Not Long to Wait

Ch 38 – Shackles

Spike looked at the dot then took the scanner from Dawn and turned it over in his hands, examining it. He handed it back to her and walked over to Riley then knelt in front of the chair and started patting up Riley's legs. Riley yelped, "What the hell are you doing?"

Spike smirked up at him. "I may not know everythin' 'bout technology, but even I know you can't track someone with that thing. It's a dot on a screen. There's no map, no point of reference. What're you supposed to do? Walk 'round 'til the dot gets bigger? Right." He patted up Riley's legs and took everything out of his pockets, piling it on the floor behind him. Once he was done with the pants, he started emptying the pockets of Riley's jacket and the shirt underneath. The pile of gadgets and assorted stuff was growing, but Spike still hadn't found what he was looking for. He looked up at Riley. "Ok, mate, I'm 'bout to get up close and personal with you 'less you tell me where it is."

Riley scowled at him and shook his head and Spike sighed, "I warned you." He stood and nodded to Angel. "Little help here, Peaches?" Angel walked over and they started untying the ropes holding Riley to the chair. Dawn walked into the bedroom and came back out a few minutes later holding a set of shackles and a long chain. She pulled one of the dining room chairs under an eyebolt in the middle of the ceiling then climbed on the chair and threaded the chain through the eyebolt. She attached the shackles to the chain then jumped off the chair and turned to five sets of wide eyes.

"What?"

Spike stood up and walked over to her. "Shackles, pet?"

She nodded at him. "Yeah. Giles gave them to me after I told him I was going to deactivate your chip if I ever found you. He's had an eyebolt installed in every place I've lived, and told me I should restrain you before I killed the chip."

Spike looked up at the shackles. "So why didn't you?"

She placed her hands on both sides of his face and pulled him close, kissing him gently. "Because I trust you, Spike. I know you won't hurt me."

Angel dragged Riley over and stripped his jacket off then clamped one wrist into the shackles. He unbuckled Riley's watch and tossed it on the pile then locked that wrist down. Spike picked up the jacket and searched through it again then tossed it aside and turned to Riley. "Last chance, mate." Riley just glared at him and Spike shrugged, "All right then," and knelt down to untie Riley's boots. He pulled them off and inspected them before tossing them aside.

Angel pulled a small dagger from the toolbox and sliced Riley's shirt off, tossing the scraps on the pile of stuff. He sliced through Riley's belt then sliced cleanly through the waistband of Riley's pants and jerked them down. Spike pulled them all the way off and Riley jerked, rattling the chain, then whispered so low that only Angel and Spike could hear him, "All right. I'll tell you."

Spike stood up and tilted his head at Riley then whispered, "Why you bein' so quiet?"

Riley nodded at the scanner lying on the table. "They're listening."

Spike looked over at it then turned back and shrugged. "So? Time to talk or 'Gelus here is gonna start cuttin'."

Riley looked at the scanner and shook his head. Spike leaned in close and whispered, "You don't want your mates to hear you, yeah?" Riley nodded. "Well too bloody bad. Out with it, mate. Where's the device?" Riley looked at the floor and Spike growled, "You're not gonna tell me, are you?" Riley shook his head.

Spike sighed loudly as he backed up. "You asked for it." He walked over to the table and pointed to the scanner then mouthed, "Somebody's listening." as he motioned that everyone should go to Dawn's bedroom. Xander got up and moved silently down the hall followed by Dawn and Willow. He motioned for Angel to stay with Riley. "Angel, your toolbox awaits. Make it hurt."

Angel nodded toward the bedroom and mouthed, "Take your time," then stood in front of Riley. He sliced slowly across Riley's chest with the dagger. Riley gritted his teeth and tried to hold back the scream, but couldn't. Angel grinned. "Haven't caused anyone to scream in pain for a long time. Might take me a while to get back in the swing of things, hope you don't mind."

He bent down and dragged the shower curtain under Riley. "Dawn will dust me if I mess up her floor." He moved the chair off the shower curtain and straightened it out. "There. Much better."

Spike jogged silently down the hall and slipped into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. He motioned everyone into the bathroom and closed that door as well. Riley let loose with a blood-curdling yell and Angel laughed loudly.

Xander whispered, "What the hell? Is Angel torturing him? We promised we wouldn't do anything else to him."

