The Refugee Sentinel

by Hayes, Harrison

one day till defiance day (66

  Defiance Day Eve descended upon Seattle with clemency, reducing the wait to one final morning. Colton had turned himself in but this time it was different. He wasn’t seeking shelter or bailing out. Defiance Day was tomorrow and he was reporting for his lawful obligation.

  He had run from the warehouse and Li-Mei, without looking back, until reaching the first police precinct on the way. He had completed the digital check-in form, filling out “Sacrifice” in the “Vote Designation” box and thinking he had to be the only Sacrifice vote in Seattle coming from a deserter. He sat on the bunk of his detention cell and asked for a visit from his Vote Recipient: a legal right of a Sacrifice voter on Defiance Day Eve.

  Yana arrived before ten-pm, accompanied by four ULE embassy guards who waited outside the cell. When the door closed, she gave him a hug and sat next to him on the bunk.

  “Mom told me about it,” she said and pressed Colton’s fingers against her cheek. He held his breath, as if afraid not to break any part of what was taking place. She looked at his motley eyes and smiled. “Your eyes are the same color as mine,” she said, “or is it the other way around?”

  “I see your old man amuses you.”

  “You’re not that old.”

  “Thank you for the second chance, patte,” he said, lost in the geography of her face and reverse-engineering her features, from the toddler he remembered, to the girl sitting next to him.

  She nodded in the blue-ink silence. “You afraid?” she said.

  “A little… How about you, Ms. Would-Be-Teenager? You all right? When I get up there, with the other guys who sacrificed,” his eyes shot upward, “don’t embarrass me by getting pregnant until you’re at least sixteen, OK?”

  Yana punched his shoulder. “You’re gross. No wonder Mom dumped you.” She rested a hand on top of his and it made him feel like she was protecting him somehow. “When you head out tomorrow and when you sit in their… chair, their pump or whatever it is, will break and they’ll have to postpone until a different time. I know it… and by then… people may have grown tired of killing.”

  “You’ll be fine without me, patte,” he said. “The world will get better by trading someone like me for someone like you.”

  “I don’t want you gone… and I don’t want today to end.”

  Colton cupped Yana’s cheeks and straightened her eyebrow. Then, in the darkness of the cell, he wiped her tears. “You should know,” he said, “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. In the whole world. All the days I have left in my life I would have traded for your forgiveness.”

  Yana’s head shook. “My forgiveness is yours… there’s no need to trade for it.”

  “You’re like this beautiful sketch that will turn into a painting, one day. I won’t be around when that masterpiece is done, but looking at you now, I see a scientist or an inventor – just like your Mom. And if they vote in the future for who’s the best in whatever field you decided to pursue, you could count on my vote. It would never be that close. But my vote will always be yours.” He squeezed her hand to feel her touch for as long as possible after letting go.

  “Fight for your hope,” he said, “like you’re fighting now, because if something bad happens… too bad to fix, hope does live on. You think it dies, but it doesn’t. It turns dark, with nothing to lose, if you would only fight for it.” His face glowed with the light of what he believed worthy to live for, like love and courage and hope. He patted his chest. “Look at me. All these years, my one hope was to see you. Not in a hundred lifetimes did I dream you would give me a second chance. But you did. And now… I’m a king.”

  The sun was setting in the West. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “No matter how low you feel,” he caressed her hair, “and today is damn low. No matter how alone or how unbeatable the desperation, remember that hope wins out in the end. And that I will always watch over you.”

  “Me too, Dad... In my dreams, I’ll come to you and tell you about my day. I’ll tell you about my friends and any boys I dated and I’ll take care of Mom for you.”

  “Has she told you that your eyes change color?” he said. “Sometimes they're blue, sometimes they're green. Depending on how the light hits them. I'll try to be good enough to see you again, patte.”

