Geek Mafia Read online

  Everyone but Frank and Paul already had seats at the makeshift conference table (really four smaller tables pushed together to form one big surface). The company's mousy lawyer, Marie Woods, sat in the seat Paul usually took for himself at these meetings. That's a sign if ever there was one, he thought.

  "Hey Paul," said Greg. He'd also dressed up for the occasion, wearing a yellow tie and too-large blue blazer over his plump frame.

  "Hey," said Paul. He realized he'd forgotten his notebook and wanted to go back into the car and get it. But it was too late; no turning back now. "Hey Evan, Jerry." The two other men nodded to him. Evan said something inaudible into his thick beard that might have been hello. Paul thought that Frank should have been inside by now. The meeting should be getting started, but Paul guessed that the fucker had stopped to check his e-mail first, as always.

  CHAPTER 3

  15

  Jerry, dressed in khakis and a polo shirt with the company logo on it, tried to lighten the mood. "Your Buccaneers are shaping up pretty well, huh?" Paul's hometown team had traded for a star running back over the weekend. "This could be their year."

  "Yep," said Paul. What the hell was he talking about? The two of them had always talked sports - it was their only real common bond but really, was this the time? Just trying to kill the silence Paul supposed. Fuck that.

  He took a seat and stared down at his hands, wishing again for his notebook so he could at least pretend to be busy.

  Finally, Frank came in, thin, short, and wiry with a shaven head and an unkempt goatee. He brushed past where Paul sat without saying a word and took his place at the table. "Hey," he said to Greg, who just nodded at him.

  "Are you ready Paul?" asked Greg. "Yesterday you said something about getting a lawyer?"

  "Um," said Paul. "I guess I'm ready. Whatever." He didn't even look up from his hands as he talked. "Let's just get on with it."

  "Ok," said Greg, his voice sad, although Paul wasn't sure why. If he was sad, he shouldn't have fired him. "We all know why we're here, but we have to do this the right way to make it official. I'm going to ask Marie to run the meeting so we can make sure we cover all the legal bases."

  He stopped and looked up from his notes. There was a knocking sound coming from somewhere. It had to be the front door, which locked automatically.

  "All right, first, for the record we need to make a note of who's here..." said the lawyer, but the knocking had become pounding and Paul interrupted her.

  "I think there's someone at the door," said Paul.

  "Whoever it is can wait," Chimed in Evan, speaking for the first time. Paul knew Evan hated confrontation -

  all four of them did. They preferred to whisper and complain in private rather than actually telling someone they had a problem with them. Evan no doubt wanted this to be over as quickly as possible.

  Marie was about to continue but Paul stopped her. "I should check. It might be...um...it might be my representative." Part of the plan was that he wasn't supposed to actually call her his lawyer. Was it Chloe? No FedEx guy would pound that long and hard.

  "I thought you said you didn't have representation," said Greg, looking both confused and a little worried.

  "Well, I wasn't sure she'd..." the pounding grew even louder. They could hear the glass door shaking in its frame.

  "I'll let him in," said Frank, springing up from his seat and heading out the conference room door. A few seconds later they heard muffled voices and then Frank came scurrying back into the room, a startled look on his face.

  Chloe came in a moment later, although Paul hardly recognized her.

  "Sorry I'm late," she said, slamming her leather briefcase down on the table next to Paul. "You haven't fired him yet have you?"

  CHAPTER 4

  16

  CHAPTER 4

  For a moment, Paul wasn't even sure who had walked into the room. Chloe had totally transformed herself since he'd last seen her. She wore a wig for starters, and a very good one. It was light brown and shoulder length. It looked so natural that if he didn't know she had much shorter hair, he would have guessed that she had dyed it. But it was the outfit that made the change. She wore a well-tailored, very professional, gray woman's skirt/blazer combo with a yellow silk blouse. Her wrist sported what looked to Paul's uneducated eye like an expensive and fashionable gold lady's watch from which he thought he detected a glint of diamond. In short, she looked just like the high priced lawyer she was supposed to be. She was certainly the best-dressed person in the room.

