Fic: Undercover Angel, Part V (Ensemble), Rated: R
Title: Undercover Angel, Part V
Author: skk670
Pairing/Characters: Ensemble
Word Count: 5,870
Rating: R (Bad Language and Sexual Situations)
Summary: This season's mysteries began to unravel - and Veronica is at the center of it all.
Spoilers/Warnings: AU after Episode 2-14, but assume Season II to date, just in case
Author's Note: Much thanks to the ever-wonderful fickledame for the super-fast beta.
Part I - The Conspiracy Unfolds
Part II - Snake Eyes
Part III - Talking to Ghosts
Part IV - The Edge of the Ocean
Icon courtesy of fickledame
Undercover Angel
Part 5 - The Darkness Before…
Logan put his hand to his bruised temple and willed his legs not to buckle out from underneath him. He knew better than to show weakness in a fight, even when he was disadvantaged. He could hear his old man’s voice taunting him. Take it like a man, Logan. Take it like a man. And he took it, maybe not always like a man, but always like the fighter he was.
So he looked up at Norris Clayton with the arrogant superiority that was a Logan trademark and sized up his opponent. He had never had to tangle with Clayton before. Norris, though bigger and meaner than most of the other students at Neptune, knew better than to get into it with an 09er. So why was the schoolyard bully going after him now?
“What the fuck, man?” Logan demanded.
“Stay away from Veronica,” Norris ordered, his voice pitched low and menacing.
There was no mistaking the rage in the bigger boy’s eyes but Logan was more interested in the underlying emotion. It looked suspiciously like fear. Norris Clayton was afraid of someone or something. That was interesting. Was it Logan? What did Logan know that made Norris fear him?
The bravado that all too frequently caused Logan to react impulsively - and stupidly - kicked in.
“Relax, man.” A smirk curled up the corners of his mouth. “I wiped off my handprints. She’s as good as new, or at least, as good as she can be.”
Logan regretted the words even before they were out of his mouth. It was wrong to say that about Veronica. There had been a time when he would have cut out anybody who spoke to or about her like that. But then Veronica had turned her back on him and he had stopped caring about her.
Or so he thought. He knew when he had stopped protecting Veronica but apparently it had taken her longer to stop protecting him. When had she finally given up on him? What had been the final straw?
Even though he had stopped protecting her, Veronica still had her defenders. And, judging by the flush on Norris’s face, Logan had just pissed off one of them. Or pissed off even more than he already was, if the ache in his temple was any indication.
Clayton grabbed Logan by his shirtfront and pulled him closer. “Don’t ever go near Veronica again. Don’t look at her, don’t talk about her, don’t even think about her,” Norris advised. The threat was clear but Norris was sweating. His fear was almost palpable.
Logan’s bravado morphed into confidence. Aaron had taught him to strike hardest when there was fear in his opponent’s eyes. Logan pulled his shirt free and stepped back. “Do you have any idea the shit you’re starting?” he demanded. “You take me on, you take on all the 09ers. If I give the word…” he trailed off threateningly.
Norris’s features hardened and the fear eased out of his face. “Go ahead,” he taunted. “You’d be surprised how many people are willing to beat down Logan Echolls.”
Actually, Logan wouldn’t be surprised. Most of Neptune would be happy to beat Logan Echolls. His war against Weevil and the PCHers had divided Neptune but the PCHer’s had their enemies, too. A war against the 09ers would unite the 02 neighborhoods and not even Veronica Mars’ angelic face and silver tongue would keep Neptune from tearing apart at the seams.
More importantly, Clayton was trying to protect Veronica. Something Logan should have never stopped doing.
“Fine," Logan put up his hands in a placating gesture, “I’ll stay away from her. We’re already finished.”
He had meant his parting shot to sound flippant and uncaring but it came out sounding desperate and sad. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and deactivated the car door lock. Logan took one last look to reassure himself that Clayton was too far away to sucker punch him again and turned to his SUV.
But Norris sucker punched him anyway.
“She deserves better than you, Echolls,” Norris said flatly. “She’s a good person. She cares about people and tries to do the right thing. No matter how much it ends up costing her. She’s nothing like you. Even with all your money, your name and your rich friends, you’re not good enough for her.”
That wasn’t news to him. Logan had always known that he was never good enough. He closed his eyes and absorbed the near-crippling verbal blow without comment. He took it like a man.
He was, after all, his father’s son.
***
The blow from Clayton turned out to be a good thing. It seemed to have knocked some sense into Logan. It certainly knocked him out of the post-Hannah, post-Kendall, post-Felix-murder funk he had been in. Logan felt like he had been wandering around in haze since that night on the bridge. Clayton had fixed that and now, for the first time in nearly a year, Logan had gotten back his razor-sharp focus.
Maybe he should send Clayton a fruit basket?
Logan now understood there was a bigger picture, all he had to do was figure out what it was. He knew he could do it. Logan had some special skills, gained from a lifetime of living with Aaron Echolls. They were skills that Keith Mars probably hadn’t taught his darling daughter. The first thing Aaron had taught Logan was that knowledge was power. The more you knew about your opponents, the more likely you were to spot - and exploit - their weaknesses.
Logan watched and observed and paid attention to what was going on around him with a focus and intensity that had been missing for too long. He needed to know what was going on. Veronica wasn’t going to give him any answers. She was too slick and had plenty of practice keeping secrets, especially from him.
Logan used to think that he knew Veronica, but now he realized that he barely had at all. Veronica had let him down and protected him more than he had known. She had done more to hurt him and to help him than anyone in his life. She had nagged him constantly about Dick and his buddies but she had also busted her ass gathering the information the DA needed to drop the charges against him. She had dumped him when he needed her the most but had covered for all the shit he had pulled over the summer. Then she had all but ignored him for the last few months but was still trying to protect him from something.
Cassidy was no help, either. At least, he was no help to Logan. On the few occasions Logan had been able to get near him, Cassidy had actively ignored him. The younger Casablancas had now perfected his blank expression. Veronica had apparently tutored him in basic poker.
Cassidy seemed to be growing in front of Logan’s eyes. The younger boy appeared to be taller, he stood up straighter, and he was calmer; he no longer displayed the nervous fidgeting or wide-eyed expression that made him appear meek and uncertain. Cassidy looked like a man in control of his surrounding and confident in his abilities to keep things that way.
Logan noticed that Cassidy and Veronica never approached each other. They would nod politely in the halls and maybe exchange pleasantries in FBLA, but nothing that would alert anybody that they were actively plotting together.
Logan toyed with the idea of approaching Mac but Norris had taken to hanging out with the computer geek during the rare times Cassidy wasn’t draped all over her. No, approaching Mac would probably earn him a beat-down from Veronica’s bodyguard. So that just left Veronica’s bodyguard as a source of information.
Logan wasn’t stupid. He knew better than to approach Clayton directly. Now that he was paying attention, he could see Norris around school, keeping a watchful eye on Veronica. Norris would hover just inside her peripheral, close enough to be near if she needed him, but not so close as to draw attention to himself.