  “You will, because I’ll come find you in my next life. Even if I am a ladybug and you are a bear, I’ll land on your back to spend time, even if we don’t know each other or don’t talk at all. And I promise I won’t embarrass you in heaven, with the other Sacrificers and I won’t get pregnant before sixteen.” She closed her eyes and when they opened, Colton saw her promise to remain good, because that’s how he would have raised her to be. “Whenever I meet someone else’s father, I’ll think of you and I’ll be mad at God for it. And, one day, when I walk down the aisle at my wedding, you’ll walk with me too. I will arch my arm in the air, as if it holds yours, because I will be holding you. On that day more than any other.”

  As she spoke, Colton nodded, his head keeping rhythm with an inaudible slow beat. He spread the fingers of his good hand at her, in a goodbye wave then pulled them together in a fist.

  Then the ULE embassy guards took her away from his cell and he was left alone.

  three days after defiance day (67

  A developing mist helped the late December day swallow Seattle’s tortured downtown. The city was disappearing for good, like a twenty-first century version of Machu Picchu. Fifteen million citizens had been terminated and any High-Potentials were relocating to Vancouver, BC – the designated US Territory hub in the northwest.

  Mitko felt Yana’s gaze on his face, hugged her and, for the first time in years, wished he could see. He imagined she had the eyes of a blue morning.

  “Can we go to Kerry Park, please?” she said.

  “You should ask your Mom, first.”

  “She said I could, if you took me.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  “I wish Dad could come, too.”

  “He would have loved it,” he said.

  “Does it hurt to die by suffocation?”

  “Not for him. They sedated him first. Then he died in his sleep.”

  “I wish we had spent more time together.”

  “As long as you remember him, he’ll always be with you.”

  “What was he like?”

  Side by side they strolled past the gates of the ULE embassy. Mitko walked in silence, thinking of an answer and Yana took his hand. They reached Kerry Park after a few minutes, more a city viewpoint than an actual park with trees. Mitko sat on a bench, placed Yana on his knee and patted her shoulder with a hand. She pressed close to him.

  “He was a fearless man who made everyone around him braver.” Mitko hadn’t known Colton well but wanted Yana to remember her father the way daughters should remember fathers. When love was concerned a white lie was as good as the truth. “Like Crazy Horse, on a Brave Run in front of General Custer’s men. Your Dad was the same. He protected you and your Mom. Most of all, he protected you. He was your guardian, a refugee sentinel, he called it, who looked over you, no matter the odds.”

  “He never told me that.”

  “He gave his life for you in a flash.” Mitko snapped his fingers. “Most Sacrificers have second thoughts, you know. But when it came to you, he decided in less than a second. That’s how much he loved you.”

  Yana’s voice shook. “He told me I had made him the happiest man in the world.”

  “You were his heart and when he talked about you…” Mitko whistled, “his face streamed love. Even a blind man could see that. He made you the heroine of all his stories and now I see he didn’t exaggerate… other than the unicorns, that is.” His laughter sounded like a tender Chopin sonata.

  “The unicorns?” Her question teetered between curiosity and sadness.

  They left the bench and headed down a gravel path that turned into a paved alley. “I’m not sure I should tell you,” he said.

  She stompe
d a foot on the asphalt. “You have to.”

  “Oh, well. He told me your spit was as powerful as unicorn tears.”

  “That’s gross… and incorrect. My spit doesn’t heal cuts.”

  “How do you know? I can nick my thumb to give it a try.”

  Yana stopped and looked up at Mitko. “I like spending time with you,” she said and hugged him.

  He hugged her back, stooping his shoulders and locking his hands around her to make the embrace warmer. He didn’t know how else to give her comfort.

  five days after defiance day (68

  It felt to Sarah like it had started to snow inside the Starbucks on the Fourth Avenue bridge, as the supple woman approached her.

  “The world’s algae whisperer,” the woman said without looking at anyone else in the café, “or should I call you the Mona Lisa of renewable energy?”

  “Do I know you?” Sarah’s hand dipped inside her purse, fingers resting on a pepper spray.

  “Put your hands where I can see them, Dr. Perkins, or I won’t be held responsible for the consequences.” The woman was slender, with a figure like a human steel rod.

