Geek Mafia (24 page)

Their mole was, at best, uncooperative and unwilling to take much in the way of risks on the crew's behalf, even with his career on the line. Chloe had explained that an unwilling co-conspirator was always dangerous.

You had to know just how far to push him. Too far, and the whole con is blown. They needed him to do something that didn't seem too dangerous.

"We wanted a modified camera array covering four different departments," Bee explained. "Gondry's security was tight enough that any kind of unauthorized software or key registries we put in place might be detected.

However, the human security was pretty laughable. The employees are really driven, hard working types, like me. And since they're like me, you know just what that means - they're totally oblivious to the world around them while they're working. Certainly too oblivious to notice something as boring as a new carbon monoxide detector installed above their desk."

Chloe and Bee had decided to make the CFO's job simple. All he had to do was tell Gondry that they needed new detectors for their insurance and then schedule the appointment. Then Kurt and Filo went in and installed four hidden cameras in the right offices. Each detector had a small camera inside it along with a connection to the phone lines that provided both power and a conduit for the video feed. Installation took place over the lunch hour when all but one of the offices were empty (the large group lunch being a Silicon Valley tradition that's almost as reliable as sunrise and sunset). They also picked a day they knew Gondry would be out of CHAPTER 18

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town, just to be safe.

"The number three camera never really gave us much," said Bee. "We placed it at the wrong angle and when the programmer sat down he was taller than expected and blocked the view. But the others worked great! We got them typing their passwords and saw how they navigated their networks and file systems, everything we needed to access the system at will."

From there it should have been pretty straightforward. The CFO had everything he needed to get whatever data they wanted. Now all they had to do was wait until he went into the office again. This was actually a risky time. Everything was in place, but nothing could get done. The CFO only went in once, maybe twice a week and while they waited for his scheduled day he had plenty of time to get cold feet, which, of course, he did.

They'd given him a number (a disposable cell phone) that he could call and leave messages for them at. Two nights before the big day, they left an envelope in his mailbox containing the passwords and file directories they wanted copied, along with instructions to buy a couple dozen flash drives to download the information onto. They'd followed him from a distance to make sure he bought the gear, and monitored his calls and e-mails to make sure he didn't contact the police or, worse, Gondry. He had dinner with a friend, but other than that everything seemed to go as planned.

"And we all know what happened next," said Chloe, taking the meeting over again. There was a communal groan from the crew. Paul perked up in his shadowy perch in the kitchen and opened up another beer. Maybe this would explain why Raff had suddenly called him in at the last moment.

Chloe described how the CFO had called and left a message saying the deal was off - that there was no way he was going through with this, damn the consequences. Raff and Chloe had half expected this was coming and they were ready. They had to use the only other lever that they had over their asset: his kids. More specifically, his oldest daughter who, judging from the man's phone calls, was a bit of a wild thing and a constant source of irritation.

Two days earlier, Raff had called the daughter in her dorm on campus at San Jose State. He told her that she'd won a contest through her cell phone provider, which included a new free phone and a three night trip to Hollywood. Like most college kids, she wasn't one to pass up a good time, especially if it was free, and the daughter squealed with delight. Raff Fed-Exed her the phone (which already had her new number programmed in it) and the tickets - which were for that day. She and her boyfriend barely made it to the airport on time and certainly never bothered to call and tell her parents where she was going.

When the CFO tried to call things off, Raff called him back and explained that they had kidnapped his daughter and that she'd only be returned safely once he'd done as he was told. He hit the ceiling - started yelling and screaming and threatening to call the police. Raff calmly told him to call his daughter and see for himself how serious they were. When he called, instead of his daughter's usual outgoing message he heard a strange voice (disguised by a gadget Bee whipped up) warning him that she was in safe hands for now, and that she would be returned to him when his job was done. A couple more quick calls revealed that no one else seemed to know where his daughter was either, including his ex-wife. Fortunately he didn't tell her or anyone else that she was missing for fear of panicking them. He called back and said he'd play along.

