Geek Mafia by Rick Dakan Page A

sure it's fun and it takes dozens of people to make it happen. I can do a comic myself and all I have to do is tell a good story."
    "Which isn't always easy."
    "Nope. But at least it's something within my control. I hope so anyway."
    Chloe had finally picked out a song. "Hah! Here's something with a little more bite to it. Violent Femmes! Old school 80's fun." She pressed a button and the two of them immediately started singing along cacophonously to the brilliance that is "Blister in the Sun." Paul kept sneaking glances at her as she bobbed her head back and forth and hammed each line as she sang it. Damn she was sexy.
    "What about you?" he asked, after the song was finished. "What do you like most about what you do?"
    "What is it that you think I do Paul?"

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    "You know, steal from people."
    "Apparently that's what you do now too," she replied with just a hint of tartness.
    "No, I only steal from my former best friends."
    "So far."
    "I'm not planning on making a habit of it. Besides, I'm running out of friends fast."
    "But you're making new ones all the time." She patted him on his shoulder. "You'd be very good at it, I think.
    You came up with this comics con."
    "Comics con. That's funny."
    "What do you mean?" she asked. "I really do think it's a good idea."
    "I meant the phrase 'comics con,' as in comics convention. They call the big comic book convention down in San Diego 'Comic Con,' and that's what we're doing. A comic con."
    Chloe laughed at this. "You're right, it is pretty funny. Maybe some day we can pull a score at the real thing -
    do an honest to God Comic Con comic con. You should start thinking about that."
    "Yeah, you know. I'm really not all that interested in making this a full-time thing you know? I'm only helping out on this one because I feel like I owe you guys for all the help you gave me."
    "That's cool," she said. "No pressure. We'll just see how things go."
    They drove on in relative silence for a while, listening to music. Paul wondered what she was thinking. If they'd been dating he would have just asked her. He had the habit of asking his girlfriends 'what are you thinking?' every time they got a pensive look on their face. Some of them found it pretty damn annoying and hadn't been shy about telling him that fact. He didn't think Chloe would appreciate it any more than they did.
    Probably less. After a while he couldn't handle the silence.
    "How much do you think you'll make with this deal?" he asked.
    "I'm not sure. Raff ran some numbers and thinks we can clear fifty grand gross without too much trouble. That about makes it worth it, although I don't want to spend more than a week on it. We've got too much else going on."
    "Can I ask you something?" said Paul, slightly nervous now.
    "Sure."
    "What the hell are you guys?"
    "We're a crew."
    "You mean a gang."
    "Same sort of principal I guess, except we're a crew. Not a gang. I don't really know how gangs work these days, but from what I've seen in movies they've got bosses and soldiers and everybody does what they're told.

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    We're not like that."
    "Aren't you the boss? Or is Raff?"
    "Ha! He wishes. If we had an official leader I suppose it would be me. I'd be the captain of this crew. We're actually modeled on how pirate crews used to work, although we rotate the "captain" responsibilities on each score, depending on whose idea it is and who has the best plan."
    "Pirates. As in 'yo ho ho and a bottle of rum'? You don't even have a ship." Paul paused. "You don't have a ship do you? Do you have cannons? Or parrots?"
    "I think Filo has a parrot, or maybe a cockatiel. I don't really know the difference. No ship or cannons though
    - although not for lack of trying."
    "But I thought pirates had captains who ran the ship. Like Blackbeard or Captain Hook."
    "Sure, they did, and some of them were certainly pretty fucking authoritarian, but not all of them. In fact, lots of pirate crews were about the most democratic