The Siege (14 page)

     He turned to walk away, but Mark called out to him.

     “Hey, John!”

     John stopped and turned around.

     “We’re with you on this.”

     John didn’t say anything. He merely nodded his head, then went to finish his task.

     There were two distinct camps.

     One side saw John’s act for what it was: a desperate attempt to protect the people he loved from further attack.

     The other side only saw the brutality in what he did. Shooting unarmed men, regardless of the circumstance, was against God’s laws and the laws of civil society.

     The mood remained somber the rest of the day. John skipped lunch entirely that day. He’d simply lost his appetite while dragging the bodies of the men he’d killed.

     For dinner, he chose to stay in his room instead of
joining the rest of the group in the dining room.

     Sami and Brad got their own food, fixed an extra plate for John, and retired to John’s apartment to have dinner with him.

     John stopped eating after the third bite. He still had no appetite. He looked at Sami and said, “If I go, I want the two of you to stay here. There’s no reason for you to be outcast. You did nothing wrong.”

     Sami said, “Neither did you, Dad. The only thing you were guilty of was using your brain to think things through to their logical conclusion. The others were thinking with their hearts and not their heads. If they use
d their heads they would have come to the same conclusion you did. Those men had to go. There was just no other way.”

     Brad,
to lighten the mood, tried to inject a bit of levity into the discussion.

     “We have to go with you, John. I’ve eaten your cooking. It’s disgusting, and you’d starve to death within a week without Sami to cook for you.”

     It fell flat.

     After dinner, the three watched two movies in John’s room. There were several knocks at the door, but they went unanswered.

     When John announced he was tired and wanted to get a shower and go to bed, Sami and Brad finally left.

     They retired to their own room, where they stayed up long into the night. Between the two of them, they killed half a fifth of Jose Cuervo and commiserated about the sorry state of the world.

     And how quickly friends can turn on each other when both parties have their hearts in the right place, but don’t see eye to eye.

     Throughout the rest of the building, debates were raging. John’s act pitted husbands against wives, hawks against doves,
humanitarians against the more aggressive.

     And Christians against non believers.

     It was quiet in Hannah and Mark’s bed. There was no animosity between them, though.

     Nor any anger.

     Hannah knew which side Mark came down on.

     She, on the other hand, hadn’t decided where she stood. She was torn between her conscience, which said the killings were pointless and tantamount to murder, and her love and respect for John.

     She knew that John was convinced in his own mind that the men would be a major threat if they were released. And perhaps he was right. Perhaps he was the only one clear minded enough to do what had to be done.

     Perhaps.

Chapter 29

     It was obvious that Bryan and Sarah were arguing over the matter. From the time they walked into the dining room for breakfast, neither of them spoke to another soul. The snarling faces each of them wore bore a definite “stay back” message, and the others were more than happy to oblige.

     There was a sense that to address either of them, even in the friendliest of manners, might result in getting one’s head bitten off.

     They sat at the same table during breakfast, but said nary a word to each other.

     Several in the crowd hoped that this wouldn’t damage their relationship. They’d always been a considerate and loving couple. In fact, no one had ever really seen them argue before.

     The mood was grim, and would have been even without the troubles that Bryan and Sarah were obviously having.

     Word had gotten around that following breakfast, there would be a meeting of grave importance. The group would be asked to debate, and then to decide whether to banish one of their own.

     For more than seven years they’d been together. They’d endured some very hard times and ridden out some very tough storms. But never before had they been asked to consider such an option.

     And no one took it lightly.

     John was one of the senior members of the group, and one of its father figures. He was always the first to lend a hand and the first to say a kind word. In short, he was loved by everyone.

     But this… this
thing
that he had done…

     Some things just cannot be forgiven.

     When John came into the room, flanked by Sami and Brad, the room fell completely silent.

     They sat in a corner table, far from the group, as though banishing themselves from everyone else’s company. That was fitting, for all three of them felt like outcasts.

     Within a minute of their arrival, Bryan quietly got up and moved over to John’s table. He asked to sit in the fourth chair, and John nodded.

     As
Bryan sat down, a collective gasp went through the room. Bryan had chosen his side, and it wasn’t with his wife. A couple of the women began to weep.

     For Sarah’s part, she retained her composure.
Bryan’s action might cause a permanent rift in their relationship. It might mean she’d make his life a living hell for a very long time.

     It might even mean her heart was breaking. But she’d never show it. She was resolved to stay strong, and finished her meal in silence.

     Even when Hannah got up and took Bryan’s seat, and placed her right hand atop Sarah’s, she didn’t look up.

     She couldn’t. She was on the verge of losing it, and all it might take would be the look of sadness on her best friend’s face.

     John, Sami and Brad chose to skip breakfast. They just wanted to get this over with. Breakfast didn’t mean much after you wore out your welcome. In their minds, there was only one question that needed to be answered: did they still have a home here?

