It turned out that the three recruiters in Franklin's office worked together as a team, therefore they had all seen Buffy Summers. Hawk and I took them over to a donut shop about two blocks away. Franklin sent Vincent with us. I didn't want Franklin to listen in on our conversation. I thought he might be tempted to send Elijah, Vincent or both over to find Buffy before I could see her. Hawk quietly assured me that he didn't think it would make a difference. That neither of them, or both together, would be good enough to contain, much less harm, Buffy Summers. But, I didn't want to take the chance.

I sat in a booth with the three recruiters. Hawk and Vincent sat about three tables away. I ordered a couple of donuts and a coffee, but didn't order them anything. None of them complained.

Lenny, the slightly better dressed and less scruffy looking of the three, usually made the first contact, greeting the kids at the bus station and offering them a place to stay. The smarter ones turned him down, at which time the other two, Phil and Karl, would follow them, and when the opportunity presented itself, assault them and take their money. I suspected there was sometimes a sexual assault included. Then, Lenny would "find" them again and repeat the offer. Sometimes, a staged fight would occur between Lenny and either Phil or Karl to enhance Lenny's credibility. Lenny would take the money back, but then hold onto almost all of it as "rent". The kids would then be expected to work off the rest of the rent. Just a trio of all American boys.

"So tell me what happened when you saw this girl," I said.

Lenny glanced covertly over towards Vincent. "You aren't going to tell Franklin what I tell you, are you?"

"I'm sure he will ask you himself, and you will be compelled to tell him the truth, just as you are being compelled to do now."

Lenny swallowed.

"Yeah, I saw her at the subway station," he said. "I split my time between the bus station and the subway stations. She had the look, you know?"

"Lost."

"Yeah, lost. Anyways, she was just the sort that's most popular with customers, you know? Cute, petite, all American. So I come up to her and ask her if she has money and a place to stay. She tells me none of my business. I tell her that Los Angeles is a dangerous place. She says to go away. So I step back and nod to Phil, who's standing about a hundred feet away, and he starts to follow her."

I looked at Phil.

"So what happened then?"

Phil's head ducked down. He clearly didn't want to talk. I put my hand on his cast and sling. I didn't care what he wanted. When he started to talk, he was very quiet and I could barely hear him.

"I shoulda known there was something different about her, the way she looked," Phil said. "I think she actually saw Lenny signaling me. She looked right at me as she walked by."

"But you followed her."

"Yeah, I followed her. Then, when the sun goes down, she starts to act really weird. Most of these kids have just enough sense to try to stay out in public places, you know? It usually takes awhile for me an' Karl to find a place to take them. But she starts walkin' into the nearest alley. Then she puts her overnight bag, kind of a leather gym bag, down. I walk up to her, and Karl walks up to her from the other side. She starts towards the bag and I grab her arm and say 'Ah! Ah! Ah!'"

"Then what happened?" I said.

"That's all I remember," Phil said. "I woke up in the hospital."

"OK," I said. I turned to Karl. "Sounds like you're up."

Karl looked even more uneasy than Phil. He hunched down, looked at the table.

"Look at me, Karl," I said.

He slowly looked up.

"What happened next?"

"I….I went to grab her bag while Phil grabbed her. I tried to pick it up but Christ, it was heavy. I mean the way she was carrying it, I thought it was full of clothes, but it must have weighed more than fifty pounds.

"Then I hear a crack, and Phil starts to scream, and I turn and see that she's just kind of twisted Phil's arm, with one hand, and she's looking at me. She then hits him in the side of the head with her other hand, like this." Karl mimicked a very short punch, about 8 inches. "Phil falls down and over me and doesn't move. She then grabs me by the shirt collar and picks me up like I weigh nothing. She says 'Hands off the bag,' then throws me, one handed, into a brick wall."

"How far was the brick wall?" I asked.

"About fifteen feet."

"No way! That's impossible!" Lenny said. Phil and Karl looked at him. I looked at him. He shut up.

"What happened then?" I said.

"Nothing," Karl said, looking away. "I was laying up against the wall. She picked up her bag and left."

I looked at Karl. He was lying, but he wasn't going to say anything more in front of the other two.

"Phil and Lenny, go sit with Hawk and Vincent."