A casual observer wouldn’t even know they were working together. But Logan was no longer a casual observer. Logan Echolls was back in the game. He wasn’t going to be a fucking chess piece anymore. He was going to be a player - and he was going to win.
It wasn’t easy because Veronica, Cassidy and Mac were so guarded and acted so casually. Logan could see how they were constantly in motion, even when they were standing still. Veronica was always alert, always looking around, cataloging people and working them into her mental tally. Cassidy and Mac were almost constantly together, although occasionally Mac hung out with Veronica. They were going through the motions of being normal high school students. But Logan knew better. They were as far away from typical high school students as…well, as he was. Normal and Logan Echolls had never met.
Logan shifted to Aaron’s second lesson. Aaron said that size didn’t matter; it was strategy that won the battle. A surprise attack, a sucker punch or a well-honed weapon would do more to win a skirmish than height or weight. The bigger they were, the harder they fell and all that crap. Norris was the biggest player but he was also the weakest link in Veronica’s chain.
Norris was arrogant and cocky. He made the classic mistake of thinking that his size and bulk kept him safe. Norris had tipped his hand when he punched Logan. Logan would have never known he was working with Veronica if Norris had stayed in the background.
Norris was also keeping secrets from Veronica. Logan understood Veronica well enough to know that she would have benched Clayton if she knew that he had approached Logan. Veronica wouldn’t risk having whatever scheme she was working on exposed because of a reckless co-conspirator. That made Clayton vulnerable.
Once Logan had focused on his target, it was ridiculously easy to gather information. He had spent the last week following Norris around. The busboys at the Neptune Grand got a kick out of letting Logan borrow their beat-up cars, for fifty bucks a pop. And trailing Norris was simple; the dumb lug didn’t even bother to check for a tail.
In the last week, Logan had discovered that Norris was a guy who liked routine and he was a speedboat enthusiast. His afternoon agenda was the same every day. He would follow Veronica from a distance to make sure she got to her car safely then he would head out to the marina. About ten minutes into the ride, he would get a phone call. Ten minutes was how long it took Veronica to get home. Logan knew, he had driven Veronica home often enough during their summer together.
Norris spent hours every day down at the marina racing his Cigarette 46 Rider Xp speedboat into the cold, choppy Pacific Ocean, until well past dark. Logan had even taken his old man’s yacht out to observe Norris from the water. His route was always the same. He pulled out of the Neptune harbor and went down towards Baja. Logan had trailed him, both in his borrowed cars and in Aaron’s yacht, all the way to the Mexican border. Norris would turn back just before the border, nod to the coast guards, cruise back to Neptune then turn around and go back to the border. He did it over and over again until Logan thought he was going to throw up from dizziness.
Now Logan was on his seventh night of watching Norris cruise around and it was as boring as hell. Logan was sitting in the cramped, beat up Toyota Corolla that was his cover car for the night. The car was too small for him to fit comfortably, but at least the radio worked in this one. He scrunched down in the seat, trying to get comfortable and looked out the windshield.
It was a cool, clear night with a full moon to illuminate the night sky. Logan glanced at his watch. Great, ten-thirty on a Wednesday night and he had nothing better to do than to watch some oversized Kevin Costner wannabe race around in circles. Where was Whitney Houston with her heroin stash when he needed her? Logan could really use the entertainment right about now.
Logan debated leaving and going…where? Where did he have to go? Who the fuck cared where he was or what he was doing? He thought of Veronica, as she had looked the last time they spoke, on Dog Beach, her face pale and bleak. Did Veronica care about him? If she did, she was a fucking brilliant actress in the way she hid it. But Beaver said she was still trying to protect him; question was, from what?
The logical answer was that Veronica was trying to protect him from his worst enemy - himself. But how was she going to do it? If she wasn’t willing to be with him, how was she supposed to protect him? She had learned last summer that the sure-fire way to divert his attention was to be with him, mainly distracting him with hot make out sessions. Many a time he had planned some stupid prank with Dick but forgot about it when Veronica wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged his head down to hers.
But Veronica had been busy - visiting her father, working double-shifts at the Hut and saving his ass on behalf of the DA - so that he had plenty of free time. It was that free time that got him in trouble and tore them apart. Logan shook his head to clear away his morose thoughts. Remembering or regretting his past actions wasn’t going to undo what he had done. It was a better use of his time to figure out what Veronica was up to and how he fit into it. And maybe save her ass for a change?
Logan looked at his watch again. It was nearly eleven o’clock and Norris was…gone. Logan straightened up the best he could in the cramped car. He scanned the water for Norris’s usual route but didn’t see the Cigarette Rider. He looked to the dock but the boat wasn’t moored. He looked upstream and did a double take. Norris was navigating the speedboat upstream at a neat, steady clip.
Logan started his engine and pulled out of the parking lot to follow him. Excitement spiked in him as he followed Norris. Up until now, Norris had always gone downstream. Was this just a change of scenery or was Norris up to something?
The Corolla had a surprisingly good engine and soon Logan was following the speedboat up the coast road that led to Neptune’s most exclusive homes. Each house was built on the water with private drives and private docks. Logan felt a pang in his heart as he neared his burned-out former home. He didn’t have a lot of good memories associated with it, but he had some. Six years of his life had been spent in that house. It was where he had first had sex with Lilly and where Lilly had probably first fucked Aaron.
It was also where Veronica had taken care of him. She had tended to his bruises and changed his bandages, monitored his medication intake to make sure he had enough to be comfortable but careful to make sure he didn’t develop a dependence on the drugs. Where she had sat, crossed-legged on his bed with his head in her lap, and read his homework to him when he complained that bending over his books hurt his still-sore ribs.
The ache in Logan’s heart intensified as he thought of Veronica’s kindnesses. Now he knew why he blocked them out. It fucking hurt to remember the good times with her now that the bad times were so damn awful.
It was instinct that made Logan apply the brakes in front of his gate. Determinedly, he set his jaw and drove past, craning his neck to keep Clayton’s boat in his sight over the rubble of his burned out home. But Clayton’s boat was gone.
The ache in Logan’s heart shifted to a sharp pain in his gut. He drove on for another minute but there was no longer any sign of the boat. On an impulse, Logan turned off at the next cross street, cut his lights then slowly doubled back to his property using the service road.
He put the engine into neutral as he passed through the unadorned back entrance and coasted silently down the driveway. Uncaring of the once lush garden his father used to look at with such pride, he wrenched the wheel and steered the car into the cover of the now wild vegetation.
He got out and walked towards the rubble of the house Aaron Echolls ruled with an iron fist. The full moon illuminated the charred remains with cold, silver light, making the former showplace look like a forgotten cemetery. It was the burial place of the illusion that had been Aaron, beloved star, loving father and devoted husband. It seemed fitting that it was now nothing more than a burned out shell, as ugly on the outside as it always was on the inside. Just like Aaron.
Logan shook off the bitter thoughts. He wasn’t here to take a walk down the Echolls’ family memory lane, he was here to find out what Veronica Mars was up to now. He turned and walked back the way he came, towards the back of the property and down to the beach.
