Geek Mafia: Mile Zero by Rick Dakan (reading tree txt) đź“–
- Author: Rick Dakan
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“Right. But why are you mopping here? Whose house is this anyway?”
“It’s one we just added to the roster last week. The cleaning service hasn’t had a chance to get in here yet.”
“I see that,” said Paul. “So why’re you cleaning it tonight?”
“We’re cleaning it tonight because the Guidarizzi’s decided to make a surprise visit to their winter home in Key West. They’re coming in tomorrow afternoon. Every other decent place is filled up, so we have to use this one instead.”
“Oh fuck. Is there another mop?”
“There’s another bucket and a scrub brush in the kitchen if you want to get started in there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said, taking careful steps as he crossed the freshly mopped floor on his way back to the kitchen. She was glad he’d showed up when he did - he could clean the kitchen and deal with whatever horrors might be hiding in the fridge.
“Lucky thing we got this place when we did, then,” he called out to Chloe.
“Yeah,” she yelled back. “It’s a little smaller than the Guidarizzi place, so it might be a little cramped. I’m not sure how many people he’s bringing with him.”
“I thought he said three or four.”
“I said I thought it’d be three or four. He didn’t say at all.”
She finished the living room floor and went into the kitchen. Paul had filled a bucket with hot water and soap and was scrubbing away the dirt and stains he found hidden below the dust. The kitchen’s last encounter with food hadn’t ended with a very thorough clean-up. “I’m going to go upstairs and try and make the bedrooms habitable,” Chloe said. “Bee’s supposed to bring by some clean sheets from one of the other houses, so keep an ear out for her.”
“Ok,” Paul muttered in reply. She knew he wasn’t happy that his normal evening of partying and dealing with stripper contacts had suddenly taken a dramatic turn into domestic chores, but then neither was she. She wanted to make a good impression on her visiting friends, and putting them up in a filthy house was not the way to do that. Fortunately, there was no such thing as getting to The Party too late. He’d just have to wait a while for his evening’s fun and games.
After about half an hour of scrubbing the upstairs bathroom, she felt a pair of arms snake around her torso from behind. She leaned back into them and felt Paul’s chest pressing against her back. She sighed.
“How’s it going, hot stuff ?” she said.
“All finished downstairs,” he said, giving her a neck a long, soft kiss. “You know, I never thought a life of crime would involve so much housework.”
“I did tell you it would be glamorous and exciting, didn’t I?” she teased. “No one can say I’m not a woman of my word.”
Paul motioned for her to put down the scrub brush and then pulled her to him. She turned around to face him as he drew her close and kissed her again. Then one more time. She nuzzled against him, nipping playfully at his neck. “You smell good,” she said.
“Thanks,” he replied, his hands roaming down her back to her ass. He gave her a squeeze.
“Actually, you smell like a stripper.”
“Sandee says hi.”
“I’ll bet,” said Chloe, still kissing his neck.
“You know the party’s moved back to the Crawford place.”
“I know.”
“I like the Crawford place. It has those back rooms…”
“Oh, I remember.” She pulled away from him just enough to make room for her hand to caress him through the front of his pants while she looked him in the eye. “I remember very well indeed.”
“We did just watch the video last week,” he reminded her, closing his eyes as he moaned in pleasure under her touch.
“That was you in that video?” she said.
“Not the Kennedy Assassination video, the other one.”
“Oh right. That video,” she laughed. “That was you, wasn’t it?”
“It sure was. Maybe we could…”
Then Paul’s pocket started singing The Clash again. “Did I do that?” asked Chloe. Then her pocket started singing as well, although for her it was The Misfits.
“No,” sighed Paul. “I think that must be Bee.”
They both took out their phones and looked at the caller ID screens. Paul’s read “Verizon.” Chloe’s read “Keys Taxi Disp.”
“She loves that new trick of hers,” said Chloe as she answered the phone. “Heya, Bee, what’s up with the sheets?” Paul answered his phone as well and was instantly conferenced into the conversation.
“I’m having Pia bring them by. I picked something up on the cameras and I thought you might want to see it.”
“What is it?” said Chloe. “We’re almost finished here.”
“I got a boat coming in at the marina. I’m pretty sure it’s your friend.”
“Really?” said Chloe, excited and nervous. “Are you sure?”
“Nope. That’s why I thought you might wanna come take a look.”
“You’re right. We’re on our way. Can you call Pia and tell her the key’s under the rock by the back door?”
“Sure thing,” said Bee. “See you soon.”
Paul and Chloe hung up their phones and looked at one another. Chloe had a big smile on her face.
“Are you nervous?” he asked her.
“What? Are you kidding? Of course not. I’m just psyched to see him again. Aren’t you?”
“Definitely. I still owe him a lot. He’s the only person who ever got shot on my behalf,” said Paul. “I just thought you might be nervous. That’s all.”
“Why? Because I’m going fucking crazy trying to get this place hospitable before he gets here?”
“No,” he said. “That’s just being a good host. I thought you might be nervous for the same reason I’m nervous.”
