51: Nobody

Aaron broke the news to Mike who didn’t take it so well. Mike wouldn’t trust anyone with the information and Aaron, who had everything to lose if it all went south, was willing to give it away to some guy he hadn’t even seen before. Sophie trusted Aaron’s decision but her vote didn’t matter enough to convince Mike on that subject.

“You can’t be serious! How can you trust that guy? It’s one thing to know your stuff but loyalty is a whole new ball game”, Mike pleaded. Aaron was also having second thoughts but he didn’t have too many options. Any better option needed more time that they didn’t have.

“I think we should at least give it a shot”, Aaron tried to reason with Mike. Sophie’s dad didn’t seem impressed. “Let’s go talk to him. If he seems inadequate, we move to other options”, Aaron suggested a choice and Mike reluctantly approved. The two men decided to pay the guy a visit immediately. Sophie didn’t let them leave her behind.

They walked to the house. The house looked haunted from the outside. The tree in the front looked older than the USA and there was a forty year old car in the driveway. There were no lights on the outside of the house which amplified the gloomy feeling. The car looked like a Chevy from the barely visible brawny body but Aaron had never seen the car move during his stay in the neighborhood. They walked closer to the door and looked for a doorbell. It took them a while to find it in the darkness. They pressed it and “Party up” by DMX started blasting inside the house at a deafening volume. The three looked at each other confused. The song kept on playing for about half a minute before abruptly stopping. A voice emerged from inside the house. They listened to it closely. The tenant was continuing the song as he walked to the door.

“Who’s it?”, the voice from the inside inquired in a shout. He sounded irritated. Aaron tried to make up some sentence to cool the guy down. Mike had the bright idea to bring up the relative of the man.

“Big T sent us”, Mike shouted from outside the house. He thought that it would make the man receive them with open arms. It didn’t go well.

“You can tell his fat ass that he ain’t getting the money back. I worked all day on his rusty-ass doorbell. How’s it my fault if it got busted again?”, the man yelled from the inside. Aaron almost smacked his forehead. They could hear the tenant walk away from the door.

“We’ve got work for you”, Sophie desperately announced. The footsteps ceased for a moment before continuing but in the opposite direction. The footsteps stopped again right at the door. They waited for him to say something but the door started making all sorts of noises. It sounded like a jackhammer was at work on it on the other side. They thought that the door would unhinge and fall off at any moment. After a while of clattering, the door opened.

The interior of the house was brightly lit and a skinny dark skinned man with a small afro invited them inside. The man looked to be in his early twenties and wore a T-shirt that was at least two sizes larger than him. The father, daughter and the Alpha walked into the house and were amazed by the contrast it offered from the exterior. It did not look the same house at all. There were working lights and appliances everywhere. There was no corner of the house that didn’t look cared for. There were makeshift yet pleasing to the eye inventions scattered around the house. Even the coffee maker looked from a steampunk fantasy but looked good enough to be auctioned. Every wall of the house had something fascinating nailed or placed on it. The man was a tech genius. Aaron caught a table nearby with the soldering iron and a ton of lights and lenses. He peaked closer and found out that the man was already working on a cell phone. It was a reassuring sight. Mike’s doubt about the man had faded.

“Carter at your service. How can I help you?”, the man spoke. He didn’t mind them taking a tour of his house. It was his pride after all. “Everything, apart from the light bulbs, is made from scratch or repaired from nothing”, he added, motioning to everything around him. The guests were getting more and more impressed by the minute.

“Can you unlock smartphones?”, Mike asked bluntly. Carter’s expressions shifted. Mike and Aaron were underestimating the legal implication of the job they were offering him.

“Look man, I do all kinds of shit but I steer clear of the police”, Carter reluctantly responded. Mike was running out of patience. The house was filled with stuff that the man didn’t look able to afford. Mike easily assumed that Carter broke the law whenever his ends demanded but he was playing saint in front of them to milk more money out of them.

“Alright fine! I’ll pay you double your usual rate!”, Mike disrespectfully offered. It rubbed Carter wrong.

“You expensive suit dimwits! You see one, you’ve seen’em all!”, Carter erupted. Mike wasn’t expecting him to react this way. He had hoped that the man would accept the offer with a guilty grin. “You see a black guy with fancy shit and you assume that he’s stolen it!”, he angrily added. Mike was regretting his misjudgment. Aaron was in no condition to intervene. “I’m an electrical engineer but when my folks see me, they see an electrician with a screwdriver and when rich guys like you see me, they see a nobody”, Carter continued and his tone shifted from angry to melancholic.

“Please sir! It’s a matter of life and death!”, Sophie butted in. Carter took one look at her and Aaron, and he calmed down. “It’s not stolen but we need to open it”, she added. Carter softened.

“How’s it a matter of life and death?”, Carter inquired. He was open to explanations.