Hearing Raff relate this particular bit of nastiness made Paul sit up in his chair. He'd known that they were up to something hard core, but threatening an innocent man's daughter, even if she wasn't in any real danger, made Paul realize just how nasty they could be. A part of him wanted to just sneak out the back door and never look back. But the desire to find out how the story ended and why they'd involved him made Paul stay put and listen to Raff as he continued the tale.

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The next morning the CFO woke to a message taped to his front door - instructions on where and when to drop off the flash drives and fake carbon monoxide detectors. That only left him a few hours to copy the files and go. After he made the drop off he'd receive a telephone number to call and find out where his daughter was.

"And it looks like everything worked as planned," said Chloe. "Raff, how did your meeting with the target go?

I heard he tried to pull some shit. You look ok, though. Must not have actually tried anything, otherwise I know he would've beat your skinny ass." Everyone laughed at that, including Raff. He still hadn't heard anything about why Raff had called him in. Apparently even Chloe thought Raff was supposed to make the pickup.

"Actually," said Raff, "I was afraid the guy would make me. I wanted a fresh face for the pickup. So I brought in a stringer."

"What the fuck?" said Chloe, "Why in fuck's name wasn't I told about this?"

"I'm sorry Chloe, but I didn't have time. I got a little spooked and..."

"Whatever, Raff," she interrupted, pissed off. "So who'd you get? It wasn't Leo again was it, because that fucker..."

"It was Paul."

"Paul who?"

"You know, Paul, Paul. Your Paul."

There was a long of silence, which Paul took as his cue. He wondered if Raff had planned it this way - or was it just happy circumstance that he'd waited out of sight in the kitchen for the whole debriefing? It didn't really matter now - he knew a dramatic moment to enter when he heard it. He walked into the living room and saw Chloe standing on the far side of the room, the much taller Raff right beside her. Like everyone else she was staring right at him. He enjoyed being the center of attention again. It was a nice change from the past couple weeks, when everyone had ignored him so studiously. He especially liked the fact that he was so obviously catching Chloe totally by surprise. That was a rare treat.

"I thought I heard someone call my name," said Paul. "What's going on?" Several of the Crew chuckled at that.

Chloe tore her gaze from Paul and fixed Raff in his chair where he sat a few feet to her left. "What the fuck, Raff? What. The. Fuck?"

"I don't have..." Raff started to reply.

"You know what, Raff, just forget it for now. We'll have this conversation later. You can bet for sure that you and I will have fucking words." She glared at Raff for a long moment, her whole body tense with anger, but she was trying to act normal and keep it under control. She then turned to Paul and smiled as best she could, beckoning him over to her side. "Paul, come up here. Why don't you finish the story? Let's see here, you don't look too worse for wear." He made his way through the crowd to the front of the room. She pulled up his shirt to reveal the black and blue bruise creeping up his lower back. "Shit, that old guy hit you pretty good. What happened?"

Paul told his own tale as it had happened, starting with the phone call and ending with piling into the van with CHAPTER 18

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Raff and the others. He added a few little embellishments and jokes in there to lighten the mood, which the rest of the Crew seemed to appreciate. Raff himself laughed the hardest at most of these. Chloe just stood next to him with her arm comfortably slung around his waist. Her touch fueled his storytelling and he dragged his brief tale out as long as he could.

When he'd finished, Chloe led the others in giving him a brief round of applause in appreciation for his good work. Then she spoke to Raff again.

"So, who the hell was this other clown who tackled Paul here? How come we didn't know about this guy?"

she asked, anger creeping back into her voice.

"I don't know," said Raff, still calm and genial. "He looked familiar but I couldn't place him."

"I think I know," said Bee, raising her hand like an overachiever in school. "Is this him?" She held up her laptop with the screen pointed out so Chloe, Paul, and Raff could see it. There was a pic of the man who'd tackled Paul a few hours earlier. It had been taken at night, apparently in a parking lot.

