After we had pulled ourselves together, we started back to rejoin the group. Before we did, though, I pulled Buffy to one side and handed her the key Angel had given me.
"He's staying at his old apartment."
She once again had tears in her eyes. But now there was a steely determination there too. Angel was going to be in for the fight of his life. And, I had a feeling I knew who was going to win.
We made our way down the stairs, and I could feel the weight of several stares on us. We had been up there for quite some time, and had delayed the planning session for over an hour. But, nobody seemed to mind too much.
I took the time to shake hands with Giles and Oz and introduced Cordy to George and the Team. Then, it was time to get down to business.
"Alright, Giles, where can we find Spike?" George asked.
"He's holed up in the old warehouse at the edge of town."
"But, he's not stupid enough to do that. You never return to a compromised lair. It's one of the first rules of combat."
"He did it because of Dru." Willow said. "He apparently has so many fond memories of their time there, that he disregarded all the rules."
"He never was much for rules in the first place. He screwed up the Night of St. Vigeous when he first came to town just to catch me off guard." Buffy stated.
"Yes, he did. Yet, despite his lack of control, he usually ends up victorious." Giles said.
"Why don't we just blast the place?" Kathryn, of course.
"We couldn't be sure he was really dead that way." I stated.
"He's survived a lot. That's what makes him so strong." Willow had her "lecturer" voice out. "He's walked away from fires, the Hellmouth opening, that crowd in Prague. Even managed to avoid being killed by Buffy several times."
Giles took over. "He's lived for a century and a half. No vampire lives that long unless they are smart. And Spike's one of the most cunning there is."
"Will, can you pull up the plans for the warehouse. I can almost guarantee there is an escape route planned." I said.
"How do you know that, Harris?" Jerry asked.
"Simple, I knew Spike's sire. He was one smart, vicious vampire. He would have taught Spike to make sure he had plenty of exit points."
"That was one thing I was wondering, " Bobby began. "Galway had mentioned Spike's sire had disappeared. Will we have to worry about him coming for revenge?"
"No." I answered. "Even if Spike hadn't betrayed him to the Slayer six years ago, he wouldn't try to avenge Spike. He can't, he's dead."
I could feel the gang's eyes on me. They never expected me to say such a thing about Angel, but it was true. Angelus was dead.
Willow brought the printed plans to the table, and we pored over them for half an hour. Mandy was the first to notice the irregularity. There was a small section of wall that was around four feet thick. And, it was in the middle of the assembly line, so it wasn't to conceal a safe. That meant a tunnel of some kind.
"Why on Earth would they have built a tunnel?" Steven asked.
"The warehouse was originally built in the nineteen twenties. Prohibition was in effect, and many warehouse were just the fronts for clubs. A perfect way to keep it a secret was to enter half a block away."
Giles looked at Willow in confusion. "Pro... Hibition?
"The ban of `Demon Alcohol.' " I answered for her. "Even though it was illegal, people still wanted a drink, so Speakeasies, or secret bars, opened up. They made loads of money, and since the Mob owned most of them, they quickly rose to power."
"Mob?"
"Organized crime." George answered.
"So, we found where this tunnel ends, but where does it start?" Buffy wanted to know.
"I'll get on it." Willow once again made her way to the computer, Jerry trailing behind her.
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