Geek Mafia | Page 9

and the lead programmer saw each other, but both decided it
would be more comfortable to pretend they hadn't. He went on inside
and avoided any awkward parking lot confrontations.
The conference room was back and to the right, in a corner of the office
hardly ever visited. Paul's stomach fluttered and bile crept up into his
throat. He felt sweat trickle down the small of his back even though the
office was refrigerator cold. This was going to suck, he realized. At
least Chloe had given him one thing - he'd spent the last twenty hours
planning his revenge and flirting with a pretty girl instead of obsessing
about his fate. He was somehow grateful that he'd only have a few
minutes of feeling this shitty anticipation before the axe fell.
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.
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