I don't own VM or any of its franchise, but I'm definitely not saying no, if offered.

This chapter is betaed by the wonderful Smashmo. I am seriously starting to love her and I'm so glad I'm keepin her so busy that she's forced to only beta for me...Right, Smashmo?

A/N Sorry about the wait, but not only have I been busy with a death in the family, but last week I got in an accident and the following pain medication made me more interested in staring straight ahead and giggling than typing. That said, I've decided to forego some of my original plotideas, maybe I'll use them in another story later. This chapter is as a consequence very fast paced, so I hope you'll enjoy it. The end is drawing closer now.

Chapter Ten: Secrets, Stupidity and Surprises

Logan was sitting in his private booth in The River Styx, going over some paperwork. He was in the middle of quietly taking pictures of every page with his cell phone when one of his oldest followers, a 60 year old former boxer who'd been a freelance bodyguard in his prime, Dennis, interrupted him.

"Mr. Echolls, you have a visitor. Want me to kick his ass out, tell him to come back later?"

Logan pocketed his phone discreetly, glancing over at the bar and locking eyes with Weevil. Knowing that the Latino was anything but stupid, Logan had expected his visit after the whole unexpected ordeal with Veronica, and stated calmly to the waiting Dennis, "Don't worry. I always have time for my old school chums."

A few seconds later, Weevil reached Logan's table and quickly took a seat. Logan held up a hand. "Not here, let's go to my office."

The two young men walked into Logan's private office and Logan gestured to the shelf in the corner, where there were a few different bottles of alcohol. "Make yourself a drink if you want."

Weevil shook his head, declining the beverage and true to his form, immediately jumped into his reason for visiting the underground leader so late at night.

"I spotted V coming back to the safe house after talking to you earlier."

Logan leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms casually. "Good for you, nice to hear your eyes still work properly."

"Stop being an ass and tell me what you did to her! She looked really out of it, Echolls. We don't have time for this. You swore you could handle it."

Logan's casualness abruptly changed into his expressionless mask. "What goes on between me and Veronica is none of your business, Weevil. I can handle it, I've been handling things ever since before she left town, remember?"

Weevil's jaw tightened, it was obvious that he was trying to rein in his temper, knowing just which one of them was the strongest. "I remember. I also remember you all but begging me to help you out and I've been doing that ever since that day. It cost me my friendship with V, a friendship I've only marginally restored ever since she got back here. So don't give me any bullshit about handling things. I need to know that you're still on schedule, we've waited a long time for this."

Logan nodded curtly. "I know you've made sacrifices, Eli and I appreciate it. That means nothing to you, I know that, but still, I'm glad you're at my side."

The tension in the room lessened, and after another long moment, Logan took a deep breath and changed the subject. "As a matter of fact, I have a delivery for you, so it was good that you showed up like you did. No one will suspect a thing," Logan smirked and looked almost mischievous, "as long as you don't exactly leave as quietly as you came."

Rolling his eyes, Weevil held out his hand for the cell phone, Logan was now holding out to him. "So, it's gonna be the bathroom routine again or what?"

A few minutes later, the door to Logan's office was suddenly thrown open and Weevil was literally tossed out of the room. He looked ruffled and his lip was bleeding. In the next second, Logan appeared in the doorway, holding a gun at the panting Latino.

"Don't come in here acting like you own the place. I own you, remember that." With a sharp look to his subordinates, Logan stopped them from shooting Weevil on the spot and he walked toward his private booth as though he'd just had a small break instead of a brawl.

In the meantime, Weevil was assisted in leaving by an eager looking Dennis.

--

At the safe house, Veronica was trying to forget about the kiss she'd shared with Logan by looking into some of the numerous reports that Mac had procured; trying being the focal word. No matter how much the blonde F.B.I. agent tried, she just couldn't stop reliving the whole experience in her head.

The feeling of his warm lips and his strong body molding itself into hers… No, Veronica forced herself to concentrate on the increase in the Sorokins' involvement in the Neptune area over the last six months. Suddenly her eye caught something and she frowned, leaning forward to make sure she was reading things correctly.

"What's up, Bond?"

