Chapter 4: The Hunt
Buffy walked into the house to see the Scoobs huddled around the computer. She noticed that they all had worried expressions on their faces. "Hey guys. What's going on"?
Giles started to push his glasses up higher on his nose, but then changed his mind and pulled them off to wipe them with a soft cloth. When the familiar motions soothed him he spoke. "Why don't we all sit down and talk about what we have found out, while Willow continues to search." He looked up at Willow, who gave him a nervous smile. Giles could tell that she was still unnerved by what she had pulled up on the Ghostwood project. Then he smiled to himself as he watched the gentle blonde witch pull her chair up behind her lover and began to softly massage her shoulders.
Willow smiled gratefully at her lover. She had always felt stronger whenever she could feel Tara's quiet strength behind her. She tuned back towards the computer screen with a determined look, keeping half an ear to the conversation going on around her. Then she began typing once again.
"So Xander, did you find out any information?" Giles asked taking a seat on the large overstuffed chair across from the couch where Xander and Anya were cuddled in.
"Yeah. An Asian guy named Towagowa hired some one he called Rois to kill Giles' friend. Towagowa was upset because Rois hasn't taken care of the problem, because an old man and a group of meddling kids snooping around. Rois said that the contract was to take care of one man, and that he fulfilled his part of the bargain and that Towagowa's employer was going to pay what they owed him or that he was going to cut his employee's into little pieces." Xander paused to take a sip of his coke.
"Ok so just who is this Rois character"? Buffy asked.
Xander held up a finger in a 'wait a minute' motion and took another sip of his drink. When he was done he said, "It gets worse."
"Of course it does. I am the slayer." Buffy sighed dramatically.
From where Willow was sitting in front of the computer she said over her shoulder she said, "To overdramatic. I told you not to give up drama." Willow teased her friend, trying to lighten the mood.
"Go on Xander." Buffy said shaking her head at Willow.
"Well Towagowa agreed to pay the money, and then promised to triple it if Rois would take a contract out on us." Xander paused as he heard Anya gasp.
"Well we have to get out of here. I don't know that much about Barbarois, but I do know enough to know that he is the best at what he does." Anya spoke up.
"Calm down, hun. He refused to take the contract." Xander tried to soothe his distraught lover. "I think that his exact words were that 'an old man and bunch of kids are beneath me." Xander scowled at the statement.
"Oh, Good." Anya calmed down.
"Well, after Towagowa left, it got even stranger. The guy that Buffy brought in last night showed up. Rois told him that he had turned down a lot of money not to kill a slayer. Then strange guy said that Giles friend was researching someone named Genrum or something like that. After that he then told Rois to not take contracts dealing with the 'other matter' and paid Rois a lot of money to go and get an Amulet of Sigilla. The bar was kinda noisy, so I might not have the name quite right, but that is close." Xander finished with a shrug.
"So the man paid Rois a lot of money to leave town"? Buffy asked. She was getting more and more confused about what was going on. She wondered which side the strange man was on. He could have woke up this morning and killed them all in there sleep, of that she had no doubt, but he had just left. But now he had made an arrangement with the man who had probably murdered Giles old friend, who in turn had refused a lot of money to kill them. She was getting a headache from thinking about it. She looked up a Xander and said, "Ok, I'm game, why"?
"Um…Why what"? Xander asked obviously confused.
"Why pay him a lot of money to get him out of here"? Buffy reiterated.
"They did mention not wanting to have to kill each other. So if Rois had stayed around it would more than likely put them at cross-purposes." Xander answered shrugging. "I guess they have some sort of respect for the other."
"Well at least we need to find out what we can about this amulet" Giles then looked over at the two witches. "Tara, did you and Willow come up with anything"?
Everyone turned to look at the blonde as she began speaking, "W-well I think that with some of the dirt from the garden, Willow and I can cast a spell that cam let Buffy track him. She would be able to see a faint trail that led to him. The closer that she gets, the more vivid the trail would look. The down side is that, once we cast the spell it will last until it runs its course. Tara explained, then crooked her mouth into a apologetic half smile, "and it could also be very disconcerting at first. It would be like two images coming in at once. The trail overlaying what she was actually seeing."
"Willow do you have anything else"? Giles asked.
"Sorry. I'm having to crack an encryption, but I think I am getting close." Willow answered then quickly muttering to herself, "Oops, damn government codes."
