CHAPTER FORTY
"Slow down and tell us what happened." Veronica waved toward her phone in the cup holder to indicate Logan's presence on the line, but it didn't register with Pam. She was too caught up in her panic to notice, or care.
"Tyler was restless and bored so I thought I'd let him ride his bike on the boardwalk near Dick's house, but I didn't want to go back to our apartment to get it." Tears streaked a path down her cheeks, and she wiped furiously at her face. "Then I remembered the one from the thrift store that was at the decoy house. We were only there for like five minutes, Veronica, I swear."
"Is the bike still there? Maybe he took it and is riding-"
"No. I went inside to get the helmet and knee pads I bought him- they were right by the front door- and he started screaming for me. I dropped everything and raced outside, but he was gone."
"Did you see anyone? Any cars?" Logan asked, startling Pam, who visibly jumped at the tinny sound of his voice coming through the car's speakers.
"No," she answered, with a jerky shake of her head. "What do I do? I was going to call the police." Pam held up her cell. "But, what should I tell them? I know this has to do with Sam, but if the cops go to the club, there's no telling what he'll do- what if he hurts Ty?"
"That's not going to happen," Veronica said with more conviction than she felt. "Logan? How far away are you?"
"Fifteen minutes. I'll drop the girls off with Dottie on my way." It was comforting to know he was close, for both her and Pam, who slumped with a measure of relief, knowing she wouldn't have to deal with this alone.
Veronica couldn't begin to imagine the guilt and grief she must be feeling-the stress she was under-but she especially couldn't imagine having no one to turn to. In all the parenting ups-and-downs Veronica always had Logan to rely on. "I'm going to take Pam inside to call Gil- we'll see you when you get here."
"Wait for me." His words were part reminder and part warning. He knew her too well, and wanted to make sure she didn't rush head first into action without him.
"I will," she promised, then ended the call and turned off the car. Grabbing her bag, she popped open the door. "First, we'll contact my friend, Gil, he's an FBI agent." Veronica talked as she walked, putting together a plan on the fly. When she reached the porch, she turned to find Pam hadn't moved. She was tethered to the sidewalk, staring down the street toward the decoy house and the last place she'd seen Tyler, as if she were reluctant to sever her last connection to him.
Veronica went back for her, gently sliding an arm around her waist, and guiding her toward the house.
"I can't-" Pam dug in her heels. "I have to DO something."
"You are going to do something. The lightbulbs on the porch and above the garage, along with the bird feeder I hung in the crape myrtle, are cameras." The information was received with a blank stare from Pam. Veronica tried again. "We need to watch the footage, and you can't do that standing in the driveway."
Pam blinked. "You have video?"
"Yes." It might not be the best idea to have Pam watch Tyler's abduction, but they needed to know who took him so she could tell Gil. And, with any luck, giving Pam a task would make her feel proactive instead of helpless.
Veronica led the way into the dining room. The laptop was still open and ready. She woke it up, and connected the phone via a mini-HDMI cable. Toggling between rewind and fast-forward, she found the moment of Pam and Tyler's arrival at the decoy house, then let it play out in real time.
It was exactly as Pam described. They got out of Dick's borrowed Hummer and walked through the front gate to the lawn. Pam said something to Tyler. "I told him to wait while I ran inside. I should've made him stay in the car."
"You couldn't know," Veronica said, giving Pam's hand a reassuring squeeze.
On the screen, Pam disappeared into the house, and Tyler decided to use the unsupervised moment to climb on the picket fence.
A dark-gray Audi roared into view and screeched to a halt at the curb. It was the same car Veronica had seen cruising past the house at regular intervals. Both the driver's door and the trunk popped open simultaneously, and out hustled Mickey Barnes a/k/a Mick Burns. He grabbed Tyler, effortlessly lifting him over the white wood slats and tossing him into the trunk. Mickey slammed the lid shut, hopped back in the car, and peeled away, tires smoking and spitting gravel as he fled.
Less than five minutes from start to finish, just as Pam had said. "He looked so scared, Veronica."
That was an understatement. The look on Tyler's face had been one of abject terror. "He'll be okay." It was hollow comfort.
Veronica hated to make her rewatch it, but it had to be done- she needed details for Gil and the resulting APB. Slowing the playback speed, she watched it frame-by-frame. It was an older model Audi-a 2010 maybe-but definitely not newer than that. It looked like an entry-level A6. She paused on the best view of the license plate.
Pam squinted at the screen. "7FK… I can't read the rest."
