12
Just before Angel, Hawk, Spenser, and Willow had arrived at the Sheraton, something had happened that tipped the scales and the balance was lost. Now they were running out of time only they didn't know it yet.
His name was Dominick Gunther. He was a simple street thug. He picked up the dirty jobs from anyone he could get them from, and he prided himself on doing the job right. However, he was always looking for the right job to come along and bring in the big dough.
He had heard through his numerous contacts that a girl with long red hair and green eyes had gotten away from her Mistress. There was a large reward for the girl's return and he wouldn't mind getting his hands on that reward himself. He knew the chances of finding the girl and getting that cash reward with his head intact were the same as winning the Lotto.
They were next to Slim and None.
But, hey, a guy could dream, couldn't he?
He had met with a mutual business associate at the Sheraton Restaurant located inside the Sheraton Hotel. They conducted their business and then it was time for them to put distance between them. The associate left, and Gunther decided to stay and order himself a lunch.
He was glad he did.
Because of his grumbling stomach, he was able to sit there and look toward the swinging doors that led into the kitchen. That's where he saw his next meal ticket. He saw dollar signs. He saw a way to get rich quick.
He saw a girl with long red hair and green eyes.
To get to her, however, was going to be a problem. Three very large guys were protecting her-two of them were Spenser and Hawk. He didn't know who the third guy was, only that he looked extremely pale. In spite of the heavy, duty bodyguards present around her, he wanted that girl badly. He was going to have to call for backup. No one went up against Spenser and Hawk without backup. He had known some guys who were stupid enough to do just that, but those poor bastards had wound up in the Boston Herald's obituary column for their troubles.
Gunther decided to skip lunch. He had a new appetite, and it had nothing to do with food.
He casually rose from the booth and followed his prey out of the dining room. He picked up a newspaper that someone had discarded in the lobby and casually looked at the headlines. He watched Spenser, Hawk, Paleface, and Red head up the stairs and he followed at a good distance behind. He used an old couple to shield him from view as he kept into step behind them.
On the second floor, he saw them enter a room and he casually walked past the room to glance at the number.
Room 133.
He smiled.
He walked down the corridor and found a chair to sit in beside the elevators. He pulled out his cell phone and he called a few friends. He called up four of them and when he had told them what he needed, they assured him that they were on their way.
Gunther put away his cell phone. He decided to go back down to the lobby and wait for his friends. _______________
"Explain to me how you perform the trick," I said to Angel after the two of us joined Hawk and Giles out into the hall.
"It's not a trick," Angel responded. "I wish it were, but it's not."
"A man just doesn't lose his reflection in a mirror. I've never seen anything like this. It just isn't natural." I glared at him. I had a hard time trusting people who didn't have reflections. It made me think he had something to hide. "What the hell are you?"
Angel opened his mouth to respond.
But Hawk beat him to it. "You sure you ready for the answer, Spenser?" he asked me. "You're opening doors you ain't never opened before."
I looked at him.
For some reason, I wanted to hit him. "You know about this?" I demanded. "What kind of doors have you opened, Hawk?"
"I was hoping you would never have to open them doors yourself." He shook his head. "It's not something any average person can live with. But men like you and me? These two?" He indicated Angel and Giles. "People like us have to go through them some time."
"And what about Willow? Does she have to go through them?"
Giles hesitated. "Willow h-has already been through those doors, Mr. Spenser."
I looked at him.
"She knows about things th-that most kids her age have only seen in movies." Giles let out a weary sigh. "A-and the things that are depicted in those movies are not exactly all that accurate either."
"Drop the 'Mr.'," I told him. "It's just 'Spenser'."
He nodded. "Spenser."
"So you're telling me that there is a dark world that includes people with no reflections, and Willow knows all about this world?"
"Yes. It's true."
Angel decided to cut to the chase. "I'm a Vampire."
I looked at him. "It's daylight."
"Yeah...that's why we went through the tunnels."
"But...it's still daylight," I protested. "Vampire's sleep during the day."
"Vampires don't really need sleep."
I looked at him long and hard. I didn't know why, but I guess I just simply believed him. How could I not? He had no reflection. But was he really a Vampire?
"Angel is a g-good Vampire," Giles pointed out to me. "He has a soul."
"Hasn't fed from a human in about a hundred years," Hawk added.
