Part 5
“We don’t have any solid information on where Lilith might have ran,” Wesley told the gang. “And with our limited resources, I doubt we’ll be able to glean much information either.”
“Well, there is one way,” Angel said with a glance to Cordelia. His Seer knew exactly what Angel meant, and she liked the idea.
“We send someone after her with greater resources,” she told Wesley. Walking over to her desk, she found the notebook with the names of all the clients of ‘The Palace’. “John Martin wasn’t the only familiar name in this book.” Flipping through the book, Cordelia found the name she wanted. “According to this book, he was also a client of Lilith’s.”
“Who?” Gunn asked impatiently.
Cordelia grinned evilly. “I’m going to Kinko’s to use a copier and a fax. Be back soon.” The lovely Seer was out the door before anymore questions were asked. All eyes then turned to the vampire sitting on the couch.
“What?” he asked defensively. “It’s the best choice right now.”
********************
Lilah certainly didn’t see this move coming, but still, it would have made her giggle if it wouldn’t ruin her cool exterior. Still, she had to give them credit. It was a great play. Lilah knew exactly how the superiors would respond to this, and evidently, so did the folks at AI.
Holding the transmission from the fax machine up, she read it once more.
Frenchman Pierre La Croix
Copperfield David Lynch
Apollo Gavin Park
Lancelot Paul Cransfield
Never in a thousand years would Lilah thought that Gavin Park would be into the whole dominatrix things. Perusing the book before she sent it to AI, she had been shocked as hell to find his name inside.
She almost felt sorry for what would happen to him. The superiors would bring the hammer down on his ass. Then they would send a team to locate the murderer of the Senator. What they would do to her, Lilah didn’t know.
It wasn’t a secret around Wolfram and Hart that Senator John Martin didn’t like some of the people in charge. Lilah didn’t know the details, but apparently there was a feud between Martin and the firm. That was part of the reason why she sent Angel the book. It could be used to destroy Martin. And that would be good for her once it was found she was responsible for it.
Right on cue, other lawyers began to come out of their offices with copies of the fax. Only moments later, security burst through the main doors and headed straight for the office of Gavin Park. Lilah leaned back on her secretary’s desk and watched the scene with interest.
A pair of burly guards flanked Gavin as they exited his office. A scared Park looked desperately around, trying to understand what was happening. Locking eyes with Lilah, he pleaded for help. Lilah merely smiled and waved at the man being taken for ‘interrogation’.
Once the guards escorted Gavin out, the rest of the lawyers looked at each other stunned. “Who wants a drink?” Lilah asked cheerily, causing many to look at her strangely. “I need a cigarette, too,” Lilah muttered to herself. “That was almost better than sex.”
*******************
“So I guess the plan now is just to keep tabs on Wolfram and Hart?” Gunn asked as he popped the tab on a Coke. The gang had assembled in the kitchen eating Chinese. Even Angel was eating egg rolls, although he was the only one dipping them in pig’s blood.
Reynolds dropped his chopsticks after watching the vampire for a moment. He noticed no one else paid attention to the Champion’s strange eating habits. Hell, the Seer warmed the blood for him.
“It’s a smart move,” Reynolds admitted. “I know Wolfram and Hart. They’ll want to find Lilith just to make sure this fellow didn’t leak any information he wasn’t supposed to.”
“Quite right,” Wesley said. “So for the time being, it’s reconnaissance work. We just observe while Wolfram and Hart does the work for us.” The rest of the gang agreed to the action. Cordelia then excused herself and took Connor upstairs. Angel tossed aside an egg roll and followed his Seer.
The vampire found her singing to Connor in his bedroom. Angel once again found himself envying Lorne for his ability to read auras. He would love to know what Cordelia was thinking. Guess he’d have to do it the old fashioned way.
“Are you okay?”
Cordelia didn’t jump at Angel’s appearance. She had long since become accustomed to his popping out of nowhere. “I’m fine,” she told the vampire. “Just tired of this case is all.”
“I know,” Angel said. He walked forward and placed a hand on his Seer’s shoulder. “I know this is frustrating, that you think the visions haven’t helped us.”
“That’s because they haven’t Angel,” she said. Turning to face the vampire, he could see the frustration marring her lovely face. “All the breaks we’ve gotten are because of informants.” Cordelia sighed and shook her head. “I feel I haven’t helped on this case, that you don’t really need me.”
“I always need you,” Angel told her. “In more ways than you realize,” he admitted. “And just because the visions haven’t solved this thing, that doesn’t mean you haven’t helped. You’re intelligent, level headed, and oftentimes the sole voice of logic around this joint.” He was glad to see her laugh at that last point.
