." The two officers nodded, then headed for their own car.
O'Connell started to head back into the building. The chief needed to be brought up to speed on what just happened.
Rachel hurried after him, "You are going to get that girl some help aren't you? She might hurt someone in her state."
"Hurt someone?" O'Connell turned and stared. "Rachel if she wanted to hurt me I would have been in traction." He thought about what was to come and decided that Rachel needed a heads up. "Look Rachel there are some things you need to know about Sunnydale." He paged thru his memories trying to come up with an easy way to explain this. He briefly toyed with "Vampires and Demons are real, are you up for pizza?" But since that had worked so well last time he decided instead to try, "You mentioned a statistical dip that was a big clue to what you think is going on around here."
She smiled, "And here I thought you weren't paying attention to me."
Well he really hadn't been, but she didn't need to know that. "You didn't get around to mentioning a date yet, but I bet it was in early '97, either late January, or more likely early to mid February."
Rachel nodded surprised, "How did you know?"
"Because the girl we just met moved to Sunnydale in mid January 1997 with her mother."
Not seeing the relevance Rachel asked, "So?"
"She's your statistical dip."
Willow and Xander had to hurry to keep up with Buffy, "Wait, that's it?" Xander asked incredulously. "All that build up and a couple of sentences and you stalk off?"
Buffy turned to her friends, anger still plain on her face. "He's going to meet us tonight at Grendel's for dinner, we'll talk then."
"Grendel's?" Xander asked happily.
Buffy and Willow both cocked eyebrows at him. "What? They have the best Texas Wieners and Cheeseburgers in town. Normally the only time you can get them with out being a cop is during the annual PAL fundraisers. Forgive me for seeing the silver lining."
Buffy shook her head in amazement, leave it to Xander to think with his stomach, but it broke the mood and smiling the three friends headed off down the street.
El Club del Explorador
1920 F Street
Washington DC
28Oct2003 - 2130 Hours
Bob Holtzman managed to find the address that de la Hoya had given them at the restaurant. It was in DC near the White House, it was near the Mexican Embassy too he realized. "It", in this case was a small private club. There was no sign outside just a small plaque identifying it. Bob held the door for his wife and found himself in a small richly furnished vestibule. Behind the desk was a man in a tux looking at them. "May I help you?" he asked in a light Mexican accent.
"We're here to meet with Senor Pedro de la Hoya," he told the other man.
"Senor de la Hoya is waiting for you, this way please," he said as he came around the desk and lead the two reporters thru a side door. Bob and Libby found themselves in a smoky bar. Everyone in the place seemed to be smoking a cigar. Holtzman inhaled deeply enjoying the smoke, Libby wrinkled her nose at the smell.
It was very dark in the room, the only light being provided by the lights behind the bar and the small table candles, but the Maitre-de seemed to have no problem navigating thru the tables till he got to a booth in the back. In the little light that the table candle threw Holtzman could make out de la Hoya. He had a half smoked cigar in his one hand and a snifter of what looked like brandy in the other. Holtzman noticed that this club seemed to use the European method of keeping track of how many someone had by bringing the drink on a tiny saucer. If that was true then the other man was on his third brandy. Holtzman didn't know if he should take it seriously though, de la Hoya might just be trying to fake him out. Bob and Libby slid into the booth across from him. A waiter came over and Bob indicated he would have what de la Hoya was having. Libby said she wanted a white port. The waiter left, but soon returned and delivered the drinks then he disappeared back into the dark.
"Well we're here," Holtzman told the other man after taking a sip of his brandy. Holtzman enjoyed the warmth as the liquid made its way to his stomach. Whatever de la Hoya's faults might be; he knew his brandy.
"Si Senor Holtzman you are, and I will tell you a story," The Mexican finished off his brandy and taking a last puff off of his cigar he knocked the fire off of it and placed it into the ashtray for later. When he looked up his eyes didn't show any of the three brandies he had consumed. He looked the reporters over, seemingly trying to figure out were to begin, deciding he asked, "Tell me Senor Holtzman, how much do you know about evil in this world?"
Holtzman glanced at Libby with a raised eyebrow, then turning back to the other man he said, "I've been a reporter for thirty years Senor de lay Hoya. I think I've seen just about everything one person could do to another."
De la Hoya shook his head, "I am not talking about human evil, and I'm talking about evil that is much older."
"What like Cthulhu?" Holtzman asked sarcastically.
"In a way," was the surprising answer. La Hoya watched as both Holtzman faces darkened. "You think I'm playing you for a fool don't you? I wish I was, but I'm not. Three years ago rafting expedition in South Mexico vanished, a rescue mission sent to search for them also disappeared. It was believed that there was a group of either drug smugglers or revolutionaries operating in the area so they sent in my Special Forces platoon to find out what was going on. Forty of us went into that jungle, all trained jungle warfare specialists, only myself and one other came out. He lost an arm due to gangrene, and I no longer believed there was no such thing as monsters."
"You honestly expect us to believe that?" Holtzman said in a low voice.
"Personally Mr. Holtzman, I don't care, you wanted this story and I'm giving it to you. Now it is my turn. How did you find out about Riley Finn? If you don't know about what he does you must have stumbled over him some other way."
"You expect me to give up information when all you’re doing is telling ghost stories?"
"We had a deal, you'll get no more information out of me until you answer my question."
Holtzman decided that two could play this game. "I have a contact who put me onto Riley Finn. Shallots found out that he was a Teaching Assistant at the University of California at Sunnydale. He sent me the pictures. I did some research on him and found his academy records." Deciding to be a little honest he said, "I didn't realize that you were going to be who we were meeting tonight. I just hoped that you were someone who knew a little about what had happened."
Libby spoke for the first time, "You mentioned that one of the drug lords used a weapon that got away from him, are you implying that he used a biological weapon?"
"You could call what he used a biological weapon I supposed, though it was much bigger than what is usually considered one. It was called a Sovulte Demon. They are very large, always hungry, and reproduce at an astounding rate. My government realized that they would not be able to contain these creatures so it asked around quietly to find out if anyone had any experience with this kind of thing. Your government responded with Finn and his men. Together we managed to contain and destroy these creatures."
Holtzman sat and thought, given the other weirdness that he had been running into this almost fit, maybe too well. He decided that he would lay out some bait and see what bit. "Did Riley ever mention anything about his Sunnydale deployment?" He could tell that Libby was surprised; she knew he knew that she really hated smoke and that she wanted to get out of here. But something inside him wouldn't let him let go.
De la Hoya nodded.
"Did he ever mention if there was a Slayer in Sunnydale?"
Pedro de la Hoya froze, then his face darkened noticeably, he didn't like being played for a fool. "If you have no knowledge of the occult Senor Holtzman," that was said thru clenched teeth, "How do you know to ask about la Asesina?"
"A story I only thought was unrelated. I discovered that the club that was bombed in London was the headquarters of The Watchers Council. Researching them led to a reference of the Slayer. Is there one in Sunnydale?"
"Si, Capt. Finn had a relationship with her, it didn't work out," de la Hoya reluctantly confirmed.
"Describe her," the reporter requested.
"She is small, pretty, blond hair, and has hazel eyes. She would be in her early twenties. Riley was most descriptive."
Holtzman sat back in his seat; he had just described the person who Andrea had been reluctant to shake hands with. He then mentally slapped himself; he was going to turn his worldview upside down over a hesitation that he was too far away to even be sure he saw?
"I find it hard to believe that a black-op trooper would be talkative about a previous assignment," Holtzman pushed.
"He never went into detail about what had he had done with the Initiative in Sunnydale. The information about The Slayer came out of a conversation I had with him in a cantina."
Holtzman scowled, "You and Riley hit the cantinas a lot down there?"
It was de la Hoya's turn to scowl, "No Senor Holtzman, Riley and I hit them exactly once. When Riley first arrived he was being very reckless, putting himself, and sometimes his men in danger. I had two choices, I could have asked for him to be relieved, or I could try to find out what was pushing him to this. Since I could see that Riley was generally a conscientious and competent officer I didn't want to risk who they might replace him with so I decided to see if I could find out what was 'eating' him. We found a defensible position and left our 2IC's in charge and went to a nearby village. After a lot of tequila Riley opened up enough to explain what had lead to him being here. It helped, and after that Riley was always much more careful. Two weeks later we saved Sam and Riley never looked back."
Staring at the Mexican Diplomat over the table Holtzman said, "Last night in San Bernardino I saw a person who fit the description you gave of the Slayer. She was with Riley Finn and a man I know as one of Presidents Ryan's chief troubleshooters." He paused when he noticed that de la Hoya had gone pale. "What?"
De la Hoya got up and said, "You must excuse me. If President Ryan is meeting with the Slayer the situation must be grave. I must warn my government."
Bob and Libby also got to their feet, "I don't understand, it was just a campaign stop. Knowing Ryan he just wanted to meet her."
"You don't understand Senor Holtzman; if she is meeting with your government at all it must be a desperate occasion. And when dealing with The Slayer, desperate usually means apocalyptic. And this apocalypse will happen less two hundred miles from my country." He turned and waved at the bartender and indicated that everything was to be placed on his tab.
The Holtzmans where confused as they followed the other man out. "One other thing," Bob said as they got outside.
De la Hoya was buttoning his jacket. He turned to face the two reporters and asked in an impatient voice, "What?"
"Back at the restaurant you said that I would be treading in Columbus's footsteps, what did you mean by that?"
While de la Hoya was finishing buttoning his jacket he said, "Before Columbus discovered the new world, map makers not knowing what was there put fanciful drawings of creatures in the area. They marked those areas with 'Here there be Monsters.' If you follow this path you will find that which he did not. Good night Senor Holtzman, Libby." He turned and headed off down the street in the direction his embassy.
As they were walking back to the car Libby turned to Bob and said, "I'm sorry."
Confused Holtzman turned to his wife and asked, "For what?"
"He always seemed like such a nice normal person, I didn't realize he was a loon."
"The problem is honey I'm starting to think he might not be."
Grendel’s Pub
325 Wilkens
Sunnydale CA
28Oct2002 - 1850 hrs
Rachel Fraser sat beside Lt. O’Connell and thought about what had been told her in the last two hours. When O’Connell had originally told her about his belief that vampires and demons were killing people in Sunnydale she had been supportive but non-committal. Her original plan had been to let the Lieutenant talk to the chief then enlist the chief in getting him some help. That plan went right out the window when the Chief if anything looked more upset that the blond seemed to have found out about the police knowing about her. On the way out of the briefing she was trying to decide if she should go to the mayor, or if she should just contact state authorities and get someone in here to take control.
Just outside the Chief’s office O’Connell had stopped her and said, "Look Rachel, I know you think me and the Chief are crazy, but I want to cut a deal with you."
"Which is?" She had said cautiously. She wasn’t sure how he might react if he thought she thought he was crazy.
"If I can prove to you tonight that the supernatural is real you stay in Sunnydale, no running for the hills."
"And if you don’t?" She couldn’t help herself.
"Then I’ll let the men with those spiffy coats with the long sleeves take me away."
This was going to be tougher than she thought; he wouldn’t make the deal if he didn’t think he could prove it. Still it would be better if he thought she was going along with it sooo, "All right Lieutenant I’ll give you tonight to prove me wrong."
Her original plan had been to play along, agree with what ever he offered as proof, then head out of town and see about getting some mental health professionals and the EPA in here because obviously the poisoning was more pervasive than she thought. She was also starting to be concerned for herself; she had been here for almost two years now. What ever was affecting them must surely be working on her.
She had hoped to be able to recruit a couple of the regular officers into helping her, but that plan went out the window as soon as they had walked into Grendel’s. The entire nightshift of the SPD was sitting in the bar, waiting. "Who’s patrolling?" She asked O’Connell.
"The dayshift stayed over, this effects the night crew more so they all wanted to be here."
It had gotten worse when Thomas Berger, the owner, had come over and said, "Christ Jon, did you have to meet her here? My insurance rates are high enough as is. I took a look inside The Magic Shop when she got done with it."
"I’m sorry Tom, this was the first place I thought of. If it helps I’ll try not to upset her. If nothing else we got a lot of people here."
The owner walked away in disgust, "Like they could stop her."
Rachel was about to ask why this girl had everyone on tiptoes when the noise in the bar went to zero. Standing in the doorway was the girl, Buffy Summers; the young man that O’Connell had ID’d as Xander Harris, and an older man she hadn’t met.
Buffy, Xander, and Giles stood in the doorway and surveyed the crowd. Most were in blue, though a couple of suits were dotted among the tables. One Buffy recognized as Detective Stiles, the officer who seemed to always get the case when she was involved. He looked least happy to be there, but many of the faces looked more curious than angry, and there was even a couple of supportive smiles. Xander nudged her and pointed at a table in the center of the room where Lt. O’Connell and the girl from the car was sitting. Sitting at a nearby table she was surprised to see Owen Thurman in a SPD uniform. She had dated Owen exactly once in her sophomore year of high school. The date had ended with an attack in a mausoleum and Owen had nearly gotten killed, worse he had decided he liked the danger and wanted to do it again. Buffy had realized with that attitude he would have gotten himself killed fairly quickly so she had broken the relationship off. If he was with O’Connell then it looked like he was still looking for the action. Maybe she should introduce him to Riley.
O’Connell got up from his chair as they reached the table and said, "Ms. Summers, Mr. Harris thanks for coming. Mr. Giles it’s a pleasure to see you again."
Buffy gave her watcher a gimlet eye, "You know him?" She asked incredulously.
For his part Giles looked the American cop over then slowly nodded his head, "Your one of Dame Evelyn’s grandchildren aren’t you?"
"Yes sir, let me tell you it was an effort to stay away from you the last four years."
"Explanations anytime," Xander said, beating Buffy by about a second.
Giles pulled his seat out and began to sit. Buffy and Xander did the same. "Dame Evelyn was the curatrixes of the Egyptian Wing of the British Museum when I was there. She knew of what went on in the world so we became friends, we could talk with each other. I never told her about The Council of course, but I had an idea that she knew about it."
O’Connell nodded, "Bernard Travers needed her expertise on an Egyptian situation and explained what was what. They never got along real well, Grand mum thought he was a stuck up prig so it was never a close relationship.
"You being here was my first big clue that there was a Slayer in the area. Of course when I brought up the possibility to Stew Donaldson, the Chief of Police, he already knew about it. Which at the time should have made my life a lot easier."
"If you knew I was here why didn’t you say something?" Buffy demanded. She hesitated to go on when the waitress came by with some menus. She passed them out, starting with Buffy. "Can I get you something to drink?" She asked.
Everyone took menus, but with the exception of Xander they just put them aside. Cokes and Diet Cokes were ordered all around and the Waitress left. Buffy turned back to the police Lieutenant and waited for an answer.
"Your boyfriend at the time had the most to do with us being unable to talk with you. We were still scrambling trying to put the force back together and we needed every dime we could beg or borrow. Riley threatened that if we operated on the UCS campus they would yank our funding and me and my guys would be out on the street."
"Your guys?" Giles asked.
O’Connell nodded and turned to the men in the tables immediately surrounding them. Buffy again became aware of how quiet the bar was; no one was saying anything except for those at their table. O’Connell turned and pointed to the table behind him were another plains clothes detective was sitting. "This is Carlos Menendez; he’s my second in command, and I think you know Owen Thurman." Owen nodded to Buffy and smiled. She returned it sadly; she’d hoped he would avoid this life. O’Connell moved onto the next table and said, "This is Bob Lee and his partner Pete Hill." Both were in their late twenty’s or early thirties. Buffy recognized them as the two how had come to see if O’Connell needed any help earlier in the day.
