Characters and settings are used without permission, and with no intention of damaging copyright in the original stories. This story may not be distributed on any profit-making basis. Distribution Fanfiction.net, Twisting The Hellmouth, Fonts of Wisdom, other sites please ask. I'm British, so's my spelling - live with it.
by Marcus L. Rowland
VIII
Billie got home late on Sunday evening, said good night to her escorts, and checked her e-mail and phone. One of the messages was from Joe Rossi, telling her that the Tribune had proved that all eight kidnappers had been defended by Wolfram and Hart; once that story was published on Monday morning he expected them to withdraw their injunction and start claiming that it was coincidence, or pick a scapegoat and accuse him of getting the gang together. Meanwhile she should stay away from the office and concentrate on her recovery. She set her alarm for a late start and went to bed.
There were two stories to interest her in Monday's Tribune; the story Rossi had half-predicted, and another in the business section:
Former Attorney "Engineered Kidnap Plot"
Police investigating the attempted kidnapping of Tribune editor Billie Newman, currently recovering from injuries received during the violent attack, have announced a breakthrough in the case leading to a new suspect. Following the Tribune's discovery that all eight of the attackers were defended by leading law firm Wolfram and Hart a year to eighteen months ago, the law firm began an internal audit which led police to former attorney Lindsay MacDonald, who left the firm last year.
MacDonald was described by former colleague Lilah Morgan as "...a tragic case, a high-flyer who became unstable. About eighteen months ago he nearly lost his hand in a freak accident; it was re-attached by micro-surgery and afterwards he had a delusion that it was actually a transplant. He used to call it his 'evil hand' and write obscene messages with it, there were also some instances of inappropriate touching of female staff, myself included."
An audit of Wolfram and Hart records showed that MacDonald had booked out the files of all eight perpetrators and at least a dozen other criminals in his last weeks with the company.
Police have yet to establish a motive for the kidnapping attempt but it is known that suspect Dr. Peter Hoskins, of the Barker Clinic, was a personal friend of MacDonald. LAPD Inspector Harry Barnes, who is in charge of the case, commented that "...we now know that Ms. Newman is the only living relative of an heiress who had been trying to trace her biological family and entrusted the DNA testing to the Barker Clinic. It seems possible that there was a plan to substitute a ringer, an impostor controlled by Hoskins and MacDonald.
Many questions remain unanswered, not least the identity of the murder victim who was to have been left in Ms. Newman's place. Police continue to seek a man known as Holt, Holst, or Holtz, who rescued Ms. Newman from her attackers but killed all eight men. Inspector Barnes has stated that "..until we know more about this incident we aren't sure whether to arrest the guy or reward him." The investigation, and the search for MacDonald and Hoskins, continues.
Nabbit Announces Solid State Storage Devices
Billionaire David Nabbit has announced that his company will shortly be marketing solid state storage devices in the 10-100 gigabyte range "at prices comparable to current hard disks". The devices, which use a newly-patented "holographic information storage" technology, still largely under wraps, will be fully compatible with existing drives and manufactured with built-in ATAPI, SCSI, USB and FireWire connections as standard. They will consume "virtually no power" in normal use, and are completely silent.
The technology has been licensed from new high-tech startup SunnyD Technology, a hitherto-unknown California company incorporated earlier this year, in a deal estimated to be worth in excess of a billion dollars over the next five years. Chip manufacturers Intel and Motorola and drive manufacturers IBM, Fujitsu, and Maxtor are also involved in the deal, and Nabbit has stated that "..we will do our utmost to ensure that nobody who is capable of manufacturing these components will be left behind. We need these drives, to reduce power consumption and unacceptable noise, and it's in everyone's interest to ensure that they become an industry standard."
SunnyD Technology is a privately-owned holding company specialising in "long-term investment in science and engineering"; the CEO, W. Rosenberg, was not available for comment as we went to press.
During the afternoon Rossi called her and told her that the injunction had been withdrawn, as expected. She saw her doctor and got her grudging approval to return to work the following day. There was no sign of anyone following her, apart from Nabbitt's detectives, and she began to hope that whatever odd conspiracy had led to her kidnapping was over.
That night's TV news opened with the discovery of two bodies in a Los Angeles motel; Dr. Peter Hoskins, formerly of the Barker Clinic, and attorney Lindsay MacDonald, formerly of LA law firm Wolfram and Hart. Police believed that Hoskins had murdered MacDonald then himself. Billie wondered what to make of that; it sounded a little too convenient to be true. She'd never heard of MacDonald, maybe Angel or the Tribune knew more about him.
As night fell Billie switched on the coffee machine, opened the patio door, and waited. Eventually, as she'd expected, Holtz stepped into the light.
"Well?" he asked, looking around warily.
"I expected to see you last night, but I suppose it was pretty late when I got home. Better come inside. Don't worry, it isn't a trap, unless the police have set one without telling me."
He hesitated.
"Oh come in, for goodness sake. We need to talk."
He came in and said "Well?" again.
"I've met Willow, my niece, spent the weekend with her at Angel's hotel. She's a lovely girl, I think you'd like her. Do have some coffee, it would be a shame to waste it. There's cream and sugar on the table."
"And Angelus?" said Holtz, pouring himself a cup.
"Would you answer a couple of questions first? Honestly?"
"I'll try."
"When you rescued me, did you know that the attack was going to happen, who I was, or that I was on my way to see Angel?"