  Sarah’s hand abandoned the purse and rejoined the top of the table.

  “Thank you, Doctor. You might have heard of me as Agent Taxi.”

  “So you are the one... The one who Colton defeated.” Sarah's words swam in sorrow.

  Li-Mei smiled. Her gaze drank in the scientist with measured sips. “A visionary general is not she who wins one thousand battles, but she who wins the battle without the world knowing there was a battle fought.”

  “Don’t patronize me, agent. I did as your superiors asked.”

  “So did I, Sarah. And we both chose well.”

  “I didn’t, because he beat you.”

  “You have your kid and we have your algae formulas. How did he,” Li-Mei raised air-quote fingers, “beat me? And don’t tell me it’s about him winning Yana’s love, because you see, I don’t believe in moral victories.” The setting sun bathed the coffee shop’s cedar floor with a yellow glow.

  “I should have had more faith in Colton…” Sarah covered her eyes. “I should have known he would survive you. It’s just that… when that voice called, the day after Yana was earmarked, offering me to turn over my algae work in exchange for sparing her life… I would have given anything.“ She looked at Li-Mei. “Was it you who called me?”

  “That’s not important, Sarah. No one could blame a mother for doing what she must to save her daughter’s life.”

  “I blame myself,” Sarah said, “because he did outlast you and died on his own terms… not yours.”

  “Do you really think a one-handed, broken man could have defied the China Territory?”

  “He did survive you, didn’t he?”

  “You believe I kept him alive for more than thirty days because I couldn’t kill him? I expect more from your Hi-Po IQ, Dr. Perkins.”

  “Why didn’t you kill him then?”

  “You had agreed to our terms. If you had backed out of our deal, we would have destroyed your reputation and the credibility of Project Atlas. Meaning, if we couldn’t possess your algae algorithms neither would the Americans.” Li-Mei smiled. “Don’t get me wrong, it would have been glorious to assassinate Parker. But after your consent, murdering him became optional.”

  Sarah moved to the edge of her chair. “And had you killed him? How would my Yana have lived?”

  “A Chinese citizen would have sacrificed for your daughter a moment before the voting deadline. We’re honorable people, Doctor. A deal is a deal.”

  “A deal is a deal,” Sarah said. “It makes me sick. Why do a deal at all? Why did the Chinese send you here to assassinate our people?”

  “I’m not the only one who was sent. Hundreds like me canvassed the world to remove the loved ones of all non-Chinese High-Potentials.” Li-Mei looked around the café then squinted at the setting sun. “While the ULE thought it ruled the world under the façade of global unity, the China Territory pooled its resources: money, patents and real estate to bribe certain ULE senators and get the High-Potentials list.”

  “No senator has full access to the list. It’s the most confidential piece of information there is.”

  “We did what we had to, Doctor. We gave as much as required to whomever we had to, to get everything. Try saying “no” to becoming the new owner of the GDP of China in exchange for a list that wasn’t even yours.”

  “So a handful of senators now control China’s wealth and real estate?”

  “Correct, but we controlled the world’s brightest and most promising minds. And we set out to eliminate the loved ones of those High-Potentials who weren’t Chinese.” Li-Mei stretched in her chair. “The ULE is a chimera, you see. Our world is devoid of resources and bound to break apart again. And the country who controls the world’s brainpower will own all other resources in the end.”

  Sarah stared at Li-Mei without seeing her. “You couldn’t assassinate the heavily guarded High-Potentials, so you went after their loves. Or blackmailed the Hi-Pos to turn over their research instead.”

  “Now you understand. Breakthrough research is impossible if your daughter or a husband or a mother is about to be executed. Of course, we tried to avoid shedding blood where we could.”

  “Like with me and Yana...”

  “Like with you and Yana,” Li-Mei nodded, “we gave the High-Potentials with access to technology we couldn’t discover ourselves the chance to turn it over in exchange for saving their loved ones.”

  “What if the world had found out about your monstrous plan?”