Squinting at the Caucasian officer she said, "His name tag says Ambrose."
The cop smiled, "Department regulation, name tags must be first names, no nicknames. I was named after my grandfather, but I hated the name so I’ve gone by Pete since I could stand up and insist on it."
Buffy, in spite of herself smiled, "I kind of know what you mean."
"Okay that explains why you didn’t make contact while the Initiative was around, what happened after they left?"
The Waitress, whose nametag said she was Riana, returned and asked, "Are you ready to order?"
Xander put his menu down and said, "I’ll have three Texas cheeseburgers, an order of Grendel’s fries, and do you sell the Texas wiener sauce by the quart?"
Riana was about to shake her head when she noticed Tom Berger the owner nodding his head briskly. "Sure, we can do that. Looking at Buffy she waited with pencil raised.
Buffy for her part hadn’t even looked at the menu, and as she had no clue what a Texas cheeseburger, or wiener was she ordered just a plain hamburger. Giles ordered the fish and chips with out much hope. O’Connell had a Texas cheeseburger and two Texas Wieners and Rachel had a Caesar’s salad.
Once Riana had left O’Connell continued, "We didn’t realize immediately that they were out of business, no one was kind enough to give us a heads up on that score. We were also a little pissed about what ever that thing was that got loose from them. By the time we had calmed down enough your mom had gotten sick and you were dealing with Glory. The Chief felt, and I agreed that you had enough on your plate with out worrying if we were actually setting you up for something. We did what we could, but face it, we wouldn’t have been much use against her nibs in any case.
I tried to contact you over that summer, but the couple of times I ‘bumped’ into you, you didn’t seem yourself so I held off. That next year you had gone from super chipper to damned depressed so we held off again hoping you’d get yourself sorted out. And I guess we just waited too long."
Buffy sat back. She almost had to blink back tears. When she thought of all the time she had spent thinking that she and the Scoobies was all there was, that the authorities would never understand and probably just get themselves and everyone else killed, and all that time they were waiting for the best time to approach her?
O’Connell squirmed in his chair; he could see the anger building in Buffy’s eyes. Deciding she needed a distraction he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a bankbook. He slid it across the table at her.
"What’s this?" She asked.
"It’s something that the Officers of the Sunnydale PD put together. It’s mostly from the nightshift but everyone chips in a little," O’Connell explained.
Buffy picked up the book, on its cover was written, "SBF". Looking inside she saw that there was almost Seventy-Five thousand dollars in it. She looked up at O’Connell to explain it.
"SBF is Slayer Bail Fund," he explained quietly.
Owen took up the explanation, "Buffy, we all figured that if you wanted our help you’d ask. So we do what we can, face it we aren’t really equipped to deal with what you deal with every night so about two years ago we got together and started it out. I wasn’t part of the force then of course but we all realized what it would mean if you ended up stuck in jail if you were ever arrested. Bill Stancowsky’s brother-in-law," he nodded at one of the officers that were sitting at the bar. He gave Buffy a little wave, "Is a bail-bondsman. He’s agreed to take this if necessary because the bail was higher than that and use it as a security deposit and meet what ever the bail actually was."
Xander turned back from were he was watching the kitchen and scowled, "Sure, so Buffy can still be out doing your jobs, nice."
Buffy for her part was just toying with the bankbook. There were perhaps thirty men in this bar; this book represented a serious amount of their pay. Buffy didn’t know what to think. She was slightly angry because as Xander had just said they wanted her to do a job they were seemingly unwilling to do themselves, still they were willing to give her more financial support than the council ever had.
O’Connell turned to Xander and returned, "It’s not quite that black and white. Yeah there is a lot of stuff we let Buffy handle. Largely because she is better at it than we ever could be. The night Glory tried to open the Hellmouth? I lost two officers from my squad, plus three more from the regular force. We don’t have the people to absorb those kind of losses. Buffy however came thru with flying colors."
Xander was about say something in anger when Giles causally reached around Buffy and using his thumb jabbed him in the ribs. Xander whirled on Giles to ask him what that was for when he thought about what he was about to say. He nodded his head and turned back to the table.
Rachel had noticed the movement, and she figured everyone else on that side of the table had too. She wondered what it had been about.
O’Connell however either had not noticed, or pretended not to notice the move and went on with, "There’s a lot of things that happen in Sunnydale that you aren’t aware of. We handle the little stuff so Buffy can concentrate on the big. Okay it’s not a fair division of labor, and I’m sorry it took so long for us to have this conversation. As of tonight that changes, if you want it too. If you have a problem and we can help please call. In return though I hope that you’ll be open to helping us.
"Now what can we do to help with whatever brings Riley Finn back to town."
Giles looked thoughtful, "Right now there isn’t much you can do, but soon we might need some assistance."
Buffy looked at her Watcher, the shock plain on her face. Turning to the SPD representatives she said, "Could you excuse us for a second?" Turning to Giles she said, "Lets take this outside."
Xander had just spotted Riana coming out with their food when Buffy said this and started to get out of her chair. Sighing he got up and followed the other two out.
When he got outside Buffy was already facing Giles and was saying in an angry voice, "You don’t want to accept help from the President of the United States, but you’re willing to jump into bed with the SPD?"
"Yeah," Xander chimed in. "At least with Jack Ryan we have some proof that he’s competent. Unlike some of the people inside," nodding his head at the diner.
"And as soon as the President found out about us he came looking," Buffy pointed out heatedly. "He didn’t need for me to confront him about it."
"We only have his word for that," Giles replied. Then seeing Buffy’s face darken he held out his hand to forestall her outburst and went on, "Granted I doubt he was lying about it either.
"Besides I have no more interest in crawling into bed with the Sunnydale Police than you do. Clan O’Connell on the other hand is another thing entirely."
"Who are they?" Buffy wanted to know.
" Lt. O’Connell’s family. They are in a similar line of work as us, however they specialize in things Egyptian. The Council originally used them when our Egyptian specialist was killed and we needed someone to fill in. Dame Evelyn and her two sons assisted with the problem and were instrumental in solving it. She was offered a seat on the council but she hadn’t got along with Bernard Travers who was in charge at the time so she declined," he explained, "You have to understand Buffy, if things had been different, then of the O’Connells could have been your Watcher."
Buffy looked a little troubled by someone other than Merrik and Giles being her Watcher, she rallied quickly though and said, "That still doesn’t mean he’s worth anything."
Giles nodded in agreement, "No it doesn’t, but even if he’s not, he would still have access to the family archives. While the O’Connell library is nothing like what the Council had, it may well have some other volumes on The First that we can use.
"Finally, I hope that O’Connell is still in touch with the Medji."
"To save Buffy from saying it. Who?" Xander asked, hoping this conversation was done before his food got cold.
"The Medji are a secret organization that in many ways are similar to the Knights of Byzantium," the watcher explained.
"And we should be asking them for help because?" The Slayer asked dubiously.
"I said they were like the Knights, not that they were an off shoot. They have no interest in the Key, if they even know it exists. Their obsession is keeping a high priest that they cursed some three-thousand years ago from getting free."
"They still have to worry about this guy after 3000 years? Must have been some curse," Buffy replied. Xander nodded his head in agreement.
" They don’t come more powerful, it’s called the Hom-Dai, in it a persons soul is bound to their body and they are buried alive," Giles explained.
"Okay sounds kinda gruesome, but how much damage could he do? I mean after 3000 years in the grave wouldn’t he be kind of dusty?" Buffy asked.
"Unfortunately the Medji were not wizards. The power for the curse came with a rider on the spell. If ever the high priest were freed he would be indestructible and have command of the biblical plagues of Egypt."
"Now there’s job security for yah," Xander quipped.
"If they are so secret how did the Watchers learn all this?" Buffy pressed, thinking she was going to have to sit down with Giles soon and have it out about all of these organizations floating around.
‘Two Medji women have been Chosen over the years. The Medji would not allow them to go off with the Council representatives by themselves and sent a body guard."
"Okay, I’m liking these guys more," Buffy stated.
"I imagine you’ll like them even better when I tell you that when the Council attempted to perform The Cruciamentum on the first one her bodyguards removed her from the Councils control and returned to Egypt. She was able to convince them that she had a sacred duty and turned to the world to act as the Slayer, but she remained outside of the Council’s control till she died. She was the longest lived Slayer, she lasted 12 years."
"Okay, now I really think I’ll like these guys," Buffy said confidently.
Sunnydale Airport
Sunnydale CA
28Oct2002 -
1930 hrs
Amed Bey walked off of the plane stiff and sore. He had been in the air for something like twenty hours and wanted nothing more than to take a long walk and work the kinks out, but that would have to be put off. Waiting for him at the security checkpoint were three men. Like him they were of Mediterranean decent, tall and fit, with long dark hair, trimmed beards and mustaches. They were dressed in t-shirts and jeans, while he had on a white polo shirt and khakis. The leader of the men came forward and gave Ahmed a warm hug, "Welcome to Sunnydale," He said, he noticed some of the locals giving him a long look but he ignored it, Americans didn’t know how to properly great an old friend.
"Thank you," he said warmly, "The others will be here in the next two days. We must locate her and what she seeks before then."
"Do we know what ‘it’ is?" The man who greeted him asked as they started down the concourse. The other two silently falling in behind Ahmed and the speaker paying much more attention to what was going on around them than following the conversation.
"Yes," Ahmed said quietly, "We intercepted a message. We must find and destroy ‘The Key’ before she can use it to raise the creature."
Interstate 95, on the beltway
Washington DC
28 0ct 2002 -
2240 hrs
Libby Holtzman sat in silence and thought about what her husband had said outside the club. "You can’t really mean that you took anything Pedro said seriously?" She finally asked in a confused voice.
Bob thought for a minute, then said, "How many people do you think Andrea Price would hesitate to shake hands with?"
Libby shrugged, "None off the top of my head."
"I saw her hesitate to take the hand of a woman who matches the description of Riley’s Slayer. I think I might hesitate to take the hand of someone like that."
"You’re basing this theory on a handshake?" Libby looked over at her husband with a bemused shake of her head.
Taking his eyes off of the road for a second he gave her a look that portrayed that he understood exactly how stupid it sounded. "It’s not only the hand shake. Why would Ryan want to meet with a high school student councilor, her sister, a construction foreman/carpenter, and a former high school librarian? Throw in that the librarian in question is currently number one on England’s most wanted list, he is associated with a group that apparently manages The Slayer, and the blond matches the description of one, and that they were escorted to the meeting by Riley and Clark, I think we have some questions that really need to be answered."
Libby went back to studying the road. She didn’t like were she thought her husband was going to ask those questions.
Grendel’s Pub
325 Wilkens
Sunnydale CA
28Oct2002 -
1955 hrs
O’Connell decided not to wait for the Slayer and he companions and started with a Texas Weiner. He had discovered them when he had gone to the NYC Police Academy, most of his classmates had liked Coney Island Dogs, but he found his love in Texas wieners and hamburgers. They were covered in a sauce that was like chili, but the meat was ground finer and it didn’t have any beans in it. They were served with chopped onions and mustard and were very good. Tom was justifiably proud of them. O’Connell didn’t have the heart to tell Tom that he had tasted better on the East Coast, but only in one or two places.
The conversations had restarted in the pub, they were much more subdued though, as if the people in the pub didn’t want to interrupt what was going on outside.
Rachel also started in on her salad when she saw Lt. O’Connell start in on his meal and was thinking about what she just had heard. She also wondered what Harris had been kept from blurting out. She decided there was no harm in asking, "What do you think Harris was kept from saying?" Maybe O’Connell would know.
Jon thought as he chewed. He’d noticed of course when Giles stopped Harris from initiating his tirade. Running over in his head what they had been talking about at that point in the conversation he swallowed and said, "Buffy must have been hurt in the fight, it couldn’t have been too bad though because like I said I talked to her later in the summer."
Rachel nodded.
"So what do you think?" He asked her.
"I haven’t seen definite proof yet. But it’s impressive how everyone seems to know what’s going on," Rachel replied. While part of her said it to mollify her dinner companion, Rachel had never heard of a delusion with this strong of an effect on groups of unrelated people. She was starting to worry that maybe she’d stayed in town to long herself.
"If Buffy doesn’t convince you, then before tonight’s over I’ll show you something supernatural," O’Connell promised. He was really hoping that Buffy would come through here. He could always introduce her to Clem he supposed. The problem was that Clem often passed himself off as someone with a skin condition and he had a sneaking suspicion that Rachel would believe that was what was going on. He really didn’t want to introduce Rachel to a vampire, at least not by himself. He could easily end up with a dead psychologist that way.
Conversation stopped in the bar again as the three from outside came back in. Xander simply sat down and grabbing the ketchup bottle put some on his burger and fries. Buffy grabbed it off of him when he was done and did her burger. Giles was pleasantly surprised to see a bottle of malt vinegar with his meal.
Buffy took a bite out of her burger, chewed and swallowed. She then looked at the representatives of the SPD and said, "Okay, we’ll see how this works. As far as Riley goes it’s going to be different this time."
"You got that right," Carlos Menendez snarled.
"Mendi!" O’Connell said sharply.
"Pardon," the other cop said apologetically.
Buffy waved it off, "He’s got orders to cooperate with you this time. Last time he was under orders to be tough with you."
O’Connell narrowed his eyes, "I talked to him a couple of times when he came through. He didn’t seem at all reluctant when he was issuing orders."
Buffy shrugged and took another bite out of her burger. It was really good, so she took another bite before she answered, "He has orders to be pleasant this time. I was there when he got them. I doubt he’ll go against these, no matter how much he enjoyed it before."
O’Connell waited for the punch line. It wasn’t long in coming.
"Jack Ryan hates it when people ignore his orders."
"Jack Ryan, as in President of the United States Jack Ryan?" Rachel asked incredulously.
Xander had demolished one of his cheeseburgers already and had a fork full of his Grendel Fries, which were simply French fries covered in the Texas wiener sauce, half way to his mouth when he said, "Yeah, he wanted to meet with us last night and discuss what was going on." He then finished shoving the fork full into his mouth and chewed with a blissful expression on his face.
"And what exactly is going on?" O’Connell asked.
Buffy noticed that many of the uniformed officers were leaving. While she was uncomfortable with the audience she thought they would stay for the whole meeting. She looked at O’Connell for an explanation.
"They came to give some moral support for me and my men, and to see if you were going to quit. The day shift stayed over so they could be here, they’re just going out to relieve them."
Buffy indicated she understood. She finished her burger off and then began explaining what was going on. She didn’t go into detail just stuck to generalities. She did mention that there was going to be a stream of young women coming to Sunnydale and that things that wanted to hurt them would probably not be far behind. O’Connell told her if she could give the SPD a heads up they would be glad to make sure there was a car in the neighborhood when one arrived and would do their best to help out.
Once Buffy had finished her explanation O’Connell asked, "Rachel here is the SPD’s Psychologist. She just found out about things that go bump in the night earlier today and she doesn’t really believe them yet."
Buffy nodded, "Got a quarter or fifty cent piece?" She asked the psychologist.
Rachel replied, "I think so." She then rooted through her purse and came up with a 50-cent piece.
"Can I see it?" Buffy asked. Rachel handed it over.
Buffy took it from her, bent it into a right angle, then handed it back to the open mouthed woman.