Giles then picked up the narrative. "The council didn't tell me much, other than to look into Ghostwood. What information they did have on the project seems to point to the fact that it was a former hell mouth." Seeing everyone stop what they were doing and look up at him with shocked expressions. Nodding he continued, "Something; however, sealed it, making a barrier between this realm, and whatever horrors lie beneath it."
Mr. Towagowa was bowed low before the darkness that surrounded him. "I have hired some demons to take care of the group. They should not be problem any longer, my master. All will go according to your grand plan." His tones were quiet and respectful.
From the darkness a deep, resonant voice spoke out. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. "Do not underestimate them, my loyal servant. I can feel a great power, you must strike hard and fast, where they are at that weakest."
"Already taken care of my lord. I have summoned the demons and told them to bring the old mans children to me. If I take away his family then it will draw him out." After tonight the man will no longer be a threat."
"Good. Nothing must stop my plans. I will return to the place that has been sealed off from me. I will return home."
"Yes, my master. We have already acquired the land on the Glassbury plains. The seal will be opened my lord." Towagowa pledged.
"Then go. Do not fail me."
Towagowa lifted himself up from his knees and walked across his room, back into his office. Ten large demons stood around inside the summoning circle, awaiting orders. Looking over them Towagowa went from respectful to commanding in seconds. "You know who you are searching for. Go and bring them to me."
The demons left the room and headed out into the night.
"This is a waste of time, D. He is never going to lead us anywhere. Spike will never be anything more than a bit player."
D did not answer, he remained crouched in the shadows of the night watching the vampire in the distance.
"I mean, all we have seen him do is gamble and pay back some kittens he owed. If he was really going to do something don't you think he would have done it already?"
"He did." D spoke softly.
"What?"
"At the poker game. He was advertising that he had information. All we have to do is wait."
"Wait for what, D? And what information could that looser possibly have?"
"Our prey doesn't want the Slayer snooping around. He will be looking for information, and will hit one of Spikes poker buddies up for information. That will lead them to Spike. And to me."
"I get it, then we will follow them back to our prey."
D nodded.
"Once we do, will you kill Spike? He may be a small fry, but I know you want to snack on those kittens he has. Cant you just—"
"Quiet, someone is coming." D silenced his hand, and made ready to move in closer to hear what ever would be said.
A small group of demons moved through the alley, and pushed in the door of the apartment Spike was renting.
Spike looked from the battered remains of his door to the demons who were standing in his living room. His face held an expression that was a cross between amusement and annoyance. "Well, I suppose I was expecting you," he said.
The lead demon snorted. "I hear you have important information for us."
Spike nodded. "Yeah. I know who your target is, and where they are staying."
"We already know where they are."
"Oh, yeah… but I bet you don't really know who."
Spike was trying to appear cleaver, but it only served to make the demon more annoyed. "Some old man, 4 girls, and a boy. What else is there to know?"
"Well, information costs, doesn't it?"
Suddenly a hand the size of his head, gripped Spike around the throat and held him up into the rafters.
"Wait, wait.. Ok, I can see where this is going, the information is free this time. No harm in that, is there?"
With a thud he fell to the ground. "Well?"
"Ok, the old man is nothing, two of the girls are witches, also easy kills, and a third girl is an ex-demon, nothing to worry about. And the boy, well, is just that. The fourth girl, well, she wont be that easy. You see, she is the slayer, and slayers don't die that easily."
The demon seemed to laugh once, then turned to leave.
"I have more information, if you want it…"
The demon didn't speak, he simply fixed Spike with another deadly stare.
"There are more meddling kids in the picture than you know about. Another woman and a girl." Spike held out a card with an address written on it. "You can find them here. They are the slayers mother and sister. Two more easy kills for you."
Snarling, the demon took the card. "And what do you want for this… information?" he spit out the last word like it was a curse.
"I want you to kill them all, but leave the Slayer alone. She is mine."
"Yours? Yours to kill?"
"Well, something like that. With all her friends dead, she will need some consoling, and I want to be there for her."
"HA. You want to woo her."
"HEY," Spike shouted angrily, "I never said that!"
"I think I will kill them all. Ill take them all one by one, starting with her mother. Ill kill them all and make the slayer watch."
"Yeah, that will be good." Spike agreed.
