Disclaimer: Highlander belongs to Davis/Panzer. They are being borrowed and returned hopefully in about the same shape they were taken in. Jeff, Emmy, and just about everyone else, belong to me. You can use them if you like, just return them please.

Chapter 20

Rick was staring at the open chronicle in front of him. "This is insane. Why has no one taken this guy's head yet?"

"Probably because no one could catch him, and because he was a good actor," Jeff replied grimly.

"Yeah, but you'd think after he killed one of his own Watchers that they'd do something about it."

Jeff shook his head emphatically. "You seem to forget that Watchers working with select Immortals is a brand new tradition. The Immortal didn't know that we existed, ergo he wasn't a threat to our organization."

"But Jeff, this is wrong. This guy still has someone who follows him around and just watches while he hacks people to pieces."

"It wouldn't have done any good to turn him in. In fact, it probably would have been worse to do so. The only thing that can stop this guy is another Immortal. Thankfully, now that the Watchers have pulled their heads out of the sand and realized that we need to be at least somewhat involved, he's going to be stopped. I'd just feel a lot better if it was you who was going after him."

Rick nodded. "So would I, but Marcus has a history with this dude, and you don't mess with that. If he fails, then I'll take care of it. I still can't believe Amanda knew this guy and didn't kill him."

Jeff was in full Servant mode, responding with a wisdom he usually suppressed. "Amanda met him during one of his off seasons. That's one of the reasons that he never gets caught. He fools people into thinking he's a good guy in one area, and kills in another. He's smart, this scumbag."

Rick looked at him. "Are you going to get his Watcher's info and call him?"

"I already have it. I'll call him tonight and get the information to you tomorrow," Jeff said.

"Good, so I'll call Marcus in the morning. It looks like your all-night adventure was a waste of time."

Jeff grinned. "Not really. Turns out I got some good shots of an armed robbery deal. I'm taking them to Marty at the station today, and then to my friends at the paper. I might have a story on the front page tomorrow. That means a nice big pay check to replace the cash I'm missing from Mrs. Chase. How did that turn out by the way?"

Rick just shook his head, "Don't ask and congrats on your find, man. Nothing like taking the opportunity in front of you."

Amanda's flight from New York to Florida was a lot smoother than her flight had been from Paris. She hated overseas flights. There was always too much turbulence to eat anything. And on a twenty-two-hour flight, all you really wanted to do was eat something. Then there was the food. Even in first class, it really was not that good. So, even if you did eat, well, you would end up regretting it twenty-four hours later. By the time Amanda landed in Florida, she was ready for a long nap in a comfortable bed.

When she left the terminal and went outside, she was not surprised to see someone waiting to pick her up. What she was surprised about was that the young stranger held a sign that read: The Amazing Amanda, in bold black letters. She laughed as she veered towards him. He looked to be in his early twenties, with pretty green eyes and a knock-out smile. He kept that smile as she came towards him.

"Donovin wasn't kidding when he said you were beautiful, but his description didn't do you justice," he said warmly, then held out his hand and she took it.

She laughed and then smiled. "You must be Jeff."

"At your service," he said with a bow. "Consider me your chauffer for this fun-filled trip to Florida. Your wish is my command, my lady." He straightened back up, a silly grin on his face.

"Well, right now I just want to get myself to a nice warm bath and a nap," Amanda replied, gauging his reactions.

He was a little more serious this time. "Off to Emmy's apartment, then. I have been supplied with a key, which I am to leave in your care. May I take your baggage?" He held his hands out for her luggage and put the bulk of it on a baggage cart.

"You enjoy pretending to be the gallant knight, don't you?" Amanda asked, as they strolled the short distance to the parking garage and his car.

Jeff shrugged. "I tend to do what the job calls for."

"Really? And what does that generally entail?"

He smiled. "I'm an investigative reporter. Sometimes it requires sporting pantyhose and makeup."

"You'd look good in makeup."

He laughed, "I can pull off a good Goth when the job requires it." He motioned towards a car. "This is it."

Amanda admired the 2010 Toyota Camry. "Nice car for a reporter."

"Rick bought it for me as a gift. He couldn't stand the hunk of junk I was driving before. He's like that. He gifts people with the strangest stuff." Jeff opened the trunk and put Amanda's luggage in. Then he walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for her. "Have a seat in your chariot, and I shall endeavor to make this an enjoyable ride."

She rolled her eyes and got in the car. Once Jeff was inside and had started the engine, she began a new line of questioning. "So, this Rick character, what's he like?"

Jeff flashed her a bright grin. "Rick is great. He's funny, fun, imaginative. He's forgiving, a great boss, and good with all kinds of stuff. I think he's the greatest friend I've ever had. He really listens."

"And you're his Watcher right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I have been for the last four years. Rick is the second Immortal I've watched. The first was a guy named Tomas Sanchez. He was whacked while vacationing home in Puerto Rico. To tell the truth, though, I wasn't too sad about it when the guy got killed. He was a jerk and a half. Not bad, exactly, he just wasn't the kind of guy you want to watch day and night."

"How old are you then, since you've been a Watcher for at least five years?" Amanda had thought him to be no more than twenty-three, but he had to be older than that.

