Geek Mafia (35 page)

Fucking Raff. He'd been playing Paul all along.

"What's the plan?" he asked, ready to do whatever it took.

"I don't know yet, but whatever we come up with, it better be absolutely fucking brilliant."

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CHAPTER 31

The Great Mall used to be a car factory, and is the biggest attraction in Milpitas, which abuts San Jose just to the north. Unlike most malls, it doesn't do a very good job of hiding its massive nature from those who approach, because, of course, they used to manufacture cars there. They've since spent a fair amount of cash on paint and décor, but the sheer monolithic nature of the place refuses to be hidden. And so, they'd embraced their bulkiness and run with it, self-appointing themselves The Great Mall. This name naturally led to oft-repeated variations by local wits to the effect of "It's not really all that great a mall." And Paul agreed; it really wasn't that great.

However, great or not, for a Wednesday afternoon, it was very crowded. The twenty-screen movie theater had been a later addition - a separate building adjacent to the main structure and connected via a sprawling concrete courtyard with a fountain in its center. Hundreds of people of every size, age, and ethnicity imaginable milled about. Silicon Valley really was the proverbial melting pot, and Milpitas in particular was home to a large population of Asian and Latino immigrants. One of the things Paul liked most about the area was the diversity of cultures and the fact that you were as likely to hear Chinese, Hindi, or Spanish, as you were English.

One of the things that Paul liked least about Silicon Valley was now standing twenty feet away from him.

There was Raff, his thin, lanky body hunched over the fountain, idly flipping pennies into the water jets and watching them fly up into the air and plop back down in the fountain. Showing off his past success, Raff's trademark polo-shirt bore the Bendix Software logo. He appeared not to have noticed them yet, but Paul was certain this was just a planned pose of nonchalance on his part. Chloe and Paul both glanced around as surreptitiously as possible, searching for other Crew members who might be watching them. Chloe had told him to assume that Raff was working with at least one partner maybe two. Maybe more. Maybe he'd turned the whole Crew against them.

As they closed to within ten feet, Raff finally looked up and smiled at them. One of Raff's many gifts was his infectious grin, and Paul felt his own mouth turning upwards in response. He went with it and smiled back, holding out his hand to shake Raff's.

"Hey there," said Raff. "How're you doing? You guys settled in ok up in the mountains?" This was Raff's way of letting them know that he knew where they'd been, but they'd already expected that he'd figured out at least that much.

"We're good," said Paul. "As good as can be expected anyway."

"You saw the news then," Raff said, his look turning serious. "That's a tough break, man. I'm really sorry."

Chloe interjected at this point. "The question of the hour is; what are we going to fucking do about it?"

"You're right, that is the question. I've been up all night with the rest of the crew trying to save what we could from this scheme of Paul's, but..." He turned and looked directly into Paul's eyes. "I'm afraid it's a bust man.

We managed to move out 16k before the banks cracked down."

"Sixteen thousand?" exclaimed Paul. "That's all?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry dude, but that's all we could get safely. There's a ton of heat on this thing. A freaking ton of heat. With the congressman having been there and all, the feds are coming in on it, too. Treasury, FBI, I don't know who else. We couldn't pull down any more without exposing our asses."

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"Ok, it's a total cock-up," said Chloe. "That sucks, but now it's damage control time. We need to figure out a way to deflect this off Paul. Set him up with an alibi for last night. Something."

"That's a good idea," said Raff agreeably. "Maybe find a hotel down in LA and hack their security tape. We should look into that, totally. But right now there's kind of a more immediate problem."

"Oh yeah?" said Chloe. "What's that?"

"It's the crew. The rest of the crew, I mean."

"What about them?"

"They're pretty pissed off. We all are. But more than that, they're scared."

"Scared of what?" asked Paul. "It's not their picture all over the TV!"

"But as far as they're concerned, it might as well be," Raff replied. His voice was calm and sympathetic. "This is much more public than anything we've ever done. It's new territory for most of them and they're not comfortable there."

