Chapter 8

Mike forgot to lock the door and as he went back, he heard a thud. He opened the door to see what it was. There was a knife sticking in the door with another note. This one read:

"This is #2. Who's next?"

He brought the note back to Joe. After reading it, Joe said, "We have to find out who's doing this before someone gets killed for real. They could go after Amy, Lynn or my sister."

"Adam and I will help you figure out what's going on. I'm going to call MacLeod to let him know what's going on so he can be alert." Mike thought Methos name was Adam Pierson and that he became Immortal when Kalas was killing off watchers.. So that was the reason Mike reacted the way he did. He was trying to keep Immortals from being exposed. He went and got Joe a drink and asked, "Are you okay, Joe?" 

Joe took the drink and looked at Mike asking, "Why would anyone do this? I know he's Immortal, but who ever did this doesn't. Why would someone want to hurt me like this? Who could it be?" Then took a sip of his drink.

Just then Methos came back to life. He gasped in a lung full of air and then started coughing. Mike started laughing and said, "You sure know how to end a date with a bang, Adam." Then turned serious. "This is really strange. We can't find anything anywhere. I did some searching on my own and came up empty handed. It has the feel of revenge but we can't find a motive." Mike then reached a hand down to help Methos up. "There's another note," and he handed it to Methos to look at.

After reading the note, Methos said. "I can't be seen around you now until we find out who is doing this. We don't want them to realize they didn't kill me permanently. Mike, go out to my car and get my duffel bag. I need to change shirts and duster. Boy, being Immortal sure is hell on clothes." With that Methos walked off to get some rags and a bucket to clean up the mess. He turned to Joe, who hasn't moved or said anything since he woke up, "Joe are you okay?" 

"Yeah, just trying to figure out what's going on and who has it in for me." But Joe looked really pale and Methos was worried he was going into shock. Methos walked over to Joe, squatted down so he could give him a hug and kiss where he was sitting. 

He looked into Joe's and told him, "I love you. We will get this figured out. If I know Amanda, she's already contacting some of her people to start looking into it from her end. A lot of us really do like you Joe and I for one don't like people hurting you." 

Joe answered Methos, "I love you too." Then he said, "Are you going into hiding like Amanda? We just found each other and now this."

"Yes Joe, I'll have to go into hiding, but I can do it in plain sight so I won't have to leave except like I said about going to my friends to find out about the, I guess a mini quickening and try to find some answers that way. I will still meet you in Paris like we planned, but you just won't recognize me until I want you too." 

When Mike came back in with his duffel bag, Adam said, "Mike, get a hold of the watchers and let them know what's going on so they can search from their end." Turning back to Joe, "There are enough Watchers that are your friends that won't want anything happening to you. And since it seems it's a mortal that is doing all the killing, there isn't any reason for the Watchers not to get involved when it's against one of their own." 

Mike went to the office to do some research and Methos went to the phone. 

Joe asked, "Why did you call for an ambulance and the police? You are Immortal, you don't need and ambulance and you don't like the police being involved. There are too many questions that can't be answered."

"That isn't a regular ambulance nor police. I pay a group to act like police and ambulance drivers. Not only that, they will take out a body so if someone is watching, they won't get suspicious about me not being dead," said Methos with a grin. "I know how to take care of all the lose ends so no one realizes what's really going on. In my life, I've run into every type of situation."

After about 5 minutes, Joe could hear the sirens of the ambulance and the police. The EMT's came running in and sat down what looked like a medical kit. They opened it and took out something. They soon had a blown up male doll laying on the floor they were acting like they were working on. While they were doing that, the police came in and started asking questions. One of the EMT's was on the radio as if they were talking to the hospital. Soon one of them said there was no response and it came back on the radio to call it. They pulled out a body bag and loaded the doll into it and onto the stretcher so it would look like a real body being taken out of Joe's. The 'police' called Mike out from the back and took his, Joe's and Methos statement. 

After completing the paperwork, they left. If Joe hadn't know any better, he would have thought they were the real thing. 

Methos said to Joe, "Let's get out of here after I change my appearance some. And when we leave, I want you to act like you're grieving for a lost love. I want to show you what you'll be missing when I leave in the morning."

"Please don't leave in the morning without saying something. I don't want to wake up and find you gone. After tonight, that would be too hard." Joe said as he laid a hand on the side of Methos face. 

"I promise, Joe. Besides, you don't know when my morning is. It could be noon. I know you have to be at work by 11 so you can open up so will stay until then." With that, Methos leaned over and kissed Joe. 

Breaking the kiss, Methos whispered, "I love you Joe. I feel more alive than I've felt in over 500 years." Joe felt like his toes would curl if he had any. He didn't even know if he could stand up. It felt like his knees were fused into the position they were in now. When Joe could open his eyes, Methos was gone. 

Methos then hollered, "I'll be right out."

To Chapter 9