Mac's voice behind her surprised Veronica, and having never been one to handle surprises very well, before she knew it, she'd pointed her hidden Beretta on Mac.

"Oh, sorry," Veronica muttered, putting the gun away when her actions caught up with her, "I'm just a little on edge today, I guess."

"Tell me about it," Mac didn't even seem fazed by being held at gunpoint, she simply jumped over the couch and placed herself next to Veronica. "You've been acting weird ever since you stormed out of here to talk to Logan."

Eager to change the subject, Veronica pointed at the screen in front of her. "Look, I think I found something. It doesn't make any sense. I could use your input."

Mac frowned, copying Veronica's stance and leaned forward, scanning the words. "What am I looking at?"

"It's the statistic over the Sorokins' power increase here in Neptune, but something is off; see?" Veronica pointed at a place in the middle of the page.

"It looks like they haven't had such a smooth access to Neptune as we were led to believe. Look," pointing again, Veronica added, "just a few months ago, Gory lost over ten million dollars when his shipment of drugs was intercepted by the Sheriff's department. I never knew he had the slightest bit of trouble edging his way into Neptune. Did you?"

Mac shook her head, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "I think you're right. Something is very odd. I have a feeling we've been kept in the dark."

Veronica nodded, feeling her temper rising as a response to the truth staring her in the face. "Dick and Logan have been keeping things from us. Serious things; Something tells me that this might be a clue to why I can't contact Ripley and why I'm not supposed to take Logan in, despite him having killed…" Veronica didn't finish the sentence, still unable to speak of that day without feeling her heart break all over again, especially after her intimate moment with Logan.

"I'll go hunt down Dick and maybe I'll get something from that. You go see if Echolls is willing to share something too." Mac started to say, but raised her eyebrows in surprise when Veronica instantly interrupted.

"No! I mean," Veronica shrugged in mock casualness, "I'd rather talk to Dick, he's more afraid of me than he is of you. We'll rendezvous here later, okay?"

Mac didn't even get a chance to object before Veronica had grabbed her gun and left the safe house to locate Dick. She smiled and leaned back, waiting for the inevitable.

And not two minutes later, Veronica re-entered the house, looking slightly embarrassed. Mac smiled again and stated calmly, while strapping on a gun herself, "You got halfway out of the driveway before you realized that Dick is at the bar with Logan, didn't you?"

"Shut up and come, will you." Was the only reply Veronica deemed necessary.

The two women quickly made their way to the River Styx and Mac tried to act uncommonly cheerful when she felt her blonde friend's anxiety spike the closer they got to the bar.

--

Dick was not having the best of days. He'd been on his way back to the safe house after an abnormal day at the bar. Weevil had shown up, while he was in the back with one of Liam's numerous cousins, counting some money they'd laundered.

Before he realized it, Weevil had surprisingly been thrown out on his ass and Logan acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. Dick knew better; knew that there was something going on with his friend and boss that he wasn't privy to.

And he hated it. But, Dick reasoned with himself when Logan simply looked coolly up at him, refusing to answer his questions, it's not like I haven't kept secrets from him.

One of those secrets was why he was in the trouble he now found himself in. On the way back out to his car, he'd suddenly felt something pound painfully into the back of his head. Then nothing... until he woke up, tied to a chair with an incredible headache.

"Awake at last, how nice." A familiar voice crept into Dick's awareness and he turned his head and met Gory's eyes head on.

"What the fuck is going on?" Dick hissed, trying to hide his growing fear.

Gory seemed to like the fear and smiled politely to the struggling blond. "Well, I think we needed to have a little chat after our meeting at the bar got cut so short. How have you been?"

Dick swallowed nervously, trying with all his might to appear as blasé as he knew Logan would have been in the same situation. "I'm a bit tied up at the moment, but other than that, things are going great."

Gory smirked, and then winced as the fresh cut on his cheek started to crack, leaking a bit of blood. Dick copied Gory's earlier smirk at the sight. "Nasty cut you got there, Sorokin. Logan knows just where to put his signature, doesn't he?"

