Chapter 6

While Angel was still asleep, Buffy snuck out of the apartment. She had one of the agents drive her a little ways down the street to a convenience store where she pretended to be interested in the donuts. As soon as the agent wandered over to the coffee machines, Buffy slipped to the back of the store and found the rear exit. It led into a dingy alley that reeked of garbage. Plugging her nose, she jogged down the alley and turned right, away from the store.

Once she was five blocks away, she hailed a taxi. Buffy found herself praying that this would work. She was going to smooth talk one of the best smooth talkers she’d ever met. The man could spot a lie from a mile away because he used them all the time. The taxi pulled to a stop outside Senator Finn’s office building and Buffy paid the man. As soon as she was out of the car, the driver sped away. She rolled her eyes and looked up at the third story. That’s where she would sink or swim.

Henry Finn was the only one working this early. Now that Kelly was gone, he was the hardest working person there. With a nervous sigh, she knocked on the door. “It’s open.” He called. Buffy opened the door and slipped in. She turned around to see his glaring face. “You have a lot of nerve….”

“Oh sit down and listen.” Buffy snapped. He looked flabbergasted that she had snapped at him. “I’m surprised you haven’t picked up on it yet.”

“Picked up on what, pray tell?”

“Me.”

“The only thing I’ve picked up on is that you’re a backstabber and I’m truly happy that my son has discovered this and come to his senses.”

“You’re son’s an idiot.” Henry’s face suddenly turned red from anger. “Why don’t you have a seat and let me talk for once, hmm?”

“What makes you think you deserve a conversation with me?”

“We’re having one now, aren’t we?” Buffy coolly sat down in a chair in front of him and waited.

“All right.” He sat down, still glaring at her. “I’m listening.”

---

Riley paced his room at the house, waiting for his father to come home for lunch. He had called saying that he had a big surprise for Riley and he would be bringing a guest home for lunch. One of the maids knocked on Riley’s door. “Sir, your father’s home.”

“Thank you.” Riley rushed out of the door and down the stairs. Just as he looked up from the middle landing, the door opened and his father was leading Buffy Summers into the house. “What the hell?”

Henry smiled up at Riley. “Good, you’re home.”

“What is she doing here?”

“She’s your surprise.”

“Well, you can take her back to the whore house you found her at because I don’t want her.”

“Oh, come now, son. I can’t wait to have her as a daughter-in-law. She’ll fit splendidly in this family.”

“Have you completely lost your mind? She’s sleeping with the FBI agent, feeding him secrets about us.”

“What secrets does she know? I haven’t told her any. Did you tell her any?”

Riley stopped dead, his face turning a shade of red from embarrassment and frustration. “No.”

“Then what could she possibly have told him?” Henry held Buffy’s hand and smiled up at Riley. “Come see to your fiancée while I check on lunch. And give her back her ring.” He handed Riley Buffy’s hand and walked away.

Riley dropped her hand and scowled down at her. “Or is it you that’s lost your mind?”

“I haven’t lost anything.” Buffy said calmly. She ran her hand down Riley’s arm and slipped it into his hand. “Come on, let’s talk.” Buffy led Riley into the parlor where she had first encountered Angel and sat down close to Riley. “The FBI doesn’t know anything about you.”

“What?”

“Why do you think I’ve been with him? From the moment he saw me, he’s been smitten with me. I decided to play with that and find out what the FBI knows.”

“Bullshit.”

“I knew you’d say that.” She sighed. “Riley, I’ve known everything from the beginning. I knew you had Kelly killed because she was pregnant with your kid. I’ve known you long enough to know how you work. Kelly told me everything she knew from the beginning and I still stayed with you.” Riley stared at her wearily. “Come on, Ri. I was doing it to protect you.” She put her hand on his thigh and leaned a little closer.

“If you knew we killed Kelly, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why should I have said anything? I had to make the FBI believe me.”

“I still don’t believe you.”

Buffy scooted away, pouting slightly. “Fine, I’ll just go to your father. He’s in need of someone like me now.”

That did it. “No.” Riley grabbed her roughly and hauled her onto his lap, grinding her down on top of his growing erection. “You belong to me, not him. You’re the one thing I own that he doesn’t have. And can’t have.”

Buffy smiled provocatively and ground down a little harder. “Maybe.” Riley was just about to rip off their clothes and have her right there, but a maid walked in and announced lunch was served. “Oh, too bad slugger.” Buffy lightly punched his arm and got up, straightening her pants.

---

Angel was pacing the entire length of his office waiting for word from Buffy. After the agent who had taken Buffy to the store discovered she had managed to slip away, the entire place had gone into an uproar. Kate was convinced that Buffy had really double-crossed them. Angel knew better, but he couldn’t tell anyone. It had to look like Buffy really was a double-crosser.

“I got her!” Kate called. “One of the men we put on the Finn property says she’s eating lunch with them!” She looked over at Angel and he put on a hurt face. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’ll come.” Angel said.

“But….”

“I’m fine.” He grabbed his coat and gingerly slipped it on.

---

Buffy sat with the Finns, laughing and talking easily even though she was terrified that they were able to see through her lies and were just toying with her. The logical part of her thought they were buying into it, though. After all, she had managed to get them to start talking about the men who had been hired to kill Kelly.

“Were those the same men you hired to off me?” Buffy asked.

“Not very bright, were they?” Henry asked, laughing at Riley’s scowl.

“Sloppy is what they were. It took them almost ten minutes to finally pin me down and tie me up. And then I could’ve easily worked my way out of those knots, but that agent showed up.”

“Yes, I said that to Riley myself.”

“And the exploding cars…. Whose idea was that? Couldn’t have been Riley’s. His boys were much too idiotic for such high-tech work.”

