Laurence stood outside the ATM box, waiting for his turn. Outrunning Fred had been easy when he realized Fred didn't have the motivation to run. Within the glass walls of the ATM box, a bald old man and his wife withdrew money. Laurence tapped his foot to pass the time while he wondered if there was any way this could go wrong. The elderly couple turned around and walked out of the ATM box while arguing. "The old ball and chain huh?" muttered Laurence while the old man tried to explain to his wife something about mutual funds. Laurence walked inside the box and entered the details.
He counted some bills from his pocket while the ATM dots appeared and disappeared. A check mark was followed by options. Laurence chose the deposit option and carefully inserted the first hundred-dollar bill. A ring confirmed the deposit and showed his current balance. Laurence noticed the sweat on his forehead and wiped it away, relieved that it had worked. He deposited a further four hundred dollars before walking away awkwardly, wondering if cops would pull up and arrest him. When they didn't, he opened his phone and started applying to other banks.
Theodore Kent might have been the most suitable, but others like East Avencourt and Jonathan Stewart were also loose enough with deposits for Laurence's purposes. East Avencourt was a fifteen-minute walk away, and like in Theodore Kent, Online banking was much easier than he had thought. Laurence deposited five hundred dollars into a checking account. The sun started setting as Laurence made his way to Jonathan Stewart, which was four miles away from him by bad luck. The same bad luck was possibly responsible for the ATM to be out of service when he got there.
Despite having taken several rests, Laurence was gushing with sweat when he got there. He stared at the OUT OF SERVICE poster for a minute before sitting down next to the ATM box. He caught his breath and checked his phone. As always, no messages. He scrolled through some news articles before remembering he had an appointment with the Monero dealer. He looked up the location of the Cafe and then called a taxi. He opened a notes app and typed down his progress so far. One thousand dollars laundered. But not much time to go.
The taxi pulled up to Laurence's right. The yellow was somewhat blinding in the sun but he ignored it and rose to his feet. He waved to the taxi and jogged to it before opening the door and getting in. The driver was a ginger-haired middle-aged man, wearing glasses. "Hi, Laurence right?" said the driver cheerfully. "Yeah.", replied Laurence as he checked the time on his phone. 5:41 pm, 24 minutes till the appointment. The taxi's AC was a bit high for Laurence's taste, but his social anxiety prevented him from telling the driver to lower it. The taxi started moving and Laurence turned his head to the window and started thinking.
His current money laundering system could probably manage 2500 dollars a week without arousing much suspicion if he pushed it. The Monero scheme relied on him finding a good crypto broker who offered conversion between currencies and FIAT. Even then, he'd need to buy several thousands of dollars worth of the coin to run the laundering process. Not to mention that he was losing over 20% of whatever he put in to clean it. Laurence didn't have much money to burn, but if he played his cards right, he could get this done.
The view from the taxi window brought Laurence back to reality. North Avencourt was filled with coffee shops and street stalls as far as the eye could see. The few residential buildings were clumped together like citadels, while those million-dollar villas far off in the horizon were like ink speckles on the otherwise green landscaped plain. Laurence didn't frequent coffee shops or Cafes often. He hadn't seen the inside of one in fourteen months.
The taxi stopped at a sidewalk in front of a sizeable Café named Rollo's. Laurence opened the door and got out. He breathed in the scent of coffee and pastries and felt his stomach grumble. He turned to the taxi's front window which was now open. "How much?' asked Laurence while reaching into his pocket for cash. "Nine dollars." answered the taxi driver. Laurence pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and realized he didn't have any change. "Can you break a hundred?" asked Laurence embarrassed that he forgot to take out some change at the ATM.
Rollo's wasn't very popular but kept a dedicated clientele. The neon yellow sign left much to be desired, but it was solid as far as coffee went. Laurence opened the glass door and walked in. Light jazz music entered his ears along with pieces of chatter. Whoever Grace was, she wasn't liked in this establishment. A waitress came up to him when she saw him frozen at the entrance. "Can I help you?" she asked as Laurence remembered he had a reservation. "Yes, uh, I have a reservation for two under Vidi, " answered Laurence, trying to avoid eye contact.