"And then I will kill her too."
"Now wait a minit, what about me?"
The demon smiled, "Ill come back here and kill you after I kill the slayer. How does that sound?"
The demon turned and left without saying another word. Alone, Spike kicked a box across the room, and sat in a huff. His mind desperately trying to figure out a way to get on Buffy's good side if she found out he had betrayed her.
Buffy looked around the room after they had all given what information they could. She decided it was time for them to make the game plan for the next day. "Ok guys. Tomorrow I am supposed to meet Mom and Dawn for lunch, and they both mentioned something about actually seeing all of you. So I thought that maybe we could all get together for dinner tomorrow night."
"That sounds splendid." Giles agreed, then added, "Willow, Tara and I can use the time in the morning to get the ingredients for the spell they have planned."
"Well Xander and I are going to the Tower of London. I haven't been there in over 500 years. It was once a great place to visit, what with all the pain, torture and death going on." Anya blurted out.
"Oh yeah, they just can't torture like they used to." Xander sarcastically quipped.
"Well it really all depends where you go now a days." Anya informed matter of factly.
"Dammit! I should have thought of this hours ago." Willow swore, slamming her hand down on the desk, causing everyone else in the room to jump.
"Calm down honey. What did you find out"? Tara said turning around in the swivel chair to face Willow.
"It is a randomly generated sequence." Willow explained as she began typing furiously again, missing the looks from her friends.
Everyone looked at Tara with 'do you know what she is talking about' expressions on their faces. Tara shrugged that she had no idea what her lover was talking about. She turned back to face her lover. "Um, sweetie, could you put that into something that resembles English."
"Ok, it is set up where the password is a random series of characters. I am writing up a program where it will input random words into the system, and when it comes across the correct sequence of words, it will unlock the information." Willow said as she continued to make changes to the computer.
Everyone else nodded, still not sure what their friend was babbling about, but knowing that what ever it was, that the hacker would get the job done. Five minutes later Willow turned around and stated that, "Well that should do it. Now I'm kinda tired and my neck is all achy. So what do you say we all go to sleepy." Then she leaned over and whispered into Tara's ear. "I could use a Tara back rub."
"Um, ok, but remember that is as far as it goes. I don't want to break Buffy." Tara grinned as she whispered back.
"Slayer hearing girls. There will be no breaking of the Buffy." Buffy shouted as she started up the stairs towards their room.
Xander laughed as Willow, Tara and Giles all blushed, and then made their goodnights.
Willow sat in her chair, admiring the red curtains that defined the room. Only they weren't there anymore, the walls had been replaced with stone. She could hear a scratching sound like something was trying to claw its way through the zigzagged hardwood floor... only the floor was grass and dirt. How strange that there would be a lamp, a sofa and two chairs sitting out on the grass in a stone room.
She was not alone, there was a man standing next to her wearing a black suit with his hair slicked back. He wasn't entirely unattractive, for a guy. He leaned down to her and asked with a genuine curiosity, "is this your first prophetic dream?"
"Yes" she said, "Buffy normally handles the freaky dream stuff."
"Its not that bad," he said, "But you must pay the strictest attention."
She slowly turned her head looking from the man in the suit to a small man in a red suit, and back again. "Where is this place?"
"This Is the Door. To. The Seal." the short man replied.
The scratching noise under the "floor" became louder.
"It Wants. To go Home."
"Is that a bad thing? Frequently I find that I want to go home." She answered.
The small man seemed to smile with just a touch of scary and maybe evil reaching his eyes. "If He breakes the Seal. BOOm. No Thing. Will ever Be. The same."
"You should be careful, Willow." The man in the black suit said, with a great amount of concern in his voice. "If you go too far... if you care too much, you could loose your soul, and then nothing you care about will matter."
Willow didn't understand, but it was obvious that the two men were talking about completely different things. It made her head swim. At least it was just a dream. This would drive her mad if it was actually supposed to make sense.
"Listen to this very carefully, Willow," the man in the suit said, "It only has this one--"
The small man seemed to get enraged. "You. Are. Not. Allowed. to Tell. The Future. Depends."
The other man seemed lost in thought for a few moments. "One chance out between two worlds, Fire Walk With Me."
All the rage had already left the small man. "The fourth letter. Has not. Been Here. He Does not. Know. All he should. But he Does more Than he thinks."
