ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 138 - WHAT THE RIGHT HAND KNEW

NEW JERSEY
AUGUST 9, 2009
SATURDAY
4:30PM

"Hey," Xander said, giving Angela a kiss hello, as he walked into the living room.

"How was work?" she asked.

"Not too bad, had to go to the city to the new Chase Manhattan site. I told you we got that contract, didn't I?"

Angela shook her head.

"Oh, thought I'd mentioned it, well, we got it. Beat out 3 other companies for it, too. We start working on it week after next," Xander said, looking proud of himself. He'd been the one to come up with the winning bid.

"Good," she said, bringing him a diet coke. She'd talked him into taking his health a bit more seriously, and had been trying to wean him off of his beer for a couple of months.

He settled back in the chair, imagining the taste of a nice cold one, instead of a diet soda. He looked over to the carton on the floor next to the couch, "What came in the package?"

"It was from my Aunt Carol in Texas," she said, picking up the box and pulling out the newspapers, then pushing it to over to him. "She sent Alex some of my cousin's old matchbox cars and a ton of books for the kids. She also sent a couple of outfits for Ann."

"Wow, that's quite a haul," Xander said, "has Alex seen them yet?"

"No, they've been with mom and dad all day. I was thinking about putting the cars away for a while. Think I'll just give them the books for now."

"How come you're not giving him the cars?" Xander said, a bit disappointed, since he wouldn't be able to play with them either.

"Because, Alex broke the last two you bought him and then tried to hide it from me. Of course, Ann found it, and almost swallowed the wheels of that silver one."

"The silver one? He broke that one? Darn! Yeah, maybe you'd better wait then," Xander reluctantly agreed.

"I was thinking they'd make nice little rewards for good behavior, so I think I'll save them for that. You know, when he cleans up after the dog when I ask him to, or his room."

Xander nodded, absentmindedly, as he folded up the newspaper that had been used as wrapping in the box.

He got up and walked to the kitchen to the recycling bag, looking at a local Texas ad for a 4x4 Chevy truck, and half-reading some of the headlines, when one caught his eye, "Dangerous Criminal Escapes from Maximum Security Prison in Amarillo."

Xander skimmed through it and was about to drop it in with the rest of them, when all of a sudden he stiffened, "Oh, shit!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~


LONDON
11:30PM

"Hello?"

"Kennedy? This is Xander is Willow around?"

"Hey Xander! Yeah, I'll get her. How are you guys?"

"We're fine. How about you? How's the slaying going?"

"Slow, luckily. Oh, here's Willow. Nice talking to you."

"Yeah, you, too."

"Xander!" Willow said happily.

"Hey Will, how's it going?"

"Fine, really fine. What's up?"

"I just saw something, and I think that Giles should know about it. Ethan Rayne escaped from prison; rather, it looks like he was broken out of prison."

"That can't be good. How did you find out?"

Xander explained it to her.

"I thought I should let Giles know. No telling where Rayne is heading, maybe even to England."

"Yeah, guess we'd better. Do you want to call or should I?"

"I haven't talked to Giles in a while, so I'll do it, if that's alright."

"Sure, here's the number," Willow said, waiting for him to get a pen and paper.

Xander took down the number, "You know my first instinct was to call Buffy with this information; even after all these years. You know how it is..."

"Yeah," Willow agreed, "it took a long time to stop myself from thinking about contacting her everytime something came up."

"So, you don't think I should?" Xander asked.

"I dunno. It really doesn't have anything to do with her anymore, does it?"

"I don't think so. Still..."

"Are you going to Michigan next week?"

"Yeah, we are. We haven't even told her yet. I just found out today that I can take next week off, as long as I'm back by the following week. We got a new project in the city starting then, who yours truly put in the winning bid for!"

"Way to go, Xander!"

Xander smiled at his friend's enthusiasm.

"What about you, are you and Kennedy coming?"

"We can't, I got too much to do here with work and school. I wish we could though." “We can’t. Kennedy is actually going to be in the states for her mother’s 60th birthday, and I’m going to be spending some time with the coven.”

“Yeah, how come?” Xander asked.

“Just honing some skills. All for the good.”

“I knew that,” Xander said, hurriedly.

