Trust

by Rob Sorenson

Chapter Eighteen

There was a momentary hush in the room as everyone looked at one another. Finally Riley broke the silence.

“Let’s not all talk at once, guys.”

His attempt to break the tension was only mildly successful; Buffy and Dawn both managed a chuckle, while Xander and Willow grinned. Everyone else merely continued looking at one another. Nevertheless, Riley felt encouraged to continue.

“Someone has to go first, I guess. As everyone knows, we have a bunch of questions without answers. I propose we go to the most likely source to get them.”

“Dear Abby? She has all the answers,” Xander interjected. “No wait…is she dead?”

Willow frowned at him. “You’re thinking of Ann Landers.”

“No, I’m not. Dear Abby had that advice section. You know, by the horoscopes and word jumb-“

“I KNOW who Dear Abby is, Xander. Ann Landers was her sister. She’s the one who’s dead.”

“Oh. So what’s that got to do with anything?”

“They both wrote the exact same type of column. Ann Landers did it first, then her sister started shortly after.”

“Really? That didn’t piss Ann off?”

“Oh, sure. They didn’t speak for years-“

Angel’s eyes were closed. I really didn’t miss this part of the Sunnydale experience... “Riley, you were saying?!”

Xander and Willow started slightly before closing their mouths. Buffy had to bite her lip to keep from smiling as Riley resumed.

“Every branch of Wolfram and Hart maintains extensive files on all their operations. They’re well known for being meticulous; there are backups for everything, no matter how secret the plans may be.”

Wesley nodded. “I’ve seen where the files are kept. The room is extremely large…almost like a warehouse in itself.”

“Really? How did you manage to get into that area of the building? We’ve been trying for years, but even our best intelligence sources don’t have access.”

There was a momentary silence as Wes formulated his answer.

“At one time…I had an acquaintance with a rather important member of the staff.”

Dawn looked at the floor, lip curling slightly. Buffy noticed the look, but said nothing as Riley continued with renewed enthusiasm.

“That’s an edge I wasn’t expecting. We’d managed to obtain the original blueprints years ago, but without a person on the inside, they were virtually useless. If you have some idea where specific files were kept, though…that could really help.”

“It was a very brief visit.” Indeed it had been; Lilah had only a few minutes to spare for a quickie during lunch. Upon very brief reflection, Wes decided not to share that fact.

“Still, you’re the only person I’ve ever spoken to who’s been there at all.”

Spike was frowning. “Maybe I’m readin’ ahead here, but are you suggesting we nick Wolfram and Hart’s files?”

“That’s where the answers lie.”

“Yeah. Right next to the bodies of anyone else who did somethin’ that stupid, I’d wager.”

Riley glared at Spike. “I don’t recall asking for your-“

“Don’t care what you asked for, mate. The man just said the room was the size of a warehouse. Even if we somehow manage to get in there, how the hell do we know where to look? Needle in a bloody haystack.”

“Not only that,” Angel chimed in, “Wolfram and Hart has a screening system. Anyone touched by the supernatural can’t even walk on to the property without tripping an alarm.”

“And those are just the systems we know about,” Fred added.

Riley held up his hands. “I’m aware of all that. The key word there being supernatural. Obviously that limits what some of you can do…but not all of us.”

Cordelia frowned. “You’re suggesting bringing in some of your Special Forces types?”

He slowly shook his head. “That’s not a viable option at this time.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Because…”

Riley sighed deeply. “Officially, I’m not here.”

“Ok, I’ve known you for about three days, and you know what? Starting to understand why you bug Angel so much. Could I possibly get a straight answer?”

“I think,” Angel cut in, “he’s trying to tell us there’s no one else to call on. That’s why he came to us in the first place.” He glared at the soldier. “Close enough?”

Riley shifted uncomfortably. “There’s more to it than that.”

Buffy spoke softly. “Is there something you haven’t shared with us?”

“Everything you need to know about this mission has been commun-“

“Stuff the soldier talk,” Spike interrupted. “and answer the question.”

Riley looked at the floor. “This particular mission isn’t officially sanctioned by the UN Security Council.”

“Why the hell not?” Gunn asked. “Serious apocalyptic issues brought to us by Wolfram and Hart aren’t a good enough reason?”

“That’s just it. They haven’t done anything that could be construed as major bad yet. All they’ve done is cease communications.”

Angel snorted. “Got news for you, pal. Everything Wolfram and Hart does can be construed as major bad.”

Riley spoke evenly. “Ceasing communications is not officially considered a provocative act by the United Nations.”