I turned my head to regard Angel. "You're a hundred years old?"
Angel smiled wryly. "Actually, I'm--"
"Forget it. I don't want to know." I took a deep breath, and then I let it back out. "This whole thing bothers the hell out of me."
"What does?"
"I pictured Willow living with a loving family, safe and secure from the evil that men do. But now I discover that she's been living her life already exposed to a different kind of evil. What kind of a life is that for her to live?"
Giles looked at me and he took off his glasses. "I-it would be Willow's life that she is living. Spenser, she is a remarkably intelligent, young lady. In Sunnydale, we've been able to overcome a great many evils because of-of her persistence in researching what was needed. Yes, Willow is exposed to evil. So is Xander, and-and a few other kids I can name." He later told me that he was thinking of Buffy Summers and Cordelia Chase as he was telling me this. "B-but they fight against that evil together, and it makes them stronger. I-it brings them closer together. It helps them and prepares them for the next evil that they may have to face."
I paused as he thought about what he said. "Why do they have to face it at all?"
"B-because no one else will. No one else knows that it exists."
I took a deep breath.
"Look, Spenser," Angel began carefully, "Willow has faced Vampires. She's faced some scary stuff and come through all right. She's always been careful. A demon or a vampire who committs evil is something she can expect. They commit evil because they are evil." He paused. "But you're right about one thing. She has been exposed to a different kind of evil."
I nodded. "From man."
"Yes. What she had been forced to endure is man's doing. And one sick, sadistic woman. Even though S'ushi Alyssia has four vampires in her service--"
"Two," Hawk corrected.
Angel glanced at him, and he continued with, "--two vampires in her service, this evil is still the result of man."
"You're making sense," I told him. "What are you suggesting?"
Angel looked at Giles. "We can't take Willow home until this White Slavery thing has been taken care of. Permanently." He looked at Hawk, and then he looked at me. "I saw what had happened to Kali. I don't want that to happen to Willow and I think that if S'ushi gets her hands on her, that's what her fate will be in the end."
I looked at Angel and even for a vampire, I could see that he was genuine and he seemed to have a pure heart. "We'll take care of it." There was no way in hell I was going to let S'ushi Alyssia continue on with her business, lack of evidence be damned. "What about Willow's parents?"
Giles hesitated. "Well, they, er, they think she's still at camp."
"How much longer is she expected to be at this campsite?"
"Another two weeks."
"What if she doesn't have her memory in two weeks?"
Giles and Angel looked at each other. They didn't really have an answer.
Finally, Angel replied softly, "I hope she gets her memory back, Spenser." He paused. "But not all of it."
I knew what he meant. "That day might come."
Angel looked at Giles. "If it does, we need to be there for her, Giles. It could be bad for her." He sighed. "It will be bad."
Giles looked at me. "Well...what do we do now?"
I looked at Hawk. Then I said, "We'll take Willow to the safe house. Then Hawk and I will take care of it."
Angel shook his head. "I'm going with you. There's still two vampires with S'ushi, and I can handle them."
Hawk flashed his teeth in one of his famous happy smiles. "So can I."
"It would be better for Willow if you stayed close to her," I told Angel, "just incase they find the safe house. S'ushi is very resourceful. She..." I stopped because Hawk did something I was hoping he wouldn't do.
He withdrew his big, bad gun. "Change of plans," he said softly.
Angel and I looked.
There were three of them. They were street thugs, and they were moving slowly toward us from down the hall. They had drawn their guns and were leveling them at the floor.
Giles tapped on my shoulder. "Er, Spenser..." He pointed behind us.
There were two more, approaching from the other end of the hall.
One of them I recognized immediately. He was a filthy, scumbag named Dominick Gunther. There was only one reason that I could think of as to why Gunther and his gang of hoodlums had decided to make a sudden appearance at the Sheraton with their guns in their hands.
They were after Willow.
I withdrew my gun.
The bastards were going to be very disappointed.
It was times like this that really made me like Hawk.
"Dominick Gunther," Hawk said in that deep, scary voice of his. "You is going the right way if it be your funeral you is heading for."
Gunther and his friend stopped at a distance of twenty feet or so from us. On the other side of the hall, his three homeboys stopped as well. Their guns were still leveled at the floor.
