Alias Mars

By Michael Weyer

Part ten: Closing a Case, Opening a Door

The press conference was in full swing and as usual, Wally Goodman had the crowd in his hand with his jovial manner and good-natured answers. He was smiling brightly with all the confidence of a man who knew his upcoming election was in the bag. He was so eager to answer the questions, he failed to notice the men in suits and pair of uniformed officers entering the banquet room.

"No, no, I promise, there won't be any baseball shaped decorations at my inaugural ceremony," Goodman said to laughter. "And no, sadly, none of the White Sox will be showing up. I am hoping to get Neptune a few more trophies of their own soon."

The laughter was dying down as one of the suited men came up. "Mr. Goodman," he softly said. "We need to talk to you."

Goodman frowned at him. "Buddy, I'm in the middle of a press conference."

"Sir, we'd like to handle this outside, if we can."

"It can wait, I'm being open with the public." Goodman turned to the cameras and smiled. "Sorry, folks, little trouble here, these gentlemen were leaving."

"Yes, we are," the suited man said as he came up behind Goodman and pulled his arms behind him. "Wally Goodman, you are under arrest for insider trading, stock fraud, embezzlement and 16 SEC violations."

"Wha…what is…is this a joke?" Goodman gasped as the man slid a pair of handcuffs around his wrist.

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" the agent said as he dragged Goodman away before a startled press corp. Flashbulbs popped and recorded the look of utter dismay on Wally Goodman's face as his entire life unraveled in an instant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Don Lamb was not in a happy mood.

First, he had to deal with reports of some sort of explosion at the Lexington that appeared to have wrecked two rooms. At the same time, he had to send units to break up some riot in the lobby. At first, it seemed a great excuse to get some of those brownie bikers off the streets but then he was informed that he wasn't allowed to book them but instead release them. Finally, the word came that, with no warning at all, Wally Goodman had just been arrested on enough federal charges to not only ruin his campaign but guarantee he'd be in prison until Neptune was a major city.

So all in all, it was not a good day for Don Lamb. Unfortunately, it was about to get worse.

There was a short rap on the door and Lamb growled a quick "Come in." The door swung open and Jack Bristow calmly stepped in. Lamb immediately straightened, licking his lips and trying to quell the fear in his stomach. "Wha…what are you doing here?"

Jack shut the door and stood before the desk. He didn't move but radiated pure threat with his pose. "Mr. Lamb. I came by to let you know how your election is going to go."

"What do you mean?" Lamb asked.

"It's not. You're going to announce you're dropping out for personal reasons."

Despite his fear of Jack, Lamb's anger rose and he stood from the chair. "Not a chance. I don't care who you work for, I'm not going to be pushed out of my job by anyone!"

Jack just narrowed his eyes and Lamb quickly sat back down, the fear once more taking hold of him. "You are going to drop out," Jack said, his tone ice cold. "Because if you do not, then your personal bank account records will become public knowledge. The ones that show you making far more money than a sheriff should. Whatever else you may think, the people in this town aren't total fools. They'll be able to put two and two together about how you're getting those additional funds, at which point, you go from this side of the station to the one with the bars."

He leaned forward and the tiniest hint of a smile tugged at his lips. "I don't think I need to tell you what kind of reception awaits former law enforcement officers in prison. Even utterly incompetent ones."

Lamb shook in place, trying to keep as much of his dignity as possible. "How…why?"

"Not for the reasons you may think," Jack stated. "Not because you are completely unsuited for this position. Not because you refused to give a girl reporting a rape even the dignity of a fair hearing. Not even because you put my daughter in danger, although that was a contributing factor." He leaned over the desk and pinned Lamb with an icy glare. "It's because I don't like you one bit. So take the easy way out, retire with your gains and in return, not only will you avoid jail but I won't be tempted to kill you."

He rose up and turned to head to the door. "Enjoy your day," he stated as he exited, leaving behind a sheriff trying his best to control his bladder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Veronica smiled as she looked over the newspaper while sitting in the middle of the Neptune High campus. It was a major double headline, one for Goodman's sudden arrest, the other on Lamb's announcement he was dropping out of the race "for health reasons."

