by Rick Dakan
"What does that prove?"
"It's just not like him. He and I never talk money. Never ask each other about it. But he asked because he wanted to know how strapped we were for cash. He wanted to know what kind of resources we had at our disposal." Their waiter passed by at that moment and she flagged him down. "Excuse me, can we get our order to go instead? And bring the check when you get a chance." The waiter nodded no problem.
"We're not eating here?" said Paul.
"I want to test a theory."
"What's that?"
"That Raff's cancelled all our credit cards."
Paul looked shocked. "What? How...?" Chloe gave him a look that said come on, remember who you're dealing with. "Ok, but why."
"He wants us desperate. He wants to press us full court and make sure we don't have any moves we can make."
"If we had credit," Paul said, as he understood what was happening, "We could run and wait for things to calm down a little. But without any credit cards we can't even put gas in the car, which means the only way to run is for us to go get the money."
"And lead Raff right to it."
The waiter returned with two Styrofoam boxes and the check. Chloe nodded to Paul and he gave the server his debit card. A few minutes later he returned and said that the card had been declined. Chloe gave him one of her cards instead. It came back declined as well, so they ended up paying with Raff's cash.
"Fuck," said Chloe. "He's a sneaky bastard."
"What?"
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"That card I used, I didn't think he even knew about it. It's from one of my hidden accounts."
"Jesus...how much does he know?"
"Apparently he knows as much about me as I know about him," said Chloe. "I could empty or freeze a dozen of his accounts if I needed to, but I don't think that'll help us right now. He's probably got the whole Crew behind him on this and I can't beat all of them together."
"So we proceed with Plan A then," said Paul.
"Yep," she said as she stood up to go. "Let's hope Raff doesn't know all of my secrets, or we really are fucked."
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The U-Store-Right facility allowed its customers 24-hour a day access to their storage lockers. Every customer had a unique code that gave them access through the front gate as well as another code and a key that were both required to open the actual locker. Ten years ago the lot had state of the art security cameras and three roving guards at all times. These days the staff was down to one man in a security booth who watched a video monitor that only received signals from the 30% of the cameras that still worked and only worked days. Spread out over an acre that consisted of row after row of metal-doored mini-garages, the whole place looked shabby and rundown during the day. At night it was downright menacing.
It was after 9:00 PM when Paul and Chloe pulled up to the front gate and reached out the window and typed the entrance code into the battered metal keypad. A motor kicked into life and the chain-link gate shakily opened in front of them. They crept forward into the facility, headed towards a row of storage lockers near the back of the lot. They both peered out into the darkness in search of signs that anyone else was lurking around.
Every locker had a light over its doorway. Together they would have provided plenty of illumination down each row, but more than half of them were burned out or broken, leaving puddles of darkness large enough to hide a car. No way of knowing if they were alone or not.
Chloe pulled to a stop in front of the door marked G13. It was one of the units with a busted light, so she left the car lights focused on the door as they got out and made their way to the locker entrance. Paul keyed in a code on the pad next to the door, and the LED above the lock switched from red to green. He then produced a key from his pocket. It stuck in the lock at first, but he worked it carefully for a few seconds and finally the tumblers fell into place. The lock clicked and Paul said, "Ok, here we go."
"You're making the right decision, Paul."
"Yeah, yeah. That's what you keep saying," still speaking as if Raff were secretly listening, which he probably was. He leaned down and pulled up on the bottom of the garage door entrance. With a loud clatter it rolled up towards the ceiling, revealing a ten by twenty foot room packed to the ceiling with boxes. Paul flicked a light switch on the inside wall but nothing happened. He angrily flipped it up and down several more times but still nothing happened. "Of course," he sighed. "The fucking' light's out. Hold on a sec and I'll go get the bag."
As Paul rummaged around inside the storage locker, two figures stepped out from around the corner. One of them, the smaller figure, remained hidden in the shadows, but the tall, lanky man stepped confidently forward.