Gunther looked nervous, but that clearly wasn't going to stop him from trying to get to Willow. "Spenser," he said to me, his eyes locked on to Hawk, "call your friggin' dog off!"
I shook my head. "Can't do that. I forgot to feed him today, and he's really pissed about it."
"This is no time for being a smart ass, Spense."
"You can't call me 'Spense.' That honor is only reserved for friends and foes. It's even reserved for lawyers. But low-life scumbag's are not listed in the contract to call me 'Spense.'"
Gunther glared at me.
We were all at a disadvantage. Hawk and I were holding our guns out but we had them leveled toward the floor. Giles and Angel were closer to the hotel room door behind us. They had no weapons of any kind. At least, none that I was aware of.
Gunther and his boys also still had their weapons leveled at the floor, but that could change in a New York split second.
I looked into Gunther's eyes.
He had made a big mistake and he was just beginning to realize it. He was handling this badly. He had jumped into it without using his head, which wasn't really a surprise to me. The problem was, however, that he now couldn't afford to look bad in front of his fellow stooges. This only meant he wasn't going to make the smart move, which would be to tuck his tail between his legs and run. Retreat.
"Damn it!" he scolded me. "This is no time for making wise cracks!" He tried to get a grip on his temper. "Do the smart thing. Give us the girl and walk away."
I looked at him. "What if I say 'no'?"
"Then I'll shoot you dead!"
"What if I shoot you dead first?"
"I--wha--?"
Good. I was making him nervous.
Hawk made him even more nervous. "What if I shoot you dead before Spense does? What if I just break your neck without shooting you dead? I think I like that better."
Gunther leveled his gun at me, and that made his boys raise their guns. Hawk leveled his gun toward the three boys on the one side while I aimed my gun directly at Gunther on the other side.
I hated standoffs, but if we were going out in a blaze of glory, Gunther was going first.
"C'mon, Spenser!" Gunther shouted angrily. "I called Billiard. He's sending his guys over right now! Even if you get past us, you'll have to deal with him!"
I ignored him. "Hawk?"
"Uh huh," Hawk said.
"I have to get her to the safe house."
"I'll cover you."
Gunther waved his gun at me. "You're not going anywhere!"
Hawk also ignored him. "Angel?"
Angel was keeping a wary eye on Gunther and his friend. "Yeah?"
"Wanna stay and help me divert?"
"Thought you'd never ask."
Gunther aimed his gun with a shaking hand. "I swear! I will fill you full of lead! GIVE me the girl!!"
"Lead can't kill me." Angel's face changed and when he turned to look at Gunther, it was with the face of a demon.
I had never seen anything like that. There was only one thing that came to mind, and I said it. "Oh, shit!"
Angel dove at Gunther.
Gunther screamed like a pig at the butcher block. He and his friend backed away, trying to get out of the vampire's reach, and as they did, they began to fire wildly. There was no aiming at their target. They were just scared shitless and they simply began to pull the trigger. The thing about gunfights is if you were at close quarters and you paniced, your shots could end up far off the mark. That's what happened with Ginther and his friend.
But if you were as calm and cool as Hawk, you pretty much hit what you wanted to hit. And Hawk did. He leveled his gun toward the trio as they raised theirs and he fired. One of them went down hard and lay unmoving on the floor, blood soaking his shirt from where the bullet went through his chest. The other two goons tried to find cover, and like their friends who never learn, they fired wildly.
I grabbed Giles' arm and I shoved him through the door into the room ahead of me. Once inside, I slammed the door shut behind me.
Xander and Willow were on their feet and they were staring at us apprehensively.
"We heard shots!" Xander exclaimed. "Were those shots that we heard?"
Several more shots sounded from beyond the door. There was also a thund and a scream.
Xander tensed. "Oh, shiiiiiit! Those were shots!"
I went over to the sliding glass doors and I pulled the curtains back from them. I opened the door and stepped out onto the patio. I knew I could get down without any trouble and then I could help Willow down.
"Let's go," I said to Xander, Willow, and Giles. "We're climbing down."
Willow looked at me fearfully, her eyes wide. "Wh-what's happening?"
"You'll be okay, Willow." I tilted her face up and looked into her eyes. "Trust me. Okay?"
She nodded.
Willow flinched every time a shot was fired and it broke my heart to see her like that. Xander came to her and he put a protective arm around her. I was glad to see that she was letting him do that. She seemed to trust him. I hoped she did.