Neither could Veronica, but it was possible the next letter was an I, or maybe an L. "I'm sure that's enough." She rooted through her messenger bag for her actual phone. The one she just put in here and now could not find. Dammit. Her fingers brushed the edge of metal, and she clamped a hand over it. "Why don't you make us some coffee while I call Gil?" It was a menial task, but she wanted to keep Pam busy before she shut down entirely.
"Okay." She managed to tear herself away from the frozen image on the computer screen.
Veronica dialed as she watched Pam shuffle from the room. Gil picked up on the second ring. "Townsend."
"Mars."
"I was going to call you. Agent Tam-"
She cut him off. "We have a situation here. Sam's henchman, Mickey Barnes, just kidnapped Pam's son Tyler, he's five."
"When did it happen?"
Veronica checked the time stamp on the video. "Twenty minutes ago. He's driving a dark gray Audi A6, California plate, first three digits Seven-Foxtrot-Kilo. I'm not sure of the next letter."
"Got it… uh, hold on a second." There was some rustling on the line, and then he was back. "A car fitting that description drove into the club about five minutes ago, and it hasn't left."
"Are you at the surveillance house?"
Alarm beeps from the foyer told her Logan was home. She abandoned the dining room table and went to meet him in the hall. In deference to her phone call, he mouthed the question, "Where's Pam?"
Veronica pointed toward the kitchen.
"We've been here all day. Lamb released the crime scene early this morning so we've been waiting to see what Sam and his boys would do," Gil said in her ear. "Nothing happening until your Audi drove through the gates."
"Which house are you using?"
"The last one on the right- it overlooks the entire club and its parking lot." Veronica remembered the white stucco and glass affair from her first reconnaisance trip to Shenanigans. With its multi-level construction and oversized decks, it was a prime location for spying on the club.
"We'll be right there."
"Veronica, that's not a good ide-"
She hung up on him, and went to find Pam and Logan. The coffee task was abandoned. Instead, Pam was crying in Logan's arms, and he was doing his best to comfort her. "He's going to be okay, Red."
Logan looked up when Veronica walked into the kitchen, expectant, and she nodded. "Mickey has him at the club."
"What?" Pam disentangled herself from Logan, and spun around to face her. "Why would he bring him there? Is he meeting Sam? Did Sam tell him to take Ty?"
"I think he's there for the missing coke," Veronica said. "I'll explain in the car." She glanced at Logan. "You drive."
They took the mom-van. It was the only vehicle big enough to accommodate all three of them, but when Pam caught sight of Wyatt's car seat, it brought on another round of tears, which made Veronica instantly regret the choice. Too late now.
"We're going to the house next door," Veronica told Logan, as she buckled her seatbelt. "That's where the FBI has set up post, and we might need reinforcements." And a babysitter, she thought but didn't add, directing a pointed look at Pam for Logan's benefit.
He followed her gaze, nodding that he understood her intention. Pam was too volatile, and her presence could make this entire rescue go sideways.
It was a short trip, made faster by Logan's loose understanding of speeding laws and traffic signs, which is why she'd asked him to drive in the first place. His nimble reflexes and quick reaction time meant he could do eighty without being reckless.
The gate across the driveway at 9406 stood open. Logan turned right, bumping over the channel drain at the end of the pavers, and then following the winding path up the cliff face to the house itself.
Gil was waiting outside for them. Without preamble, Veronica asked, "Is Mickey still at Shenanigans?"
"Yes. Maybe you should come inside, we're discussing what to do."
"Discussing?" Logan asked, his incredulous tone matching the expression on his face. "Why haven't you gone in?"
"We're waiting on the CARD team to arrive."
Veronica frowned. The Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team could take an hour to get here, and they might be long gone by then. Or worse. "We don't have time- Tyler thinks I'm a cop and he knows I'm married to Logan- what if he's already told Mickey this?" She doggedly pursued Gil into the house. "Once he gets the coke out of there safely, what happens to Ty?"
Gil didn't answer. He led them through the grand entryway, past the curved staircase, toward the back of the house and the dining room. Blueprints were spread across the table-a duplicate of the ones Veronica had gotten from the building department-and two men were studying them. A third man was monitoring the electronic equipment, including a Stingray device for cell phone tracking, and a fourth was at a computer terminal.
"Can we get in and out without blowing our-"
Gil cleared his throat, alerting the agents to their presence, and silencing the question from one of the men at the table. Gil started to make introductions, but Veronica pushed past him to get closer to the blueprints. "There are no cameras by this entrance." She jabbed her index finger on the employee entrance near Joey and Sam's shared office. "It's a security dead spot." She winced at the poor word choice, but continued explaining her plan. "We can go in here, and use-"
"I know you want to help, Veronica," Gil started. "But you three need to stand down, and let us handle it."
