Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part three: A Meeting of Minds and Ass-Kickers

Even when she had thought they were working for the CIA, Sydney had always thought Arvin Sloane a little scary. When she discovered he was actually a terrorist working for an international criminal organization, it answered quite a few questions about his behavior. Now, even though he claimed to have reformed and was once again her CIA boss, she still felt a chill whenever he spoke, especially when it was clear he was angry about something.

"I had thought I had made this situation clear," he was saying. He was standing in the main briefing room of APO, facing the table of his top agents. Erich Weiss was seated at one end up the table in his usual rumpled suit. Seated at his right was Sydney's sister, Nadia, elegant and beautiful in a professional black suit. At the other side of the table was Marcus Dixon, his manner always cool whenever he and Sloane shared a room together. At the far right was Marshall Flinkman, jittery even when seated. Sydney and Vaughn were at the middle, both calm as they faced their superior.

"This was simply a fact-finding mission," Sloane continued. "You were meant to gather intelligence on the case in Neptune. You were not authorized to involve yourselves physically and you were certainly not authorized to use lethal force. And I do not think I need to say that you were not authorized to bring two civilians here."

Sydney took a breath before speaking. "We followed the protocols as you put them down. We kept our surveillance up and followed Mars there. We were listening in as they were questioned. When we heard them being tortured, I made the call to go in."

"Which I backed up," Vaughn quickly added.

"You made that call," Sloane coolly stated. "By yourself."

"They were torturing two innocent teenage girls," Sydney snapped. "I wasn't going to sit back and let that happen."

"So instead you decide to jeopardize the entire operation," Sloane fired back.

"Sir, these two had stumbled onto the operation themselves," Vaughn stated. "They were already involved. We simply did our best to make sure it wasn't a fatal involvement."

Sloane let out a long sigh. "Well…while I still do not condone your actions, it seems too late to do anything about them." He glanced over to Dixon. "Where are they?"

"Isolation room in the lower level," Dixon replied. "They're awake and in good shape, aside from a sprained finger by one of them."

"What do we know about them?" Sloane asked.

Dixon lifted a folder and laid it out. "Veronica Mars, daughter of Keith Mars, former sheriff of Neptune. Good student and has been helping her father out at his detective agency while also doing casework of her own for the students."

"Sort of like Nancy Drew, eh?" Weiss said.

"I always liked those books," Nadia stated.

"Really?" Weiss said with surprise. "Originals or the newer versions?"

Nadia thought about it. "Well, the originals have their nice style but I sort of enjoy how the newer ones had more flair with more intriguing cases."

Weiss shot Vaughn a quick look that said God, this is the greatest girl ever. As always, Vaughn simply rolled his eyes.

"The other one," Dixon continued. "Is Cindy MacKenzie, Mac to her friends. Also quite intelligent who excellent computer skills." Marshall perked up at that. "She also has had some warning on her record due to unauthorized access of various systems around the town."

Sloane nodded slowly. "I see. Anything else?"

"Well, the Mars girl was in the news fairly recently for helping solve the Lily Kane murder case," Dixon stated.

"I read about that," Weiss said. "She got in some trouble over there but handled herself well."

Sloane stroked his short goatee. "Hmmm…Well, as long as we have them here, perhaps we can use them to get more information."

Sydney felt herself get defensive immediately. "Use them how?"

"Ms. Mars was one of the few people at the stadium who was not on the bus," Sloane said. "She might know what the point of the crash was."

Sydney shook her head. "This girl is the daughter of a cop and she's a hard-nosed investigator. If she knew anything, she'd have gone for it already herself."

"Unless she doesn't know she knows," Sloane pointed out. "I think we need to bring Ms. Mars into this in order to get at the truth."

Sydney raised an eyebrow. "You want to tell her who we are?"

Sloane nodded. "Indeed. I do think this girl could be a good asset."

Sydney and Vaughn exchanged a look, neither liking the way he said that.

Veronica paced the small room for the tenth time in the last minute, rubbing her arms. She and Mac had woken up a few minutes earlier, each feeling a little fatigued but otherwise okay. They were inside a clear white room with a pair of cots set around the floor but no other furniture. Mac was seated on one of the cots, rubbing her arms and biting her lip as she watched Veronica pace.