“Also, one of the potentials that are here, winds up she’s also a witch, a powerful one at that. Well, at least she could be, so I’m bringing her with me to the coven. I hope they can give her some direction, because right now she’s torn between what she wants to do.”

“A potential slayer and a potentially powerful witch? That’s some combination,” Xander said, whistling softly.

“It really is,” Willow said, “but I’m not so sure its a good thing or not; she’s sort of a loose cannon. Young, too. Only 17...”

“Well, there you go. Anyway, I wish you were coming to Michigan.”

"Me, too.”

“You know what? Since I'm going to see Buffy next week, I'll just tell her about Ethan then."

"Sounds good," Willow agreed. "Listen, you'd better call Giles now if you're going to, he's not exactly a night owl these days."

"Okay. Well, good talking to ya, Will. I wish you were coming."

"Me, too. Give Angela and the kids my love."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye, Xander."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

11:50PM

"You have reached the home of Rupert Giles, I'm sorry I'm not available..."

"Shit! Pick up Giles! Giles! I know you're there! Come on, pick up the damn..."

"Hello? Xander?"

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry to call you so late, but I think you're going to want to hear this..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LOS ANGELES
6:00PM

Wesley sat down to his TV dinner at the dining room table. He spread the napkin on his lap, and picked up his water glass. He stuck his fork in his shrimp, bringing it up to his nose for a dainty sniff. Not terrible, he decided. At the very least, not spoiled, like the last time he'd had shrimp. That had cost him a whole day in the loo.

He was just about to take a bite, when a phone, which he only communicated slayer business on, rang. He replaced the fork, and got up from the table, the napkin falling to the ground. He looked at it, and then decided it could stay there until he returned.

" Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, here."

"Wesley, this is Giles."

"Hello Giles, how are you?"

"Well, as I hope you are. However, this isn't a social call. I've just been given word that Ethan Rayne has escaped from prison. Rather, he was broken out of prison. Do you know who Ethan Rayne is?"

"Ah, yes. Ethan Rayne..."Wes began, giving Giles a detailed character study of the man, including his relationship with him. He ended by telling Giles he'd already heard of his break out.

"And you didn't see fit to inform me? Are you forgetting who made you a Watcher again?"

Wes listened to thder der man's tirade for a few minutes; finally he'd had enough, "How often do you check your email?"

"What? My email?"

"Yes, invented in the last quarter of the previous century, many people use it to communicate. Quick, cheap, efficient..."

"You're telling me...?"

"The same day I found out. What's more, if you had read it, you would have also read the report that around the time it happened, a rancher nearby who was out stargazing that night, though he hearhelihelicopter in the sky, but he said he couldn't see one."

"Sounds like one of those stealth ones the government uses...but why would the government break him out? They're the ones who put him there."

"I don't think it was a government operation," Wesley went on to tell him what he knew of the break out.

"It sounds terribly organized. And if it's not the government, it had to be an organization or individual with a lot of means behthemthem."

"Precisely," said Wesley, "and HAD you read my email, you would have also found out that that same night, a private jet flew out of an airport about 20 miles from the prison. They landed and took off within 5 minutes, and refused to communicate with the tower or notify them of their flight plan. The only thing the tower could say was that they headed West. They even called in the airforce to intercept the jet, thinking it was drug related, but the private jet out flew them!"

"You have any ideas where it was headed?" Giles asked.

"Yes, I think it was headed here, and what's more, I think I know who's behind it."

"Who?"

"Wolfram & Hart."

"Wolfram & Hart? You suspect Angel is behind this?"

"I'm not sure, but he is the CEO, he would know everything that is going on, I should think. Especially using the resources it had to take to pull this off."

"And if he doesn't?"

Wes took a minute to ponder this, "I'll try to find out."

"You'll talk to him?"

"No, I can't do that, but I think I might be able to get to someone on the inside. I still have contacts there."

"Very well. You'll let me know, then?"

"As soon as I find out. Will you be letting Buffy know?"

"Xander told me she's about to leave for out of town for a couple of weeks. Xander is going to see her next week, so he'll let her know. Perhaps I'll try to get in touch with her before that, though she's retired, as you know."

"Still, it's Angel..."

"All the more reason that I really don't want to involve her, if I don't have to." Giles said.

END CHAPTER 138