The neo-modern aesthetic gave Laurence somewhat of a seizure trying to understand what exactly was going on within Rollo's. "Table eighteen, here's a card." said the waitress with a small grin as she saw Laurence's eyes dart from furniture to furniture. "Thanks.", mumbled Laurence before taking the card and walking into the interior. The scent of pastries made his stomach grumble as he walked past table nine. Using what little common sense he'd learned over the years, Laurence found table eighteen to be exactly where he didn't want it to be. In front of the glass on the opposite end of Rollo's, boxed in by the clear walls. Perfect for a photoshoot with the light creating a brightening effect as it bounced across shiny surfaces. A photoshoot directed by law enforcement.
Unwilling to ask for a different table, Laurence sat down on the mahogany chair to the right and opened his phone. The table's white marble scheme with the chair on the left being leather disagreed with his fashion sense, but what was he supposed to know? Laurence pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. 6:04. One minute before Saltking, as he called himself was going to arrive. Laurence's preparations for this meeting were rather simple. A Google tab with the live price of Monero, a paper wallet, and basic crypto terminology. "To the moon.", "Cool staking APY.", and "Not enough hertz to be profitable." were all he knew.
Laurence looked at the card the waitress had given him. Rollo's, also in that neon yellow trying its best to sicken him with a QR code. The plastic was solid, as Laurence put his phone on the table and tried bending the card. He drowned out the chatter around him as he felt the card's ridge-covered texture. He came out of the trance when someone sat down opposite him. Laurence looked up from the card and took a good look at who he assumed to be Saltking.
Saltking's auburn curly hair and straight nose were the first features he noticed. The metallic grey highlights on his glasses reminded him of an old video game skin he'd bought. Saltking nodded at Laurence before signaling for a waiter. An awkward silence grew between them as they both waited for the first move. Eager to get this over with, Laurence started. "Hello.", said Laurence dryly as he waited for a reply. "Hey.", replied Saltking, his voice a bit high-pitched. "So, how was your day?", asked Laurence as he had no idea how to proceed with the conversation. "Good, yours?" answered Saltking, noticing that the ice wasn't thinning.
"It was ok.", responded Laurence, the dryness of the conversation starting to bite. Saltking sighed in relief as the same waitress that directed Laurence to his reservation came. "Anything I can do for you? By the way, the wifi password is Rollo1234 with an asterisk at the end" asked the waitress while watching both of them curiously. "An espresso, double shot, and well, what do you want?" said Saltking before redirecting his attention to Laurence. "Just water, tap.", remarked Laurence before opening his phone. The waitress nodded and walked away. "Right let's get to business," said Laurence before showing his phone's screen to Saltking.
"The current Monero price is 163 dollars to a Monero, I need thirteen hundred dollars worth of it, how much will you charge me? stated Laurence overthinking the conversation in his head. Saltking pondered the question before replying. "Usually my markup is 10% flat on the market price, but since you're a first-time customer, it'll be a flat two hundred dollars. So fifteen hundred in cash for eight Moneros since I don't like numbers with several decimals, sound fair right?" replied Saltking. Laurence was hoping for a 5% markup as a first-time customer, but he didn't have the time to find another dealer in Avencourt locally. "A bit high don't you think?" mentioned Laurence as he did the mental math. He had fifteen hundred in cash on him, but he'd be losing out on two hundred already, not counting what he'd lose to the fiat exchanges.
"I can lower it to 100, but then don't expect to do any business with me. The two hundred is like a show of sincerity. I don't know what you want the Monero for, I don't want to know. But here's the thing, your buying over a grand's worth, that's a hell lot more than you need to order meth from the deep web. Just don't get caught, and if you do get caught, I lost a drinking game and sent you the Monero instead of our bets." proposed Saltking while watching Laurence's expression. Laurence scratched his ear as he thought it through. He had no alternatives unless he was able to find a GPU seller who took cash and started mining Monero himself. "Alright.", said Laurence while reaching into his trusty pocket and counting the bills.
All fifteen accounted for, he slid them over as stealthily as he could. Saltking swiped them and did a quick count before moving them to his pocket. "Great, what's the address?", said Saltking as he pulled out what seemed to be a blackberry. Thoroughly confused at what he had in his hand, Laurence gestured to the 'blackberry". "Oh, it's a hard wallet." explained Saltking. The continued confusion led Saltking to shake his head. "Let's get this transaction over with, then we'll enjoy some coffee and I'll explain what a hard wallet is." proposed Saltking. A few minutes later, Laurence received a notification that his paper wallet had received eight Moneros. Saltking chuckled as he realized Laurence was using a paper wallet. The waitress brought the water and the coffee a few moments later, and Saltking began his lecture on cryptocurrency.