Chapter 10 – Disneyland or Camping?
The group reassembled back at the Fennell household.
"Was anyone followed?" Veronica questioned the room at large.
Dick raised his hand.
Veronica looked at him expectantly, raising her eyebrows, "Oh for the love that's all holy," she muttered. "Dick, we're not in school, you don't have to raise your hand to talk."
Dick quickly snapped his arm out of the air. "Oh yeah, I knew that," he mumbled, "so anyway, I had a tail, but we lost him at the dinner you told us about Ronnie."
Veronica narrowed her eyes at the blonde, "First, no one calls me Ronnie," she said with a touch of hostility.
Here Logan took a moment to interrupt, "Well that's not entirely true now, is it Goldilocks?" he said with a smirk on his lips.
Veronica, ignoring Logan's interruption, continued, "And second, good work," she said to Dick and Cassidy. Both boys smiled at the praise.
Turning to Mac who was sitting in the corner she asked, "Have they figured out where we are yet?"
Mac shook her head in the negative, "No, right now they seem to be trying to figure out where Dick and Cassidy went. They aren't too worried because they think Logan is still in his hotel room," Mac supplied the information that she had gained off of the two bugs that had been planted; one from Veronica's encounter with the tail in the lobby and another on Aaron himself, thanks to Dick.
Logan had been surprised when Veronica told him about the bug that they had managed to place on Aaron. It was a little 'M' Motorola sticker that matched the same sticker on Aaron's cell. Dick had slipped it on as he had caught the man outside of the door, before he shoved him off towards the floor. Keith had given the idea after he mentioned what type of cell phone Aaron had been carrying on his belt the day he confronted Logan. Logan was awed that in the short time of going into his hotel room to wait she had managed to tell Dick how to discreetly plant a bug. That she even had that much foresight was just another way of proving that Veronica Mars knew the P.I. business.
Everyone was quite, either watching Mac monitor the audio feed or trying not to watch Veronica as she paced around the guest apartment. They were all a little surprised when Veronica had led everyone out to the apartment in the back of the Fennell house. But it did serve her purpose. She had gotten them 'off of the map' sort of say, giving her time to try and come up with a place where they could all hold up until the beach house was ready for occupancy.
Veronica mentally ticked through different options that sprang to mind: going to Disneyland – but then Aaron's group could simply follow the hotel reservations and credit cards, going camping – but they would need gear (again the money issue) and different cars…plus did she really think she could camp with a bunch of prissy 09er boys, they might be able to stay at Weevil's, Mac's or Wallace's houses – but that put too much risk on their families…so she was at a loss of what to do.
Stopping her pacing, she finally turned towards the group. "So yeah, I'm having a little difficulty coming up with a place for all of us to stay. Anyone got any ideas?" she questioned hopefully.
Everyone looked at Veronica in disbelief. Their fearless leader didn't have a plan?
"Well…we could stay at," Mac began, fading to a stop when she didn't come up with anything.
"Yeah, we could…," Cassidy trailed off too.
"Shit, you could stay at…," Weevil faltered in his bravo when he didn't come up with one place to stay that wouldn't be putting his family at risk, something he was unwilling to do, even for the tiny blonde one.
"Can't we just stay at wherever you hid Duncan?" Logan questioned.
All the eyes in the room turned towards Veronica quickly. Veronica, herself, whipped her eyes towards Logan. "Wh..what do you mean?" she tried to sound innocent.
Logan just smirked, shaking his head, "come on Ver-on-ic-a," he said her name, pulling out all of the syllables. "Do you really think that I believe that Donut could escape the FBI without some help?"
Veronica was dumbstruck, besides her father, she didn't think anyone would have connected the dots with her helping Duncan escape. Glancing around the room she saw that most everyone was either shocked or surprised with Logan's revelation. Not wanting to dwell on having to explain it to everyone she simply said, "I'd love to stuff us in the apartment we used, but unfortunately it's been rented since. Plus, it's too close to my home…one of the places they will be looking for us. Never mind the fact that the seven of us would tear one another part in a one bedroom, 800 square feet apartment."
Weevil snorted, "First off, I'm not going to be 'staying' with you all, wherever you land. Logan's old man has no idea that I'm involved with all of you, therefore I shouldn't be on anyone's radar. Second, being 'off the radar' allows me to be your eyes and ears out in the public. Wherever you all end up stashed, you won't have to leave the confines until we're ready to move it all to the beach house," Weevil stated all of this information to Veronica like he had already come to this particular conclusion long ago.
Veronica wondered at his statement, but saw the reasoning behind everything. She would need someone on the outside that would be able to move around, and Weevil was right, it wasn't like Aaron suspected the previous PCH leader to be involved with anything doing with Logan. "Okay, I think you're right," she replied, "here is a disposable phone, the only number you should be calling is the one that's already programmed into it," she handed him the phone, then raised a matching one in her other hand, indicating who he would be calling.
Weevil took the phone; glancing at it to make sure it had a lot of battery and slipped it into the chest pocket of his leather jacket.