He was struck dumb by what he saw. The boathouse was still intact. In fact, it looked like it hadn’t been damaged at all by the fire that had leveled the main house and the pool house. Logan had forgotten about the boathouse. Aaron had kept his larger boat at the marina because he didn’t use it very often and he wanted it on show for the whole world to admire. But Aaron used the boathouse for his favorite toy, his speedboat.
Damn it! Aaron’s speedboat! It finally hit him. Clayton didn’t have the money necessary to own and maintain the eight-hundred-thousand-dollar boat he’d been piloting. Clayton handled the boat like an expert, like someone who had been practicing for a long time. He was an expert because he had been practicing with Aaron’s boat.
But why was the boat docked at the marina instead of here? Perhaps Clayton thought it was safer to dock the boat in the marina? People were bound to notice eventually if he was seen on the Echolls property too often, especially in broad daylight. And who was to doubt that he was the boat’s legal owner? Logan hadn’t recognized the boat, even after watching Clayton in it for a full week. Logan never paid any attention to the speedboat, it had been Aaron’s toy and his father was very possessive of his toys.
So was this what Clayton was so afraid of? That Logan would find out and take the boat away from him? Logan slipped into the shelter of a group of bushes and snorted. For all he cared, that damn boat could have burned with the house. He had been careful to never show interest in Aaron’s things. Aaron would have seen that as a weapon he could hold over his son.
Logan waited for a moment but all remained quiet so he slipped out of the bushes and walked down to the boathouse. It felt odd to be here, he owned the damn place but felt nothing for it. But at the same time, he knew every inch of the grounds. The full moon and his memory allowed him to approach quickly and stealthily. He came to a sudden stop when he saw that there were several cars parked in the shadows.
He recognized Veronica’s Le Baron and Cassidy’s father’s Audi. So, they were here, too. This was their big conspiracy? They were taking joy rides in his old man’s speedboat? This was why they wanted him out of the way? Why Veronica set him up with Kendall? So he wouldn’t know about the damn boat? But what the hell did that have to do with Faith Manning’s kidnapping or Lamb’s claim that Veronica and Duncan never broke up?
This was bullshit. Indignation filled him and he shook his head with a humorless chuckle. He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but this was his property, his boathouse and his damn boat. He had a right to know what they were doing. He was about to march up to the door when he became aware of another car approaching. Now they were throwing parties in his fucking boathouse?
A long-dormant sense of caution rose up in Logan and he pressed against the far side of the boathouse, where the shadows were darkest and he was hidden from the new car. Like he had done, this car’s driver coasted down silently, without lights. A sense of unease descended on Logan as he cautiously peeked around the corner. He recognized the new car. Keith Mars was easing into the spot next to his daughter’s car.
Well, that ruled out a party. Keith was a better father than most of the men in Neptune. He wouldn’t condone his daughter throwing secret bashes on her fucked-up ex-boyfriend’s burnt-out property. Especially if the parties required guests to sneak in.
The boathouse door opened and cast a weak stream of light. Logan looked again at Keith’s car and saw there was someone in the passenger seat. Before he could identify the passenger a heavy weight hit him hard in the stomach and knocked him to the ground.
Logan gasped as he hit the ground painfully and the wind was knocked out of him. There was a dead weight on his chest that kept him from moving. He blinked to clear his vision and looked into the cold eyes and deadly sharp teeth of Veronica’s pit bull.
There was a slight commotion and Veronica rushed around the corner. She skidded to stop when she saw Logan. Her mouth fell open and she looked at him in horror.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered softly.
Keith rounded the corner after Veronica and looked at Logan with an identical expression.
“Shit,” he also said under his breath.
Logan shifted and Backup growled. The pit bull lowered his muzzle until his teeth were right over Logan’s jugular. Keith called to the dog in a low but sharp voice and Backup reluctantly jumped off Logan and went to stand alertly beside Veronica.
Logan sat up cautiously. “So, nice night for a little B and E, huh?” he quipped. “Is this the Mars’ family’s version of ‘Take Your Daughter to Work’ day?”
Keith’s horrified expression relaxed into one of grim irritation. “What are you doing here, Logan?” he asked coldly.
Logan shrugged and cocked his head. “I own this place. The real question is, what are you doing here?”
Keith didn’t bother to answer him. Instead, he turned to look at his daughter. “What is he doing here?” he demanded.
Veronica looked at her father with wide eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she answered.
“Did you tell him anything?” Keith prodded.
“Of course not!” Veronica shook her head vehemently. “Do you think I want to go to jail?”
“Jail is maybe where you’re headed, Veronica.” Keith sounded angrier that Logan had ever heard him. “And that may be better than the other option, if the Fitzpatricks have even the slightest idea of what we’re doing.”
Veronica shook her head again. “They don’t,” she reassured. “We were careful.”
“Like you were careful to keep Logan busy and away from here?” Keith snapped. “This boy can get us all killed.”
“‘This boy’ has no clue what’s going on,” Logan interjected.
Veronica turned back to Logan. “How did you know we were here?” she questioned.
Logan shrugged again. “I followed Clayton.”
Veronica’s mouth fell open. “Norris? How did you know about Norris?”
“He told me.” Logan smirked, a stupid move considering that Backup was unrestrained at Veronica’s side and looked eager to sink his teeth into Logan.
“What?” Veronica gasped.
Keith looked at Veronica, anxiety tightening his features. “Veronica, we’re almost out of time,” he gritted out.
Veronica nodded. “I know. We just need to keep him contained for the next twenty-four hours and he won’t be able to stop us.”
“I’m not trying to stop you.” Logan glared up at them. “I just want to know what the hell is going on.”
Keith and Veronica exchanged meaningful glances. Veronica looked at her father pleadingly. Keith met her look with a hard expression. Finally, Veronica’s face crumpled.
“Fine,” she agreed softly. “Send Leo out here.”
Keith nodded briefly, obviously satisfied by his daughter’s decision. He looked down at Logan and at Backup.
“Backup, guard,” Keith ordered.
Backup sprang forward as though propelled and landed squarely on Logan’s chest. Logan lost his breath again and raised his arms to ward off the pit bull.
“No!” Veronica called out sharply. “Don’t fight him. Please, Logan, don’t fight him.” Veronica came closer. “Just lay back and relax,” she pleaded. “Everything will be fine if you just relax.”
“Is that what Duncan used to say to you before sex?” Logan quipped harshly.
Backup crouched down on Logan’s chest, his teeth once again hovering over Logan’s jugular. He growled and Logan felt drool drip onto his vulnerable neck.
“Logan, please,” Veronica continued. “Just do what I say for tonight and I promise I’ll never ask you for anything again. You’ll never, ever have to see me or speak to me again. Please cooperate. You have no idea what’s at stake.”
Logan turned his head slowly and cautiously. Backup growled menacingly but didn’t try to take a bite out of him. Logan could now see Veronica’s face, pale and terrified in the cold moonlight.
“Actually, you agreeing never to speak to me again isn’t much of a motivator for me,” he said quietly.
She went very still. “Then what is?”
“Call off your guard dog and tell me what’s going on,” he responded.
There was a scuffling sound and Leo D’Amato came around the corner. He looked at Veronica and shook his head.
“This is bad,” the former sheriff’s deputy pointed out.