I turned to Giles. "I'll go down first. You lower Willow to me."
He nodded.
I went over the railing, lowered myself to the ground, and then I let myself drop. It wasn't at all that far to the ground, at least to me. The room was on the second floor. I was ready for Willow. Giles helped lower her down, and I caught a hold of her, helping her down the rest of the way. As I helped Willow, Xander came down without any assistance.
In the background, I heard the not so distant sounds of police sirens.
"Are you coming?" I looked up at Giles.
He waved us on. "N-no. You go on ahead. I'll stay with Angel and Hawk."
I nodded.
Giles disappeared back inside.
"Uh, Spenser?"
I turned to look at Xander. "What is it?"
He pointed at something behind me. "That can't be good...can it?"
I turned and I looked.
"Son-of-a-bitch," I swore. I shouldn't have said that in front of Willow, but I was starting to get real mad.
Two of those big Continental Lincolns had come to a halt in the parking lot of the Sheraton. Four men had climbed out of one of them, and three men had climbed out of the other one. All seven of the men were now looking directly at us.
"Damn," I swore again. "Sorry, Willow."
Billiard's men had shown up after all. And these guys were a lot more professional than Gunther and his street thugs were.
"What are we going to do now?" Xander asked as he put himself in front of Willow.
"Would you think of me as less of a man if I said, 'Run'?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
And we ran. ____________________
Angel had managed to knock the gun out of Gunther's hand with incredible ease. Gunther's friend was about to take a shot at Angel when the vampire with a soul picked Gunther up from the floor and tossed him into the air. Gunther came down hard, hitting his friend and causing them both to crash to the floor. By the time they managed to disentangle themselves, Angel picked up each of them one-handed. He slammed them face first into each other and dropped their unconscious bodies to the floor.
He scooped up their weapons from the floor, deposited them into the pockets of his coat, and he turned to give Hawk a hand.
He discovered two dead bodies in Hawk's wake. Angel morphed his face back into his human face as he continued on down the corridor. He turned a corner and he was just in time to see Hawk level his gun at the last man. The man wisely dropped his gun and showed Hawk that his hands were empty.
Angel sighed in relief.
He began to walk toward Hawk.
BOOM!
Angel froze and stared in horror as the unarmed man fell on to the floor, dead. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Hawk had shot that man in cold-blooded murder.
Angel grabbed his arm and said, "What did you do?!"
Hawk looked at him. "It's time we were on our way. Cops are gonna be here soon."
"After what I just saw, maybe we should wait right here for them."
"You are not in a position to judge me," Hawk replied dangerously. "I do what I have to do. So do you."
"I told you. I don't take human lives!"
Hawk regarded him. "Then you're a damn fool."
Angel glared at him. "I--"
Hawk slammed him up against the wall and looked at him with a hard penetrating gaze. "Think abut what you just told me what you saw at the Funhouse. What they did to Kali was more horrible than what I do to these bastards. Now ask yourself, what about Willow? Do you want to see her like that?"
Angel didn't say anything, but the images were fresh in his mind. Hawk was right. If they caught Willow, they...He swallowed.
Hawk regarded him. "Well, you might want to change your mind about taking a human life if you want to keep Willow from meeting the same fate." He let Angel go, turned, and headed back toward the room.
Angel looked at the dead man on the floor. It was a damn waste of life, he thought.
He turned to follow Hawk.
Giles had come from the room to meet them. "There are more men!" he exclaimed. "Th-they're after Willow and the others!"
Angel gritted his teeth in frustration. "I can't go out there! The sun is up!"
"How many?" Hawk asked Giles.
Giles frowned. "Er, about seven. Maybe more." He let out a sigh. "Th- they were very close."
Hawk turned to Angel. He gave him directions to get to the Wharf. "Go back to the tunnels. If I'm right, that's where you'll find S'ushi's lair. If Spenser gets caught, they'll bring him, the girl, and Xander there. If not, then wait until dark. Meet us at the safe house." He gave Angel the address to the safe house. Then he turned to Giles. "Go with him."
"Sh-shouldn't I go with you a-and help you?" Giles asked.
Hawk shook his head. "I work better alone. Faster, too."
He turned and he left them.
