At Any Cost

Chapter Three

Escape

The resounding knock set Auggie on edge as it disrupted his interrogation of the Echolls kid. He saw the look of fear in Miguel's eyes and he could only hope that his partner didn't panic. A feeling of disgust passed through Auggie. How did this boy who had no balls get into the gang? The PCH gang stood for bravery and loyalty and Miguel didn't seem to possess any quality. He didn't have any idea who would be on the other side of the door. Weevil didn't want to be physically involved in Logan's kidnapping and no one else knew they were there. A brief image of Keith Mars' face flashed in his mind. Worry that the man who was completely devoted to his daughter had found out what had happened and returned to take care of the problem shot through Auggie. Still, they knew Keith was out of town chasing a bail jumper for the next three days. Auggie cocked the gun, approaching the door slowly. The fist pounded on the door once more, sounding angrier. With each bang, Auggie was ready to protect his own as he unlocked the door, turned the knob, and peeked out to see who was on the other side.

Weevil glared at Auggie, already wanting to let Auggie know how little he enjoyed having to wait on him to answer the door. He wouldn't speak yet because he couldn't risk the 09er hearing his voice. He made several violent motions that indicated his disfavor and desire for Auggie and Miguel to join him on the outside. Auggie resisted the urge to throw the door open to allow Logan and Veronica to see who was behind the curtain. But he couldn't risk Weevil's instant reaction to seeing that they had gone against him and taken Veronica, a girl he had a very public truce with. Auggie motioned for Miguel to follow him out the door. The two slipped out, locking the door behind them, and prepared for Weevil's lecture on loyalty and having to lie about what was really going on now.

Veronica sighed in relief when the door shut behind thug 1 and 2. She was rarely fond of having a gun pointed at her, even when she had full faith she could escape from these two easily. She wasn't a fan of any kind of weapon being used to threaten her and she had the feeling Logan had been faced with them over the last day or so. She actually felt sorry for him and the mess he had gotten them both in to. He had been acquitted of Felix's murder this summer. How long would he have to pay – have to defend himself for it? They were going to have to escape no, while they had a few minutes, or they would be facing the risk of being killed or beaten even more than they already had. They might get caught, but Veronica didn't know when they would have the opportunity to leave again.

She flung her bindings on the floor and rushed to Logan's chair. Logan seemed surprised that she was going to run for it now, but he didn't comment on it. If Veronica was ready to chance it, he wouldn't stop her from doing it. He was obviously very tired of being held hostage and without Veronica; he would likely never escape, no matter how intelligent he was. The gang might actually kill him for retribution. He definitely wasn't ready to be dead, despite his suicidal tendencies. Being faced with your own mortality was quite a bit different from wishing for it. Now that he was faced with it, he refused to accept the mortality.

It almost hurt Logan's manly pride to have Veronica come to his rescue; it probably would have if his savior had been any other girl. However, he wasn't about to let his pride get in the way of escaping. His arms ached and were fatigued from having them spread out and tied up. His wrists were red with rope burn, but that was the least of his problems. He was stiff and weaker than he was willing to admit from lack of nourishment. He'd been held for at least two days by these two thugs and things were just getting worse. He refused to allow Veronica see what he was really feeling, though, so he straightened his spine, popped his back and neck, and placed the cocky smirk onto his face.

"Thanks. I've been pretty uncomfortable for the last few hours." His nonchalance at being kidnapped almost irritated Veronica.

"Tends to happen when you've been tied up for sometime." She dismissed Logan easily after that comment and began searching the room for hidden windows or any other way out. The place was a junk pile, a complete stack of crap that crowded the walls of the room in overflowing boxes along with tables full of knick-knacks that had no apparent use. Veronica had deduced they were either in a garage or a basement, her guess was a garage. Thus the isolation and junk. She figured there must be some other way out of the building and she was going to find it.

She began pushing boxes aside, scanning the walls for any sign of an opening or weakness that they could break through. Logan observed her frantic search with curiosity, standing still for a moment before moving forward and joining her in the search. Logan was pushing boxes out of the way, looking as intently as Veronica when he found the small window. He couldn't picture anyone's body fitting through that window, including Veronica's small frame, but all the same, he called Veronica over to inspect it in case she could come up with any bright ideas.

Veronica was pleased Logan's search had proven fruitful. For once, the boy was useful. She stood next to him, bending down to examine the window pane. She didn't know if she would be able to slide through the window at all, and she knew Logan wouldn't be able to fit through. As far as she could tell, there was no obvious way to open it either. The window was sealed; she couldn't even push it open. She sighed, perplexed. They wouldn't have much more time before the henchmen would return. They had to get out quickly and quietly, but the only thing she could think of was to break the window. Should they chance the men hearing the breaking of the glass or should they try to find another way out? Did they have time for either option? Veronica would have to make the decision and fast.

She glimpsed around at the mountains of junk, willing there to be something in them that would aide them in their escape. She saw the saw lying on the table to her left. She straightened, grabbing the saw to examine the dulled blade. However dull it was, it would have to work. She handed it to Logan and tossed him several quick instructions. "We'll have to do this quickly because it's going to make more noise than we can really afford." She began pointing out where Logan should make the incisions, but made sure he knew to wait until she signaled him to start.

She sent a furtive glance at the door, wondering how much noise would carry through. She found a drop cloth on top of a box, pulling it apart while moving to the door. She shoved the cloth around the insignificant opening at the bottom of the door to muffle any noise that they would be making. She striped off her jacket and wrapped it around her hand to protect her fist, satisfying herself with all the precautions they had taken care of. She finally gave Logan a less than gentle signal to stand over her to start cutting the wood directly above the window while she broke the glass.

