Starring: David Boreanaz as Angel, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, and J. August Richards as Charles Gunn

Guest starring: Elisabeth Rohm as Kate Lockley, W. Earl Brown as Menlo, Dwayne L. Barnes as Lester, R. Emery Bright as Detective #1, Tom Kiesche as Detective #2, and Tony Todd as Vyasa

Original air date: November 21, 2000

Written by: Jim Kouf
Directed by: David Grossman

Two cops are watching a suspect through a one-way mirror. One of the cops thinks that the suspect knows exactly what happened and is lying while the other copy isn’t so sure. They already have one dead body and a woman might die as a result of what the suspect has done. The second cop tells the first that if the woman dies the first cop can do what he wants to the suspect. Both cops move into the interrogation room to question the suspect who is slumped over the table. As the cops begin to question him the suspect doesn’t move at all. The cops promise the suspect that, if he cooperates, things will go better for him. As one of the cops tries to get the suspect to talk, the suspect slams a fist on the table and shows his face: It’s Wesley. Wes is babbling that none of them knew what they were getting into, but Wes knew. Wes asks the cops if they brought it here then smiles. Wes tells the cops that if they’d brought it there it would be too late for all of them. Wes also tells the cops that he’s good with the ladies, too. When one of the cops again asks Wes what happened, Wes replies that everything went wrong, very wrong.

The cops are still trying to figure out what Wes is talking about. Wes is rambling on about trying to stop him, not knowing what effect it would have, and that she was on the floor. When one of the cops asks Wes who he would have stopped Wes’s replies that he’s the boss and no one tells the boss what to do. Wes tells the cops that his boss helps people, when he’s not in trouble himself. Wes also tells the cops that he and Cordelia tried to stop him when Wes suddenly realizes Cordelia might still be in trouble.

Flashback to earlier that day. Wes wants to know what happened to Cordy’s hair and tries to convince her that it looks great. Unfortunately Cordy got her hair cut ten days ago and Wes is just now noticing. Based on Wes’s suit Cordy figures out that Wes is going to another celebrity party with Virginia Bryce (see AtS 2.6, “Guise Will Be Guise”). Cordy tries to hide the fact that she’s jealous but can’t quite do it. Wes asks Cordy if she’s seen Angel recently. Wes is concerned that Angel isn’t doing much of anything these days except brood and fuss over Darla. Wes decides that it might be time for Wes to give Angel a piece of his mind. Of course Wes’s thoughts don’t translate into words because Wes is still standing in the lobby instead of heading up to Angel’s rooms. Cordy stops Wes before he can go anywhere and tells Wes that Angel is out with Gunn. Apparently one of Gunn’s cousins got involved in something big and shady so Gunn and Angel went to see the cousin to try to help. Wes decides to head out to the party and makes Cordelia’s day when Wes tells her that he has an extra ticket to the movie premier he’s attending.

Across town Angel and Gunn are meeting with Gunn’s cousin, Lester. Apparently Lester agreed to drive a car for a museum heist but now he’s having second thoughts. The crew doing the heist is “big time” and they’ve hired a psychotic vampire from Las Vegas. Lester doesn’t want to spend any time in jail or end up dead so he’s trying to figure out a way out of the deal. Lester isn’t too pleased that Gunn has brought Angel but Gunn assures Lester that if Lester has a vampire problem then Angel is the guy to have around to help. Angel asks Lester how much he knows about the job, which isn’t much. Lester knows that the crew is after something big and supernatural from a museum, but Lester doesn’t know which one, and that the robbery will take place later in the week. Unfortunately Lester is supposed to meet with the crew’s boss that evening and if Lester doesn’t show he’s dead. Lester has a piece of paper with the meeting place on it and Gunn grabs the paper out of Lester’s hand before Angel can. Angel asks Lester about the “psychotic vampire” but all Lester knows is that his name is something like “Joe-Don.” That rings a bell for Angel. It’s probably Jay-Don, a vampire Angel knows by reputation. Lester tells Angel that Jay-Don is coming into L.A. tonight and that the crew is picking him up at the bus station around midnight. Gunn tells Lester to take the meeting tonight and that Gunn will get Lester out of the picture before the crime goes down. Lester is ecstatic and gives Gunn a hug before leaving. Angel tells Gunn that Jay-Don is way outta Gunn’s league so Angel will handle the situation, but Gunn isn’t thrilled with Angel giving orders. Angel tells Gunn that as long as Angel is paying Gunn, Gunn will take orders. Gunn disagrees - this isn’t a case, it’s Gunn’s family and Gunn isn’t getting paid. Before Angel drives off Angel promises Gunn that he’ll either shut down the crew or protect Lester’s life.