Giles and Angel reluctantly made their way to the tunnels below the hotel. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx TO BE CONTINUED--
Just before Angel, Hawk, Spenser, and Willow had arrived at the Sheraton, something had happened that tipped the scales and the balance was lost. Now they were running out of time only they didn't know it yet.
His name was Dominick Gunther. He was a simple street thug. He picked up the dirty jobs from anyone he could get them from, and he prided himself on doing the job right. However, he was always looking for the right job to come along and bring in the big dough.
He had heard through his numerous contacts that a girl with long red hair and green eyes had gotten away from her Mistress. There was a large reward for the girl's return and he wouldn't mind getting his hands on that reward himself. He knew the chances of finding the girl and getting that cash reward with his head intact were the same as winning the Lotto.
They were next to Slim and None.
But, hey, a guy could dream, couldn't he?
He had met with a mutual business associate at the Sheraton Restaurant located inside the Sheraton Hotel. They conducted their business and then it was time for them to put distance between them. The associate left, and Gunther decided to stay and order himself a lunch.
He was glad he did.
Because of his grumbling stomach, he was able to sit there and look toward the swinging doors that led into the kitchen. That's where he saw his next meal ticket. He saw dollar signs. He saw a way to get rich quick.
He saw a girl with long red hair and green eyes.
To get to her, however, was going to be a problem. Three very large guys were protecting her-two of them were Spenser and Hawk. He didn't know who the third guy was, only that he looked extremely pale. In spite of the heavy, duty bodyguards present around her, he wanted that girl badly. He was going to have to call for backup. No one went up against Spenser and Hawk without backup. He had known some guys who were stupid enough to do just that, but those poor bastards had wound up in the Boston Herald's obituary column for their troubles.
Gunther decided to skip lunch. He had a new appetite, and it had nothing to do with food.
He casually rose from the booth and followed his prey out of the dining room. He picked up a newspaper that someone had discarded in the lobby and casually looked at the headlines. He watched Spenser, Hawk, Paleface, and Red head up the stairs and he followed at a good distance behind. He used an old couple to shield him from view as he kept into step behind them.
On the second floor, he saw them enter a room and he casually walked past the room to glance at the number.
Room 133.
He smiled.
He walked down the corridor and found a chair to sit in beside the elevators. He pulled out his cell phone and he called a few friends. He called up four of them and when he had told them what he needed, they assured him that they were on their way.
Gunther put away his cell phone. He decided to go back down to the lobby and wait for his friends. _______________
"Explain to me how you perform the trick," I said to Angel after the two of us joined Hawk and Giles out into the hall.
"It's not a trick," Angel responded. "I wish it were, but it's not."
"A man just doesn't lose his reflection in a mirror. I've never seen anything like this. It just isn't natural." I glared at him. I had a hard time trusting people who didn't have reflections. It made me think he had something to hide. "What the hell are you?"
Angel opened his mouth to respond.
But Hawk beat him to it. "You sure you ready for the answer, Spenser?" he asked me. "You're opening doors you ain't never opened before."
I looked at him.
For some reason, I wanted to hit him. "You know about this?" I demanded. "What kind of doors have you opened, Hawk?"
"I was hoping you would never have to open them doors yourself." He shook his head. "It's not something any average person can live with. But men like you and me? These two?" He indicated Angel and Giles. "People like us have to go through them some time."
"And what about Willow? Does she have to go through them?"
Giles hesitated. "Willow h-has already been through those doors, Mr. Spenser."
I looked at him.
"She knows about things th-that most kids her age have only seen in movies." Giles let out a weary sigh. "A-and the things that are depicted in those movies are not exactly all that accurate either."
"Drop the 'Mr.'," I told him. "It's just 'Spenser'."
He nodded. "Spenser."
"So you're telling me that there is a dark world that includes people with no reflections, and Willow knows all about this world?"
"Yes. It's true."
Angel decided to cut to the chase. "I'm a Vampire."
I looked at him. "It's daylight."
"Yeah...that's why we went through the tunnels."
"But...it's still daylight," I protested. "Vampire's sleep during the day."
"Vampires don't really need sleep."
I looked at him long and hard. I didn't know why, but I guess I just simply believed him. How could I not? He had no reflection. But was he really a Vampire?
"Angel is a g-good Vampire," Giles pointed out to me. "He has a soul."
"Hasn't fed from a human in about a hundred years," Hawk added.