Buffy walked into the house to see the Scoobs huddled around the computer. She noticed that they all had worried expressions on their faces. "Hey guys. What's going on"?
Giles started to push his glasses up higher on his nose, but then changed his mind and pulled them off to wipe them with a soft cloth. When the familiar motions soothed him he spoke. "Why don't we all sit down and talk about what we have found out, while Willow continues to search." He looked up at Willow, who gave him a nervous smile. Giles could tell that she was still unnerved by what she had pulled up on the Ghostwood project. Then he smiled to himself as he watched the gentle blonde witch pull her chair up behind her lover and began to softly massage her shoulders.
Willow smiled gratefully at her lover. She had always felt stronger whenever she could feel Tara's quiet strength behind her. She tuned back towards the computer screen with a determined look, keeping half an ear to the conversation going on around her. Then she began typing once again.
"So Xander, did you find out any information?" Giles asked taking a seat on the large overstuffed chair across from the couch where Xander and Anya were cuddled in.
"Yeah. An Asian guy named Towagowa hired some one he called Rois to kill Giles' friend. Towagowa was upset because Rois hasn't taken care of the problem, because an old man and a group of meddling kids snooping around. Rois said that the contract was to take care of one man, and that he fulfilled his part of the bargain and that Towagowa's employer was going to pay what they owed him or that he was going to cut his employee's into little pieces." Xander paused to take a sip of his coke.
"Ok so just who is this Rois character"? Buffy asked.
Xander held up a finger in a 'wait a minute' motion and took another sip of his drink. When he was done he said, "It gets worse."
"Of course it does. I am the slayer." Buffy sighed dramatically.
From where Willow was sitting in front of the computer she said over her shoulder she said, "To overdramatic. I told you not to give up drama." Willow teased her friend, trying to lighten the mood.
"Go on Xander." Buffy said shaking her head at Willow.
"Well Towagowa agreed to pay the money, and then promised to triple it if Rois would take a contract out on us." Xander paused as he heard Anya gasp.
"Well we have to get out of here. I don't know that much about Barbarois, but I do know enough to know that he is the best at what he does." Anya spoke up.
"Calm down, hun. He refused to take the contract." Xander tried to soothe his distraught lover. "I think that his exact words were that 'an old man and bunch of kids are beneath me." Xander scowled at the statement.
"Oh, Good." Anya calmed down.
"Well, after Towagowa left, it got even stranger. The guy that Buffy brought in last night showed up. Rois told him that he had turned down a lot of money not to kill a slayer. Then strange guy said that Giles friend was researching someone named Genrum or something like that. After that he then told Rois to not take contracts dealing with the 'other matter' and paid Rois a lot of money to go and get an Amulet of Sigilla. The bar was kinda noisy, so I might not have the name quite right, but that is close." Xander finished with a shrug.
"So the man paid Rois a lot of money to leave town"? Buffy asked. She was getting more and more confused about what was going on. She wondered which side the strange man was on. He could have woke up this morning and killed them all in there sleep, of that she had no doubt, but he had just left. But now he had made an arrangement with the man who had probably murdered Giles old friend, who in turn had refused a lot of money to kill them. She was getting a headache from thinking about it. She looked up a Xander and said, "Ok, I'm game, why"?
"Um…Why what"? Xander asked obviously confused.
"Why pay him a lot of money to get him out of here"? Buffy reiterated.
"They did mention not wanting to have to kill each other. So if Rois had stayed around it would more than likely put them at cross-purposes." Xander answered shrugging. "I guess they have some sort of respect for the other."
"Well at least we need to find out what we can about this amulet" Giles then looked over at the two witches. "Tara, did you and Willow come up with anything"?
Everyone turned to look at the blonde as she began speaking, "W-well I think that with some of the dirt from the garden, Willow and I can cast a spell that cam let Buffy track him. She would be able to see a faint trail that led to him. The closer that she gets, the more vivid the trail would look. The down side is that, once we cast the spell it will last until it runs its course. Tara explained, then crooked her mouth into a apologetic half smile, "and it could also be very disconcerting at first. It would be like two images coming in at once. The trail overlaying what she was actually seeing."
"Willow do you have anything else"? Giles asked.
"Sorry. I'm having to crack an encryption, but I think I am getting close." Willow answered then quickly muttering to herself, "Oops, damn government codes."