Logan's answering smile was mean and a little scary. A child was missing. Not his child, but it didn't matter. He wasn't going to stand idly by while the various government agencies turned this into a whose-dick-is-bigger contest and overall clusterfuck. Neither was Veronica. She wrapped her fingers around Logan's forearm, giving it a gentle squeeze, and tilting her head toward the foyer in an almost-imperceptible nod.
"Fine," she lied. "Where is the kitchen in this place? I think Pam needs a break, and we could all use a drink."
Gil raised his eyebrows in surprise at her easy acquiescence, but then glanced at Pam, and incorrectly assumed her willingness to concede had to do with Tyler's mother being present.
Sucker. Veronica couldn't believe he was being such an asshole about this. It was entirely unlike the Gil she'd come to know, and like.
"It's through there," Gil said, pointing at an arched opening behind him.
They followed his direction, walking through a large butler's pantry into a white chef's kitchen. Veronica headed straight for the massive island in the center of the room. In a hushed whisper, Veronica said, "I'm going in through the employee entrance. My parking pass will get me past the gates unnoticed."
"I have one of those too, and you're not going in alone." Logan's face was set in granite, and he seemed about as unmoveable on the subject as the island they stood around.
"Yes, but yours is attached to the windshield of the BMW, while mine-" She withdrew the barcoded pass from one of the pockets in her messenger bag. "-is right here. Besides, YOU won't fit inside the dumbwaiter, and I will."
Logan was quiet while he considered her plan. "You'll go up and I'll take position by the windows- it will let me watch the balcony stairs, and I'll use the security monitors in Joey's credenza to keep an eye on the front entrance."
It made sense- all exits and entrances covered. This way, if Mickey got the drop on her, he wouldn't be able to escape with Tyler, and she'd also get a warning if unexpected company arrived. Veronica nodded. "I've got the-"
"I'm coming too," Pam said. A suggestion that had both Logan and Veronica shaking their heads.
"I need you to stay here." Veronica withdrew her cell phone. "When I searched the VIP room, I tapped into the new cameras Sam had installed." She hit buttons until the frame filled with video. An unharmed Tyler was sitting on the newly-replaced Chesterfield sofa, watching Mickey maneuver a hand truck into the room. "But my tap has sound. You need to watch and listen from here so you can send in the cavalry if needed."
Pam stared at the image of Tyler in her hands, her expression torn. She clearly did not want to be left behind. "Is this recording?"
"Yes."
"Then I can come with you. I'll just text the video to your FBI friend if we need help."
"Pam," Logan said, touching her shoulder. "You need to let us do this. Veronica's plan is solid- you watch the video and alert the FBI if there's trouble."
Before she could answer one way or the other, Gil walked into the room. "How's that coffee coming?" he asked, with a smile. "And by coffee, I mean, your strategy for ignoring my official advice and commencing your own rescue mission."
"Don't try to stop us," Veronica warned.
He held out his hands in surrender. "I wasn't happy waiting either, Veronica, but it wasn't my decision." He glanced over his shoulder, and dropped his voice an octave. "I'm just here to find out what role you want me to play."
Now that sounded more like the Gil she knew. Veronica gave him a tight smile. "Pam will explain it all to you, but we've gotta go." She looked at Logan. "Ready?"
"Let's do it." He gave Pam's arm a reassuring squeeze, then followed Veronica from the kitchen.
They went through the other archway-the one leading into the family room-and circled back to the front door, avoiding the government agents. By unspoken agreement, they remained silent until they cleared the house and its security gate. Logan made the turn that would take them to Shenanigans, and Veronica positioned her employee pass so it could be read by the scanner.
Logan parked the mom-van in an out-of-the-way spot, as close to the employee entrance as he dared. "Where's your gun?"
Veronica bit her bottom lip. "At home in the safe?"
"Take mine." He bent down to retrieve his Sig from its ankle holster.
Veronica stopped him. "You might need it more than I do. Mickey was unarmed, and he'll have his hands full, loading the water bottles. Plus I have the element of surprise."
She could tell he wasn't happy with this decision, but there wasn't time to argue. They needed to get in the VIP room before Mickey was done. Logan's mouth was fixed in a grim, determined line, and he nodded.
The lock on the employee entrance posed no obstacle. It was a brand she was familiar with, and she made quick work of it. Ditto for the lock on Joey and Sam's office. Veronica closed the door behind them with a soft snick, and in unison, they went directly for the painting. Logan hoisted the Cézanne off the wall and rested it against the desk. Then he opened the credenza and turned on the security monitors.
