At
Any Cost
Chapter Two
Disrespect
The cell phone's ring was enough to stop the bitter fight between Auggie and Miguel. Initially, Miguel had thought bringing Veronica Mars to entice Logan to confess was an excellent plan. Granted, it was a dangerous one, but he was sure it was a positive way to make the Echolls kid talk. But listening to him point out all the errors in their grand scheme was enough to make Miguel reconsider. They could talk Veronica back to her apartment and she might even ignore the fact that she'd been kidnapped if they talked to her, explained the situation. Weevil wouldn't have to find out about this and in return, Miguel wouldn't be beaten to a bloody pulp on the boardwalk after being kicked out of the PCH gang. He was rather hopeful for his thoughts on how to get out of the problem he'd gotten himself in, but Auggie wasn't listening to him. Auggie was obsessed with getting Logan's confession, and he was willing to face Weevil's wrath for it. Miguel wasn't too happy with being involved in this anymore, but there was no way to get out of it if Auggie didn't let Veronica go. The minute the phone rang, both of their faces fell into a stony expression that only proved their reputation of toughness.
Miguel was not going to be the one to answer it. He couldn't possibly talk to Weevil right now. He hated that he was so nervous; he felt less manly for it. The fact that Weevil could have him removed from the gang with a snap of his fingers didn't matter. The principle of being scared of someone his own age, one of his own made him feel inferior and pansy-like. All the same, he wasn't going to face Weevil now.
Auggie had a similar look on his face; a fear all his own of talking to Weevil. He knew it would be no problem to lie to Weevil, especially when Weevil wasn't even around. But what if the Mars girl woke up and started yelling and Weevil overheard? What would they do if Weevil wanted to make his own trip to the garage to have a chat with Logan himself? The only thing that comforted Auggie was the fact that Weevil didn't want to dirty his hands with actually being here to torment Logan, and that Weevil was becoming more and more distant to the gang with every passing day. He was still leader…for now, but that could change any minute, particularly if Auggie got what every PCH member wanted. Felix's killer. So he finally decided he could answer the phone and get out of whatever it was Weevil wanted.
"Hello?"
"It took you long enough, man. I hate waiting around, Augusto."
Auggie almost laughed at Weevil's attempt at toughness. He had never doubted Weevil's power in the gang when he'd joined, but sometimes he wondered if all that Weevil put up was a front full of power and hate, when truly Weevil would rather by writing poetry or something equally as ridiculous. And every time Weevil tried to assert his power like that, Auggie just wanted to tell him to stop talking, because he wasn't nearly as dangerous as he thought he was.
"Yeah. Well, I was busy. I couldn't exactly start talking to you in front of the guy, now could I? You never know what he can hear over the line, even from where he's tied up."
Weevil didn't respond to Auggie's sarcastic reply, but continued on with what he had called for.
"Has he talked yet?"
"He keeps his claim of innocence. You know, it's just like in jail, where everyone is innocent even when we are all guilty. I don't know why he keeps lying about it."
"The gun hasn't even made him admit to Felix's murder?" Weevil's voice sounded surprised. He'd never really expected Logan to hold up after he had a gun waved around in his face, pointed at his hands and other valuable parts of his anatomy.
"Nope, nada. We've decided to try another method." Auggie's voice had turned dark and low, and he looked to see Miguel shaking his head emphatically. Miguel obviously didn't like the way Auggie played with their leader, intriguing him to the point that Miguel knew Weevil would ask what it was. As if on cue with Miguel's thoughts, Weevil asked, "What method is that? You haven't cleared anything with me and I didn't give you any other orders."
"You told me to do whatever it takes to get the truth about Felix. That's what I'm doing. You'll just have to wait for the results."
With that, Auggie actually hung up the phone. Miguel was open-mouthed at Auggie's disrespect toward Weevil, and the fact that Auggie didn't answer when Weevil called back shocked him even more. Auggie had obviously lost his mind and Miguel didn't want to take part in this anymore. But he couldn't leave. That was one of the major points of the gang. They all stuck together.
"This is a really bad idea, Auggie."
"Let's go back in and see if Blondie's awake."
Weevil didn't feel as confident in his friends as he once had. Felix's death had been a breaking point amongst the gang members and he felt less and less sure of how loyal the PCHers were anymore. He was discovering they each had their own particular endeavors that he hadn't known about. He felt his power and pull over the gang slowly slipping away and he absolutely was not going to let that happen.
Which was exactly why he couldn't stand the fact that he had just been hung up on by Augusto Hueres. He was the leader of this gang; he was the one who'd given the okay for Logan's little kidnapping; and he fast felt he was losing control of even something that was his idea. Auggie had ignored any questions that he'd had about this new method they had decided to try and he had a gut feeling that something bad was happening. He didn't think his fellow members would resort to murder, but with the right incentive (justice? truth? revenge?) they just might. No one could stand that Felix had been murdered.
