Geek Mafia: Mile Zero (11 page)

Chloe looked at her, surprised. "You brought a camera that'll fit that thing?"

Bee smiled. "I always have a camera that'll fit things like this. Do you want a bug in the clock-radio too?"

"How long?"

"Ten minutes. Maybe less since I've already got this thing open."

"Let's do it," said Chloe. "They say the villain always returns to the scene of the crime."

"I think that's only in movies," said Bee.

"That's ok; what I've seen in movies is all we've had going for us so far anyway."

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Chapter 09

"YEAH, yeah, I get all the anti-corporate, anarchist bullshit. Yadda, yadda, yadda," said Eddie. "But can you please just explain to me how the hell any of this is worth my time?"

Isaiah had outlined his plan in detail from beginning to end, just as he had for Paul. Eddie and his companion (whose name turned out to be Marco) sat quietly and listened. Marco had tried to fire up his laptop to take notes, but Amelia had asked him not to, for security's sake. He had shrugged and shut it off, and still hadn't said a word to anyone. Paul had watched Eddie as his attention had floated around the room, maybe listening to Isaiah, maybe not. Now he'd apparently had enough theory and wanted some practical examples. Paul didn't blame him.

"We have a very specific plan in mind. A plan that will net each participating Crew millions of dollars."

"And you need to form this alliance thing to pull it off ?" asked Eddie, the mention of millions having obviously regained his interest.

"What we want do to is something akin to paradigm ju jitsu. We want to use the corporate power structure to take down the corporate power structure, and forming our own corporation is the first step."

"There are a thousand different advantages and we can go into details if you like, but none of this means anything if we don't have a goal. A target. An enemy we want to take down. To extend the jujitsu metaphor, setting up the shadow corporation is like buying our gear and training to fight. To put it into practice, we need an opponent. We need a corporation to go after."

"We steal from big companies all the time," said Eddie. "What's new there?"

"I'm not talking about stealing from companies. I'm talking about destroying them. Shaking them to their foundations until they crumble, and yes, making a bunch of money for ourselves in the process. If money's your goal, Eddie, then trust me; you'll make more working with us on this than you'll ever see on your own.

Just like I'll make more working with you than I'd ever see on our own. Pooling our resources and focusing our energies through the shadow corporation lets us overcome challenges that are otherwise insurmountable for each individual crew."

"I've heard of Crews going this way," Eddie scoffed, settling back into his chair. "Trying to run a gang like a business, with board meetings and reports and rules of order and all that shit. It doesn't help. It just confuses people and they end up making dumb mistakes."

"Don't misunderstand me. I'm not talking about forming a real business with any of you. Not at all. My Crew doesn't run like some goddamned corporation and it never will. To hell with corporate structure. All I want is corporate power for my own damn self. For all of us. And I've got just the candidate in mind for our first victim."

"It's a holding company based in the Caymans but run out of Miami that you've never heard of. Nor do they want you to ever hear about them. They're not publicly traded. They don't advertise. They do control hundreds of other, equally unknown corporations and front companies, and they're in the business of making lots and lots of money by one of the oldest, nastiest methods on the planet. They're in the slavery business."

"You're kidding," said Eddie. "There's no slavery anymore."

"What world are you living in, fella?" Winston chimed in. "It never went away."

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"No, it never did," agreed Amelia. "It might go by different names - forced labor, indentured servitude, sweatshops. But it's still very much a problem."

"I'm not sure how it's my problem though," said Eddie.

"It's only your problem if you want it to be, but I would suggest you stop thinking of it in such simple terms.

We're talking about not a problem but an opportunity. A chance to both do some good and make some serious money."

"Ok, I'll try to look at it your way," said Eddie. "Assuming the money really is what you're saying it will be.

What's the plan then?"

