Chapter 24

Paris, the next day

The band finished a set and Joe Dawson smiled and waved acknowledgment at the applause… as they left the small stage area for a break… Joe passed among the patrons over to the bar to check on stock and the register. His new bartender was working out well… but Joe still felt more comfortable checking on things for himself.

He'd turned sixty-three last month. Amy, Burt and the twins had thrown him a "retirement" party. But Joe wasn't ready to give up the bar yet.

"Hell," he'd told them, "I might still have twenty or thirty years left. How would I fill my time?" He was in good health, although his hair now was solid white. His beard still had some dark in it… but he figured that would go in time. Meanwhile… "the old man" as the band called him in jest… still played jazz and blues better than anyone around.

"When I die," he'd told Amy secretly, "I hope I'm either playing the blues or making love to a beautiful woman."

Amy had slapped his arm mockingly… and then laughed. So Joe had no plans to sell any time soon.

As he was checking receipts… he glanced up at the customer hunched over the bar with a beer in hand. Joe's eyes widened.

"Hello buddy… Glad you're still here," Methos said with a lop-sided grin, and then seemed to sink even lower on his barstool.

"Son of a bitch!" whispered Joe… and then looked around. "I don't know if anyone's in here… but you need to be careful."

"Other Watchers?" the ancient said.

"Maybe… listen," Joe grabbed a napkin and wrote an address on it. "Meet me here in an hour. We can talk. It isn't safe here." He slid the napkin toward Methos.

Methos gathered it surreptitiously into his hand and saluted with his beer. Polishing it off… he flipped up his coat collar and sauntered out casually. Joe was glad to see that no one followed him out.

An hour later at a small dive on Rue Charles Joe slid into a seat at a dark corner table next to Methos.

"Were you followed?" Joe asked.

"Not so I noticed. What's up? I went by MacLeod's barge… no one was there. It looked like no one had been there in a very long time."

"Yeah… MacLeod went to Cannes a few years ago… He never came back." Joe took a sip of the beer and then pushed it away.

"Cannes? When?"

Joe took another sip and then leaned even closer. "It was February… three years ago. He stopped by to tell me he'd be gone… even invited me to go with him… and then… nothing. Amanda showed up a week later worried… Then she vanished."

"Amanda?" Methos asked… suddenly concerned as to why Amanda would have been in Paris. He suddenly wished he'd stayed in touch with Phillip or MacLeod somehow over the past few years. He'd meant to… but having the chance to have a real life with Eleanor and helping her raise Derrick had seemed far more important… and time had slipped by on him.

"Yeah… she seemed real worried about him… but didn't tell me anything." Joe glanced around… as if afraid the walls might have ears and then whispered. "How's Ellie? How's Derrick?"

Methos fingered his beer thoughtfully, and then raised it to his lips. "They're both fine."

"They better be! You treat her badly or break her heart and I'll have your head! And you know I'm one of the few mortals on this planet who'd know how to arrange that!"

Methos grinned, "I'll keep that in mind. Really… she's fine. Besides, Joe… if I were to break her heart… I'd have to break mine as well." He polished off the beer and set it before him. "What about Watcher records? Has no one seen him? Did he leave here with anyone?"

"I'm not a Watcher anymore."

Methos sobered and stared. "What?… What happened?"

"Seems the new Council didn't take too well with my helping you guys with the Nestor affair. They thought I should have been a little more forthcoming with information than I was. They busted my ass."

"I'm so sorry Joe."

Joe waved it off. "Not your fault. I was in over my head and was so concerned about you guys… I lost my perspective. They were right to can me. But they also took it out on Amy. Transferred her to general research."

Methos shook his head. "I am sorry Joe."

"Thing is, " Joe leaned in closely once again, "They may have made a mistake. If they'd left her researching just your chronicle… she might not now be in a spot to know things."

"What things?" Methos leaned closely as well. Joe had his full attention.

Joe glanced around again and then continued, "Immortals everywhere are vanishing… and Amy thinks the new Watcher Council may be behind it."

"A new Sanctuary project?"

Joe shook his head. "I doesn't think so… but something is happening. She's noticed that there is a flurry of activity about an active immortal… and then poof… no more immortal. They vanish. No confirmed death… just no more immortal."

Methos leaned back in his chair. He'd wanted to talk to MacLeod. Now… Methos was likely alone in what he had to do. He'd already determined that neither Alisaunne nor Ian was in Paris… If MacLeod had vanished… would Ian have had enough sense to get Alisaunne to someplace safe? If Amanda had been in Paris looking for MacLeod… was it because of MacLeod's disappearance… or something else? He rubbed one hand through his hair… feeling the slight sensation of Eleanor just behind him… just over his shoulder. He could smell her and feel the touch of her at the edge of his mind and along his back beneath his clothes. Gods! He wanted to acknowledge her presence. He wanted to share thoughts with her. She was his anchor and his balance these days… ever since that last quickening. But he had to keep her at arm's length… just a little longer. Just a few more days… then he could go home to her and tell her everything.

"Thanks Joe… Does the fact we are meeting here mean you think you're being watched as well?"

"Yeah… I think so… I don't think I was followed here… But you need to leave by the back door and get out of Paris. Here… he slipped Methos a piece of paper. Memorize it. It's a new cell phone number I got recently. No one has the number but me. I've made no calls from it. Call me… if you need anything."

Methos crumpled the paper into his hand and then patted Joe on the shoulder. "Thanks buddy, I really appreciate this."

"Just so you know… I'm not doing this for you… I'm doing it so Ellie will be safe. No one knows about her… not from me. You keep her safe… you hear me."

Methos nodded. "I promise." He rose and slipped out the back of the bar… leaving Joe Dawson to order another round of beers… and sit for a while… as if waiting for his return.