O’Connell smiled, "I was hoping that we could accompany you on your patrol tonight. I promised that I would show Rachel something supernatural tonight."
Buffy frowned, "I’m going to be taking some other guys around. General Clark is paying me to do some training with them. If he doesn’t care I don’t. Of course I can’t guarantee that we’ll run into anything with the parade that this is turning into."
"I’ll take my chances. How do I get in touch with him?"
"I’ll call him on the way back to my place. Why don’t you meet us there."
1630 Revello Dr.
Sunnydale CA
28Oct2002 -
2008 hrs
Dawn was getting a taste of what the house was going to be like when the potentials started arriving and she wasn’t liking it. Ding showed up about five minutes ago with the people he was going to be taking with Buffy tonight. He had Riley, Kenshin Hiedoki, and two new guys, an Italian named Ettore Falcone and an Englishman whom he introduced as WO Edward Price, though she noticed everyone called him Eddie. They weren’t wearing their commando garb; rather they were in civilian clothes. Though the presence of the five of them in sport coats on a warm California night would attract a little attention. Dawn assumed that they were carrying pistols only, until Kenshin turned around took a long thing pack off of his back and set it down at his feet.
She asked if anyone would like something to drink or if they needed anything and when they declined she looked around and found Willow at the entrance to the living room hugging herself. Concerned she slid over and asked, "What’s wrong?"
Willow was staring at Kenshin, "I don’t know, I’m getting a bad vibes off of him. Like he really doesn’t like me."
Dawn frowned, "He hasn’t said anything too you has he?"
Willow shook her head, "We haven’t even talked, I just get the vibe. I’ll be up in my room if you need me." She turned and left.
Dawn frowned and headed over to Kenshin to see if she could figure out what Willow meant. She hadn’t taken two steps when the phone rang. Annabelle being the closest answered it with, "Summers residence." Who may I say is calling?" Turning the brown haired potential spotted Dawn and called, "Dawn? There’s an Angel on the phone for you."
Dawn smiled and headed for the phone.
In the dining room Ding and Riley had been going over a map of Sunnydale with Riley pointing out hot spots and places they could duck into if things got out of hand. When Riley heard ‘Angel’ he frowned. Ding saw it and asked, "One of Buffy’s old boy friends?" Riley nodded tightly.
"We don’t get along."
Dawn picked up the phone and said, "Angel! You need to call more."
On the other end of the line Angel was trying to figure out who answered the phone. Shaking it off he asked, "Dawn, I need to talk to Giles, do you have a number I can get a hold of him at?"
"He’s off with Buffy right now, I can tell him you need to talk to him when he gets back," Dawn said as she reached for a pad of paper next to the phone so she could leave a note.
"Giles is in town? What’s going on?" Angel asked concerned.
"I don’t think I can talk about it over the phone. What do you need Giles for? Maybe I can help?" She said getting more excited.
"Not unless you can help interpret a Slayer Dream," The vampire told The Key.
"You had a Slayer Dream?" She asked confused, "I thought you had Cordelia for that kind of stuff."
"Cordelia’s out of commission right now. Faith called me today, she says she had one last night. I looked into it and couldn’t find anything. I’m hoping that Giles might be able to," Angel explained.
"What’s up with Cordelia?" Dawn asked concerned. It wasn’t that she ever particularly liked the willowy brunette, but she didn’t like to hear about anyone she knew getting hurt.
"It’s to complicated to go into over the phone," Angel explained, "Lets just say she’s not her old self."
"Okay, why not ask Wesley then, he is Faith’s Watcher isn’t he?"
"Wesley isn’t someone I’d go to with something like this," Angel said tightly. Dawn could hear the anger in his voice.
Deciding to quit while she was behind Dawn promised to pass his message on and said her good-byes. She decided to go up and tell Willow about the call and see what she thought. She was heading for the stairs when the doorbell rang. She altered course and checked outside and saw General Clark standing there in a sport coat and gray pants. Smiling she opened the door for him and he came in, getting used to the non-invite-invite.
"Hey General," Dawn said, "What’s up?"
Ding heard the greeting and looked up. Mr. C was supposed to be staying at the base to help judge how good
their communications would be when they started to patrol.
Clark smiled at Dawn and nodded when he spotted Ding, "Buffy’s talk with the SPD went well. O’Connell has
asked if he can tag along with one of his people and I said sure. I thought it would be a good thing to be
here when they arrived to set up a more formal meeting later in the week."
Riley looked uncomfortable and started to get up. "Maybe it would be better for me to leave. O’Connell and I never had what could be described as cordial relationship. We probably don’t need this for an initial meeting."
Clark pointed at the younger officer, "Sit," he ordered. "We can’t dodge this forever so we might as well get it over with now. If O’Connell can’t let bygones be bygones then I doubt we’ll be able to work with him. That would make our job tougher, but not insurmountable."
Riley nodded and sat back down. He then turned back to Ding and the map.
A movement in the kitchen caught Clarks eye, he turned and saw Spike coming unsteadily out of the kitchen. The blond vampire actually looked better than he thought possible. He was still a little shaky, but he was surprised he could move considering the damage that Ding said had been done to him. The vampire nodded at Clark went and leaned against the wall just inside the living room.
The sound of the door opening behind him kept him from saying anything to the vampire. Clark turned and saw Buffy, Giles, Xander, then two strangers coming through it.
"General Clark," Buffy greeted. When he glared at her she smiled and said, "John."
"This is Lt. O’Connell, and Rachel Frazer," she introduced the other two.
Clark smiled and offered his hand to the SPD officer, ‘Pleasure."
O’Connell was a little slower but took the offered hand, "I hope it will be for me too sir," he said.
"We’ll try our best," Clark promised.
Buffy at that point spotted Spike and with a frown on her face headed for him. Rachel had taken a step away from O’Connell into the living room to get a better look at the various people in the house. Like everyone else though she followed Buffy’s movements.
"What are you doing up?" She asked.
"You’re going out tonight with this lot Slayer?" The blond asked with an English accent.
Buffy nodded, "Yeah this is what John is paying me for."
"You’re going to need someone to watch your back then. Remember what happened last time Captain Cardboard and his Space Rangers came through."
"Spike you can barely stand, I doubt you’d be a whole lot of help," Buffy retorted.
Rachel watched the exchange with interest. There was defiantly some feelings there on behalf of the Englishman and there was something with Buffy as well she could see it in the reflection in the mirror behind them, concern and maybe a little more…. Wait, she shouldn’t be able to see Buffy’s face, the one she called Spike was right in front of the mirror and all she should be able to see in it was his back. She walked up to the two of them and ignoring their arguments took the mirror off of the wall. Everyone in the house was now looking at her as she flipped it over and looked to see if there was any electronic hook ups or some kind of a plug. Finding none she held it up so she should be able to see Spike and herself in the mirror, but saw only her own reflection. She walked around both Buffy and Spike watching the reflection seeing if it rotated with her, whether there was any wavering or distortions. Finally she turned the mirror upside down. When it remained steady throughout she stared at Spike and asked, "Are you a vampire?"
"Yeah," Spike told the psychologist.
"Oh," Rachel said in a small voice. She then handed the mirror to Buffy and when she had taken it from her, promptly fainted.
Rachel Frazer came to with a start. Jonathan O’Connell was leaning over her with a broken ammonia tablet in his hand. "You okay?" He asked, real concern in his voice.
"Did I just discover that vampires are real?" She asked in a small voice.
O’Connell nodded.
"No," She said plaintively. She laid her head against the back of the couch she was on and stared at the ceiling. "How can vampires be real?"
O’Connell shrugged, "My family dealt with things Egyptian, there were already vampires by then."
Rachel noticed that she was the center of attention with seemingly everyone in the house gathered around to make sure she was okay. "Is she going to be staying on the couch all night?" A blonde in the background asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Anya!" a brunette teenager hissed.
"I should probably get her home," O’Connell said as he offered Rachel a hand to help her up.
An older man dressed in a sport coat nodded and said, "That would be a good idea, Lord knows when I found out it’s what I wanted to do."
Clark went on as he started heading toward the door too, "I’ll stop by tomorrow to talk about how we can cooperate with each other better."
O’Connell nodded as he was helping Rachel to the door and said to Clark, "Could you make the day after tomorrow? I have to go out and talk to the head of the school board and I’m not sure how long it’ll take."
Seeing Buffy come up out of the basement he asked, "What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?"
Buffy thought about it for a second, "Nothing much. I’m working at the school till around 2 then I’m off."
"I have to go up and give your big boss a report, he had a break in on Friday night and an heirloom was stolen. We haven’t been able to find it yet so I need to let him know personally."
Buffy followed the police officer and the psychologist to the front door and asked, "What do you need me for?"
"André de Vries is a powerful warlock and he has a reputation of not taking bad news well. Ordinarily in this situation I would just take the whole squad to keep things civil, however I think your presence would calm him down and we could avoid some unpleasantness."
Buffy nodded, "Is his place up around the National Park?"
"Yeah, why?" O’Connell asked turning to give her his full attention.
"Friday night a family in the park got treed by a couple of shadow hounds. I helped get them down." Buffy explained.
"I’ll have to remember to send Broadman a thank you card," O’Connell muttered putting two and two together. "How many hounds?"
"Four," Buffy replied as she opened the door.
"Too few for Vries," O’Connell thought out loud, "Maybe his apprentice though. We’ll check it out tomorrow, it’ll give us an excuse for you to be along anyway."
Buffy smirked, "Can’t let him think you’re scared of him can we?"
O’Connell nodded as he went out the door, "They smell fear and they’ll chew your arm off."
Clark waited on the porch to make sure that they made it to their car then started down to his own car to head back to base so he could monitor the patrol. As he was walking down the walk to his car he heard from behind him, "General Clark got a second?"
Turning he saw that Xander had followed him out of the house. He held up and waited for him. "Can I ask you for a favor?" Xander asked as he got up to the other man.
"Sure, you might not get it though," Clark, replied.
Xander nodded that he understood, "To tell you the truth I thought I had lost most of what I had picked up that Halloween. So when WO Benton was testing me today I was surprised because it was like I was practicing skills that I used to know, but hadn’t used for a long time. I’d like to train with your men and see if I can ‘remember’ any more."
Clark thought about it for a half second then said, "I don’t have a problem with it, we usually start around 6:30 and go for an hour and a half. Can you do that with your job?"
"I’ll have to talk to my boss, but I don’t think he’ll have a problem with it. He’s been talking about putting on a split shift, so I could take the later one," Xander told the other man.
"Okay then I don’t have a problem. What about Buffy though?"
"It’s more Giles who has a problem with going to outside people for help," Xander said with disgust. "So I figure what he doesn’t know won’t hurt me. And I have a feeling we’re going to need the extra skills."
Clark couldn’t argue with that and head for his car. Xander meanwhile turned and went back into the house. Inside he found Buffy being introduced to the Rainbow Troops that would be going with them. Ding saw him come in and introduced him to Ettore and WO Price.
"Only two new guys?" Xander asked.
Ding nodded and explained, "Tonight we are going to be showing the squad leaders around, Kenshin will take over for Pete till he’s back on duty, and it turns out that Ettore has experience with this kind of stuff," Ding explained.
Buffy joined them and asked, "Exactly where did he pick that up?"
"You heard the lady Ettore!" Ding ordered the trooper. "Tell the lady how you know about the supernatural."
Ettore nodded and began. "I am not a member of my country’s military. I am a member of the Carabinieri; it is our version of your FBI. In Italy the demonic is mostly fought by the Vatican, they have a special group they call the Cestus Deus that handles such things. They however are not set up to deal with large quantities of foes, so when such happens they come to us for help. I have assisted in two raids. I have heard of the Slayer Signorina Summers and it is an honor to meet you."
"Flattery will take you far with me Ettore," Buffy smiled at the tall Italian, who returned the grin.
Turning back to Ding she asked, "What do you want to do tonight? There are no fledglings rising so I was just going to wander through town and see if anything was going on."
Ding nodded, "That sounds good, if you could take us past the local hotspots that would help."
"Works for me, " Buffy said as she started up the stairs. Just give me a minute to grab some stuff and we’ll head out." As Buffy was heading up stairs she took a good look at the commandos and not seeing any visible weapons asked, "Aren’t you guys a little under equipped?"
Ding smiled and opened up his jacket. Under his left armpit was the butt of the second biggest handgun Buffy had ever seen. Under his right was what looked like a couple of extra clips for it. Ding lifted up the back of his sport coat and showed where he had three stakes made from one inch doweling. He let the coat slip back down and pulled a crucifix and a bottle of holy water out of his coat pockets.
Buffy nodded approvingly, but frowned at the sight of the gun, "You really need to get out of the gun habit Ding. Especially on a patrol; you start relaying on them and they’ll let you down just when you need them most."
"We don’t have your abilities Buffy. While the guns won’t stop most of these things they can cripple them enough so they are easier for us to deal with. Once we’ve trained with you some more we might change out our weapon mix. Until then we’ll stick to what we’ve trained with."
Buffy lips thinned and she headed upstairs.
1627 Revello Dr.
Sunnydale CA
28Oct2002 -
2025 hrs
Anck-su-namun eased herself into the churning tub with a sigh. The oils she had added tickled her nose pleasantly and the gel pillow that she had warmed in the microwave soothed her neck. She closed her eyes and basked in the decadence. Seti had nothing to match this in his entire kingdom. The only thing missing was the servants and slaves that should have been preparing this for her. But when she brought her love back that little oversight would be seen to.
She opened her eyes and for a moment thought she was still in the midst of her daydream because her love was standing just inside the door looking down upon her naked form. When she realized she wasn’t she exploded out of the tub, managing to keep her feet under her despite the water and the bath oil coating them. She went down on her knees with her face to the floor hands outstretched flat on the tile, "{Forgive me my lord, I wasn’t expecting you}," She said in ancient Egyptian.
Imhotep smiled down at his lover and said, in English, "That was impressive, could you do it again?"
Anck-su-namun’s head came up off of the floor quickly, anger blazed in her eyes, "My lord will punish you for usurping his form," She hissed.
"Since he’s in Hell, where you sent him I might add, I doubt he’ll find out," The faux Imhotep replied.
Anck-su-namun got up from the floor; deliberately she went to the light blue robe flung over a chair next to the tub and started putting it on. The way she did it was to show the entity in the room that she was not ashamed of her body, rather that it had no right to gaze upon it. When the robe was tied she turned to her visitor and asked, "What do you want?"
Imhotep cocked his head at the reincarnated Egyptian woman, "Is all as I said it would be?"
Anck-su-namun nodded, "So I have found it."
"Then I am here for the first part of my payment," Imhotep replied.
"First part?" Anck-su-namun repeated, not liking the sound of that.
"This is a minor thing, certainly it does not repay giving you the key," Imhotep smirked when he said that, "to releasing your love from Hell."
Frowning Anck-su-namun asks through gritted teeth, "What do you wish?"
Imhotep’s form began morphing, it shrank, blonde hair sprang forth and flowed down off of it’s head, the facial features became finer, and the loin cloth that Imhotep was wearing grew and changed color to become a pair of black slacks and a brown sweater with a wide neck. "Do you know who this is?" The creature asked waving both hands down it’s front to emphasize what she was talking about.
"The Slayer," Anck-su-namun spat, angry at being treated like a child at show and tell.
"She is to survive, she may be harmed, but she must live. The others I care not for, but the Slayer lives."
