Disclaimer. As before…Only the bits you don't recognise are mine..
Chapter Thirty Six.
The remainder of that week and most of the following week went without a hitch. Saturday night came, their evening out with Dan's colleagues was going well, and not one word about Maguire, hit men, or slaying was uttered.
Buffy had been apprehensive at first; wondering when the other shoe was going to drop; but a club had been found, dancing was taking place and a late night meal was planned. It was a relief to them that they weren't attacked by vamps, demons or other creature feature nasties. Though it may have been due to the fact that Xander, Vi, Carly, and Mel were patrolling close by. Colour her paranoid, but Buffy wasn't taking any chances.
In the Club the lads were teasing Dan lightly, Buffy was listening to their banter with a bemused look on her face
"So, Buffy. Have you taught him to dance yet. Mandy never could." Said Pete.
Gemma Marsden gave him a nudge in the ribs at the faux pas of mentioning Mandy. Buffy shrugged it off.
"He does okay." She said.
"That's a first, he always used to have two left feet." Said Tony.
Buffy glanced at Dan. "Wanna give them something to watch." She thought.
"I'm game if you are love." Came the reply.
Buffy grabbed Dan's hand. "Dance with me." She said, giving him a sultry look.
As they moved out onto the dance floor Gemma grabbed Steve's hand and pulled him along too. Tony, Sandra and Pete remained propping up the bar.
At first the four danced together among all the other clubbers. It wasn't an especially fashionable club, and a lot of the tunes tended to be more toward the rock end of the musical spectrum.
Another tune was faded in by the DJ. Alana Miles' 'Black Velvet.' Steve and Gemma were slightly separated by the crowd. Realising that they could be seen by the trio at the bar. Buffy took both of Dan's hands and pressed close to his front.
They moved together, swaying in time with the heavy bass. Then she let go of his hands and oozed around him, hardly touching, his hands caressing her here and there, their rhythmic movements keeping in time with the music.
Tony, Pete and Sandra, still propping up the bar, watched as they cavorted.
Jaws dropped, eyes stared at them. Several others from around the room began to stare also. Even the women.
The song faded out. There were quite a few seconds of silence before the DJ realised that he'd not cued the next record.
Eyes followed them as they walked back to the others. Steve and Gemma arrived first and looks were exchanged.
The three at the bar shook their heads in disbelief. Seeing the wicked smirks on the couples faces the three male colleagues turned to the bar clearing their throats as they covered their embarrassment.
"Phwoar." Said Steve. "That was some dance."
"That wasn't a dance, that was sex. On the dance floor." Replied Pete.
Tony cleared his throat again. "Any one else feel like they need a cigarette." He added.
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The following week, Vi and Xander found themselves with groups of slayers who were on half term holiday from school. That meant there were more than enough pairs of hands to go around. Buffy managed to concentrate on arranging the wedding details and teaching Kate the basics of Tai Chi, whilst Dan continued his office duties. Life settled to something approaching normal.
Alan Tasker delivered his passenger to the Grange slightly ahead of schedule on Thursday morning. He had several things to attend to whilst Buffy was spending the next couple of days with Kate.
First there was the new car to collect. The Jaguar still belonged to the company he'd been working for, and they wanted it back. Giles had allowed him to choose what car he'd prefer to drive, after all, he'd be the one behind the wheel. Alan had always been happy with the Jag, so he opted for the latest XJ model.
Expecting to have to wait for several weeks after Giles placed the order, he was surprised that two days later the dealer called to say that the coach builders had received a cancelled order with specifications very close to his requirements. Naturally, Giles negotiated a discount….
The slight variations included a longer wheelbase for more rear legroom and greater ride comfort, there were graded tints on the armoured side and rear windows so that people outside couldn't see in, and a power upgrade on the engine management system, making the car more rapid than the standard one.
Then there was the next job. His mother and daughter were to be collected from Wembley and taken to Westbury for a tour, and a look at some properties. It hadn't been difficult for him to persuade his mother of the benefits of the move, even with the edited amount of information he was able to give her she'd said yes immediately. This had surprised Alan at first, but when she'd explained herself later after Vicky was out of earshot, he'd discovered that his mother was concerned for Vicky's well being. Several of the pupils in her current school had been expelled recently for a variety of crimes. Assaults on teachers, drugs, and weapons being brought into the school were just a few of the incidents. For those reasons alone, his mother thought that it was time to leave Wembley behind. Vicky deserved better.
