Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Building a Team (2), Rain Man

“Are you sure this is the place?”

“Yeah, it’s gotta be.”

Standing in front of a homeless encampment, John and Jamar look around. It’s a combination of a hardware store and junkyard with various small setups alongside and around it. As they walk into it Jamar looks over at John.

“Did he say where to meet him?”

“No, no he didn’t. You think this is a prank?”

“Since we’re already here. Why don’t you give him a call?” Jamar says as he looks over in the distance to see people lugging scrap and junk out of the yard, a few people can be seen ripping apart sheets of metals as others are tearing apart at cables for their wire.

“Seems a little busy for someone like him, don’t you think?” John replies.

“Not everyone with Autism can’t handle loud noises. Hurry up and call him.” Jamar reminds him.

“Yeah. Yeah.” John takes out his phone.

He sighs as he scrolls through his contacts stopping at a Ben Smith.

“Smith, huh. Think it’s a coincidence?” John asks.

“I don’t care.” Jamar responds.

John glances over at Jamar as he puts his phone to his ear as it rings. A Foreman slowly walks over towards them as John and Jamar look over.

“Is there anything I can help you boys with?” The Foreman asks.

“Looking for someone, a Ben Smith”

“Ah, you here for Benny? He said something about an interview, couldn’t believe it when he said it.” The Foreman seems genuinely surprised.

“What kind of company you folks run anyways?”

John looks over at Jamar who begins to take something out of his pocket.

“We’re Security Contractors” Jamar says as he hands him a business card, on it, Condor Security Group. The Foreman looks at it even more shocked.

“Huh, didn’t know Benny was the real deal, when he came to me after he was kicked out of the institution I thought he was just another oddball.”

“Yeah-”

“We’re not too sure either.” John says.

The Foreman looks over at John as he turns back to Jamar who’s smiling at him.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Good, Ben’s good people. Even though he might not be the best at talking with others, he does his part around here, come with me I’ll bring you to his corner.”

John looks over at Jamar.

“So, what’s Ben do here anyways?”

“Oh, this and that, he’s our IT guy. Helping us whenever something breaks or doesn’t work right.” The Foreman says as he waves.

“Hmm. Doesn’t seem like Infosec.” John mumbles to himself.

“What was that?” The Foreman asks without turning his back as Jamar kicks him.

“I said that’s great.” John replies.

The Foreman stops at a smaller shack with a few electronic components littered on the ground with a sign that reads, Ben’s Corner.

“Well, this is it.” The Foreman says as he turns around.

“If there’s anything else you need, just let me know.” He replies.

John seems confused.

“Wait, why are you okay with us taking him?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? A good leader doesn’t push others down, if this is what Ben wants to do, I’m all for it all the way, 100%. Plus he’ll still be around, he’s family.” The Foreman replies.

John and Jamar look at each other as John sighs.

He knocks on the door as they wait in silence.

No response.

After waiting a little longer, Jamar knocks this time a little louder and harder.

“Coming. Coming.” A voice says.

The door creaks open as we’re greeted by Ben Smith. He’s wearing a suit, all dressed up as John and Jamar give him a look. As Ben looks up at them.

“Are you guys here for my interview?” Ben asks.

“Yeah.” John says hesitantly.

“Mind letting us in?” Jamar asks.

“Oh, sure. Sure.” Ben replies as he holds open the door for them.

“It’s a bit of a mess, but take a seat by the table.” Ben says as John and Jamar walk inside.

 

---

 

Walking inside, John and Jamar look around. It’s a hoarder’s house. Liter, garbage, leftover food decaying and molding. John winces as Jamar covers his nose. The door behind them closes as several electrical components can also be seen scattered around.

John accidentally steps on something.

“Ah fuck.” John says.

“Right, watch where you step, we got a shipment last week full of old model phones.”

John picks up a half opened smartphone as he looks over at Ben.

Jamar makes his way over to the table as something is standing on it, he looks over at John who’s still recovering from the phone, turning to Ben.

“Hey, what’s this?”

“Oh, just a small side project I’ve been working on.”

“Oh.” Jamar says.

Moving a few things off the chairs, Jamar sits in one as John walks over and sits in the other.

They wait as Ben moves a few more things aside.

“I don’t know about this.” John says.

“I think he might be the real deal.” Jamar replies.

“What?”

“I saw some of this stuff with some of the netrunners when I used to roll with the big league.” Jamar responds.

“Oh, so now you remember.”

Ben finishes up moving things as he sits in front of them across the table.

He smiles at them.

“So are you guys like Interpol or Central Intelligence?”

“Uhh, what?”

“You know, like in the movies. I’ve always dreamed of being part of an international crime fighting organization. Did you guys find my resume in one of your databases? Or was it-” Ben continues.

Jamar raises his hands up.

“Woah, Woah, Woah. Hold up.” Jamar says.

“We’re not Interpol or Central Intelligence, we’re just looking for someone with a certain set of skills to help us out.” John says.

“Oh.” Ben says a little disappointed.

“And we think that someone could possibly be you.” Jamar adds.