"She will be my greatest opponent, I can’t guarantee that I will be able to keep her alive," she protested.
"See that you do, you wouldn’t like what happens if you default to me," The faux Buffy replied as she vanished.
Anck-su-namun seethed, she looked at the tub but decided that she wouldn’t be able to relax enough to enjoy it, so instead she jumped into the shower to get the bath oils off. When that was done she stormed out of the bathroom. She would be ready when the time came.
Main Street
Sunnydale CA
28Oct2004 -
2215 hrs
So far the patrol had been a bust. The high point for excitement so far was when Ding had presented Buffy with an encrypted radio like the Rainbow guys used and explained how to use it. Other than that they had wandered through a couple of the towns many cemeteries with nothing to show for it. Buffy decided to take them past The Bronze and if nothing was going on there, she would call it a night.
Buffy was walking along with Ding on one side of her and Riley on the other. WO Price and Xander were behind them with Kenshin and Ettore bringing up the rear. Buffy had begun thinking of it as the Great Patrol Parade. She was just about to suggest that tomorrow when they went out it might not be a bad idea if the others stayed back a bout a block when Ding asked, "It just occurred to me, Halloween is three days away. How bad does it get?"
Buffy smirked, "We’ll just stay away from costume shops and frat parties and we’ll do okay."
Ding confused asked, "Come again?"
Buffy was about to explain when a shout of pain came from an alleyway up ahead. Buffy took off running with the commando’s in hot pursuit. She rounded the corner and realized she was in the alley behind the Bronze. Three vampires, two males and a female dressed in club clothes had a couple of big beefy guys in UCSD sweatshirts up against the wall. One of the males was about to take a bite when the female slapped him. "The Master needs them unspoiled. He wanted them big and stupid, I think these qualify."
"Hey!" one of the victims said indignantly. "I’m pulling down honors grades!"
The female smiled, "Maybe you’ll get to be an officer then."
Buffy tsked loud enough for them to hear her, when they turned she shook her head, "Both of those look like football players, and you’re keeping them out past curfew, you should be ashamed of yourselves."
The other male vampire smiled, "Slayer. The Master thought you might come along so he sent some help." The vampire snapped his fingers and about twenty vampires appeared, climbing out from behind boxes and dumpsters, and coming around the corner of alley. "Looks like you could use some help," the vampire smirked.
Buffy smirked right back, "Got some."
Buffy threw her first stake, she wasn’t trying for a kill rather she wanted to distract the vampire that was holding on to both of the victims. He was distracted when the stake impacted the middle of his forehead and penetrated. Both of the football players used skills learned on the gridiron to break the grip of the vampire and started down the alley toward Buffy.
To avoid the panicked kids Buffy leapt up to bounce off of the wall. She hit about eight feet up the wall and used the kick off to aim at the female member of capture team. Her aim was true and she took the female vamp down. Grabbing a stake out of her jeans she staked the vampire and rolled to a standing position facing the crowd of vamps that was heading down the alley. She staked the undistracted member of the capture team with a casual backhand stab.
Riley came around the corner running, then, surprisingly the next one around was Ettore Falcone. The tall Italian’s long legs gave him a little bit of an edge over the others. As he entered the ally he raised his weapon. The Desert Eagle he had been issued for tonight was a lot bigger than what he normally liked to use. On the other hand the first time he had gone in with the Cestus Deus they hadn’t said anything about 9mm being a little light in the stopping power department for what they were likely dealing with. Fortunately he had also been handed a SPAS-12 for that raid so it hadn’t been a total disaster. He saw the two football players at the same time they saw him with the monster handgun so they hit the ground diving, both of them figuring a couple of scrapes from sliding along the alley would be a minor price to pay. As soon as they were clear Ettore fired three times in two seconds. All three rounds punched into a separate vampire right below the point of their chin. The big .50 cal slugs punched through their throats and blew apart their spinal columns causing all of them to crumble into dust. The two coming in right behind them were caught by surprise, as they suddenly became the front line. One went down to a quick thrust by Buffy while the other got a face full of holy water from Riley who had not stopped when Ettore lined up for his shots.
Eddie Price and Kenshin came around the corner next; Kenshin had his sword out and was heading down the center of the alley at full speed. Seeing that the left side of the alley was full of Riley and with Kenshin in the center, WO Price moved to the right side. There hadn’t been enough of the Desert Eagles to go around so WO Price had opted to carry one of the standard 10mm Glock pistols. Training took over so when Buffy moved to stake the vampire exposed by Ettore he fired three rounds into one of the lead vamps on his side of the alley. Two into the chest, and one into the head, if the target had been human it would have been dead, but the vamp was just knocked back a little. It locked eyes with the British commando and smiled, the smile promising awful things. He stopped smiling when Ding came up beside his senior NCO and put a half-inch slug through the vampire’s nose. "Legs only with a 10mm Eddie," Ding reminded him as he went back to his radio, "John we need back up. We’re in an alley in 300 block of Main St. multiple vamps!"
Buffy plowed forward into the group of six or so vamps fists and feet flying. She managed to take three down with her charge and was trading blows with the other three when Kenshin arrived. They immediately went back to back with Buffy having a stake out and Kenshin doing what he could with his sword.
Riley went after the vamp he had sprayed and quickly staked him, then finished off the vampire Buffy had distracted. Seeing that he would probably just get in the way of either Buffy or Kenshin if he got involved in the fight going on in the center of the alley he dropped back with Ettore to cover Xander as he got the two victims out of the of there.
Ding and WO Price meanwhile were standing at the end of the alley with their guns drawn waiting for opportunities to shoot. In the first couple minutes of the fight several vampires tried to work their way around the fighting duo in the center of the alley. They rapidly found out that that was a good way to get shot. The right side of the alley wasn’t too bad, as they usually just got hit in the legs. Annoying, but not instantly lethal. The left side of the alley was a different story. Ettore took up position at the end of the alley and just waited for shots. Riley, after seeing Ettore take down another three vamps said to him, "If you run out of ammo you can use mine." Ettore nodded as he took down his seventh vamp of the night.
The fight was over seconds after that with Buffy staking the last of the vamps she and Kenshin were fighting. A couple was seen running out the other end. A couple of seconds later a SUV pulled up with Osa Sticking up through the moon roof with his M60 down along his leg. Clark jumped out of the passenger side of the vehicle with a Remington 870 in hand. "What’s the sitch?"
Ding was just staring into the alley. Buffy was calmly walking out brushing the dust off of her black duster. Looking up she smiled, "John! Nice night!"
Clark looked at his son-in-law and asked, "Where are the vampires?"
Buffy answered, "Three or four got away out the other side of the alley, if you hurry you might catch them. Clark looked at Cory Unger who was driving and nodded down the street. Osa lifted up the M60 and laid it on the roof of the Explorer as they headed down the street.
"Can we go now?" One of the football players asked.
"You okay?" Ding asked recovering.
They looked at each other and nodded.
"Price, Ettore, why don’t you see them home?" Ding ordered. Then looking at the two young men he said, "It might be better if you didn’t mention this to anyone."
"Mention what?" The one that had identified himself as an honor student replied.
A Sunnydale police car pulled up with the Pete Hill and Bob Lee inside, "What happened?" Pete, who was driving, asked.
Buffy walked up to the patrol car. "We got jumped, you might want to watch tonight if you get a report of a vamp attack, it might be a set up."
Pete’s lips thinned, "Okay, I’ll pass it on. You guys need any help?"
Ding shook his head, "Nah, we’re good."
Pete just nodded and pulled off down the street.
Ding turned back to Buffy and asked, "Is that normal?"
Buffy who was trying to get a blood spot off of her leather coat glanced up and said, "No, I don’t remember the last time I ran into that many vamps at one time. Thanks for the assist, that would have been nasty if you guys hadn’t been around."
Kenshin had finished cleaning his blade and homed it, he replied for the rest when he said, "No. Thank you Buffy sama, for helping us to learn what we need to know."
610 S. Hoover St.
Los Angeles CA
29Oct2002 -
0750 hrs.
Hank Summers got out of the elevator, turned left and headed down the corridor to the door of Morgan, Morgan, and Lawson, his lawyers. He was dressed in a tan sport coat, maroon button down shirt, and gray slacks. Going through the door he found Megan, the partners fortyish, brunette secretary, behind the reception desk.
"Mr. Summers," she said pleasantly. "Mr. Lawson is ready for you so you can go right in."
Hank thanked the receptionist and walked past her. Knocking briefly on the door he walked in even before the, "Come," came from inside.
Tom Lawson had been a classmate at UCLA. While Hank had been studying computers Tom had been pre-law. While never quite friends they had developed a professional relationship where Hank handled Tom’s computer woes and Tom helped Hank out with legal stuff. Tom was Hank’s age, though he looked older; he had bags under his eyes, his once black hair was thinning and was shot with gray. His gray suit though was Armani and none of the furniture in his office was pressboard. That and the piles of files that crammed the office indicated how successful he had been since passing the bar.
Tom stood up and offered his hand, "Hank, how are you doing?"
Hank shook it and smiled ruefully, "I think you’re going to tell me," he replied.
"Okay then," he said as he waved Hank to a seat, "I talked to DYS yesterday and I got the problem straightened out. As long as the extra money starts showing up in your payments in the next month you don’t have a problem."
Hank let out a loud sigh, "So I didn’t need to come after all," thinking about the problems that could have avoided. Sheila had called while he was laying over in Atlanta and informed him that she was with Enrique now. The only Enrique they knew was an eighty-year old letch that occasionally used Tucker contracting. Sheila had met him at a company function the year before. He did have about twenty times the money that Hank did so he supposed that would make up for the sex. He had stared at his phone for about ten minutes after the call and tried to work up a head of anger against either of them. In the end though he had to admit that all he felt was relief. That same feeling came again, there was no regret at all; well not as far as Shelia went anyway.
Tom shook his head, "Not exactly. They changed the rules earlier in the year. If a parent is delinquent with support payments before DYS will put the new payments through they need to see a quit claim signed by the receiving parties."
Hank cocked his head and asked, "Why the hell did they do that?"
"They had a case where the dad was being a jerk and fought tooth and nail against the adjustment. He finally agreed to it right before it went to court. DYS signed off on it. The mother in the case wanted it to go to court and was royally pissed. She had contacts in Sacramento, it was an election year so they wanted a check mark in the anti-deadbeat dads box so they got it through and the governor signed it.
"Now if you want I can run up there today and see if she’ll sign it. But if you want my suggestion, rather than paying me a couple thousand dollars for being on the road for three hours why don’t you go up yourself and see if she’ll sign it for you?"
"I doubt she’d be happy to see me Tom," was Hank’s quiet reply.
‘Happier than she would be to see me," Tom told him. "Heck you came all the way from Spain to get this done."
Hank snorted, "Yeah, after I couldn’t even be bothered to return a phone call when Joyce died."
Tom shrugged, "You dig your own holes Hank. I mean what’s the worst she can do? Take a swing at you?" Tom watched Hank struggle with the problem, finally he asked, "Should I get ready to go?"
Hank shook his head, "You’re right, I should be the one to go, but it will have to be tomorrow, I have some stuff I need to do first."
Tom smiled and pulled a form out of a manila envelope, "This is it, she needs to sign where the red arrows are," pointing them out to Hank.
Hank nodded that he understood and put the form back into the envelope. Standing up he held out his hand and said, "Thanks Tom."
Tom took the proffered hand and gave it a shake, "It’s what I get paid for. Do yourself a favor and don’t get into this kind of mess again."
Hank said as he was leaving, "Somehow I don’t think it will come up again."
University of North Carolina
Raleigh NC
29Oct2004 -
1125 hrs
General Marion Diggs smiled at the secretary as he came through the door into the office. The secretary returned the smile and asked, "General Diggs?" Mary nodded.
She pushed the call button on her desk ands said, "Dr. Eddington? General Diggs is here."
"Send him in!" Came the response.
She smiled and waved him through the door. Diggs went in and found Colonel Nick Eddington, NCNG (ret.) Coming around his desk. "Mary!" he said happily as they met in the middle of the office. After shaking hands he pointed at the chair in front of his desk and ordered. "Sit!" Smiling Diggs did so.
Once he had reclaimed his seat behind his desk Eddington smiled and said, "That was some fine work you and your boys did in Russia earlier this year."
Diggs just shook his head, "Thanks, but it was the Russians that did the hard work. We just shut the back door on the Chinese."
Eddington waved it off, "Oh come on Diggs. That deployment from Germany to the other side of Asia was something Patton would have been proud of."
Diggs nodded, "If the Russians didn’t have lakes of fuel out there though we wouldn’t have been able to do much though. But one thing you can say about the old Soviets, they weren’t going to be caught napping like they were in ‘41"
Eddington offered coffee and while he and Diggs enjoyed a cup they caught up on people they had known when they had been deployed to the Gulf for the Biowar. When they finished Eddington asked, "Okay, what brings you down here?"
Diggs smiled, "I’m here to offer you a job Nick. There might be a promotion in it for you if you agree."
Eddington nodded as if that’s what he thought was going on, "Lets talk about this over lunch. My Sarah is getting it ready at home so just let me let my secretary know that I won’t be around this afternoon then you can follow me home. Diggs was agreeable, so ten minutes later he was following Eddington home in his rental. Eddington lived in the Kingsmill Village section of Raleigh. It was a pleasant two-bedroom home with a large front yard and an attached two-car garage. Diggs pulled in behind the former Colonel and climbed out.
"Nice place," he complimented the other man, who thanked him.
Eddington opened the front door and waved Diggs in, "Honey! We’re home!" He called.
"I’m on the back deck," was the reply.
Eddington lead the way through the house past a large modern kitchen and out onto the deck. Sarah Eddington was shorter than her six-foot husband, but not by much. She was wearing a peach colored sundress with a white wide brim hat. She was just putting out a pitcher of ice tea on the table. "You boys just have a seat and I’ll get lunch," as she headed back inside. Diggs offered to help, but Sarah just pointed at the chair and said, "You’re the guest, I’m the hostess, SIT!" She finished with a mock ferocity.
Diggs and Eddington took their ordered seats and poured themselves some ice tea. Sarah came back out with a tray of chicken salad sandwiches and a bowl of oranges. She put the bowl between them. "Okay, chips are on the table, so help yourselves. Call if you need anything."
"You’re not joining us?" Diggs asked.
"I doubt you came down here on a social visit General Diggs. I’ll let you get on with business, if there is anything I need to know then Nick will fill me in. I’ll be happy to sit in when you’re done." Then taking the tray with her she went back into the house.
Diggs looked at his friend, "I like your wife."
"Yeah, I don’t know what I would do without her," the two men grabbed a sandwich and some chips and munched on their lunch. While Diggs was chewing he made a mental note to see if he could get the recipe out of Nick. About half way through the first sandwich he said to his lunch mate, " So, I have a job to offer you."
Nick nodded, "When you called I figured you might, can’t see where though."
"I’m putting a team together. The cover is that we are looking at methods to beat IVIS. With you being one of the commanders that have actually used it in the field you’d be a logical person to tap for it."
Eddington nodded, "Useful cover. After the Gulf and China other people have to be looking to copy it. We should be looking at counters. But if that’s the cover, what’s the job?"
Diggs had been dreading this, how do you explain this and not come off sounding like a complete loon? "Well there is a potential problem in this little town just south of Edwards Air Force Base. We don’t know if anything is going to come out of this, but if it does then we’ll be the first line of defense. I know you’re good handling pressure that comes out of nowhere so I want you on my team."