  Chloe reached across the table to shake Greg's hand, stretching forward as she did so. Paul watched Greg glance down at her cleavage while he shook her hand. "I'm Rachel Roth, here on behalf of Mr. Paul Reynolds."

  "Hi," said Greg. "I'm Greg Driscol, and this is..."

  "I know the rogues gallery here," said Chloe cutting Greg off and looking around at the assembled board members. "I've learned all about you gentlemen."

  Marie stood up and shook Chloe's hand. "Marie Cooper, from Johnson, Myers, and Wick," she said.

  "Nice to meet you," she said. "Ok, we've got the intros down, shall we get on with the dirty business?"

  "Um, sure," Greg said as he sat back down. "I was just about to turn things over to Marie."

  The plan was now in action, and so far so good. But Paul knew that this was a crucial moment. Chloe didn't really know the law - just a few points that her friend had helped her out with. She couldn't let the real lawyer take over the meeting. Her dramatic, unexpected entrance had them off guard, and Paul hoped she seized the moment and pressed on.

  Chloe stepped up to the plate right on cue. "Yeah, you know what? Before I let Marie here get going, there are some things I need to go over with you. I think they might have a real bearing on how matters proceed from this point on."

  "Okaaaay..." said Greg. "I suppose that's fine." Paul had heard Greg say a hundred times that he never liked to go into a meeting he didn't already know the outcome of. He was going to hate this one. The CEO looked to Marie for support and she just kind of shrugged, whatever that meant.

  "First things first, I want to let you know that Paul here is more than willing to resign his seat on the board.

  We realize this situation just isn't working out the way we'd hoped, and so it's time for the two parties to go their separate ways." That seemed to comfort them.

  "So, all we have to do now is figure out what Paul gets out of the deal," she continued. "I mean, this whole project was his idea and he does own a sizable chunk of stock. Hell, you guys wouldn't even be here if it weren't for him, right?" No one said anything. "So we figure he's owed something for his time and trouble."

  Greg didn't seem to like where this was going. "We've offered Paul two months' severance and, of course, he gets to keep all the stock he's vested."

  "Huh," scoffed Chloe. "Yeah, as you say, of course he gets to keep the stock he's vested. He already owns that. Not much you can do there, so that's not really a concession. Now giving him the rest of the stock he was CHAPTER 4

  17

  supposed to vest if he'd stayed on. That would be a concession."

  "I'm afraid that's not on the table," said Greg.

  "Yeah, no way," interjected Frank. Paul wasn't surprised to hear this. They'd never gotten along very well, and Frank was always worried about the bottom line (something Paul had kind of admired until right now).

  "That's fine, that's fine," she continued. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, boys. We just want what's ours."

  She fished around in her briefcase for something and then looked up. "No, that's not even right. Paul wants out. He wants to go bye-bye and leave you behind him like a bad dream. Thus, he's willing to sell what's his to you."

  "You want us to buy out his stock?" asked Greg.

  "Yep."

  "Why would we do that? It's not worth anything yet," said Greg.

  "Is that what you tell your investors, Greg?" asked Chloe.

  "I tell them that it's n
ot worth anything yet. It has potential value."

  "But you sure paid a lot for it, didn't you Greg?" said Chloe, looking at the piece of paper she'd fished out.

  "You paid two and a half mil for your shares."

  "That's because I'm an investor and I believe in this game," he said. Greg had made money - a lot of money, selling his first startup to a much bigger conglomerate. He and Paul had been friends in high school and, when Greg said he was interested in maybe getting into computer games, Paul suggested doing one based on his comic book series. Thus, the company had been born.

  "You're not the only one," said Chloe. "Didn't PC Gamer rate it the most anticipated online game of next year?"

  "Yes, one of the most anticipated. I think we were number three."

  "And didn't GameSpot.com just last week do a glowing, four part preview of the game, calling it the most innovative game world to come along in years?"

  "Yes," agreed Greg.

