Disclaimer: Veronica Mars and any recognizable characters are the intellectual property of Rob Thomas.
Fourteen:
"Don't they like ever serve real food in these places?" Dick says with a groan, as he looks at what the signs says is beef stew. It looks more like sewage. "The cafeteria food at Neptune High looked better than this."
Mac rolls her eyes. "Dick it's a hospital. Get over it. The vegetables are real, why not go for a salad, or are you really so hell bent on clogging your arteries?"
"Meat is a staple of the food pyramid, I-tunes! And I'm a growing boy," he replies and sticks his tongue out at her.
Again she rolls her eyes. "And could you please remind me why you are even here? I mean I know you play video games with Will sometimes, but do you really consider him a friend?"
Dick plays the hurt look like a trump card. "Of course he's my friend. And, dude! Have you checked out his sister? Sarah is like totally hawt! And this time with all the sympathy I'm feeling for jock itch, and those chick flicks you made me suffer through, I totally have a shot at getting my groove awn!"
"Just don't hurt yourself," Mac replies with a small smile.
Of course he does end up settling for a salad, simply because it appears to be the one edible thing in the entire hospital cafeteria. He loads it down with lots of diced ham, egg bits and ranch dressing though. Mac suppresses a laugh before her vision goes hazy and she stumbles a little. He puts his tray down and goes to catch her. She lands against his chest, and looks up at him, her cheeks a rosy hue.
"Hey, Mac, if you need to sit down, just say so. Or if you just like falling against me… Well, can't say I mind too much, but think we can keep these little moments to ourselves? Cause I don't think Cass would understand, and I'd hate to have to kick his ass or anything," Dick says softly with a small grin as he helps her get steady on her feet again.
She swats at him half-heartedly, and soon there is someone else helping them. A tall, leggy redhead in a nurse's uniform, and Mac is being led to a chair out in the dining area. Dick goes back for their salads and some water as per the nurse's instructions, and then Mac feels something prick her arm and the world goes fuzzy and dark all over again.
It doesn't take long for Dick to get the water and the salads, however it takes long enough. He goes out into the dining area and looks at the table where he'd just left Mac and the nurse. There is a sinking feeling in his gut, and he just knows that something isn't right. He tosses the food into the nearest trashcan and heads to a nurse's station to ask about the leggy redhead and a pregnant girl with two green streaks in her hair.
He's pointed in the direction of the main doors of the hospital. He runs down the hall, not caring if it's against the rules. He steps out of the double doors and his breath catches in his throat as he sees an unconscious Mac hauled into the back of a black van. One of her shoes falls off and he runs toward the van, but the doors are pulled shut and the van is peeling out of the parking lot. He looks at where the license plate should be, but finds that there isn't one, and how many black vans are out in the Neptune area alone?
He's fucked up big time and he knows it. He bends down and picks up the black sneaker, and brushes the grit off it. She was wearing the Sketchers he'd gotten for her when she had complained that the boots she usually wore were pinching her toes. He closes his eyes, the fear and worry knotting in his stomach growing worse as he realizes that not only has he lost Mac, but now he has to face his little brother and tell him.
Dick takes a deep breath and braces himself as he steps off of the elevator. His first stop is to check in the waiting room, but Cassidy isn't there. His next stop is room 319. He gives the closed door a knock, and once he hears the all clear he opens the door and sticks his head in. He can barely breathe at the sight of his brother sitting down in the chair next to Will's bed talking about History class, and how maybe Jack Abrams is crushing on him.
"You know the full back, Adam Teneger came up to Jack today and was giving him a hard time about visiting you so much, and Jack got two weeks worth of detention for breaking Adam's nose. It was awesome. Rutledge let Jack off the hook when he realized that Jack was defending you, which gives ol' Rut some cool points," Cassidy says.
Will winces as he shifts in the bed, but there is a small smile on his face as he asks, "So Jack Abrams, our school's quarterback has a thing for me? Me, the school queer. You've got to be making this up."
Cassidy looks up and sees Dick standing in the doorway, and upon noticing that Dick is alone asks, "Hey, Dick, where's Cindy? Did she have to go to the bathroom again?"
Dick staggers into the room, and takes a seat in the chair on the other side of Will's bed, and he looks across at Cassidy, and Will feels the anxiety crashing off of Dick in waves, and he does not want to be the one in the middle of this, literally or figuratively.
"Hey, guys, look, the nurse is about to come in here for my bath, so think you can head out a little early tonight? It's that really old, fugly woman, and I've got to brace myself for her wielding a sponge. Why couldn't it have been that hot guy nurse on duty tonight," he says trying to lighten the mood. "It's a shame he's married."
Dick is the first to stand, and he feels Cassidy's eyes on him as he quickly steps out of the room. Cassidy tells Will good night and then he's out in the hall and narrowing his eyes on his older brother. "Okay, now tell me what's going on. Where's Cindy?"
