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Chapter 4: The Drawbridge is Lowered
INTERIOR MANSION
"Hello Veronica," Duncan whispered casually emerging from the shadows of the dark hallway, with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his khakis. He was tanner, thinner and gaunter than he'd been when he left almost two years earlier. He also looked very tired. Being on the run had taken a decided toll on him physically and mentally.
Clarence Weidman had disappeared after letting Veronica into the house. The giant paintings of Lilly and Duncan still leant a bleak, ominous air to the elongated room. Although they were the faces of her friends, the paintings reminded Veronica of the villain, Vigo the Carpathian, who came to life in the movie GhostBusters II. Rather than comfort her, they only served to set her more on edge.
With a shaky breath, Veronica confessed, "I can't believe it's really you. What . . . what are you doing here? Where's Lily?" She threw her arms around Duncan who reluctantly hugged her back but with far less enthusiasm than she exhibited.
Duncan broke the hug quickly because the physical intimacy was making him uncomfortable. "Lily's with Astrid. We got married," Duncan volunteered. After taking a step back from Veronica to increase the distance between them, he held up his left hand to show her the gold band that now encased his fourth finger. "It was . . . easier."
Veronica didn't know what to say. Duncan married to the graduate student his mother hired to do his laundry; to the woman she hired to see him safely into Mexico. Yet now Duncan was here with his wife and his child. It was all surreal.
Understanding that she needed time to process, Duncan continued. "I heard about what happened . . . all of it. I told my father he had to make this right. You could have destroyed a lot of people with the information on that hard drive but you didn't. You deserve something for that . . . after all you've been through." He gave her another brief, chaste hug but again let go before she did.
By now the pair were walking toward the end of the hallway toward the light in the direction from where Duncan had come. They entered Jake Kane's study to find him behind his desk. He had shaved since Veronica's last visit to the mansion and looked far less maniacal. Gory Sorkin was seated on the tufted leather couch next to a dangerous looking man Veronica assumed was his father and head of the Russian mob. Roger Hearst, the founder's son, and Mel Stoltz, the arrogant, cigar smoking Hearst alumni who almost singlehandedly got the Greek system reinstated, occupied arm chairs flanking the front of Jake's desk. Clarence Weidman was hovering behind the couch with his suit jacket unbuttoned making sure everyone knew he was armed.
The older man inventoried the little blonde who felt particularly small in this large, masculine room. "This is the heprxa [Russian word for slut] that caused all the commotion."
Veronica remembered a few Russian words from her last entanglement with the Russian mob when she inadvertently located a guy in the witness protection program because she naively thought she was reuniting a mail order bride with her lost love. Veronica didn't remember exactly what this particular word meant but she knew it must be an insult. "I'm no heprxa. Your son is voyeur and a coward," she retorted defiantly as she fearlessly took a few steps toward her opponent who looked mildly impressed that she wasn't backing off.
"Everybody settle down," Clarence Weidman commanded.
"Hello, Veronica," opened Jake, trying to get this meeting back to a more civilized level. "Please. Have a seat." He gestured toward the love seat where Duncan had settled himself across from the Sorkins.
Carefully measuring his guests with his eyes, as only a clever billionaire CEO can, Jake Kane began, "We have a mutual problem."
Veronica smiled smugly. Although she had been out of town she knew that Nish had put that list of all male members of The Castle to good use and had filed a discrimination suit against The Castle, Hearst College, the Hearst family and the Kanes in federal court in Los Angeles. Her lawyers were threatening to start taking depositions of all the living members of the heretofore secret society as well as the relatives of some of the dead ones.
"We also have a proposed solution," offered Roger Hearst, ever the salesman and diplomat
"Great. So what am I doing here, then? You boys seem to have it all figured out." Veronica queried sarcastically, rising from the couch to leave.
Duncan grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "You're the key to the solution," he explained.
"Well then you boys have an even bigger problem, because I have no interest in helping any of you do anything, especially him." Veronica snarled pointing and glaring at Gory. She would never forgive him for distributing that tape of her and Piz.
Jake Kane exhaled audibly. "Veronica, Kane Enterprises has done our very best to erase that footage from the entire Internet. Our programmers developed a special virus which we released into the Hearst computer system and a few other select places, including Facebook, YouTube, and through various programs sold at HearstMart. The virus finds that video file and erases it without harming any other files. It also duplicates itself and attaches itself to every e-mail sent by every Hearst user. If it finds the video on the recipient's computer the virus deletes the video then attaches itself to that person's outgoing mail, and so on and so on. It's truly viral. We're fairly confident that all copies of that video are gone."
