"I knew something was up," MacLeod told Joe as he pulled into the rest stop. "How did you know?"
"Reina was almost chipper when I spoke to her earlier. It's not a natural state for her."
Joe laughed. "No I don't think chipper is a word I'd use to describe Reina. Predictable isn't either."
"I'm sure that whatever's going on, Reina didn't hurt Peter."
"Even after what almost happened in Los Angeles?"
MacLeod scowled. "That was different," MacLeod said despite the fact that he wasn't sure he believed what he was saying. "But I wouldn't bring it up if I were you."
"There's Peter's car," Joe said. "Two of his tires are flat."
"Reina's car is over there," MacLeod said. "They're probably in the restaurant."
"Let's see what's going on," Joe said.
As Joe and MacLeod entered the restaurant, MacLeod felt the presence of another immortal. Looking around, he recognized Reina. The watcher, Peter, was sitting with his back to them. Even so, Joe and MacLeod could tell that the young man was very uncomfortable. Reina, on the other hand, relaxed once she recognized MacLeod. Unlike the mortal sitting across from her, she was at ease.
"How can I help you?" Joe asked the younger watcher.
Peter stood up and turned around when he heard Joe's voice. His relief was obvious. He frowned when he recognized MacLeod.
"Not in front of the subjects."
"The subject has a name," Reina snapped angrily, as she stood up. "And this subject's name is Reina. That's R-E-I-N-A. Make sure you get it right," she narrowed her eyes at Peter.
"There's an empty table over there," Joe said. The two watchers walked away.
"I'm really sorry. I didn't know what to do," Peter said. "She wanted to know why I was following her. I told her there was nothing to tell. She didn't believe me."
"You can't exactly blame her for not believing you. She's immortal, not stupid."
"Anyway, she said that if I wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know, then she wanted me to call someone who would."
"I see."
"No. You see, I didn't want to call you."
"Oh."
"After what happened in Paris, it didn't seem right. I mean, look at all the trouble that came down because immortals found out about us. A lot of good people were murdered."
"People died because Jacob killed them. And he wanted us dead because Horton killed his wife. That has nothing to do with other immortals finding out about our existence. Hell, Horton is the one who blew our cover in the first place. Jacob didn't need any help finding out about us. He found out on his own."
"I won't be the one to tell her anything. You may be comfortable with MacLeod knowing but I'm not. I won't let yet another one of his cronies in on the secret," Peter said. "Frankly, I would have preferred to have left without calling you."
"And what if Reina had followed you?"
Peter looked confused for a moment. "She wouldn't get anything from me."
"Why didn't you leave?"
Peter looked embarrassed. "I feel really stupid. She took my car keys."
Joe tried to keep from smiling. "I'll get your car keys and you can go."
"Thank you," Peter said sheepishly. "I'm really sorry about this."
"You're not the first watcher to be discovered."
"I'll be requesting reassignment first thing tomorrow."
"It's not necessary."
"I think it would be for the best."
Reina wrinkled her nose at the mortals as they went to the other table. "That's Joe from Joe's," she said.
"Yes."
"What does he have to do with that guy who was following me?"
"I'll let him explain."
Reina scrutinized the younger watcher. "I don't think he likes me," she said referring to Peter.
"He doesn't know you."
Reina gave MacLeod a look which showed she did not believe him.
"He knows about you. That's not the same," MacLeod corrected her. "Besides, you didn't steal his car keys or flatten his tires because you think he doesn't like you."
"I don't know why he doesn't like me. I was really nice to him," Reina said. "I wasn't unnecessarily snide, I even kept my sarcasm to a minimum and the words 'bite me,' 'asshole,' or, 'pendejo,' never once crossed my lips," she smiled sheepishly. "Well maybe once but he was being obnoxious, and not at all endearingly so, he deserved it."
"You're changing the subject," MacLeod pulled on Reina's arm forcing her to sit.
"Am I? What was it you were saying?"
"I was saying that you didn't steal his car keys because you thought he didn't like you."
"Duncan, how can you accuse me of such a thing? I've never stolen anything in my whole life," Reina said indignantly. "Except cable," she added sheepishly.
"You didn't look concerned that he'd leave. You don't know enough about cars to take the distributor cap, so you must have stolen his keys. Now hand them over," he said, using his sternest voice, the one he usually used with Amanda.
Reina looked at MacLeod, giving him her most innocent look. "Steal is such an ugly word."
"If it doesn't work when Amanda does it, it won't work when you do it."
"God! You know, sometimes you can be worse than Jonathan. At least with him, he's only ten years older than I am. I still have a decent chance with getting away with stuff. It is so annoying dealing with you sometimes Duncan. You know everything."
"I don't know everything," MacLeod told her. "I just know you too well to fall for your tricks. I would suggest sticking to pulling your tricks around people who don't know you as well but that would be encouraging you. And Amanda does too much of that already."
"Sheesh! Am I that predictable already?"
"Some things will never change," MacLeod said grinning. "Now hand over the keys. Changing the subject will not make me forget you have them."
Reina sighed in resignation. "If I hand over the keys, I'll never find out why he was following me. He could be some sick pervert."
"I can tell you everything you want to know. Within reason," Joe said. "I am a little more than the friendly neighborhood barkeep."
Reina raised an eyebrow at Joe.
"First things first," MacLeod told her.
Reina handed Joe Peter's car keys and some money. "Here's some money for the tires," she told him. "Somehow a couple of them ended up flat."
"And you're paying for the tires out of the goodness of your heart?"
"It's a simple patch job. It shouldn't cost much. Besides it's possible that a sharp object may have accidentally punctured his tire," Reina added sheepishly. "Twice."
"I'll let him know," Joe walked back to the table where Peter was waiting.
MacLeod looked at Reina with an expression that was a cross between amusement and exasperation.
"Don't look at me like that Duncan. I had to do something to make him stay. There was no guarantee that I'd get his keys."
"When did you start picking pockets anyway?"
"Oh look, I'm all out of soda. I'll just go get a refill."
"How are you going to do that? You'd have to climb over me to get out of this booth."
"Oh look, Joe's coming back," Reina said as the younger watcher left.
"Let's go for a walk," MacLeod suggested. "This is too public for our purposes."
Reina followed the two men outside.
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