“Provocative act, you say? So they’ll draft one of those pretty resolutions after the sodding world ends, then?” Spike shook his head. “That ought to show those lawyers who really has a set of bollocks.”

Again Riley sighed. This wasn’t going well. “As it happens, I agree with you. Would I be here otherwise?”

Xander shook his head. “We’re pinch hitters.”

All eyes turned to him in confusion. Xander pointed at Riley.

“He can’t bring his starting team in on this…so he goes to his bench.”

“That’s not how it was. The Secretary knew of my prior relationship with you, that’s true, but-“

“Was the part about Wolfram and Hart talking about Buffy, Willow and me true, or was that just a way to rope us in?”

Riley looked genuinely hurt by the question. “I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer.”

“It’s a fair question,” Willow said quietly. Riley held out his hands.

“Hey, look…you guys would’ve wound up here one way or the other! I admit I was sent here to get your help, but it was also to share relevant information. I’m on your side. Come on, you guys know me.”

“All I know is, we haven’t even seen you in three years,” Dawn said. “Now you finally show up, but only because you can use us to get what you want.”

Riley sat back in his chair. “We have the same goals, Dawn.”

Buffy spoke softly. “Would you have even shared that relevant info if you didn’t need us?”

He met her eyes. “Does it matter? The current situation is what it is.”

“He’s right,” Angel broke in, surprising the Scoobies. “We’d still be here one way or the other. Let’s get back on topic.”

There was a moment’s silence before Angel continued. “Riley, how do you plan on breaking into Wolfram and Hart without a strike team?”

“A full strike team would be too much. This is strictly a black bag job. We could use three…maybe four people to pull it off.”

“If we get caught or killed, will the Secretary disavow any knowledge of our actions?” Xander asked drily.

Riley paused. “Well…yeah.”

“Of course. Please continue, Mr. Phelps.”

“Huh?”

Buffy gave Xander a withering look. “Go on, Riley.”

“Security is at full strength, but the regular staff is greatly reduced. We have a decent chance at getting through the door before they sound the general alarm. After that, I can work on disabling the security systems in the building from the inside. Security’s main offices are roughly 20 yards from the front entrance.”

Angel shook his head. “Stop right there. Say you do manage to get that done. There’s a response team that handles system outages within minutes. How do you plan on finding the proper file in time?”

Riley shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t bloody know!?”

“I never said this plan was perfect. You have a better one, Spike?”

“Yeah. Ignorin’ you.”

Buffy spoke wearily. “Guys, bickering won’t get us anywhere.”

“Better that than trustin’ him.”

Riley stood, quickly followed by Spike. Buffy grabbed the waistband of Spike’s jeans, yanking him back into his seat while directing an icy stare toward Riley.

“Sit. Stay.”

He complied slowly, keeping his eyes on Spike.

Wesley cleared his throat. “There is an alternative…possibility.” All eyes turned to him. “Lilah keeps all the firm’s files on her hard drive.”

Gunn blinked. “You want to break into the Super Bitch’s office?”

“It would certainly reduce the logistics of a file search.”

Angel frowned. “Granted, but she works all hours of the day or night. We have no way of knowing when she’d actually-“ The vampire broke off, catching Wesley’s look. “Oh. Of course.”

Willow squinted her eyes. “Of course…what? Did I miss something?”

“If you did, I’m sure I did,” Buffy added, looking from Angel to Wes. “What’s the deal?”

Wesley slid his eyes toward Dawn as she leaned back in her chair, arms folded. I’m sorry, Dawn. Nothing else for it.

“Earlier, when I mentioned my relationship with a certain member of the staff…I’m afraid I wasn’t specific.”

Buffy’s eyes widened as she put two and two together. “Wait a minute. Are you saying…you had a relationship with Lilah Morgan?”

“At one time, yes. The point being, I believe she would still be amenable to my asking her for a drink…or dinner, perhaps-“

“Whoa, whoa,” Buffy said. “Reverse. We ARE talking about the same Lilah Morgan that’s been your mortal enemy for years, right?”

“Yes. It isn’t something I’m proud of-“

“What the hell was wrong with you?!”

Dawn sat up straight. “Back off, Buffy! He made a mistake, that’s all.”

“You think!?”

Wesley closed his eyes. “It is over between us, but she doesn’t appear to accept that reality. She continues to pursue…relations.”

“So we should use it to our advantage,” Dawn added. Wesley looked at her gratefully, but she didn’t return his gaze. For her part, Buffy was slumped back in her chair.

