Tara entered the hotel and headed downstairs immediately. "That's not Lindsey McDonald," She said. "His real name is Eliot Spencer. I don't know how they managed it, but they have him trapped in that building playing lawyer."
Angel didn't look up from his book. "I saw him. It's Lindsey. He's conning you."
Tara raised an eyebrow. "No. I've worked with Eliot before. And no one cons me."
"He knew things only Lindsey would know"
Angel still didn't look up, which infuriated Tara. She snatched the book from his hands.
"What the-"
"One, don't ignore me. Two, you hired me to do a job so you better start accepting that I know what I am doing. Three, nobody, and I mean nobody cons me."
"I'm not ignoring you," he said defensively.
"Yes, you were," She told him and took out the cell phone she had used to take pictures of the file in Eliot's possession while they argued over every little thing she was doing. She held it out to show Angel.
"I- I can't read that thing."
"You are such a big baby," She told him "Where's your computer?"
"I don't have one. I think Conner left one around here somewhere." Angel said and went to pick his book up from where Tara had put it.
"You know it's okay to come and join the rest of us in the 21st century," Tara said finding Connors's netbook in the bag of things he left at Angel's for when he visited. She emailed the file to herself and pulled it up on webmail.
"Tara-" he growled as she once more removed the book from his hands "No," Angel said. "It's nothing you want to know anything about. You have that information because Wolfram and Hart want you to have it."
"I have it because Eliot wanted me to have it; because he needs my help."
"Lindsey," Angel stressed the name, "gave you that information. I will admit that sometimes he plays both ends against the middle but not this time." He held up his hands defensively. "He's been gone for 5 years. Maybe Eliot and Lindsey are one in the same person."
"Sure if the lawyer wants to be wanted in four countries for theft and violent tendencies toward jackasses." She sat on the arm of his chair. "Angel he was wearing an earbud. We used to use them all the time when we were working together. Someone is coaching him on what he needs to say and do. And do you really think he has two guards posted outside his door for his protection when he has the vampire-slaying librarian for a secretary?"
"I should let them know they have an evil slayer on their hands," Angel sighed.
"Yeah, let me know how that works out for you. They aren't your friends anymore Angel. You told me that yourself."
Angel frowned as he read the file; mostly to get Tara to back off and get the damned thing out of his face eventually. "You have contact with those people still? Find out if this Eliot is gone for whatever reason."
"I'm on it. I could use their help anyway. They stand by their own, they'll come for Eliot. You know as well as I do that Wolfram and Hart won't let him go. They'll just put him on ice until they need him again."
"Are you sure they can handle this? Or do they already know about it?"
"No... But they don't need to. Not yet. If all goes according to plan it will be better if they don't. I don't think Eliot knows either."
"If they don't know, they are going to walk in there blind."
"And if they do know, they will get themselves killed because it will throw them off their game. They will be too busy looking for the monsters to do what needs to be done." She frowned, "before I contact them though, Eliot asked about Praxis and a client named Neimic."
Why wouldn't Lindsey know that? "Okay, we've all got our territory in town. The big bad of each species rules or protects their people by Praxis. A set of customs or traditions."
Tara smiled "So are you the big bad vampire in town?" She asked.
Angel smiled in return but it wasn't an amused one. "That's right. But I don't rule over the other vampires. I find one, I kill it. Nothing to rule."
"Not even Spike?" She asked. "Where is he anyway?"
"Chasing blondes."
"Ooh, that blonde," Tara said.
"Do you want to know about this or not?" He asked his tone surly.
"Explain away," She said. "What are these traditions?"
"It varies from clan to clan. There are entire books on the subject in the research library," he told her. "Which clans use what traditions... A lot of them boil down to I have the excuse to kill you because you broke this or that tradition or I can take over your territory because you aren't enforcing the traditions. And Neimic isn't an individual client, it's a clan; fortunately, they look human enough. I had trouble with them a few years back. They are feudal. Brothers looking to take over each other's territory and businesses. They've used Lindsey as a negotiator ever since he was hired by the firm. The year that I was CEO - they were pretty pissed off when he wasn't available."
"I thought you ordered his death toward the end?"
"I did but before that, he was in hell. Literally. I hated pulling him out of there," He said. "When they found out he was gone they wanted nothing to do with any sort of negotiation. They decided to go to war. Which would have destroyed LA."
"How'd you stop them?"
Angel shrugged, "I killed both of the faction leaders in front of everyone else and asked who was next. So what we have now is an older faction wanting control demanding Lindsey and the newer faction wanting me to negotiate. "
Tara laughed, "They want you to kill the competition you mean."
