The Insurrectionist

by Mahima Martel

  Deni glanced around the table nervously. He didn’t want to respond.

  Deni tried to keep his head low and not notice anyone; he didn’t want to see his victims. He walked back through the crowds, staring only at his feet to make sure he didn’t trip over anyone and then he heard laughter. He looked up startled. “Heather!”

  Seated on a blanket among girlfriends, Heather glanced up at Deni. Her smile was genuine; she was so happy to see him. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Come, sit down, and join us.”

  “No! No!” he said trying to calm himself down. “I need you to come with me.”

  “Now! The fireworks are about to start,” she said.

  Deni reached out his hand to her. “I need to talk to you.” When Heather put her hand in his, he helped her to her feet and pulled her quickly through the crowd.

  Once they reached the edge of the spectators, Heather asked, “What is this all about?”

  “I missed you. I wanted to apologize for being a dick,” he said.

  She kissed him on the chin. “I too wanted to apologize. I know things have been real stressful with school and what happened with Hector. I should have been more sensitive.”

  Suddenly fireworks burst across the sky in vivid red and yellow sparks. Heather smiled. “Remember last year, when we watched the fireworks from your car on Mount Penn?”

  He chuckled. “Would have been hard to watch with your back toward them.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. More fireworks were happening in your car than in the sky,” she said with a smile.

  Another splash of vivid colors of green, blue, and red painted the sky with a repeating sound like gunfire. Suddenly there was a loud boom and a flash of bright white light, followed by a large plume of white smoke. People screamed and shrieked as scraps of metal and flesh scattered in the air.

  Heather leaped into Deni’s arms and grabbed his shoulders. Witnessing the destruction, her instinct was to run toward the incident. “What the hell! What’s going on?”

  Deni held onto her with both hands. “No. You can’t go there. Stay back! Stay back!”

  Then the other bomb blasted. There was more blood and darkness everywhere. People wailed in pain and mourning. Within minutes, sirens blared, and ambulances and the police arrived on the scene. It was utter chaos.

  Heather was paralyzed and unable to move. With his arm around her, Deni guided her toward the parking lot where many people were escaping. “This can’t be happening? This can’t be happening?” she muttered and then looked at Deni for answers. “What do you think happened? Do you think it was faulty fireworks?”

  “Probably,” lied Deni.

  “I’m going to ask you again Mr. Daudov,” said the prosecutor, “How exactly did you fuck up?”

  Deni gazed downward. “I don’t remember.”

  “Does the name Heather Atkins ring a bell?” the prosecutor asked.

  Deni glanced up at the prosecutor, but said nothing.

  “Heather Atkins claims it is impossible you are responsible for the bombing because you were with her. She will testify to your whereabouts at the scene. Is she lying to protect you?”

  Deni did not reply.

  “She is your girlfriend, isn’t she?” pressed the prosecutor.

  “Answer the question,” Marsha said strongly.

  “She’s not lying,” responded Deni softly.

  “So you did not detonate the bomb?” questioned the prosecutor.

  “No,” Deni replied strongly. “I did not.” He laughed. “Why bother asking if you have the facts to prove I didn’t?”

  The prosecutor didn’t respond to Deni’s question. He just sat back and stared at Deni. “When the media released the photos and home videos, and you were identified as a suspect, was there any contact between you and Miss Atkins?”

  Deni glared at the prosecutor. “No.”

  “No?” questioned the prosecutor. “Funny thing about cell phones, phone companies keep logs of all calls. Upon confiscating Miss Atkins’ cell phone, we found text messages between the two of you. Would you like to change your answer?”

  “You tell me,” said Deni and then he slid back in his seat.

  “Yes, there was communication.” He pulled out a piece of paper and read out loud, “I need to see you. You said, no way and then she begged by typing please. Afterwards, there was a thirty second phone conversation. Can I ask what the conversation was about?”

  “I called to say goodbye. That is it,” Deni replied.

  “Curiously, after the conversation she withdrew fifteen hundred dollars from her savings account. Was that just a strange coincidence?”

