Chapter 2

Wes was pacing. He wanted to go home. He wanted to hold his baby and kiss his wife. He wanted to tell Angel about the note he had received. His nerves were frayed and he wasn't sure how much more he could take. Someone knew what he had done. They were going to tell Fred, they were going to tell everyone. He would lose his family.

Shaking himself, he decided no one was going to know. He wasn't going to let anyone find out. It was his secret. He hadn't really done anything wrong, he reasoned. It had worked out for the best. No one had gotten hurt; no one was the worse for what he had done. So, how could anyone threaten him with this?

He looked at the note. He had to find out who sent it and why. He knew why, he chided himself. He worked for a formerly evil company that now fought evil. A lot of people had been put out by that. He was an easy target. Buffy's pregnancy was not well known, Will was beyond reproach as far as everyone knew, and Gunn had nothing to be blackmailed with. Wes was the best target. He had this dirty little secret. He could be exploited.

Well, he wasn't going to let that happen, he decided. He was going to find whoever sent the note and he as going to kill them. Then he would destroy all evidence of his activities. He calmed himself. He could fix this. There wasn't a problem he couldn't solve.

Will finished the letter he writing commending the Sedgol leader on his compromise with a neighboring clan. Russia would be a little safer without those two old families at each other's throats. Buffy had sent him a summary of the proceedings and had already closed the file, but he knew the Sedgol leader and knew that the old demon would want a higher up to congratulate his fine intelligence and bravery. The demon needed a little ego stroking.

Looking at the clock, he wondered how Angel's speech had gone. He knew Angel had wicked stage fright, but the speech was good and Angel would pull it together at the last minute, he was sure. He was more worried about Buffy. It was June, now, and the heat wave that hit Los Angeles was brutal. She was over six months along, almost into her seventh month, and she was not dealing well with the heat. The ceremony had been outside, but she had insisted on going to support Angel. She knew he was nervous.

Will knew Angel was excited to be a father. He had never seen the man so on task, so focused, before. He was thrilled for his friend. Will also saw Angel's trepidation, though. That was fair, given his history with fatherhood. Will wasn't supposed to know about that. No one was; Angel had seen to that. Will had his informants, though, and he had ways of finding information no one else could. He was glad Wes had given up that chase a while ago. His budding wife had taken precedence over unearthing Angel's secrets. Will suspected they had a couple of months before Wes was back on the trail.

Dawn's upcoming arrival worried him. She had called him a few days ago to say she would arrive in the next two or three days. She was excited to see him, she said. He was happy to see her, too, but the edge in her voice made him squirm. He knew that tone. Will had almost been happy to see her leave in January when her responsibilities at school had called her away again. She had kissed his cheek and whispered an "I'll see you soon" in his ear. Her voice had been rather seductive.

He had more important things to worry about right now, though. Wes had been spooked all day. Ever since a courier brought him a letter when they first arrived at the office, Wes had secreted himself away and hadn't answered any calls. Will knew when to look into things and when to let things go. This required looking in to. He wouldn't worry Angel yet, and he didn't think Gunn had noticed, which was good. He needed time to sort it out before Wes did anything stupid. Will was more aware than most of what Wesley was capable of. If he felt cornered, he got sloppy. Connor was proof of that.

Picking up the phone, he dialed Wes's secretary and had her set up a lunch date for Gunn and Wes. He had to verbally pet her a little, she needed some cajoling, but she did it. Wes had given her orders that he did not want to be disturbed, but his secretary seemed willing to disobey those orders for an important meeting with Mr.Gun. Will then called Gunn's office phone. He put that line on hold while he called the same number with a second line. It went straight to voicemail; the private numbers they all had for each other wouldn't ring at any other phone than the exact one dialed. The second line got Gunn's answering machine. Faking Wes's accent to perfection, he left a message asking Gunn to meet him at his office for lunch and to bring a certain case file. He hung up in the same manner Wes did after he left messages.

Smiling, he answered his phone on Gunn's second ring.

"You called me and no one was there."

"Sorry, mate. I hit the phone with my elbow." Will knew the key to a good lie was not to go into too much detail. It made people suspicious.

"That's okay. Want to meet for lunch?"

"I have a meeting. I'll catch you tomorrow."

"You got it, man."

"See ya'."

He was good at what he did, he thought. He had to give himself credit for that.