"Same thing. Ultimately someone's head is going to roll."
"Right, now I just want to make sure it's not Eliot's," She said and watched as Angel picked up his book again. "It's not going to be is it?"
"Depends on how good he is at negotiation ... or fighting his way out."
"He won't leave," She said very much worried.
Angel raised an eyebrow as if to say 'And you still think this isn't McDonald.'
"They are threatening someone important to him." It was one of the things he had managed to let her know while they had been pretending to fight all day.
Angel groaned and asked for details before going to pick up the phone. "If we can protect her will he be willing to work with me?"
"He'll work with me and that's good enough," Tara said. "But it's going to have to be subtle, and he's going to need proof.
"Well, not sure how subtle it will be but it won't be obvious to Amie or the Wolfram and Hart crew."
He placed a phone call to the one person working for the new watcher's council that still believed in him. Faith said she would send Xander out to the horse ranch to keep an eye on things and she would move in to take action if necessary.
Tara called Nate.
"I'm kind of busy right now Tara. I can't take any jobs right now." He was worried. It had been two days and there was no clue what had happened to Eliot. The entire team was tense. Hardison hadn't slept since Eliot had woke him up. He had been pouring over the information they had about the man, trying to find an enemy that would be able to take him and they were coming up short; most would have left more destruction behind. Eliot would have left more destruction behind.
"I think I can help you with that. I know who has Eliot. He's alright... if you can call being kidnapped by the law firm from hell alright." She wasn't sure how much to tell them. "I'll explain more when you get here," Tara told him.
"Where are you?" He asked. They would be on the next flight out. "And what's the con." Law firm? They were going to have to be careful and come in with the con in place.
"You're my team's distraction. Come in hot and obvious. I'm going to set up his secretary as the leak so that I can move into the position. Give me twelve hours."
"His secretary?" Nate asked and pushed it aside for now. "Do we have that kind of time?"
"They aren't going to hurt him. Not for the next week. After that, if we don't get in there... they'll kill him. Have Hardison look up Emily Dunaway, she's the secretary. Create some sort of illusion that they are best buddies. I'm sure he can come up with a way to do that. Although the further back it goes the better. "
"How do we contact you without blowing your cover?" Nate asked.
"You don't. Call this number; it belongs to a friend of mine. His name is Angel. He'll get the information to you that you need. He can be a bit of a jackass sometimes-"
"Hey!" Angel protested in the background.
"But I trust him. With my life," Tara said before hanging up the phone; not telling them that she wasn't sure she trusted him with Eliot's.
Hardison had gone to work immediately. Emily Dunaway was relatively easy to hack. Up until 6 years ago she had been your garden variety school pariah. Too thin, greasy hair, braces, and no friends. He could identify with the girl and almost hated messing with her. Almost.
Six years ago she had suddenly started eating her Wheaties or something because she took down the school bully without breaking a sweat and didn't stop kicking ass until six months ago when she started to work for Wolfram and Hart and not as a secretary. She was in security, or that's what they called it when they had people busting kneecaps and breaking heads for a law firm. Fortunately not too far up the chain or Tara's plan wouldn't work.
Hardison found photos of the girl in high school and photoshopped himself at the same age into it. He did this for several others and made sure they could be found in various places on the web that could be traced back to him. Or at least the identity that was connected to Leverage Consulting.
He then hacked into her personal computer and spent the next several hours writing emails back and forth to himself and backdating them from two years ago to the present day, always careful not to have things crossing with times she was out of town on the job. Her cell phone records were easy to alter anyone looking would see that they talk on the phone every couple of months for an hour or so. He couldn't make it too close a connection or it would look suspicious. It was on Tara to lay the final trap.
"What were you able to find out about Wolfram and Hart?" Nate asked. He hadn't stopped pacing since Tara's call.
"International law firm. They handle everything from corporate activities to the lowest of the low. And I do mean low. If Ted Bundy had finished law school he woulda been working here. And they would have gotten him off too."
"Okay they're evil, but why would they want Eliot?" Sophie asked. "Tara said he had an office. I don't understand any of this."
"Neither do I, but I trust Tara," Nate said taking a seat at the table.
"Yeah, well this might shed a little light on the subject," Hardison said. "Meet Lindsey McDonald," He said pulling up pictures of what looked like a much younger Eliot. "If I didn't know better I would say he actually is the same guy. A small-town Oklahoma boy got through community college and fought to get a full-ride scholarship to UC Hastings. Graduated top of his class. Driven is an understatement. Right out of law school, he signed on with Wolfram and Hart. Got that corner office and VP parking space faster than anyone else in the history of the company. This guy ... he's the type of lawyer other lawyers have nightmares about... or want to be when they grow up."