"That's him," Paul said. "Who is he?"

"He's someone the CFO had dinner with several nights ago. It's one of the few conversations he's had that we couldn't overhear. My guess is that he took the opportunity to bring him in the loop on what was going on. If I had to bet, I'd say he's some sort of Private Investigator or security consultant."

"Fuck," said Raff. "I'm sorry, Paul. If I'd known, I never would've called you in."

"Which is exactly why we don't fucking call people in for no Goddamned reason," said Chloe, almost shouting.

"It's ok, Chloe," interjected Paul. "I'm glad I helped. It was good to finally get in on what the rest of you were doing. You know, get in on the fun."

Chloe fixed Paul with an intense look and started to say something that Paul suspected would've been quite vicious. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, aware that the entire room was watching them.

"We'll talk about this shit later. Right now let's finish things up."

Paul sat down on the floor near Chloe's feet (about the only free space left in the crowded living room) while she presided over the ritual that the Crew performed every time they completed a job. Everyone handed over disks and files to Chloe and Raff and gave their word that there was no record of anything they'd done left on any computer anywhere. Bee collected any surveillance gear and other technical gewgaws that had been used during the extensive surveillance. They officially cut all ties with the CFO and everyone swore to never have any contact with him again.

With the ritual complete, the celebration began. Raff had already been in contact with Fruch and he'd agreed to make the payment tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully they'd double or triple their profits if Fruch agreed to pay an extra finder's fee in exchange for the very high quality data they'd managed to secure. But no one seemed too worried about that right now. They were too busy digging through the coolers for beer, breaking out bongs, and popping pills.

Chloe helped Paul to his feet, saying, "Thanks, Paul. I'm really sorry Raff did that to you. It shouldn't have ever happened like that."

"Chloe, listen, it's ok..." he started to say.

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"No. No it's not. We've got rules and Raff broke them." Her eyes darted across the room to where Raff stood with Kurt and Filo, laughing. "I can't have this kind of shit going on. This is the way people end up in jail."

"I wanted to help, Chloe. Don't you get that? I wanted to..."

Again she cut him off. "Not right now, ok?" she said, her voice pleading with him to just let it be for the moment. "Could you do me a favor and get us something to drink?"

Paul looked into her eyes. She was not in the mood for him right now. Maybe a drink would do her some good. Even with three beers in him already, he knew it would help him. "Sure, absolutely." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be right back."

He wove through the crowd back into the kitchen to get beer. As he leaned over the cooler, someone came up behind him and gave him a bear hug from behind, "Hey there killer!" said Bee in a tone hyper even for her.

"Nice work."

"Nothing to it," said Paul, as he turned around to face her. She drew back from him and revealed a small white pill in her hand. "This is for you. Take it while Chloe has a word or four with Raff. It should kick in after about half an hour"

Paul paused for a beat before taking the pill from her and popping it his mouth. He assumed it was ecstasy, which he'd only tried a couple of other times. But he trusted Bee, and if he'd found out anything, it was that Crew always had access to high quality narcotics. Bee watched him swallow the pill and then produced one for herself. She flashed him a goofy grin and downed it. Then she skipped off into the crowd, handing out pills to everyone she came in contact with.

By the time he came back into the living room, Chloe and Raff were nowhere to be seen. He talked with Popper for a while and drank both his and Chloe's beers. Then he finished Popper's as well. As the X started to kick in and euphoria washed over him, he searched the house in vain for Chloe. He heard shouting coming from inside the garage, but the door was locked. Were she and Raff having it out in there? Better let them be, he thought. No reason to get involved in some heavy shit like that.

Grabbing another beer from the cooler and another pill from Bee, Paul decided to wait for Chloe in her bedroom. As he lay down he thought he could still hear them shouting. But it might've been the music. It was hard to tell. And then he was asleep.