     After most of the trays had been returned to the dishwasher’s table, Mark stood up and walked to the front of the group. Seven years before, when the group was getting settled in their new home and selected their form of government, they’d selected Mark as their speaker. It was an honorary
position, and had no real power behind it. It just meant it was his job to start the meetings and to keep them flowing in an orderly fashion.

     “Good morning all. I’m looking around and I notice that most of you have finished eating. I don’t want to rush anyone. If you’re still eating, please continue. I want to go ahead and get this over with.”

     John stood up in the back of the room. In a flashback to his days as a U.S. Marine, he stood at rapt parade rest, his feet shoulder length apart and his hands cupped behind his back. He said not a word.

     Mark continued.

     “You all know why we’re here. I won’t pretend it’s not a sorry reason to be here. I know that every single one of us wants to be somewhere else. But several of you have requested a meeting to discuss what happened yesterday, and our bylaws require us to comply.”

     He turned in John’s direction and said, “John, you’re the first to stand. Does that mean you’d like to speak first?”

     He merely nodded.

     “Very well, then. The floor is yours.”

     John took a deep breath and got started.

     “You all know me well. You know I’m a man of few words, so I’ll make this brief.

     “You also know I’m not a man who begs for anything. I will not beg you to let me stay here, and I will not beg you to forgive me, for two different reasons.

     “I won’t beg you to let me stay because I am too proud to. Pride is a wonderful thing. But it can also be a terrible hindrance. In this case I’m not sure which one applies.

     “This is my home. I’m happy here. I love each and every one of you, and I’d like to stay. But if that’s not to be, then I will leave quietly and find my own way. I will survive out there, and quite possibly thrive out there. I’ll need no pity from anyone, and will accept no help.

     “As for your forgiveness, I refuse to ask any of you for that, for a simple reason…

     “Because I was right in what I did. And when one does something he knows to be right, there is nothing to forgive. No matter how distasteful it may be.”

     “I’ve seen the worst things that
one man can do to another. I once saw the aftermath when Iraqi rebels hung a woman by her feet and gutted her like a fish. While she was still alive. Just because they suspected her of speaking with American soldiers. When I worked homicide I saw people who’d been decapitated. Burned to death. Gang raped unmercifully, and then killed in ways I won’t even discuss here.

     “I, more than any of you, know first hand what bad men are capable of.

     “And here’s the thing with bad men…

     “When they are cowed, like when they’re in shackles in jail or in a suit in a courtroom, they can appear to be almost civilized. Almost human. They can even appear to be sympathetic, or harmless.

     “But you can’t let that fool you. You can never let your guard down. You must always be wary. Because when those same men are back in their element, with the shackles and suits off, they will always go back to being bad men. It’s at their very core. They simply cannot help themselves.

     “In my heart I know I did the right thing. In my heart I know I saw things in those men that most of you could not see. Does that mean I broke one of God’s commandments? Certainly. Does that mean I broke the laws of our state? Certainly.

     “Would I do it again?
Certainly.

     “Because my first allegiance is to all of you. Before the state of
Texas. And as much as I hate to say it, before the commandments of God. I am willing to let God judge me for that, and He will someday. Of that I am certain. And if he finds me wrong for what I did, then I will accept my fate. I will not beg God for forgiveness, any more than I will beg you.

    “I want you to know that I did what I did because my conscience told me to. Now you all have a very important decision to make. Do what I did. Go with your conscience. I love each of you. You’ve become my family. I won’t hold it against any of you if you think me unfit to be in your company.

     “In fact, so that my presence doesn’t sway your judgment or pressure you in any way, I am going to excuse myself from the rest of the proceedings. I assume that after your decision is made, someone will inform me of my fate.”

     With that, John turned and walked out of the room.

     Sami and Brad looked at each other, unsure what to do. They hadn’t expected him to leave. They’d expected him to stay and answer the others’ questions, to restate his position if he had to.

     For a few precious seconds, they struggled with a decision, to stay or to follow him out. If they left, they
gave up the opportunity to advocate on his behalf. And to vote. If the vote was close, they might be the deciding factor.

     But Sami knew her father well. If the vote was that close… if that many people no longer wanted him around, then he’d rather leave anyway.

     In the end, Sami and Brad got up from the table and walked out behind John.

    
Bryan felt foolish and abandoned, but he kept his seat. By God, there would be at least one person in the room who would be fighting for John’s side.

Chapter
30

     Mark cleared his throat and said, “Very well, then. We’ll give everyone a chance to say what’s on their mind, as long as it takes to get this done. Then, when everyone has had their say, we’ll put it to a vote. Who’d like to go first?”

     Karen stood up, and started speaking before even being recognized.

     “You all know me. You know I almost never get involved in the politics of running this place. I usually just sit back like a quiet little mouse and teach the children and water my plants and seldom get involved. But I will say this… John is a good man. A decent man. And probably the most honest man I’ve ever met. If he says those men were a threat to us, then I believe him without reservation. I don’t like the way he dealt with it. But if he felt that was the only option open for him, then I support his decision.”