She looked at him for a long moment. They’d been dancing around this subject ever since he’d told them five days ago that he was coming to Key West. “You’re wondering why he’s coming at all,” she said.
“It’s a long way to come. Especially in a boat.”
“I’m sure he got the boat once he got to this coast.”
“Either way, it’s a long way to come. And people like him - which is to say, people like us - don’t make long trips without a reason.”
“And I’m sure he’ll tell us his reason,” said Chloe. “Fuck, that’s why I’m so excited! I want to hear what he’s got up his sleeve. We need a little damn excitement around here. We’ve fallen into a rut. I thought you’d be excited too…”
“I am, I am,” Paul assured her, although she suspected that he might be lying. “I’m excited and I’m nervous. You know what I mean.”
“Like a teenager on his first date,” said Chloe.
“Yeah, sort of.”
“Well don’t worry. I promise Winston won’t try to cop a feel in the back seat.” She kissed him then. “But I might, so you better watch yourself.” Another kiss. “Come on, let’s go. Bee’s waiting.” She disengaged, turned, and headed straight for the front door.
BACK at their house by the cemetery, Paul and Chloe found Bee in her room, what Paul referred to as her sanctum sanctorum - although no one else ever got the joke, and he refused to explain the comic book reference. As always, lighting was minimal (as opposed to Bee’s workshop out behind the house, which was flooded with fluorescents). A bank of TV sets and computer monitors covered one whole wall, arranged on a precarious system of metal shelves that Bee had installed herself. A low, flat coffee table squatted below the glowing displays, supporting three keyboards, a bank of video editing tools and four different phone carriages. Bee sat in her accustomed place - in the midst of a pile of cushions on the floor, fiddling with a mouse in one hand and typing on one of the keyboards while she talked quietly into her headset.
Paul and Chloe didn’t bother to knock as they came in - Bee already knew they were there. Paul glanced at one of the screens mounted on the wall. Its display, divided into four quadrants, showed various images from inside the house, including the front door they’d just come through and the stairs they’d just climbed. The screen next to it - which Paul himself had salvaged from a bar on Duval that’d recently renovated into a finedining restaurant - showed images from four other cameras that covered the house’s exterior. Nothing happened within fifty yards of their Crew’s house that Bee didn’t see, and if she had her way, that omniscience would soon extend to cover the entire island.
“So, Bee, how goes Project Big Brother?” Paul asked.
“I wish you wouldn’t call it that,” she replied.
“Sorry, but I have to call it something.”
“You could call it something nice. Big Brother sounds so mean.”
“What’s mean about a reality show?” said Paul, joking.
“What isn’t bad about a reality show?” countered Chloe, stepping in to defend her friend.
“Hmm, you got me there. Although there’s an idea! Maybe that’s how we can find more members for our Crew - have a reality-showstyle elimination contest. The winner gets a place in our outlaw life of crime.”
“It’s actually not the worst idea you’ve ever had,” Chloe said. “I can think of worse, anyway.”
“Are you talking about the turkeys? I thought turkeys could fly.”
“Oh my God,” said Bee. “Was that a WKRP in Cincinnati reference?”
“Guilty as charged,” admitted Paul, chuckling.
“Fuck, you two watched too much TV as kids,” said Chloe.
“What’ve you got for us, Bee-Bop?” Chloe asked, plopping down in the pile of cushions beside the short, stocky Asian engineer.
“Take a look,” she said, eyes never leaving the screen, “at this.”
Over the past six months, Bee had pressed the rest of the Crew into helping her plant hidden security cameras all over the most heavily trafficked areas of Key West. Paul had originally balked at the idea of so blatantly invading the populace’s privacy. He didn’t mind conning a select few of them out of their cash now and then, but the camera thing was so indiscriminate - it caught everybody. But Chloe had really liked the idea and pointed out that cops in other cities were putting surveillance cameras up and that she trusted herself a whole lot more than she trusted the police to use them responsibly. Sandee wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea, but Sandee loved being on camera and went along with Bee and Chloe in the end. Outvoted, Paul went along with the plan and had spent more than a few hours of late wearing a Verizon Telephone Services nametag and installing cameras hidden inside innocuous looking metal boxes on telephone poles all over old town. Actually, he’d spent far less time doing this than the others had, mostly because he wasn’t very good with the electronics part and Bee had to keep fixing his mistakes.
Right now one of those cameras was showing the entrance to Artist’s Alley, a row of small galleries and shops near the marina. The image was tinted green because of the night vision (in fact, there were two cameras in the boxes - one for day, one for night), and it was hard to make out faces.
“What am I looking at?” asked Chloe.
“Watch this gallery here,” said Bee, moving a cursor on the screen to point at the shabby front of one of the ships closest to the camera. “I think your friend’s in there.” They waited and watched.
“Jesus,” said Chloe, “What’s he doing, buying a painting or something? Are you sure he’s in there?”
“I’m not sure - I’ve never seen anything but a sketch of him. That’s why
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