It took me a while to gain Marcus’s trust. The first time we interacted was junior year of high school when ARGs began to get really popular. Marcus and Jolu had known each other for a while so when Marcus needed people for his team, he called Jolu and Jolu called me. When I first saw Marcus in action, I was stunned. He was an incredible ARG player and actually really skilled with technology. Only by demonstrating that I was dependable and skilled myself could I get his attention. I saved his butt a couple of times and came through for whole team, that’s when he started to trust me. It also didn’t hurt that his best friend had the most monster crush on me. So pathetic. But at least it allowed me to get to know my target better.
Even though Marcus had everything going for him, he loved breaking the rules and “being in charge of his own life,” whatever that meant. He was always helping us avoid surveillance and maintain our privacy in this “Big Brother” of a world. That’s when I knew that he would be my new target. Marcus Yallow was going to blow up the Bay Bridge.
My phone buzzed and I knew that it was time. Marcus was assembling all of us and we were going to meet by the cable cars back in the city. Game on.
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I spotted them instantly, looking like sore thumbs on a sidewalk. Idiots. Getting caught by the truancy police would ruin everything. I worked way to hard for this moment. That’s probably the biggest difference between the guys and I. I plan things, like literally everything, done to the last minute. I’m always on time, always know where I am going and always had a back up plan. Marcus thinks that I’m the best at sneaking into the city because I blend in with Korean tourists. What’s the best way to find Korean tourists? Make some yourself. While I was on my way back from school, I called my parents and let me know that I would need a cover in order to make things go smoothly. Within five minutes, there’s 20 Asians with Old Navy pastel shorts and oversized cameras. Like I said, I plan everything. We had to wait a couple minutes for Jolu to arrive but he did, it was time for the next step in the plan.
“Who’s ready to go?” Marcus asked after we all said hello. He pulled out his phone and showed us the map he downloaded onto it. “Near as I can work out, we wanna go up the Nikko again, then one block past it to O’Farrell, then left up toward Van Ness. Somewhere in there we should find a wireless signal.”
I pretended to listen; I already knew where we were going. I made a face in order to pretend that this was all news to me. “That’s the nasty part of the Tenderloin.” The Tenderloin is a part of San Francisco that goes from nice and touristy to crack whore in 3 seconds flat. Since it’s basically all prostitutes and drug addicts out there, there isn’t much involvement or surveillance during the day. Any police that are around are paid by pimps to look the other way. This made it an excellent place to be when the bridge blew.
“We going to talk or we going to win?” I asked. It was getting late; we only had a small window to make it there before the detonation.
We finally arrived at the massage parlor. This was it. All of a sudden I heard an annoying squeak. I look over and Marcus was arguing with a girl who had pink hair, sunglasses, and the most disgusting outfit I’ve ever seen. Even though Marcus was my target, it still annoyed me when other girls talked to him. He was already so easily distracted that this encounter would definitely set us back. Plus he always looked at pretty girls like he had never seen one before. He didn’t look at me that way. I don’t know why, plenty of guys like me. Whatever, I guess it doesn’t matter. I moved forward to tell this chick to move along, I didn’t have time for nuisances today and then I felt the earth move.
Crap. We wasted too much time. My original plan was plant evidence in Marcus’s backpack as we hugged good-bye and then call in an anonymous tip. I know it sounds overly simple but you’d be surprised how serious those calls are taken. Now I had to implement plan B.
The sirens were sounding and everyone was freaking out. Without the guys noticing I told the girls to run back towards BART, knowing Marcus would follow suit. Sure enough I heard him yell, “Down to the BART station!” Guys are just way too predictable.
I knew what I had to do and it wasn’t going to be easy. The BART station would be packed tighter than a sardine can with everyone in a panic. Bodies were pressing together trying to make it down the stairway. The station below was too crowed for me to loose the group. Marcus kept his eye on me making sure I didn’t get lost. I was touched by that but knew I shouldn’t be.
All of a sudden I saw that Marcus was signaling me to look at my phone.
> We’re getting out of here
God why are they making everything so difficult? I nodded in agreement and began to move my way over to them, grabbing Marcus’s wrist. It felt warm, which was nice. I shook my head to get myself focused again and began to think of a plan C. This could still work. I put my free hand into my bag and pulled out a pocketknife I keep in there for emergencies. I had to time this perfectly. We passed by a particularly angry person who Darryl had just shoved and I struck. The blade went in nicely and came back out smooth. I wiped the handle on my clothes and let it fall to the floor.
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