"Can you stop doing that? You're making me more nervous," Mac finally said.

"Sorry," Veronica said but didn't stop. "Just trying to work out what is going on."

Mac took a breath. "Once again, I state my intent to become mere computer backup from now on."

"So noted." Veronica stopped as she heard the door open. She and Mac both backed up a bit as it opened to reveal Sydney, Vaughn and an elder man with a graying goatee. He nodded at the two teenagers as he stopped short of them. "Ms. Mars, Ms. MacKenzie. My name is Arvin Sloane." He motioned to the two people behind him. "You've already met Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn."

"Hey," Mac said with a weak wave. Veronica glanced at her, then to Sloane. "Listen, buddy, we've had a really bad day today and I'm not in the mood to be jerked around anymore. Now are we going to get some answers or am I going to have to try a breakout here?"

Sloane made a tiny smile. "A breakout? You think highly of yourself, Ms. Mars."

"Dad always told me confidence is the key to life."

Sloane nodded. "What I'm about to tell you both is highly confidential and it is in your own best interests to keep it quiet."

"You don't know her too well, do you?" Mac interjected.

"Ms. Mars…we have been attempting to find out the truth behind the recent bus crash in your town."

"I know the truth," Veronica snapped. "It was Aaron Echolls, wanting to kill me. He killed all those people…to get at me." Her face was flushed as the guilt rushed to her. So she was more than a bit thrown when Sloane actually chuckled. "Excuse me? You think this is funny?"

Composing himself, Sloane went on. "Ms. Mars, I hate to deflate your ego but you were not the target of the crash. At least, not in the way you believe. And Mr. Echolls, while a killer, is not able to manipulate things so greatly."

Veronica simply stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

Sloane took a breath. "Ms. Mars, we work for a special branch of the CIA. We believe that the crash was the work of a terrorist organization that was attempting to silence any witnesses to a deal that would expose their plan to use your town as a power base for their operations on the West Coast."

Veronica simply stared at him, her jaw slightly open. Mac's eyes were wide as was her own mouth, trying to take in what Sloane just said. Veronica narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. "Are you Jamie Kennedy? Am I being Punk'd?"

Sydney bit the inside of her lip to keep from laughing while Vaughn was unable to hold back a smile. Sloane simply gave a short shake of his head. "I can assure you, you are not being…Punk'd." He crossed his arms as he faced the two girls. "Perhaps you should sit down while we explain this."

Veronica did so, taking a seat next to Mac, her expression still dubious. Sloane placed his hands behind his back as he spoke. "As you are aware, Ms. Mars, Woody Goodman is running for the position that is the equivalent of mayor of Neptune."

"County supervisor," Mac said. "Neptune is unincorporated so he can't technically be mayor."

"Yeah, I know that," Veronica impatiently said. "He's the odds-on favorite too. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Our intelligence shows that once he's won the election, Goodman's first task will be to make Neptune an actual city, if a small one."

Veronica shrugged. "Okay. So we get more fancy, maybe beef up the economy. Again, your point is sorta foggy here."

Sloane brought himself up. "Woody Goodman has been bankrupt for nearly four years."

Veronica and Mac were both thrown by that. "Wh…what?" Veronica burst. "But…how?"

"Well, let me put it this way," Sydney spoke up. "He had a lot invested in Enron."

Veronica and Mac both made "oooh" faces as Sloane continued. "He had to make some fast deals in order to cover it up. One of them was accepting a loan from a conglomerate in Eastern Europe. He no doubt saw it as a lifesaver and accepted it. It was enough to beef up his finances to cover his losses without anyone knowing. We believe it was only recently, with his decision to run for mayor, that his 'partners' decided to call in their favor."

"Which was?" Veronica asked.

"The conglomerate is not a legal business venture," Sloane stated. "It is, in fact, a criminal organization we have been tracking down for some time called Cell 17."

"Cell 17?" Mac repeated. "Oh, come on, I've seen better user names than that!"

Sydney smiled softly. "Actually, that's downright normal compared to some groups we've gone up against."

"Okay, so this Cell or whatever is financing Goodman. Why?" Veronica asked.