Giles then picked up the narrative. "The council didn't tell me much, other than to look into Ghostwood. What information they did have on the project seems to point to the fact that it was a former hell mouth." Seeing everyone stop what they were doing and look up at him with shocked expressions. Nodding he continued, "Something; however, sealed it, making a barrier between this realm, and whatever horrors lie beneath it."
Mr. Towagowa was bowed low before the darkness that surrounded him. "I have hired some demons to take care of the group. They should not be problem any longer, my master. All will go according to your grand plan." His tones were quiet and respectful.
From the darkness a deep, resonant voice spoke out. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. "Do not underestimate them, my loyal servant. I can feel a great power, you must strike hard and fast, where they are at that weakest."
"Already taken care of my lord. I have summoned the demons and told them to bring the old mans children to me. If I take away his family then it will draw him out." After tonight the man will no longer be a threat."
"Good. Nothing must stop my plans. I will return to the place that has been sealed off from me. I will return home."
"Yes, my master. We have already acquired the land on the Glassbury plains. The seal will be opened my lord." Towagowa pledged.
"Then go. Do not fail me."
Towagowa lifted himself up from his knees and walked across his room, back into his office. Ten large demons stood around inside the summoning circle, awaiting orders. Looking over them Towagowa went from respectful to commanding in seconds. "You know who you are searching for. Go and bring them to me."
The demons left the room and headed out into the night.
"This is a waste of time, D. He is never going to lead us anywhere. Spike will never be anything more than a bit player."
D did not answer, he remained crouched in the shadows of the night watching the vampire in the distance.
"I mean, all we have seen him do is gamble and pay back some kittens he owed. If he was really going to do something don't you think he would have done it already?"
"He did." D spoke softly.
"What?"
"At the poker game. He was advertising that he had information. All we have to do is wait."
"Wait for what, D? And what information could that looser possibly have?"
"Our prey doesn't want the Slayer snooping around. He will be looking for information, and will hit one of Spikes poker buddies up for information. That will lead them to Spike. And to me."
"I get it, then we will follow them back to our prey."
D nodded.
"Once we do, will you kill Spike? He may be a small fry, but I know you want to snack on those kittens he has. Cant you just—"
"Quiet, someone is coming." D silenced his hand, and made ready to move in closer to hear what ever would be said.
A small group of demons moved through the alley, and pushed in the door of the apartment Spike was renting.
Spike looked from the battered remains of his door to the demons who were standing in his living room. His face held an expression that was a cross between amusement and annoyance. "Well, I suppose I was expecting you," he said.
The lead demon snorted. "I hear you have important information for us."
Spike nodded. "Yeah. I know who your target is, and where they are staying."
"We already know where they are."
"Oh, yeah… but I bet you don't really know who."
Spike was trying to appear cleaver, but it only served to make the demon more annoyed. "Some old man, 4 girls, and a boy. What else is there to know?"
"Well, information costs, doesn't it?"
Suddenly a hand the size of his head, gripped Spike around the throat and held him up into the rafters.
"Wait, wait.. Ok, I can see where this is going, the information is free this time. No harm in that, is there?"
With a thud he fell to the ground. "Well?"
"Ok, the old man is nothing, two of the girls are witches, also easy kills, and a third girl is an ex-demon, nothing to worry about. And the boy, well, is just that. The fourth girl, well, she wont be that easy. You see, she is the slayer, and slayers don't die that easily."
The demon seemed to laugh once, then turned to leave.
"I have more information, if you want it…"
The demon didn't speak, he simply fixed Spike with another deadly stare.
"There are more meddling kids in the picture than you know about. Another woman and a girl." Spike held out a card with an address written on it. "You can find them here. They are the slayers mother and sister. Two more easy kills for you."
Snarling, the demon took the card. "And what do you want for this… information?" he spit out the last word like it was a curse.
"I want you to kill them all, but leave the Slayer alone. She is mine."
"Yours? Yours to kill?"
"Well, something like that. With all her friends dead, she will need some consoling, and I want to be there for her."
"HA. You want to woo her."
"HEY," Spike shouted angrily, "I never said that!"
"I think I will kill them all. Ill take them all one by one, starting with her mother. Ill kill them all and make the slayer watch."
"Yeah, that will be good." Spike agreed.
