Part 13

Giles hung up the phone and rubbed his tired eyes. Angel had called to tell him that he had seen Willow in LA with Graham. They were meeting with a representative of Wolfram and Hart. Giles vaguely remembered Angel and Wesley talking about the law firm but he really hadn't paid a lot of attention. Now he wished he had. Angel had said that word on the street was that Red Death and Hunter were clearing the path for a high-ranking demon. He didn't have a name of the target and they were all researching as much as they could.

A very reliable source had gone dry recently and Wesley was doing as much research as he could. So far nothing was popping out at them for a likely demon.

He debated telling Buffy and Xander the news. He knew that once he did both of them would want to go to LA as soon as they possibly could. The demonic activity was heating up here and he knew he could get Buffy to stay because of it. But Xander...he didn't think there was anything he could say to stop Xander from going after Willow.

The ringing of the phone brought Giles out of his thoughts.

"Hello?"

"Giles! I think Willow's in trouble." Xander began pacing as he finally got Giles.

Giles took a deep breath and in a careful voice said, "What makes you say that, Xander?"

"The dreams have started again. This time it was different. Well, not different in that there was still demon carnage but different in that I recognized some of the people."

Giles closed his eyes. Shit! Had he seen Angel or Wesley in the dreams? He thanked God for small favors that Xander called him first instead of just jumping in the car and going to LA.

"Oh? Who did you recognize?" Giles hoped his question didn't betray his worry.

"Well, the main one was Angel and then I also saw Clem."

Giles' hand tightened on the phone. Now what? Maybe he could put off telling him that Angel had called. He didn't want to lie but he didn't want Xander going off into a potentially dangerous situation blind either.

"Clem? The demon that used to hang around Spike?"

"Yeah, that's him. Do you think there's a connection with Willow?"

Giles hoped Xander wouldn't pursue the Angel angle. At least until tonight when hopefully he'll have heard back from Angel or Wesley about Willow. "Now that Spike is much better perhaps Buffy can find out where Clem is. Why don't you stop by the shop this evening and I'll have Buffy and Spike meet you there. Then we can plan a course of action."

"Plan? What's to plan? I find out where Willow is...I go after Willow."

"Xander, what if you're going after Willow puts her in more danger."

"But Giles what if my NOT going after Willow puts her in more danger?"

"Xander, as hard as this is for you to hear if Willow wanted to get in touch with you she would have. She knows how to get in touch with you."

"What if she can't? What if this is her way of communicating with me? God, I can't just sit around while Willow may be in trouble."

"At least give it tonight. Talk to Spike and see if he's heard from Clem."

Xander rubbed his hand through his hair. "Okay. Tonight. But regardless of the outcome I'm gonna start looking harder for Willow."

~~~~~

Agent Patterson pulled the headphones off and quickly dialed his superior.

"Xander Harris is becoming a problem, sir."

"In what way, Patterson?"

"He's receiving Rosenberg's projections again. D'Hoffryn provided a distraction for a while but they've returned and he's determined to find Willow."

Williamson leafed through the report that Miller had filed. They were to take out Jasmine which would ensure their place with Zelana for when the Agency went after the entity known as The First. Xander could not be allowed to interfere with that. He debated whether or not to take him out of the picture entirely. A soft knock on the door interrupted him.

"Come."

The door slowly opened and Riley stuck his head in. Williamson indicated for him to enter and take a seat. He returned to his conversation with Patterson.

"Continue to keep the target in sight. Under no circumstances is he to leave to go after Rosenberg. Arrest him if necessary. Call back at 0600 tomorrow your time for further instructions."

"Trouble with Xander?" Riley asked as Williamson hung up the phone.

"Seems Willow is still projecting. He's still determined to find her."


"I don't think there's much that would stop Xander in his quest to find Willow."

"I hope you're wrong, Finn. At least for now. It's imperative that Rosenberg and Miller are successful in their latest assignment for Zelana." Williamson looked through his notes. "I was going to use this for later but now seems as good a time as any."

Riley glanced down and noticed Williamson was reading the notes Professor Walsh had on Hostile 17. He hoped whatever Williamson's plan was it involved pain for Spike.

"I understand you were familiar with Hostile 17." Williamson glanced up at Riley.

"Yes, sir. He's William the Bloody, aka Spike. Childe of Druscilla, Grandchilde to Angelus. He works with the Slayer and according to the last intel I received before going out of country was that he had become as insane as his sire."

"Correct, for a short duration he was indeed insane. However, a small spell slipped to the Slayer's Watcher helped to cure him. I believe we can take advantage of the new situation and cause a nice disruption to Xander and the Slayer."

"Sir?"

Williamson turned the schematics for Spike's chip so Riley could see it.  "Agent Tomlinson believes she can make the chip misfire. Possibly cause a degradation."

"But won't she need access to the chip?"

Williamson smiled, "No. It's actually connected to a network still in the underground facility. She went on a reconnaissance mission to determine the workability of the network. She believes with just a few adjustments she can access his chip."

"But if the chip misfires won't he go back to hunting human prey."

"Actually, no. It seems Hostile 17 acquired a soul recently. We believe that was the cause of his insanity. That and it appeared that there was interference from a high-ranking demon. We believe it was the head of the Council that also contributed. We don't know what plans, if any, the First has for William but we want to make it as easy as possible for him to be used. Killing two birds with one stone. Set William up as a pawn for the First and distract the Slayer and her friends."

"Actually, sir it won't be much of a distraction for Xander. He never liked Spike so he won't really care that his chip is no longer active. Not compared to maybe finding Willow."

"We have no intention of stopping Xander from eventually finding Willow. There are plans set in motion for their paths to cross anyway. Just not at this time."

"We've gotten word that a victim of the Gnarl demon showed up in Sunnydale. The authorities haven't discovered it as of yet. If I can get word to Patterson he can move the victim to Xander's construction site. That ought to cause enough of a distraction for him. The police would not let him leave town with such a gruesome homicide on his property."

"Excellent. Put it in motion."