“We can contain him,” Veronica pleaded urgently. “Twenty-four hours and he’s no longer a threat to us.”
Leo shook his head. “What do you plan on doing? Tie him up and stick him in a corner?”
Veronica hesitated then looked at Logan apologetically. Then she looked back at Leo.
“Yes,” she responded simply.
Logan didn’t know who was more shocked by Veronica’s declaration, him or Leo. He suspected they both had the same stunned expressions on their faces. Leo came out of it faster and shook his head at Veronica.
“Have you lost your mind?” Leo demanded in a loud whisper. “That’s kidnapping.”
Veronica shrugged and gave him a grim smile. “So what’s one more kidnapping added to my list of charges? If I’m going down for one, I’m going down for them all.”
“He can destroy everything,” Leo hissed. “Damn it, Veronica. Do you want to go to jail?”
“Don’t yell at her,” Logan ordered sharply.
Veronica and Leo turned to look at him with matching shocked expressions. Logan was shocked, too. Where the hell had that come from?
Leo sneered. “Since when did you care about Veronica?”
Logan tried to draw a deep breath but it was impossible with the heavy weight sitting on him. “I never stopped caring about Veronica,” he admitted in a low voice. “It was -“
“Never mind that,” Veronica interjected hastily. “We don’t have time for a post mortem.” She turned back to Leo. “We can’t let him go. And now that he’s involved in this, he’s safer with us.”
Leo looked at Veronica steadily for a moment before finally nodding somberly. He turned and walked around the corner. Veronica turned back to face Logan.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I wouldn’t do this if there was any other way.”
Logan was having trouble breathing with sixty pounds of pit bull sitting on his chest. “This isn’t necessary, Veronica,” he wheezed. “Just tell me what’s going on and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Veronica looked at him sadly. “I can’t trust you, Logan,” she said quietly. “If anything goes wrong, we are all going to go to jail for a very, very long time, if we’re lucky.”
“Lucky?” he repeated.
“If the Fitzpatricks catch on to us before we can neutralize them, we’ll all wish we were safely locked behind thick metal bars,” She explained somberly.
“You know I wouldn’t tell the Fitzpatricks squat,” he protested.
Veronica opened her mouth to reply but shut it abruptly when Leo came back around the corner. She stepped back from Logan as Leo approached.
Leo had a length of rope in his hands and a pile of cloth over his shoulder. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” he advised Logan.
Logan’s eyes widened when he realized that Leo was going to tie him up. “This isn’t necessary,” he protested. “I’ll stay quiet and do whatever you say. We don’t have to do the bondage thing.”
Leo ignored him and came closer. Veronica called out to Backup and the pit bull leapt lightly off Logan’s chest. Before Logan could get his bearings, Leo yanked him to his knees, shoved him against the side of the building and efficiently tied his hands behind his back. Logan opened his mouth to protest but Leo shoved a piece of cloth into Logan’s mouth and secured it with another piece of cloth tied around his head. Then Leo yanked him to his feet and pushed him towards Veronica.
She reached out and took the remaining cloth off Leo’s shoulder. “I’m sorry it has to be like this, Logan,” she said quietly. She twirled the cloth between her hands until it was wound up in a thick strip.
Logan shook his head in protest but Leo put his hand on the back of Logan’s neck and forced him to bend down. Veronica put the cloth over his eyes and tied it gently, a delicate contrast to Leo’s quick and impersonal actions.
Leo grabbed Logan’s elbow and guided him forward. Logan felt the immediate drop in temperature when they walked into the boathouse. He felt Veronica’s hand on his other side as she also guided him. Then Leo’s hand fell off and only Veronica’s hand was there. She pushed him back until he touched the wall.
“Why don’t you sit down, Logan,” she suggested. “It’s going to be a long night.” Then she withdrew her touch and said sharply, “Backup, guard.”
Logan heard the pit bull growl from very close by. He leaned back and banged the back of his head lightly against the wall. What the hell was going on? Had he really been kidnapped by Veronica Mars and company? He shook his head and realized that his blindfold had come loose. Logan pressed his head back and carefully sunk down along the wall. The tie around his mouth stayed secure but Veronica’s gentle knot over his eyes loosened and then came undone.
He blinked a couple of times after the cloth fell away. He straightened slowly and took in his surroundings. He was leaning against the wall, at the top of the steps, near the door. The boathouse had two levels of decks, the higher one that he was on and the lower one, at water level, that everyone else was on.
He glanced at Backup, who was sitting near him, alert but controlled, then looked back at the flurry of activity on the lower deck. The boat was floating gently, its nose pointed to the closed automatic door leading to the water. Cassidy and Norris were on their knees, applying adhesive tape over the boat’s identification while Keith and Leo secured a lumpy parcel into the back seat.
Cassidy suddenly jerked and put his hand into his pocket. He drew out his cell phone and flipped it open. He listened for a moment, murmured softly then nodded. He shut the phone and turned to look at a point on the lower deck just below Logan.
“The e-mail’s been sent,” Cassidy announced.
Keith looked up at him and nodded grimly. He also looked to the point on the lower deck. “It’s time,” he called out.
Veronica moved out from under the deck and up to the dock’s edge. Leo moved over to help Cassidy finish covering the boat’s identification as Norris slipped behind the wheel. Keith held the boat steady and nodded again.
Two more people appeared beside Veronica. Both were girls, one appeared to be very young with shiny blond hair while the other, a honey blond, looked vaguely familiar. The two girls held hands and approached Keith.
The honey blonde bent down on one knee so that she was eye level with the little girl. “Okay, Grace, you remember what we talked about, don’t you?”
The little girl nodded and the honey blond pulled her into a tight hug. Leo came over to the girls and gently picked up Grace. He handed her over the side of the boat into Norris’s waiting arms. Norris carefully set the little girl in the passenger seat next to him.
Veronica put her arm around the honey blond and hugged her comfortingly. “Don’t worry, Lizzie,” she said bracingly. “It’s almost over.”
Then Logan placed the honey blond in his mind. It was Lizzie Manning, Meg Manning’s wild-child little sister. But Lizzie used to be a bleached blond with tight clothes and a saucy attitude. Now she had darker hair and a subdued presence.
Cassidy flipped the switch and the well-maintained boat door began to roll up silently. Norris started the boat’s engine and prepared to pull back on the throttle. Grace Manning suddenly slipped out of her seat. Norris didn’t notice as he eased the boat out onto the water.
Logan’s eyes widened as he watched the tiny figure dart into the back seat of the cabin. Was the little girl trying to jump out of the boat? But instead of reaching for the side, Grace threw herself against the parcel secured to the backseat.
Just then, the boat cleared the door and a gust of wind pushed back the cloth covering the parcel. It wasn’t a parcel at all. Long blond hair shone silver in the moonlight and skeletally thin arms wrapped around Grace. The painfully thin woman turned her head and raised her hand in farewell to the group gathered near the door.
Logan’s whole body jerked as he recognized the figure. If he hadn’t been gagged, his mouth would have fallen open. But, even if he hadn’t been gagged, he still wouldn’t have been able to utter a word. There was nothing he could have said as he watched Norris disappear with Grace …and Meg Manning.