Nick had started when Diggs had told him where the problem was. "Would that town be called Sunnydale?" When Diggs nodded he said, "Please tell me someone doesn’t want to open the Hellmouth."
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington DC
29OCT2002 -
1320hrs
Pat Martin the Attorney General of the United States was shown into the Oval Office.
"Hey Pat," President Ryan greeted him from behind his desk.
"Jack," the AG returned.
Sitting down he popped his briefcase open and pulled two objects out of it. The larger was a leather portfolio similar to what important documents were stored in. The other was a medium size leather notebook; the kind people used as personal journals. "I discovered Buffy’s legal status in the US," he began. "I found these on my desk when I came in yesterday. I had them authenticated and they seem to be genuine." He handed both items over to Ryan.
Since the notebook was on top he opened it carefully. You didn’t have to be an expert to tell that both items were fairly old. Reading the title on the inside page he glanced up at his AG and asked, "Are you sure these are legit?"
Pat nodded, "I showed a photo copy of some of the writing to an expert over at the Smithsonian, he confirms that it’s his handwriting.
"The Watchers Journal of Benjamin Franklin?" Jack asked incredulous.
"The Franklins were part of the Watchers council. They were dispatched to the US to monitor demonic activity in the Colonies. The Council at the time was concerned that some demons were emigrating to the New World figuring it wouldn’t be covered as close."
"How much influence did the Council have in the Revolution then?" Jack asked.
"Not a lot," Martin replied. "Reading between the lines they were a little ticked that Franklin was moonlighting as one of the founding fathers. A lot of the things that he did were Council related though, including the newspaper and the Post Office."
"The Post Office?" Ryan asked.
Martin smiled, "He figured that it would be a good way to send information. Letters could be sent to a dead drop and seem perfectly legit. He’d keep an eye out for the dead drops and strip them as they came through. He figured that they would be buried in the general flow."
Ryan shook his head. Picking up the portfolio he carefully opened it, "What’s this."
"A license to kill," Martin said flatly.
"A what?" Ryan asked, looking up from reading the document.
"A couple of months before his death he went to George Washington and convinced him to issue what today we’d call an Executive Order. It basically gives the Slayer, the Council, and their agents permission to do what they need to do to keep the world safe. As far as I can tell it has never been rescinded so anything Buffy’s done in pursuit of her duty as Slayer is perfectly legal."
"Any idea who dropped them off?" Ryan asked as he read the order.
"Franklin." Martin said, the first hint of a smile touching his lips.
"Care to explain that?" Ryan said, eyeing his AG, it wasn’t a request.
"Before he died Franklin cast a spell so that if anyone in the government needed the information, the journal and order would find their way to them. The actual carrier was a janitor; he seemed to have no awareness that he had them in his possession. The only reason I know it was him was a surveillance camera on the floor caught him coming out of the elevator with the book and portfolio under his arm. The security guard looked him over and checked his cart but never looked at the books once. When he left he didn’t have them.
"Franklin explained it, it’s part of the spell. If the documents are needed they will attract a person going the right way, people will unknowingly pass them along in a chain till they get to the person who needs the information. He also suggests that when we are done with them that we misfile them. They are enchanted so that if you don’t need to know the information a person will just skip over them."
"Damn," Ryan breathed, "Do you know how long the CIA has looked for a SEP field?"
"A SEP field? I don’t think I’ve come across that one," The AG said.
"Somebody Else’s Problem Field," Ryan explained closing the folder. "Kind of a spies dream ability, no one pays any attention to you because…’
"Your somebody else’s problem." Martin smiled. "I could see where either Clark or Pat O’Day might want something like that."
Turning serious he continued, "Jack I can’t pretend that I approve of that," he said nodding at the folder. But I also realize that we are effectively at war with these things. I do have a suggestion that we can try out."
"I won’t put peoples lives in danger Pat. These things seem to think we are a food source. As long as they do then I’m going to give them as big a case of indigestion that I can."
"I agree completely, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t defend ourselves, but what I was thinking is that when the situation presents itself we could…"
Jack Ryan listen to what his AG was suggesting, and the plan did have some merit, "Okay, I’ll pass it on to John, and when he gets the chance he can try to implement it."
Sunnydale High School
2450 Oak St.
Sunnydale CA
29Oct2002 -
1330hrs
"So Amanda, you understand that violence is not the answer to all problems, right?" Buffy asked the sullen teenager on the other side of the desk.
"But he so had it coming!" She protested.
"Maybe he did, but you’re not supposed to punch people." Buffy insisted, really feeling like a hypocrite.
"Okay," Amanda agreed, "I promise not to hit Bob Jones anymore."
Buffy smiled, "Good! You can head back to class."
She watched the longhaired teen head out of the office. Buffy slumped, she felt so inadequate to this job. Plus who was she to tell other people that it was wrong to hit? Stacy, the office receptionist stuck her head into Buffy’s cubical and said, "You have a visitor."
Buffy glanced at the clock on her desk, "[He’s a half hour early]," she thought.
"Send him back," she told Stacy.
"Okay, but it’s she, not a he."
Buffy frowned checking her appointment book thinking that she didn’t have anyone scheduled when Dr. Sandra Sanchez knocked on the edge of her cubicle. "Hi!" She said. "Sorry for showing up at work, but I wanted to offer my help."
Buffy smiled, "Great, Principal Wood is always looking for parents that want to get involved."
Sandra shook her head, "No, I meant helping you with what you do."
Buffy glanced around quickly to make sure no one else was in earshot. Motioning Sandra to the chair that Amanda had just vacated she invited her to sit. Once she had sat down Buffy took her seat and said frowning, "I don’t think you really want to do that Doctor. You have two kids at home who have already lost one parent. I can’t be part of their losing the other."
Sandra leaned forward, "Buffy we live in Sunnydale, from the little I’ve been able to find out, ignoring what’s going on isn’t going to protect us from what’s out there. And don’t lie; you could use a medical person. Saturday you were involved in two fights that I know of and we treated a couple of UC Sunnydale football players last night who I overheard talking to each other, and unless there is another blonde superhero in town I figure you must be the person who figured prominently in their talk about what happened. If nothing else I could make sure you can get your hands antibiotics."
Buffy dodged, "I don’t really get infections."
"Buffy I’m not talking about going out on the front lines. I don’t have any skills so I would just be in the way. What I am talking about is being there if either you or one of your people get hurt, or if you need someplace to dodge into."
Buffy was considering this when Robin Wood stuck his head into the cubicle. "Hey Buffy, Dr. Sanchez, how are you doing?" Robin was wearing a blue tailored suit with a black shirt and silver tie.
Buffy stammered for a second and then said, "Dr. Sanchez is here because she wants to help." She ignored the look that Sandra gave her; Robin was at the wrong angle to see it.
"Great!" Robin said, "I’m always glad when parents want to get involved with school activities."
Sandra turned so she could look at the principal, "My kids are important to me Principal Wood. Anything I can do to help I’d be happy too."
"Great, got a little time? We’re going to be having a big event in December and we are still looking for parents to be on the board for it."
"Is that the student exchange program Thomas mentioned?" Sandra asked.
Robin nodded excitedly, "It’s a little more than that. The idea is that we are going to bring students over from other countries and show them not only our academic system, but also something of our culture by showing them what one of our big holidays is like. Then over the next year students who participated will go to the host countries during some of their big holidays to see how they celebrate. The climax is going to be a dinner where we will hand out awards for the exchange period, and for the academic period up to that point. The idea is to get the parents in for the dinner, then insure they talk to their kid’s teachers. We’re hoping that the food and awards will pull more parents in than the normal parent/teacher night with students handling the refreshments."
Buffy grimaced, "Trust me, not a good idea."
Robin smiled, "Yours was less than successful I take it?"
Buffy thought of the Spike attack that night, certainly added to the excitement factor, but not wanting to explain she said instead, "Yeah, I didn’t realize you had to add sugar to fresh squeezed lemonade." Both of the others winced.
Getting back on topic, "Sounds interesting," Sandra conceded. "It also sounds expensive."
"We found corporate sponsorship." Robin explained. "The Nakatomi Corporation is footing about 90% of the bill, state grants are handling the rest. We have a meeting with Holly McClane, Nakatomi’s rep next Tuesday. Since it’s Election Day we can get together during the day. Would you be interested in coming? They’re always impressed if we can get some parents on board."
"What time?"
"Two o’clock at Estello’s?"
Sandra nodded, "I’d be happy to be on the board. It’s a little early for me, but I’ll be there."
"Great, why don’t we talk some things over in my office." Robin said as he held out his hand for the Doc.
As Sandra was being led away she turned and said, "Thanks for your time Buffy. And I meant what I said."
Buffy had a fake smile on her face as Robin led Sandra to his office. Buffy let her head fall on her desk.
RD 4
Outside of Sunnydale CA
29Oct2002 -
1455 hrs
Andre De Vries smoothed out his robes as Peter Lanford, his apprentice, stood beside the door looking out through the drapes. De Vries was a tall man with a Van Dyke style salt and pepper beard. His hair was pure black; something his hair stylist knew had more to do with dye than nature. He had piercing blue eyes and a penetrating stare, which he practiced daily in front of a mirror.
"One car, Master," Lanford told him.
"See Peter, I told you it would work, and with only four hounds no one will suspect that Andre’ De Vries had anything to do with it."
"How do you know he has the ring?" Peter asked, eyes narrowing as he recognized the blonde head that got out of the other side of the car.
"Simple, if he didn’t have it he would have brought his whole squad, plus the SWAT team to this meeting. If he thought I had anything to do with the hounds he would have representatives of the Wizards Council with him. They wouldn’t be caught dead traveling by car, so he has the ring."
Peter turned to his Master, "O’Connell might be a little braver if he brought the Slayer with him."
De Vries waved off the comment, "He’s spent the last four years avoiding Buffy Summers, why would he go to her for this?"
"You can ask them yourself, she’s here with him."
"WHAT?!?!?!" De Vries roared!
Unknown
29Oct2002
Unknown
"Zeus," The tenor voice said into the phone.
"This is.." the person on the other side of the phone began.
"Code name," Zeus said sharply into the phone.
"What? Oh…, this is Paris," the slightly flustered voice on the other end of the line said.
"What can I do for you? This is not your normal check in time."
"You’re damn right it’s not, but if I wait there won’t be time to stop that bastard Ryan."
"From doing?"
"Doing? That son-of-a-bitch is going to cost me my Senate seat. I’ve slipped four points in the polls since he’s started his non-campaign for Burton and my internal analysts are telling me that it’s not going to get any better. If you don’t help I’m going to be out of the Senate and I won’t be able to help you to stop him anymore."
"Paris, you need to relax. You can’t go by polling data, come Election Day I’m sure that your constituents will remember the many years of loyal service you have given and will return you to office. Tipping our hand now by overtly aiding you is probably exactly what Ryan wants. You need to relax, things will work out. I’ll look and see if there is anything we can do subtly."
"I don’t need subtle at this point," The man code named Paris snarled. I’ve done everything you’ve asked me, you owe me. I’m calling in the marker."
"Very well, we’ll be in touch," Zeus agreed.
Major General Thomas Billingsly glanced up at his aide as he replaced the receiver, "Senator Kincaid is nervous about his race."
Captain Carl Iverson, General Billingsly aide de camp nodded, "He should be. I’ve talked to some of political annalists that we use. They say come next Wednesday Senator Kincaid will be checking the want ads."
"I think it would be better if I read of the Senator in the obituaries instead," Billingsly said calmly starting to go through papers on his desk.
"I’ll arrange it sir," Iverson confirmed.
Professor Nicholas Eddington’s house
1234 Mangrove Drive
Raleigh NC
29Oct2002 -
1320 hrs
Diggs looked at Eddington with hooded eyes, "Exactly how and what do you know about that?"
Eddington winced having his question confirmed, "When we were going to go through NTC the first time I found my Mother’s Mother on my front porch one morning about a week before we left. She was going on eighty and had never been more than ten miles from where she had been born, but there she was rocking in my chair calmly smoking her pipe.
"Nicholas," she said, "You are going out into a dangerous area, you need to know what is out there. She then went on and explained about the Hellmouth and what lives on it."
"And you took this seriously because?" Diggs asked.
"My mom’s family, to put it politely, are hillbillies. She got out of there as quickly as she could and mostly never looked back. My gram was the one exception, mom always stayed in touch and did what she could, so I grew up spending my summers up at Gramma’s place."
"Okay, not seeing the relation between her and you taking her warning seriously," Diggs said, trying to be polite.
"Just letting you know that I knew her, because otherwise you’d just snort at the next part. She had the sight, she was also a witch."
Two days ago Marion Diggs would have dismissed that statement out of hand, now he found himself considering it. "So she saw you getting into trouble?"
Eddington shook his head and reached for an orange, "She just saw were I was headed. I had no plans on going off of base anyway, so it wasn’t much of an inconvenience. I did talk to my battalion commanders and suggested that they should pass down the chain that on our weekend off if anyone wanted to go into town that San Bernardino was as far as they should go. I didn’t make it an order, just a strong suggestion. Unfortunately we had three NCOs that didn’t take the hint and decided that if Sunnydale was off limits then it must be a lively town."
"Old enough to know better, but too young to care?" Diggs said as he reached for his own orange. "What happened to them?"
"They disappeared, their rental was found in a club parking lot, but no trace of them turned up, for four months," Eddington finished quietly.
"Did you ever find out what happened?" Diggs asked as he peeled his orange.
Eddington nodded, "A cousin’s family was wiped out when their farm house burned down one night. It was quite a blow because the guy’s family had just had a memorial service for the missing man a week before. I didn’t think much of it till a close family friend of one of the other guys house burned three days later, that family was wiped out too. The first victims place was about as far west in the county that you could go, and the next victims were just east of that. I talked to Gram and she confirmed that it was likely that our missing soldiers had been turned into vampires and was working their way through relations."
The orange forgotten Diggs was giving Eddington his full attention, "What did you do?"
"I got the company the NCOs belonged to together and explained about vampires and what I thought was going on. From what I could tell on the map there were three potential families that they could strike at next so we split up into three groups and staked each of the potentials out. My group got lucky.
"I’d managed to convince the owners to let me answer the door. When I opened it there stood Sgt. John Tollings, one of my missing noncoms; when I invited him in and he couldn’t cross the threshold I really believed." Eddington gave Diggs a wry smile, "I know, I dragged a National Guard Company out for something I really didn’t believe in. All I can say is faith is a funny thing.
"I had a platoon backing me up and we had jury rigged a flame thrower so we just toasted them then and there. Those of us involved had a memorial service for them; Granny let us put a marker up on her land. As far as I know members of their unit still go up and tend the graves."
Diggs started separating the orange into segments thinking. "I don’t suppose your Grandmother is still alive is she? We could use someone with magical knowledge for this."
Eddington shook his head, "No, she passed on three years ago. No one else in the family is a witch right now, but I have a niece who is a sensitive and is fairly knowledgeable on occult matters."
"Think she might be interested in a job?"