"And then I will kill her too."
"Now wait a minit, what about me?"
The demon smiled, "Ill come back here and kill you after I kill the slayer. How does that sound?"
The demon turned and left without saying another word. Alone, Spike kicked a box across the room, and sat in a huff. His mind desperately trying to figure out a way to get on Buffy's good side if she found out he had betrayed her.
Buffy looked around the room after they had all given what information they could. She decided it was time for them to make the game plan for the next day. "Ok guys. Tomorrow I am supposed to meet Mom and Dawn for lunch, and they both mentioned something about actually seeing all of you. So I thought that maybe we could all get together for dinner tomorrow night."
"That sounds splendid." Giles agreed, then added, "Willow, Tara and I can use the time in the morning to get the ingredients for the spell they have planned."
"Well Xander and I are going to the Tower of London. I haven't been there in over 500 years. It was once a great place to visit, what with all the pain, torture and death going on." Anya blurted out.
"Oh yeah, they just can't torture like they used to." Xander sarcastically quipped.
"Well it really all depends where you go now a days." Anya informed matter of factly.
"Dammit! I should have thought of this hours ago." Willow swore, slamming her hand down on the desk, causing everyone else in the room to jump.
"Calm down honey. What did you find out"? Tara said turning around in the swivel chair to face Willow.
"It is a randomly generated sequence." Willow explained as she began typing furiously again, missing the looks from her friends.
Everyone looked at Tara with 'do you know what she is talking about' expressions on their faces. Tara shrugged that she had no idea what her lover was talking about. She turned back to face her lover. "Um, sweetie, could you put that into something that resembles English."
"Ok, it is set up where the password is a random series of characters. I am writing up a program where it will input random words into the system, and when it comes across the correct sequence of words, it will unlock the information." Willow said as she continued to make changes to the computer.
Everyone else nodded, still not sure what their friend was babbling about, but knowing that what ever it was, that the hacker would get the job done. Five minutes later Willow turned around and stated that, "Well that should do it. Now I'm kinda tired and my neck is all achy. So what do you say we all go to sleepy." Then she leaned over and whispered into Tara's ear. "I could use a Tara back rub."
"Um, ok, but remember that is as far as it goes. I don't want to break Buffy." Tara grinned as she whispered back.
"Slayer hearing girls. There will be no breaking of the Buffy." Buffy shouted as she started up the stairs towards their room.
Xander laughed as Willow, Tara and Giles all blushed, and then made their goodnights.
Willow sat in her chair, admiring the red curtains that defined the room. Only they weren't there anymore, the walls had been replaced with stone. She could hear a scratching sound like something was trying to claw its way through the zigzagged hardwood floor... only the floor was grass and dirt. How strange that there would be a lamp, a sofa and two chairs sitting out on the grass in a stone room.
She was not alone, there was a man standing next to her wearing a black suit with his hair slicked back. He wasn't entirely unattractive, for a guy. He leaned down to her and asked with a genuine curiosity, "is this your first prophetic dream?"
"Yes" she said, "Buffy normally handles the freaky dream stuff."
"Its not that bad," he said, "But you must pay the strictest attention."
She slowly turned her head looking from the man in the suit to a small man in a red suit, and back again. "Where is this place?"
"This Is the Door. To. The Seal." the short man replied.
The scratching noise under the "floor" became louder.
"It Wants. To go Home."
"Is that a bad thing? Frequently I find that I want to go home." She answered.
The small man seemed to smile with just a touch of scary and maybe evil reaching his eyes. "If He breakes the Seal. BOOm. No Thing. Will ever Be. The same."
"You should be careful, Willow." The man in the black suit said, with a great amount of concern in his voice. "If you go too far... if you care too much, you could loose your soul, and then nothing you care about will matter."
Willow didn't understand, but it was obvious that the two men were talking about completely different things. It made her head swim. At least it was just a dream. This would drive her mad if it was actually supposed to make sense.
"Listen to this very carefully, Willow," the man in the suit said, "It only has this one--"
The small man seemed to get enraged. "You. Are. Not. Allowed. to Tell. The Future. Depends."
The other man seemed lost in thought for a few moments. "One chance out between two worlds, Fire Walk With Me."
All the rage had already left the small man. "The fourth letter. Has not. Been Here. He Does not. Know. All he should. But he Does more Than he thinks."