Angel drives back to the hotel and goes to his rooms where he finds a woman lurking in the shadows. Angel thinks it might be Darla, but it’s Kate. She’s actually looking for Darla as a suspect in a man’s murder (see also AtS 2.5, “Dear Boy”). Kate’s really got her knickers in a knot over this one: no warrant, taking Angel’s mail, and threatening Angel with a crucifix. Angel tells Kate that he doesn’t know where Darla is and Kate promises to find Darla and make her pay for her crimes. Angel tries to explain to Kate that they are all having their strings pulled by W&H but Kate really doesn’t want to hear it. Kate seems to think that if she can find Darla she can stop whatever plan Darla and Angel have cooked up. Angel’s had just about enough so he knocks the crucifix out of Kate’s hand and promises her that if Kate gets between Darla and Angel, Kate will end up dead. Kate finally decides to leave.

Downstairs Cordy walks into the lobby pretty angry followed by an apologetic Wes. Apparently Wes spilled cocktail sauce on Cordy’s shirt while she was talking to Chow Yun Fat and Cordy is absolutely mortified. Wes, on the other hand, can’t even remember the guy’s name. Angel asks Cordy what happened, but Cordy reassures Angel that the enormous stain on her shirt isn’t blood, it’s cocktail sauce. But Angel was referring to Cordy’s hair, and then Angel does some backpedaling of his own to convince Cordy that he likes her new ‘do. Wes asks Angel how his meeting with Gunn’s cousin went. Angel fills Wes and Cordy in on the basics - someone is trying to steal something from a museum, that something probably has mystical power, and this is a something that the thieves really shouldn’t have. Wes suggests that he research which museums in the area have recent acquisitions and nearly gushes over Angel’s involvement in something that isn’t Darla. Cordy suggests that she and Wes get all researchy while Angel. . . does something? Angel tells Wes and Cordy that the thieves are bringing in a vampire from Vegas that evening and he plans on impersonating this Jay-Don. Wes recognizes the name and thinks that Jay-Don is a flashy, loud, extroverted vampire. Angel agrees that Jay-Don hung with the Rat Pack back in the day and never quite grew out of it. Cordy isn’t quite sure that Angel can pull off the whole “extroverted, carefree” vampire act.

At the bus station Angel pretends to be Jay-Don’s chauffeur. Angel’s acting like a real dork - pretending to be a Jay-Don groupie, that kind of thing. Angel asks Jay-Don for the password and Jay-Don replies that there isn’t one. That’s all Angel needs to know. Click! A wooden stake descends from Angel’s forearm, a quick jab to the heart, and Jay-Don is dust. Angel does have the presence of mind to grab Jay-Don’s sunglasses before they are dust, though. A few minutes later Angel finds the real driver (Menlo), who looks a little demony, looking for Jay-Don under the bus. Angel walks up behind dressed very un-Angel-y: shades, bright shirt, non-black pants. Angel spreads his Jay-Don act on pretty thick, even making disparaging comments about Menlo’s car. Menlo takes Angel to a warehouse district where two other members of the gang, a human (Bob) and a demon (Vyasa), are waiting. Angel keeps up the Jay-Don act and ticks off both Bob and Vyasa. Menlo, who apparently is the leader, wants to know where Lester is but neither Bob nor Vyasa have seen him. Lester’s late and it’s making Menlo nervous. Lester finally shows and tells Menlo that he was late because he was making sure that he wasn’t followed, only Lester’s not Lester, Gunn’s Lester. Angel is *not* happy about this one.

Later Angel gets a moment to talk with Gunn without the others hearing. Angel tells Gunn that he was going to handle the situation, but Gunn reminds Angel that he doesn’t take orders. Menlo calls Gunn and Angel over and runs through the plan. They are out to steal the Shroud of Rahmon which will be worth about $2 million on the black market. Bob, a security guard at the museum, lets everyone in the building by turning off the door alarm. Everyone goes down the elevator to the vault. Only the museum’s curator has the codes for the vault so they will blow the lock. There is no alarm on the vault door so they can open it without triggering alarms, but the vault has a heat sensitive sensor. If there’s a temperature change in the vault an alarm will go off, so that’s where Jay-Don/Angel comes in. Jay-Don will cross the vault to the back wall and turn off the heat sensitive alarm. Everyone goes into the vault, grabs the box with the Shroud, and then it’s out to the van where Lester drives them away. Angel asks about the size of the case and Menlo tells him it’s big - about the size of a sarcophagus and weighs about a ton. It will take all five of them to move the case and get it out of the museum. When Vyasa questions whether or not Bob or Lester will be of any help moving the box, they are only humans after all, a scuffle breaks out. Angel manages to calm Bob, Vyasa and Gunn down but tempers are still running a bit high. Angel makes a comment about a Vajnu demon that would be a much better driver than Lester and Gunn takes offense and takes a pot shot at Angel. Angel retaliates by hitting Gunn, putting him in a headlock, and trying to take Gunn outside. Menlo isn’t happy with Angel’s theatrics so Menlo pulls two guns on Angel and points them at Angel’s head. Angel asks Menlo if Angel really has to spend an entire week with Gunn and Menlo tells Angel no. Not a week. They pull the job tonight. Right now. And Menlo makes sure that everyone knows that they all have to stay in Menlo’s sight until the job is finished. . . or else.