"We're not going into any specifics on the plan. We're not going to tell you the name of the company, none of that until we all agree to work together and form the shadow corporation. What I can do is give you a broad overview. This holding company, let's call them Company X, makes most of its money importing people from Southeast Asia and Africa to work in sweatshops here in the states. They charge the workers a huge fee to come over and then pay them so little for their work that it's impossible for them to ever pay Company X

back. The real money of course comes from the employers, who pay money to Company X to provide the so-called "workers," or, to call them by their true names, slaves."

"There's always stuff like this on the news," said Eddie. "What makes these guys so special? And you know, what I never understood is why the people don't get up and leave if the work's so shitty."

"They don't leave because they're locked in and under guard at all times. They're very literally slaves - fed just enough to keep them pro ductive, stored in overcrowded barracks when they sleep, and beaten or killed if they try to leave. Women are typically subjected to rape by the guards or forced into prostitution, and forced to have abortions if they get pregnant.

"As for what makes Company X so nasty, well, there are a couple of factors. First of all, they're very, very good at it. They run slaves into places like Guam, the Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico and other U.S.

protectorates so that companies can use the labor and still put "made in America" on the labels. They know all the right officials to pay off, including key congressmen and law enforcement officials. Hell, they've even got their own lobbyists in Washington. And why are they so well funded and organized? Because they have so many investors.

"Company X sells bonds to investors to cover their costs and purchase their slaves. Oh, you couldn't call up your broker and order some - they're only offered to a few thousand select customers who care a lot more about profits than about where those profits are coming from. The bonds have a phenomenal rate of return, sometimes as high as 50 percent for a short term investment. Most of these investors don't necessarily know they're supporting slavery, but they do know that they're turning a blind eye to something shady. And it's that kind of behavior we're going to punish."

"Punish how?" asked Eddie.

"By taking them all down and raiding them for every cent they have. Between Eddie's contacts in the shipping and finance, Winston's contacts with various crews across the country and the extensive penetration my Crew has achieved into their systems, we have more than enough ammunition to fire through the cover of our shadow corporation. We become investors, offer them a better way of doing things, then take them down from within, draining their accounts even as we expose their rotten investors to the law and the media."

Eddie opened his eyes and slapped his hands down on the table. "Hot damn, it does sound tempting, don't it?"

he said. "You've got a way with words, I'll give you that."

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"So you are interested," said Isaiah. It wasn't a question.

"Sure, sure," said Eddie. "Hearing it for the first time, I gotta admit it's a hot idea." He clasped Marco's shoulder. "We'll have to talk it over some first. You know how it goes. Hash some things out. Come up with a list of questions."

Marco finally spoke up, saying, "I've got about a hundred off the top of my head. I'll type em up for you."

"That's why we're all here," said Amelia. "To answer your questions. Do you have anything I can help you with right now?"

Eddie and Marco stood up. "Not right yet," said Eddie. "We need to get settled into our rooms and all that shit.

Get a drink and relax."

"What about the dead woman?" Marco asked.

Eddie snapped his fingers with a sharp crack. "Right! Raquel! Yeah, what's all this corporate mumbo-jumbo got to do with Raquel getting fragged?"

"Maybe nothing," said Isaiah.

"We're looking into it," Paul reminded Eddie yet again.

Eddie looked down at him and smiled. "Right, right. Sure, I forgot." Then, to Isaiah, "Well, before we commit to anything, we'll wanna have all the murder shit sorted out, right?"

"Of course," Isaiah agreed. "Is the contact number you gave us still valid?"

Eddie turned to Marco, who nodded. "Yep," said Eddie.

"We'll contact you through that number and tell you where the next meeting is going to be."

"It's not gonna be up here?" asked Eddie.

"No. We arranged this place only for tonight."

"Just as well," said Eddie. "What's the point of meeting in a rooftop room if you're gonna keep the fucking curtains closed anyway?"

Isaiah didn't have an answer for that. Eddie waved to the table. "Later," he said.