It was Raff. Chloe looked at him in surprise.
"What're you doing here?" she hissed, loud enough for Paul to hear. "What the fuck, Raff?"
He silently jogged up next to her. "It's ok," he said. "I'm just making sure everything goes down smooth."
"How the fuck did you find this place?" she asked in a low, angry voice. "I told you we'd meet up with you tonight."
"Just calm down, Chloe, everything's fine."
There was the low rumble of an engine from behind them, towards the entrance to the lot. A car turned into view, running with its lights off. It was a big old '78 Cadillac.
"Who's this?" she asked Raff, her voice louder than it should have been if she was trying to keep quiet, but loud enough for Paul to hear her inside the locker. "How many people did you bring with you?"
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"Shhh," said Raff. "It's ok. We just want to make sure nobody gets hurt." He stepped in close to put an arm around her shoulder but she danced away from him and towards the open entrance to the storage locker.
"Hurt?" she practically shouted. "Why the fuck would anyone get hurt, Raff?"
The car stopped right behind Chloe's vehicle, blocking her in. Two more people got out of the car, and even in the dim light they were recognizable as Kurt and Filo, both of whom Raff had originally recruited into the group. They wore long coats and had their hands stuffed in their pockets.
"What the fuck is going on here, Raff? Why're Kurt and Filo here?" Chloe shouted. "I told you I'd handle everything."
"I know," said Raff. "But we had a little talk," he gestured to the Kurt and Filo, "And we decided to switch things up a bit. You know, keep it interesting."
"We were getting you the money," she said. "That's why we're fucking here. To bring the goddamned money back." She paused and looked up into his smiling face. "Or is that not what you wanted, Raff? Did you have something else in mind?" She pointed towards the figure that still lingered in the shadows at the corner. With Raff in front of her, Kurt and Filo to her left and the stranger to her right, she had nowhere to run. "Who's your friend there? Are you cutting him in too?"
"It's ok, Chloe," said Paul, emerging from the storage locker with a blue vinyl duffle bag in his hands. "I've got the money right here."
"Hey Paul," said Raff. "Good to see you."
"Uh-huh," Paul replied, noncommittally as he stepped forward past Chloe. "Here," he offered Raff the bag.
"What's that?" Raff asked.
"The Goddamned money," Paul snapped.
"Really? That's great Paul. I know it sucks, but this is for the best."
"You didn't trust me to come back with it, huh?"
"Well, you did leave pretty angry this afternoon. I'm just here to make sure you make the right decision."
"Uh-huh," Paul repeated as he stepped forward and dropped the bag at Raff's feet with a heavy thump. He then retreated back to Chloe's side. Raff continued to stand there, still smiling. Filo stepped forward and picked up the bag.
"You gonna count that here?" Paul asked.
"Count what?" asked Raff, mock confusion in his voice.
"The damn money!" Paul shouted.
"Oh...yeah, hey Filo, why don't you
take that back to the trunk and count it real quick? We'll wait here."
Paul had a hard time hiding his anxiety as he watched Filo gingerly take the duffle bag to the car. He popped the trunk open and set the bag inside, but with the large trunk door open, Paul couldn't see exactly what he CHAPTER 33
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was doing.
"Giving up that money sure must hurt, huh Paul?" Raff said, ignoring Filo.
"What's up, Raff?" Chloe interjected. "What's with all the screwing around?"
"Fine," said Raff. His whole countenance changed in an instant, the friendly smile and open posture morphing into a menacing grin and an aggressive forward lean. "Cards on the table time, Chloe?"
Chloe responded in kind, puffing out her chest and taking a step towards Raff. "Absolutely. Let's lay it all out there."
"You knew we were following you," Raff stated.
"Of course we did."
"And you knew we were listening."
"Obviously."
"And yet you played along as if you didn't know. You led us here."
"So it would seem."
"Then you tell me, Chloe, knowing you as I do, and knowing all that, why on Earth would I believe that the bag Filo's examining so carefully actually contains the money?"