Dick swallows thickly, and closes his eyes, before his words come out in this choked whisper, "Dude, she had a fainting spell. I didn't think anything of the nurse coming to help. I set her down in a chair in the cafeteria and I left for like a second to get some water. When I came back she was gone. I ran to the nearest nurses' station, and then I ran out of the door and she was being pulled into this van, and it took off. This is all I have."
He holds up the shoe, and Cassidy looks as though he's just been punched in the face. He bends over double trying to catch his breath, as it strikes him that Mac is gone, and she's in trouble and the baby is due in three weeks.
A cold chill worms up his spine and slowly he straightens up, before he has Dick shoved against a wall, his arm at Dick's throat, and his eyes are burning with anger and pain, and Dick is shocked because he has never seen his brother like this.
"You can't do one single fucking thing right, can you Dick? Have you not gotten the memo that someone is after me! Why the fuck do you think Will was attacked? Why the hell do you think I have Weevil tailing you and Cindy most of the time? Why do you think I'm actually calling up the Fitzpatricks at regular intervals? Does it just strike you, now that Cindy is GONE, that we are in some serious fucking danger! I can't fucking believe you! The mother of my child is God only knows where because of you!" Cassidy snarls and increases the pressure against Dick's throat, and Dick is struggling to breathe past Cassidy's firm hold on his throat, and he wonders where all of this strength is coming from, because he used to kick Cassidy's ass all the time.
Dick is growing lightheaded when someone starts pulling Cassidy off of him. He slumps to the floor and sucks in several huge gulps of air. Dick gives his head a shake and looks up, his eyes wide with surprise as he realizes that Weevil is holding Cassidy back.
"So, do we need to go over the importance of sharing again, boys? I thought you had the hang of that by now. And where's Mac, usually she's the peace keeper, or two waddles away from kicking Dick's ass these days," Weevil says.
Weevil is surprised when Cassidy stops struggling and slumps back against him before this horrible sound escapes his mouth, and Weevil lets him go and Cassidy sinks to his knees, clutching a single shoe to his chest as he rocks slowly back and forth, the sound of his grief inescapable.
After a few minutes Dick is on his feet, and helping Cassidy up, and Weevil is suddenly taking charge. They leave the hospital, and Dick gets Cassidy's keys and tosses them to Weevil. Soon they're in Cassidy's KIA Sportage and on their way to the River Styx, to get Liam and his boys in on this, because, if what Dick is telling him about Mac being missing is true, then they'll need all the help they can get, even if that means working with the Fitzpatricks again. Weevil will do it for Mac.
On the drive over Weevil makes a couple of phone calls. The first is to Veronica, and she is surprised to hear that he's asking to meet her at the River Styx, but she says she'll be there. The second call is to Kendall, who is already on route to meet Liam any way. Weevil hangs up his phone and looks in the backseat for a moment. His blood runs cold as Cassidy just sits there, not moving or flinching, barely breathing. It's like he's made out of stone. He spares a glance at Dick, who's all twitching and fidgeting, and he wonders how the two can be brothers because they are such complete opposites.
A low moan escapes her throat as consciousness starts to slowly seep into her brain. Her eyes flutter open for a moment and she winces against the harsh light in the room, as her eyes slowly grow accustomed to it. She shifts her head and gets a good look at the room, it's simple with sand colored walls, dingy thread bare carpet, a lumpy couch, and a scratched up coffee table, and a television that looks like it should be featured in a retro seventies themed show.
She tries to move her arms, because her shoulders ache and she really wants to stretch, but her wrists are bound behind her back, and she realizes that she is tied in a stiff wooden chair that is doing nothing for her already aching back, and she really, really has to pee.
She squirms, but soon discovers that her ankles are tied to the chair legs, and she can't cross her legs, and her bladder is burning with her need to go. She decides to give into the cranky side of being pregnant, especially when the baby gives a sound kick to her kidneys.
"Hello, will someone untie me and take me to the bathroom now! I swear if I pee on myself you will have to gag me to shut me up!" she snaps threateningly.
"I'm tempted to gag you now," says a big brawny man with a shaved head and a scar that crawls from the corner of his mouth and across his face.
Mac swallows thickly at the sight of him, and then another man enters the room, this man has curly dark hair, and a scar running over his right eye, and his good eye is a chilling dark blue. Still, she steels her resolve as the baby lands another impressive kick to her kidneys and her bladder.
"Look, I'm really uncomfortable and I have to pee. I won't struggle or try to escape, just take me to the freaking bathroom!"
The one with the bad eye gives her a shark-like grin, and looks at the brawny bad ass Mr. Clean looking guy and says, "You heard the little mother, Bones, cut her loose and take her to the bathroom. Careful with her though. She's valuable. The more banged up she is the less worth she has, so try to reign in that temper."
