Chapter Five

"Okay," Piper began when Cole and Phoebe joined the group in the sunroom, "what can you tell us, Laura, about what's going on?"

"Not much," Laura nervously answered as she faced the group. "I'm sorry, I really don't know why I'm here. I know Paige said that I'm somehow in danger but I've explained that I'm just an operator for an online clothing company. And Eric's just a computer programmer. He sits in an office all day long. We're not involved with anything remotely like national security and I don't know anyone who would be after either of us."

"You said Eric was keeping something from you," Paige considered.

Laura nodded and admitted, "For the past couple of weeks, he's been secretive about where's he's been. I call him at work but get his voicemail and he'll tell me it's some sort of glitch in the system. He's been very nervous and barely spends any time with me. I can't tell you how many dinner dates he's broken." Piper and Paige nodded sympathetically and she continued, "He says that it's all work related but it's got to be more than that. He won't tell me what's wrong and I can't help him. I just don't know what to do. My family thinks I should end things with him but I love him. I thought we were going to get married. That's why I wrote to 'Dear Phoebe.' I need advice on how we can work through this. I know we can make it as long as we're open with each other."

"Maybe you should leave things be and trust him," Phoebe quietly commented. Piper and Paige turned to her with stunned looks on their faces. "It seems to me," she explained, "that sometimes, if you love someone, you have to give them the benefit of the doubt even if it hurts. You have to let them go." She gave a quick sidelong glance to Cole before she looked back at the others. "Maybe he has his reasons and is trying to protect you."

"Phoebe," Piper pointedly asked, "are you all right?"

Cole spared Phoebe of answering by asking Laura, "Does the name Damien Pierce mean anything to you?"

Laura thought a moment and finally said, "It seems vaguely familiar. Maybe a client of Eric's?"

"Why?" Paige asked suspiciously. "Who is Damien Pierce?"

"A rather shady operator in the import/export business," Cole answered. "He has an office here in the city and another in New Orleans. It's highly probable that he's the one who hired thatSeeker."

"What's a Seeker?" Laura asked.

"Don't worry about it," Piper told her. "How reliable is your information?" she asked Cole.

"Very," Cole assured her.

"Do you think Darryl has anything on him?" Paige asked.

"Why don't you give him a call?" Leo suggested.

"Don't bother," Cole informed them. "I already did. Pierce has been under surveillance for a few weeks but they haven't got anything that they can pin on him."

"Well, it must be heavy," Paige commented, "or he wouldn't be hiring a Seeker."

"He's got a warehouse down at the wharf and there's been a lot of late-night traffic there lately," Cole added. He then asked Laura, "What does Eric look like?"

"He's about five-ten," she nervously responded, "with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He wears it straight and keeps it a bit on the longer side and his bangs are always getting in his eyes." She quickly opened her handbag and pulled out her wallet. "Here's a picture of him." She handed Cole a small photo.

Paige didn't miss the look on Cole's face. "Recognize him?"

Cole returned the photo to Laura. "Not personally. But he does fit a description I got of someone who's been paying regular visits to Pierce's office. He was called Coppy. And he was spotted at the warehouse last night."

Laura gasped and admitted, "Coppy is Eric's nickname. His last name is Copperfield. And I haven't seen Eric since the day before yesterday. He said he had a deadline for a project at work and had to work overtime to meet it. Do you think Eric is involved with something illegal? He couldn't be." She began to cry, "I thought I knew him. I thought he loved me. This can't be happening."

Paige comforted the young woman with a hug. "We don't know yet what Eric's involvement is. Maybe he just got in over his head. He could be innocent of any wrong doings."

Laura sniffled and pulled back. "What do we do?"

"Maybe we ought to pay Mr. Pierce a visit," Piper suggested.

"Maybe I should go home and wait for Eric," Laura nervously suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Piper agreed. "Paige, why don't you go with Laura while Cole and I go see Mr. Pierce?"

"Don't trust me to go alone?" he questioned.

"After what happened with Edward Miller," Paige countered, "are you kidding?"

"I'll go with Cole," Phoebe quietly said as she finally spoke up. Piper looked at her and Phoebe assured her sister, "I'll be fine. Besides, maybe you and Leo should check out the warehouse while we're at the office."

Piper agreed to Phoebe's plan but flashed a look of warning to Cole. "Any sign of trouble, you get her out of there."

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"Leo," Piper whispered, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

He peeked around the stack of crates they were hiding behind and agreed. "They're in a rush, all right. Any sign of Eric?"

"No," Piper murmured uneasily. "Leo, don't you find it strange that those crates near that truck all have large holes in the sides." She started to move around the crate and Leo grabbed her.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked in a worried tone.

