Geek Mafia by Rick Dakan (beach read txt) 📖

“Don’t you talk to me like that! Don’t you treat me like that!” She tried to shove Chloe again, but now that Chloe saw it coming, she easily fended off the smaller woman’s attack. “This is your fault! You! You! You! I hate you!”

She shoved ineffectually at Chloe one last time and then turned around, snatched the laptop from the bed and retreated to the far corner of the room and crouched down, cradling the computer protectively.

Chloe stayed where she was but didn’t stop yelling, “Then why the hell did you call us here? If it’s all my fault, why call me crying and say you’re in trouble? Huh?”

Bee wasn’t crying now. Her eyes were dry and focused and very, very angry. “I wanted to see if we could work this out. See if we could come to an accord. I wanted to make everything like it was before he came into the house,” she pointed at Paul.

“Fuck it, Bee! We’re past that! I keep saying…” Chloe stopped in mid-sentence and then her voice was calm again. “You know what? Forget it. I’d rather let Raff shoot me than deal with anymore of this guilt bullshit.”

She reached out to Paul, pulled him to her and kissed him hard on the lips and then looked back at Bee. “No, the con on Paul didn’t work out and yes, as I told you weeks ago, I fell for him. I fell hard. And aren’t I entitled? Why can’t I fall in love with who I want?”

“But…” Bee started to protest, but Chloe wouldn’t let her interrupt.

“And everything could’ve been great! You said yourself he was a promising Crew member. You liked the comic con and you liked the park prank. You voted for all of those, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Bee admitted, “But…”

“Weren’t we all happy? Wasn’t everything just the way you wanted it? And then what happened? Everything was going great until that miserable fuck Frank showed up at the fundraiser, right?”

“I guess…” Bee whispered.

“Well, you remember those lists I had you e-mail me? Somebody had put Frank’s name on those lists. Someone invited him to the party just so he’d recognize Paul. For the express purpose of blowing that con wide open, right?” Bee could only nod. “And that someone? That was Raff. It was fucking Raff, Bee. I can prove it.”

“Why would he…” Bee stammered. “Why would he do that?”

“Why do we do anything, Bee?” Chloe sighed. “For the money.”

“I don’t…no…” Bee looked confused, hurt. 

Paul thought back to his conversation with Raff and to what he’d said about people like Bee and him loving the crew not for the money, but for the lifestyle. He realized what a mistake he’d made with trying to buy her help. For her, it wasn’t about the money.

“Bee, listen to me,” Paul said. “I know you’re upset at what happened and I know you blame me and Chloe and I understand that. I understand that more than you know.”

Chloe glanced at him skeptically, but he had Bee’s attention. “What do you mean?” she asked. 

“I was the only person who knew where my money was. I could’ve left at any time and gone and gotten my cash and just vanished. I could’ve gone back to Florida and drawn comic books and lived the good life for the next twenty years without worrying about anything. But I didn’t. I stayed around. Why?”

“Because of Chloe?” Bee ventured. 

“Sure, that was a part of it. But it’s not like Chloe and I were really together all that much or even sleeping together for that matter. Yes, I love her, but I also loved all you guys, too. I loved living in that house, living in the world you all created for yourselves. We had everything we needed and anything we wanted and no one to tell us we couldn’t have a good time or do drugs or have fun with our friends. It was, really, the first place that felt like home for me since I left my parents to go to college.”

“I know what you mean,” Bee said. He could see her eyes starting to tear up. “It was the only place that ever felt like home. The only family I ever had. The only one I liked, anyway.” She started to sniffle. “And now it’s all gone…”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Paul reassured her. “We can build that again. You, me, and Chloe. And whoever else we can find. We can build it again. We will, I swear we will. Because that’s what we all want. Because that’s why I stuck around.”

Chloe stepped in at this point, picking up on Paul’s momentum. “He’s right, Bee. Why do you think I came here when you called, even though I knew it might be a trap? Because I love you, Bee. Because we’re family. And if we’re going to rebuild, then we need to do it together. And we need to start now.”

Bee started to cry in earnest now. She looked down at the computer in her lap and wiped away at the tears. She stared at the screen, apparently thinking about what they said. Paul and Chloe knew enough to let her figure things out for herself now.

Suddenly she looked up from the laptop. “Ok, I’ll help,” she said. “But we need to hurry. Raff’s here.”

CHAPTER 42

“Here as in here?” asked Paul with a hint of panic.

“As in at the door,” said Bee.

Paul and Chloe both lunged towards the motel room door simultaneously. Being closer, Paul got there first and twisted the deadbolt shut, a second later whoever was on the outside tried to open the door. 

“Hey,” said Raff from outside. He knocked softly on the door. “Bee, it’s me. Raff.”