Meanwhile Cordelia and Wes are researching area museums to try to get an idea of what might be stolen. At the Museum of Natural History’s Recent Acquisitions web page Wes finds an entry for the Shroud of Rahmon. Wes thinks that the Shroud sounds promising and Wes asks Cordy to pull up everything from the museum’s database while Wes checks the books.

The thieves arrive at the museum and Gunn backs a truck right up to the museum’s loading dock. Bob’s inside and opens the door for the rest of the guys. Once again Angel tries to get Gunn out of harm’s way by suggesting that Gunn stay with the truck. Menlo objects and says that they will need the driver inside. After Menlo and Vyasa go inside Gunn warns Angel not to hit him again. Angel tells Gunn that he was just trying to protect Gunn, but Gunn isn’t impressed and hits Angel as payback. Inside the museum the crew goes to work, but very cautiously. The way they eye each other in the elevator ride downstairs it’s pretty clear that none of them trusts the other four. Outside the vault door Menlo pretends to hold a gun to Bob’s head when a second security guard shows up. Vyasa surprises the second guard and knocks him unconscious and Angel stops Vyasa before Vyasa can kill the second guard. Menlo and Angel handle drilling a hole in the vault door for the explosive.

Across town two police officers are talking with Kate Lockley. They have surveillance photos of Bob with Menlo and have guessed that Menlo is planning a heist at the museum. The officers have come to Kate because they also have a surveillance photo of Menlo with Angel and thought she might be interested because she knows Angel.

At the vault Menlo is verrrrry slowly opening a small box containing a vial of nitro glycerine. Menlo’s hands shake visibly as he tries to put the vial into the hole they’ve drilled into the vault door. Vyasa is getting very impatient and wants Menlo to hurry up which doesn’t help the situation and Menlo drops the vial. Luckily Angel catches the vial on his foot, gently grabs the vial, and puts it in the vault door. If Angel hadn’t caught the vial they would have all been blown up. The five gang members take cover, Menlo flips a switch, the nitro explodes, and now the vault door is open.

At the hotel Wesley has found some information on the Shroud and is reading the book entry to Cordy. The Shroud was woven by a sect of priests to contain the power of the defeated demon Rahmon. In theory the Shroud absorbed Rahmon’s power so the person who has the Shroud has power, lots of it. Wes also discovers that in 1803 the Shroud we removed from its protective casing which drove the entire population of El Encanto insane. The people of El Encanto killed each other; no one survived. Cordy realizes that they sent Angel after something that could make him insane to distract Angel from his obsession with Darla. Wes isn’t worried - they just have to warn Angel before the thieves try to steal the Shroud, but Wes gets worried when Cordy points out that they may be trying to steal the Shroud right now. Both Wes and Cordy make a beeline for the door.

At the museum Angel enters the vault, alone, to turn off the security system. As Angel passes by the case containing the Shroud he pauses because he can sense something. Suddenly Angel’s eyes turn a vampy yellow. Angel doesn’t vamp out but it looks like he had to make a conscious effort to prevent it. Angel can also hear whispered voices, apparently coming from the Shroud. When Angel looks in the case he can see the face of the demon Rahmon imprinted on the Shroud and, briefly, Angel vamps out. Angel crosses the rest of the vault, turns off the alarm, and the rest of the gang enter the vault. Gunn can also feel something “weird” in the vault but Bob, Menlo, and Vyasa don’t. As the five thieves lift the case Angel has to make another conscious effort not to vamp which Gunn notices.

In the meantime Wes and Cordy arrive at the museum and they enter it easily - the door is still unlocked. As Cordy and Wes walk down the hall something washes over them and both Cordy and Wes are visibly changed by it. Cordy chalks the sensation up to the altitude at sea level which makes both Cordy and Wes giggle. Cordy wants to split up but Wes says they’d better stick together, so Cordy and Wes go separate ways. It looks like the Shroud is having an impact on both Cordy and Wes even though they are really not near it. Kate also arrives at the museum and calls the precinct for back-up.