RD 4
Outside of Sunnydale CA
29Oct2002 -
1505 hrs
Buffy found it a little surreal, Andre’ De Vries had met them in the front hall of his home, a rather impressive affair that sat about a half mile off of State Road 46, about three miles from where they had rescued Sandra and her kids. The house had three floors; an eight-foot high wall topped with spikes surrounded it. The front yard was about four times the size of Buffy’s whole lot and was meticulously landscaped. Buffy thought it was a bit vain, after all who would see? The inside of the house was as impressive as the outside, but there was something about the aura of the place that just grated on Buffy at a low level. While Buffy could see that De Vries had dressed to impress with his black robes, upon seeing him she thought he should have taken some lessons from the Mayor in dealing with people. After he had fawned over her hand explaining that he was happy to finally meet her she had to resist the urge to get her hand de-greased.
He led them into his study and sent his assistant for tea. De Vries continued in the vein of the conversation in the vestibule with Buffy making uh-huh, and vague affirmatives at the appropriate places while she studied the room she was in. It was on two floors with a spiral staircase in one corner that lead to a balcony that went around the whole room. The walls of both floors of the room were lined with bookshelves, except for one wall that had a huge flat panel tv. To a limited extent it reminded Buffy of the old high school library with the large number of old books. But there was something off about this room too, like just breathing the air was leaving a chalky feeling in her throat. Glad Willow didn’t get loose in here last May, Buffy thought to herself.
Peter showed up and poured the tea and they all sat and sipped for about five minutes when finally De Vries put his cup down and asked, "Lieutenant, since you haven’t offered it I assume you have not located my ring?"
"No sir," O’Connell said tensing slightly. "I’ve put the word out in both worlds so if someone tries to hock it locally I’ll know. I assumed that you’ve contacted the AFW to put the word out nationally. I’m afraid though that whoever took it might already have a buyer for it."
"I doubt that seriously Lieutenant, the ring only had sentimental value to me, I find it hard to believe someone would want it bad enough to send a thief in after it." De Vries remarked.
"AFW?" Buffy asked trying to keep up with the conversation.
De Vries actually looked shocked, "The American Federation of Wizards? I would think that would have been covered in your training."
"Weelll," Buffy began, "You might say I’m a free range Slayer."
"You haven’t been trained?" De Vries managed to strangle out, "All you’ve accomplished and you, you, you…., weren’t?"
Buffy managed to look bashful when she shrugged.
De Vries slumped back in his chair. O’Connell leaned forward in his chair not giving the head of the School Board a chance to recover stated, "I brought Ms. Summers along because she had an encounter with a pack of shadow hounds on Saturday. Since you are the AFW’s chief representative in the area you need to start an investigation."
"Shadow Hounds? Here?" De Vries asked, looking back and forth between his visitors. How many?"
"Four," Buffy replied.
Peter Lanford snorted.
Both O’Connell and Buffy turned to look at the assistant were he sat beside the door in case his master needed anything. "You’re dealing with a dabbler, I’m not all that powerful, but I’d get six at least if I cast it. Probably someone in the park was the target."
De Vries nodded agreeing with his apprentice, "This would be the wild dog episode that I read about?"
Buffy nodded, "They were over in the national park. The hounds jumped two hunters. One was killed; the other managed to get away initially. He ran through a camp and helped the family into trees. Thanks to him they made it, but he was killed before he could save himself."
"Shocking," De Vries said as he shook his head, "Perhaps one of the anti-hunting groups over at the University were responsible. They could have given the hounds an order to go to the mountains and kill hunters."
"Doubt it," O’Connell stated flatly, "If the hounds had been set on hunters then after they killed the second hunter they would have gone back to where ever they come from. That they stuck around could be an indication that they had lost whatever they had been sent after and had gone feral."
De ‘Vries thought on it awhile, "You could be right. Or it might be that the family had enemies and the hunters got in the way. Peter? Please contact the Council and report this. Inform them we have started an investigation and will keep them updated." Lanford just nodded and made a note in a small book that he produced from a pocket. "While have enjoyed this meeting, I’m afraid that I have some prior commitments so I must wish you a good day. Peter will show you out," De Vries said dismissing O’Connell and Buffy.
They rode in silence till they hit the main road back to town, then Buffy said, "How many wizards are living around here?"
O’Connell shrugged, "Counting those two? About a dozen, four are on the school board, the rest are either here for the ambiance, or because they are doing research on the Hellmouth."
"I don’t understand how we could have missed all of this," Buffy said in exasperation.
O’Connell chuckled, "That’s not a hard one."
O’Connell became uncomfortably aware of a pair of hazel eyes glaring at him intensely from the seat next to him all but ordering him to continue.
"It’s just that when it comes to things supernatural Buffy your approach is like a whack-a-mole game." The glare intensified.
He shrugged, "That’s what your approach reminds me of. You are a world champion player though Buffy."
"It works," Buffy said defensively.
"Never said it didn’t. I’ve assumed that it must have something to do with the way Giles was trained. Meredith, my sister theorized that they council must have had access to some pretty good seers that could point to were the Slayer would be needed. They came to rely on that and never developed modern intelligence practices. I guess it makes sense, if you have a system that works, don’t fix it. Which about sums up how you do things."
Buff became quiet again as she considered what O’Connell had just told her. After another couple of minutes of silence Buffy started asking questions about the AFW. O’Connell gave her a broad overview of it. O’Connell had an in with the New Orleans representative promised to contact him and find out what he could about the ritual that would summon the hounds. By the time they had that done they were back at the school parking lot and Buffy got out and went to her car. O’Connell drove home and found Mendi sitting on the front porch waiting for him. As he went up to the porch Mendi pulled a bottle of Corona out of the cooler at his feet and popped the top. He reached into the cooler again and came up with a wedge of lime, which he placed into the mouth of the bottle and handed it to his boss as he topped the stair.
"Figured you could use one after the meet. To much to hope that the Slayer took one look at De Vries and solved all our problems?"
O’Connell squeezed the lime into the bottle then took a healthy swig. Shaking his head, "I don’t think she liked him much and that act of his didn’t fool her for a second. But he was still in one piece when we left."
Mendi frowned, "Dang," taking a drink out of his own bottle. "He say anything about those hounds?"
"He’ll investigate it," O’Connell said. Looking around he noticed a group of Mediterranean types walking down the street eyeing his house.
Mendi snorted, "Investigate? Hell, he probably summoned them."
"Doesn’t work that way. When the spell is cast, the power level of the mage determines how big of a pack shows up. You can’t fudge it. I’m going to have to confirm Lanford’s rating. If he does rate six then both of them are off the hook and we got a problem. I had something similar happen down in New Orleans, this drug lord was using them to guard his stash and they got loose. Not fun."
The Mediterranean types reached the end of his walk and turned in, "Mendi? Go inside."
Mendi came off of his chair and said, "You sure boss?"
"Go."
Mendi went in, O’Connell knew him well enough to know that he was heading down stairs to the gun cabinet.
The five men that stopped at the bottom of the steps looked enough alike to be relatives, they were all around six feet tall, slim, but with good muscle tone. They all had black hair, though it was longer on some than others. The leader had a goatee, the others full beards. The one in the front looked up and smiled, there was something familiar about that smile.
"I am a stranger from the east, I seek what is lost," he said.
"I’m a stranger from the west, it is I that you seek," O’Connell replied.
"You only inside," O’Connell ordered the apparent leader as he turned and went in, not really paying attention if the man followed or not. When he reached his study he waited for the stranger to get there then waved him in and into a seat. O’Connell went around his desk and opening a drawer pulled a portable florescent light out of it. "Close your eyes," he suggested to the other. When he did O’Connell turned the black light on and ran the light over the man’s face. The facial tattoos of a Medji warrior blazed to life. The man opened his eyes and smiling said, "You don’t recognize me do you?"
O’Connell studied the man before him and then a smile of his own came to his lips, "Ahmed?"
"It is good to see you, old friend."
O’Connell gathered the man into a rib cracking hug and pounding him on the back said, "God! It’s good to see you!"
A thought suddenly bloomed in O’Connell’s mind, taking a step back he asked, "You’re not here on vacation are you."
His smile turning somewhat sad Ahmed shook his head, "She has returned and has found a way to bring back the creature. We must stop this from happening. We need you help because what she seeks is in Sunnydale."
O’Connell waved his friend forward, "Come on, invite your friends in and then we’ll join Mendi in the playroom."
After collecting his other men Ahmed followed O’Connell down into his basement. The other man from the porch was behind the bar that ran the length of one of the walls. The thing that caught his eyes though was a huge reptilian head that was mounted on the far wall. "Is that a dragon?" He asked surprised.
O’Connell had joined Mendi behind the bar and was pulling a variety of sodas out of a fridge said distractedly, "Yeah, bagged that two years ago."
"What did you use?" Ahmed asked as he moved to get a closer look at it.
"A MAW," Jonathan replied. It was raiding a local ranchers herd so he asked for help. I had some contacts that could get one, so we staked out the pasture it was feeding from and bagged it after about week. The taxidermist actually stuffed it for free. He didn’t figure another would be coming through."
"How did you get it down here?" Ahmed asked as all of the entrances were clearly too small for it to fit.
"My brother the wizard. He popped over from England. One of their Hellmouths looked like it might be going active again so he wanted to check this one out to know what to look for. He still got a case of Samuel Adams out of me to stretch the doors so we could get that thing in. Even though it’s dead it’s still resistant to magic, we had to lug the thing in by hand."
Ahmed shook his head as he took a ginger ale that his chief lieutenant offered. Taking a seat he took a swig then began, "Anck-Su-Namun has discovered a ritual that can bring the creature back from the dead yet again. For this ritual she will need something called The Key. We must find this Key before she does and destroy it."
O’Connell shook his head, "You ain’t going to destroy it."
"You know where it is? And why won’t we be able to destroy it?"
"I’m not 100% sure, but if I’m right then it’s in a sixteen year old girl."
Ahmed got a sad look on his face, "The death of an innocent is always to be regretted, but sometime the individual must be sacrificed for the greater good of all."
"My family and Medji haven’t agreed with that since we first ran into each other. In this case however, I meant that I seriously doubt that you could kill her."
"Why?"
"Ever here of The Slayer?"
Ahmed was taken aback, "Are you saying that the Key is The Chosen One?"
O’Connell smirked, "Almost as good, if I’m right it’s the Slayer’s little sister."
Ahmed nodded, his lips forming a cold smile, "Perhaps Anck-Su-Namun has bitten off more than she can chew."
Sunnydale Airport, Hanger 4
Sunnydale CA
29Oct2002 -
1655 Hours
Riley Finn was disappointed when the first female off of the VC 20 had four legs rather than two, the owner of the four legs more than made up for his disappointment though by bounding down the steps and jumping up on his chest, barking excitedly in greeting to the pack leader she hadn’t seen in two weeks.
Riley grabbed the German Shepard behind the jaws, partially in greeting, but mostly to keep her from slobbering all over his face. "And how is Ginger," Riley asked in the tone that people saved for babies and dogs, "Did you have a good leave?" Ginger pulled her head out of his hands and barked twice as if in agreement. She then dropped back onto all fours and began sniffing around Riley’s shoes and legs to see what he had been up to while they had been separated.
Bob Cugren, Ginger’s handler was the next out of the plane and gave Riley a smile in apology for his dogs actions. Behind Bob came the female that Riley had been waiting to see. Sam smiled and ran to her husband; embracing him in a huge hug that was firmly returned.
"I missed you Major," she said into his chest. "Congratulations honey," she said, as she raised her face for a kiss. Before Riley could kiss her though she spotted the bruises on the side of his face and reaching up she turned his pucker aside so she could get a look at them. "What happened?" She asked, very concerned.
"Err, I walked into a door?" Riley said rather lamely.
Samantha Finn cocked an eyebrow at her husband, "I can see the knuckle marks Riley. Are you going to tell me who you got into a fight with or am I going to have to start measuring knuckles?"
"It was Xander. I deserved it though, I hit him first."
"You did what?"
"I’ll tell you about it on the way to Buffy’s house. She’s called a meeting and General Clark wants us there."
Riley was watching as people continued to exit the plane, when Graham Miller finally descended the stairs he nodded to Riley that they were clear. "Okay folks listen up!" Riley called and waited for his squad to gather around. Riley wished they had a magic user with them, but unfortunately the two that the Initiative currently had on the payroll had both bolted with Billingsly, then again with Willow on the scene it wasn’t really a much of a loss. The men he did have, with the exception of Bob Crugen, were all Sunnydale veterans so they knew what was coming, "We are currently staying at a local motel. We have a base that should be ready to move into by the end of the week. Since we have experience with what we are dealing with our team will be splitting up. Two of us will accompany four of the Rainbow troops on patrols; until they are up to speed we are going to be some busy people. We also lucked out in that General Clark has managed to retain the services of the Slayer for training."
"He says that like it’s a good thing," Graham Miller mumbled.
"You don’t think she’s qualified?" Sgt. Ed Tusken the team radio operator asked.
"Naw, that’s not it. It’s that I still have bruises from the last time I trained with her."
"If I’m not interrupting anything Graham," Riley asked his old friend.
"Naw, I’m good," He replied sardonically.
"That’s good, come up here I’ll give you the keys to our rooms and the cars."
Riley and Graham huddled for a couple of minutes then Graham waved the rest of the unit to follow him as Riley and Sam got in another car and headed out.
123 Front Street, apartment 254
Raleigh NC
29Oct2002 -
17:25 hrs
Nicholas Eddington was about to knock again on the apartment door when it opened under his hand. The young woman that answered it had tears streaming down her cheeks. From the glassy look in her eyes Diggs could also tell that she had been drinking. She was shorter than Eddington and stocky, with a pleasing face surrounded by brown hair cut in a pageboy style.
"Uncle Nick!" She sobbed, and all but threw herself into his arms.
"Cindy, what’s wrong honey?" Eddington asked his niece as he hugged her tight.
"That bastard Trankard told me today that he wasn’t picking up my contract." Cindy Stewart opened her eyes and saw Marion Diggs standing there with a concerned look on his face. She pushed herself off her uncle and said, "I’m sorry, I didn’t realize there was someone with you."
"Cindy, I’d like you to meet Major General Marion Diggs, he has something he wants to talk to you about." Eddington told his niece.
"General Diggs…?" Cindy’s hand went to her mouth and her eyes went wide. "General, I’m sorry, I usually don’t drink this early, I mean when I do, which I don’t mostly, and oh I’m just digging myself in deeper," she looked to her uncle for help.
"Relax Ms. Stewart, I’ve been known to down a couple when I got bad news," Diggs said, trying to put the young woman at ease.
"I’ll go and get straitened out, Uncle Nick could you get the general something to drink?" Cindy said as she motioned both of the older men into her apartment. She then disappeared into an adjoining room and shut the door.
Diggs looked around and liked the apartment. Judging by the doors it was probably a one bedroom, though the kitchen was a little bigger than you’d normally find in this kind of apartment. She had the living room area set up with a couch facing the TV with overstuffed chairs on both sides and a larger than normal coffee table with glass end pieces and a wooden center section. On the table was a half empty bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon and an open scrapbook. It looked like there were newspaper clippings on the pages. The walls were mostly covered by bookcases except for where the TV was and one section of wall that had a bronze crucifix hanging on it. Looking closer at it Diggs saw that it wasn’t the normal depiction of Christ dead on the cross, rather it had a living Jesus holding his hands out away from the cross, his arms out with his right giving a blessing and in his left a sheppard’s staff. A Stylized sunburst surrounded the figure.
Eddington had gone to the kitchen and had grabbed a couple of Cokes out of the fridge. Turning he saw Diggs admiring the crucifix on the wall and said as he strolled over to his friend, "It’s called ‘The Cross of the Resurrection, Jenny Hudson’s parents gave it too her when she helped find their daughter." Eddington handed Diggs the soda and motioned for him to sit on the couch. Once he and Diggs were seated Eddington grabbed the scrapbook and passed it over.