"So, how's it feel to be back on the good side of town?" Duncan asked as he came up and gave her a quick kiss.

Veronica smiled back as he sat down before her. "It's good, no doubt about it. Dad is now a total shoo-in and the first order of business is to exonerate the bus driver of responsibility."

Duncan shook his head. "I still can't believe Goodman was dumb enough to leave so much proof on his computer."

"Not that much, actually," Veronica said. "But between Mac and Marshall, they managed to pull together enough from databases to build the case."

"Still feel sorry for him a bit," Duncan said. "He got in over his head and got caught up in something beyond him."

"He still bears responsibility for what happened," Veronica pointed out. "Frankly, he should count himself lucky. This Cell 17 won't go after him now, he's of no use anymore and while the CIA is hoping he'll spill about his connections, I think he's gonna be smarter than that."

"Let's hope," Duncan said. He was quiet for a moment before speaking. "I wanted to be there. To help you at the hotel but they thought Logan would draw less suspicion."

Veronica gave him a warm smile and leaned over to take his hand. "Hey," she softly said. "It's ok. I'm not falling back with him just because he was stupid enough to almost get killed. I didn't want you involved in this at all." She put a hand to his head. "But when I saw you waiting at that safehouse…I felt almost as good as when I saw my dad." She gave him a kiss on the lips.

"Um, sorry to interrupt." The two broke apart to see Sydney standing in the quad before them.

"Hey!" Veronica said with a happy tone in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Vaughn and I had to tell the principal that we were being transferred to a new assignment," Sydney answered.

"And the female student body's interest in French dives faster than the Governor's approval ratings," Duncan dryly noted.

Sydney chuckled at that and looked to Veronica. "I just wanted to stop by and say goodbye. I promise, you'll be looked after. Discretely," she said quickly to cut off Veronica's objection. "We're pretty sure that with Goodman going down, Cell 17 won't be interested in you anymore but we'll want to be sure. Hey, I promised to keep you safe."

"I can look after myself," Veronica said.

Sydney nodded. "Yeah, I know that." She looked around. "I was hoping to run into Mac before I went but I haven't seen her."

"She took a personal day," Veronica said. "Apparently, Marshall gave her some new super-duper laptop and she's going to do things with it that I rather hope aren't the type that can be done with machinery."

Sydney laughed. "Marshall has that talent." She extended a hand to Veronica. "It was good to meet you, Veronica Mars."

"You too, Sydney Bristow." Veronica shook back and then frowned at the look on Sydney's face. "You ok?"

Sydney bit her lip. "I didn't want to say this but…well, my boss…" It was clear to Veronica Sydney had some major issues with Sloane. "He wanted me to tell you that maybe when you're done with college, you should consider giving the CIA a try."

Veronica was thrown as Sydney quickly went on. "Look, this is not an easy life. What you went through was pretty easy compared to the stuff I've done in the past. It's hard, it's killer, it can destroy you in more ways than one." She paused and shrugged. "But it's your choice. And to tell the truth, you do have a talent for it."

Veronica paused and shook her head. "I doubt it. I think the private eye life may be the closest to action gal I get. I'd rather be Nancy Drew than Agent 99."

Sydney smiled. "Smart woman." She nodded to Duncan and then back to Veronica. "Good luck with your life."

"See you around," Veronica said. She watched Sydney walk away and sighed as she turned to Duncan. "And so closes the second-craziest caper in my life."

Duncan draped an arm around her as they stood up. "How about a private party at my place tonight?"

"Hmm, me likey," Veronica said with a grin. They began to walk off. "Will Logan be there?"

"I believe he'll be enjoying that bonus the CIA gave him," Duncan said. "And Weevil's going to be helping his grandma move back into her home."

"Ah, then it'll party all the time by us," Veronica said as she leaned in for a kiss.

"Um, scuse me?" The two looked up to see a sophomore boy with greasy hair, torn jeans and shirt standing before them. "Um, you're Veronica Mars, right? I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

Veronica and Duncan exchanged a look and Duncan smiled. "Go on. We both know you love it."

Veronica kissed him quickly and faced the young man. "Ah, back to normal."

THE END