Author's Note: Hello, I must admit I didn't watch Veronica Mars when it first was on television. I didn't watch much television in high school. I do however have Netflicks. Which is a Godsend to people on the go all the time like M and I. So I watched the seasons and fell in love with Dick. I think his character didn't have time to develop and have depth. So I decided to write about him and Mac. That character reminds me of one of my good friend Alexis. I hope you enjoy…review if you have a moment. I love input.
The Mackenzie Group
Clancy opened the door to their office before she could reach it, handing her a cup of chi tea in the process. She frowned as she took a sip. "Today, I need coffee with a shot of Espresso." She told her assistant.
Clancy's mocha skin creased slightly as he frowned, disapproval clear on his face. "You have to stop staying up late. It's bad enough that you get out of here at 8:00 every night."
She ignored him as she looked at the four rows of computers that were being attended to by her many employees. "How is everyone doing this morning?" she asked with a smile.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to let out a little what or holler.
"That's what I like to hear. Adrian, 20 minutes my office." She said to her pit boss. Adrian nodded in response straightening his glasses.
"You got it, Mac." He replied.
Mac sat in her chair putting her feet up as she logged into her computer. She was well aware that her over attentive assistant was watching her. "I'm dying Clancy, coffee please." She said with a slight grin.
Clancy sat down in the chair in front of her glass desk. "Look Mac, I know that you're a classic overachiever but you have to give yourself a break."
Mac smirked "Clancy are we having an intervention?"
"Stop making jokes. You need a vacation. This place will be running just as smoothly with you away for a couple of days. We got this. You trained us well." Clancy assured her.
Mac rubbed her temple "Where would I go, Clancy?" She knew he was right and Clancy smiled knowing that he was chipping away at his boss' wall.
He slid a green envelope across the desk. Mac picked it up and looked at the decorative paper inside. She snorted chucking at him. "That's not a vacation. That's hell, Clancy. Go get my coffee." She said opening up an e-mail from Agent Wiand.
Clancy sucked his teeth "It's been 10 years, seeing you're high school classmates could be fun."
"As fun as a trip to the dentist." She retorted, reading the e-mail carefully. Apparently, her new program was going to under review next month. She had been waiting for a hard date from the board for months.
"When's the last time you been home, Mac? I mean I know you're father misses you." He argued.
"Clancy, honey coffee please." She said hitting the reply button before starting to type.
"Only if you consider going back home for a couple of weeks." He bargained.
"You're fired." She said with a smile as she hit send.
Clancy laughed "yeah, I heard that one before. I don't know every day for the past four years."
She locked eyes with her trusted friend "I'll think about it. Coffee. Now." She evenly.
"Coming right up." He said with pep in his stepped.
"Oh and get the pit some bagels, spreads and some OJ."
He winked leaving.
When he was gone she took another look at the invitation to her high school reunion. Should she go? She gripped her cell phone, punching in a couple of numbers that she called at least once a day.
"Mac Attack, how goes it mama." His voice filled her ear.
"Hey, Weevil. I'm doing good. How are you doing?" she mused.
"You know just another day in paradise." He said nonchalantly.
Weevil had become a good friend to Mac when she moved out to New York. Two years after high school, Weevil decided he wanted a fresh start with his juvie record officially sealed he enrolled in community college in Queens. Mac happened to be teaching a computer science class there. Friendship came surprisingly easy to both of them. It was nice to see a familiar face in a sea of strangers. Even if you were terrified of that person in high school.
Mac was even the Godmother of Weevil's first child. She knew that he was in between classes by the way he was talking. Weevil tried to always speak proper around the trouble youth that came through his door being the high school consular in Spanish Harlem.
"Did you get your invitation?" she asked after a couple of minutes of idle conversation.
Weevil laughed "Yup, it came three days ago."
Clancy walked into Mac's office with a croissant and a large mug of coffee. Mac perked up immediately giving him a wink before taking a sip.
"So are you going?" she asked after realizing that she wouldn't be getting an answer out of him.
"I don't know, yet. It's like this M, do I really want to see all those MFs that thought I was scum in high school? Probably not. Why you going?"
Mac was silent taking a sip of her coffee.
"You are! Holy shit, I bet your whole little detective squad will be there." Weevil joked.
"Oh, joy." Mac rolled her eyes with sarcasm.
"Maybe it'll be good for you to go home and see everyone. Well for them to see you." He said seriously.
She felt like she should feel insulted. "Why?"
"Baby girl, you've done big things in the last 10 years. You really came into your own. How many people work for you?" Weevil asked with a pause, not waiting for her to respond. "Okay then."
"I don't know, Weevil. What if…" I feel like the stuttering 17 year old….
"You want me to come? I'm sure Parker wouldn't mind. She said she's never going back to Neptune." He laughed at that.
Mac laughed along with him. To this day, it was a little fuzzy as how Parker and Weevil got together. Parker had already been in New York when she ran into Weevil. They were married six months later. Mac was the only guest from Neptune High invited. That was well over 7 years ago. Parker worked at a Catholic hospital as a Pharmacist. They had two boys and a little girl named after Mac.