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Rio de Janeiro.
Willow's forays into the government systems had netted some more information. A trace that she put on the file of Hank Summers, aka James Hennessy, had slowly gathered information over the period of a few days. Most hackers tried to gather their information all at once, alerting the system supervisor and ultimately discovery. Willow was patient. Her gatherings had lead her to several points of interest. One was that he'd been involved in a surveillance operation in L.A. around the time of Angel's battle with Wolfram and Hart. His name cropped up again, linked to when she'd sent a power spike back to the source computer that was trying to hack into their systems in Cleveland several months later.
Up to this point Willow hadn't used any magic to obtain the information, apart from the wards that protected the WSC's own systems from invasion. The last lead had put her on the doorstep of the Pentagon itself, to be precise an office within the Pentagon. It was listed only as '1928 Oversight'. Nothing else.…
There was a soft glow from beneath her fingers as she left a magical marker; designed to keep her place at the entrance of the system she was getting into, in effect creating her own 'back door'. Anyone worth their salt had ways of keeping tabs on hackers at this level, even tracing them back to their location. Whilst the protective systems already in place would prevent this, eventually they would still get a country of location. There were people in the Pentagon who already knew of the WSC's brief, and of her abilities. If one of those people identified her as the hacker, it might jeopardise the agreements that she and Giles had negotiated with Washington. Better safe than sorry.
The rules were simple. Keep a log of where you've been, follow the same path in, and out, every time; and first time, wait for another user to access, so that you can 'piggy back' unseen. She didn't have to wait long. A user ID came up on the screen. '4586, Barrett. M'. Barrett entered the password, and it appeared on Willow's screen. Now she had a legitimate username and access code to get in with.
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Thames House, Secure Accommodation.
Davies awoke with a funny taste in his mouth. He'd had the same taste before recently. Someone had obviously drugged him. Again. Why though? He was still in the same cell. The same damp patch on the wall. The same rusty light fittings. The same pile of magazines he'd been given to read. Twisting around to check behind him he felt something pull on his neck. A small plaster. Pulling it off he felt the area where it had been. There was a mark, like an injection entry point, and a spot of blood came away with his fingers.
The door to his cell opened.
"What the hell have you done to me!!!?" He shouted.
Two men entered. One was the Asian looking man he'd seen before. The other was a round faced man with thinning hair, suited, and wearing an Old Etonian tie. He was carrying a laptop.
"Nothing nasty, I assure you." Said the round faced man.
"What?!" Demanded Davies.
The two men looked at one another. Asian man shrugged. "Harry didn't say we couldn't tell him." He said.
"Tell me what?!"
"That you've been fitted with a sub dermal tracker. Our boss wants to make sure he knows where you are at any given time." Said round face.
"Take it out!"
"Er…No." Said round face. After a short pause, he added. "I need to check it's working properly, and don't even think of removing it. It's lodged behind your artery, if you try to remove it, you may bleed to death, and that would be unfortunate." He spoke calmly and factually as though it was a routine conversation.
He placed the laptop on the able and typed in a few commands after opening it. After a few moments he gave Davies a satisfied smile and closed the laptop.
"There, all done." He said. He produced another plaster and tore off the backing, sticking it over the spot where Davies had removed the previous one from. "Don't remove this one, and don't scratch. Okay."
Davies thought he sounded like his mother, until he realised that the man was being sarcastic.
Malcolm and Zaf left, and Davies thought about the reasons why they might have done this. Obviously they needed to keep an eye on his movements, perhaps they'd received some demand from the others and thought someone might get him released. If that was the case he'd lead them right to his comrades. Damn…
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The Grange, Reading.
The two women sat cross legged opposite each other on the floor of the exercise room. Their palms were face upward, wrists resting on their knees, both deep in meditation.
Kate's eyelids flickered as she came out of her trance like state. In the short time she'd been practicing the techniques that the two witches had shown her, she had found a deeper sense of relaxation, and coupled with the Tai Chi that Buffy had been teaching her, she was more able control the many sensations and feelings that the office and crowded places threw at her.
Seeing Buffy still had her eyes closed, she quietly rose and went to the window that looked out over the paddocks and the open countryside in the direction of the M4. She shivered. She got the feeling that she was being watched; she'd had the same feeling on several occasions lately and again, as before, she put it down to her lack of practise with her ability.