As the five thieves move laboriously move the case down the hall the five of them start bickering. Gunn appears to be the most affected by the Shroud and starts rambling on about vampires and their “take, take, take” attitude. Gunn gets so angry that he lets go of the case and shoves Angel up against a wall. Bob, Menlo and Vyasa can’t hold the case by themselves so one end goes crashing to the floor breaking a glass panel in the case. There is smoke inside the case that appears to escape through the cracks in the glass panel. Now everyone is getting agitated. Bob is way too excited about being tied up and getting hit so that no one knows he’s an accomplice. Bob keeps shouting about needing to be hit and Vyasa, who is also getting agitated, snaps Bob’s head off of his neck.

Kate is in another part of the museum trying to find the thieves when she sees and chases down a shadowy figure. Kate fires her gun and nearly kills Wes. Kate asks Wes where Angel is and Wes suddenly remembers that he’s at the museum to warn Angel about something important. Wes tells Kate that the Shroud will make people act differently. Now the ‘something’ washes over Kate and Wes suddenly disappears. In another part of the museum Cordy is looking at her reflection in a display case and marveling at the size of her teeth. Then Cordy starts talking to a mannequin and ‘borrows’ a necklace from it.

Gunn, Angel, Menlo and Vyasa have managed to get the case into the elevator and up to the ground floor, but the four of them are becoming more and more nutso. Menlo is wiping fingerprints off the elevator walls, Vyasa is getting more impatient (if that’s possible) and Gunn starts to complain about flies in his head. Gunn suddenly realizes that it’s the Shroud making them weird. Wes walks down the hall and notices Angel’s partially vamped out eyes. Wes tells Angel that the Shroud is dangerous and Angel tries to get Wes to leave but is interrupted by Kate. Kate orders everyone to freeze but partially vamped Angel and Vyasa aren’t impressed. Angel taunts Kate by vamping out and charging her, ignoring the four bullets Kate pumps into Angel’s chest. Angel grabs Kate and bites her neck, drinking her blood as Gunn and Wes look on in disbelief.

A bunch of SWAT guys arrive and find Kate lying on the floor with Wes bending over her. Wes tries to wake Kate up but he can’t.

The four remaining thieves have managed to get the case back to their hideout but each of them is losing their connection with sanity. Menlo wants the case opened so Vyasa punches his hand through one of the glass panels and throws the lid off. The whispering from the Shroud gets louder and the four lose all connection with sanity. The four of them start to argue about who gets the Shroud - each grabbing a corner of it and tugging against the others. Menlo fires his gun at Gunn and both Gunn and Menlo drop their corners. Vyasa manages to rip the Shroud out of Angel’s hands but Angel tackles Vyasa and takes the Shroud away. Before Angel can get far Gunn grabs the other end of the Shroud and tries to rip it out of Angel’s hands. Menlo shoots Vyasa who falls on the part of the Shroud between Gunn and Angel and the three of them fall to the ground. Angel asks Gunn to trust him, that Angel knows what to do. Gunn lets go of the Shroud and Angel leaves the building with a bottle of liquor. Outside Angel drops the Shroud on the ground, pours the alcohol on it, and sets the Shroud on fire. As the Shroud goes up in flames a huge ball of power is released knocking Angel back about twenty feet. It looks like the power contained in the Shroud has been defeated.

At the police station the detectives have gotten the full story from Wes, but they don’t believe that a “magic sheet” was responsible for the chaos at the museum. As the detectives start to handcuff Wes to arrest him Kate walks in the room, very much alive, but very pale. She tells the detectives to let Wes go. Later Kate is standing by her desk looking out a window looking more peaceful than she has been in a long time. As she touches the bite mark on her neck she flashes back to the museum. Angel did bite Kate and did drink some of her blood, but Angel also told Kate to stay down on the ground so that the others wouldn’t kill her. Angel’s actions actually saved Kate’s life.

The next morning Wes is fretfully pacing in the Hyperion lobby. Wes finally sits down next to Cordelia and confesses that what happened at the museum may have set Angel back. Although Wes and Cordy thought that sending Angel out on a case might help distract him from obsessing over Darla, Angel drank human blood from a living person for the first time in a long time. Now Wes and Cordy have to face the possibility that they re-awakened Angel’s bloodlust.

That evening Angel is sitting in his rooms. As he closes his eyes Angel remembers drinking blood from Kate’s neck.