Chloe and Paul looked at each other in puzzlement and then at Bee, who was still staring at her computer screen. “I told him to come,” she whispered. “He’s expecting me to let him in.”

Raff knocked again, this time louder. “Bee! Come on. Let me in!”

Chloe drew the stun gun from the back of her pants and showed Paul the she was ready with it. She nodded to him to go ahead and open the door while she retreated to the other side of the bed, where she crouched down out of sight. He wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but it was a plan anyway. He moved to the door and, as quietly as possible, undid the deadbolt. 

After it was unlocked, Bee waited a few long seconds before Chloe prodded her. Then she said, “Come in.” Raff twisted the knob and started to swing the door open. Paul moved to the side, so he was hidden behind the door as Raff came in. 

“Bee, what’s going on?” Raff said as he stepped into the room. His left arm was in a makeshift sling and his face had a nasty purple bruise that covered his entire right cheek. He noticed Bee crouched in the corner and said, “Jesus, what’re you doing down there? What’s going on?”

He moved forward, leaving the door open with Paul still hiding behind it. Of course if he turned to the right even slightly he’d see that Paul was there. Paul wondered if maybe he should jump Raff now or wait for Chloe to make the first move.

“Just stay there,” Bee said, her voice shaking. “Stay right where you are Raff.”

Raff stopped and held up his one good hand in a gesture of surrender and peace. “It’s ok, Bee. But we need to hurry. You said Chloe was coming here right?”

“That’s what I said,” Bee whispered. 

“What?” asked Raff. 

“Yes, she’s coming.” Bee finally looked up from her screen. “But I need to know something first Raff.”

“Sure thing Bee, whatever you need to know.”

“Why’d you do it?” she asked.

“Do what? Evacuate the house? I told you, with the cops coming down on Paul and him and Chloe running off, it was too dangerous to…”

“No,” Bee said. “I mean why did you do it?” She looked back down at her laptop again. “Why did you add Paul’s former partners to the list of invitees? Why did you get that Frank guy to come to the fundraiser?”

“What’re you talking about, Bee? I didn’t do…”

“I’m looking at the list right here Raff. It’s all right here on my computer. All five of those names are on the list and they shouldn’t be.”

“I swear I don’t know what you’re talking about. Anyone could’ve put those names on the list. Hell, Paul probably put them there himself. You know how eager he was to prove he was one of us, even though he never really was.” From behind Raff, Paul watched as the lanky man slipped his one good hand behind his back. Just where Chloe kept her stun gun, Raff had his extendable baton. At least it wasn’t the damn gun, Paul thought. And then he remembered the PI and the camera across the street with the crosshairs.

Raff took a step towards Bee, still trying to talk his way out of this. “Why would I invite them there? Why would I bring the cops and all that trouble down on our crew? You know me, Bee. You’ve known me for almost two years. I’d never do that, would I?”

Bee never looked up from the laptop screen. “You’d do it for the money. To keep the money for yourself.”

Raff took another step forward. He was even with the bed now, and in just a few feet he’d be able to see Chloe crouched behind it. The baton was at his side, held close along his leg so Bee couldn’t see it.

“No way,” Raff insisted. “There’s no way I’d do that. I’m like you, Bee. I love this life. It’s not the money, it’s the life. Same for me as for you.”

Bee finally broke her gaze away from the screen when she heard this. Paul wondered if Raff was getting through to her. He was glad he’d had a chance to use this tactic with her first. Still, Bee had always trusted Raff until today. Old loyalties might win out.

“No, Raff, not the same.” Bee said. “Not the same at all. You ruined our family. Ruined it all.” She then looked back down at the laptop’s screen.

Raff’s voice was smooth and calm as he stepped forward and raised the baton to strike. “That’s just not true, Bee.” The baton arced over his head as he moved quickly around the bed. “I’m your friend…”

If not for Chloe, he would have bashed Bee’s head in then and there. Instead, Chloe lunged forward from her crouch and stabbed him in the chest with the stun gun, pressing him back against the flimsy motel wall with a crackle of electricity. Paul slammed the door shut and came charging forward as well, ready to subdue the stunned Raff.

Except Raff wasn’t stunned. Braced against the wall, he kicked out at Chloe, catching her square in the stomach and doubling her over. He swung the baton down onto her back, sending her straight to her knees.

Paul kicked the motel room door closed and then slammed into him from the side. The two of them crashed down to the floor. Raff’s baton wielding arm was trapped beneath both their bodies, and he cried out in pain as Paul landed hard on the broken left arm. “Fuuuuuuuck!” Raff screamed. 

Chloe raised her head, wheezing for breath after having the wind knocked out of her. She saw Raff and Paul struggling on