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Down amongst the trees and bushes at the far end of the property, Parker snapped away with his camera when he saw Kate appear at the window. Still no sign of the two they were looking for. A hold up on the local roads had delayed his arrival this morning, and as she was still there, he automatically assumed she was alone. He'd seen the stable maid arrive, attend to the horses, and leave. He checked the notes made by Quinney from the previous week. If the pattern stayed the same there was no-one else due today. He poured himself a coffee from the flask and sat back against the tree to wait.
A short time later his mobile phone vibrated in his pocket.
"Tom, it's Mike. Any joy?"
"Nope. Boring as ever. This woman is the typical rich bitch. Plays at life, probably bored as hell. I've just snapped her standing staring out of the window again."
"Pack it up then. Come on back. We'll take a look at the routine of the other half of the family."
"The daughter with the kids?"
"Yes. Matt's already gone over to Aylesbury."
"Okay, see you soon."
Ending the call he gathered his kit, checked the area, and walked back through the copse to the van.
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Buffy opened her eyes and saw Kate looking out of the window.
"Nice view."
Kate turned. "Yes, we like it." She replied. Her brow furrowed slightly.
"What?"
Kate shrugged. "Nothing, I, I just. Never mind." She said.
"You have 'something' face."
"Pardon?"
"You look like you're about to say. 'Something'." Explained Buffy.
"You'll think I'm being silly, or paranoid."
"Xander says that it's not paranoia if they're really after you." Quipped Buffy
Kate laughed. "Isn't someone always after you?"
"Mostly. But then I usually slay them and the paranoia goes away. So again, I say. What?"
"I've been having the feeling that someone's watching me just lately. Not all the time, just occasionally." She paused. "See, you think I'm being silly."
"No. No I don't." Said Buffy. She came over to the window and peered out over the paddock. "Out there?"
Kate nodded.
"Get the same feeling anywhere else?" Asked Buffy.
"No."
"Okay, I'm gonna go take a look around. You wait here."
"Aren't you a bit conspicuous?" Asked Kate indicating to Buffy's pink track suit.
"Don't worry. No-one will see me. Promise." She closed her eyes for a second and concentrated. She heard Kate's sharp intake of breath as she faded from view.
Kate saw the door open. "Buffy." She said. There was a pause as the door stopped. "Be careful." She added, and the door closed silently.
Scanning around outside Buffy jumped the paddock fences and ran to the bottom end of the grounds. The trees and dense shrubs there would make an excellent hiding place. Carefully pushing into the undergrowth so as not to alert anyone that might be there, she crept around searching for any signs of an intruder. Nothing. There was a small clearing at the base of a tree which had a good view of the house. The ground looked as though it might be more trampled than the rest but she couldn't be certain. A track led to a gate, she followed it and saw tyre marks in the dirt at the side of the lane, again they looked recent, but nothing definite. She thought herself visible again and made her way back to the house.
"Anything?" Asked Kate
"Maybe. Nothing definite. I saw some flattened dirt and some tyre tracks in the lane, but there was no-one there."
"Might be the paparazzi again, after photo's of you and Daniel?" Said Kate.
"Could be. Are they always like this?" Asked Buffy.
"They can be worse. When Daniel and Mandy got engaged they offered us a fortune for the wedding photos and an exclusive. Then when Mandy got killed they hounded Daniel for weeks trying to get his side of the story. It hampered the investigation, and stopped him doing his job. We ended up having to take out an injunction against the Press Association to keep them at bay." Kate explained.
"See, now that's where my method of hitting them until they stop would be much more effective." Replied Buffy.
Buffy's stomach gave a rumble.
"Hungry?" Asked Kate.
"Starving." Replied the blonde.
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Aylesbury.
Matt Quinney watched the sole large detached house on the outskirts of Aylesbury from the comfort of the BMW. There had been no sign of anyone for most of the day. An Audi and a Ford Focus parked on the huge frontage were the only signs that anyone might be around. He'd moved position occasionally, leaving, then parking in a different spot when he returned.
A Land Rover Discovery came around the corner of the quiet country road on the edge of the greenbelt and pulled onto the driveway from the opposite direction. The artwork logo on the side panels depicted a firework scene emblazoning the letters PRM Pyrotechnics.