  Deni turned away from the prosecutors and didn’t answer.

  Mikail paced around his living room shouting at Deni. “What the fuck is the matter with you? Can’t you do anything right? I asked for one simple favor and you blew it!”

  Deni circled to get past Mikail. “What’s the bother? Both bombs went off, you succeeded. Does it really matter who set them off?”

  “Yeah, without any help from you. You’re a waste of space,” spat Mikail.

  To escape Mikail’s wrath, Deni stepped outside to the backyard of Mikail’s Reading row home and paced around. He glanced upward at the old oak tree. The branches scraped against a bedroom window and extended far over into the alleyway. Amazing how things could grow with such obstructions, he thought.

  Feeling his phone vibrate, Deni removed it from his pocket and noticed that Heather had texted him. She wanted to see him. No way, he wrote, but she insisted. Glancing back in the house to see if Mikail was watching, Deni called Heather.

  “I need to see you. I need to talk to you,” she said immediately. “Meet me at our spot on Mount Penn in a half an hour.”

  Deni hung up the phone and sighed. “Shit.”

  He walked back in the house and passed Mikail without a word.

  “Where the hell are you going?” asked Mikail

  “Out,” said Deni.

  “What if someone sees you? Are you that fucking stupid?”

  Deni ignored his brother and walked down the street where his car was parked. He drove through the quiet streets of Reading. He had never seen it so dark and silent. Everyone was hiding in their houses from him. It was weird.

  He wound through the hillside road and up to the top, and stopped about a half a mile from where he and Heather often parked to make out. He walked in the darkness until he saw her car. Carefully, so as not to frighten her, he tapped lightly on her passenger side window. She immediately opened the door for him.

  Deni climbed inside and said nothing.

  Heather clenched the steering wheel. Her expression was strange. She showed no sign of crying, but she was definitely in pain. “I’ve been trying to understand.”

  “Don’t,” he said, “I don’t even understand.”

  “I know this is not you. The Deni I know would never do this. I know it’s not you, because you saved me. I know you had to be manipulated somehow,” she said.

  “It doesn’t really matter,” he replied.

  “Has it been that bad? Have we treated you that bad?” she asked and didn’t wait for a response. “God, I wished you would have talked to me instead of keeping this all bottled up. If there was something I could have done differently. Would it have made a difference if I converted?”

  “Heather, this is not your fault,” he said.

  “The hell it’s not. You needed someone. You needed me and I was not there.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a roll of cash. “We can be in Canada by morning.”

  Deni laughed. “Heather.”

  “What about we get on one of those cruise ships and sail down the Caribbean? We can island hop and no one will find us,” she suggested.

  That did sound appealing to Deni, but he couldn’t make Heather a fugitive for his sake. “That’s not going to work. I can’t expect you to give up your life for me.”

  “You are my life,” she said and then s
tarted to cry. She tossed the money at him. “Here, take this then and disappear.”

  “Honey, I’m not taking your money,” he said and then tossed it back at her.

  “Fine, but what now? What am I going to do now? How can I go on? I can’t let you go. I feel so ashamed for feeling this way when people were killed and so many wounded. There is so much suffering and all I can do is worry for you. There must be something wrong with me, but all I can do is think of how we used to be. I can’t see you as a killer; I just can’t.” She turned to him. “Were you fooling me all along?”

  “Heather, I was the fool.” Deni wiped the tears from her eyes. “I can’t explain it. The world just imploded and I got sucked inside.” He kissed her face. “I love you. I always have, but I have to go.”

  Just as Deni opened the passenger side door, Heather grabbed his arm. “Promise me you’ll stay safe. Please don’t get yourself killed. That is something I couldn’t handle.”

  Deni grinned. “I promise.”

  He leaned over and gave her one more kiss. Heather grabbed his face and kissed him passionately. She didn’t want to let him go, but she had to. Finally, when she did, she wiped her tears. “I love you.”

  “Mr. Daudov, you do realize aiding a fugitive is a felony,” said the prosecutor.