Diggs scanned the headlines and saw that they were about the kidnapping of a young girl earlier in the year. She had been taken on her way home from school. According to the story, police had received a tip and they had managed to rescue the girl. The next story was from several days later when it was revealed that they tipster had been an assistant teacher at the girl’s school. Once Cindy’s identity was out it appeared that the local press tried to turn Cindy into a heroine, until the police announced that they were investigating Cindy because the information she had given to the detective in charge of the case had been so precise that the only way they could see that she had it was if she was an accomplice. Cindy had gone from heroine to villain in less than a day.
"She almost lost her job then," Eddington told him.
"Why didn’t she?"
"They put her and the perp’s life history under an electronic microscope. They couldn’t find a single instance of Cindy and that bastard coming within 5 miles of each other, except when he took little Jenny."
"How did she get clued in to where the girl was then?"
"She found her hat."
Diggs cocked an eyebrow at him.
"I told you, Cindy is a sensitive. She gets feelings every so often and if one of the feelings is about you then you better listen. Also, if she picks up an item that there was very strong emotions around she can tune into the owner of the item. That’s what she did there. Cindy knew which cops that deal with the supernatural in and around Raleigh. So she went to the guy in charge because she knew there wasn’t much time."
"If the cops know that she’s sensitive why did they give her a hard time?"
Eddington sighed, " Cindy is my sister’s second daughter. The Eddington and Trankard families have had a low level feud going on since before the War Between the States. Corbin Trankard, Cindy’s Boss, is the scion of the Trankards that live in the Raleigh area. He saw Cindy find the cap and since Crowley witch women are somewhat infamous in the backcountry he put two and two together. The cop that pushed for the investigation is a Trankard cousin, as is the reporter who wrote the stories. Now it looks like he’s using this to force Cindy out."
"There is no looks like it, with my contract not picked up, I’m afraid no other school district is going to touch me, at least in this area," Cindy said as she came back into the room.
Diggs noticed that she looked sober; she had also changed into a jean skirt and a flannel shirt. He was impressed, the only other time he had seen someone sober up that quick was coming home from a night on the town with a friend and they had almost clobbered a deer that jumped out in front of them. His buddy had gone from well lubed to cold sober in a heartbeat.
"Well you know what Gram always said when something like this happens," Eddington said philosophically.
"When one door closes another opens? Uncle Nick I love this area, I don’t want to move out just so I can teach."
"I’m sorry to hear that you don’t want to move Ms. Stewart," Diggs said. "I was hoping to hire you as a consultant on my staff."
Cindy sat down in one of the easy chairs across from the couch and frowned, "You need someone with a Degree in Education for your staff?"
"Honey, the General has been ordered to put together a staff because we have received information that there is going to be a try to open the Sunnydale Hellmouth. There are some locals on the ground that we are backing up that have an excellent track record of stopping things like this, but if they fail then General Diggs will be the next line of defense. We need someone who has a working knowledge of the supernatural to advise on what we might be looking at."
"The Government doesn’t already have people for this kind of stuff?" Cindy asked, clearly surprised.
"We did, unfortunately they are the ones who are trying to open the thing," Diggs said, then went on to give her a brief overview of the problem. When he got to the part about Billingsly thinking that the President was the Anti-Christ she just snorted.
"I knew I should have paid more attention to CNN, I completely missed the Rapture," She said with dry sarcasm.
Diggs nodded, "So what do you think, are you interested? Nothing may come of this, but I understand that something trying to open this thing is a somewhat common event so the protocols we set up my help someone else down the line."
Cindy thought about if for a couple of seconds, "Okay, I’m in." She got up and crossing to the coffee table she tripped a latch and open the wooden section up. It raised and extended so that someone sitting on the couch would have a tray comfortably in front of them. Underneath the table part was a couple of nooks that had papers in them. Cindy reached in and pulled out a folder and handed both her uncle and Diggs a sheet from one of them.
"I’m going for my Masters in ancient languages. For my final project I’m doing a study on meaning drift caused by multiple translations. I found the works of a minor prophet, well to be fair most people consider him to be a mystic, called Meltecic. There was only one work ever ascribed to him. It included nine prophecies. Eight had to deal with Babylonian exile; the last as far as can be told hasn’t happened yet, or if it did then it was never recorded. His eight prophecies on Babylon though were spot on leading many scholars to believe that they were written after the fact."
Diggs interested flipped to the last page and began reading:
"To close a Hellmouth true
This is all that you need do.
Seven mages you will need
be they any sex or creed,
One of Black in dark might.
Who however fights for the Light.
Three of Gray
Three of White
Each linked by bounds of honor, blood, or life.
In a circle the six will kneel
Arms outstretched to form Solomon’s Seal.
In the center of them all
the black one will heed the chanters call.
Pull and stretch the cosmos weave.
When released the trickster leaves."
"Well damn," was Diggs comment.
1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale CA
29Oct2002 -
1740 hrs
Jonathan O’Connell sat on the couch and half listened as Ahmed finished explaining to General Clark and his people the history of the Medji. His eyes slid off of the Rainbow officers and over to Buffy and Dawn. He had been worried about broaching the subject of Dawn as the Key, especially since he wasn’t a hundred percent sure that Dawn was the Key. Logically it made sense, Glory had been ripping up the town looking for the thing and Dawn had ended up on the tower and that was where the fireworks had started. He hadn’t had too good of a view of what happened there that night, he had set up about four blocks from the scrap yard with his team and had just about decided to get involved with what ever had been going on there when they had been jumped by about twenty of those little trolls that Glory had used as minions and what ever had happened on top of the tower was over with by the time he could stick his head up. He had wounded to see to so he wasn’t even able to check on the Scoobies until almost three days later.
When he had explained this too her Buffy digested it and asked what they intended to do. The look in her eyes told him that the wrong answer here could have extreme consequences and he had been thankful when Ahmed had told the Slayer quietly that they would do what ever they could to help protect Dawn. After all he had explained, when the first Medji maiden had been Chosen it meant that the Slayers had become part of the Medji, and the Medji protected their own. Buffy had accepted that, but said that it would be up to her to explain about Dawn to Clark and his people. Ahmed agreed readily.
Clark, Ding, Alistair Stanley and Pete Covington had arrived twenty minutes after Buffy had called. They explained that Riley was off picking up his team and he and Sam would come right over. They had started giving the commando’s the background and were just finishing it up when Riley and Sam got there.
Willow got up to great them but stopped as Sam came in the door, "What happened to your hair?" Willow asked, when Samantha had left last year she had been a brunette.
Sam lifted up a group of her locks and shrugged, "I got captured in Tibet. The mage we were after had been told that if he tried to marry anyone but a red head bad things would happen to him. He liked my attitude so he changed my hair color. I’m thinking the fortuneteller that gave him the prophecy probably should have also told him not to cheat. Because when Riley got there bad things sure did happen to him."
Willow cocked her head at the other woman, "If you want I can try to reverse it," she offered.
Sam shrugged as she came forward and took Willow into a hug, "Thanks, but I just got all my paper work changed over, besides I kind of like it."
Willow hugged her back and then push away, "What did you tell your parents?"
Sam smiled, "That it was a side effect of a weird jungle disease I contracted in Mexico."
Buffy muttered from her seat in the living room, "They must be from Sunnydale too."
Riley and Sam found seats after Sam got finish greeting everyone. Clark then said, "Okay everyone is here, what’s going on?"
O’Connell looked at Buffy but when she nodded that he should begin he stood up and addressed the gathering. "Ahmed has discovered that Anck-Su-Namun is in Sunnydale and is looking for a component of a spell that will allow her to revive Imhotep, her lover."
Riley cocked his head and asked, "This is bad because…"
Ahmed Bey replied, "Imhotep would rise a walking disease, he would be invincible and have control of the ten plagues of ancient Egypt."
Riley nodded, "Okay, stopping that defiantly a good thing."
Ding then asked, "Do you have any idea what she is looking for?"
"Yes, she seeks The Key," Ahmed replied.
Clark noticed that the Scoobies tensed up at the mention of it. Riley frowned trying to remember something, "That was the thing that Glory was looking for wasn’t it?"
Buffy nodded.
"Did you ever figure out what it was?" Riley asked.
"Oh yeah," Xander replied. Buffy gave him a hard look and he sat back on the couch.
"And you didn’t destroy it?" Riley questioned, wondering why.
"It would be a little hard to do that Riley," Buffy told her former boyfriend, "it’s in a person."
Riley stared at the ceiling, "Of course it is."
Turning to Clark he said, "General, I suggest we get this person and move them either to Groom Lake or Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Those are probably the closest secure facilities."
Bringing his attention back to Buffy, "You do know where this person is don’t you?"
Buffy nodded.
"What’s Groom Lake?" Dawn asked.
"It’s normally called Area 51, it’s outside of Las Vegas," Riley told her, "The Air Force uses it for flight testing for their experimental aircraft."
"And that’s where they store the aliens," Xander said, only half joking.
Everyone joined in a quick laugh, though in the back of Clarks mind he wondered, after all if the supernatural was real…
"What if the person doesn’t want to live in a desert or under a mountain?" Dawn asked.
Clark noticed that Buffy was starting to get agitated, he saw that Dawn saw it too, but choose to ignore her sister.
"We’ll just have to convince them is all Dawnie," Riley replied.
"Start convincing," Dawn told him, "I got to tell you though you better be a lot more convincing than you used to be."
Riley smiled at the younger Summers, "Thanks for the vote of confidence Dawn, but I think I’ll let someone else do it so I don’t need the practice." Turning back to Buffy he was going to ask for the identity of The Key when he realized that everyone in the room was staring at him.
"Here’s your sign," Spike said from where he was leaning up against doorframe with a mug of blood in hand.
Riley was about to say something when he stopped, what Dawn had said sinking in. He looked at her frowning and asked, "When did that happen?"
"Dawn!" Buffy said, clearly annoyed.
Dawn turned to her sister, "What? We were going to have to tell them eventually anyway and you would have just danced around it for the next hour."
Buffy scowled at her younger sibling.
"What exactly is this Key?" Clark asked hoping to stop a sibling spate before it got started.
"The Key is an ancient magical artifact that drops the barriers between dimensions," Giles began as he took off his glasses and started cleaning the lenses.
"We believe that Anck-Su-Namun will use the Key to pierce the barrier around Hell and release the Creature," Ahmed Bey explained.
"It can do that?" Ding asked.
"Oh, easily, the problem is it’s not selective. It will drop all dimensional barriers everywhere. The portal would continue to spread and eventually all would fall to chaos."
"If it would destroy the world why would she use it?" Clark asked perplexed as he considered Dawn.
"She may believe that she can control it, or that she can close the portal after she recovers Him," Ahmed postulated. "Unlike her other incarnations, this time she is a mage of no small power."
"This keeps getting better and better," Xander muttered.
"Back to my original question," Riley stated, "When, did this happen?"
"About the time that we fought Dracula, we’ve never been able to pin it down closer than that," Buffy told him. "The monks that guarded the Key knew that Glory was getting close and they decided that I would have the best chance against her so they stuck it into something they knew I would defend. The way they did it meant that Glory couldn’t detect it which is why she was ripping up the town."
"That doesn’t work," Sam Finn said. All of the Scoobies turned as one and stared at her.
"What do you mean it doesn’t work?" Clark demanded.
Sam licked her lips at the sudden scrutiny and nodding in apology to Buffy and Dawn said, "A human body couldn’t hide an artifact of that power, it would be like trying to hide a search light with mosquito netting. Anyone with the sight would know at glance that there was something there. Since Glory knew what she was looking for the first time she laid eyes on Dawn she would of known, unless…," Sam looked up quickly at Dawn with a look of shock and wonder in her eyes.
It was all Buffy could do to stop from launching herself at Riley’s wife. Willow narrowed her eyes, Xander shifted so he could defend Dawn better and Spike moved out of the doorway until he was directly behind Dawn glaring at the non Scoobies in the room.
"Unless?" Clark asked impatiently, ignoring the Scoobies’ defensive posturing.
"Unless the vessel was constructed explicitly to hide the Key," she finished quietly.
"That’s impossible Sam," Riley told his wife. "I knew Dawn for weeks before we ran into Dracula."
Samantha Finn turned to her husband and shook her head sadly, "No hon, you only think you did."
"SHE, IS, MY, SISTER," Buffy said with a fierce determination. "You aren’t doing anything to her."
Clark turned back to the Slayer, surprise on his face, "Do anything? What do you mean?"
"It doesn’t matter how she got here, she is my sister," Buffy replied in the same dangerous tone.
"Listen to me Buffy," Clark began, motioning with his hands to his men, who had begun to ready themselves in response to what the Scoobies were doing. "We aren’t going to do anything to Dawn beyond trying to protect her. You’re right, it doesn’t matter how she got here, she’s here. If you are ready to put your life on the line for her, that’s good enough for me."
All of the others in the room nodded.
O’Connell cleared his throat. When everyone was paying attention to him he began, "My sister Meredith is researching the ceremony they will perform and as soon as she gets something she’ll give us a call. Meanwhile why don’t we sit down together and start discussing how we are going to cover Dawn."
"We got some Egyptian manuscripts in right before the Magic Box was destroyed," Anya said. "I think some of them might be on Seti the First so they might have info on this Imhotep guy or what’s her name. Could someone go with me? I really don’t want to run into Crudge by myself."
Willow got up, "I’ll go with you. It’s my fault the stuff is up there anyway."
"Be careful," Giles told the women as they collected their purses and where heading out the door.
Clark thought about calling the base and having Benton and a couple of the men meet them at the storage site, but with Willow there they would probably just be in the way.
The group moved to the dining room after Ding went out to their rental and returned with maps of Sunnydale, Sunnydale High School and it’s surrounding area.
There was some friction at first when Giles pointed out that they really didn’t want a strong military
presence around the house to which Clark had suggested they tell the newly arrived Potentials that since there
was a Hellmouth to contend with the US Government kept troops in the area to cover it. Giles hadn’t looked
happy but Clark was right. Plus there was no way that they would be able to completely hide the Rainbow troops
so that explanation worked.
They were just starting to discuss the best way to approach Robin Wood, the principle of the High School,
about the possibility of stationing some people in the school when O’Connell’s cellphone went off. Deciding
that there was too much noise in the dining room he moved off into the kitchen.
"Andrea will have some ideas how to do this," Clark said, almost to himself. There were alarms going off that told Clark he was missing something, he just couldn’t see what it was.
"Andrea? Price?" Buffy asked.
"Hmm?" Clark asked distractedly. "Andrea Price will be here in a couple of hours, she wants to talk to Willow."
"And you are just mentioning it now?" Buffy asked, as she looked around at the state the house was in.
"Sorry, I meant to tell Willow when we got here but I was sidetracked by Ahmed and the Medji.
Buffy made a command decision. "Kennedy? Grab Annabelle and Molly and see what you can do with the downstairs."
Kennedy opened her mouth to make a comment, but Molly just grabbed her sister potential’s arm and drug her toward the living room.
O’Connell came out of the kitchen with a smile on his face.
Xander noticing asked, "What’s got you in such a good mood all of a sudden?"
"We caught a break," O’Connell said, "She’s after the wrong thing." That got everyone’s attention. "They have a flawed translation. Dawn’s not off the hook, but if they get her they won’t be able to bring Imhotep back."
