Geek Mafia, Rick Dakan [books that read to you .TXT] 📗

“Ok, Greg. You’ve got it,” said Jerry. Frank and Evan just nodded. Paul knew that Frank disliked Greg almost as much as he disliked Paul and that bowing down to him like this was painful. That made the moment just a little bit sweeter than it already was.

“Stay here while I go get my check book.”

Fifteen minutes later it was over. Greg wrote the check and signed the papers Chloe had typed up transferring ownership of the stock. The six of them probably didn’t exchange more than ten words. On their way out Chloe and Paul passed Marie sitting in the lobby talking on her cell phone. The company’s lawyer was not pleased with whatever was happening. Then they were out the door and on their way.

“I took a cab,” said Chloe. “You’ll have to drive us to the bank.”

Paul’s heart raced. He was rich. He was free. He’d just stabbed his best friend in the back and extorted almost a million dollars from him. He threw up all over the parking lot near Frank’s car. 

Chloe handed him a bottle of water from her briefcase. “Come on Paul, we’re almost through this.”

“Ok…I’m ok.”

“Good. Now drive to Bank of America as fast as you can and let’s cash this fucker before they change their minds and cancel the check.”

Paul took a swig of water to wash his mouth out and then spit it back towards the office building.

“Absolutely,” he said.

CHAPTER 5

As it turned out, Greg would have had a hard time canceling the check, even if he’d changed his mind. Chloe’s crew had already sprung into action as soon as they left the building. The company used a computer controlled switchboard to route phone calls and this immediately went down, same for their Internet access. Meanwhile, a crude but effective denial of service attack was launched against their company Web site. If Greg decided to use his cell phone there wasn’t much they could do, but the hope was that he’d be so tied up with all this other crap that he wouldn’t have time to think of that. 

Paul didn’t think any of that was necessary. Greg had given in and he wasn’t going to call and cancel the check now. He’d agreed for a reason, and once Greg had a reason for making a decision it was usually impossible to change his mind. And it didn’t make sense anyway. All he would have done is buy himself a little more time. Chloe and Paul would just march right back in and start all over again – probably after sending out pics of Evan in drag to all the employees. From his point of view, there was no reason for Greg to do that.

Of course, it was still a huge risk for Chloe and Paul. If Greg just wanted a delay to get the lawyers involved, then they were in trouble. Chloe and he had broken a fist full of laws in the past twelve hours. They needed to cash that check and disappear as soon as they could. 

The bank put up a bit of a fuss about the check, which was one more reason Paul hated Bank of Fucking America. They always had some rule to screw a customer. But Chloe made a bunch of noise and actually jumped up and down at one point and eventually they walked out of the bank with a cashier’s check. Then it was off to another, locally owned bank where Chloe had a contact who worked as an assistant manager. She’d called ahead to let her know that they were coming in with a big check that they wanted cashed right away. All the paperwork was waiting for Paul to sign and twenty minutes later he’d opened a new account and deposited the check. Chloe’s friend made sure it went through and had already placed an order for cash, since the bank didn’t have anywhere near that kind of money on hand. She’d put a rush on it and said they could pick up the money at 4:30 that afternoon. It was now 11:00.

Paul and Chloe went back to his apartment where they met two guys named Filo and Max who had a van. The four of them descended on Paul’s home and started packing up everything he cared about. That actually didn’t take very long, since Paul didn’t have much in the way of furniture. His artwork, comics, computer, TV, Tivo, Cd’s, books, video games, and clothes went into an ever-growing pile of boxes. The boxes went into the van, and when that was full they went into his car. When that was full, a bag of clothes and a box of books went into the dumpster. 

“Fuck ‘em,” said Paul. “I’m rich now, right? I should buy a whole new wardrobe anyway.” He added another box of clothes to the dumpster. Then they were off, although Paul noticed Filo’s van went the opposite direction. “Where are they going with my stuff?” asked Paul.

“Storage locker on the other side of town. I know the owner and got you a deal.”

“Won’t I need my stuff?” asked Paul.

“I thought you were buying new stuff?”

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need some of that. My sketchbooks and the finished art from all my old comics are in there.” Paul didn’t really much care about anything else, but those originals were literally priceless to him and represented eleven years of hard work. 

“Don’t worry, the stuff will be there when you need it.” She dug a key with a tag out of her pocket and handed it to Paul. “Here’s the key. The address and number are on the tag.”

“Ok.”

“Besides, there’s not enough room for all that junk at my place.”

“Your place?” asked Paul. “I thought I was going to stay with Raff.”