"Are you sure? I mean…I know you can't just take off." Mac said trying to find an excuse to get out of it. Weevil was her sure way out of not going. That was going to hell in the hand basket as he continued to be a good friend.
"Hell, a vacation from these bad asses. Hold on, Mac." He said; Mac could hear the change in his voice.
Mac looked up to see Adrian perched in her guest chair with his notebook ready for the meeting. She took out her own agenda as she heard Weevil going off.
"Mr. Consalo, I'm not going to tell you again. Sit that ass down in that chair. I see we have to have that little talk again." He snapped.
Mac chuckled to herself as Weevil picked up the phone. "I'm sorry Mac I gotta go. My daily visitor is here. I'm going to call Parker later and then book my flight." He hung up without giving her time to respond.
Mac cursed under her breath as she leaned further back in her chair. "What's it looking like, Adrian?" she asked, taking a pen out of the draw. "How are the new decoys working out?"
Adrian smiled "I was just about to speak on that. Patricia and Carey have both already set up dates this afternoon with two perps that think they're 13 years old. NYPD will be there to make sure everything goes smoothly."
Mac smiled "Excellent hires, Adrian. How's traffic?" she asked jotting down a little note to herself to check that status of that. She wanted all her decoys to be safe at all times. It was risky business pretending to be prey for predators.
Adrian beamed at the praise as he should. "Traffic has been moderate. We did however flag two previous offenders on two sites that display child porn. The FBI already has their IP addresses. Other than that has been a slow week."
Pleased with the results of her pit boss she took a gulp of her coffee. A firm but affirmative knock made her look from her notes. "Come in!" she said.
Jesse a real gem that had recently been expelled from MIT for hacking a Federal firewall stood in the door way, clearly shaken up. "I think I found gold." He said.
Mac propelled herself out of her seat. "Show me." She said making sure she grabbed her coffee. Finding gold was what everyone at the Mackenzie group used when they found something that would be worth while to the authorities or to whomever had hired them to find someone.
Jesse sat back down at his desk as Mac peered over his shoulder looking at the website.
"Help me out a little, what am I looking at?" Mac said swallowing a piece of her croissant.
Jesse was clearly thrilled about something. "So check it, I was scanning Craig list to see if anything stood out. You know, key words, sayings-"
"She knows, Jesse. Let's skip to the punch line, dude." Adrian said making Jesse straighten up slightly.
"Sorry, anyway there were several post in reference to a website that sold fine art for really cheap and worth every penny. At first I thought it was stupid but each post was in eight different sections of Craigslist with the exact same web link. Go to the link and this is what I get."
Mac frowned "What kind of art site won't let you look at anything without a username and password? Alright Jesse, you got my spider senses tingling."
"In order to get a username and password you gotta send a photo id as well as credentials."
"So you fabricated that and got a username and password."
Jesse nodded, plugging in his information.
Adrian snorted as Mac rolled her eyes "Really WildJesse45?" she mused taking a sip of her coffee. Her eyes widened as the screen changed.
"See jackpot." Jesse said simply folding his hands behind his head.
"Call Agent Wiand, get his people on this. Correlate the IP addresses before their defense system catches on to the Feds." She said quickly to Adrian who was already dialing. "Great work rookie. You can have the day off as soon as this is squared away. Let's shut the damn site down."
The faces of girls ages 7 to 16 were staring back at her. Wearing inappropriate clothing and in provocative positions. Days like these reminded Mac why she started this company.
She patted his shoulder "You know my rule. Jesse found gold everyone! Lunch is on me." She said to the entire pit before heading back to her office where she could watch the entire "floor". Mac was a strong believer that if you're employees felt that they would loved…then they would show love. Her crew was some of the most hardworking hackers, decoys and computer savvy people in the business.
Around midday after Agent Wiand left, a thought crept in Mac's head. She wondered if Veronica still worked for the FBI. They had lost contact soon after Mac decided to leave Hearst to transfer to Drexel in Philadelphia. Funny how distance truly test a friendship.
She rolled her eyes as she pressed the receiver on her ear piece. "Clancy book my flight."
"Already done, you leave tomorrow night at 5:30. I also booked Mr. Navarro's flight."
Mac could have cursed out her assistant if she didn't realize that he knew her all too well. "Thanks Clancy, that's why you're my number one."
"Don't I know it, Mac."
She leaned back in her chair staring at her computer screen. She could sleep for days…but there was too much work to do. Especially with this little "vacation". She typed in a name in a search engine that she hadn't thought about in years.
Images of a more mature male, blonde and handsome, with a different model type woman on his arm in each one. He still looked as good as she remembered. Mac groaned loudly to herself feeling like she was 18 again. Those old feelings coming up like vomit. Hopefully he didn't come. She had a feeling he would be. High School were definitely his glory days. He wouldn't miss it for the world. Mac hoped that Dick didn't hate her too much after the way she left things.
The night he made her see fireworks.
