Chapter VIII: Leveling the playing-field.

They have been searching for days to no avail. Their quest seems futile. They move through the shadows, scurrying like ants. Their gaze fixed. Their pace quick. They are an army that serves the devil. They blend with the darkness and flow through it like snakes under the waters. They're senses heightened. Their mission clear. They're close now.

"They're coming."

They find their target. He lies on the floor beneath the rubble. They surround him grasping their weapons, cautiously looking at their surroundings. A man walks over to him. The kneels beside him and presses his earpiece.

Man: "Big momma. We got the Red Stuff."

The gather about closer to retrieve him. Mission complete. Time to go home.

He walks into the diner. He's late. He knows it. This past week has been incredibly worrisome to him. He's exhausted, but the life he leads won't allow him to rest. He walks towards the table where he's being awaited.

Lindsey: (with a coffee mug to his lips) "You're late."

Wes: "I trust you have information worthy of my time?" (sits opposed to him)

Lindsey: "You see, why is it that every time I get here late and you rub it in my face I still say 'hello' to you, but you can't do the same to me?"

Wes reclines on his seat.

Lindsey: (scoffs) "Jeez, you'd think good news would lighten your mood."

Wes: "I wouldn't know. I haven't heard any in awhile."

Lindsey: (sets down his cup on the table) "Fair enough."

Wes smirks.

Lindsey: "We found him. In the sewers, near the piers."

Wes: "And?"

Lindsey: "Well, let's just say he won't be busting anyone's chops for a really long time." (drinks from the cup)

Wes doesn't respond.

Lindsey: "Ok, how 'bout this? When we found him his body mass was half what it was the last time you saw him. Try human skeleton, ok?"

Wes looks down at the checkered table cloth. He turns around and calls for a waitress.

Waitress: (chewing on gum) "Hey, honey, what do you want?"

Wes: "I'll have a cup of coffee, please."

Waitress: "Sure thing. Anything else?"

Wes: (with a smile) "No, that would be it. Thanks."

Lindsey: "Listen, We--"

Wes stops him before he can utter his name by raising his finger.

Waitress: (startled) "Oh, um, I'll bee right back with your coffee." (smiles shyly and leaves towards the counter)

Wes looks at her, then back at Lindsey.

Lindsey: (taps the coffee mug) "Right. ahem So Spike--"

Wes: "Where is he?"

Lindsey: (bites his lower lip and picks up the cup) "Fairfield Clinic."

Wes stares at him directly into his eyes. Lindsey takes a sip from his cup and then sets it down on the table again.

Lindsey: "I set up a private room for him. He's being taken care of."

Wes: "And his current condition?"

Lindsey: "I talked to Dr. Melman this morning. He said that they managed to stabilize him. He'll be fine."

Waitress: (coming from behind Wes) "Here's your coffee."

Wes: (smiling at the girl) "Thanks."

The young brunette walks away from the table and into the kitchen.

Lindsey: "You wanna bet she's doing it with the cook?"

Wes: "I was wondering if I was the only one that noticed."

Lindsey: "How did you?"

Wes: (drinks from the cup) "Well, for starters, I've tasted better things than this in the sewers."

Lindsey: "You're a very complex man. Have I ever told you that?"

Wes: (putting his cup down) "And how did you notice?"

Lindsey: "I've been sitting here since her shift started about an hour ago. She had better hair when she came in."

Wes: "That obvious."

Lindsey: "Just a tad."

Wes: "So, now that Miss Soon-to-be-third-grade-English-teacher's gone to have dinner with the chef, do you think it's possible that you'd tell me what you really brought me here for?"

Lindsey: "What do you want to know?"

Wes: "Any new information on the kid?"

Lindsey: "Same as yours. Did you talk to the Council?"

Wes: "I told them just enough to keep them busy over there."

Lindsey: (picks up his cup again) "Make sure they don't come snooping around here."

Wes: "That's the least of our concerns."

Lindsey: (with the cup over his lips) "Let's hope." (drinks the rest of the coffee)

Wes: "For your sake."

Lindsey looks at him sharply. Wes reclines on his seat.

Lindsey: "Look, we have enough crap on our hands. If this is going to work we have to deal with the situation at hand quick. We have to find the kid before more players start falling."

Wes: "I gathered all the information Wolfram & Hart has on him." (quiets down for a minute)

Lindsey: "Something wrong?"

Wes: "Hamilton."

Lindsey: "What about him?"

Wes: "I was just wondering how much does he suspects. After all, you gave the order to find and retrieve Spike."

Lindsey: "If you're asking how inquisitorial he is about that, then I'm gonna have to say not as much as I thought he would."

Wes: "That's very unlike him."

Lindsey: "You think he knows but just hasn't done anything about it?"

Wes: "It's a little on the nose, I know."

Lindsey: "Tell me about it."

Wes: "And Eve?"

Lindsey features turn cold and somber. He fiddles with the empty coffee cup uncomfortably.

Wes: (cont.) "Nothing?"

Lindsey: "Yeah."

They remain quiet. Wes takes out his wallet and pulls out a 20 dollar bill and sets it in the middle of the table under his coffee mug.

Lindsey: "You're getting the tab?"

Wes: "Last one here pays. That was the agreement, wasn't it?"

Lindsey: "Y-yeah. Sure."

Wes: "I haven't forgotten our agreement."

Lindsey: "It never crossed my mind."

Wes: (standing up) "What room is he in?"

Lindsey: "11-4"

Wes looks at him. Lindsey plays with the empty cup, twirling it on the table. He walks out of the diner and gets into his car. He drives off.

-- End.