“I thought better of it,” she said. “I want to keep an eye on you. Besides, after the party we’re gonna throw tonight, you won’t be in any condition to leave for a week or two anyway.”

Paul drove over to the rental agency that owned his apartment, and passed over his keys. He signed a couple of papers while the guy behind the counter blathered on about breaking leases and forfeiting security deposits, but Paul scarcely listened. He gave a PO Box address to forward his mail to and left. Next he cancelled the cell phone service. Then he closed all his old bank accounts. 

The night before, he and Chloe had had a long talk about what would happen after they pulled off their little con. She had warned him that he might want to make it hard for his ex-partners to find him and cause trouble, either legally or physically. 

“You’re going to make a lot of enemies in that room today,” she had said.

“I think they were already my enemies.”

“Nope. Before they just didn’t like you very much. Before you probably never had a real enemy in your life. Now you’re gonna have three or four of them.”

“I think you should define your terms here,” he had said.

“People who wouldn’t hesitate to do you bodily harm if they could get away with it. People who curse your name on a daily basis and wish you no end of ill will. I’m talking people who actively want to see you dead. You know, enemies.”

“You’re right, I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those,” he’d said.

“Well, judging from what I’ve seen of these guys, and based on how totally we’re going to fuck them over tomorrow morning, you’re gonna have some soon.”

“Ok.”

“Which means,” she’d said, “You don’t want to be anywhere were they can find you. You don’t want them to have any opening to strike back. Especially in the first twenty-four hours or so, when they’re still so angry it’s like a physical pain in their side. That’s when they’ll pull the crazy shit. That’s when they’ll come shoot your tires out or throw bricks through your window. That’s why you have to be nowhere in sight. You shouldn’t go home for at least three days. Maybe a week.”

Paul thought about this for a few long minutes. Why leave his crappy apartment for just a week? Why not leave it altogether? The thought of just cutting every link to his old life grabbed hold of Paul’s imagination and wouldn’t let go. The sheer freedom that came with such a decision offered an array of intoxicating possibilities. Paul had decided then and there to abandon his apartment completely. He’d only rented the place because it was close to the office. He had no happy memories there, no ties to the place at all. Why not just move out completely and make it impossible for Greg or anyone else to find him? Chloe seemed surprised at Paul’s decision, but also pleased. She had arranged for the Crew to help him evacuate as fast as possible. From there he’d planned to just sort of play it by ear.

And now, apparently, the plan was for him to stay with Chloe. All in all, that sounded like a pretty appealing plan. Paul had no idea what she wanted from him or even why she was doing this, but he was assuming/hoping that she was as attracted to him and he was to her. Hopefully he’d find out tonight at this mother-of-all-parties she was planning.

They quickly unloaded the car into Chloe’s living room. “We’ll get you sorted out later. Right now I’m starving, let’s go get some lunch.”

Lunch was at a hole in the wall Thai place not too far from Chloe’s house. The owners seemed to know her and brought her and Paul Thai iced teas without asking. Chloe had Pad Thai and Paul ordered the special – something involving shrimp – and then, for the first time in hours, he had a chance to catch his breath.

“Wow,” he said. “It’s been quite a freaking crazy ass day.”

“I’ll bet,” she replied. “Beats drowning your sorrows in cheap margaritas though, doesn’t it?”

“Definitely, assuming we don’t all go to jail.”

“No one’s going to jail. I ain’t never been caught yet.”

“Do you do this kind of thing often then?” asked Paul. 

“Well, not this exact kind of thing, no. But I’ve been in some shit way worse than this.” She reached across and put her hands over his and looked him right in the eye. “Don’t worry about it, Paul. Everything’s going to be fine. I promise, Ok?” And he believed her. He wasn’t sure why, but he believed her. “So, what’re you going to do with all that money?”

“I don’t know,” said Paul. “Probably move back to Florida. Buy a house. Invest the rest I guess.”

“What’s in Florida?” she asked.

“My family, most of my friends. Greg and I are both from there originally, but he moved out here years ago to start his first company. I only came out to start the game company. Now there’s no real reason to stay.”

“You don’t like it out here?”

“Oh, it’s fine,” he said. “It’s actually pretty cool. But it’s expensive. And I think my $850,000 will go a hell of a lot further back there than it will out here. I could by a condo like the one I was living in for less than a hundred K. back home. Here it’d cost me two or three times as much.”

“Yeah,” said Chloe.  “I grew up here so I guess I’m used to the crazy prices and stuff. I certainly understand your wanting to go home though.” 

Then the food arrived and