It was Raina herself however who proved to be much more sympathetic however, as she knelt down before the huddled mass of Brian Nelson and chastised Mason, “Hey! Come on! We don’t even know exactly what happened?”
Mason growled, “I know enough! This guy was the bait that almost got us captured—and or killed!”
After Mason made this heavy proclamation, Nelson practically curled up in the fetal position, could be heard whimpering, “What choice do you think I had?”
Mason wasn’t going to have it however as he snapped, “You had a choice to not help a bunch of narcos spring a trap on us!” Mason took a breath and continued, “If you would have simply asked us for help—”
The man then sat up and wiping his tears away, answered frankly, “I’d be dead.” Coughing and taking a deep breath he then offered, “Look, I can’t outrun bullets. They had their guns aimed right at me the whole time and I would have been made target practice for Amigos dos Amigos.”
The man then lifted up his pant leg to reveal a bloody, open wound, festering with maggots, as he informed them, “Believe me I know.”
Sickened at what she was seeing Raina gasped, “Oh my God—when did this happen?”
Nelson quietly answered, “The last time I refused their instructions.”
Mason still not wanting to show any compassion for the man, glowered, as he grumbled, “Hmm—likely story.” He then grabbed some handcuffs and roughly jerked the Nelson’s hands behind his back as he slapped the cuffs on him.
Nelson, his tears already dry, with surprising ferocity complained, “Damn—what the hell is this? Am I under arrest?”
Mason laughed, “No—I’m not a cop. That’s just a little extra restraint because I don’t trust you in the least.”
This harsh treatment and a pained look on the young man’s haggard face prompted Raina to protest, “Mason! He’s a victim here!”
Mason sternly rebuffed her however with, “Raina there must be something seriously wrong with your memory because just a few moments ago this creep nearly got you killed—remember that.”
Raina knew that Mason was just trying to look out for her, but she was infuriated all the same. He didn’t have to explain to her the danger that she was in. She knew the stakes; she just saw it differently that’s all. She knew that sometimes people like Brian Nelson were simply given a bad set of circumstances and led to make bad decisions. She knew that what Nelson did wasn’t right, but she was willing to have a little bit more mercy for his mistakes than Mason was.
Feeling the need to set the record straight, Raina rebuked Mason’s previous analysis, “My memory is just fine Mason. I’m just trying to see the big picture here. I know what Nelson did—and the danger he put us all in. But I also know he was under severe duress.” Raina paused before adding, “And I know that people can crack under the pressure.”
Mason wasn’t about to give ground in this argument but more immediate matters would intervene as Benton came jogging up to announce, “Hey we better get a move on, I think I just heard some footsteps in the distance! More might be on the way!”
Mason growled, “Shit!” And with the full ruthlessness of a hardened soldier taking over, he roughly yanked Nelson to his feet and pointing a gun to his back shouted, “Move! We’re heading back into the bush!”
Once back in the cover of the wilderness, Mason paused for a moment to allow everyone to get their bearings. Nelson for his part decided to take a load off his painful foot by sitting right down on the forest floor, as Mason and Raina stood looking on. Mathew Benton then walked up to Mason and handed him a high-tech looking piece of eyewear.
Taking it, Mason asked, “What the hell is this?”
Benton grinned, “You wanted glasses right chief? Well there you go!”
Mason holding the flat piece of folded eyewear in his hands thought they looked like something from the movie Bladerunner. Mason unfolded the glasses to look at the lens as he asked, “What the hell are they?”
Benton as cryptic as ever responded, “Just something to see with! Those optics pack a punch. You can see as much as a mile away.”
Putting them on Mason muttered, “What like binoculars?”
But as soon as the glasses closed around his eyes and he was seeing through them, he realized the magnification was way off. He saw trees as if they were right in his face, and as he turned his head the overmagnified trees swirled around him in an out of focus, and nauseating fashion.
He then found Benton, who even though he was several feet away looked as if he were right in his face as well. Mason cursed, “Damn…”
Benton asked, “Well—how you like them? Chris Bradley just made these bad boys at the base before we left.”
Staring at the zoomed-in visage of Benton, Mason sarcastically quipped, “Well Matt, one thing is clear, I can certainly see your nose hairs like never before, this is truly a marvel of modern technology.”
Benton laughed, “What?” Before he realized, “Oh shit—yeah you’re going to have to adjust the settings Mace. Just use your eyeballs!”
Mason asked, “Just my eyeballs?”
Mason chuckled, “Well that’s funny. I can recall a certain Sergeant back in the SEALS who in a real pinch would tell us to use a totally different set of balls.”
Raina always acting like the resident mom correcting the boys, chided him, “Mason!” But as the absurd look on his face and the goofy way he said his words repeated in her mind, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter seconds later as she exclaimed, “Mason you are something else.
Prompting Mason to grin ear to