Spike shrugged. "Yeah, Angel's cuttin' on 'im. The promise no longer stands 'cause the git stopped talkin' and apparently didn't come alone. He said they're listening, so we have to assume there's a group of soldier boys somewhere near."

Dawn looked at the bathroom door as the sound of the chain rattling in the eyebolt drifted through. "Ok, Riley wants us to let him go, so he's going to talk. He tells me where that scanner thing is and has me turn it on, knowing it's a link to the rest of his team, and now he's worried that they'll hear him spilling his guts. If he knew that, why'd he have me turn it on? Why not just start talking?"

Xander scowled. "There's something he's hiding." Xander started pacing around the bathroom, rubbing his temples. "He doesn't want us to find his tracking device, but why? Does it show something he doesn't want us to see? Why alert the rest of the squad to what's happening here?" He stopped pacing and stared at the bathroom door. "He's stalling us. Keep us messing around until his squad can get here and bust in, guns blazing. That scanner is actually a transmitter and probably a homing device so they can find him."

Dawn said, "Well, they can't get up here in the elevators, so that leaves the stairs and the balconies."

Willow said, "I can put wards on the doors. That should hold them off for a little while."

Spike nodded. "Good plan, Red. Now what do we do 'bout Soldier Boy?"

Xander's face screwed into an angry scowl. "He told me he was being straight up with me and he only wanted to get out of here alive. Said he didn't care if you were chipped or not, and he'd decided to let you go and not try to bring you back with him."

Spike tilted his head. "Did he now?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah, but now I think he was just buying time until his team got close enough to help him. He thought if he told us they were listening, he'd score points and we'd back off him and wait for him to talk." He chuckled and looked at Spike. "He underestimated how stubborn you are. I think he'll let Angel torture him and not tell us anything, because his squad is getting close and he figures he can hold out that long. We need to find that tracking device and see what he's hiding. I have an idea. Everybody just let me handle the next few minutes and play along."

Xander jerked open the door and stalked back out to the dining room. Angel sliced the dagger across Riley's chest and Riley screamed. Xander walked up to Riley and punched him square in the stomach then slammed his fist across Riley's cheek, snapping his head sideways and knocking him out. He hung limply from the shackles as Xander turned and motioned to Spike.

Spike quickly picked up on what he wanted then nodded and clapped his hands loudly. "Good job, Peaches! You've knocked 'im out. Always knew he was a useless git; you didn't even hit 'im that hard. Guess we'll have to take a break for a bit 'til he comes round."

Xander said, "Hey, we could order a pizza and watch a movie or something," as he waved at everyone else to keep up the charade. He picked up the scanner and walked toward the living room.

Willow laughed as she followed him, "Is that all you ever think about, Xan? Food?"

Dawn walked behind Willow. "I've got the pizza menu, what do you guys want on it?"

Spike yelled, "Pepperoni!"

Xander yelled back as he laid the scanner on the table directly in front of the TV speaker. "You're a vampire, you doofus! You're not supposed to eat pizza!"

Willow picked up the remote and turned on the TV then turned the volume almost all the way up. She scrolled through the channels until she found a war movie with lots of gunfire and explosions then dropped the remote on the couch and followed Xander and Dawn back into the dining room.

Willow said, "I'll get started on the wards. Dawn, could you help me?"

Dawn nodded. "Sure, Wils."

Dawn and Willow walked down the hall to Willow's room as Spike clapped Xander on the shoulder. "I get that we don't want the gits to know what we're doin', but why'd you knock him out? We could've just moved the gadget and kept Angel workin' on him."

Xander glanced over at Riley then shrugged. "A – It felt good. And B – I figured his team might not hurry so much if he's unconscious. They'll be careful and take more time to plan their attack. If they think he's still being tortured, then they'd be busting their asses trying to get here. We needed time to figure out what his deal is. Besides, he's not gonna tell us anything anyway." He turned and scowled at Riley. "I don't think the tracking device is still on him, unless he's got it shoved up his lying ass, so it's got to be one of these things." He motioned to the pile of gadgets and whatnot liberated from Riley's pockets.

Angel, Spike, and Xander sat on the floor around the pile and Xander sighed, "Let's get to work," then looked up hopefully, "We are going to get pizza, right?"