“Are you guys gangsters? Foreman told me to stay away from-”

“No, we’re not gangsters. More like… Mercenaries.” John interrupts him as he waves to try to get him to calm down.

“Ever heard of Street Samurai?” Jamar says leaning on the table.

“Alright, I’m in.”

“What?” John replies.

“Say no more, I’m in.” Ben replies.

“Do you even understand what you’re saying right now?” Jamar responds.

“We don’t even know if we want you.” John continues.

“Well, I always settled on the idea that if I couldn’t join on of those, I’d like to see myself as a street legend, you know like-”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, kid.” John sighs.

“Alright, want to know my skills? I know Perl, C, C++, Assembly, COBOL, Rust. I’m proficient in various scripting languages as well and know how to use several hacking frameworks. Look I’m even creating my own-”

John looks over at Jamar who glances at him.

He sighs.

“Any clue what he’s saying?”

“Not a clue.” They whisper to each other.

John stops him.

“Listen, I get it. You know a lot, you’re book smart. Or something, but do you have any real experience doing any of this?” John asks.

“What do you mean?” Ben asks.

“Have you done any of this before, in the real world?” John continues.

“I placed third in a security conference.”

“Yeah, I read that. But have you-”

“He means, have you ever broken the law? Done it yourself? Break into a server or something you weren’t supposed to have access to?”

 “Not- yet. But I could learn. I’m a fast learner, I swear.”

John sighs as he looks over at Jamar as if asking him, is this the guy we want? Jamar looks over at Ben with a determined face as John shakes his head.

“I’m not too sure about this. I think we’ll need some time to talk about this before we decide if we want you on our crew. You good with that?” John says.

John begins to get up as Jamar looks over at him.

Seeing this Ben also stands up.

“Oh, sure. I get it. Take your time.”

“Yeah, Jamar, come on.” John says as he waves towards him.

“I think he’s got what it takes.” Jamar says.

“Let’s talk about it more later, it’s getting late.” John says as he looks out the window. Jamar sighs as he looks around while Ben starts heading towards the doorway with John.

“You know where to find me.”

“Yeah, I’ll give you a call if you’re in.” John says.

“Really?”

“Heh, don’t push your luck.” John looks over at Jamar who’s standing up and staring at John and Ben as if expecting something from him as John just grabs his neck.

“Come on, John. We got another meeting we have to go to.”

Jamar closes his eyes as he follows towards the exit.

 

---

 

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“Take care!” Ben shouts as they leave.

“Yeah, you too.” John replies. Jamar doesn’t say a word as he follows him.

Walking a distance away from the shack, John stretches as he yawns. Behind them, the Foreman can be seen looking over at them, listening in.

“I don’t know about this one. He’s too green. If something goes wrong, who knows what will happen.” John says.

“You think so?” Jamar says calmly.

“Yeah, it’s too high risk.”

From the corner, the Foreman looks at them in concern. Jamar glances over, seeing the Foreman watching them as they leave, he raises his eyebrows. On their way out, they see a few scrappers carrying loads of metal on them towards an area.

Walking together in silence for a bit, Jamar stops.

John looks over.

“What up?” John asks.

“Ugh, I just forgot I needed to get something for Mia, you head back to your place, I need to step by somewhere real quick.” Jamar says.

“Alright.” John responds by raising his eyebrows as he watches Jamar walk off.

 

---

 

Back at the junkyard, the Foreman walks over to Ben’s Shack. He looks at it as he sighs. Knocking on the door a few times, the Foreman waits. The doors open up as Ben looks over at the Foreman.

“Hey, is there something you need?” Ben asks.

The Foreman looks at him.

“So, how’d you think your interview went?” The Foreman asks.

“Went just fine. Even went over the stuff you told me to talk about.” Ben responds proudly. The Foreman smiles when he hears this.

“Be calm and assertive.”

“That’s great.”

“I think I’ll hear back from this one, Aaron.”

The Foreman’s expression changes to a plain look.

“About that.”

“Isn’t this great? I can finally help out in the community, maybe we’ll have enough to fix some of the stuff that’s been failing like our water purifiers.”

The Forman looks down at the ground.

“I don’t think it’s going to work out, Ben.” The Foreman says.

“What do you mean? Don’t say that.”

He sighs.

“I heard them talking as they were leaving. I think it’s best if you just do what you do best and help out around the place the best you can.” The Foreman continues.

A loud voice can be heard coughing.

“I don’t know about that.” Jamar says from behind the Foreman.

“Hey, you’re back.” Ben says.

The Foreman turns around as he anxiously looks at Jamar who smiles at them.

“Yeah, sorry. My partner was a little tired so I told him to go home and take a rest. You know, I liked you a lot back there. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone with such a passion for what they do. It reminds me of myself.” Jamar says.

The Foreman stares at Jamar confused as Ben also opens his mouth in shock.

“T-Thanks.” Ben says.

Jamar starts to laugh.

“Oh, man. It’s like you’ve never received a compliment before.” Jamar says jokingly.