A man got out of the drivers side, two small girls he recognised from the photo's that had been taken, tumbled out of the rear along with a woman in her early twenties. Another older woman in her thirties got out of the nearside passenger door. That was Rebecca Matthews, he noted. Noisily the party went into the house and the area quietened again as the door closed.
Parker pulled up behind him, parked and got in the passenger side.
"Well?" He asked.
"I'm glad you've arrived. They've just got in. There's been no-one there all day. Did Mike call you?"
"Yeah. He's watching the cop shop in Belgravia. He hasn't spotted Carter, but it doesn't mean to say that he's not there."
Their attention was drawn to the garage door of the house they were watching. It opened noiselessly, the sound of ringing bells exuded from the interior and the two young girls shot out on BMX cycles. The young woman who'd got out of the rear of the car with them came out a little way behind on a larger mountain bike, a look of concentration on her face as she attempted to catch up with the pair.
"Jamie, Lisa. Slow down. Wait for me!" They heard her shout after the racing duo. He accent wasn't English. The two girls slowed, turned briefly, giggled at each other and continued on.
Quinney and Parker glanced at one another. They both had the same thought.
"Best opportunity." Said Parker.
"Let's go get 'em." Replied Quinney.
Parker was already in motion, getting out of the car. The door closed as Quinney started it and slammed it into gear, a small squeak from the tyres as it took off after the trio.
Parker wasn't far behind, the van lurched around the corner in time to see his colleague catch up to the trailing nanny. He drove closer and almost nudged the rear wheel of the bike as she glanced over her shoulder, wondering what was going on. There was a crash and a squeal from its rider as the bike hit the kerb and careered off, pitching her over the handlebars onto the pavement. She tumbled head over heels a few times hitting a wall with a crunch. She didn't move. A car coming in the other direction swerved to avoid the bouncing bike and skidded to a halt.
It's driver started to get out only to be struck by his door as the nose of the Transit slammed it back at him. The last thing they needed was a good Samaritan calling the police.
The BMW continued on after the two girls. Although they were ahead they'd heard the crash and had skidded and wobbled to a stop as they saw their nanny take a tumble.
"Petrine!" Lisa screamed.
Jamie saw the car coming towards them and grabbed her sister, pulling her away from the bikes in case they were next. The car screeched to a halt in front of them and they backed up against the wall, eyes wide with fear, Lisa crying, Jamie set her jaw and glared at the man who threw open the door of the car and ran towards them.
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Rio de Janeiro.
Willow looked at the email. There. She had another name to add to her list of suspects. The information she was gathering for Buffy on her fathers activities within the NID had led her to both Washington and Colorado, the coincidences were too many to be just that. She added the name to her list of suspects. Cheyenne Mountain, and one Lt. Col. Samantha Carter.
"Hmmm. Carter. Wonder if she's related?" Mused the witch.
A pair of hands eased over her shoulders from behind and massaged their way down over the front of her shirt. A soft kiss on the top of her head made her smile.
"Whatcha doin'?" Whispered Kennedy.
"Researching Buffy's dad. I've got another name to add to the list of contacts."
Kennedy looked over at the screen and saw the name.
"Carter. That's a familiar name." Said Kennedy.
"Daniel's surname." Replied Willow.
"Yes. I know. And, no. this is from somewhere else. To do with dad, and Norcan."
"Really! What?"
"One of his government contracts, I think. We could ask him."
"Use the secure line then. I don't want to be caught out doing this." Advised Willow.
"As if the government would want to mess with you. Or the Slayers for that matter. Do you think they know how much damage we could do if they pissed us off."
"Maybe. Not that I want to of course. I just want to make sure they're not up to any old Initiative-y type of activities again….And check out Buffy's father."
Kennedy picked up and dialled. A few minutes later she had her answers. She read her notes out to Willow who was still going over the screen caps of Agent Barrett's emails.
"Alec Colson." She read. "Colson Industries. Went into liquidation last year. Colson disappeared. Presumed dead. His right hand man, Vogler committed suicide. Police think Colson did too. Some sort of securities fraud. He tried to cover it up by claiming he had an alien, a being from another planet. Dad picked up some of the electronics supply contracts for the government when Colson went under. That's where the name Carter comes from. She was one of the initial contacts for their requirements."