"I'm just going to do a quick little freeze job," she told him, "so we can see what's in those crates."

"Honey, I don't think that's a good idea," he said. "What if something goes wrong and you have a glitch in your powers?"

Piper shrugged off his concern with a gentle smile. "The baby's been very good lately. Besides, no one will see me so I won't be in any danger for the baby to worry about." She patted his arm and stepped out from behind the crate. She waved her arm at the scene before her and everything froze. "Come on."

They quickly and cautiously made their way to the truck and Leo carefully lifted the top panel from one of the unsealed crates. As Piper scanned the warehouse for newcomers, Leo looked inside the crate and gasped.

"What is it?" she quickly asked as she peered inside. "Oh, my God," she whispered. "Are they dead?"

Leo stared at the two flimsily clad women who were bound inside the crate. "I can't tell when they're frozen." Piper quickly waved her hand at the crate and Leo closed his eyes. "They're alive," he told her. "They've probably been drugged."

"Do you think Pierce is importing them or exporting them?" she bitterly asked.

Before Leo could answer, they heard a loud voice coming from the entrance. "Move it, Coppy."

"Leo," Piper hissed as Leo orbed them to safety in their original hiding spot and she unfroze the scene. They peeked from around the side of the crates at the two men who came in.

"Please," the young man begged as he struggled in the grip of a large bouncer-type. His hands were bound behind him and he continued, "Please, tell Mr. Pierce I won't say anything. I'll leave town. I just can't let him have Laura. He'll never hear from me again, I swear."

"You got that right," the large man promised. "Mr. Pierce has special plans for you."

Leo glanced at Piper and she froze the pair. They made their way over and Piper unfroze the young man. "Eric?" she asked.

Eric looked at them and at the scene around him and whispered, "Are you witches?"

Piper nervously glanced at Leo and asked Eric, "What makes you say that?"

"If you were demons," Eric answered, "you wouldn't have unfrozen me. You would just have destroyed me for failing in my duties."

"You're a demon?" Piper gasped.

Eric hung his head, "Not a very good one though. I'm finally given the opportunity to prove myself and I blow it by falling for my assignment."

"All right," Piper muttered as Leo untied the ropes that bound Eric's hands, "we'll solve your love life problems later. Right now, we have to help these women. What's going on? Is Pierce a demon too?"

Eric nodded gratefully to Leo and answered Piper, "No, he's a mortal. Not a very scrupulous one though. Right now, he's got this client who's interested in American women. Pierce makes sure this client gets them."

"How did you get involved?" Leo asked in a disgusted tone.

Eric couldn't look Leo in the eye as he replied. "Damien Pierce is known for his talent in acquiring many ancient artifacts. He's a good resource for many demons and my job was to offer my services for the period of two years. It was part of a deal made with my master who had acquired a powerful amulet from Pierce. I was to create a life for myself in this world as a human and wait for Pierce's instructions. It wasn't a terribly difficult adjustment since I am half-human."

"Great, another one," Piper muttered.

But Eric was too absorbed in his story and didn't hear. He continued, "Pierce knew I was a demon, albeit an extremely low-level one. He didn't need me all the time but, when he did, I had to obey. Until he needed me, I had my cover as a computer programmer. I've always loved the advances humans have made in technology. The problem was that I fell in love with this girl I met in a programming class. I'd never known anyone like her before. It was more than a year before I could even bring myself to ask her out. She had a way of reaching inside me and making me look at the world in a new light. I would do anything for her."

"Laura's pretty special," Leo told him. "And she's very worried about you."

"You met Laura?" Eric nervously asked.

"My sister had a premonition about an Electric Seeker attacking you and Laura," Piper informed him. "Why would Pierce send one after you?"

"We've got to get her," Eric anxiously told them. "I can't let anything happen to her. Promise me you'll protect her."

"Laura's safe," Leo assured him. "But you have to tell us the rest. Why is Pierce after you now?"

"He saw me once with Laura and was intrigued," Eric admitted. "I told you about this client. Well, Pierce must've told this client about Laura and the client decided he wanted Laura for hiscollection. I can't let that happen. You have to help me."

"We will," Piper told him. "I hope Cole and Phoebe have better luck with Pierce," she commented to Leo.

"What do you mean?" Eric questioned her. "Did your sister go to his office?"

"Yes," Piper replied in a worried tone. "Why?"

"Damien Pierce has got special amulets protecting him from witches," Eric told them. "He'll destroy her before she knows it's happening."

"Leo, get them," Piper ordered. "I'll call Paige and tell her to come here with Laura. We've got to free these women before anyone else shows up."