“Of all people to hook up with…” Dawn’s icy look caused the Slayer to raise her hands. “Ok, truce. This isn’t the time.”

“Agreed,” Angel put in. “Wes, did you have anything more to offer?”

“Yes. During our drive down here from Sunnydale, I spoke with Riley and learned a bit about his plans. At my request, he showed me the schematics of Wolfram and Hart that his sources obtained.”

Xander waved his hand. “Is there an air duct to crawl through? With these kind of deals there’s always-”

Buffy silenced Xander with a look. “Not now, Xand.”

Wesley shifted slightly. “Actually…he’s quite correct. There is an air duct leading from the rear of the building to Lilah’s office.”

Spike chuckled. “Give the whelp a cigar.”

Xander raised his fists. “Yeah, baby!” Buffy smacked him on the arm. “Ow! But I was right!”

“That was for rubbing it in. Now be serious.”

Angel was shaking his head. “Ok, say you get into that office. How do you plan on avoiding security?”

Riley was nodding, his enthusiasm growing. “The security system doesn’t extend to the ventilation system. Wesley, this is good. Why didn’t you tell me you had this idea before?”

“You didn’t need to know at the time.”

There was a long beat of silence. “Touche.” Riley said with a grim smile.

Spike spread his hands in confusion. “The woman’s office has security, though, right? At some point you gotta crawl out of the air duct.”

“Plus,” Angel broke in, “it’s not like Lilah would have her files just wide open to everyone. There will be…um…passwords and…and that stuff that has to do with burning.”

Willow tilted her head toward him. “Do you mean firewalls?”

“Whatever. Computers aren’t my thing.”

The redhead turned. “Riley, how long would it take before there would be a response to the disabling of security?”

The soldier took a deep breath. “Thirty minutes, give or take.”

Willow nodded slowly. “Ok…I could work with that.”

“No, Willow, actually you couldn’t. I can disable the standard security system temporarily, but I can’t do anything with the mystical one. Someone with your kind of power would set off the alarm bells. Normal people only, remember?”

Wesley was stroking his chin. “The air ducts are quite small also.”

Willow glared at him. “Are you saying I’m fat?”

“What? No, of course not. Merely thinking out loud. Few people could actually fit in such a confined space.”

“I’m barely showing,” Willow grumbled.

Gunn rolled his eyes. “Can we cut to the chase here? To make this whole plan work, you’ll need a normal human being who happens to be really skinny AND a world class hacker. Where do you plan on finding one of those on such…short…” He broke off.

Everyone turned their head slowly in the same direction.

Winifred Burkle spoke in a timid voice. “Guess I’m elected?”

“Wait a minute. Hold up.” Gunn said. “Lilah’s office is on the sixth floor.”

Wesley nodded. “Yes.”

“Not only that, there’s probably gonna be armed goons roaming around. One wrong turn in that vent, she’s meat. No way this can work.”

There was a long moment of quiet, broken by Riley.

“Fred, I imagine you’ve never rapelled off a roof before?”

Her eyes grew wide. “I’m RE-pelled by roofs. Does that count?”

“But…you know what I’m talking about? The sensors aren’t outside the building. You could cut the glass from the outside and crawl into the vent…” He trailed off, sensing the incredulous looks from the others, especially Fred.

“Do I look like Spider Man to you?”

Riley sighed. “Dammit.”

Again there was a long silence.

“I could go.”

Everyone looked at Dawn. Buffy blinked. “You?”

Dawn straightened. “You think I can’t?”

“I didn’t say that,” Buffy backpedaled. “It’s just…”

“Dawn, you’re pretty good with computers…but not this good.” Willow said gently.

“I didn’t say I’d go alone. I’ll be with Fred. We both go through the air vents together. I’ll watch Fred’s back. If we run into a bad guy, I’ll deal.” She turned to Fred with an encouraging smile. “I know you can rapell down that wall if you’re with me. It won’t be all that hard. Well,” she corrected herself, “actually it’ll probably be extremely hard, but you’ll have a friendly face to be terrified with.”

Wesley spoke quietly. “Dawn, I don’t believe you can-“

“You’ve got your part of the mission, I’ve got mine,” she interrupted, staring hard at him.

“I was going to say you are the Key. Strictly speaking, you wouldn’t qualify as normal.”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Please. I have no special powers these days. There’s no way their mojo filter includes me.”

“We don’t know that. It isn’t worth the risk.”

Dawn thought a moment. “Ok, we do a trial run. I go to the office tomorrow to speak with Lilah. If the mystical alarm bells ring, we look for a new plan. Deal?”