"Only one way to find out." She turned towards the car and shouted "Hey Filo, you find the money yet?"
"Shut up, Chloe," Filo called back.
"Just open it, for God's sake!" she shouted.
"Shut up, Chloe!" he returned, louder than before.
"Shush now," said Raff softly. "He needs to concentrate." He called over to Filo, "You take your time. We'll wait." Filo grunted in reply and Raff turned back to Chloe. "So tell me, Chloe, when did you turn against the rest of the us?"
"I could ask you the same question," said Chloe. "In fact I will. When did you turn Raff? Was it when I took Paul with me to the beach instead of you? Were you jealous?"
"You're projecting your own drama onto me." Raff smiled "What is it about this guy anyway?" He gestured to Paul. "I mean, he's a fine fellow and all, but why the special treatment? How did he go so quickly from mark to best buddy? How did you decide to let him keep his money? And why, pray tell why, weren't the rest of us consulted?"
"We've had this conversation."
"Yes," Raff said thoughtfully. "Yes we have. Fine then, let's move on to new business." He turned again towards Filo. "How's it coming?" he shouted. Another grunt from Filo.
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"Almost there," said Raff as his gaze turned back on Chloe. "Let's talk about Paul for a minute."
"Do we have to," Paul said with a sigh. "That seems to be all anyone wants to talk about these days. Me and my money."
"You and your stolen money," Raff corrected.
"Whatever," said Paul.
"What about Paul?" asked Chloe "Do you want to know if his cock is bigger than yours? It would have to be, wouldn't it?"
Raff laughed. "Leave it to Chloe to bring things down into the gutter. No, I was actually going to sing his praises for a moment."
"This should be good," said Paul.
"You're pretty good at this whole thing, Paul," Raff continued. "Your plans are clever, if a tad over-complicated. You've got the fire for the life and, judging from your performance this afternoon with me and in the car as we listened in, you can play the face to face con, too."
"Thanks," said Paul, although he didn't mean it.
"You've even got the secret of successfully lying to people - always include a little bit of truth. You said your money was in a storage locker and, lo and behold, here we are at a storage locker. You even explained why it wouldn't be under your name; that your cousin had rented it. Of course we didn't have time to look into the paperwork on every locker here since we didn't know which storage facility until we followed you here so we couldn't check on that."
"Where's this going, Raff?" Chloe asked. Paul didn't like the fact that Raff was giving away so much information about what he did and didn't know. Chloe'd told Paul time and again that you never reveal what you know unless you have to. Paul was wondering if their brilliant plan was really all that brilliant.
"I'm getting there," said Raff. "Patience. As I was saying, we couldn't check up on who rented out this storage facility. But we could check up on your family." Paul's heart started to thump heavily in his chest. "And it took some doing, but we found the cousin who's not really a cousin. Francesca Kohl, right?"
Paul stared at him dumbly, kicking himself for mentioning his cousin in the first place. But he knew enough not to nod or acknowledge Raff's statement. Deny, deny, deny. "Doesn't ring any bells," said Paul, keeping most of the anxiety out of his voice.
Raff kept on as if he hadn't heard Paul. "And lo and behold, the credit card records for Ms. Kohl do indeed show a monthly rental charge for a storage locker facility in the Bay Area. Just not this one." He paused to let this sink in and then turned to Chloe. "See babe, this is what you get when you work with talented amateurs.
Moments of brilliance intertwined with dumb fucking mistakes." He looked again towards Filo. "How's it coming over there?"
"Ready when you are!" Filo shouted back.
Paul glanced at Chloe. She caught his eye and ever so slightly nodded to her right. Paul looked over at the fourth figure hiding in the shadows. He wondered who the hell that was, but decided it didn't make much difference at this point.
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"Go ahead!" Raff called to Filo.
Silence for a moment. Paul held his breath in anticipation. Chloe tensed her muscles. Raff watched with a serene smile, like some malevolent, skinny Buddha.