  "What's your point with all this?" said Frank.

  "Just that the game is looking like it could be a big hit," said Chloe, "Which in large part because of Paul's ideas. So, the way we see it..."

  "Listen." Now it was Greg's turn to interrupt. "None of this is why we're here today. There's no way we're going to buy Paul out. We've got no reason to. We've made a fair offer, and if the company ever does get sold, then Paul will probably do very well for himself."

  "Yes," said Chloe. "In the long run that may be true, but who the hell cares about that? We're talking the short run here. We're talking about Paul getting fired for no real reason at all."

  CHAPTER 4

  18

  "We don't need a reason," said Frank, which was true, and the smart thing to say. Chloe had hoped to get them to say something - anything she could use against them to show discrimination or lack of cause. But they didn't need a reason and they were smart enough not to give one.

  "Yeah, you just don't like him. Fine, we can handle that. Paul doesn't like you much either, but that doesn't matter. The truth is, if the game does well, or even just ok, there are going to be bonuses and raises around here, right? Probably tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars each. But bonuses only go to those of you still drawing paychecks. You could pay out all the profits like that and Paul would never see a dime. His stock would be worthless to him."

  "There are limits too how much..." said Marie, finally trying to get in on the conversation.

  "I know, I know. There are limits. But we both know that good lawyers and CPA's or whatever can find loopholes and shit." Chloe went back into her briefcase for another document. "You guys don't like Paul. You probably like him even less now that you've met me. So I'm betting that if you get a chance, you'll screw him."

  She tossed a stack of stapled documents out onto the table.

  "What's this?" asked Greg, picking up one of the packets of papers.

  "It's our proposal." Chloe just stood and watched as the four board members and their lawyer took a moment to read it over.

  "No fucking way," said Frank. "You want us to pay him $850,000? Even if we had that kind of money -

  which we don't - there's no fucking way we'd give it to him." He turned to talk directly to Paul. "What do you think you've done to deserve this, huh? You go home at five - or earlier - every day. You don't have any technical skills. You don't have any experience. You're a pain in the ass..."

  "C'mon Frank," said Greg. "Calm down a second." Then he turned back to Chloe, shaking his head. "As I said, Paul's gotten plenty out of his time here and..."

  "No Greg," Chloe insisted. "We don't think he has gotten plenty. We think he's short about $850,000."

  "This is silly," said Greg. "We really don't have that kind of money to spend on this nonsense. As Paul knows, we've got a little over a half a million in the bank and we need every penny of it to pay salaries until we ship this game."

  "You've got the money Greg." Chloe smiled, reading from the paper she'd just taken from her briefcase.

  "According to your tax records, you should have something like seventeen million in the bank. Plus the two houses and the condo in Florida."

  "Even if that's true," said Greg, who Paul knew never liked to talk about how much money he had. "Why would I want to buy out Paul for that much? I already own thirty-percent of this company, that's more than enough."

  "Don't you have confidence in your little game here?" asked Chloe.

  "It doesn't matter. As you pointed out, I've got a lot of money. I don't really need more, and me giving Paul $850,000 isn't going to make the game any better or help business. There's no up side for me." Greg shifted his gaze to Paul. "I'm sorry, man, but I'm not giving you any more money." Paul just stared back at him, trying to not smile or sneer. Greg had no idea what was coming.

  CHAPTER 4

  19

  "See, Greg, that's where you're wrong," Chloe said. She had a stack of four folders in her hand, and she pointed at Greg with them to emphasize her point. "In fact, it's very much in your company's best interest to make Paul happy right now. Because if Paul's happy, then he and I are just gonna go away. You'll never hear from us again."

  "You're going to sue us?" said Frank, quick to pick up the subtext. "You've got no standing. We don't need a reason to fire you." Frank turned to the company, Marie, for confirmation. "Isn't that right?"

  "That's correct. The company does not have to show cause for termination," the lawyer said.

  Chloe hadn't looked at either of them during the exchange; she'd kept her entire attention focused on Greg.