Author: skk670
Pairing/Characters: Ensemble
Word Count: 5,870
Rating: R (Bad Language and Sexual Situations)
Summary: This season's mysteries began to unravel - and Veronica is at the center of it all.
Spoilers/Warnings: AU after Episode 2-14, but assume Season II to date, just in case
Author's Note: Much thanks to the ever-wonderful fickledame for the super-fast beta.
Part I - The Conspiracy Unfolds
Part II - Snake Eyes
Part III - Talking to Ghosts
Part IV - The Edge of the Ocean
Icon courtesy of fickledame
Undercover Angel
Part 5 - The Darkness Before…
Logan put his hand to his bruised temple and willed his legs not to buckle out from underneath him. He knew better than to show weakness in a fight, even when he was disadvantaged. He could hear his old man’s voice taunting him. Take it like a man, Logan. Take it like a man. And he took it, maybe not always like a man, but always like the fighter he was.
So he looked up at Norris Clayton with the arrogant superiority that was a Logan trademark and sized up his opponent. He had never had to tangle with Clayton before. Norris, though bigger and meaner than most of the other students at Neptune, knew better than to get into it with an 09er. So why was the schoolyard bully going after him now?
“What the fuck, man?” Logan demanded.
“Stay away from Veronica,” Norris ordered, his voice pitched low and menacing.
There was no mistaking the rage in the bigger boy’s eyes but Logan was more interested in the underlying emotion. It looked suspiciously like fear. Norris Clayton was afraid of someone or something. That was interesting. Was it Logan? What did Logan know that made Norris fear him?
The bravado that all too frequently caused Logan to react impulsively - and stupidly - kicked in.
“Relax, man.” A smirk curled up the corners of his mouth. “I wiped off my handprints. She’s as good as new, or at least, as good as she can be.”
Logan regretted the words even before they were out of his mouth. It was wrong to say that about Veronica. There had been a time when he would have cut out anybody who spoke to or about her like that. But then Veronica had turned her back on him and he had stopped caring about her.
Or so he thought. He knew when he had stopped protecting Veronica but apparently it had taken her longer to stop protecting him. When had she finally given up on him? What had been the final straw?
Even though he had stopped protecting her, Veronica still had her defenders. And, judging by the flush on Norris’s face, Logan had just pissed off one of them. Or pissed off even more than he already was, if the ache in his temple was any indication.
Clayton grabbed Logan by his shirtfront and pulled him closer. “Don’t ever go near Veronica again. Don’t look at her, don’t talk about her, don’t even think about her,” Norris advised. The threat was clear but Norris was sweating. His fear was almost palpable.
Logan’s bravado morphed into confidence. Aaron had taught him to strike hardest when there was fear in his opponent’s eyes. Logan pulled his shirt free and stepped back. “Do you have any idea the shit you’re starting?” he demanded. “You take me on, you take on all the 09ers. If I give the word…” he trailed off threateningly.
Norris’s features hardened and the fear eased out of his face. “Go ahead,” he taunted. “You’d be surprised how many people are willing to beat down Logan Echolls.”
Actually, Logan wouldn’t be surprised. Most of Neptune would be happy to beat Logan Echolls. His war against Weevil and the PCHers had divided Neptune but the PCHer’s had their enemies, too. A war against the 09ers would unite the 02 neighborhoods and not even Veronica Mars’ angelic face and silver tongue would keep Neptune from tearing apart at the seams.
More importantly, Clayton was trying to protect Veronica. Something Logan should have never stopped doing.
“Fine," Logan put up his hands in a placating gesture, “I’ll stay away from her. We’re already finished.”
He had meant his parting shot to sound flippant and uncaring but it came out sounding desperate and sad. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and deactivated the car door lock. Logan took one last look to reassure himself that Clayton was too far away to sucker punch him again and turned to his SUV.
But Norris sucker punched him anyway.
“She deserves better than you, Echolls,” Norris said flatly. “She’s a good person. She cares about people and tries to do the right thing. No matter how much it ends up costing her. She’s nothing like you. Even with all your money, your name and your rich friends, you’re not good enough for her.”
That wasn’t news to him. Logan had always known that he was never good enough. He closed his eyes and absorbed the near-crippling verbal blow without comment. He took it like a man.
He was, after all, his father’s son.
***
The blow from Clayton turned out to be a good thing. It seemed to have knocked some sense into Logan. It certainly knocked him out of the post-Hannah, post-Kendall, post-Felix-murder funk he had been in. Logan felt like he had been wandering around in haze since that night on the bridge. Clayton had fixed that and now, for the first time in nearly a year, Logan had gotten back his razor-sharp focus.
Maybe he should send Clayton a fruit basket?
Logan now understood there was a bigger picture, all he had to do was figure out what it was. He knew he could do it. Logan had some special skills, gained from a lifetime of living with Aaron Echolls. They were skills that Keith Mars probably hadn’t taught his darling daughter. The first thing Aaron had taught Logan was that knowledge was power. The more you knew about your opponents, the more likely you were to spot - and exploit - their weaknesses.
Logan watched and observed and paid attention to what was going on around him with a focus and intensity that had been missing for too long. He needed to know what was going on. Veronica wasn’t going to give him any answers. She was too slick and had plenty of practice keeping secrets, especially from him.
Logan used to think that he knew Veronica, but now he realized that he barely had at all. Veronica had let him down and protected him more than he had known. She had done more to hurt him and to help him than anyone in his life. She had nagged him constantly about Dick and his buddies but she had also busted her ass gathering the information the DA needed to drop the charges against him. She had dumped him when he needed her the most but had covered for all the shit he had pulled over the summer. Then she had all but ignored him for the last few months but was still trying to protect him from something.
Cassidy was no help, either. At least, he was no help to Logan. On the few occasions Logan had been able to get near him, Cassidy had actively ignored him. The younger Casablancas had now perfected his blank expression. Veronica had apparently tutored him in basic poker.
Cassidy seemed to be growing in front of Logan’s eyes. The younger boy appeared to be taller, he stood up straighter, and he was calmer; he no longer displayed the nervous fidgeting or wide-eyed expression that made him appear meek and uncertain. Cassidy looked like a man in control of his surrounding and confident in his abilities to keep things that way.
Logan noticed that Cassidy and Veronica never approached each other. They would nod politely in the halls and maybe exchange pleasantries in FBLA, but nothing that would alert anybody that they were actively plotting together.
Logan toyed with the idea of approaching Mac but Norris had taken to hanging out with the computer geek during the rare times Cassidy wasn’t draped all over her. No, approaching Mac would probably earn him a beat-down from Veronica’s bodyguard. So that just left Veronica’s bodyguard as a source of information.
Logan wasn’t stupid. He knew better than to approach Clayton directly. Now that he was paying attention, he could see Norris around school, keeping a watchful eye on Veronica. Norris would hover just inside her peripheral, close enough to be near if she needed him, but not so close as to draw attention to himself.
A casual observer wouldn’t even know they were working together. But Logan was no longer a casual observer. Logan Echolls was back in the game. He wasn’t going to be a fucking chess piece anymore. He was going to be a player - and he was going to win.