Veronica stole a quick peek at their views. The club was empty. No guards, no employees, and, thankfully, no sign of Joey, Sam, or Dom. She turned her attention back to the wall and the molded panels. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she had no problem spotting the join of the two pieces she needed. In sync, she pushed the trim, and the square section of cherry-wood slid open. It was a tight space.
"Need a boost?" Without waiting for her answer, Logan picked her up and sat her in the dumbwaiter.
Veronica hoisted her messenger bag on her lap, and realized it wasn't going to work. The bag took up too much space in the tiny elevator. Correction, Siobhan's cash-filled heels made the bag too bulky. She passed them to Logan, and tried again, folding her legs into a fetal position and twisting herself inside.
"Going up?" he asked, ducking down to give her a fast kiss.
"Second floor-pervert's playroom, please."
"Be careful, Veronica." Were Logan's parting words before pushing the button on the control panel.
"Always," she whispered more to herself than him as she started her steady climb up to the VIP room.
The elevator was almost silent in its ascent; hopefully, too quiet to alert Mickey to its movement. It glided to a stop, and Veronica realized her first mistake. Leaving her cell phone with Pam meant she could not see where Mickey was, and what he was doing now. Fuck.
She pressed her ear to the wall. There was a faint, muffled noise, but it sounded far away.
Now or never. Veronica felt along the seam for the interlock mechanism. It prevented the dumbwaiter doors from opening when the car was not on the floor, but it also had an emergency release. Her finger grazed the switch and the panel slipped open, bringing the room into view.
Tyler was alone on the couch- no sign of Mickey. He vaulted off the cushion. "Veron-"
She quickly pressed a finger to her lips to silence Ty, and waved him back into his seat.
"What did ya say, kid?" Mickey called from the bathroom, but he didn't come out to check on him.
Veronica used the momentary respite to jump to the floor. A fast calculation of the room's angles said she'd have to cross Mickey's view in order to get to Tyler. She beckoned him toward her.
In the same instant Tyler got up, Mickey came through the doorway. With an exaggerated cartoon, double-take, he saw Veronica. "Hey, where'd you come from?"
"I told you she was a cop!" Tyler shouted, making a beeline for Veronica. Mickey lunged for him and missed; his meaty paw closing around nothing but air. Ty ducked behind Veronica's legs. "And she's gonna shoot you!"
I wish, she thought, acknowledging her second mistake was not taking Logan's offer of the handgun. "I don't care about the drugs," Veronica bargained. "Just let me take-"
"Nothing doing- I need him."
"What for? You'll have the coke, and no one's waiting outside to stop you." She took a step backward, keeping Tyler safely behind her and moving him closer to the dumbwaiter. "Once you cut it with something, you'll double its street value."
"Are you nuts lady? That's Logan Echolls' son; he's gonna be worth more than a measly two-hundred grand."
Veronica played dumb. "Logan Echolls?"
"Yeah, the movie star's kid. Thought he could come here and play bouncer like no one would know who he is. Anyone with brains-" Mickey tapped his temple. "-could figure he'd be willing to part with some of his millions to get his son back."
Truer words. Logan would part with his entire fortune if it meant saving one of his children. Mistake three- letting everyone at the club believe Tyler was his. It was time to get him to focus on something else. She shuffled the two of them closer to the wall. "Why'd you kill Siobhan? She was your sister right?"
"Half. And I didn't kill her- that was Dom. He's crazy. He figured we were the ones- you know, who stole the stuff, and that she'd been like using him for information."
"Then why come here?"
"For. The. Coke." He enunciated each word like she was stupid. "Now gimme the kid and maybe I'll let you walk outta here."
"Not going to happen."
He sneered. "We'll see about that." With a large step to his left, he disappeared into the bathroom, and Veronica raced for the door. The knob twisted ineffectually in her hand- locked. Shit.
Mistake number four-not counting on a blocked exit-was quickly followed by mistake number five-assuming Mickey was unarmed just because she didn't see the gun on the video. He returned to the room brandishing a blued-steel Smith & Wesson revolver.
"Enough talk," he said.
Veronica transferred her messenger bag to her right hand and slowly started wrapping its strap around her wrist. The weight from the forgotten realtor's lockbox was comforting. "You must've been so pissed when you realized you had the wrong shoes. You shot Karen for no reason."
Mickey blinked. "How'd you know about the shoes?"
"Because I have them." Veronica didn't know if they'd tied the new VIP room camera into the main security system, but she fervently hoped they did. Please let Logan be watching. "And I'll give them to you in exchange for Tyler."