"Oh. Yes. I remember Andrew going nuts about it at the time." Said Willow, not looking up.
"You think he was covering his ass then?"
"Who?"
"Colson."
"Maybe. Probably. I mean…Aliens." Said Willow, smirking.
"And what we deal with is totally believable." Said Kennedy
Willow looked up from the screen and grinned at her lover. "I'm joking…I'm not saying there's no possibility of alien life, just that they may take a totally different form to what we perceive as normal, bipedal, beings. What Colson showed was atypical of what is generally referred to as a 'Roswell Grey'.
"Oookaay. What about the Queller demon. That came from outside the atmosphere. Didn't it?" Said Kennedy, remembering the tales that Willow had told her of their escapades.
"Maybe. It came outta the sky. It might have come from another demon dimension that has a different terrain to here. Also it depended where the portal opened up. Glory's portal opened up at the top of a three hundred foot tower." At Kennedy's puzzled look, she added. "There's a lot of factors to consider."
Kennedy nodded. "Okay, you deal with the brainy stuff. Just let me know when I need to kick ass."
Willow pulled Kennedy close and onto her lap. "That's what I love about you. You let me be me, and you are you." She said. Their lips met.
Kennedy shuffled around so that she straddled Willow's lap. Passion ensued. Only the complaining beep from the computer as Willows back pressed on several keys at once, curbed their ardour.
"Kennedy pulled back, looking deeply into Willow's eyes. "I love you, too." She said.
As they parted Willow's eyes strayed to the screen. Her inadvertent keystrokes had highlighted, and opened a link to Lt. Col. Carter's name connected to another site within the government database. It was her 'Bio'. Willow read with interest about the 'off the chart smart' Astrophysicist, who's rise through the ranks had gotten her to be one of the youngest Lieutenant Colonel's in the history of the Air Force, ahead of most of the male candidates. After reading the file she wondered why Col. Carter was stuck on some project in Cheyenne Mountain. Deep Space Radar Telemetry? Sounded dead end.
Kennedy peered over her shoulder. Seeing Carter's picture she whistled.
"Wow. She's cute, blonde hair and blue eyes." She nudged Willow. "Had a good ogle?" She grinned.
"I'm reading her résumé." Said Willow, smiling shyly back."
"Yeah, right." Came the smirked reply.
"I really am. She's smart. PhD smart. But I guess she's hit the glass ceiling. Look at what she's done prior to the Radar Telemetry thing, and then look at her rank."
Kennedy read the document and agreed. "It's wrong. It doesn't match. Unless she's discovered some majorly undiscovered thing out there in space, her rise through the ranks doesn't match what she's been doing for the past eight years.
"So. Not, Deep Space Radar Telemetry then?" Queried Willow.
"My ass!" Replied Kennedy. "Like the hair though. Might get mine cut like that." She struck a pose, holding her hair up. "What do you think?"
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Aylesbury.
Paul Matthews came out of the front door of the house with a phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear, talking with someone on the other end. He opened up the rear tailgate of the Discovery. He rummaged inside a box of paperwork for a moment and came out with a desk diary. Shutting the tailgate he was about to head back in when he heard a groan from the end of the drive. Turning he saw Petrine crawl around the stone pillar, one arm dangling, the other hand supporting her weight, her face swollen and blood pouring from a gash on her forehead.
Paul dropped the book, said a quick 'call you back' to the other person, and dashed over shouting at the top of his voice for his wife. He reached Petrine, still screaming Rebecca's name. As he did she collapsed, exhausted, her mission to alert the family accomplished.
Rebecca came out of the house wondering what was so urgent. She took one look at Petrine's limp form and she too dashed over to help. It was a few seconds before either of them realised that their daughters were nowhere to be seen.
"The girls!" Cried Rebecca. "Where are the girls!!"
Petrine vaguely motioned with her hand towards the end of the lane and murmured something in her native Finnish, then translated it.
"Men…take….girls…"
Paul was immediately up and running in the direction Petrine had pointed. When he rounded the corner all he saw was the three scattered bikes and the stationary car, its driver slumped, half in, half out of the battered door.
He dashed over to the stricken man. He felt for a pulse, and the man moved slightly, groaning as he did. Paul told him to keep still, as he hit three nines on the phone that was still in his hand.
End of Chapter Thirty Six.