It wasn’t easy because Veronica, Cassidy and Mac were so guarded and acted so casually. Logan could see how they were constantly in motion, even when they were standing still. Veronica was always alert, always looking around, cataloging people and working them into her mental tally. Cassidy and Mac were almost constantly together, although occasionally Mac hung out with Veronica. They were going through the motions of being normal high school students. But Logan knew better. They were as far away from typical high school students as…well, as he was. Normal and Logan Echolls had never met.
Logan shifted to Aaron’s second lesson. Aaron said that size didn’t matter; it was strategy that won the battle. A surprise attack, a sucker punch or a well-honed weapon would do more to win a skirmish than height or weight. The bigger they were, the harder they fell and all that crap. Norris was the biggest player but he was also the weakest link in Veronica’s chain.
Norris was arrogant and cocky. He made the classic mistake of thinking that his size and bulk kept him safe. Norris had tipped his hand when he punched Logan. Logan would have never known he was working with Veronica if Norris had stayed in the background.
Norris was also keeping secrets from Veronica. Logan understood Veronica well enough to know that she would have benched Clayton if she knew that he had approached Logan. Veronica wouldn’t risk having whatever scheme she was working on exposed because of a reckless co-conspirator. That made Clayton vulnerable.
Once Logan had focused on his target, it was ridiculously easy to gather information. He had spent the last week following Norris around. The busboys at the Neptune Grand got a kick out of letting Logan borrow their beat-up cars, for fifty bucks a pop. And trailing Norris was simple; the dumb lug didn’t even bother to check for a tail.
In the last week, Logan had discovered that Norris was a guy who liked routine and he was a speedboat enthusiast. His afternoon agenda was the same every day. He would follow Veronica from a distance to make sure she got to her car safely then he would head out to the marina. About ten minutes into the ride, he would get a phone call. Ten minutes was how long it took Veronica to get home. Logan knew, he had driven Veronica home often enough during their summer together.
Norris spent hours every day down at the marina racing his Cigarette 46 Rider Xp speedboat into the cold, choppy Pacific Ocean, until well past dark. Logan had even taken his old man’s yacht out to observe Norris from the water. His route was always the same. He pulled out of the Neptune harbor and went down towards Baja. Logan had trailed him, both in his borrowed cars and in Aaron’s yacht, all the way to the Mexican border. Norris would turn back just before the border, nod to the coast guards, cruise back to Neptune then turn around and go back to the border. He did it over and over again until Logan thought he was going to throw up from dizziness.
Now Logan was on his seventh night of watching Norris cruise around and it was as boring as hell. Logan was sitting in the cramped, beat up Toyota Corolla that was his cover car for the night. The car was too small for him to fit comfortably, but at least the radio worked in this one. He scrunched down in the seat, trying to get comfortable and looked out the windshield.
It was a cool, clear night with a full moon to illuminate the night sky. Logan glanced at his watch. Great, ten-thirty on a Wednesday night and he had nothing better to do than to watch some oversized Kevin Costner wannabe race around in circles. Where was Whitney Houston with her heroin stash when he needed her? Logan could really use the entertainment right about now.
Logan debated leaving and going…where? Where did he have to go? Who the fuck cared where he was or what he was doing? He thought of Veronica, as she had looked the last time they spoke, on Dog Beach, her face pale and bleak. Did Veronica care about him? If she did, she was a fucking brilliant actress in the way she hid it. But Beaver said she was still trying to protect him; question was, from what?
The logical answer was that Veronica was trying to protect him from his worst enemy - himself. But how was she going to do it? If she wasn’t willing to be with him, how was she supposed to protect him? She had learned last summer that the sure-fire way to divert his attention was to be with him, mainly distracting him with hot make out sessions. Many a time he had planned some stupid prank with Dick but forgot about it when Veronica wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged his head down to hers.
But Veronica had been busy - visiting her father, working double-shifts at the Hut and saving his ass on behalf of the DA - so that he had plenty of free time. It was that free time that got him in trouble and tore them apart. Logan shook his head to clear away his morose thoughts. Remembering or regretting his past actions wasn’t going to undo what he had done. It was a better use of his time to figure out what Veronica was up to and how he fit into it. And maybe save her ass for a change?
Logan looked at his watch again. It was nearly eleven o’clock and Norris was…gone. Logan straightened up the best he could in the cramped car. He scanned the water for Norris’s usual route but didn’t see the Cigarette Rider. He looked to the dock but the boat wasn’t moored. He looked upstream and did a double take. Norris was navigating the speedboat upstream at a neat, steady clip.
Logan started his engine and pulled out of the parking lot to follow him. Excitement spiked in him as he followed Norris. Up until now, Norris had always gone downstream. Was this just a change of scenery or was Norris up to something?
The Corolla had a surprisingly good engine and soon Logan was following the speedboat up the coast road that led to Neptune’s most exclusive homes. Each house was built on the water with private drives and private docks. Logan felt a pang in his heart as he neared his burned-out former home. He didn’t have a lot of good memories associated with it, but he had some. Six years of his life had been spent in that house. It was where he had first had sex with Lilly and where Lilly had probably first fucked Aaron.
It was also where Veronica had taken care of him. She had tended to his bruises and changed his bandages, monitored his medication intake to make sure he had enough to be comfortable but careful to make sure he didn’t develop a dependence on the drugs. Where she had sat, crossed-legged on his bed with his head in her lap, and read his homework to him when he complained that bending over his books hurt his still-sore ribs.
The ache in Logan’s heart intensified as he thought of Veronica’s kindnesses. Now he knew why he blocked them out. It fucking hurt to remember the good times with her now that the bad times were so damn awful.
It was instinct that made Logan apply the brakes in front of his gate. Determinedly, he set his jaw and drove past, craning his neck to keep Clayton’s boat in his sight over the rubble of his burned out home. But Clayton’s boat was gone.
The ache in Logan’s heart shifted to a sharp pain in his gut. He drove on for another minute but there was no longer any sign of the boat. On an impulse, Logan turned off at the next cross street, cut his lights then slowly doubled back to his property using the service road.
He put the engine into neutral as he passed through the unadorned back entrance and coasted silently down the driveway. Uncaring of the once lush garden his father used to look at with such pride, he wrenched the wheel and steered the car into the cover of the now wild vegetation.
He got out and walked towards the rubble of the house Aaron Echolls ruled with an iron fist. The full moon illuminated the charred remains with cold, silver light, making the former showplace look like a forgotten cemetery. It was the burial place of the illusion that had been Aaron, beloved star, loving father and devoted husband. It seemed fitting that it was now nothing more than a burned out shell, as ugly on the outside as it always was on the inside. Just like Aaron.
Logan shook off the bitter thoughts. He wasn’t here to take a walk down the Echolls’ family memory lane, he was here to find out what Veronica Mars was up to now. He turned and walked back the way he came, towards the back of the property and down to the beach.
He was struck dumb by what he saw. The boathouse was still intact. In fact, it looked like it hadn’t been damaged at all by the fire that had leveled the main house and the pool house. Logan had forgotten about the boathouse. Aaron had kept his larger boat at the marina because he didn’t use it very often and he wanted it on show for the whole world to admire. But Aaron used the boathouse for his favorite toy, his speedboat.