"All right," I said to Karl after they'd left. "What really happened after that?"

"Are you with the government?" Karl asked. "I mean, she's a genetic super girl or bionic or somethin' isn't she?"

I tried to look cagey. "I can't say anything about that. Let's just say she's special."

Karl swallowed. He looked over at the other table with Vincent and Hawk and his two fellow recruiters.

"She picked up her bag, and went over behind the nearest dumpster. I didn't dare move, 'cause I knew she was still there. Phil was just laying there, and it was hurting me to breath. Later I found out that two of my ribs were cracked in the back."

"So basically, you're all waiting," I said.

"Yeah. Anyway, about 15 minutes later these three guys walk into the alley. We seen them around before, and we stayed out of their way, y'know? We called them 'the stalkers'. There was something about them, something really creepy. Anyway, they all come over and stand around Phil, who's still out cold, and one of 'em says 'Look, free food'. Then, the next second, the one who spoke, he's gone."

"Gone?"

"Yeah, gone. He kind of grunts, and I think I see a freakin' arrow sticking out of his chest, then he's gone. There's just some grey dust in the air where he was. The other two look up, then…."

"Then?"

"The girl jumps over the dumpster. Not out from behind it, over it. I mean the thing is about six feet tall and she's sailing over it with another five feet to spare. She lands on one of the other two guys, and then he's gone too. The other one, the one who's left, he yells something and then starts to run away, really fast. She runs after him, also really fast. I hear fighting, but not for long. Then she walks back into the alley, shaking some of that grey dust out of her hair. She goes behind the dumpster and comes out with her bag, then she looks right at me, and walks towards me."

Karl was telling his story in a kind of a hysterical whisper. And the pitch of the whisper was increasing.

"She comes up to me, and says, 'If you tell anyone you saw this, no one will see you again'. Then her eyes, they changed."

"Changed?"

"Yeah, they were brown, but they turned kind of yellow, just for a second. Then they were back to their normal color, but I got the point. She walked out of the alley. After a while, I got up, looked down the alley, but there was no sign of her. Then I got Phil up, he's out on his feet but he's able to walk, and we went to Lenny's place, and he took us to the hospital."

"What did you tell Lenny?"

"Boyfriend trouble. Big boyfriend trouble."

"And do you know where she is now?"

"Yeah. She's working as a waitress at a diner about six blocks from here. But she's no waitress, is she?"

"No," I said. "She's not. What's the name of the diner?"

Karl told me. Then he looked at me.

"I mean, you already know about her right? It's OK for me to tell you, right?"

"Sure," I said. "But now you're in a Catch 22 situation."

"A what?"

"A damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Franklin will want to know what you told me, and you won't be able to keep him from getting it out of you. But if you tell him, and she comes after you….Vincent, Elijah, and Franklin together won't be able to protect you. You know that."

Karl turned very pale.

"Ah Jesus," Karl said.

"I suggest you leave LA," I said.

"But…."

"Go. Hawk and I will keep Vincent occupied."

Karl got up and left. I went over to Hawk, Vincent, and the other two.

"Where's he going?" Vincent asked.

"I suggested he leave."

"Leave?"

"Yeah."

"Leave here?"

"Leave LA," I said. "And I suggest you let him go."

"Or what?" Vincent said.

"Or Hawk and I would be the very least of your potential problems."

Vincent looked at me, then at Hawk.

Then he looked at Phil and Lenny.

"Scram," he said.

Vincent looked at me after they left. "You're serious."

"Very."

Vincent nodded to himself. "OK. I'll tell Franklin. Are we done here?"

My stomach felt a little sour. I didn't want things to be done. I wanted to see Franklin and associates out of business. But, I knew if it wasn't Franklin it would be someone else, and I also suspected that somewhere up the line Franklin answered to Vincent del Rio. Ultimately, I do what I can, not what I should.

"Yeah," I said. "We're done."

Vincent stood up, and nodded his head at Hawk.

"See you around," he said.

"You think Vincent and Franklin will leave this alone?" I asked Hawk after Vincent left.

Hawk shrugged. "Vincent ain't stupid. He could tell you were serious."

"Do you think Franklin will listen to him?"

"I think Franklin is even less stupid than Vincent," Hawk said.

"I agree," I said. "Good thing."