"It's like we talked about, Paul," said Chloe. "If something happens to you, it can come back on all of us. If you get caught or whatever, they'll follow the trail back to the rest of the crew and then, well, it'd be bad."

"Exactly," agreed Raff, pleased to have Chloe on his side.

"Yeah, yeah, I fucking get that, ok?" Paul growled. "But so what? I'm scared. They're scared. Ok. What do we fucking do about it now that we're all in this shit together?"

Raff bent forward and put an arm around Paul's shoulder, looking around conspiratorially as if he was making sure no one was listening in on them. "That's the thing, Paul. As far as some of them are concerned, we're not all in this together."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, some people - not me you understand - but some crewmembers are saying that this whole public thing was your plan and you're on the hook for it. That you're not really a member, see?"

"What the hell?" Paul shouted.

"Shhh!" hissed Chloe. "Be quiet Paul. Let him finish."

"I'm right there with you, man," Raff crooned in soothing tones. "It's bullshit. But when people get scared they start to freak out. Their sense of right and wrong goes out the window and they start looking after their own skins first. You start hearing things like FBI and Treasury Department and you got folks pissing their pants."

"It's perfectly understandable Paul," Chloe added, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. "Remember how freaked out you were when you saw your picture on TV this morning? They feel the same way."

"Except it wasn't their fucking picture!"

"No, no it wasn't, but that doesn't change what's going on. It's something we have to deal with," she continued.

"We need their help if we're going to get you out of this jam. The three of us can't do it on our own, can we CHAPTER 31

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Raff?"

"No, we can't. You're between a big fucking rock and a huge fucking hard place, Paul. No one knows that better than you. You need all the friends you can get right now."

"I thought I had friends. I thought I was part of this goddamned crew of yours. Don't you protect your own?"

"Of course we do," Raff assured him. "Of course. But they have to know that you're one of them. They have to trust that you'd do the same for them. Loyalty is earned, not given. Plus there's another problem."

"Of course there is," said Paul. "What now?"

"It just came in on the news about half an hour ago. Remember that guy who was with the CFO when you made that pickup for us?"

"The guy who tackled me you mean? The private eye who forced me off the road? Yeah, I think I remember him."

"Right, so anyway, apparently he recognized you from the TV and he's gone to the cops and the papers. He says you're a known extortionist."

"Oh, fuck," said Chloe. Paul could tell she was honestly surprised at this. For his own part, he was speechless.

"Yeah," continued Raff. "And since we know he must've tracked down Paul to within a few blocks of the house...well, it's probably not a good idea if you come back there anytime soon."

"All my fucking stuff's there," said Paul.

"I can get that for you, no problem," Raff assured him. "But first we have to figure out what to do about appeasing the rest of the Crew."

Paul fumed silently for a moment, glaring back and forth between Chloe and Raff. Finally he said, "Well, what the fuck do they want then?"

"Like you said when you were pitching your plan," Raff said. "The money we helped you get from your old partners. You said you'd pay us all with that if the deal went south. Well, it's pretty obviously gone south."

"And so you won't help me unless I pay you eight hundred grand. Loyalty isn't bought, Raff, it's earned. If I'm a part of this team, then I shouldn't have to pay you guys to help me." He snatched his hand away from Chloe's grasp and shrugged off Raff's comforting arm from his shoulder. "This sounds a fucking lot like extortion to me."

"I agree, Paul. I really do, but..."

"Well then why don't the two of you tell them to get in line and help out, huh? You're supposed to be the leaders here."

"You know it doesn't work that way Paul," said Chloe. "We're not an army or a dictatorship. Everyone's free.

Everyone gets a vote. Everyone's opinion matters."

"I'm afraid Chloe's right, Paul," Raff added. "As much as I sometimes wish it was otherwise, that's the way this Crew operates. The long and the short of it is, you need to pay them that 850k or they're going to hang CHAPTER 31

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you out to dry and there's nothing Chloe or I can do about it."

Paul looked deflated. Totally beaten down. "Can I think about it for a couple hours? It'd take me that long to get the money anyway." he asked in a soft voice.

