Geek Mafia

by Rick Dakan

  "No, it wasn't a shock at all," Paul said. "You think I didn't know you were after my money the whole time?

  Of course I did. What else would you want me for?"

  "What?" said Chloe in surprise.

  "I think the question you've got to be asking yourself right now is: who conned who?"

  "What?" she repeated.

  "I mean look at it from my point of view," he glanced over at her, flashing her a bright smile. "I got the girl and the money. Everything I ever wanted from this situation. Ok, sure, I'm a wanted fugitive, but you said yourself that it's not so bad."

  She cocked her head to the side and looked at him, as if seeing him in a new light.

  "You know there's one possibility you never considered," Paul said.

  "What's that?" she asked.

  "Maybe it wasn't Raff who put my old partners on the invite list. Maybe it was me. Maybe I'm the one who set this whole thing up as a test to see which side you'd come down on. Mine or the Crew's." For the first time since he'd met her, Paul believed that Chloe really was speechless.

  "I mean, think back on it. Raff never really admitted to doing anything, did he? He never came out and said he put the names on the list. He never said he set me up." Out of the corner of his eye he could see that she was trying to remember everything Raff had said and done in the past two days.

  "He didn't...?" she said to herself.

  "No he sure didn't. I wonder why?"

  "Wait," she said suddenly. "Yes he did. He did admit it. I remember it distinctly."

  "Are you sure?" Paul asked, barely containing his own laughter.

  And then Chloe finally got it. "You're fucking with me, aren't you?" she asked. "You're fucking pulling my leg!"

  The laughter finally burst out from him.

  "You fuck!" she shouted, punching him playfully in the shoulder. "I can't believe you actually had me going there for a minute! You fuck!" she punched him again.

  "Oww! Hey, I'm driving here!" They were both laughing now. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and gave his knee a squeeze.

  "I guess I deserved that," she said.

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  "You did try to rob me blind," he pointed out.

  "Sure." She snuggled up next to him, her head on his shoulder. "But that was before I got to know you."

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  CHAPTER 44

  They'd left Raff in the ditch, as planned. After Bee used a cellular modem to confirm the bank transfer from his secret account, he cooperated fully and even jumped in (well, hopped in, given that his legs were still tied) of his own free will, depriving Paul of the joy of pushing him. Chloe said she'd call AAA and send them to him in twelve hours no matter what.

  The next order of business was getting rid of Bee's car, which ended up parked on a side street in Santa Clara where it would likely remain unmolested until its registration expired in eight months. Even then, it wasn't in Bee's name so it wouldn't lead the authorities anywhere. But on the off chance that the clerk at the motel remembered the car, they didn't want to risk leaving it anywhere near the scene of the crime. They cleaned it out and wiped it down for prints and let it be.

  Lilly called Chloe and let her know that Winston was going to pull through. None of the wounds had been too serious for their in-crew doctor to handle. He was now resting and recuperating at an undisclosed location, and eager to see Chloe. She sighed a great sigh of relief at this news, which Paul shared. Bee wanted to know who the heck they were talking about, so Chloe filled her in on the rough details.

  Chloe had wanted to head straight over to Greg's and get the money, but Paul made them wait. The last thing they wanted to do was wake him up at 5:00 in the morning. Everything had to look calm and under control.

  Instead, they checked into a much nicer motel and, after stopping by Wal Mart for clothes not stained with sweat and blood, they cleaned up and made themselves presentable.

  Bee had been scarily quiet for the last few hours, but a hot shower and a clean shirt seemed to do some good.

  She wasn't her chipper old self yet, but she didn't look ready to burst into tears at any moment either. Chloe stayed by her side almost constantly throughout this period, giving her encouraging hugs and friendly touches to keep her spirits up. Paul felt a little awkward showing that kind of affection with Bee and so left it all to Chloe.