Mac gulps as Bones flicks open a butterfly blade and carefully cuts her wrists and ankles free. She rubs her wrists to get the circulation going back in her hands, while Bones looms over her and directs her to the bathroom. She slips into the bathroom, and makes a face. It's disgusting, the toilet is rusty and moldy, and the smell is terrible.
She wipes the toilet seat down, then covers it with toilet paper, does her business, and washes her hands. When she steps out of the bathroom she takes a breath of slightly fresher air, and hopes she really doesn't have to pee again for a long time.
He leads her back into the room where she's been kept for she doesn't even want to know how long. She looks at the stiff chair that she just vacated with contempt and then toward the lumpy couch.
With a deep breath she decides to try her luck. "Do you think you could at least tie me up in a more comfortable chair and maybe not tie the ropes so tight? What do you think I'm going to do? Do you realize how pregnant I am? I don't see myself managing a MacGuyver escape."
"All right, Mommy, we'll let you lie down on the couch, but no funny stuff, otherwise Bones will have to tie you up again. Got the drill?"
Bones looks at the man with the badly scarred eye. "Tony, man, I think we should just tie her back up. I mean this is a big chance we're taking."
"And she makes a point. I don't see her fitting through a window with that belly, and I think we could take her if she tried to make a run for it," Tony says in exasperation. "For the most part she seems like a smart girl, I doubt she'll run with the baby in the mix. Isn't that right sweetheart?"
Mac shivers at the implication. She gives a nod, and decides she'll go along with what they say for now for the sake of the baby. If she knows Cassidy he'll be working on some way to get her back. He's probably calling in the troops right now, maybe even Veronica, because Veronica is good at handling things like this.
She takes a seat on the couch and settles in, lying on her back to look up at the moldy, water spotted ceiling. The couch isn't the comfiest in the world, but it's far better than the chair they'd had her tied up in. The baby shifts and moves and she gently rubs her hand across her belly to sooth the child within, and she smiles as the baby begins to settle, and then she whispers, "Hey, don't worry. Daddy is coming. He'll save us, you wait and see. And then when we get out of this Mommy will yell at Uncle Dick for leaving her at the mercy of a leggy redhead, yes she will."
Tony watches as she rubs her belly and talks to the baby. He shakes his head, not getting women, as he punches in a text message on Mac's phone, hits the first button on speed dial and waits for a reply.
Veronica gets out of the yellow monstrosity that is Logan's X-terra, and rolls her eyes again as he looks at the bar in disgust and asks, "So tell me what we're doing here exactly?"
"Something's happened to Mac and Weevil called me and told me to meet him here. So we are here," Veronica replies, and she braces herself as she notices Cassidy's KIA in the parking lot, and Kendall's silver BMW.
"Wait, Weevil is at Fighting Fitzpatrick headquarters?" Logan replies in disbelief.
"Believe it Echolls," Weevil says as he pushes himself off of the wall and comes out to meet them. "Yo, V, glad you came, this shit's gettin' heavy. According to Dick, Mac had a little fainting spell. He left her with some leggy redhead nurse to go get some water and when he came back she was gone. He went running to the parking lot and saw them stuffing Mac into the back of a van. All he got was her right shoe. He says the van didn't have any plates. I'm surprised surfer boy even had the mental capacity to look. He's takin' it almost as bad as Cassidy."
As they walk into the bar, the first thing they notice is that it's quiet and deserted. There are no patrons to speak of and a small group is gathered in the corner around Liam who looks like he's holding court.
Cassidy is sitting at the table, with his chair pulled back so that he's there, but not a part of the group. Dick is nursing a beer, and Kendall is whispering something to Liam, who is nodding back. Finally Liam looks up with smirk.
"Well, well, Blondie returns to the slums and with her gun toting little man, welcome," he says with a wide spread of his hands.
Cassidy suddenly looks up and his eyes lock on Veronica, and then he gets up and he stops as Logan puts his arm around Veronica's shoulder and glares at him. Cassidy takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Are you going to help me get her back?"
"I'm here right? And let's get this straight. This is about Mac. If you do anything that puts her in danger, I don't give a damn, I'll expose you for the little rat you are, because she wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for you," Veronica says, and her voice is cold.
Dick gets up and stands behind his brother, his beer forgotten. "It's not his fault. I was the one that left her alone long enough to get taken. Look, this isn't a pissing contest. Let's just do whatever we have to do to get her back, okay?"
Before anyone can answer a loud ring tone cuts into the heavy atmosphere. Cassidy snatches his phone out of his pocket. His eyes widen at the number on display, and he flips the phone open to the message waiting for him. His heart sinks as he reads it.
"Got ur girl. Want her back? U pay in blood."
He hits the speed dial for Mac's phone, and after a couple of rings someone answers, "Thought that might get your attention Casey."