Veronica bit her lip while the sound of the glass cracking. She couldn't deny the pain that shot through her arm just from the impact, but it didn't slice through her skin yet, though it did catch on her jacket. She tried to ignore the pain by trying to yank the jagged pieces with her free hand. She had a momentum going in tune with Logan's frantic motions. They were so close to being free. She felt the edge gash deeply down her left hand, but she barely noticed it as she dropped more pieces on the floor. They were almost free. Being free was considerably more important than whining over a simple cut.

Logan was making some serious headway with the wood above the window. He tried to keep a good grip of the wood while it became unattached, but his weakened state made it nearly impossible. The wood hit Veronica's should, just barely missing her neck, and she grunted from the contact. He almost apologized profusely, but Veronica didn't seem the least bit interested in anything he had to say (not completely unusual, but this was different). She pulled the last of the window out and pushed herself through the small opening. She waited only a few moments for Logan to do the same. When he didn't directly follow, she walked on out through the property.

Logan resisted the urge to stay behind and lie in wait for the bikers to return. He would love to show them what it would be like if they were on a level playing field, with Logan not tied up and vastly outnumbered and off guard. He wanted them to know that he wasn't a weak kid that could be thrown around. But he knew that leaving now was the wiser choice. He had no doubt that he would run into those two again. He would be stronger then. And he wouldn't have Veronica to worry about. He tossed the saw on the floor, crunched against the glass, then slid out of the garage quite a bit more awkwardly than Veronica had, his shirt catching on various rough edges.

She had already moved up ahead to see if she recognized any of her surroundings. She had no idea where they were and she had no idea how she was going to get them back where they belonged. Pain was ripping through her arms and shoulders, her hand was throbbing and at the very least she wanted to curl up in a ball and cry while taking a nice, long, hot shower. There was no time for her to be weak and daydreamy right now, she was no more beat up than Logan was. And she'd been held captive for a whole lot less time than Logan had. She couldn't keep complaining, even if it was in her head.

She felt his presence before his arm even draped over hers, knew he was there before the self-serving tone spoke to her.

"You're nice to have around in a tight spot, I guess. Have a lot of experience with escaping from being tied up?"

"You go that way, I'll go this way. Maybe I'll get lucky and you'll drop dead before you even reach town and the vultures will get to your body before anyone finds you."

Miguel stood in the corner, trying his best not to look overly nervous, particularly when Weevils eyes stopped on him and focused in an intent study. He tried to keep his breath steady and look Weevil in thee yes without seeming disrespectful. He knew that Weevil was sizing him up, just as he was sizing the situation up and one wrong move would send both him and Auggie to being outcasts in the PCH gang. Weevil finally stopped studying him, seeming to be satisfied with Miguel's demeanor, so he turned his attention to Auggie, the bolder of the two. Auggie was considerably more relaxed, his stance slouched, his facial expression almost defiant – but not overly so. Weevil recognized the look in his eye; Weevil had had it before, when he had just been a member of the gang. The look almost worried him, but Weevil had faith that he could take care of Auggie if the situation called for it.

"You never hang up on me, got it, Auggie?" Weevil said it while moving in to get into Auggie's face. "We were having a conversation and then you up and end it when I'm not even finished talking. I take that as a sign of disrespect. I don't appreciate disrespect."

Auggie knew that thinking fast would be imperative to him not getting thrown out of the gang and being beaten brutally by the other members. He stiffened only slightly, unnoticeable to a casual observer. Weevil was not a casual observer. He watched Auggie's widened eyes and prepared himself for a creative, on-the-spot lie about why Auggie had hung up on him. He knew exactly how to play this out. Miguel would be an easy target to get the real information out of after Auggie bended the truth in his own favor.

"Logan was making a bunch of noise and I had to go end it. Bringing the phone in with me didn't really make a whole lot of sense. You don't know how much trouble the 09er causes, Weevil. You haven't been here. You left this up to Miguel and me, and I hanging up on you was the only way I could go in there and make him stop."

Weevil gave him a bit of a smile. "I don't here him making any noise now." He hesitated, then continued, "Miguel couldn't take care of it? I wasn't on the phone with him and he was here. Is he too weak to take care of one person who's been tied up for a day? Is that the way it went down, Miguel? Auggie has to do your work while you stand around knitting blankets?"

Miguel immediately looked off guard. He had expected this whole exchange to go through Auggie and Weevil, his thoughts not included. Now he was forced to choose between Auggie and Weevil, backing up Auggie's lie and making himself look bad in front of Weevil or telling Weevil what was really going on, both more or less ending his chance of coming out of this whole mess without some form of violent retribution.

"Not exactly like that, man. I was gone, working on how to make him talk, and I figured Auggie could work Logan over without me here, be able to handle him."

Weevil almost laughed at the look on Miguel's face. These two were trying to save their reputations without ratting each other out too much. Weevil almost liked seeing that much loyalty among members if they weren't using that loyalty to betray him. Weevil nodded enthusiastically in mock belief of what Miguel had just told him.

"Of course. With the two of you split up, I'm sure Echolls is hard to handle on his own. All tied up."

Neither missed the sarcasm in Weevil's voice. They stood on edge while Weevil paced slowly to the door leading into the garage. Something was, without a doubt, going on that he didn't know about. Weevil hated being out of the loop; particularly when it was connected to the death of a gang member and the kidnapping of one of the more prominent sons in Neptune.

He put his hand on the knob and heard the protests of Miguel and Auggie when he twisted it to push it open. Something impeded direct entry and required Weevil to push a little harder. The door finally opened with a drop cloth pooled on the floor next to it. Weevil did a quick scan of the room while Miguel and Auggie clambered to his side. Surprise registered on three faces.

"You lost him? Here's a good question. How do you lose a pansy-ass white boy tied to a chair?

Miguel whispered the name, not even thinking about Weevil hearing it.

"Veronica."