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"Cole," Phoebe whispered, "look at these transcripts." He went over to her side and she let him look at the pages under the small desk light. "These conversations read like kidnapping plots."

Cole frowned, "I don't like this. Morris mentioned some strange coincidences with missing women around the dates of Pierce's recent exporting activities."

"You don't think" Phoebe glanced at him. "He wouldn't dare."

"I think Laura's in real danger," Cole told her. "We'd better get back to her."

"Do you think Eric set her up?" she asked as she quickly returned the pages to the folder. "That he's really working for this Pierce and she's his next victim?"

"I don't know," he replied as he straightened the files in the desk drawer and shut off the desk light. "I don't think he would've spent two years with her if that was his goal. Paige suggested that maybe he got in over his head. Maybe she was right."

Phoebe sighed in relief but asked him as she stood and bumped into him in the dark, "Why do some people have to fight so hard just to love?"

Cole tenderly brushed his lips against hers. "Because some things are worth fighting for."

Phoebe leaned into him but quickly remembered their surroundings and pulled away. "We'd better get out of here before we're caught."

"Too late," Damien Pierce greeted them. "Now, now, didn't anyone ever tell you that curiosity killed the witch?"

The couple spun just as the overhead lights went on. They faced the tall, fit, silver-haired stranger.

"So tell me," he said to them, "what brings you into my locked office so late at night?"

Phoebe cast a worried glance to Cole but answered in an unwavering voice, "Eric Copperfield and Laura Anderson. You're going to leave them alone."

"Sorry, I don't know them," he thoughtfully replied.

"Save it," Cole growled. "We know all about your business dealings," he bluffed. "You won't get away with it."

"Who's going to stop me?" Pierce laughed. "You two witches?"

"I'm no witch," Cole confidently stated as he quickly threw a ball of electricity at Pierce. But, it dissolved as soon as it hit a shield that suddenly surrounded the debonair businessman.

"Did you honestly believe I could be as successful in my business if I didn't know how to protect myself?" he smiled. "Now," he declared, "can we settle this nasty business properly or will I be forced to use rather messy methods?" He walked over to Phoebe and checked her out. She refused to cower before him and he smiled. "A little on the short side but in very good shape," he leered. "A little dye job will help appearances. But, your fire and attitude will definitely be a plus. Not everyone overseas goes for the meek and timid type, you know."

Cole stepped in front of Phoebe and stared at Pierce at eye-level. "Touch one hair on her head and you will meet a rather painful end."

"Please," Pierce dismissed Cole's threat. "I have protection against demons too." He flicked a switch on his desk and sparks flew from an outlet in the wall. Suddenly a dark shape emerged and moved towards them as it grew taller and thinner. It's red eyes glowed brighter and its claws sparked as it approached.

"Cole" Phoebe warned as she grabbed his arm. Just then, Leo orbed in. "Look out!" she shouted.

Leo ducked in time to miss the Seeker's electric bolt while both Cole and Phoebe dove to the sides to safety.

"All three are yours," Pierce told the demon. He gave one final glance to Phoebe and told her, "Pity. You would've brought in an usually high price."

"Why you" Phoebe lunged at Pierce and threw him off-balance. He proved quick on his feet though and was easily able to block her blows. She fought him and ignored the Seeker who was coming towards her.

"Phoebe!" Cole shouted as he threw an electric ball at the demon.

But the demon absorbed the electricity and continued menacingly towards Phoebe who was too involved in her fight with Pierce to notice.

"Phoebe," Leo called, "this isn't the way."

"Shut up, Leo!" Phoebe snapped. "You don't know what this man has done."

"I've done nothing," Pierce insisted as he blocked another of Phoebe's kicks.

"I do know," Leo told her. "I've been to the warehouse."

Pierce was suddenly distracted and Phoebe was able to knock him to the ground so that she narrowly missed another attack by the Seeker.

Cole distracted the Seeker by throwing another ball of electricity but quickly faded out of the way from an oncoming bolt. He appeared behind Phoebe who had finally pinned Pierce to the ground and was landing blow after blow to the man's face. "Honey, you don't want to do this," he told her.

Something in his voice made Phoebe turn to him. "But what he's done"

Cole nodded, "He'll pay. In a court of law. I promise. But you will never forgive yourself if you continue."

Phoebe looked down at the unconscious Pierce and then at her hands. She looked back at Cole and suddenly ducked when Leo shouted out a warning.

As the Seeker shot out another bolt of electricity at them, Cole asked Leo, "Where's Piper with that potion?"

"She's at the warehouse with Eric," he answered. "Let's go."

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