  By 7:30 AM Chloe was ready to head over to Greg's again, but Paul still insisted it was too early. "Those guys never come into work before 10:00 or 11:00. There's no way he's awake yet. Let's get some pancakes." Bee thought this a grand idea and Chloe gave in, although he could tell she was getting a little anxious to get on the road.

  In a quiet corner of Hobbee's, they ate pancakes and blueberry coffeecake and chatted quietly about what to do next.

  "Between what I've saved up and Paul's money, we've got close to million bucks," Chloe said. "That's enough to get set up anywhere we want."

  "I've got about eight thousand in cash," Bee said. "I'd have more if I didn't buy so much cool gear..."

  "But all that equipment's great," Paul assured her. "That's gotta be worth a lot."

  "I'm not going to sell it!" she said defensively. "Besides, I made most of that myself."

  "I know, I know," Paul said calmly. "I just meant that since we've already got all that gear of yours, we're already ahead of the game when it comes to setting up our own crew."

  "Oh," said Bee, smiling sheepishly. "That's a good point." She turned to Chloe now. "Do you think we'll be able to find any of the others? Like Popper maybe? Or Max?"

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  "I don't know," Chloe said. "Maybe. But we should still get far away from the Bay Area first and then see what we can do. That number Raff left you all is no good, so there's no surefire way to find them."

  Bee didn't like this answer very much, but she seemed resigned to it. "Yeah, that's about what I figured. Still, we should try."

  "Definitely," Chloe said.

  "So where should we go then?" Paul asked.

  "Portland's cool," Bee chimed in. "Or Seattle. They're both tech heavy areas and full of cool people. We could probably find as many targets there as here, maybe more."

  "Too cold," Paul said. "Too rainy. I had a job interview up there once and just two days of that weather depressed me for a week."

  "I've always thought New York would be a great spot," Chloe suggested. "That many people with egos that big, the whole city is ripe for the taking."

  "Maybe we could con Donald Trump," Paul joked.

  Chloe threw her arm around his neck and drew him into a headlock. "Didn't you learn anything about flashy, public cons?" She teased.

  "Ok, ok," he said. "Uncle! I've learned my lesson."

  "How 'bout you Paul," she said as she released him. "What do you wanna do?"

  He thought back to the day she'd helped him change his life forever. "Didn't we have this conversation once before?" he asked.

  "I guess we did." She smiled. "Although I wasn't paying much attention at the time because I wasn't planning on letting you keep any of the money."

  "Ha, ha," he said. "Very funny. Well, now you have to listen."

  "I'm all ears," she said.

  "Me too," agreed Bee. "Besides, I missed it the first time."

  Paul settled back into his seat and looked at both of them. "I'd like to go back to Florida. No snow, no winter, no techie bullshit."

  "But plenty of mosquitoes, humidity, and alligators," Chloe said.

  "And old people," he reminded her. "Never forget the old people."

  "It's a possibility, I suppose," Chloe said. "Although you know you can't see your family, right, or any of your old friends? Or even your hometown for that matter..."

  "Yeah, yeah, I know," he said. "But it's home anyway, or closer to it. We could go anywhere, really. The other coast maybe."

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  "I've neve
r been to Florida," Bee said. "Heck, I've never been East of Las Vegas. It sounds like fun."

  "You mentioned Key West once. Would that be ok?" Chloe asked.

  "Key West would be great!" Paul said. "I love it there! Why do you ask?"

  "I've got some contacts in that area. We might be able to get something up and running pretty quick."

  Paul mulled this possibility over. "It sounds great and all, Chloe, but I'm not thrilled about the idea of surviving by conning old people out of their retirement money or whatever."

  "Ahhh, old people are easy marks, no challenge or fun in that," replied Chloe. "Besides, I liked the direction you went with your con."

  "You mean totally screwing up and getting the media and cops involved?"

  "Not so much that part," said Chloe. "More the Robin Hood aspect. You know, more like the kinds of actions Winston and his crew pull."

  "I admit, they were part of the inspiration for my scheme."