"Have a good night," said Amelia, who was the only one to respond. A few seconds later they were out the door and on their way to wherever it was they were staying. Paul hoped the cameras in the lobby caught some good images. Maybe they could trace Eddie and Marco back to wherever they were staying through Bee's network of cameras. It should be easy if they stuck to the more crowded streets, but if these guys were pros, they probably wouldn't do that. No more than Paul would have if he was worried about being followed.

"I suppose that means we're done for the evening?" asked Winston once Eddie was gone.

"Looks like," said Isaiah. He turned to Paul. "You'll let us know what your investigation reveals about Raquel's death."

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"As soon as we know anything, you'll know it too."

Isaiah nodded then, to Amelia, "Do you have anything else?"

"No," she said, shutting down her laptop. "I think we've covered as much as we could, given the circumstances. Paul, if there's anything we can offer you by way of resources or manpower, please don't hesitate to ask."

"I will, don't worry. I'm going to go hook up with Chloe right now. I'm sure we'll be giving you a call within an hour."

"Then we're done here," said Isaiah, standing up. "As I told Eddie, we've set up another location for tomorrow's meeting. We'll let you know when."

"Where are we meeting next?" asked Paul. Maybe if he had a little advance warning they could better prepare before hand. But Isaiah wasn't giving anything away.

"I'll let you know all the details tomorrow," he said.

Paul stood up, shook hands again with Isaiah and Amelia, thanking them for hosting the meeting and said goodbye to Winston. He decided he would try to find time to poke around the other hotels on the island, see if any of them had meeting rooms booked for corporate events. Maybe he'd get lucky. It would be nice to have their own bugs and cameras in place, although he suspected fooling Amelia's counter-surveillance tech wouldn't be easy.

As he headed for the door, Winston called to him. "Paul, could you do me a favor and walk me back to my hotel? I'm not sure I remember the way."

"Of course," said Paul, "No problem." Winston knew full well that he was staying at a house, not a hotel, but no reason to give that info away to Isaiah and Amelia.

Winston clapped him on the shoulder, saying, "Great, let's go. We can catch up on old times along the way."

"Sounds like a plan," said Paul, wondering what it was that Winston really wanted from him. If he was lucky, he'd even figure it out by the time the old trickster was done with him.

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Chapter 10

WINSTON made nothing but small talk as long as they were still within line of site of the La Concha. Paul led him away from the actual house he and Chloe had set up for him. He calculated an extra half hour into their trip to lose anyone who might be following them, a delay he found very frustrating, as he was eager to get see how Chloe and Bee were getting on with the investigation.

"So what did you think of all that?" Winston asked.

"Pretty interesting," said Paul. "Pretty ambitious."

"That it is. Isaiah doesn't think small."

"What about you?" asked Paul. "You seem pretty skeptical about it."

"As the oldest person in the room, it's my job to play the skeptic. But I agree with you. It is interesting. And the idea of using the corporate powers I've been fighting for so many years as a tool against the fascists, well, that's a kind of poetry. It's a wonderful twist. Just wonderful."

"Wow, I would never have guessed you felt that way."

"No reason to let Isaiah know what I think of his idea. And I do have my reservations. Quite a few of them in fact. Security for example. And preserving the anonymity of the members. It's one thing for Amelia to say it in a room on top of a hotel, it's another thing to actually ensure it."

"And then there's Raquel," said Paul.

"First and foremost there's Raquel," agreed Winston. "I didn't know her well. We weren't close. But her death saddens me. And her death worries me. I can't believe that it's a coincidence."

"It doesn't seem likely," said Paul. "I don't imagine there are many coincidences when it comes to murder.

They say most victims know their killer."

"What I can't fathom is why someone would kill her," said Winston. "We haven't even formed Isaiah's Corporation of Crews yet, and our first target doesn't even know we exist."

Paul had been devoting as much spare brain space as he could to this exact question, and he'd come up with a few possibilities, although no suspects. Maybe Winston could help him sort it out. "I've been working on that," he said.

"Good, good," said Winston. "What are your thoughts?"