Buffy waved her hand. “Wait a minute. I doubt you’re her favorite person…which, by the way, doesn’t thrill me.” She glared at Wes before continuing. “The point is, why would she want to talk to you?”

“She wouldn’t. Unless…” Dawn grinned. “She thought her little plan to break us up worked.”

“Plan?” Cordy piped up. “There was a plan to break you up? God, I didn’t even know you two were together until last weekend. I’m so behind.”

Wesley was nodding. “It makes sense.“

“Whoa there, Percy,” Spike interrupted. “Let’s hear more about this plan. Don’t fancy the evil lady havin’ a grudge against the Bit.”

Dawn cleared her throat. “She’d been spying on us all of last year. Recently, she sent pictures of us at the beach together to Angel with a letter, threatening to tell Buffy everything about us.” She looked at her sister. “I guess she assumed you’d forbid me to see him or something.”

Buffy swallowed hard, feeling a sudden urge to put her fist through Lilah Morgan’s face. She counted slowly to ten before responding. “So you’re proposing to barge in there all pissed…telling her the plan worked and you two have broken it off?”

“Thereby killing two birds with one stone. We’ll make Wesley’s calling upon her that much more believable AND find out whether or not I set off the supernatural alarm. Plus,” Dawn added cheerfully, “I get to scream and bitch her out, which really sounds like a good time.”

Buffy paused a moment. “I have to admit, that’s pretty good.”

“Dawn?” Riley asked. “How will you know which alarm you set off?”

“I’ll find a way to get her to spill.”

Willow frowned. “Are you sure? She doesn’t seem like the type to volunteer anything.”

“She won’t. Trust me; Lilah isn’t as smart as she thinks.”

“Bit, you sure you can pull this off?”

Dawn smiled slightly.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I couldn’t, Spike. Riley can give Fred and me a crash course on rapelling from ten stories up.”

Fred cringed. “Can we please not use the word crash?”

Gunn took her hand. “Hey. You don’t have to do this.”

“I know.” she said quietly. “Thing is, I’m the only one that can.” She gave the room a little smile. “If I fall, some of you are in big trouble.”

“Got that right,” Gunn added softly as he turned to Dawn. “Comes down to you, I guess.”

Buffy and Dawn exchanged a long look. I can do this, Dawn’s expression said. Finally the older sister looked sternly from Riley to Wesley. “Riley, I want you working with Dawn and Fred as soon as we’re finished here. Wesley, you’re going over this plan completely. If this isn’t laid out perfectly –“ she gave Dawn a meaningful look –“it isn’t going to happen. Ok?”

Everyone involved nodded their agreement. After waiting a moment, Angel cleared his throat. “All right, does anyone else have anything to offer?”

“Yeah.”

Everyone turned their attention to the corner of the room. As of yet, only Faith hadn’t spoken, so her single word was something of a surprise. Xander, for his part, had kept a concerned eye on her while executing his duty of being Silly Guy. Not once had she met his gaze.

Angel took a deep breath. “Faith?”

She lifted her eyes from the floor for the first time since they’d begun. “Short version is this: A few years back, I worked in the neighborhood where a lot of these killings are happening now.”

Faith looked around, taking care to avoid Xander’s eyes as she went on. “Some of you already knew what kinda stuff I was doing back then…some of you didn’t. Either way, it was nobody’s business but mine, and I planned to keep it that way.” She sighed. “Looks like I don’t get that choice. Gunn, your friend Rondell mentioned something to you before he died.”

“Royal.” Gunn said in a hushed tone. “You know what it is?”

“It’s not a what. It’s a who…and that isn’t his real name. One time, he told me ‘Jimmy Royal’ was the kind of name people instinctively respected. I guess he thought it made him sound like a made man or something.”

“So what’s his real-“ Faith cut Gunn off with a look.

“I’m gonna get to all that. Get this straight: you hear this from me one time, so whip out your number two pencils or whatever. And don’t interrupt me again.”

They held each other’s eyes for a long moment before Gunn gave in first, looking at his shoes as Faith resumed speaking in a toneless voice.

“His real name is Jaime Rosenbloom. Father is Jewish, mother is…from Panama, I think it was. He was born in Queens; parents split up when he was ten or eleven, can’t remember which exactly. His mom packed them up and moved out here, apparently to get as far away as she could without leavin’ the country. Got himself hooked up in gang shit as a teenager in East LA, did a couple of short terms in County Jail. At some point, he made up his mind he was gonna get into the rackets.

