Geek Mafia: Mile Zero | Page 9

spend their time - is only one mile by two. The Crew's house by the cemetery was less than half a mile from where they'd last seen Winston. Walking, it might've taken ten minutes to get there, but on Chloe's Vespa it was a hair-raising three-minute ride away. When they got there, Paul saw no sign of either Winston or Lily, so he assumed they were still inside the rundown shack that passed for a gallery. They parked a block away and approached at a brisk walk, Paul almost jogging to keep up with Chloe's excited strides.
Winston was Chloe's mentor in what they referred to as "The Life," this being a euphemism for a whole range of different activities, groups and lifestyles that fell under the general category of living underground and off the information grid. Paul, after defrauding his former partners and then running afoul of the law in a very public way, had been living The Life for almost a year and a half now. Chloe, as near as he could tell, had been doing it for almost a decade. Winston had started in the late '60s as a 16-year-old member of the notorious Weather Underground. He not only led his own Crew, he was also in contact with dozens, maybe scores of other such groups all over the world, including Chloe and Paul's little Crew of four. On top of all that, he'd once taken a couple bullets while helping Paul out, so, like Chloe, Paul had a soft spot in his heart for the old man.
They hadn't seen him since that bloody night, but Chloe had been in communication with him off and on over the last sixteen months. Winston and his Crew were old school and didn't trust much in the way of electronic communications. Mostly it had been encoded, hand-delivered letters and arcane classified ads in various newspapers. Chloe found this particular breed of paranoia on Winston's part annoying, but Paul admired it. It reminded him of old John le Carr�� novels. Winston had sent them a particularly detailed and yet cryptic message just five days ago, telling them that he was coming to Key West and asking them to arrange a secure place for him and some of his Crewmembers to stay.
The gallery door stood wide open, and Paul could see walls covered with pastel colors - watercolor and oil paintings of sunsets, palm trees, dolphins and more sunsets. Winston stood there talking to the owner, a worn, deeply tanned local who ran the gallery and sold paintings on behalf of a dozen different island artists. The two were deep in conversation about something. Beyond them he saw Lily, staring with bored eyes at a particularly pink painting of a dolphin splashing in the waves during a sunset.
Paul glanced to his side at Chloe, who wore a mischievous grin. "You ready?" she asked.
"Ready for..." But Chloe was already through the door, striding in with her chest puffed out, her right hand raised.
"Everybody freeze! This is a raid!" she shouted across the small room. Lily reacted first, her head snapping toward the door and her hand darting into the pocket of her sweatshirt. Winston and the gallery owner turned as well, surprise on both their faces.
"What the fuck..." said the owner, who didn't seem to believe Chloe was a cop at all. But then he noticed that Winston was laughing and started to relax. So did Lily. Winston stepped forward and swept Chloe up into a bear hug, lifting her off her feet.
"Ha HA!" cried Winston. "You little vixen! Are you trying to give this old man a heart attack?"
"Always," she said as he set her back down.
Winston turned his attention to Paul then, embracing him in a hug as well. Paul was thankful the old man didn't try and lift him off the ground. "Good to see you again, brother. Good to see you."
"Same here," replied Paul. "Welcome to Key West." Looking over he saw Chloe and Lily hugging as well. He waved with a smile to Winston's right-hand woman. "Hey Lily, good to see you too."
"Thanks, Paul," said Lily. "It's nice to be back on solid ground."
"I'll bet," agreed Paul. He noticed the gallery owner had retreated a few paces and was watching the love fest that had suddenly taken over his shop.
"Come on," said Chloe, linking arms with Lily and Winston. "We've got you a great place all lined up."
But Winston wasn't ready to leave yet. "One moment, Chloe. I still have to buy a painting from this man." The gallery owner, who might have been worried about losing a sale, was visibly relieved.
"Do you need me to wrap it up for you?" he asked Winston. "I've got today's paper around here somewhere."
"Not necessary, friend. I'd like to admire it as