I turned my head to regard Angel. "You're a hundred years old?"
Angel smiled wryly. "Actually, I'm--"
"Forget it. I don't want to know." I took a deep breath, and then I let it back out. "This whole thing bothers the hell out of me."
"What does?"
"I pictured Willow living with a loving family, safe and secure from the evil that men do. But now I discover that she's been living her life already exposed to a different kind of evil. What kind of a life is that for her to live?"
Giles looked at me and he took off his glasses. "I-it would be Willow's life that she is living. Spenser, she is a remarkably intelligent, young lady. In Sunnydale, we've been able to overcome a great many evils because of-of her persistence in researching what was needed. Yes, Willow is exposed to evil. So is Xander, and-and a few other kids I can name." He later told me that he was thinking of Buffy Summers and Cordelia Chase as he was telling me this. "B-but they fight against that evil together, and it makes them stronger. I-it brings them closer together. It helps them and prepares them for the next evil that they may have to face."
I paused as he thought about what he said. "Why do they have to face it at all?"
"B-because no one else will. No one else knows that it exists."
I took a deep breath.
"Look, Spenser," Angel began carefully, "Willow has faced Vampires. She's faced some scary stuff and come through all right. She's always been careful. A demon or a vampire who committs evil is something she can expect. They commit evil because they are evil." He paused. "But you're right about one thing. She has been exposed to a different kind of evil."
I nodded. "From man."
"Yes. What she had been forced to endure is man's doing. And one sick, sadistic woman. Even though S'ushi Alyssia has four vampires in her service--"
"Two," Hawk corrected.
Angel glanced at him, and he continued with, "--two vampires in her service, this evil is still the result of man."
"You're making sense," I told him. "What are you suggesting?"
Angel looked at Giles. "We can't take Willow home until this White Slavery thing has been taken care of. Permanently." He looked at Hawk, and then he looked at me. "I saw what had happened to Kali. I don't want that to happen to Willow and I think that if S'ushi gets her hands on her, that's what her fate will be in the end."
I looked at Angel and even for a vampire, I could see that he was genuine and he seemed to have a pure heart. "We'll take care of it." There was no way in hell I was going to let S'ushi Alyssia continue on with her business, lack of evidence be damned. "What about Willow's parents?"
Giles hesitated. "Well, they, er, they think she's still at camp."
"How much longer is she expected to be at this campsite?"
"Another two weeks."
"What if she doesn't have her memory in two weeks?"
Giles and Angel looked at each other. They didn't really have an answer.
Finally, Angel replied softly, "I hope she gets her memory back, Spenser." He paused. "But not all of it."
I knew what he meant. "That day might come."
Angel looked at Giles. "If it does, we need to be there for her, Giles. It could be bad for her." He sighed. "It will be bad."
Giles looked at me. "Well...what do we do now?"
I looked at Hawk. Then I said, "We'll take Willow to the safe house. Then Hawk and I will take care of it."
Angel shook his head. "I'm going with you. There's still two vampires with S'ushi, and I can handle them."
Hawk flashed his teeth in one of his famous happy smiles. "So can I."
"It would be better for Willow if you stayed close to her," I told Angel, "just incase they find the safe house. S'ushi is very resourceful. She..." I stopped because Hawk did something I was hoping he wouldn't do.
He withdrew his big, bad gun. "Change of plans," he said softly.
Angel and I looked.
There were three of them. They were street thugs, and they were moving slowly toward us from down the hall. They had drawn their guns and were leveling them at the floor.
Giles tapped on my shoulder. "Er, Spenser..." He pointed behind us.
There were two more, approaching from the other end of the hall.
One of them I recognized immediately. He was a filthy, scumbag named Dominick Gunther. There was only one reason that I could think of as to why Gunther and his gang of hoodlums had decided to make a sudden appearance at the Sheraton with their guns in their hands.
They were after Willow.
I withdrew my gun.
The bastards were going to be very disappointed.
It was times like this that really made me like Hawk.
"Dominick Gunther," Hawk said in that deep, scary voice of his. "You is going the right way if it be your funeral you is heading for."
Gunther and his friend stopped at a distance of twenty feet or so from us. On the other side of the hall, his three homeboys stopped as well. Their guns were still leveled at the floor.
