61
Derek Goes on a Cruise
Earlier, Derek had watched from his window as his bus waited for their turn. The guards had loaded the ship two busloads at a time, roughly one hundred men or women, the genders segregated. From his rough estimation, the men outnumbered the women ten to one. From listening to the guards complain, Derek had ascertained that the process took all day, but shipping day was only once a week or every two weeks, depending on intake volume.
Now, Derek was on the pier, still shackled, shuffling within a line of inmates toward the ship. The sun beat down on his head and his light-blue uniform. From the pier, the ship looked massive and white with USPCE on the side and an American flag emblazoned on the funnel. But it wasn’t that big. A cruise ship at a nearby pier looked five times as big. The USPCE ship didn’t have a pool or a water slide or a basketball court. Looking at the hull, Derek didn’t even see windows. The back end of the ship had a huge blue ramp that was folded up.
A commotion caused Derek to look behind him. Guards subdued an unruly inmate with stun guns. There’d been at least one in every group, and the guards were merciless. Derek thought, They have to be. We’re like livestock being led to the slaughter.
Derek and his fellow inmates were prodded from the pier across the little bridge and into the belly of the ship. Inside, it was cooler, the air-conditioning on. They trudged upstairs and down a narrow hallway, doors on both sides of them, each with a small window, and a slot large enough for hands and trays of food. Prisoners, already in their cabins, scowled through their door windows.
Derek was prodded into an open cabin along with another man. The room was piping hot. No air-conditioning for the cargo. Two guards removed their leg irons. One of the guards said, “When I shut the door, put your hands through and I’ll remove the cuffs.”
The guards exited the cabin and shut and locked the door. One by one, Derek and the other man placed their hands through the slot, and the guard removed their handcuffs. Derek rubbed his wrists, surveying the tiny room. Bunk beds, the mattresses covered in plastic. No pillow or sheets. A single stainless-steel toilet and one roll of toilet paper. The other man, short and doughy but not overly so, looked lost and afraid.
Derek extended his hand. “I’m Derek.”
The other man looked up, his eyes as blue as the ocean in that video they’d watched. “Connor.” They shook hands, Connor’s sweaty, his grip weak. “It’s so hot in here.”
“I think this cabin’s on the south side, so it’s been hammered by the sun all day. It’s gettin’ late though. It won’t get any hotter than this.”
Connor wiped sweat from his forehead. “I’m so thirsty.”
“I’m assumin’ they’ll give us water with dinner.”
Connor cocked his head at Derek, who’d barely broken a sweat. “Aren’t you thirsty?”
“I’m used to the heat. I was a farmer,” Derek answered, but it didn’t seem like Connor heard his response.
Connor went to the tiny window, looking into the narrow hallway.
Derek touched the plastic mattress cover on the top bunk. “Which bed you want?”
Connor didn’t respond.
Derek shrugged and lay on the bottom bunk.
Connor turned from the tiny window and paced in the small cabin, taking only three steps from wall to wall. While pacing, Connor talked more to himself than Derek. “I gotta get outta here. I can’t be here. I kept thinking it was all a bad dream. This is a mistake. Where are my parents? Why didn’t they help me?” He went back to the window and shouted, “Help me! Get me out of here. Please help. This is a mistake.”
Cackling and mocking came from nearby cabins. Other prisoners imitated Connor in a high-pitched voice. “Help me. Get me out of here. That fuckin’ faggot’ll be the first motherfucker dead.”
Connor slid to the floor, crying, his head in his hands.
The prisoners mock-cried and chortled at Connor’s expense.
Derek had been prepared for his arrest. He’d known he wouldn’t get away with it. He’d accepted his fate with a stiff upper lip. When he’d decided to murder Zhang Jun, he’d figured on life in prison, but maybe this was better. Nothing was left for him, and he doubted he’d be missed.
Derek stood from the bed and approached Connor cautiously. “You can’t do that.”
Connor looked up, his eyes red and his face wet. “What difference does it make?”
“Could be the difference between life and death.”
“I’m a dead man either way,” Connor blubbered through his tears.
“Get ahold of yourself.” Derek was stern now.
Connor sniffled and wiped his eyes with his prison shirt.
“You have two choices. You can fight, or you can lay down and die. That’s a decision you need to make now, or fate’ll make it for you.”
62
Jacob and the Ex is Gone
“What did you need to talk to me about?” Rebecca asked. “Is it Derek? What did the lawyer say?”
Jacob loosened his tie. “We should sit down.”
They sat in the sitting area of their bedroom, on the love seat.
“Did you hear from the lawyer?” Rebecca asked. “I’ve been worried since your phone call.”
Jacob had called Rebecca on his way home from work, letting her know that they needed to talk in person.
“Derek failed the antisocial personality test,” Jacob said.
Rebecca shook her head. “That can’t be right.”
“I’m afraid it is.”
“That’s ridiculous. He’s not a psychopath.”
Jacob raised his eyebrows. “He murdered a man. Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do.”
Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest. “I refuse to believe that.”
“Then how do you explain the test?”
She shrugged, dropping her hands in her lap. “I don’t know. Maybe they made a mistake.”
“They don’t make mistakes.”
“Then maybe the government wants to get rid of him. Maybe the conspiracy theories are true.”
“They’re not. If the US government was shipping off dissidents, I’d know about it.”
Rebecca pursed her lips. “I saw online that they’re saying that Zhang Jun died of a heart attack, but then the FBI told us that Derek killed him. They’re hiding something.”
“The Chinese are just trying to save face. Their press is controlled by the government.”
“Can’t the lawyer make them test him again?”
Jacob shook his head. “I’m sorry. I tried, but the test voided his right to counsel. He’s gone.”
“What do you mean, he’s gone?”
“He’s on a ship to the island.”
Rebecca stood from the love seat. “We have to help him.”
Jacob stood from the love seat, taking his wife’s hand. “We can’t. He’s already gone.”
Rebecca snatched her hand from his. “How long have you known about this?”
“I just found out a few hours ago from Eric.” That was a lie. Jacob had found out the day before about the test but had waited until Derek was on the high seas to tell Rebecca. Jacob knew his family wouldn’t waste political capital on Derek. If anything, they wanted to distance themselves from the situation. The Bank of China, the Chinese government, and the US government also wanted the situation to disappear.
The Chinese didn’t want Zhang Jun’s activities revealed in court, and the US didn’t want to publicize the murder of a foreign diplomat on US soil. So, according to Eric, they had made a deal. It must’ve been an easy choice really. Sacrifice one lonely broke citizen or deal with some bad publicity. Derek’s name would never appear in the press, and Zhang Jun’s cause of death was reported as a heart attack.