The Foreman turns to Ben as he points inside.

“Oh, uhh. Why don’t you come inside?” Ben asks with an awkward smile.

“Sure.” Jamar responds.

They all head inside.

 

---

 

The place is still a complete mess, this time as the Foreman walks inside, he looks around with his eyes distraught to the environment he’s looking at as Jamar looks over at him and tries to not laugh. Ben runs inside as he heads towards a kitchen area that’s filled with dishes.

“I’m so sorry, he isn’t usually like this.” The Foreman tries to apologize for Ben.

“It’s cool, I’ve seen worse.” Jamar responds.

“Is there anything you’d like to drink? Tea, Coffee?” Ben asks, grabbing cups.

Jamar holds his hands to stop him.

“Nah, I’m good.”

Making his way back towards the seats, Jamar sits at one of them as he looks over at the Foreman who seems to be very surprised by the condition of the shack.

“What? I get messy when I work.” Ben replies.

The Foreman tries to not have a breakdown as he looks around. Seeing Jamar unfazed, the Foreman lets out a sigh.

“What’s that?” Jamar asks, pointing towards the table.

“Oh, that? That’s my cyberdeck I’ve been working on. Still a prototype but, maybe one day, right?” Ben says with a laugh.

Jamar smiles as he nods.

“Do you mind if I have a one on one talk with Ben?” Jamar asks the Foreman.

“Oh, uh… Sure, go ahead.” The Foreman says as he looks over at Ben.

Quickly heading towards the door, the Foreman walks out.

Looking through the window, Jamar watches as the Foreman awkwardly and anxiously walks off as a smile forms on his face.

“Reminds me of my own dad.” Jamar says.

Finishing a brew of coffee, Ben looks over at Jamar.

“Oh, he’s not my dad.”

“He’s not?” Jamar asks surprised.

“Well, I mean we have the same last name but we’re not related, he just took me in after I turned 18 and they kicked me out of the institution.” Ben explains.

“So you’re an orphan?”

“Yeah.” Ben says as he looks away.

“I’m sorry for asking, it must be painful.” Jamar responds.

“Personally, I’ve always had a family that supported me, two loving sisters. Not to brag or anything, I always struggled to understand what it meant to grow up in an environment like that. John, he was an orphan too. Told me his parents never loved him, after the divorce, they threw him away like trash.” Jamar says looking down.

Ben sits down beside Jamar as he looks at him.

“What does this have to do with me?” Ben asks, taking a sip from his mug.

“What I think makes a team is the personal connection we have to each other. To understand who you are and how everyone got to what they are.” Jamar says.

Ben nods.

“Right now, I’m thinking about you. Your story. Who you are. To know the real Ben Smith.”

“What do you want to know?”

Jamar shakes his head.

“We don’t know each other like that right now.” He replies.

He leans into his chair as he looks at Ben.

“So let me ask you this, if you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?”

“A million dollars?” Ben thinks to himself.

“It can be anything, you spend it all in a night if you want to or retire early. What is it that you see yourself doing?” Jamar asks. 

Ben smiles.

“I’d give it back to the community. My family that took me in after I was abandoned. Help out however I can.” Ben replies.

“So you want to belong somewhere.” Jamar responds.

“Yeah.” Ben replies.

Jamar thinks to himself as he looks at the ground, then he stands up and looks at Ben.

“Want to do a quick field test?” Jamar asks.

 

---

 

“It doesn’t matter if you fail, just explain to me what it is you’re doing.” Jamar says.

Standing around a doorway, Jamar looks around the street as beside him crouched down, Ben is connected to a panel for a security doorway to an upper-scale luxury building.

“Are you sure this is okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just a test, we’ll be out of here as soon as you’re done. The security system isn’t the same as the one’s you’ll be working on but it’s up there so if you can’t do this we’ll be dead in the water when the real job comes along.”

“Alright.” Ben says as he begins work on it, connecting his cyberdeck to the panel.

A few minutes pass by.

“So what are you doing right now?”

“Scanning for any vulnerabilities in the OS and firmware they’re running to see if there’s an easy way inside. It’s a newer model but if that fails, there’s a lot of other things we can try.” Ben replies.

“Huh.” Jamar responds.

After a few moments, Ben’s expression changes as he stands up.

“Annnd done.” Ben says.

“Not bad.” Jamar responds as the door begins to open. The other side is empty as Jamar gives a quick peek around as he looks around spotting a camera.

“Are you connected to the network?” Jamar asks.

“Yeah.” Ben responds.

“Turn off and delete the footage of that camera. So no one knows we were here.”

“Got it.” Ben responds after a few clicks on his cyberdeck, he looks at Jamar.

“So… What do you think?” Ben asks.

“Good job, kid.” Jamar pats Ben on his shoulder.

“Let’s get out of here before anyone spots us.” Jamar continues.

“Alright.” Ben gets up as he begins to pack up.

“You got the job. Be sure to tell your dad that” Jamar says.

“He’s not my dad.”

“Sure.” Jamar responds as they head out.

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