Sensing victory, Raff backed off. "Of course, of course."

"How about tomorrow?" said Chloe. "Can you tell us your decision by tomorrow?"

This apparently didn't suit Raff's plans and he said so, "I'm afraid that might be too long. Some of them are ready to bolt now."

"Ok, how about tonight?" Chloe suggested. "If he decides to do it, he'll bring the money tonight. Does that work, Paul?"

"Sure," Paul said and started walking back towards the parking lot. "Whatever."

"I know it sucks man," Raff called after him. "But we'll get you out of this thing. I swear."

Paul didn't answer. He just stood there, waiting for Chloe to finish with Raff.

Raff turned to Chloe. "How're you guys fixed for cash?" Raff asked. "I've got about a hundred on me if you need it." He pulled out his wallet and opened it. "Would that help?"

"Thanks," Chloe said without actually answering Raff's question. She reached into the open billfold and pulled the money out in one swift motion.

"We'll be in touch," she called back over her shoulder as she and Paul headed for the parking lot.

Just before they disappeared around the corner of the movie theater Paul glanced back, he saw Raff pull out his cell phone and start dialing.

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CHAPTER 32

As they climbed back into her car, Chloe leaned across and gave Paul a kiss on the cheek. She lingered long enough to whisper, "Remember, they probably bugged the car." Paul nodded that he understood.

"I'm really sorry about this," she said at normal conversational volume.

"I'm sure you are," Paul said, his voice dripping venom. "You know what? This is all bullshit."

Chloe pulled out of the parking space and started to navigate back towards the highway. "I don't see that we have a lot of options here."

"I could take the money and fucking run. I could leave all you crazy bastards behind and go away somewhere.

Eight hundred and fifty thousand will last me a good long time in Costa Rica."

"Do you even have your passport, Paul? Do you have any idea how to make yourself disappear? The police, the FBI, they'll be monitoring your parents' house. We need the Crew if we're going to get you out of this."

"So everyone keeps telling me."

They drove on in silence for a while; Paul irritably scanning the radio stations looking for some news about himself. Eventually, Chloe grabbed his hand and pulled it away from the controls and shut the radio off.

"Listen to me, Paul," she said in a stern voice. "It's fucking decision time. If you're going to let us help you then fine, let us. If not then tell me where to drop you off and you can run if you want to. Just fucking decide, ok?"

Paul sighed in resignation. As he did it, he thought maybe he was overplaying it a bit, acting too dramatic. But Chloe had told him that the sound quality on whatever bug Raff's accomplices might have planted in the car would be poor, so they had to ham it up a bit. "Fine!" he practically shouted. "I've trusted you guys this far. In for a penny, in for a fucking pound."

Chloe patted him on the knee. "You've made the right decision Paul. You really have." She paused for just a beat of dramatic tension. "Now tell me, where did you hide the money?"

"It's in a storage locker, under my cousin's name. I'll take you there, but can we get something to eat first? I'm starving."

"Of course we can," said Chloe. "How 'bout this place over here?"

Ten minutes later and they were sitting in a booth at a Don Pablo's, munching idly on warm chips and weak salsa. Surprisingly, they were giggling like school kids.

"I don't know why I'm laughing. This isn't funny," chuckled Paul.

"It's just the stress," smiled Chloe. "You did great, by the way. You played the pissed off victim very well -

Raff bought, I'm sure."

"It wasn't hard. I just thought back to that time when my whole life got flushed down the toilet. You remember it right? I think it was this morning." He munched another chip and couldn't help but smile. "Still, it did go pretty well, didn't it? He acted exactly like you said he would."

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"Yeah, he's trying to keep us close, make us think he's our friend."

"Surely he's got to suspect something though," said Paul. "If he saw what you and Bee were typing, then he's got to be curious."

"Yeah, but I think I threw him a curveball there by pressing you to hand over the money. I think he bought into the idea that I'm still trying to get your cash for the Crew as a whole. If we're lucky, he's betting that we haven't figured out that he's the traitor here."

"And you're now one hundred percent sure that he's the bad guy?"