"I'm twenty-four. I've actually been a Watcher since I was sixteen. You could say I spent a great deal of time on the streets and saw something I really shouldn't have seen. One of the Watchers took me in." Though he was paying attention to his driving, he flicked his gaze her way, serious now. "Going into the Watchers saved me from dropping out of high school, becoming a total punk, and ruining my life. I think that's why they let me into the academy so early. It made me have to work, and learning to work helped me with school."

"Wait, there's an academy?" Amanda asked in surprise.

He nodded. "Yeah. I guess I assumed you knew that, since you've known Joe since the nineties. It's usually a four-year course, like college. I've always been super smart and I was able to complete it in the two years I was finishing high school. They put me on assignment six months after that. Having been a punk kid with a minor juvie record, I was good at following people. Sometimes you watch the same person your whole life. Sometimes nine months later, someone takes their head."

"Don't you ever feel stalkerish, following someone around all the time and writing down whatever they do in a book?"

He smiled ruefully. "Not anymore. I don't follow either Emmy or Rick. If anything interesting happens, they usually tell me. We don't seem to think what an Immortal ate for breakfast every day is really that important anymore. Sometimes my entries are literally two or three sentences. 'Rick worked at the repair shop all day. No interesting visits, no investigative work.'"

"And it doesn't bother you that you write about your friend like that?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't bother Rick, so it doesn't bother me. Why should it? All I'm doing is keeping a history for him. If he wanted to see it, I'd give him the whole chronicle and let him read it himself."

Amanda nodded. She had always thought that the Watchers were a rare breed of people, and now she was sure of it. Jeff, she had to admit, was a natural charmer. He just had a simple charisma that you were really attracted to. She let a note of mischief lighten her tone. "Tell me, who's the lucky girl in your life?"

He laughed. "There's not one. I'm too much of a child to attract anyone long term. I'm the brother type, you know. 'I really love you a lot Jeff, you're just like a brother to me.' Like that." There was a trace of anger in his voice.

Amanda deliberately ignored it and snickered. "Somehow I doubt that all girls think about you that way."

He sighed. "Yeah, well if they don't, then I'm missing the cues because I don't have one. Anyway, if I did, it would just complicate my life further. I'm just living vicariously through other people right now, and that's a lot better than living with disappointment. Besides I'm not ready for a relationship, and until I get to a point where I am, I'm not going to have one."

"There's got to be someone you like."

The anger bubbled to the surface, his fingers clenching slightly on the wheel. "Sure. She's dating a stupid boy who doesn't appreciate her at all, but buys her crap that would take me a year's worth of bonus checks to afford. Until she decides she wants an actual relationship and not just presents; she's never going to see me as more than a friend. By the time she does, I might have found someone I like more who is free and available for me." He took a deep breath and puffed it out.

"You are good at making conversation, though," Amanda said cheerfully.

"Well, I'm good at talking openly about myself. So, now you should tell me about you," Jeff said.

"Come on, you can't tell me you haven't read my chronicle," she teased him.

"I haven't. I've read the blurb about your life, but that really doesn't tell me what you are up to right now," he said, taking a moment to turn his head and ply her with a hundred-watt smile.

"Right now, I'm actually an agent for three supermodels working in Europe," Amanda told him. She wondered if he thought his charm had worked. "I have three more that want to be added to my clientele, but dealing with one was bad enough; dealing with three is a headache. Six... I actually had one ask why she wasn't invited to come with me, so she could get some beach shots for her folio."

Jeff laughed. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her she was a runway model and didn't need beach shots in Florida for her folio. She needed to spend more time on toning her legs so that her ankles would look better." Amanda was looking at her cuticles as she talked. They looked a little ragged. She should get a manicure soon.

"Wow, how did she take that?" Jeff asked.

Amanda rolled her eyes. "I'm the boss, Jeff. I don't work for them. They work for me. All of them know there are a million girls who want their jobs and a million others who have agents trying to get it for them. What I say goes. It's the only way I can stand this job at all."

"So why do you do it?" Jeff asked, genuinely curious.

"Because it pays really, really well, and I get free clothes, makeup, and beauty supplies from it," Amanda said with a mischievous grin. Then she added, "And because it's something I can do and not be a thief, and Duncan likes that."

"Hey look, we're here," Jeff said, smiling as he pulled into the driveway of a beautiful white house. It was three stories, not unusual in Florida because they could not have basements. It looked rather extravagant, however, for single person residence.

"That is one big house," Amanda commented admiringly.

"Tell me about it," Jeff responded. "The first time Emmy brought me here, I asked her if I could just move into the top floor so I could stop paying rent on my apartment. She told me I'd still have to pay rent, it would just be to her instead."

Amanda laughed. "Sounds like Emmy."

He parked the car and popped the trunk, then got out and opened Amanda's door for her. He grinned as he played the gentleman, holding out his hand for her to grasp as she got smoothly out of the car. Releasing her hand, he offered her a key. "I'm going to get the luggage. Here's the key if you'd like to open the door."

She smiled and took the key, walking up to the door. He managed to gather up all of the luggage and trailed after her. She had mercy and took a couple of the smaller cases from him. "So, are you leaving me here?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I'm supposed to show you to your room and around the house. Also I have instructions to give you my number." After a little juggling of the luggage, he handed her his business card. "Emmy will also be off in about an hour and a half, but if you need anything before that, call me, okay? So, I'll give you the grand tour of the house, shall I?"

Amanda nodded. "That sounds good to me."

He took her first to her room, so they could drop off her luggage, and then they began exploring the house.