Veronica was both awed and scared that one corporation had so much power to get into so many people's operating systems. She was relieved that the video was disappearing, but didn't like the idea that Kane Enterprises and HearstMart now had a Trojan Horse into every student's system. She made a mental note to tell Mac and Max about this.
"Well thanks for that, but I can hold my head up high. I wasn't the one doing anything wrong. You and your secret society. . . " she waved her hand in the air for emphasis, " . . . blackmailing people. How much dirt do you really have on people? It's disgusting."
"You should know," snapped Mel Stoltz. "You viewed the files. You probably copied them." He stabbed his unlit cigar in her direction to punctuate his accusation.
Veronica turned to glare at the pompous jerk who was addressing her. "Just be happy I didn't release them to Hardcopy, 20/20 and 60 Minutes."
"We are all very happy about that, Ms. Mars," soothed Roger Hearst. "This lawsuit is another matter however. It has to be stopped."
"Can't help you there," Veronica responded. "I'm not involved in the suit."
"Oh but you are," interjected Clarence. "We know you gave a list of Castle members to the Lilith House. There's no other way Nish Sweeney could have gotten it."
"Whatever," sighed Veronica trying to feign boredom with this discussion. "I'm not saying I gave her the list but if I did, there's nothing I can do about it now. It's out of my hands and in the hands of the lawyers." As she looked around the room, her steely gaze settled on the elder Sorkin. "I'm sure you all have Lawyers. What do you need me for?"
"This is a waste of time," growled Gory. "I told you she wouldn't go for it."
"For the record, having seen your hard drive, I also have no reason to believe that you destroyed all the copies of the tape with me and Piz. I know how much you like to hold things over people's heads, Jake," Veronica wasn't even going to pretend she had any respect left for her ex-boyfriend's father, no matter how much money he had.
Duncan was still quick to defend Veronica. "She hasn't even heard your offer yet."
Veronica's eye's widened when Duncan spoke. "What offer?" she asked cautiously, not sure she wanted to know.
"In exchange for you getting Nish and her lawyers to back off, we are prepared to offer you both membership in The Castle and to orchestrate a recall election which should assure that your father wins a new term as sheriff," Jake outlined the proposal for her.
"We already fixed the little matter of your father degaussing the security footage which captured your ill-conceived B&E," Clarence Weidman reminded her. "He won't be facing charges."
Veronica snorted. "I don't want to be a member of your little secret boy's club."
"Your friend Wallace does," Gory countered.
She looked back to Jake who nodded and assured her, "Yes, Mr. Fennel can be recalled."
"It won't matter. Nish isn't going to back down," Veronica predicted.
"Yes she will," scoffed the trustee. "Ms. Femma-Nazi doesn't so much want to destroy The Castle as to be a part of it."
"You're kidding," sneered Veronica. They clearly didn't know Nish at all. She would never join something like The Castle.
"If you join, she will," started Jake. "Besides you are exactly the kind of student who belongs in The Castle." Veronica couldn't believe her ears. Her mouth must have fallen open in shock as her nemesis continued, "I know we've had our differences over the years." There wasn't a touch of sarcasm as he spoke the understatement of the decade. "But, you've always been good scholar, a natural leader, somebody who is going places. Let us help you."
Veronica's eyes narrowed with her ever growing skepticism.
"You should think about it, Veronica. Louis Freeh's son is a member. There are great connections to be made inside a group like The Castle. You don't always have to do everything the hard way, like an outsider," Duncan encouraged her to think about the offer.
Veronica remained skeptical. It hurt to be reminded that she would always be an outsider, that she wasn't an 09er. "I don't remember his name on the list. It's not like I would have missed it."
"He uses his mother's maiden name for security reasons," explained Clarence Weidman.
"You expect me to believe that the former head of the F.B.I. let his son join a group that has Russian mobsters as members?" Veronica was not an easy sell.
"Mr. Sorkin is not a member of the Castle," declared Roger. "He's only here to keep his son in line."
"This still doesn't resolve everything," Veronica mused.
Understanding her reluctance, Duncan revealed their ace in the hole, "If you agree to this, the Sorkins and their associates promise to leave Logan alone. No more ambushes like this summer." When Veronica's eyes betrayed her shock, Duncan realized his mistake. She hadn't known that Logan was attacked in Venezuela. At least now she knew where the bruises came from and why he'd had a "nose job".
Quick to recover, Veronica put another fly in the ointment, "Even if you can keep him away from Logan," she gestured toward Gory, "what makes you think you can keep Logan away from him?"
Taking her hand in his, Duncan looked deeply into Veronica's eyes, his own tinged with a touch of sadness, "Logan loves you. And he'll do anything to keep you safe." Veronica couldn't believe what she was hearing. "We both will," he assured her.
Momentarily speechless, she back pedaled even as her mind was racing. "I have to think about this."