There was a slight pause, then he shook his head. "No dice."
"You're wasting time- aren't you afraid Sam or Dom will find you here?"
He waved the gun, dismissively. "Nah, I used the outside stairs and there're no cameras in this room."
"Wrong." Veronica pointed at the ceiling above the entrance, and Mickey followed her finger. It was all the distraction she needed. She rushed him, swinging her bag for his head. The crack of his skull reverberated down her arm, and he collapsed where he stood, gun skittering across the floor toward the fireplace.
Veronica hurried back to Tyler, scooping him up and tucking him inside the dumbwaiter. "Logan's waiting for you downstairs. As soon as I close the door, you press that button, got it?"
"But what about you?" His bottom lip quivered in sync with the trembling of his tiny body, and a steady stream of tears cascaded down his pale, terrified face.
Veronica forced herself to sound calm. "It'll be fine. You'll take this cool ride, and I'll be right behind you on the boring stairs, okay?" To reinforce her words, she offered him a smile, and was rewarded with a tremulous nod.
Fitting the boards in place, she closed the panel, sealing him inside, but there was no resulting whir from the elevator. "Hit the button Ty, the one labeled down," she yelled through the seams.
Veronica was about to re-open the shaft when the click of the balcony door opening stopped her. "Logan-" She whirled around, but it was not Logan entering the room- it was Sam, with both Dom and Joey on his heels.
Sam's gaze traveled from her to Mickey sprawled across the hardwood. "Piece of shit," he spat at the prone man. "Is he dead?" Veronica shook her head, and Sam frowned. "Too bad." He turned to Dom. "Put him in your trunk, and I'll deal with him later."
"And what about her?" Dom asked.
Instead of answering, Sam leveled Veronica with his opaque shark's eyes. "Where's Pam's boy?"
"Gone."
"You shouldn't lie to me." He slid a razor-thin phone from his suit pocket, and called up an image on the device. He swiped the screen, watched for a few seconds, then held it up for her. The frozen picture was small, but unmistakable- it was this room from two minutes ago. He used his thumb to hit the play button, and Veronica watched the video of her putting Tyler in the dumbwaiter. He gestured toward where she stood. "Get the kid, and then toss them both over the cliff."
Joey didn't move, rooted to his spot by the fireplace, but Dom did as instructed, pushing Veronica aside to open the dumbwaiter, and yanking a frightened Tyler from its depths.
That was three counts of criminal threat-a felony in California-punishable by four years for each in the state pen. A total of twelve years behind bars for Sam. It might not be for human trafficking or money laundering, but it was something. Where the fuck was the FBI?
"Let them go," Logan said, stepping through the open balcony door, his gun trained on Sam. In his other hand were Siobhan's heels. "Let them go," he repeated. "And I'll give you back your money."
"It's too late for that now." Sam focused his angry gaze on Joey. "You're such a fuck up. I can't believe you hired not one, but two, undercover cops." He waved an imperious hand toward Logan as if he were still in charge of the situation. "Shoot him, and toss him in the ocean with the other two."
Logan lunged forward bashing Sam's head with the butt of his gun, and chucking one the heels across the room, aimed directly for Dom's face. Veronica pulled Tyler to the ground out of its incoming path, and watched in satisfaction as the spike of the shoe buried itself in Dom's eye.
The door to the room splintered open with a loud crack, and federal agents poured inside. "FBI, everybody get down! Down on the ground!" More agents streamed in through the balcony, repeating the commands. "FBI, get down on the ground!"
Everyone was already on the floor except Joey and Logan, and neither man moved. A lethal half-smirk flitted across Logan's face. "Need some help?" he asked Joey, right before his fist made contact with Joey's nose. Blood poured from the broken appendage as he slumped onto the hearth.
"Mom!" Tyler wriggled free of Veronica's grip and ran to Pam, who was standing on the threshold of the room. He threw himself into her waiting arms. "Veronica and Logan saved me. It was so cool- Logan hit that guy with a shoe from all the way over there!"
Smiling, Veronica stood. The zip ties were superfluous since all the bad guys were out cold, but the FBI restrained them anyway. She picked her way through the bound men to her husband. "I'm glad to see my heroics didn't go unnoticed," he said, nodding toward Tyler.
"Well, it certainly took you long enough."
"I stopped to get a drink, then took a nap." His gaze moved over her, assuring himself she was fine and unhurt. Then his hands traveled the same path, checking for unseen injuries. "Besides, it looked like you had it covered until these three idiots showed up." Satisfied with her condition, he pulled her into his arms, and kissed her forehead.
Veronica rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. Sanctuary.