“Who’d a thought that a few years ago? Me being the voice of logic?”
“Well you changed,” Angel said. “For the better. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you, but I like the woman you’ve become.” Cordelia actually blushed. Angel didn’t know if he’d ever made her blush before.
“We will find Lilith,” he said. “We will stop her.”
“But what if what Wesley said is true? What if Lilith really is pregnant? I know that Lilith is evil, but the child inside her is probably part human. We don’t know what it would be like. It could have a soul.”
Angel could see the confusion and desperation in her eyes. They were the same emotions in her voice. They were also the same emotions he was feeling about the situation. “I don’t know,” Angel admitted. “But we will figure something out. We always do, right?” Cordelia gave a small smile and nod. “C’mon, lets put Connor down and go back downstairs. There’s probably work to do.”
Cordelia reluctantly set the child down in the crib. She followed Angel downstairs to start working once more.
*********************
The team leader slung his M-16 over his shoulder as he entered the hotel room formerly occupied by Lilith. Scanning the room, he noticed that the room didn’t seem very lived in.
“Report Sergeant,” he barked at the other man in the room.
The sergeant snapped to and saluted. “She’s gone sir,” he told his commander. “According to hotel management, she only had the room for a day and a night. Cleaning hadn’t been here yet when we arrived.”
“Anything interesting?”
“No sir. The only trash found was a couple soda cans and some takeout from a local deli. There is no evidence that she fed while here.”
The leader nodded. The orders came down less than six hours ago. The target was to be located and apprehended for questioning. And it was to be found ASAP. “Alright, gather whatever evidence there is and ship it back to base. We need to saddle up and get going. We’re on the clock.”
The sergeant saluted and grabbed a box. The leader took a last look around the room before following the soldier out of the hotel.
******************
“Did Martin own any other properties that Lilith would have known about?” Cordelia wondered.
“I don’t think so. They were friendly, but I don’t know why he would have told her about any of that,” Reynolds answered.
Cordelia gave the man a funny look. “Guys say weird things when they’re getting some action.” Gunn, Wes, and Angel stopped in their tracks at that comment.
“Do they ever,” Fred agreed. Even Cordelia turned to stare at her. “Or so I’m told,” Fred stuttered.
“Well,” Wes started, wanting very much to change the conversation. “Is there any way we could find property records?”
“Sure,” Fred said. Her cheeks were still very much red. “That should only take a half hour for me to find here.” Fred fired up her laptop to begin the search.
“Yeah, but wouldn’t Wolfram and Hart already think of that?” Gunn asked.
“Maybe, but it’s still worth the effort,” Cordelia said. The Seer tried to stifle a grin as Angel snuck up behind Gunn.
“Hey Gunn,” Angel said. The black man jumped a foot in the air.
“Damn, man. Don’t do that. Need to get your undead ass some bells or something.” Gunn ignored the vampire’s grin and continued clutching at his heart.
“What’d you find?” Cordelia asked him.
“Wolfram and Hart’s goons hit a hotel on the outskirts of town. It was evidently clean, no evidence of a kill.”
The gang took solace in that. Maybe they would find her before she fed again.
*******************
So this was home. Lilith dropped her bag unceremoniously on the floor by the door. It was certainly better than the hellhole she had stayed at earlier. Walking into the living room and fingering the drapes, she decided the place was acceptable. For a while at least.
Lilith tossed a picture of Janice and Christopher into the fireplace and went into the kitchen. Liking the large glass windows, she decided the place was fairly nice. It was certainly better than her home back in her own dimension.
********************
“I found a listing of seven properties,” Fred told the gang. “Some where owned by Martin’s wife and her family. Others were owned by him.”
Grabbing the list, Wesley immediately went into leader mode. “Fine. We’ll go in teams. Gunn can come with me. Angel and Cordelia can handle themselves, right?” The vampire and Seer nodded in agreement. The watcher divided up the properties. “Lorne, you can stay with Reynolds and Connor?”
“Sure sweetie,” the green demon answered.
“Then let’s go.” The four grabbed their favorite weapons from the closet and prepared to begin narrowing down the list.
********************
A private entered the control room and handed a folder to the major in charge. The list consisted of several properties that were owned by the Martin family.
“I want recon teams to check these out,” Major Cooper told the soldier. “Put Jorgensen’s and Harper’s people on it.” The private quickly snapped a salute and trotted off to carry out the order.