Holtz looked surprised, and said "No. I was there on other business, saw the attack, and decided to help you."
"You really have no idea what the kidnapping attempt was about?"
"None at all, apart from the stories in your newspaper."
"So why did you start to stalk me?"
"Another coincidence. I had business at the hospital, saw Miss Chase at the enquiry desk, and found out that she had asked for you. It seemed interesting."
"That's more or less what I thought. So you saw me as someone who was going to be doing business with Angel, and decided that I'd be a useful contact if you could persuade me to help you?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Okay. Well, to answer your question, it turns out that Willow and Cordelia Chase are old friends. They lived in the same town for several years. That's why she hired Angel, he and one of her other friends were once in love."
"What sort of woman..?"
"Apparently she's something called a Slayer. Ever heard of that?"
"Yes. The one woman chosen in all the world... in love with a vampire? Is that the woman you were with yesterday afternoon?"
"No, that's another of Willow's friends." Billie didn't think she wanted to discuss Willow's sexual orientation with Holtz, she had an idea that an eighteenth-century man would probably think she was unnatural. As for the magic... no, some things were probably best left unsaid.
"A Slayer is his lover. That complicates things."
"Friends now, not lovers, but if a tenth of what my niece told me is right that could still be a serious problem for you."
"What did Angelus himself tell you?"
"Pretty much everything, I think. He wasn't lying, although I'd guess he shaded the truth to put himself in a favourable light a few times. He told me about your family, if he were human I think he might have started sobbing."
"You like him, don't you?" said Holtz, sounding disappointed.
"Yes, but what's that got to do with anything? One of the most likeable men I ever met turned out to have eight bodies buried under his cellar floor. Three of them were women he'd married bigamously, two others children, the other three just strangers he'd happened to feel like killing."
"You mean..?"
"Angel's a monster, or at least someone that can become one. He's managed to convince people that he isn't any more, and I think he even believes it himself, but he's a killer. He tells the truth, but he edits the facts to suit himself; he repeatedly told me he'd had a soul for a century, then when I was talking to Willow I learned that he lost it just a couple of years ago, killed at least a dozen people and came close to destroying the world before they used magic to restore it. The victims included some of my niece's schoolmates. He's a danger to everyone around him and to the whole human race."
"Then you're going to help me?"
"If I can, and within my limitations; don't ask me to try to stake him. But there are conditions."
"Name them."
"I've heard a lot about you this weekend. You want to punish Angel, make him pay for everything he did to you."
"That's correct. What of it?"
"If I understand it correctly, anything you do to hurt Angel will actually be punishing his human soul, not the demon that lives inside him. The demon would enjoy it."
"Your point?"
"You want to hurt Angelus, and to do that you would have to free him. But last time Angelus was let loose he killed Angel's friends. I can't allow you to do anything that might risk that happening again, since my niece and her friends would be amongst his first targets. Anything you do must be quick and final. No complicated plots, no mental or physical torture, no magic spells to get rid of his soul. You kill him and only him, you do it quickly and efficiently, and do it without releasing Angelus."
"Is that all?"
"There's more," said Billie, pouring herself another cup.
"Go on."
"I got to know the people who work with Angel this weekend. They think like my niece; to all of them he's a hero, a warrior much like yourself. They're good people, Holtz, and I don't want to see them hurt."
"Have you finished?"
"No. There's the child. Angel's son."
"What about him?"
"As of yesterday evening I'm his godmother, in a way, and I take my responsibilities seriously. I don't want to see him hurt, and I don't want to see anyone using him against Angel, because that's probably going to hurt him, or release Angelus, or both."
"Anything else?" asked Holtz, sounding a little tired.
"A threat. If you try anything that even looks like coming close to hurting my niece and her friends, the child, or the people who work with Angel, I'll do my best to help them against you."
"Will you indeed?" He sounded like he was humouring her.
"Yes. Mister Holtz, I know that you were born in an age when women were treated very differently, but please don't underestimate me. I'm the editor of one of the largest newspapers in the country. It employs more than a thousand people, several thousand if you count the printers and distributors. It's a powerful force in moulding public opinion, and it's owned by one of the richest men in the world, with all of the resources that implies. It has sources of information everywhere; paid informants, reporters, and members of the public who just can't keep their mouths shut. At the moment it stays out of the.. the supernatural world because we don't have much use for stories about it, but that could be changed if necessary. You're a wanted man, mister Holtz, I very much doubt you could operate for long under the spotlight of public attention. The police are already looking for you, if the public really got interested I doubt that you'd get very far."
"I see."
"One more thing. If you do get rid of him, I want your word that you'll do everything you can to put right any problems that causes. One of the things I was told is that there's a prediction that you and he will be involved in the Apocalypse; if he's out of the picture you may be needed to help prevent it."
"You drive a hard bargain."
"And you obviously need my help, or you wouldn't be paying me so much attention."
"Obviously. May I have some time to consider this? There are others involved, so I can't give you an immediate reply."
"Certainly, if you'll promise not to take any action while you're reaching a decision."
"I won't make that promise, but my plans are still at an early stage, I think it is unlikely that I will be ready to act before we meet again."
"I'll settle for that. Finish your coffee before you go."
"Thank you, I will." He drained the cup, said "Until our next meeting," and vanished into the night. Billie locked the window, washed up, and went to bed. Tuesday was going to be a busy day.
To Be Continued