Sufferable Acceptance

Forty-Two

Amelia

"What is this place?" Theo asked as we walked up to the empty apartment building.

"It's Mason's place. I already told you. He keeps a low profile." I explained. "Alright a few things when we get in there. Don't touch anything, and I mean anything. Don't even assume the couch is safe to sit on. Rule number two don't ask questions. If you want Mason's help you trust the process. I'll explain anything later, but if we want his stuff just play along. Also he's sensitive, so please don't scare him. He's fragile, and he doesn't spend a lot of time with people." I warned them.

Theo and the boys all gave each other weird looks as they followed me in the building.

We walked up to the third floor, and I gave a knock on apartment 302. It was quiet for a second and then we heard shuffling. Finally the door opened and Mason peaked through the door slit.

"Amelia! Glad you could make it. Come on in!"

Slowly all four of us entered his apartment. The inside was the opposite of the building's appearance. It was clean, neat, and covered in small gadgets.

Standing in the living room in front of a table covered in coffee and cable cords was a small, young, lanky, boy with wire framed glasses, and wearing a sweater that was way too big for him.

The three guys looked confused.

"How old are you?" Marcus asked.

Immediately Mason looked over at me. I gave an annoyed look to Marcus.

"No questions.." I whispered.

"Uhh well, if anyone asks I'm twenty-five, but my birth certificate says nineteen." Mason explained.

"Mason, sorry to call last minute, but it's urgent." I pointed to the guys. "This is Marcus, the guy I told you about, and the brothers Theo and Charlie."

"When you called you said you needed something that could kill two birds with one stone, hah, no pun intended." Mason looked at Theo, and then at me waiting for a laugh.

When he didn't receive a laugh he coughed, and refocused.

"Whatever you need I have it. And if I don't have it I can make it." He said.

"Marcus, tell him what we need." I said.

"We need something that's strong enough to take out 12 houses more or less. For size references, pretend we're taking out an entire block." Marcus explained.

"I have that, what's the problem?" Mason said.

"The job I'm on needs to take care of the house issue, and anyone that may be working near or around the area. We need something we can set up fast so we can focus on taking out men. The last time we tried this we ran out of time. Back up showed up too fast, and we didn't bring enough men with us." I said. "Marcus thinks we can't properly blow up what we need to if we focus on my plan."

"I don't have anything with enough strength to take out twelve houses, that gives me enough prep time, and gives me control of the explosion." Marcus said.

"We also need to take out as many people as possible without putting our men at risk." Theo said.

Mason thought for a second, and went to a desk to find an old journal, "I know exactly what you need. Follow me."

We followed Mason out of his apartment, and walked to the first floor. He opened a maintenance closet, and when we stepped in we could see that it was really another secret room. This one was dim with low blue lights around the rim, and racks of weapons.