Geek Mafia by Rick Dakan Read Free Book Online Page A

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."

    CHAPTER 5
    25
    "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,