Gunther looked nervous, but that clearly wasn't going to stop him from trying to get to Willow. "Spenser," he said to me, his eyes locked on to Hawk, "call your friggin' dog off!"
I shook my head. "Can't do that. I forgot to feed him today, and he's really pissed about it."
"This is no time for being a smart ass, Spense."
"You can't call me 'Spense.' That honor is only reserved for friends and foes. It's even reserved for lawyers. But low-life scumbag's are not listed in the contract to call me 'Spense.'"
Gunther glared at me.
We were all at a disadvantage. Hawk and I were holding our guns out but we had them leveled toward the floor. Giles and Angel were closer to the hotel room door behind us. They had no weapons of any kind. At least, none that I was aware of.
Gunther and his boys also still had their weapons leveled at the floor, but that could change in a New York split second.
I looked into Gunther's eyes.
He had made a big mistake and he was just beginning to realize it. He was handling this badly. He had jumped into it without using his head, which wasn't really a surprise to me. The problem was, however, that he now couldn't afford to look bad in front of his fellow stooges. This only meant he wasn't going to make the smart move, which would be to tuck his tail between his legs and run. Retreat.
"Damn it!" he scolded me. "This is no time for making wise cracks!" He tried to get a grip on his temper. "Do the smart thing. Give us the girl and walk away."
I looked at him. "What if I say 'no'?"
"Then I'll shoot you dead!"
"What if I shoot you dead first?"
"I--wha--?"
Good. I was making him nervous.
Hawk made him even more nervous. "What if I shoot you dead before Spense does? What if I just break your neck without shooting you dead? I think I like that better."
Gunther leveled his gun at me, and that made his boys raise their guns. Hawk leveled his gun toward the three boys on the one side while I aimed my gun directly at Gunther on the other side.
I hated standoffs, but if we were going out in a blaze of glory, Gunther was going first.
"C'mon, Spenser!" Gunther shouted angrily. "I called Billiard. He's sending his guys over right now! Even if you get past us, you'll have to deal with him!"
I ignored him. "Hawk?"
"Uh huh," Hawk said.
"I have to get her to the safe house."
"I'll cover you."
Gunther waved his gun at me. "You're not going anywhere!"
Hawk also ignored him. "Angel?"
Angel was keeping a wary eye on Gunther and his friend. "Yeah?"
"Wanna stay and help me divert?"
"Thought you'd never ask."
Gunther aimed his gun with a shaking hand. "I swear! I will fill you full of lead! GIVE me the girl!!"
"Lead can't kill me." Angel's face changed and when he turned to look at Gunther, it was with the face of a demon.
I had never seen anything like that. There was only one thing that came to mind, and I said it. "Oh, shit!"
Angel dove at Gunther.
Gunther screamed like a pig at the butcher block. He and his friend backed away, trying to get out of the vampire's reach, and as they did, they began to fire wildly. There was no aiming at their target. They were just scared shitless and they simply began to pull the trigger. The thing about gunfights is if you were at close quarters and you paniced, your shots could end up far off the mark. That's what happened with Ginther and his friend.
But if you were as calm and cool as Hawk, you pretty much hit what you wanted to hit. And Hawk did. He leveled his gun toward the trio as they raised theirs and he fired. One of them went down hard and lay unmoving on the floor, blood soaking his shirt from where the bullet went through his chest. The other two goons tried to find cover, and like their friends who never learn, they fired wildly.
I grabbed Giles' arm and I shoved him through the door into the room ahead of me. Once inside, I slammed the door shut behind me.
Xander and Willow were on their feet and they were staring at us apprehensively.
"We heard shots!" Xander exclaimed. "Were those shots that we heard?"
Several more shots sounded from beyond the door. There was also a thund and a scream.
Xander tensed. "Oh, shiiiiiit! Those were shots!"
I went over to the sliding glass doors and I pulled the curtains back from them. I opened the door and stepped out onto the patio. I knew I could get down without any trouble and then I could help Willow down.
"Let's go," I said to Xander, Willow, and Giles. "We're climbing down."
Willow looked at me fearfully, her eyes wide. "Wh-what's happening?"
"You'll be okay, Willow." I tilted her face up and looked into her eyes. "Trust me. Okay?"
She nodded.
Willow flinched every time a shot was fired and it broke my heart to see her like that. Xander came to her and he put a protective arm around her. I was glad to see that she was letting him do that. She seemed to trust him. I hoped she did.