A loud, sharp pop came from the open car trunk, followed by a powerful hissing noise. "Fuck!" Filo shouted, and they all looked over to see a billowing cloud of green smoke pouring out of the car trunk. Filo came stumbling around to the front of the car, his face concealed by a gas mask. He had a tire iron in his hand.
"How 'bout that!" shouted Raff, whooping in delight. "I was right. I told you it would be gas, not a flash bomb!"
Filo regained his footing as he came to a stop next to Kurt, who'd stood motionless throughout the entire proceedings, watching everything unfold with a curious, intense look. Filo tore the gasmask from his head and said, "Yeah, yeah, you were right."
Paul and Chloe looked surprised and scared. When the gas bomb went off he'd grabbed her hand and he still hadn't let go. Together they took a step backwards towards the storage locker's dark opening.
Raff followed them forward, his hand digging into his coat pocket for something. "Ok kids, play time's over.
We've had the fireworks show. Now let's get down to business."
"Ok," said Chloe between clenched teeth. "What do you want?"
In one smooth motion Raff pulled his hand from his coat and whipped it up and then down. With a metallic snap the collapsible metal baton telescoped to its full length. He pointed it menacingly at Paul. "His fucking money!"
"No," said Paul, his voice much calmer than his heart. "Not gonna happen."
"Oh it's gonna happen," said Raff. Behind him Filo stepped forward, his tire iron en garde and ready for action. Kurt also came towards them, although his hands remained in his pockets. The shadowy figure to their right remained where he was. "One way or another. You can take us there now, which is your best option. Or you can wait for us to beat it out of you, which would suck for you. Or you can let us beat you to a fucking pulp and we'll just find the locker and get in on our own. We're pretty experienced at that kind of thing, in case you hadn't heard."
Paul held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Ok, Ok. You've made your point. I know what's best for me."
Raff didn't stop moving towards him, but he did say, "Great, just let me tie you up and we'll go to the locker."
"No, no, you misunderstood. I've decided to go with option number three. Come and get me, Fuckwad!" Paul shouted angrily.
; He yanked on Chloe's arm and the two of them turned and ran into the dark storage locker, dodging behind a stack of boxes and out of sight.
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Peering out from inside the dark locker, Paul watched as Raff turned to Kurt. "Now do you believe me?" he asked. Kurt looked troubled by what he'd seen. Finally he nodded in agreement and pulled his hand out of his pocket. He held an extendable baton that was a twin to the one Raff wielded. He snapped it to its fighting length and joined Raff and Filo as they advanced towards the dark opening.
"Whatcha doing Chloe?" Raff called from a few feet outside the locker entrance. "I'm sure you figured out that that's a dead end."
There was no reply, except a shuffling of feet and boxes towards the storage locker's rear. Raff motioned with his head to his two companions and then glanced to his left at the shadow draped figure that he'd come with.
Then the three of them stepped into the darkness, weapons ready.
From inside the locker, two pairs of dark arms swung baseball bats out from the shadowy corners to either side of the doorway, arcing out from the darkness and slamming into the intruders. Filo took a blow straight to his forehead that knocked him back off his feet. Raff managed to twist away at the last moment, the bat glancing off his shoulder. Before he could react further two more black-clad figures exploded from the pile of boxes in front of him, wooden bats raised and ready for action.
"What the fuck!" shouted Raff, tumbling backwards out of the doorway and into the alleyway. Kurt turned and ran as well, the mystery attackers hot on his heels.
As the fight poured out into the slightly brighter exterior, Raff must have been surprised when he realized that none of the attackers were Chloe or Paul. One of the four was clearly a woman, but she was much stockier and a little taller than Chloe. All four bat wielding ambushers wore dark pants and dark sweatshirts in various shades of navy and black. All had dark bandannas around their faces that covered everything below the eyes and dark ski-caps that covered everything above them. They looked not so much like uniformed soldiers as a quartet of people who'd been told to dress alike for the occasion.