Every bit of faked politeness in Gory vanished at Dick's mocking words and he mutely finished dabbing his cut before saying emotionlessly, "You are right, of course. You'll see that for yourself before long, so I'm glad you noticed and appreciate it."

Frowning, Dick asked with his heart thumping in his chest, "What are you talking about?"

"After my little meeting with Echolls, I found myself curious about your presence and lack of facial scars such as mine."

Gory continued with an evil glint in his eyes that truly frightened Dick beyond anything he'd ever experienced before. "I mean, why would he allow you to be his second in command when in fact you're the reason those girls got hurt? It puzzled me as I was getting cleaned up, but then it hit me; he doesn't know the whole truth."

Dick swallowed back his fears, attempting to bluff, "You've got it all wrong, man. Logan just knows that his anger is misplaced on me and realizes that you're the reason the girl he loves is a caricature of her former self."

Gory laughed, and the sound added to Dick's discomfort. "I did hurt that girl. Quite a lot, I might add, but little Cassablancas; I'm not the bad guy here. At least not the main one anyway. You brought this whole thing down on us. Bringing my attention to Logan's whore, getting him crazy enough to allegedly kill her old man somehow was a result of that." Gory looked positively gleeful as he continued, "thus ending his romantic involvement with miss Mars, forcing her to leave town and then he morphed into the man he is today. So all in all, my good man, it really is entirely your fault. Don't you see that now?"

Dick couldn't get his jaws to work properly as Gory managed to speak the words he'd tried to ignore for so long. But he's right; Dick thought remorsefully to himself, I brought this on to us all.

Before Dick could dive fully into his regrets and guilt, Gory spoke again. "That is why I now know that you haven't explained everything to our dear Mr. Echolls. I'll make sure he knows everything; seeing as we're about to be partners, I really can't have him suffering from subordinates who betray his trust, now can I?"

"You sick fuck," Dick roared, all his hate for the man that had hurt not only Veronica, but also Mac, flowing over. "I'll kill you, you son of a bitch, I swear to God!"

Gory didn't react to the threat, looking only mildly amused as he turned around to the shadows. "Leslie, I think it's time you're introduced to my dear friend, Dick here."

Out of the shadows came a tall, wiry man with long, black hair in a ponytail and eyes just as cold as Gory's. Dick immediately sensed the danger flowing from the strange man.

"This is my second cousin, Leslie Sorokin," Gory introduced civilly, as though they were at a simple get together and not in a torture scene from a horror movie. "He's going to prep you for a bit, until Logan finds his way here to deal with you himself. Leslie is very talented," Gory added with a smile, "he's taught me everything I know. Have fun."

Dick watched in growing fear as Gory nodded with a smile to Leslie and left, dialing his cell phone. Leslie began unpacking countless terror inducing items on an empty table next to Dick; knives, pokers, tongs and many other things that literally froze Dick's insides.

This might just be the end of me, Dick thought just as Leslie turned to him with a warm smile, holding a gruesome knife in his hand.

--

While Dick was being introduced to the not so pleasant world of torture, Veronica and Mac arrived at the bar, eager to figure out what was really going on with Logan and the Sorokins.

To their surprise, both women noticed that everyone in the bar was a lot tenser than normally. Veronica scanned the area, counting exits as she went.

Mac was also soaking up the atmosphere and was busy making sure she'd packed enough ammo for a possible fight.

Veronica spotted Logan sitting in his corner booth, looking absolutely deadly and she forced back the insane urge to flee before he noticed her. Of course, realistically she knew that he was already aware of their presence.

Swallowing her nervousness, Veronica adopted a confident stance and made her way over to Logan, who was now on the phone, looking nothing short of murderous. "…tired of the whole damned thing!"

He gestured for her and Mac to sit and they didn't have to wait long before he slammed the phone shut and stated, "Dick's in trouble."

Next to her, Veronica felt the sudden tremor that ran through Mac's body, but she pretended not to notice. "What happened," she asked instead, preparing to call in reinforcements from the bureau.

Logan's eyes darkened as he looked at her. There was something in that look that made Veronica unable to move. Finally he spoke, softly so as to not be overheard. "I got a call from Gory, inviting me to the scene of the crime, so to speak."

