by Kae Bell
Flint was glad to see him open his eyes and move his head. He’d been in a coma for two weeks after the attack. Then two additional weeks from doctor’s orders. He had lost his spleen and damaged his liver, the impact only partly blunted by the PPE he had worn, borrowed from Ben before his flight that morning in anticipation.
He had lost a lot of blood. After the bomb went off, he’d nearly bled out from a cut to his femoral artery, as people, terrified, ran away from, not toward, him.
The required surgeries had been intense. And there would be many more. Especially to his face, which was nearly wiped clean of skin from the blast.
“Walk me through it again,” he croaked.
She smiled and took his hand and told her favorite agent a story. She had told Andrew the same story twice a day for the past week, after he had regained consciousness and was able to hear her. She told him what they’d learned in the weeks following the attack.
Hakk had tried to start an isolationist revolutionary movement for years, drumming up hatred against foreigners, as part of his mission to be true to Pol Pot. But he needed money to go big, to recruit enough to make an impact.
So he had joined the gold rush, along with so many others, seeing the metal as a way to make easy money to fuel his cause. He applied for land concessions to mine for gold.
The first time he had applied, he was denied and the concession went to a foreign company. So he applied again, this time for a different plot of land, in Mondulkiri. Same again. Ten times he applied. Ten times he was denied. Every time the concession went to a foreign company.
Then two things happened, in rapid succession. Hakk had owned two artisanal gem mines in Mondulkiri, very small mines yielding only a few gems, but enough to satisfy. These were co-opted, the land given to a foreign company for timber harvesting. And then Hakk discovered the Veterans nearby in the jungle. He didn’t know what they were doing there. All he knew was that it infuriated him further, as he watched his land taken away from him and the country spread its doors wide open to foreign money and influence.
Hakk blamed all this on the Ch’kai, the foreign dogs. So he unleashed his anger in his horrible plan to return to the time of Year Zero.
Flint watched Andrew, his chest rising and falling as he lay on the bed, the pale skin of his wrists nearly as white as the hospital sheets. She would tell him later, about what else they had found, shortly after the Wat explosions, the mechanisms that Hakk had set in motion, the army of men waiting to seize control in the chaotic aftermath of Pchum Ben Day. It had been stopped in time. That was all Andrew needed to know for now. She'd tell him the rest when he was stronger.
“And Ben Goodnight?” Andrew asked.
“Caught in the crossfire.” Flint raised her eyebrows at Andrew. “I think there were a couple details you left out of your reporting.” She’d learned about the Veterans from Severine, who had inquired after Andrew’s whereabouts with the US Embassy following the Wat explosions.
From within Andrew’s bandaged body, came a deep sigh.
“So what’s next for me?” Andrew asked.
“Well, I’ve got news. You’ve been cleared. That face of yours is so messed up, no one's ever gonna recognize you in the field. And what you did at that temple, well, it speaks for itself.”
“I’ve been cleared?” The surprise was evident in Andrew’s voice. “You're saying you guys want me back?”
“Yeah.” Flint smiled and shrugged. “We want you back. Waddaya think?”
Andrew turned his head to stare out the window at the wide-open sky.
“It’s good news. Great.” His words were halted and thoughtful. He turned back to Flint. “But first, with your OK, I think I’ll take a vacation.”
*******
In Cambodia, the Ch’kai, the Barangs, the foreigners stayed. And many more came, arriving in droves, from cities spanning the globe. They came to help rebuild a nation’s sacred places. They were not afraid. In fact, they were braver than they had ever been, spurred to action by the pain and loss of others. The Cambodian people welcomed them, hopes soaring for tomorrow.
Hate saw it had no home here and so it moved on. There would be other places and other times. It had learned that much.