"Where is she? I want to talk to her now," Cassidy replies.
There is a snort on the line. "Your little girlfriend is fine. She just had a little bathroom break and she's napping on the couch. Now here's the deal. We do a trade, you for the girl. It's just you, and maybe that idiot blonde boy you hang out with now, to take the girl, but no one else. She's fine for now. Don't keep us waitin' long though, you know how impatient Bones can get."
Before Cassidy can say anything else the line goes dead and his phone slips from his hand. He closes his eyes and takes several deep breaths, feeling the stares of everyone present on him.
"Here's the deal, they want an even trade, me for Cindy. Fine, I can do that, but I want someone there to make sure that she gets out of this. They can have me, I don't give a damn, but she gets out of this in one piece," he says, and after a moment he continues, "I have to call him back soon with plans for the exchange. He said something about Bones getting impatient."
Danny Boyd lets out a long whistle. "Shit, Richie, you got in deep. Bones Carver, wow. That means you're dealing with the big chops. I bet Tony Rawley is behind this. What you do to piss him off?"
"Look, story time isn't important here. Right now we have my pregnant friend caught in the middle of something pretty bad. I've checked the records on Tony Rawley and Timothy "Bones" Carver, and it's not a fairytale sort of read, so lets get down to discussing how we can get Mac back," Veronica cuts in, taking command.
Cassidy looks up and meets her eyes, knowing that she's probably his best bet. Liam, Weevil, and Danny are the muscle, Kendall has brains, but Veronica already has an idea forming in that non-stop head of hers. "What are you thinking, Veronica?" he asks.
She smiles at him. "Well, if you still know your way around making bombs we might be able to take them by surprise. I'm not thinking anything too big, a simple pipe bomb from the Anarchist's Cookbook will work as long as it's triggered by a phone call. And we should try to get this deal to go down in a place we know. How about where this all began, the rooftop of the Neptune Grand? Think about it, we can all hide out in Logan's suite, it's a good place for this."
Kendall nods and cuts in, "Blondie has a point. We wait in Logan's little suite for the phone call and then the Calvary will come up and save your little ass and the mother to be. The bomb could be a distraction if things get messy before the Calvary arrives. You just watch your ass up there, because we aren't giving you up."
"Gee, it's starting to sound like you care," Cassidy bites out.
Kendall snorts and gives her head a toss. "Please, you're still bringing in the dollar signs. That makes your pathetic little life worth something, and hello, I helped her pick out the curtains and carpet for the nursery. You might as well have a kid to puke on the carpet and tear at the curtains right?"
"Sounds like someone is getting sentimental," Logan says, and Kendall and Veronica give him twin glares of doom.
Soon they all gather around the table in the corner and work out the fine print of a plan to take Tony Rawley and Bones Carver by surprise. Cassidy just has to sell them on the idea of the trade going down on the rooftop of the Neptune Grand. He hopes it won't be a hard sell, but he's not going to take no for an answer.
Tony smiles as Mac's phone rings. He pushes a button and presses it to his ear.
"Goin' all swanky on me, eh Casey? The Neptune Grand. Nice. I can swing that, on the rooftop, but no one else on the roof but you, or I can't make promises about your girlfriend's health, and man, let me just say that ring on her finger. Pretty pricey. Seems like you hit the lottery my friend."
A minute or so later he hangs up the phone and looks at Bones. "Looks like we're set. Tomorrow night at eleven o'clock we go to the Neptune Grand, say we're guests of Logan Echolls and then we head up to the roof. He'll be waiting for us there. If he's not alone we get to have some fun with the little mother."
"On a rooftop?" Bones asks, skeptical.
Tony shrugs. "It's kind of poetic. It's where that kid that blew up the plane and that school bus swan dived last year. If we play our cards right maybe Casey will make the same dive."
"And what about the little woman when we're done with him? She could identify us at the scene."
"Not if we toss her off first. We'll make it look like a murder-suicide. You know she's the chick that dated that kid that dove? Yeah, thought I recognized her. Her picture was on the front page. I did some checking around, had Mousy look into some records, and it's her. And Casey's mom was the kid's step mom. His name was Cassidy Casablancas. Gotta hand it to the kid, sixteen and blowin' up buses and planes. He had a future in our kind of business. It's a shame Casey didn't have that crazy rich kid's potential, we could have used that kind of crazy, but if he fucks us over once he'll do it again, best to get it over and done with, right?"
Bones just nods, although he has an uneasy feeling in his gut as he gets a bottle of water out of the fridge to bring to the pregnant girl lying down on the lumpy couch out in the small living room of the ramshackle apartment they're holed up in. Is it guilt or foreboding? He isn't the dwelling type, so he just shrugs away the feeling and decides to do what he's always done and go along with Tony, because Tony's never done him wrong before.
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