Verna Kubli’s friend is on his death bed. For about six weeks now, the grey-haired homemaker and expert gardener has been sitting by his side day and night. She tries not to let on that anything is wrong, but he just isn't the same. He fades further and further away, and barely knows who she is anymore, but she remains dependent on their friendship and can’t imagine life without him. Kubli waits patiently just to hear those three precious words once again: “You’ve got mail.”

In her desperation, Kubli decides to call in the geeks.

The Geek Squad is a 24-hour computer support task force. In civilian terms, it’s a company that fixes computers anytime and any place. For a few hundred dollars, the geeks will do anything from set up a wireless network, to remove viruses and spyware from vulnerable computers. For an extra charge, they’ll come to the rescue the instant they’re called, even if it's 3 a.m.

Robert Stephens started the Geek Squad in 1994 with a dream, a bicycle and $200. Today, the company has made its way into homes and neighborhood Best Buy stores.

A black and white Volkswagen Beetle, which resembles a cartoon cop car (known as a geekmobile), pulls into a well-groomed driveway. Corey Peterson, a stocky man in black trousers pulled up so high they show his crisp white socks and polished shoes, walks calmly up to the door. He straightens his clip-on tie as the thankful resident greets him, grabs the metal badge on his belt and says, “Agent Peterson, Geek Squad. What seems to be the problem, ma’am?”

Inside the buttercream frosting-scented house, Peterson operates on Kubli’s dear friend. After two hours of surgery, Peterson says with a straight face, “I have good news: I’ve fixed your computer. It had a bad modem. Your computer has seen its fair share of wear. It’s an older machine.”

Another machine saved from an early death.

Being part of a fully mobilized task force for eradicating evil computer activity is not an easy job. Double Agent Corey Peterson starts his day with as much caffeine as he can gulp down in five to 10 minutes. Then he opens his closet full of identical uniforms, hops in one of his two geekmobiles and begins calling clients on his way. He does this daily to update their case files and make sure the "suspect" hasn't escaped.

Peterson typically completes two to three cases per day, not including 911 calls, which, in geekspeak, means emergency tech support. He says many other computer technicians just deal with the specific problem. “We look around the problem and approach problems with a more holistic answer, going through and checking the whole computer instead of just the problem at hand,” he says.

“We can fix any computer, anytime and anywhere," Peterson says. "We are slowly working on world domination with 2,500 agents in the U.S. and Canada, including Alaska and Hawaii."

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously," Stephens says. "It allows [the client] to feel more superior and allows us to break the ice.” He says it is important to use an image that isn't intimidating to even the most computer illiterate person. He calls the service “comedy with a straight face.”

“Geeks are not motivated by power, fame or money," Stephans says. "At the heart of this is something that cannot be duplicated. It’s a secret sauce.” He says while it is not written anywhere, it is considered a sign of loyalty for agents to take their driver’s license pictures in uniform.

Lack of money early on forced Stephens to think of other ways to advertise. “Everything a company does is advertising in some form," he says. "We created a unique language ... the first thing that develops in any culture." One of the reasons agents are available 24 hours a day is because they "don’t go on dates,” according to Stephens.

If geeks had social lives, who would come to Susan McEvilly’s rescue at 8 a.m.? It certainly wouldn't be the “cool” tech guy who was out partying all night, waking up in a stranger’s bed with a splitting headache.

Seeing geekmobiles around her neighborhood of picket fences and small dogs, McEvilly became curious and decides to give the geeks a call. McEvilly works from home and constantly uses her computer. When she opens the door, she is on the phone with a “freaked-out client.”

“I am so sorry. I didn’t know I was going to be in a meeting when you showed up,” McEvilly says to Peterson.

The youthful-looking mother of two is pacing around her livingroom drinking black coffee as Peterson calmly works on installing a wireless network for her. After 30 minutes of operation and a little waiting, a new network is born. “Can I use your sink to wash my hands?" Peterson asks. "I have the codes for your network on them."

Although they're not doctors, the squad specializes in house calls. “They are kind of like plumbers and electricians because they make house calls," McEvilly says. "I like it because they already have fixed rates. There are people that do this type of thing, but usually you have to know someone."

Get in good with one geek and you just might meet some of his friends. These individuals have banded together and sworn to rid the earth of inferior computer behavior.

Agent Brian Masson has nicely styled hair and wears a Geek Squad pin to keep his clip-on tie secure. The only thing missing is a pocket protector for the four pens neatly placed in the chest pocket of his nicely starched, short-sleeved white shirt. Masson has worked at Best Buy for two years. He started as a CIA agent (in-store representative) and now he is a double agent.

But underneath the titles, the language, the dress code and the work ethic, the squad is only human. Geeks need love, too.

Stephens recalls when an agent got his car washed and waxed by a client’s children because they were so excited he got their new computer up and running.

Peterson remembers the tears of joy a client wept when he was able to recover pictures of her son from birth to 3 years she had been told were lost forever. “She called me everyday for a week to thank me,” he says.

Masson tells the story of working on a file recently. The client got so excited after he fixed her computer, she puckered up and said, “Can I give you a kiss?”

But rescuing society from evil computer activity and working on world domination at the same time are important tasks which cannot be taken lightly. With a polite smile, he turned her kiss down.