"Are we sure he isn't Eliot?" Parker asked walking over to the giant TV screen to take a look at the picture up close. "He looks a lot like him."
"Parker," Nate said and motioned for her to move away from the screen. Her question wasn't even worth considering. Eliot not only hated courtrooms but they had met his past. He doubted the Martins were the sort to lie for him. "Where is this lawyer now?"
"Dead. Someone shot him twice in the chest five years ago," Hardison said. "But he had quit the firm before that."
"So McDonald is shot, and about that same time, someone begins stalking Eliot," Nate said.
"A woman that he has never met and has a hard time saying no to. Man... Whoever she is, she scared the hell out of Eliot," Hardison said.
"Nothing scares Eliot," Nathan said taking it all in.
"You weren't there, man; he wasn't banging on your door at three in the morning," Hardison said.
"Then she has some sort of leverage," Nate said. "How else do you get Eliot Spencer to do something he doesn't want to do?"
"Yeah but other than us, and punching people in their faces, the man doesn't have a life," Hardison said.
Sophie sighed, wondering why men were so obtuse. "There is one person he cares about more than anything else."
"Nah, they have been broken up a long time," Hardison said.
"That has nothing to do with anything. Men like Eliot...," Sophie said, "never truly stop loving."
"Men like Eliot?" Nate asked wondering what her qualifying factors were on that. "Okay," Nate said "This law firm needs Lindsey McDonald for some reason and they force Eliot to play the part. That's not something that is ordered by the low man on the totem pole. While we are waiting for Tara to get into position, find out everything you can about upper management." He got up and walked over to the telephone.
Nate wasn't sure he agreed with Sophie's assessment of Eliot, it was a little too romanticized for his liking. However, Eliot had told Hardison that he was being stalked by a woman. This woman might have had a similar way of thinking as Sophie. This put Amie Martin very much in harm's way.
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Amie was talking with her new foreman when her cell phone rang. She found that she was disappointed at the interruption. Harris made her laugh and there was a gentle understated strength there. She had no doubt he could handle himself but it wasn't all there was to him. No bravado. Which was refreshing? Even the eye patch was... strangely appealing. Okay, maybe it was a good time for an interruption. She had only just met the man after all. "Amie Martin," She said into the phone.
"Amie, it's Nathan Ford."
Her blood ran cold. "Did something happen to Eliot?" They weren't together, and they never would be again, but she had loved him once and that was enough.
There was a pause on the line, as Nate tried to sort out the best way to tell the woman. "He's taken off again hasn't he?" She supplied for him. It was hard to let go of some things.
"Not willingly. We have reason to believe that the people that have him have made threats against you to keep him there. "
"What?" She felt herself go a little weak in the knees. She didn't question the arms that suddenly supported her. "Why? Is he going to be alright?" Was he in trouble because of her?
"We'll get him back," Nate said in as reassuring and confident a tone as he could create. "Right now he is cooperating and they need him. But you need to be careful. Don't go anywhere alone; if anyone other than one of our team contacts you about Eliot don't believe it. "
"I'm fine. I'm perfectly safe where I am. You just find Eliot and tell him I say to get the hell out of there. I don't care who's said what or threatened what. "
She could almost hear the smile that crossed Nathan Ford's lips. "I'll get the message to him." Although he was sure that it would have no effect on Eliot whatsoever. "Be careful. He would never forgive himself if something happened to you," he told her and hung up the phone.
Amie sighed and closed her phone before straightening up. "I'm sorry about that," she said.
"Bad news I take it?" Xander asked. "Anything I can help with?"
She took a deep breath to get her bearings again. "We need to keep a close eye on things around here. Keep an eye out for people that don't belong." Her eyes widened, "oh god that came out wrong I wasn't even thinking."
Xander Harris smiled at her, "When I get to know you better I'll tell you all the one-eyed pirate jokes I've learned over the last few years. It's okay." His smile faded a little. "Have you been threatened?" He asked. Faith had told him what was going on when he took the assignment; someone decided to tell Amie as well.
"Maybe. Better safe than sorry. It's a long story," She said.
"Well, I got the time. Besides you have to show me the rest of the property." He smiled a little, "Nothing chases away the shadows like talking about them." And a well-placed stake, he thought to himself.