  "You were just trying to impress me so you could get in my pants, weren't you?" she asked with a wink.

  "It worked, didn't it?"

  "I guess it did," she said. "So, Key West then?"

  "Sounds like a plan!" Paul said, his voice as happy as it'd been in a long time, both at the prospect of going home and at the fact that Chloe had remembered what he'd told her about Key West. "Bee, does that work for you?" he asked.

  "Sure," she said. "As long as they've got DSL down there..."

  "They do, they do," Paul assured her. "All the comforts of home, I promise you."

  "Plus mosquitoes and alligators," Chloe pointed out.

  "And sharks," Paul said. "But those are the comforts of home as far as I'm concerned."

  Chloe stood up and tossed two twenty-dollar bills on the table. "Fine. Let's get started then. And that means finally going to get your money."

  They pulled up into Greg's driveway and Paul got out of the car by himself. "Let me handle this alone, in case he wants to talk in private or something."

  "Ok," said Chloe. "But if you run into trouble, don't be afraid to call in the cavalry."

  "Thanks," he said, "But I should be fine."

  He walked up to the front door and, as he approached, he noticed the black bag he'd stuffed his money into sitting beside the door, a piece of paper taped to it. This was a safe neighborhood and all, but still, it didn't strike Paul as particularly smart to leave that much money sitting outside like that. Maybe being rich really CHAPTER 44

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  had screwed with Greg's sense of proportion.

  Paul plucked the note from the bag and unfolded it; Paul, here's your bag. I took out what I thought was fair, as you suggested, and returned you some of the stuff you left in your office. Good luck - Greg._ He put the note in his pocket and opened the bag. Despite himself, he smiled at what he saw.

  The bag was heavy and he grunted as he tossed it into the back seat of the car next to Bee. "That was fast,"

  said Chloe, "What did he say?"

  "Nothing," said Paul. "He just left the bag on the porch."

  "Really? That's mighty trusting of..." Chloe's voice trailed off and she twisted around in her seat and said to Bee. "Open it up. Count it."

  Bee unzipped the bag and just stared, dumbfounded. "It's just a bunch of comic books," she said as she pawed through the bag's contents. "There's no money here at all!"

  Chloe slowly turned to face Paul. He looked at her expression of frozen anger and cut her off before she could start yelling. "He did leave me a check," he said, easing an envelope he'd found in the bag.

  "For how much?" Chloe said, very slowly.

  "Exactly what he agreed to," Paul said, handing her the envelope.

  She tore it open and read the figure. "$12,640" she said, her voice much calmer than she actually was.

  "Two months' severance," Paul said, "just what he promised when he fired me."

  "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Chloe shouted, slamming her fists against the steering wheel. "I fucking knew it! Fuck!"

  Paul and Bee both gaped at her, too scared to say anything that might set her off even more. "Fuck," she said again, her voice quieter. "Fuck." She took a deep breath. Then another one. Then a third. Then, without a word she threw the car into reverse and pulled back out of the driveway.

  "Where are we going?" Paul asked.

  "Where do you think?" she said.

  "Chloe, we can't go after Greg. There's no way..."

  "Who said anything about Greg? I thought you wanted to go to Key West?"

  "But without..."

  She stopped the car in the middle of the road with a screech and whipped around to face Paul. She grabbed his head and pulled him into a hard, almost painful kiss.

  "It's not about the money anymore," she said. "Remember?"

  "Yeah," Paul said, momentarily caught breathless.

  "Besides," Chloe said with a grin. "We've still got over a hundred grand between us. That's more than enough CHAPTER 44

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  for two sexy ladies and a comics geek to make their way in the world, don't you think?"

  "Absolutely!" Bee said.

  "I'm not a geek..." Paul started to protest.

  Chloe patted him on the knee affectionately. "I know you don't want to admit it, honey, but yes, you are." She teased as she hit the accelerator again and pointed the car toward Highway 101 South. "I love you, but you're definitely a geek."

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  Geek Mafia