Damn it! Aaron’s speedboat! It finally hit him. Clayton didn’t have the money necessary to own and maintain the eight-hundred-thousand-dollar boat he’d been piloting. Clayton handled the boat like an expert, like someone who had been practicing for a long time. He was an expert because he had been practicing with Aaron’s boat.
But why was the boat docked at the marina instead of here? Perhaps Clayton thought it was safer to dock the boat in the marina? People were bound to notice eventually if he was seen on the Echolls property too often, especially in broad daylight. And who was to doubt that he was the boat’s legal owner? Logan hadn’t recognized the boat, even after watching Clayton in it for a full week. Logan never paid any attention to the speedboat, it had been Aaron’s toy and his father was very possessive of his toys.
So was this what Clayton was so afraid of? That Logan would find out and take the boat away from him? Logan slipped into the shelter of a group of bushes and snorted. For all he cared, that damn boat could have burned with the house. He had been careful to never show interest in Aaron’s things. Aaron would have seen that as a weapon he could hold over his son.
Logan waited for a moment but all remained quiet so he slipped out of the bushes and walked down to the boathouse. It felt odd to be here, he owned the damn place but felt nothing for it. But at the same time, he knew every inch of the grounds. The full moon and his memory allowed him to approach quickly and stealthily. He came to a sudden stop when he saw that there were several cars parked in the shadows.
He recognized Veronica’s Le Baron and Cassidy’s father’s Audi. So, they were here, too. This was their big conspiracy? They were taking joy rides in his old man’s speedboat? This was why they wanted him out of the way? Why Veronica set him up with Kendall? So he wouldn’t know about the damn boat? But what the hell did that have to do with Faith Manning’s kidnapping or Lamb’s claim that Veronica and Duncan never broke up?
This was bullshit. Indignation filled him and he shook his head with a humorless chuckle. He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but this was his property, his boathouse and his damn boat. He had a right to know what they were doing. He was about to march up to the door when he became aware of another car approaching. Now they were throwing parties in his fucking boathouse?
A long-dormant sense of caution rose up in Logan and he pressed against the far side of the boathouse, where the shadows were darkest and he was hidden from the new car. Like he had done, this car’s driver coasted down silently, without lights. A sense of unease descended on Logan as he cautiously peeked around the corner. He recognized the new car. Keith Mars was easing into the spot next to his daughter’s car.
Well, that ruled out a party. Keith was a better father than most of the men in Neptune. He wouldn’t condone his daughter throwing secret bashes on her fucked-up ex-boyfriend’s burnt-out property. Especially if the parties required guests to sneak in.
The boathouse door opened and cast a weak stream of light. Logan looked again at Keith’s car and saw there was someone in the passenger seat. Before he could identify the passenger a heavy weight hit him hard in the stomach and knocked him to the ground.
Logan gasped as he hit the ground painfully and the wind was knocked out of him. There was a dead weight on his chest that kept him from moving. He blinked to clear his vision and looked into the cold eyes and deadly sharp teeth of Veronica’s pit bull.
There was a slight commotion and Veronica rushed around the corner. She skidded to stop when she saw Logan. Her mouth fell open and she looked at him in horror.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered softly.
Keith rounded the corner after Veronica and looked at Logan with an identical expression.
“Shit,” he also said under his breath.
Logan shifted and Backup growled. The pit bull lowered his muzzle until his teeth were right over Logan’s jugular. Keith called to the dog in a low but sharp voice and Backup reluctantly jumped off Logan and went to stand alertly beside Veronica.
Logan sat up cautiously. “So, nice night for a little B and E, huh?” he quipped. “Is this the Mars’ family’s version of ‘Take Your Daughter to Work’ day?”
Keith’s horrified expression relaxed into one of grim irritation. “What are you doing here, Logan?” he asked coldly.
Logan shrugged and cocked his head. “I own this place. The real question is, what are you doing here?”
Keith didn’t bother to answer him. Instead, he turned to look at his daughter. “What is he doing here?” he demanded.
Veronica looked at her father with wide eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she answered.
“Did you tell him anything?” Keith prodded.
“Of course not!” Veronica shook her head vehemently. “Do you think I want to go to jail?”
“Jail is maybe where you’re headed, Veronica.” Keith sounded angrier that Logan had ever heard him. “And that may be better than the other option, if the Fitzpatricks have even the slightest idea of what we’re doing.”
Veronica shook her head again. “They don’t,” she reassured. “We were careful.”
“Like you were careful to keep Logan busy and away from here?” Keith snapped. “This boy can get us all killed.”
“‘This boy’ has no clue what’s going on,” Logan interjected.
Veronica turned back to Logan. “How did you know we were here?” she questioned.
Logan shrugged again. “I followed Clayton.”
Veronica’s mouth fell open. “Norris? How did you know about Norris?”
“He told me.” Logan smirked, a stupid move considering that Backup was unrestrained at Veronica’s side and looked eager to sink his teeth into Logan.
“What?” Veronica gasped.
Keith looked at Veronica, anxiety tightening his features. “Veronica, we’re almost out of time,” he gritted out.
Veronica nodded. “I know. We just need to keep him contained for the next twenty-four hours and he won’t be able to stop us.”
“I’m not trying to stop you.” Logan glared up at them. “I just want to know what the hell is going on.”
Keith and Veronica exchanged meaningful glances. Veronica looked at her father pleadingly. Keith met her look with a hard expression. Finally, Veronica’s face crumpled.
“Fine,” she agreed softly. “Send Leo out here.”
Keith nodded briefly, obviously satisfied by his daughter’s decision. He looked down at Logan and at Backup.
“Backup, guard,” Keith ordered.
Backup sprang forward as though propelled and landed squarely on Logan’s chest. Logan lost his breath again and raised his arms to ward off the pit bull.
“No!” Veronica called out sharply. “Don’t fight him. Please, Logan, don’t fight him.” Veronica came closer. “Just lay back and relax,” she pleaded. “Everything will be fine if you just relax.”
“Is that what Duncan used to say to you before sex?” Logan quipped harshly.
Backup crouched down on Logan’s chest, his teeth once again hovering over Logan’s jugular. He growled and Logan felt drool drip onto his vulnerable neck.
“Logan, please,” Veronica continued. “Just do what I say for tonight and I promise I’ll never ask you for anything again. You’ll never, ever have to see me or speak to me again. Please cooperate. You have no idea what’s at stake.”
Logan turned his head slowly and cautiously. Backup growled menacingly but didn’t try to take a bite out of him. Logan could now see Veronica’s face, pale and terrified in the cold moonlight.
“Actually, you agreeing never to speak to me again isn’t much of a motivator for me,” he said quietly.
She went very still. “Then what is?”
“Call off your guard dog and tell me what’s going on,” he responded.
There was a scuffling sound and Leo D’Amato came around the corner. He looked at Veronica and shook his head.
“This is bad,” the former sheriff’s deputy pointed out.