I turned to Giles. "I'll go down first. You lower Willow to me."
He nodded.
I went over the railing, lowered myself to the ground, and then I let myself drop. It wasn't at all that far to the ground, at least to me. The room was on the second floor. I was ready for Willow. Giles helped lower her down, and I caught a hold of her, helping her down the rest of the way. As I helped Willow, Xander came down without any assistance.
In the background, I heard the not so distant sounds of police sirens.
"Are you coming?" I looked up at Giles.
He waved us on. "N-no. You go on ahead. I'll stay with Angel and Hawk."
I nodded.
Giles disappeared back inside.
"Uh, Spenser?"
I turned to look at Xander. "What is it?"
He pointed at something behind me. "That can't be good...can it?"
I turned and I looked.
"Son-of-a-bitch," I swore. I shouldn't have said that in front of Willow, but I was starting to get real mad.
Two of those big Continental Lincolns had come to a halt in the parking lot of the Sheraton. Four men had climbed out of one of them, and three men had climbed out of the other one. All seven of the men were now looking directly at us.
"Damn," I swore again. "Sorry, Willow."
Billiard's men had shown up after all. And these guys were a lot more professional than Gunther and his street thugs were.
"What are we going to do now?" Xander asked as he put himself in front of Willow.
"Would you think of me as less of a man if I said, 'Run'?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
And we ran. ____________________
Angel had managed to knock the gun out of Gunther's hand with incredible ease. Gunther's friend was about to take a shot at Angel when the vampire with a soul picked Gunther up from the floor and tossed him into the air. Gunther came down hard, hitting his friend and causing them both to crash to the floor. By the time they managed to disentangle themselves, Angel picked up each of them one-handed. He slammed them face first into each other and dropped their unconscious bodies to the floor.
He scooped up their weapons from the floor, deposited them into the pockets of his coat, and he turned to give Hawk a hand.
He discovered two dead bodies in Hawk's wake. Angel morphed his face back into his human face as he continued on down the corridor. He turned a corner and he was just in time to see Hawk level his gun at the last man. The man wisely dropped his gun and showed Hawk that his hands were empty.
Angel sighed in relief.
He began to walk toward Hawk.
BOOM!
Angel froze and stared in horror as the unarmed man fell on to the floor, dead. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Hawk had shot that man in cold-blooded murder.
Angel grabbed his arm and said, "What did you do?!"
Hawk looked at him. "It's time we were on our way. Cops are gonna be here soon."
"After what I just saw, maybe we should wait right here for them."
"You are not in a position to judge me," Hawk replied dangerously. "I do what I have to do. So do you."
"I told you. I don't take human lives!"
Hawk regarded him. "Then you're a damn fool."
Angel glared at him. "I--"
Hawk slammed him up against the wall and looked at him with a hard penetrating gaze. "Think abut what you just told me what you saw at the Funhouse. What they did to Kali was more horrible than what I do to these bastards. Now ask yourself, what about Willow? Do you want to see her like that?"
Angel didn't say anything, but the images were fresh in his mind. Hawk was right. If they caught Willow, they...He swallowed.
Hawk regarded him. "Well, you might want to change your mind about taking a human life if you want to keep Willow from meeting the same fate." He let Angel go, turned, and headed back toward the room.
Angel looked at the dead man on the floor. It was a damn waste of life, he thought.
He turned to follow Hawk.
Giles had come from the room to meet them. "There are more men!" he exclaimed. "Th-they're after Willow and the others!"
Angel gritted his teeth in frustration. "I can't go out there! The sun is up!"
"How many?" Hawk asked Giles.
Giles frowned. "Er, about seven. Maybe more." He let out a sigh. "Th- they were very close."
Hawk turned to Angel. He gave him directions to get to the Wharf. "Go back to the tunnels. If I'm right, that's where you'll find S'ushi's lair. If Spenser gets caught, they'll bring him, the girl, and Xander there. If not, then wait until dark. Meet us at the safe house." He gave Angel the address to the safe house. Then he turned to Giles. "Go with him."
"Sh-shouldn't I go with you a-and help you?" Giles asked.
Hawk shook his head. "I work better alone. Faster, too."
He turned and he left them.
Giles and Angel reluctantly made their way to the tunnels below the hotel. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx TO BE CONTINUED--