  Deni glanced at the prosecutor. “What?”

  “Did Heather Atkins offer to help you escape?” the prosecutor asked.

  “No,” he lied quickly.

  “If she didn’t offer you money, then why are your fingerprints on this roll of cash?” asked the prosecutor as he tossed Heather’s money on the table.

  “What the fuck is all this about?” asked Deni.

  “Did Heather Atkins offer to help you escape?” repeated the prosecutor.

  “You leave her the fuck alone! She had nothing to do with this!” Deni yelled.

  “Answer the question Mr. Daudov!” yelled the prosecutor.

  Deni extended his arms before the prosecutor. “You go ahead and stick a fucking needle in my arm, but you better as hell leave her alone!” His face turned beet red and tears streamed down his cheeks. “You leave her alone!”

  “Marsha, control your client,” said the prosecutor.

  Marsha stood alongside Deni and said to the prosecutor. “I think we’re done here.”

  The prosecution packed their briefcases and without another word, they were gone.

  Marsha walked around the table and sat across from Deni. “I never had a client like you before; someone who was part of a heinous crime, yet so many defend. Heather Atkins is prepared to go to jail for you. Coach Schwartz and many of your teammates are ready to stand and testify on your behalf, all saying the Deni they knew would never do this. The murder of innocent civilians is bad enough, but you did something even worse. You betrayed all those Americans who love you, who would put their own life on the line for you, but you allowed your brother’s sickness to poison your mind.” She gazed down at Deni. “I’m going to have the guards take you back to your cell now.”

  Deni couldn’t look at her; he couldn’t face anyone now as the tears fell.

  Chapter 26

  A day came when I should have died

  And after that nothing seemed very important.

  So I stay as I am, without regret,

  Separated from the normal human condition.

  Guy Sajer

  The Forgotten Soldier.

  The prison guard entered the interview room and helped Deni to his feet. He shuffled past Marsha and the prosecutors down the hallway toward his cell. It’s a problem when you feel so isolated and then you come to realize how many people surrounded you with love. There was a certain shame a man can shrug off when he was overshadowed by his ideals, but no man can hide from love once he opened his eyes.

  As the guard escorted Deni through the hallway, he wondered when exactly he was stricken with blindness, when did his heart stop beating? Was it when I was a child in Grozny, was it the materialistic spectacle when I arrived in the US, was it witnessing police profiling and other’s bigotry, was it Hector’s murder, or was it simply a condition within myself?

  The guard unlocked Deni’s cell, guided him inside and removed the cuffs. Without a word, the guard left. Deni fell to his knees and curled on the floor. The floor felt cold on his cheek, but he didn’t have the energy to stand up. He was emotionally and mentally crippled from the interrogation.

  Deni drove through the dark, wooded roads in the hills and then onto the city streets of Reading, contemplating where to run. Maybe Heather is right, maybe I should head to Canada or take off on some cruise ship. Just how far can I go on such little money? I should have taken her up on her offer. It would have been awesome running with her—just the two of us alone in the world.

  He pulled up outside Mikail’s house. With a lamp lit in the front bay window, it actually looked inviting. If I’m going to be a fugitive, I might as well not be alone. Heather, as much as I desire you, you are not an option, he thought. He climbed out of his car and headed inside.

  Despite the light being lit in the front window, there was no one there. “Hello!” Deni called.

  “We’re upstairs!” yelled Mikail.

  Deni walked up the stairs where Mikail packed a bag, while Jamie cried, rocking Elena in her arms. Mikail glanced up at Deni. “Everything okay with you?” he asked.

  Deni chuckled ironically. “As good as I can be.”

  Mikail rolled a shirt and placed it in the bag. “I’m sorry about earlier. You were right. Everything went off as expected.”

  Deni didn’t respond. There wasn’t much to say.

  “Where are you going to go?” asked Jamie.

  “I don’t know,” Mikail replied.

  “Canada,” Deni suggested.

  “Yeah,” said Mikail. “That might be our best bet. We can be there by morning if we drive all night.”

