Rooney said, “I just want you guys to know I feel awful about this.”
Hollis looked Rooney in the eye and replied, “You’re going to feel even worse when you get to the States and get picked up by the FBI. You can think about how sorry you are for the rest of your life in a federal penitentiary.” Hollis added baitingly, “You can study for your Air Force tests in the big house, General.”
Rooney seemed at a loss for words. Several students began to gather around.
Hollis continued, “They didn’t tell you that the rate of capture for you people is about two hundred a year, did they?”
“No… they… I didn’t read about any…”
“Even Western newspapers don’t know everything, you idiot.” Hollis snapped, “Get out of my sight.”
“I’m sorry—”
Lisa said, “You know better, Rooney. You know what a monstrous system this is. You all know, and there is no excuse for you. You are contemptible. Go away!”
Rooney didn’t seem inclined to move, and neither did the growing crowd of young men and women. Rooney said, “I’m sorry. I really am. I… can’t understand why Colonel Burov—”
“Then,” Hollis said, “why don’t you organize the students and make a protest to Burov?”
“We can’t—”
“No, you can’t because you are no more an American than Genghis Khan or Colonel Burov. You have no idea what it means to be a free man with rights and responsibilities.”
“I do! I learned that here.”
Lisa stepped closer to him. “You can’t learn that.” She poked him in the chest. “You have to live it every day. Go on, Rooney, go and exercise your right to freedom of speech, guaranteed in both our constitutions. Exercise your right to petition for redress of grievances. That would be good training for you.” She looked around. “For all of you.”
No one spoke, and Hollis had the impression that some of the one hundred or so students in the barroom now were thinking about things, but a good number of them had that neutral vacuous expression that people wear when they hear a call to arms and pretend the speaker is addressing someone else. About half the students, however, seemed ready for some sort of action. Hollis said to them, “Do you understand that you have no more rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness than any prisoner here? Did you ever wonder what happened to the students who wash out of this school?”
John Fleming, one of the men they had met on the basketball court, shouted, “You’re trying to seduce us in your typical Western way. We don’t listen to Western treachery.”
Marty, the Landises’ boarder, called back, “If you’re going to argue with them, argue like an American, not a stupid Russian.”
This brought some shouts pro and con. Suzie Trent stepped out of the crowd and walked directly to Lisa. “What happens to the students who wash out?”
Before Lisa could answer, Jeff Rooney snapped at her, “Shut up! Do you want to get into trouble?”
“I want to know.”
The Landises’ other boarder, Sonny, stepped out of the crowd surrounding Hollis and Lisa and addressed the students. “I’ll speak like an American. These two are abusing their rights to free assembly and freedom of speech. They are inciting to riot and pose a clear and present danger to the peace. I propose we make a citizen’s arrest and take them to headquarters.”
Hollis was impressed with Sonny’s grasp of the law and how it could be perverted. Hollis said to him, “Your master, Petr Burov, is going to illegally execute—”
Sonny shouted, “There is nothing illegal about it! There are duly constituted laws in this place, Hollis, and Dodson broke one of them. He knew it was a capital offense.”
Hollis stood face-to-face with Sonny. “What about the ten people to be executed at random? That is called reprisals and is unlawful in any civilized society.”
Sonny put his face closer to Hollis’. “Are you saying we’re uncivilized?”
Lisa pushed Sonny’s chest. “What do you call executing a POW who was doing his duty and exercising his right under the Geneva Convention to escape?”
Sonny glared at Lisa, keeping a watch on Hollis out of the corner of his eye.
The room was very quiet, and someone said softly, “She’s right. The execution is illegal under international law.”
A few people murmured assent.
Erik Larson cleared his throat. “Most of us are Red Air Force. We know that’s no way to execute a brother officer. Maybe we can draft a note to Burov—”
“You needn’t bother,” Burov said as he strode into the room. There were six armed KGB Border Guards behind him. He looked at the students, then at Hollis and Lisa. “Well, are you trying to replay the American Revolution here? We’ve already had our revolution, thank you.”
Hollis walked toward Burov and said, “I think this class will never be the same again, Colonel.”
“I think you’re right.”
“Call off these executions.”
“No, I’m more convinced than ever that we need this tomorrow. All of us.” Burov looked at Marty, then at Jeff Rooney, Suzie Trent, and a few of the others. He said, “I commend all of you on your fine acting. An outsider would have actually thought you believed what you were saying.” He smiled unpleasantly.
Suzie Trent said in a soft voice, “I believed what I heard about this terrible killing tomorrow.”
Burov glanced at her, then looked at the others. “Does anyone else wish to add anything to this young lady’s comment?”
No one spoke immediately, then John Fleming said, “Yes, Colonel, I think she has always harbored unorthodox and improper thoughts about our socialist motherland.”
Hollis noted that this time no one told Fleming he sounded like a stupid Russian, so Hollis said, “You’re full of shit.”
Burov looked at his watch. “It is twelve twenty-five, Colonel. If you and Ms. Rhodes leave now, you can probably get into your home before the curfew. If you don’t, you may very well be shot by a patrol. Good evening.”
Hollis took Lisa’s arm and led her toward the door. Lisa said to Burov, “For everyone’s sake, please reconsider.”
“You’d better hurry. I’d like to see you in my office tomorrow, not in the morgue.” He turned from Hollis and Lisa and said to the students, “Continue your Halloween festivities.”
Hollis led Lisa into the rec room, where another two hundred or so students had been pressed close to the door of the bar. They parted quickly, letting Hollis and Lisa through.
They went out into the cold, damp air and took the trail back to their cottage. Neither of them spoke for a while, then Lisa said, “My God, I’m proud of you, Sam Hollis.”
“You did all right yourself.”
They reached their house and went inside. Lisa bolted the door, sank into the armchair, and stared at the dead fire. “A spark. Is that what they need? Or do they need a blowtorch?” She drew a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling. “I simply do not understand these people. No one does.”
Hollis replied, “That’s because they don’t understand themselves. But if the day comes when they do, when they stop worrying about how the West perceives them and start to become aware of who they are, then the first Russian Revolution will become nothing more than a prologue to the second revolution.”
“But when?”
“When they’re ready. When they can’t deny outside reality any longer.”
“I hope I live to see it.” She smiled grimly. “I hope I live to see tomorrow.” Lisa stood. “Let’s go to bed.”