“We can contain him,” Veronica pleaded urgently. “Twenty-four hours and he’s no longer a threat to us.”
Leo shook his head. “What do you plan on doing? Tie him up and stick him in a corner?”
Veronica hesitated then looked at Logan apologetically. Then she looked back at Leo.
“Yes,” she responded simply.
Logan didn’t know who was more shocked by Veronica’s declaration, him or Leo. He suspected they both had the same stunned expressions on their faces. Leo came out of it faster and shook his head at Veronica.
“Have you lost your mind?” Leo demanded in a loud whisper. “That’s kidnapping.”
Veronica shrugged and gave him a grim smile. “So what’s one more kidnapping added to my list of charges? If I’m going down for one, I’m going down for them all.”
“He can destroy everything,” Leo hissed. “Damn it, Veronica. Do you want to go to jail?”
“Don’t yell at her,” Logan ordered sharply.
Veronica and Leo turned to look at him with matching shocked expressions. Logan was shocked, too. Where the hell had that come from?
Leo sneered. “Since when did you care about Veronica?”
Logan tried to draw a deep breath but it was impossible with the heavy weight sitting on him. “I never stopped caring about Veronica,” he admitted in a low voice. “It was -“
“Never mind that,” Veronica interjected hastily. “We don’t have time for a post mortem.” She turned back to Leo. “We can’t let him go. And now that he’s involved in this, he’s safer with us.”
Leo looked at Veronica steadily for a moment before finally nodding somberly. He turned and walked around the corner. Veronica turned back to face Logan.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I wouldn’t do this if there was any other way.”
Logan was having trouble breathing with sixty pounds of pit bull sitting on his chest. “This isn’t necessary, Veronica,” he wheezed. “Just tell me what’s going on and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Veronica looked at him sadly. “I can’t trust you, Logan,” she said quietly. “If anything goes wrong, we are all going to go to jail for a very, very long time, if we’re lucky.”
“Lucky?” he repeated.
“If the Fitzpatricks catch on to us before we can neutralize them, we’ll all wish we were safely locked behind thick metal bars,” She explained somberly.
“You know I wouldn’t tell the Fitzpatricks squat,” he protested.
Veronica opened her mouth to reply but shut it abruptly when Leo came back around the corner. She stepped back from Logan as Leo approached.
Leo had a length of rope in his hands and a pile of cloth over his shoulder. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” he advised Logan.
Logan’s eyes widened when he realized that Leo was going to tie him up. “This isn’t necessary,” he protested. “I’ll stay quiet and do whatever you say. We don’t have to do the bondage thing.”
Leo ignored him and came closer. Veronica called out to Backup and the pit bull leapt lightly off Logan’s chest. Before Logan could get his bearings, Leo yanked him to his knees, shoved him against the side of the building and efficiently tied his hands behind his back. Logan opened his mouth to protest but Leo shoved a piece of cloth into Logan’s mouth and secured it with another piece of cloth tied around his head. Then Leo yanked him to his feet and pushed him towards Veronica.
She reached out and took the remaining cloth off Leo’s shoulder. “I’m sorry it has to be like this, Logan,” she said quietly. She twirled the cloth between her hands until it was wound up in a thick strip.
Logan shook his head in protest but Leo put his hand on the back of Logan’s neck and forced him to bend down. Veronica put the cloth over his eyes and tied it gently, a delicate contrast to Leo’s quick and impersonal actions.
Leo grabbed Logan’s elbow and guided him forward. Logan felt the immediate drop in temperature when they walked into the boathouse. He felt Veronica’s hand on his other side as she also guided him. Then Leo’s hand fell off and only Veronica’s hand was there. She pushed him back until he touched the wall.
“Why don’t you sit down, Logan,” she suggested. “It’s going to be a long night.” Then she withdrew her touch and said sharply, “Backup, guard.”
Logan heard the pit bull growl from very close by. He leaned back and banged the back of his head lightly against the wall. What the hell was going on? Had he really been kidnapped by Veronica Mars and company? He shook his head and realized that his blindfold had come loose. Logan pressed his head back and carefully sunk down along the wall. The tie around his mouth stayed secure but Veronica’s gentle knot over his eyes loosened and then came undone.
He blinked a couple of times after the cloth fell away. He straightened slowly and took in his surroundings. He was leaning against the wall, at the top of the steps, near the door. The boathouse had two levels of decks, the higher one that he was on and the lower one, at water level, that everyone else was on.
He glanced at Backup, who was sitting near him, alert but controlled, then looked back at the flurry of activity on the lower deck. The boat was floating gently, its nose pointed to the closed automatic door leading to the water. Cassidy and Norris were on their knees, applying adhesive tape over the boat’s identification while Keith and Leo secured a lumpy parcel into the back seat.
Cassidy suddenly jerked and put his hand into his pocket. He drew out his cell phone and flipped it open. He listened for a moment, murmured softly then nodded. He shut the phone and turned to look at a point on the lower deck just below Logan.
“The e-mail’s been sent,” Cassidy announced.
Keith looked up at him and nodded grimly. He also looked to the point on the lower deck. “It’s time,” he called out.
Veronica moved out from under the deck and up to the dock’s edge. Leo moved over to help Cassidy finish covering the boat’s identification as Norris slipped behind the wheel. Keith held the boat steady and nodded again.
Two more people appeared beside Veronica. Both were girls, one appeared to be very young with shiny blond hair while the other, a honey blond, looked vaguely familiar. The two girls held hands and approached Keith.
The honey blonde bent down on one knee so that she was eye level with the little girl. “Okay, Grace, you remember what we talked about, don’t you?”
The little girl nodded and the honey blond pulled her into a tight hug. Leo came over to the girls and gently picked up Grace. He handed her over the side of the boat into Norris’s waiting arms. Norris carefully set the little girl in the passenger seat next to him.
Veronica put her arm around the honey blond and hugged her comfortingly. “Don’t worry, Lizzie,” she said bracingly. “It’s almost over.”
Then Logan placed the honey blond in his mind. It was Lizzie Manning, Meg Manning’s wild-child little sister. But Lizzie used to be a bleached blond with tight clothes and a saucy attitude. Now she had darker hair and a subdued presence.
Cassidy flipped the switch and the well-maintained boat door began to roll up silently. Norris started the boat’s engine and prepared to pull back on the throttle. Grace Manning suddenly slipped out of her seat. Norris didn’t notice as he eased the boat out onto the water.
Logan’s eyes widened as he watched the tiny figure dart into the back seat of the cabin. Was the little girl trying to jump out of the boat? But instead of reaching for the side, Grace threw herself against the parcel secured to the backseat.
Just then, the boat cleared the door and a gust of wind pushed back the cloth covering the parcel. It wasn’t a parcel at all. Long blond hair shone silver in the moonlight and skeletally thin arms wrapped around Grace. The painfully thin woman turned her head and raised her hand in farewell to the group gathered near the door.
Logan’s whole body jerked as he recognized the figure. If he hadn’t been gagged, his mouth would have fallen open. But, even if he hadn’t been gagged, he still wouldn’t have been able to utter a word. There was nothing he could have said as he watched Norris disappear with Grace …and Meg Manning.