Weevil missed Felix, not something he was exactly open with, but something he wouldn't hide, either. Felix had been his best friend. They'd fought, all the time actually, because Felix rarely felt like taking any kind of orders. He, above all else, understood the anger that arose from the murder of their friend. He took it as a personal affront to have someone attack his gang; they were one of the most feared gang in Neptune, along with the Fitzpatricks. If someone was brave enough to go against them…and murder one of them, the gang was obviously losing respect in the town and that posed a threat against all of the PCH members.
He was going to have to go find them and make sure everything was going as they planned. He would make sure that the boys hadn't departed too far from their initial plan and then he was going to see if he could get Logan to talk. By now, Logan would know that he was behind the intimidation plan. He would know a PCHer by appearance. So he might as well own up to it. What would the 09er do anyway?
Veronica had managed to find a way to slip her hands out from beneath the rope that the idiot had tied her up with. Honestly, she was a little offended that he didn't think enough of her abilities to get out of sticky situations to tie her up with something better. Sure, it burned a little to wrench her hands from the thick bindings, but it was hardly impossible…or even that challenging. She kept them available in the instance that they came in to check up on the two of them. Her next plan was to figure out a way to escape from this small, uncomfortable room with an injured Logan in tow. But sometimes, her thought processes were a lot easier thought than executed.
"Could you hurry it up a bit, Veronica? I figured you were an expert at escaping bondage." Logan's snarky tone held just enough suggestion in it to make Veronica seriously consider leaving Logan behind to face the psychos himself.
Instead, she smirked sexily and let him see the rope dangling in her hands, instead of around them. "Escaping has never been my problem. You've always been the root of all my problems. Of course, if you prefer the S & M approach, as you just hinted to me, I'm sure the boys wouldn't mind if I left you tied up here."
The look on Logan's face was enough to draw pure pleasure out of Veronica. She was about to say something else when she heard the door knob jiggle before it was turned. She whipped her arms back into place and slid her wrists through the holes.
Logan tried to avoid whipping his head over to make sure she was back in her bindings. The sight of the two thugs entering the room was enough to make the room fill with a tension other than the sexual tension Logan and Veronica often had when they were near each other. She was safely tucked away in the rope and he relaxed a bit, knowing that Veronica would be okay as long as the thugs didn't figure out what she was doing.
"You're conscious again. You know, for all the front you put up at school, you were awfully easy to take down. And the sheriff is always going on and on about how hard you are to catch at anything, since you're so sneaky with your investigative skills. I just had to walk right in, and grab you, and you barely even put up a fight. You obviously depend on your dog a little too much."
Veronica was hardly offended by this guy's appraisal of her ability to fight back against the biker gang. It was better than he underestimates her abilities anyway, because then his guard would be down, and it'd make her great escape considerably easier.
"Well, you know, a girl wants to sleep and suddenly, the boogeyman comes to rip her from her bed. Why'd you bring me here anyway? As far as I know, I haven't been investigating anything major, you know to merit getting kidnapped by the biker gang. By the way, you think I could talk to Weevil? I mean, I know we haven't been getting along lately, but I didn't think he would be okay with me being kidnapped."
The boy ignored her comments about Weevil completely. Instead, he turned his attention from the small blond and walked over to Logan. Veronica couldn't help but notice that the other one stood almost cowering in the back of the room. He didn't seem very happy about the situation and Veronica wondered if she could play that to her advantage. It would be very easy to make him wonder about what they were doing, and then maybe she could get his help, if the case warranted it.
The one closest to Logan began to talk to him.
"So, you feel like talking to us about Felix yet?"
He began to twirl the gun in his hand, in a dangerous spinning motion that would make it very easy to accidentally fire the gun. Logan watched as the end continually pointed at Veronica, and the pit in his stomach grew.
"Of course, I'll talk about him. His mom worked for the Casablancas. You know, for an older woman, she certainly is hot. Felix didn't look anything like her…"
The boy strolled casually back over to Veronica and before any of them knew it, he jerked Veronica's head to face him and he slapped her easily. The slap stung, but Veronica refused to show any kind of pain. She wasn't the type to give the satisfaction to them. But she couldn't keep the fear from her eyes when the gun was suddenly in her face, pointed directly in her temple. She tried not to let out a whimper, but she did, and she hated herself at that moment for showing the weakness.
Logan couldn't stand that she was being hurt and the thought of watching this guy pull the trigger that could end Veronica's life, and it was almost enough to yell out a confession. But he resisted, because he honestly didn't think he was going to be able to change the effect that this would have on Veronica. Besides, these guys probably wouldn't kill Veronica. The after-effects would be too much to actually do that.
And almost on cue, a knock on the door stopped everything.
The two thugs exchanged nervous looks that Logan noted with a great deal of satisfaction. Something was happening.