  Li-Mei smiled. “The risk was high and we had to stage all deaths as accidents. Like I quoted Sun Tzu earlier – we had to keep the battle secret, otherwise winning it would have been impossible. But it was worth it – Mission Dizang has delivered technology and innovation to China that will cement our global dominance over the next several generations.”

  “And what if I go public with this news tomorrow?”

  “I will pretend I didn’t hear you ask me such a stupid question, Doctor. Please, don’t make me think any less of you than I already do.”

  Sarah’s face had aged years since the conversation started. “You’ll find the complete Project Atlas blueprints here.” She dug a data stick out of her purse and threw it at Li-Mei.

  The Chinese snatched the flying object mid-air and shook her head. “You were supposed to send the data via an encrypted transmission.”

  Sarah spoke like she had not heard her. “In a month, I’ll resign and recommend Atlas for termination. And the US Territory will end up with garbage. Tell your superiors the blueprints on this data stick work just fine.”

  “You’ll always have a home in the East, Doctor. Imagine heading a renewables program, several times larger than anything you’ve seen in the West. Imagine Yana, safe and healthy by your side… Forever.”

  Sarah started to respond, then changed her mind. She stood up and headed for the door and a future with Yana – with no High-Potentials and no Defiance Days… like Colton would have wanted her to do. She turned. “You know what? Screw moral victories – he did beat you and we both know it. The broken man, as you called him, pushed your damn Chinese empire into the sea.”

  Li-Mei smiled again, small white teeth dueling with the outside dusk, and waved a polite goodbye. In the café, the yellow sunlight had morphed into burnt orange. A cricket was dying somewhere with a song, his closing gift to the December night and to the world.

  twenty-four days after defiance day (epilogue

  Yana’s hands danced in the projectors’ glow. The three days of competition had led to a finale with the trappings of cattle slaughter. No pundit could have predicted the ULE Classical Prodigy coming down to these last two: a future virtuoso, eighteen-old Yaohua Ling and this eight-something white girl.

  Yaohua was a lock to win, even if they forced him to play with his toes. Some would say he didn’t have flair, but like an exacti
ng parent, he tended the same to all notes, playing at uniform discipline and without deviation. He had just finished with his usual untouchable perfection.

  Yana was going at it now. In the front row, Mitko leaned forward, the room spinning in his head; her first notes hitting him like a sledgehammer. The rendezvous of the piano with her fingers inside the Tennessee Symphony Hall on this brittle January morning filled his conscience with a déjà vu from his own youth. He leaned closer to the music and the fair-haired girl he had never seen, wishing to stop time or, at least, bottle the sensation and pop the cork on the wistful days when his physical and figurative darkness got too heavy to bear. In her unmistakable brand he detected his own influence; pieces of him from old concert halls in capitals long forgotten. She was better than he had been at her age, maybe better than he ever was. But he didn’t mind one bit and as she played, he saw color in the forefront of his brain. In his mind, her music blossomed in hues of lavender and silver, like a stream cascading from a snowy mountaintop.

  Thunderous applause sucked him back into the hall where he, too, stood up and clapped and where Yaohua was a dead man. Afterward, he waited for her in the lobby. She ran to him, thumping footsteps approaching from one side.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said, out of breath. “Mom held me up. And others too.”

  “Of course they did, Miss Champion of the United Lands of Earth. You played beautiful. Chopin himself would have said so if he heard you.”

  Yana grew silent and Mitko didn’t need eyes to tell she was blushing. “I so wish he were here too. Do you think he would have liked hearing me play?”

  “More than anything in the world.”

  “I’ll let you in on a secret,” she said. “Tonight I played for him – from the first note to the last.”

  Mitko cleared his throat. “I, too, will tell you a secret. Tonight he was here and heard everything, from the beginning to the last note. Maybe he sat next to you while you played. Or helped turn your music sheets, you know how they stick sometimes and mess with your rhythm. Maybe he’s in this lobby right now, sitting a couple of tables away and taking you in.”