Somehow he got in good with the local Mob guys…I seem to remember him tellin’ me something about the benefits of speaking both Spanish and Yiddish. Still, his Spanish – learned in New York, where he grew up – sounded funky to the Mexican ear. Made him work extra hard to impress the local bosses.”

Dawn found herself speaking. “You know an awful lot about this person-“ she broke off, realizing she’d violated Faith’s interruption rule. “Sorry.”

Faith snorted. “Dawnie, you’d be amazed at the shit a man’ll tell you right after he’s-“ she stopped herself, rubbing a hand over her face.

Xander’s chair scraped loudly as he shifted, causing Faith to glance briefly in his direction for the first time before continuing to speak.

“I left the foster care system for good when I was thirteen. Figured I’d rather have no home at all than the shit I’d already had to deal with. Spent a coupla months livin’ outta boxes and homeless shelters, slippin’ out before Child Services tried to get their hooks into me again. One night, while I was digging through a dumpster behind a Chinese restaurant in East LA – usually you could find some halfway decent rice if you caught ‘em at the right time of night - I met Jimmy.”

Faith raised her chin slightly. “For most of the next year and a half, he was my pimp.”

She hadn’t intended to include a dramatic pause – Faith hated that kind of thing – but words just couldn’t seem to form for a long moment. Thankfully, everyone else managed to stay quiet until she got herself back together.

“He got some kinda promotion with the Outfit about a month before I got Slayer-ized, so I haven’t seen him since then…but I figure that part of town hasn’t changed all that much. There’s bound to be a few people left that I knew. Maybe I can get ‘em to tell me stuff they didn’t wanna share with the cops. Might help us track this Drusilla chick. Also, I could probably get in the door to see Jimmy IF we can track him down.”

Faith stood abruptly. “And that’s it. So if we’re done here, I’m gonna hit the streets-“

“What? Now?” Xander interrupted.

She still wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Yeah.”

“You can’t just run out there alone.”

“I got it.”

“No. Uh-uh. You should have someone watching your back. Just give me a minute to-“

Faith spoke evenly. “Watched my own back for years.”

“That’s not necessary any more.”

She sighed heavily, closing her eyes. “Fine.” Faith looked from Angel to Spike. “Sun goes down in a couple of hours. I’ll hang that long…cool?”

Both vampires nodded. Xander stood from his chair with a frown. “Honey, I can-“

Faith spun on him. “I said you’re not going, Xander.”

His eyes widened. “Why the hell not?”

“Do I have to draw you a picture? This could be dangerous!”

“You were just willing to go out alone!! Now you’re worried about-“

“Don’t you get it?! It’d be more dangerous to me if you came! I’d have to worry about you the whole fuckin time!”

The blood drained from Xander’s face. “That’s not-“

“Maybe you’ve forgotten, since things have been so quiet for the last year or so, but when the shit hits the fan-“ she waved her arms around the room – “it’s Buffy, Angel, Spike, Willow and me who pretty much have to clean it up. I don’t have a Goddamn clue what’s going to be out there tonight, but even a dumbass street punk like me can figure out I gotta have someone behind me who I can trust to kick some ass! Christ, Xand, you can’t even-“

She stopped abruptly, swallowing hard. Not a sound could be heard in the room. Xander spoke in a feather-soft voice.

“Go ahead and say it. You’ve come this far.”

Buffy reached for his hand, speaking softly. “Xander-“ He jerked his hand away from her.

“Hang on, Buff. Faith has more to tell us.”

The brunette Slayer moved toward him, resuming a normal tone of voice. “I have one more thing, yeah. I am in charge of this deal. From now on, we’re not gonna debate every little thing. I don’t have time.”

She engaged him in the same stare-down that had occurred with Gunn…only this time Xander didn’t look away. “Fine,” was all he said before sitting back down. Riley spoke up unexpectedly..

“Actually, Xander, I could really use your help. I need to find some stuff in a hurry so we can start on those rapelling lessons. Can you help me out?”

Xander blinked, seemingly lost for a moment. “What?”

“Supplies. We need to make a supply run.”

“Right. Yeah.”

Faith broke the staring contest, looking over her shoulder to address Angel. “We done?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes. I think we are.”

Everyone got up and slowly dispersed. Buffy, Spike and Willow retired to their rooms, while Wes, Dawn, Cordy, Lorne and Angel went into the vampire’s office to study the Wolfram and Hart blueprint in finer detail. Xander rather dazedly followed Riley out the front door, in search of rope and grappling hooks.

Finally, only Faith remained in the lobby, seated in the still-warm chair her husband had just vacated.

- End Chapter Eighteen -