"Ms. Mars, if you were a criminal group trying to set up a base of power, what better way than to basically own your own town from the ground up?"

Veronica's dubious reaction grew. "Whoa…whoa, hold on," she said, holding up her hands. "You're telling me…that Woody Goodman, Mr. Neptune, the guy who owns the team that's one of the biggest economic staples we have, is on the payroll of some terrorists trying to take us over?"

"It's a sound strategy," Sloane said. "It's the most logical conclusion we've come up with."

"That's logical?" Mac asked.

A tiny smile came to Sloane's lips. "It's what I would do."

Veronica noticed the look Sydney and Vaughn shared and knew there was a lot behind Sloane's comment. Brushing that aside, she spoke. "So…why? Why the crash?"

It was Vaughn who spoke. "We believe the day your class went to the ballpark to listen to Goodman's speech, he was meeting with a representative of Cell 17. He was still there when your class was. They…" He paused to take a breath. "They probably felt it was wise to eliminate any possible witnesses."

Stunned speechless four times in five minutes. A new personal best, Veronica thought as she gawked at Vaughn. "Wait…wait…You're saying…they killed all those people…on the off chance they might have seen something they didn't even know about?"

"These are men who do not take chances, Ms. Mars," Sloane stated in a calm voice as if he was discussing the latest baseball game. "We're reasonably sure Goodman knew nothing about this. In fact, we think it was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment decision."

"Spur. Of. The. Moment?" Veronica's eyes widened with anger. "They killed all those people…on a whim?"

"The fact that you have not been targeted again seems to prove that," Sloane continued with his unique calm.

"But…but there was no reason!" Veronica yelled. "We didn't see anything weird!"

"Maybe you did," Sydney quickly said. "And you just don't remember it. But we can help with that."

Veronica's suspicion meter immediately went up. "Hold up. You guys kidnapped me, remember? Among the many rules my father pushed on me was 'never let your kidnappers mess around in your head.' It's a rule I've done my best to follow."

Sloane paused and when he spoke, it was with a more gentle tone. "Ms. Mars…From what I can tell, you are a woman who wants to know the truth, no matter the cost. You've wanted to find out the truth behind this crash, to see justice done to the victims. If you help us, we can help you find out who is responsible and see them punished. I'm asking a lot of you, I know that. But if you are willing to trust me, at least for a little while, we can help each other and those victims."

Sydney could barely restrain a disdainful roll of the eyes. Hearing Sloane talk about doing right by the victims was hypocrisy of the highest order. However, his speech did seem to get to Veronica, who bowed her head as she considered his words. She finally nodded. "Ok…okay, I'll help."

Sloane nodded. "Good. I'll get you set up with the doctor so we can start right away."

As he turned to leave, Veronica spoke up. "Hey, I need to call my dad so he doesn't worry about me!"

"We've got that covered," Sydney said. "Someone's already gone to see him. He'll make sure your dad doesn't cause trouble looking for you."

Veronica snorted. "You don't know my dad."

A smile filled Sydney's face. "Funny…I was going to say the same thing."

"And you haven't heard from her at all? Okay, thanks, Wallace." Keith Mars hung up the phone and shook his head. "He'd gotten back a couple of hours earlier to find the apartment empty. At first, he didn't think much of it, figuring Veronica was with Duncan. But when he called, the young man had said he hadn't seen Veronica all day and now Wallace was saying the same thing.

Keith frowned, figuring his next move. Calling the police seemed a dubious move, given Don Lamb's incompetence. Not to mention this would play with the press in the election and Keith didn't want to make it too much of a spectacle.

He was about to try calling Wallace to see if he knew anyone who know of Veronica's whereabouts when the door to the office opened. Keith looked up and in his trained manner, sized the man up instantly.

He was in his fifties, handsome but cold with gray hair and steely eyes. He carried himself with a mix of soldier and cop, dressed in a professional suit and coat as he walked up to the desk. "Mr. Mars?" he said in a cool tone.

"Yes?" Keith carefully asked. Something about this guy raised all sorts of alarms with him.

"My name is Jack Bristow," the man stated. "I'm here about your daughter."