Veronica turned back to everyone else still in the room, "this still doesn't solve the question of where we need to stay…" she informed everyone.
There was silence for several minutes, everyone contemplating her words trying to figure out a place that would be safe for the short term future.
"Fuck!" Logan stated loudly, attracting everyone's attention, "why didn't I think of this sooner." He actually hit himself on the side of the head in a 'duh' fashion.
Veronica smiled at how simple he could be at times; "well?" she questioned the excited boy.
"Conner's," he stated simply, like that would explain everything.
"Conner's? Like as in Conner Larkin?" Veronica inquired, not able to hide her skepticism. "Don't you think he would be more than willing to share with your 'concerned' father where his son is staying?"
"Oh, I don't doubt for a minute that he would give me up, but it won't matter because he is in Mongolia filming for another…," here Logan looked at the date on his watch, figuring out the length of time Conner was still to be absent, "eight weeks."
At this statement Wallace chimed in with a concern, "it's a great idea man, but how the hell would be even get granted access to some Hollywood playboy's mansion?"
"Not a problem, not a problem," Logan muttered pulling his cell from his jacket pocket, dialing a number. "Hey Mandy, yeah it's Logan…Logan Echolls, yes. Oh yeah, thanks for your support," Logan rolled his eyes at the obvious mention of his father, "yeah…well I was calling because I needed a place to stay while the whole media frenzy blows over and Conner always said 'Mi Casa is Su Casa, Logan'. So…I was gonna take him up on the offer." Logan listened to 'Mandy's' response. "No that's great, thanks so much. Oh and Mandy? I really want to keep this on the 'down low', no telling anyone…not Conner…not my father…not either of their agents…nobody…otherwise I'd have to let Conner know about that huge bash you threw three weeks ago…yeah that one…the one where a bunch of strippers broke the aquarium killing his…yeah, you get it. Thanks," he finished his blackmail with an evil grin.
Snapping the phone shut, he said, "It's all set. I've got the pass code to the entrance and I already know where he keeps the spare keys. We'll have access to a couple of cars that can't be tracked back to us and a safe location."
Veronica and group simply looked at the young man in awe. Veronica walked over to him, laying her hands on each side of his face, "You can be a little scary…you know that right?" she questioned him, then laid her lips against his cheek.
Logan smiled, pulling the girl closer with his hands. Looking at everyone in the room he said, "excuse us a minute." He dragged Veronica over to the small bathroom, shutting the door behind them to give them a little privacy. Leaning down to catch her lips in a searing kiss, Logan wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her flush with his heated body.
Their tongues tangled together, pushing and pulling, wrapping and touching for several minutes. Logan broke the kiss first, resting his forehead against Veronica's. "You are treading in deep water, Kitten…you can't just place your lips anywhere on my body with out thinking I'm going to respond. Don't forget that…" the last part was said into the hallow of her neck as he nuzzled his lips up and around to her pulse point sucking shortly while she moaned her approval.
Veronica finally pushed her hands against his chest, "okay, I get the picture…but it's hard to control myself sometimes," she giggled out. Turning to face the closed door, her hand reached for the doorknob. Logan pushed her body against the door, pressing his close against her backside. Leaning down he started nibbling on her ear.
"Kitten, you should know better than to turn your back on a predator…we aren't finished yet, don't forget that," he finally pulled his body back, releasing her to open the door.
The two flushed teens stumbled out back into the living area. Veronica looked around at everyone, noticing how they were trying to avoid looking at her and her obvious arousal.
"Okay, so now we have a place to stay, now we just have to figure out how to get over there…" she stated.
"Well, I can take Dick, Cassidy and Wallace in my car," stated Mac, "I really don't think they've got my car yet on the list of ones to watch," she reasoned.
Veronica nodded her head at this assessment, agreeing with the girl. "So that just leaves Logan and me," she stated.
Logan stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around the top of her shoulders. "Let's have Weevil drop us at a rental agency," he said, "then we can rent something with one of your aliases."
Veronica agreed to this idea. The group took a couple of extra minutes to figure out the rest of the details: how to get their clothes, who would get groceries, and who would bring the 'entertainment' as Dick had questioned – stating he wasn't going to be locked in a house that held only Conner Larkin's DVD and video game tastes. Finally it was settled that everyone would tell their parents that they were going to go camping for the next week with fellow seniors at San Elijo State Beach. Dick and Cassidy would have to go back to the mansion and get clothes and 'entertainment' for the stay. They were instructed to leave by the back gate, where Mac and Wallace would be waiting for them. Veronica was, of course, going to fill her father in on everything and would have him meet her at the local supermarket with clothes. She and Logan were responsible for getting the groceries for everyone.
Having decided everything, the group dispersed. Weevil was taking the Casablanca boys back to the dinner to get their car, dropping them off before they were spotted in his car, keeping his identity secret from whoever was waiting for the boys to return to their car. Weevil would then drop Veronica and Logan off at the rental place for getting a different vehicle to drive.
Veronica felt that things would go off without a hitch, and for once, she was right.