Veronica furrowed her brows, glanced over at a stony faced Mac, before asking, "Okay, mind letting me know where this party is taking place to we can go rescue his sorry ass."

Logan didn't answer for a long minute, and Veronica was reminded of the day he'd shown up at the hospital, learning about the attack Gory had put her through. He looked beyond lethal all of the sudden. "I'm not going to let you interfere. He doesn't deserve to be rescued."

Mac jumped up, awkwardly pushing her way past Veronica and vanished out the door, looking surprisingly emotional considering her supposed hatred for the Cassablancas heir.

Veronica on the other hand, remained seated and stared dumbfounded into her old lover's eyes. The confusion disappeared and turned to dread a second later, when Logan continued harshly, "I know that Dick helped Gory hurt you."

"Logan," Veronica attempted to bring him to his senses, "it's not important. Dick and I have talked things through, he doesn't deserve to be Gory's toy of the week. Trust me; I know it's not a good experience."

"Yeah and why is that?" Logan demanded to know, "Dick is responsible for everything! So many things could have been stopped, don't you get that?"

Veronica took a deep breath, trying her hardest to calm down before her temper got her into more trouble. Finally she said, in a surprisingly soft tone of voice, "Dick didn't hurt me nearly as much as you did, so please cut him some slack. You are no saint yourself."

Logan had a crestfallen expression on his face for a few seconds, before it was replaced by his usual emotionless mask. Veronica continued quietly, "Yes, Dick had secrets, but you have your own as well."

Logan looked confused and Veronica explained, "I discovered some irregularities tonight; something about what you and Dick have told me isn't the entire truth and I came here to get the whole story."

Logan no longer looked confused, his blank mask was once again firmly in place. "Don't, Veronica. I'm not in the mood for another heart to heart right now. Please excuse me; I have a former friend's death to see to."

Veronica watched in disbelief as Logan simply walked out of the bar without a second look at her. When she tried to get up to follow him to Dick's location, an older man promptly showed up and pushed her down to her seat again.

"Don't missy, he doesn't want any company."

Before Veronica had a chance to hope that Mac had followed Logan, the brunette was shoved inside by a bruised Liam and placed unceremoniously next to Veronica.

The two women looked at each other and Veronica quietly explained what Logan had said and watched Mac's face turn pale.

"He must be hiding something," Veronica kept muttering to herself, unaware of how hopeful her voice sounded.

--

A few hours later, Logan shook Gory's hand farewell, as the Sorokin was needed elsewhere and would graciously allow the torture of Dick to proceed in his absence.

Logan smiled politely and waited for the Sorokin maniac to leave the warehouse, before he re-entered the room where Dick was being held captive.

"Dick I'm sorry it had to come to this, you have no idea."

Logan's voice echoed in the large room and Dick raised his head tiredly, blinking slowly. The sweat was dripping off his face and into a small puddle on the floor.

Inside his head Dick was screaming in rage and betrayal. How could you let this happen to me? We're best friends, man; I vouched for you every time Veronica declared you insane. I love you, man and you let your little sicko hurt me like this. I'm gonna fucking kill you.

"I know what you're thinking," Logan suddenly said and stood closer to Dick and eyed his tormenter. Leslie Sorokin looked like he'd had the best two hours of his life and thinking about it; Dick decided that the bastard probably thought he had. Torture seemed to brighten up the lives of the Sorokin members like nothing else.

Dick tried to lick his bleeding lips, but quickly abandoned the idea when his dry tongue came in contact with the sores. Instead he snarled in defiance and said in a hoarse voice, "Gone psychic now, have you, Echolls? You're not only a fucking betraying lunatic, but a seer." Dick mock laughed and continued in an exhausted whisper as his spirit slowly ebbed out of him, "I guess that it's gonna be a neat trick in jail. Ronnie's got some good ideas of where to place you…"

Logan smiled widely and Dick actually felt scared at the sight. Logan never smiled anymore. Smirked, yes but smiled – a big no. Dick blinked furiously as he desperately tried to ignore Leslie who hadn't left his side and looked as though he was sharpening a vicious looking knife. Damn, not again, Dick thought, I can't take another round of this, I'm not like Ronnie or Logan... I cry out like a little bitch.