“Once again, you’ve got it all lined up properly. Good show. Yes, those were my men.”

“I hope you used a safe phone. The FBI has agents all over this place that could easily pick up your calls.”

“Yes, I thought of that. Where did you learn all of this?”

“Watching you and Riley, of course. And I learned to play innocent from your dear wife and mother.”

“Angela? Good show!” Henry burst out laughing. “She’s always playing the half-wit wife, isn’t she? I knew I married the right woman.”

“Or did you?” Buffy said low enough so only Henry could hear her.

Henry roared with laughter some more. “Oh, I love this woman! Riley, if you don’t hurry up and marry her, I’m going to divorce Angela and steal Buffy away!”

Buffy giggled. “Oh, Henry, you flatterer you!”

Riley sniffed. “I doubt you could handle my father.”

“Please Riley, I handle you better than you think. Allison told me you’d be at that charity event and I begged her to let me decorate. I’ve played you from the very beginning and you’ve danced along to my tune for two years without even realizing it.” Henry was red faced from lack of air due to his raging laughter.

“Don’t push me. You’re still not completely in my good graces.”

“Don’t push me, Riley. You don’t know the hell I can rain down on you.” She quoted his words back to him.

Henry was gasping for air now as he said, “Someone call my lawyer, I need to write this woman into my will!”

Suddenly the doors burst open and Kate Lockley came into the room, gun aimed at them, with about twelve other agents streaming behind her. “You’ll need your lawyer for more than that.”

“What is this?” Henry growled.

Riley pointed at Buffy. “You set us up!”

“I did not!” Buffy said.

“She’s under arrest too.” Kate said.

“What’d I do?”

“Evading FBI custody.”

“It really doesn’t say much for you, does it?”

“This is an invasion of my home!” Henry roared. “I demand to see a warrant immediately.”

Kate’s hard eyes faltered for a moment and Buffy knew she didn’t have a warrant. And just at that moment, Angel walked in and looked at Buffy. She gave him a slight nod. “I don’t think we don’t need a warrant.”

“Excuse me?” Riley asked.

“You invited us into your home and willingly confessed everything.”

“What?” Kate asked.

“I did no such thing!” Henry said. He suddenly turned his glare on Riley.

“I didn’t either!” Riley said.

“No, but you invited me in.” Buffy said. She reached into her cargo pants’ pocket and pulled out a recorder. She rewound it a little ways and played it back. Riley and Henry could be heard confessing to sending the men after Buffy. “And if I rewind it further, I have both of you talking about sending the men after Kelly.” The agents moved in and started arresting Riley and Henry Finn.

“What is this?” Kate demanded as she pulled Angel out of earshot..

Angel walked over and pulled Buffy to safety, away from the Finns. “There was no way we were going to get them to confess using regular means. So, Buffy secretly volunteered to go in and get them to talk.”

“What if she hadn’t gotten them to talk? We would’ve come in here and arrested her too.”

“Then we would’ve told you everything and Buffy would still look innocent to the Finns when we released them. She could finish what she started.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me?”

“I didn’t have to.”

“Did Doswell approve this?”

“No.”

“You’re going to be in so much trouble.”

“No he’s not.” Buffy said. “I volunteered. He didn’t force me.”

“He let you walk into a murder suspect’s house with no protection when you’re under FBI protection yourself. Not to mention, he aided you in sneaking away from FBI custody.”

“I wasn’t under FBI custody. I was under FBI protection.”

“Same difference.” Kate turned back to Angel. “I hope you know you may have lost your job.”

“It’s a chance I’m willing to take. I caught the bad guys that no one else could catch.” Angel said. He glanced at Riley and Henry Finn being led outside in handcuffs. “And I couldn’t have done it without Buffy.”

“So, you’re taking credit for this arrest?”

“Of course I am.”

“And what about me?”

“What about you, Kate?” Buffy asked. “All I saw you do was be a bitch to everybody. Especially me because you know that Angel wants me, not you. If anything, you compromised this case more than Angel and I ever could.” Kate was speechless.

“And that’s what I’ll tell to Doswell, too.” Angel said. “Our entire partnership has been you mooning over me while I do all the work.”

“All the work you’ve done on this case has threatened your job with this woman.”

“Don’t be jealous, Kate.” Buffy said. “You’ll find someone.”

“I’m going to request a transfer to another partner. Or maybe no partner at all.”

“They’re loaded into the car, sir.” One of the agents said to Angel.

“Thanks. I want you to take Buffy back to the apartment while I handle this at HQ.”

“Yes, sir.”

Buffy smiled at Angel and followed the agent out, squeezing Angel’s hand as she passed and gave him the recorder.

---

“So, it’s over?” Buffy asked. “They’re in jail?”

“They’re in FBI custody, yes. With the recording you gave us, they’ll be sitting in jail for a long, long…. LONG time. The charges wracked against them will make sure of that.”

“What about their money?”

“What about it?”

“Can’t they buy their way out?”

“Not this time.”

“And you got promoted?”

“Doswell was a little angry that I let you go in like you did without consulting him, but in the end, he was proud of me.”

“And Kate?”

“She’s on a waiting list for a new partner.”

“And your new partner?”

“Is sitting right next to me.”

“So, it’s ok for us?”

“I would think so. My part in this case is pretty much over with.”

“And mine?”

“You may have to testify against them and make a statement that you recorded the evidence against them, but other than that….”

“Other than that? That’s a pretty big part on my half. You don’t have to do anything?”

“Make a statement that I was the arresting agent and give some facts about the case and my work in it…. But that’s pretty much it.”

“So now you get to rest and let yourself heal?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Depends on what your definition of rest is.” He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her to him, kissing her passionately.

THE END