"Well that’s something I guess," Dawn said, not seeing the bright side.
Clark had to agree with her; after all they could still end the world if they activated this Key thing, hardly a better option.
"What do they need if it’s not The Key?" Sam Finn asked.
O’Connell took out his not book and opening it he stared at the page for a minute, turned the book sideways and finally up side down. Shaking his head, he shrugged, "I can’t pronounce it, but Meredith says that it’s a witch that’s preformed a resurrection." He shrugged again, "How many of those can there be around?"
123 Front Street, apartment 254
Raleigh NC
29Oct2002 -
1750hrs
"Wait a minute," Diggs said looking at the prophecy again. "Are you telling me that when you translated this thing it rhymed?"
Cindy nodded, "First time I finished it I thought my student advisor was having some fun with me so I thought I’d have some fun with him so I got in touch with the Vatican Library to see if I could have someone send me a copy of the original in Hebrew. I translated that one and that’s what I got."
"Did you pick this out yourself?" Diggs asked.
Cindy shook her head, "My student advisor suggested it. He knew it had been translated from Hebrew into Greek, then Latin, and from Latin into German and French. Since no one had ever done an English translation I wouldn’t be able to cheat on the translation."
Diggs was impressed, "You speak all of those languages?"
Cindy smiled and shook her head again, "No, I can read Hebrew, Latin and French. I swapped out with another student for the Greek and German."
Diggs sat there with a frown on his face.
"What are you thinking Mary?" Eddington asked.
""That stuff that looks to good to be true usually is," Diggs replied.
Cindy looked indignant, "Are you saying I’m trying to set you up?"
Diggs held up his hands, "Not you specifically. I’d like to talk to this advisor, see where he got this thing from."
Mollified Cindy went and got her organizer out of a desk drawer.
"Billingsly would have to be one subtle planner if he stuck something like that on Cindy, just on the odd chance you’d talk to her."
Diggs nodded his agreement; "The problem is that Billingsly isn’t the only player in this one. There’s this thing that calls itself The First Evil. From what I gather it’s capable of this kind of subtlety."
There was a thump and both Diggs and Eddington turned to where Cindy was standing, her hands to her mouth, her organizer on the floor, "The First is in Sunnydale?" She asked quietly.
"You’ve heard of it?" Diggs questioned.
Cindy barely nodded, "Only very quiet rumors, it’s not talked about. I can ask around, but when people look into the First, well bad things tend to happen to them."
"We have some locals that deal with this stuff. If you have anything on this thing bring it. They might appreciate it."
Cindy nodded, "I may have some things." She leaned down and grabbed the organizer off of the floor. She opened it and put the book in front of Diggs.
"His name is John Running-Bear," She said pointing to one of the entries. "He’s Canadian, About three months ago he got a position at the University of Ottawa. His mom lives near their main campus and she’s not doing well. He wanted to be close incase she needed anything."
Diggs copied the info into his notebook. He’d pass it on to Secretary Brentano and see what he could find out about this guy. This could be crucial information but it was just too good to be true.
Eddington had been thinking on this as Diggs was getting the information from Cindy. He wanted to doubt it too, but, "You know Mary," he said, "we could be looking at a cigar wrapper."
Diggs started, "Antietam?" He asked.
"Sharpsburg," Eddington agreed.
"Do you want to try that again in English rather than Militarieese?" Cindy requested.
"Its shocking the state of education in our country Col. Eddington," Diggs said in a mock disgusted tone.
"It is indeed Gen. Diggs," Eddington agreed sadly.
"Yeah, Yeah," Cindy replied in a mock cross tone, "you know I majored in Languages not History."
Eddington took pity on his niece, "In the fall of 1862 Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia invaded Maryland with intent of forcing it out of the Union. There were strong secessionist feelings in the eastern part of the state around Baltimore so it was hoped there would be a fair amount in the west as well. If they succeeded then Washington D.C. technically wouldn’t even be in the US anymore. It was further hoped that such a victory would bring recognition from the European powers of the Confederacy. The problem was that the Army of Northern Virginia was a lot smaller than the Army of the Potomac, the Union’s main force in the area. So Lee came up with a plan, he would split his forces up and try to draw the union commander, General George McClellan into doing the same. He would then bring his forces together at a predetermined point and time and hopefully be able to crush a portion of the separated Army of the Potomac evening the odds. Because of the careful timing involved Lee wrote out his orders to make sure everyone knew what they were supposed to do. Unfortunately for the South one of the copies of the order was lost, then even worse it was found by a union soldier who recognized what it was and passed it up the chain."
Diggs took up the narrative, "McClellan had in his hand what every general dreams of, a complete roster and time table of the other side. He knew where every unit of the enemy was, and more importantly where they were going to be."
Cindy had retaken her seat as her Uncle began, she frowned and turned to Diggs, "Uncle Nick said this was 1862, if he had this information why did the war last three more years?"
"McClellan outsmarted himself. He believed that Lee outnumbered him. He convinced himself that the order that had been found was deliberately planted and that Lee was waiting to pounce with the rest of his forces as soon as he was fully involved with the forces listed in the orders so he kept a good portion of his own force in reserve, in doing so he turned what could have been the decisive battle of the Civil War into a marginal Union victory."
"Okay but what do cigar wrappers have to do with that?"
"The orders that were found were wrapped around some cigars," Eddington finished.
"So what Uncle Nick was saying was, ‘Sometimes you get lucky?’" Cindy asked.
"Or don’t disbelieve something just because it’s exactly what you need," Diggs replied.
"How soon will you be available Cindy?" Diggs asked.
"Give me twenty minutes and I’m yours. I can call school and let them know I won’t be back. Trankard will probably turn cartwheels."
"What about Granny’s library? Eddington asked. "Aren’t you going to need it for research?"
Cindy smiled and reaching down pulled a metal briefcase out from beside her chair. She set it on the table and popped the latches. Inside there was a laptop and about one hundred CDs in individual holders. "My project last summer was to set up a database with Granny’s library. It took me almost two months but I got over ninety percent of it on file in the laptop. The disks are the back up."
Why didn’t you get the rest?" Diggs asked.
Cindy was on her way back into her bedroom. Turning back to the General she said, "There are some books that aren’t meant to be read General, Gran had a couple of those. I didn’t want to find out if scanning equals reading."
1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale CA
29Oct2002 -
1800 hrs
Buffy was heading for the door almost before O’Connell was finished speaking. Clark was perhaps half a heartbeat behind her reaching for his cell phone. The Scoobies where in motion almost as one with Riley and Sam Finn moving at the same time. The others in the room where looking confused but the three potentials came out of the living room when they heard the movement and slotted in with the rest.
"Judging by the reaction, one," O’Connell answered his own question in a disgusted tone. He started moving with the rest of the Rainbow people and reached for his radio. "Break, Break, Break," He barked into the receiver. "This O’Connell I am declaring a Code Crimson, I say again, Code Crimson."
"All units, we are at Code Crimson, go ahead Lieutenant," the voice of the dispatcher said.
"Buffy!" O’Connell called as Buffy was heading out the door, "Where are they?"
"Secure Store," Xander called over his shoulder.
Clark stopped as he came to the door; turning to O’Connell he cocked an eyebrow at him.
"It’s at the junction of Route 46 and 14," he told him.
Clark nodded his head and started out, "Benton get the men loaded up and head to the Secure Store at Route 46."
Thumbing his radio O’Connell barked into his radio, "I need any unit in the vicinity of the Secure Store facility to respond there. They are to locate Willow Rosenberg and Anya Jenkins and place them into protective custody. Rosenberg is 5’5, has red hair and is wearing a brown peasant blouse. Jenkins is 5’6" and is wearing a blue and white top with blue jeans. Officers are not to allow anyone but me to approach them. Anyone who does not obey instructions to keep their distance is to be considered armed and dangerous. I am eight minutes out."
Mendi was waiting in the car outside with the motor running in case a quick exit had been required. He had heard the Code Crimson so he had the car in gear and waiting for the Lieutenant and Ahmed to pile in. As soon as they did he pealed out with the Siren blaring.
Buffy, Xander, Dawn, Giles and the potentials managed to fit in Xander’s SUV. Xander got it going and put it into gear then waited.
"What are you waiting for?" Buffy almost screamed, "Go!"
"I’m waiting for O’Connell," Xander told the Slayer. Before Buffy could say anything O’Connell’s car peeled out of its space siren blaring. "With the siren he can clear the road better than me just running people off of the road," he said as he threw the car into gear and tore off after the speeding police car.
The other cars where right behind them. Clark, Ding, Alistair, and Pete were in the lead car, Riley and Sam in the car behind. Clark was back on the phone to their Helicopter Pilot, CWO4 Carl ‘Badger’ Cole, to get him in the air. After a moment he cursed and started dialing again.
"What?" Ding asked, never taking his eyes off of the road.
"That was Badger, our chopper’s fuel pump started acting up on the way up to Fort Irwin. I need to find out if we can borrow one of the 11th Armour Cav’s," He explained to Ding. "This is General John Clark, I need to speak with Col. Hamm immediately please," he said into the phone.
In the lead vehicle O’Connell wasn’t giving anyone a break. He didn’t actually hit anyone, but there were some very close calls. They were three minutes out when over the radio came, "This is Car Ten we are at the gate of Secure Store," The cops voice lost its bored tone thou when the next thing out of the radio was, "We are under fire! Car is disabled we are taking cover!" The next message was worse, "Officer down, Murphy’s been hit, I’m pinned and can’t reach him!"
Mendi grabbed the mike and keying it said, "We’re a minute out Richards, hang on!"
"I’m not planning any long walks!" the replay came back.
The convoy came around the corner and O’Connell quickly looked the storage site over. Like most of its ilk there was a chain link fence surrounding the property with double strands of barbwire strung along the top. There were two entrances, the main one, which let out onto Route 46, and a back gate that led onto a service road. There were four lines of lockers, more like small garages strung together with an office/apartment for the on site manager located at the front of the lockers. There was a white van parked in front of the office with several red turbaned figures loading something limp and red headed into the back of the van. There were perhaps twenty of the turbaned figures in doorways or behind over turned trash cans that were pouring fire into the Sunnydale PD car that was parked across the gate. Both doors of what was left of the cruiser were open; the driver hadn’t gotten two steps before he had been hit. He was lying partially under the car and O’Connell could see the blood pooling under the body. The front of the car was so pot marked with bullet holes that it was starting to become difficult to know what the original paint scheme was.
The turbaned shooters switched targets before they could even come to a stop. Mendi turned into the fence a hundred feet before the gate and managed to knock down two segments before the wire of the fence got caught up into the wheels and locked them. O’Connell unlocked the shotgun form the dash and fired a couple of rounds off to keep heads down as he, Mendi and Ahmed ducked to the back of the SUV. Mendi had popped the trunk from inside and pulled out two FN-Fals batte rifles. Handing one to Ahmed they started peppering the office to keep the bad guys heads down.
Xander pulled off the road on the opposite side from the storage before piling out thankful that so far no one had marred the paint on his vehicle, bullet holes were so hard to explain to bodywork people. The others poured out of other side of the vehicle. Buffy turned to Dawn and the potentials and said, "Stay here, and stay down." Xander moved to the back of the Explorer and opening the trunk pulled out a battle axe and handed a second to Buffy.
Ding pulled in back of O’Connell, but kept his vehicle paralleling the road forming a ‘T’ with O’Connell’s jeep. Reaching behind the seat he took his Marlin that Pete handed him. After his encounter with the group of vamps the night before he had decided that the Marlin was going with him anywhere he could bring it. Pete also passed over the bandoleer with the thumb-sized cartridges for the gun. He then followed Alistair and Clark out of the doors. Clark pulled the Desert Eagle out of its shoulder holster and began returning fire with both arms extended using the hood of the Suburban as a brace. Both Alistair and Pete were both armed with 10mm pistols so the range was a bit far for them they got down and waited if the bad guys rushed them.
Riley pulled in behind Ding and he and Sam both popped out of her side of the car as it started taking fire immediately with round holes popping up in the front fender and windshield. They slid to the back of the sedan and opened the trunk. Riley reached in and pulled out two MP-5’s and handed one to his wife. They moved back to the front of the Lumina and using the engine block for cover started to return fire on Anck-Su-Namun’s people.
Anck’s troops had a mix of AK-47s and some kind of submachine guns. While the Marlin wasn’t that long ranged of a gun, the ranges they were shooting at were well within its capabilities. His first two shoots dropped two of the other side. The leader of the group, who Ding realized was a black haired woman turned and looked in his direction. She reached into the van and pulled out a vase of some type. Ding was just lining up the shot on her when she plunged her hand into it and pulling out some dust flung into the air and pointed at the rescue party. The dust whirled around and then settled into a bunch of humanoid forms, brown, wearing some kind of bronze armor and armed with swords. She said something else and the figures started loping over the ground at an astonishing speed. Anck-Su-Namun climbed into the van and it started toward the gate. Ding heard Buffy yell something like, "I got the van!" as she took off across the field. Ding cursed and screamed, "Mad Minute!" As he fired off the last three rounds in his rifle as fast as he could work the action at the turbaned bad guys that were trying to hit Buffy as she tore across the field trying to intercept the van. The others hearing his call did the same.
As Ding dropped down to reload he caught sight of the mummies that Anck had summoned, at least he thought that was what they were, barreling across the open grass that surround the storage lockers and felt betrayed. Mummies, anytime he had seen them in the movies were always these slow shambling things. These things, and there were at least ten of them, where coming with all of the power and grace of an Olympic hurdler. As he thumbed a couple rounds into the chamber of his rifle he hoped they had lied about how bullet resistant these things were too.
Buffy heard a couple of bullets come close, but nothing touched her. As she neared the far fence three figures suddenly rose up in front of her. Two where armed with some kind of gun, they were sliver and the stooges held them in both hands. Both of them started shooting at her immediately. The other stooge had a large curved sword that he was holding in a guard position as she came in. Buffy zigged and zagged as the two with guns were shooting and but none of the rounds came close. She ducked under the swing of the swordsman and used the flat of her hand to hit him once under his solar plexus. The air whooshed out of his body as he flew fifteen feet landing in a limp pile. The guys with guns tried to turn with Buffy trying to keep themselves on target with her so as she crossed their position they managed to shoot each other. Buffy never noticed. She cleared the eight-foot fence in a single graceful move and hit the road on the other side of the fence running.
In the van the minion that was tasked watching behind them said, "Mistress, the Slayer pursues."
Anck-Su-Namun was kneeling besides Willow was withdrawing a needle from her arm, "Faster," she ordered the driver not looking up.
"If we are to make the turn at the intersection I can not Mistress," he called back.
"Give me your gun and open the door," she ordered the one at the back of the van.
"But… But… Mistress, you said she wasn’t to be harmed," the minion stuttered.
"I failed our Master once, I will not again. Give me your gun," She snarled.
He handed her the mini-uzi he carried and popped the handle on the door. Bracing herself on an overhead bar Anck-Su-Namun started squeezing shots off at the pursuing Slayer.
Buffy was closing on the van, when the back door opened and the dark haired woman started shooting at her. Buffy started weaving again, she saw though that this was letting the van start to pull away. Buffy also noticed that the shots weren’t coming anywhere near her. She decided that with how the shooter was getting bounced around they would have to be very lucky to hit her, so straitening out she started closing on the van again.
Anck-Su-Namun hit the lottery on her sixth shot.