- Our gang of four—Marcus, Van, Darryl, and Jolu—head into the BART station. People are getting trampled, and the press of bodies is intense.
- Van yells at someone grabbing her and threatens to mace him.
- Marcus is really, really scared. They decide to head back out, fighting against the crowd.
- Outside and freedom. Whew.
- Oh no: Darryl is bleeding. He's been stabbed in the side.
- Marcus tries to stop one of the many emergency vehicles driving by to get some help. Turns out he flags down a Hummer full of guys with guns. Not so helpful.
- The military-looking guys on this unmarked Hummer point their rifles at Marcus.
- This is not cool.
- Everyone's screaming. Someone puts a hood over Marcus's head, he's pushed on his stomach and something goes around his wrists, tightening them together.
- He's hauled up, then pushed into the Hummer.
- Marcus tries to explain they're just high school students looking for some help. He gets hit in the head twice for talking and hears Jolu also get hit.
- Marcus stays quiet now. He speculates on who these people are, and what they're doing. Are they terrorists?
- The car goes up and down a big hill. Marcus things it's probably Powell Street and that they're heading to Fisherman's Wharf. (Spoiler alert: they're not going to eat seafood and watch the sea lions.)
- The engine stops. Marcus is dragged out and goes up three steps. He also falls, but hands drag him and push him to his knees, locking his hands to something behind him.
- Guess it's naptime.
- Someone pulling the hood off his head wakes Marcus up. He's inside a big 16-wheeler truck that's set up like some kind of mobile command post, with flat panel displays and fancy office chairs. There's also a jail part with steel rails that have prisoners attached to them.
- Marcus sees Van and Jolu. He also really, really needs to use the bathroom.
- Looking for his captors, Marcus thinks they might be terrorists, though he's not sure what a terrorist actually looks like.
- He says these people "looked American in a way I couldn't exactly define" (3.64).
- We learn that if you stare at someone long enough, eventually they'll look back at you. Marcus uses this technique to try and get to go to the bathroom.
- Three people talk together. They tell Marcus he'll have to wait, and he says he can't wait ten more minutes.
- A man wearing a utility belt man comes over and shows off his pistol, taser, and other things he carries that could cause major pain.
- Marcus promises to not make trouble, and a wireless remote opens his shackles. But his hands are still lashed together.
- Standing up is hard. How long has he been kneeling? We don't really know.
- Marcus asks to have the plastic handcuffs taken off his wrists so he can use the toilet. Otherwise utility belt man is "going to have to aim for me" (3.82).
- Cuffs cut off, Marcus takes care of business solo. He cries and tries not to sob as he pees.
- Time for new plastic cuffs, and being shackled back in the same place. Marcus tries to talk to Jolu, but utility belt man shoves Marcus's head into the truck's metal wall and says, "no talking."
- Marcus does not like these people. He decides they will pay for all this somehow.
- The door opens and a man comes in wearing a military uniform. Turns out Marcus and friends aren't captives of terrorists, but of the United States of America.
- A screen is set up and people taken behind it to be interviewed. Marcus counts the seconds and thinks the interviews are about seven minutes long.
- Then it's Marcus's turn behind the screen. There are two interrogators (ahem, questioners): utility belt man and severe haircut lady. She takes Marcus back. They sit in ergonomic chairs, Marcus in a folding chair.
- Marcus asks if he's under arrest. Severe haircut lady doesn't answer but instead asks why his password-protected phone has an animation of a hand flipping the bird.
- Marcus tells us it's because he likes to customize his gear, but simply asks again if he's under arrest.
- Turns out Marcus is being detained by the Department of Homeland Security. He's not under arrest by the police, but being held as a "potential enemy combatant" (3.114). Turns out Al Qaeda loves to recruit teenagers.
- They want Marcus to unlock his phone and explain why he was out on the street.
- Marcus says he has a right to privacy. Severe haircut lady says, "Honest people don't have anything to hide" (3.118).
- Marcus keeps asking for a lawyer. He then tells us that, in retrospect, he probably should have unlocked his phone for them.