Logan moved closer and Dick distracted himself from his rising panic by looking closely at his old friend. "You look like shit, asshole," he spat out.

Logan smirked and glanced towards Leslie, who seemed to be done with his preparations, and then sighed, straightening up slowly. "You know, Dick. You are the one person I thought would always have my back no matter what. I trusted you… and even after I discovered your plans for the Sorokins and the subsequent involvement of a former local I kept saying to myself; he is not gonna screw me over…Imagine my surprise when I find out that you're the whole reason things got so fucked up in the first place."

Dick almost sobbed at the sad and disappointed tone of voice Logan had taken on, before his anger flared up again. "You're full of shit, Logan. Forget the fact that I screwed up back then. You never trusted me; otherwise you'd not have allowed this to go down like this!"

Logan stiffened and Dick whimpered in pain as Leslie took the opportunity to slice the knife over his already abused chest, leaving a gashing wound, which immediately began to bleed severely.

Logan didn't even flinch at the sight of his old friend bleeding and panting. He settled for a mild glare at Leslie, who shrugged with an unapologetic smirk and turned to clean the knife yet again.

For a few moments, no one said anything and Dick began to wonder if Logan would leave him to yet another round of torture before killing him. Dick swallowed his fears, he hoped not, he knew he'd break before the day was over; he wasn't as strong as Logan or Veronica.

The silence stopped abruptly when Logan pulled Dick into an intense staring contest and without blinking stated, "I'm sorry it had to come to this Dick; you'll never know how much it pained me to hear your screams. If there'd been another way to go about this…" The brunet sighed heavily and for a second he looked ancient. Finally he pulled himself together and shocked Dick beyond anything as he leaned forward and whispered in his left ear, "It won't happen again, my friend."

Then Dick watched Logan stand up once again and smirk evilly down at his bleeding form. Did that just happen, Dick asked himself, confusion seeping into his dazed mind. The raw emotion in his friend's voice had, for a tiny moment, convinced Dick that Logan was up to something; that not everything was out in the open just yet. But why is he looking so evil again? Dick wondered as his mind frantically launched onto the mystery, desperately trying to avoid the pain.

Leslie smiled happily and lifted his poker and knife, ready to begin again when Logan said coldly and mockingly to Dick, "We've been pals for a long time, man, so trust me on this one, okay? This is gonna hurt me way more then it is gonna hurt you."

And before anyone present had time to comprehend it fully, Logan suddenly jumped on Leslie and a brutal combat began. Within moments the bigger Logan had forced Leslie's beloved knife out of his hands and sliced the torture expert's throat.

Getting up and throwing the knife away, Logan turned to look into a shocked Dick's eyes. Logan shrugged without a word, grabbed a clean knife and began cutting the ropes around his wrists and legs.

A few moments later, the two men were making their way out to Logan's vehicle. Dick was leaning heavily on Logan, who in return was being exceedingly careful with him, something that the blond just couldn't comprehend.

"You know everything," Dick managed to murmur as he tried to make his aching feet work properly, "Gory told you what I did…why…?"

Logan was about to answer when an unfamiliar car suddenly appeared and Dick froze in trepidation. Had he just been saved, just to die a few minutes later? Would fate really be that cruel?

The car stopped in front of them and two bulging men in suits stepped out, holding guns in their hands and looking dangerous. One of them, a black skinned man, who looked more like a bodybuilder, turned to Logan with narrowed eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Echolls? You might have blown everything with your stupidity!"

Logan shrugged, taking a firmer hold on a wobbling Dick. "Evidently we might need a backup plan."

TBC…

A/N See, I said a lot was gonna happen, didn't I? I'm thinking maybe two more chapters and then it'll be over. Sorry about speeding up, but I just feel that this story deserves and ending after all the trouble it's caused me. I hope you'll like it enough to review;)

As for the next update; I'll try to be faster this time around, but due to the injuries (which makes typing a nightmare), I can't make any promises.

Until Next Time

Ditte Mai