  "I'm not prepared to say whether or not I agree with that," she said, "But I'm sure Marie here can also tell you that just because you don't think we have standing, that doesn't mean we can't sue you. We will, sure as fuck, sue the hell out of you."

  Marie kind of shrugged again; at least that's what Paul thought of it as. It was as noncommittal a motion as he could imagine. As he'd told Chloe, Marie was a contract lawyer, not a trial lawyer. She was solid on the details but not very good with the confrontation thing. Plus, she had the annoying lawyerly habit of never saying anything was one hundred percent sure. She always hedged her bets and gave caveats on her advice.

  "It's possible," she said to Greg. "They can certainly bring suit, although it's unlikely they'll get very far with it."

  "But hey," said Chloe, "It's all billable hours for your firm right? What do you guys charge? $300 an hour for something like this?" Marie didn't deign to answer.

  "You won't win," said Greg. "I've been down this road before, this exact same road with my first company.

  You'll cost us some money, but it'll cost Paul money too. After all, he's paying you right?"

  "What?" said Chloe, sounding distracted. She'd started reading something from inside one of her files.

  "I just pointed out that Paul's got to pay you too. He'll lose this case and it will cost him a lot of money and, I happen to know, Paul doesn't have a lot in the way of savings, does he?"

  "Nope," said Chloe. "He seems pretty stupid about money, you're right. But that's ok; I'm not charging him anything for this. This is a freebie."

  "Are you a friend of his uncle or something?" asked Greg, a little confused now.

  "Oh no, nothing like that. Never met the man. No, you see, Paul here gives great head. I mean GREAT head.

  He goes down like nobody's business. Better even than most women I know. So I figured I owed him. Plus, I wanna keep him around, and if he doesn't get his much deserved pay off, he might leave and move back to Florida." Even Paul was shocked when she said this. The rest of them were knocked back on their heels.

  Greg had the presence of mind to close his mouth after his jaw had dropped. Marie blushed and looked down at her notes and the other three followed suit. Chloe continued before they could regroup from that particular set of visuals she'd conjured up for them.

  "And I've got plenty of time and energy to spend on you guys. There will be a wrongful termination lawsuit, I can prom
ise you that, but it's only the beginning, just the tip of the iceberg. Because you see, Paul here's a major stockholder in this company. He's vested 8.5% of it, which certainly gives him standing to protest any kind of financial mismanagement. And from what Paul tells me, there's a fair amount of that going on around here."

  CHAPTER 4

  20

  Chloe paused to deal her files out around the table. There was one for each of the other four founders and one for her. Marie didn't receive anything. "Plus there are issues of corporate money spent on personal perks and sexist and homophobic language creating a hostile work environment. Is it really appropriate to use bandwidth and disk drive space to download pornography? Same for illegally downloaded songs, in violation of various copyright laws and exposing the company to a massive lawsuit by the Recording Industry of America."

  All of them but Frank were now looking in the files Chloe had passed out. He didn't even bother to touch his.

  "You really might want to look in there," said Chloe. "It's got nothing to do with all those songs you download." Frank smiled without humor and opened the file.

  As they read what was in the files, Jerry and Evan began to visibly blanche. Frank's smirk disappeared, replaced with concentration and anger. Chloe continued, "We all know that there's a lot going on here that shouldn't be. And we all know that there's some things that are better kept quiet."

  Marie, who hadn't seen the materials in any of the folders, spoke up. "I think we need to wrap this meeting up.

  I'd like to talk with my clients and we all need a chance to cool down."

  "I think your clients would like to continue this meeting right here and now," said Chloe. "Get this whole thing sorted out as quickly as possible. That way we can all get on with our quirky, secretive, sometimes perverted little lives."

  The four other board members were all ashen faced. Evan just kind of nodded. Frank was on the verge of exploding in anger, but he was probably afraid that it would only make things worse for him. Jerry had stood up and was now whispering in Greg's ear. Jerry always knew when the ship was sinking, thought Paul. He was the first to give in.