  Red lights flashed through the window. Deni peaked outside. “Ah shit!” he muttered.

  Mikail glared accusingly at Deni. “I wonder who would have tipped them off.”

  “They’re at your house bro,” replied Deni quickly.

  “Take Elena and hide in the bathroom,” Mikail commanded Jamie. She held Elena tightly to her chest and left the room. Mikail reached for a pistol under his mattress and tossed it to Deni. “You’re gonna need this!”

  Deni handled the pistol loosely, while Mikail retrieved a shotgun from under the bed. “What should we do?”

  “Act calm,” replied Mikail.

  Mikail headed down the steps followed by Deni, where the police were pounding at the door. Mikail walked toward the door and opened it. He lowered the shotgun by his side, behind the door, and out of sight from the officer. “Can I help you?”

  “Are you Mikail Anhton Daudov?” asked the police officer.

  “Yes,” Mikail replied calmly.

  “Do you want to step outside the house?” said the policeman.

  Mikail surveyed the scene and saw several more police cars pull up. “No. I’d like to talk here.”

  “Sir, I’m going to ask you again to step outside,” said the policeman.

  Mikail slammed the door in the policeman’s face and then locked it. He started to move the couch toward the door. “Help me, will ya?” he called to Deni.

  Deni placed the pistol in the waistband of his shorts and helped Mikail move the couch in front of the door. Suddenly bullets started spraying through the front window. Shattered glass flew everywhere and some pieces lodged in Deni’s shoulder and abdomen.

  “Ouch, shit!” he yelled as he picked shards of glass from his shoulder.

  Ducking under the window, Mikail raised his shotgun and started shooting, while Deni hid in the corner. Through the window, Deni saw a cop struck by one of Mikail’s bullets.

  “Are you going to help me, or just stand there?” questioned Mikail.

  “This is insane, Mik. Think of Elena upstairs. You want to have a shootout in the house where your chi
ld sleeps?” asked Deni. “You succeeded at your cause.” He paused and then continued. “You have earned your place in Paradise. Now think of your family.”

  Mikail lowered his gun from the window and slumped against the wall.

  “It’s over. There’s no escape from this,” said Deni calmly.

  “You’re right,” replied Mikail. He stood behind the front door and gave Deni a big hug and kisses on the cheek. “I love you brother. I truly do.” He moved the couch away from the door. “I’ll handle this.”

  Mikail opened the door to see the entire Reading Police Department. He stepped outside on his porch and just as he started to raise his hands to surrender, a shot rang out and struck him in the chest.

  Seeing Mikail’s body fall backward through the front door threshold, Deni froze. It was a shocking thing to see the vacant look in his brother’s eyes. He knew his time was limited if he didn’t act.

  He headed back up the stairs toward the bedroom that faced the back yard. He opened the window and tested his footing on a large branch of the old oak tree. When he got his footing, he grabbed hold of a higher branch to balance him.

  From above, he saw swat team officers flooding the back yard and breaking into the back door. Suddenly a few shots rang and nailed Deni in the upper thigh. “Shit!” Deni muttered softly. The bullet stung like a son of a gun. Several bullets sprayed through the tree, striking his ear, upper arm and even his butt.

  He made his way through the tree branches and jumped over the fence to an alleyway. He winced at the pain from his gunshot wounds, but he did not let his wounds stop him. He limped as fast as he could down the alleyway and then turned through the grass yard of a neighbor.

  He glanced over his shoulder, but could not see anyone behind him. Up ahead, there was a gas station, where a female nurse was fueling an SUV. Deni snuck behind the SUV and the woman. He grabbed the back of her head and slammed it into the gas pump, rendering her unconscious. He returned the gas nozzle to the pump and jumped into the SUV.

  At first, he fumbled with the ignition trying to figure out how to start the damned thing, but as soon as the engine turned, Deni sped down the street onto the highway. Deni wondered where he should go. Injured and bloody, he would never make it to Canada. He thought to contact Heather. Maybe she could meet him and at least help tend to his wounds.