Write with errors!

INTRIGUE is the name of the game today! Apparently.
Short Story Ideas gave me a scenario to write about, and, well, I'm going to write it! Even if I don't like it! Here goes!

So much of this is probably inaccurate as all hell, but its supposed to be a good read, not necessarily an accurate one.

Also, I kind of want to open an internet cafe called "Ensemble Dark Horse" now...

The Scrappy Cafe

The Scrappy Cafe was not what you'd call a hive of villainy. With all the people huddled behind the gentle glow of computer monitors you'd think it was a quiet haven for the internet dwellers of the area. The snack machine served diet cokes and bags of chips. So the idea that anything rotten would happen here was unthinkable.

And why it made such a perfect cover.

Lawrence Baker owned and operated The Scrappy Cafe. In his youth he just wanted an innocent internet cafe to provide internet to those who couldn't afford it in the area. There was a lot of poor families in the area that couldn't afford computers so a lot of the local children would come in. Sometimes the parents would too.

It was Carlton Anderson, Lawrence's business partner, who found a way to exploit this. Carlton was a computer software engineer with expensive taste. Hard work was not how he earned his pay cheques. He instead wrote a computer program that filed and kept important data input into the computers at The Scrappy Cafe. Whenever someone had to pay a bill online, or used a credit card to purchase something from e-bay, the program would record the required information and would make small transactions filed as "The Cafe" and funnel money into Carlton's account.

It wasn't a fool proof plan but most of the poor victims who came into The Scrappy Cafe knew nothing of computers. And it was that trusting nature that Carlton banked on.

Lawrence of course didn't like this. But after a particularly slow year and almost being force to close down, Carlton approached with a solution. A program that would "Keep track" of how long people spent on the computer.

The patrons paid per hour of usage, but this program would automatically shut down the computer and lock out users after 55 minutes. Including the lengthy start up customers would pay a full hour for an approximate 45 minutes of usage. And for people who paid with credit card for the usage, Carlton made sure they paid double.

How could Lawrence turn Carlton away after he had saved The Scrappy Cafe from going under? It was the only thing Lawrence had. It weighed on his soul constantly, but without Carlton's exploitive ways he would have nothing.

Lawrence sighed as Carlton tapped away at the computer beside him. The reception desk had a high counter top to prevent people from peering over the other side. Carlton smiled deviously as siphoned out a widows life savings.

"Who sets up pay pal with there savings account? What an idiot." Carlton hissed quietly to himself.

Lawrence glared. "Could you keep the commentary to yourself?"

"Why should I? She was the idiot who bought My Little Pony Colouring Books online for her granddaughter. Pay Pal should be ashamed of letting these people use their own savings accounts to pay for things."

"I don't want to hear about it. If you want to gloat at least wait until the customers are gone." Lawrence shifted uneasily in his chair. He stared at remaining teenagers who sat in a corner giggling and laughing at YouTube videos.

"I don't want to do this anymore. We're going to get caught, I just know it."

Carlton clucked his tongue and continued to tap away, seeing who else he could fraud out of money.

"Are you listening?"

"Yeah yeah, I hear you. I keep telling you NO ONE will EVER find out! We're set for life so long as you don't pussy out and tell someone." Carlton stopped after finding a large transaction being processed by a customers visa. A few quick taps and the cost had some "hidden" fees. Carlton chuckled to himself.

"I'm serious, Carlton."

"Look, you know what'll happen if we stop this. See this place? EVERYTHING here will be shut down for good! No one is going to give you money to run a dying business! This is your only hope! So stop bitching about it ok?"

Carlton went back to his typing. Lawrence just sighed and leaned against the counter. He noticed the teenagers time was almost up, he subtly ticked the counter to give them an extra hour.

Just then in walked a tall beautiful woman wearing a long coat. She sauntered up to the counter.

"Excuse me. Are you two the owners of The Scrappy Cafe?" She asked.

Carlton closed his laptop and but on his best flirtatious face. "Why, yes, of course. We've been owners and operators of The Scrappy since 1998. How can we help you?"

"I was wondering, how often do you get complaints about this place?"

"Not often." Lawrence lied. "They don't really compliment us either I suppose." He added with more than a hint of guilt.

"That's interesting." The woman paused for a moment to consider this.

Carlton's eyes darted. "Are you some kind of reporter?" he asked hopefully.

"Not quiet. I work with the FBI. And we've been tracking monetary transactions from this location. It seems all transactions made from the IP addresses of this internet cafe have been siphoning funds to the bank account of Carlton Anderson. I don't suppose you gentlemen would know anything about that would you?"

Carlton stood stunned, he tried to regain his composure as best he could. "Um, are you sure it was from here? Maybe it came from someone upstairs."

"No. We had an agent come in earlier, an elderly lady, she bought a book online and we tracked the transaction. We noticed some "hidden fees" were attached to it from this location."

Lawrence smiled. "I'm sorry, officer. But what you said is all true."

"No it isn't." Carlton looked around frantically.

Lawrence continued "We wish to cooperate fully with you if you could grant us one request though?"

"What's that?" The woman asked eyeing the twitching and sweating Carlton.

"Our customers time is almost up, could you at least let them finish up their time and we'll close the shop and come quietly."

"What are you DOING!" Hissed Carlton. "I don't know what he's talking about."

"I'm Lawrence Baker, and this is my business partner Carlton Anderson."

"Charmed I'm sure" the woman raised an eyebrow. "I'll wait here until your customers leave. It's not like you can go anywhere. We have the place surrounded anyway."

"Thank you, officer." Lawrence said and he gave a quiet bow and went to dismiss the customers.