Two Peasants and a President (49 page)

“Today, we face a nation whose armaments we ourselves in essence paid for with our insatiable appetite for inexpensive goods.  That nation has grown powerful and arrogant; it has become the world’s bully.  Its leaders are
so certain of their ability to intimidate others that they presume to sink other countries’ shipping with impunity.   Let us not deceive ourselves.  Men who would kidnap and murder young newlyweds simply to profit from the sale of their organs are the very face of evil.  They believe that their will is stronger than ours, that we will eventually submit.  They are wrong!  Like our grandfathers and mothers, we will confront evil as it must be confronted, with resolute hearts and unwavering determination.”

“China may present to the world a united face, but it is a painted face.  It is a mask that conceals the divisions that lie beneath.   An army of tho
u
sands exists for the sole purpose of concealing from the world and from its own people that nine old men and a group of generals attempt to control 1.3 billion souls.   Day and night they police radio, television, the internet, even speech among private citizens.  But as hard as they have tried
, and they have tried very
ha
rd, they cannot control thought,
they cannot control the quest for fre
edom, and
they cannot control human dignity.”

“In recent days, hundreds, perhaps thousands have been arrested for the crime of speaking out.  A coup is rumored to have taken place in the Fo
r
bidden City in which those who favor democracy have been purged.  A new dictator is about to assume the presidency and is already attacking and sinking other nations’ shipping in a doomed effort to achieve by force what cannot be achieved by consensus.”

“But here and elsewhere, resistance is mounting.  China’s unfair trade practices are being challenged.  Products once purchased solely from China are being made here and in other countries.  Small enterprises are springing up everywhere and, in spite of scarce financial resources, are beginning to replace Chinese products with American made products.  Jobs are being created.
”
 

“But once again China is not content to play fair.  Instead they sink a container ship bringing legally made goods to the United States and once again they do so with a sneak attack by submarine.  We see that under his mask, Li
Guo
Peng
is just another murderer and has now taken his place in the pantheon of history’s thugs.  We see you, Mr. Li, you and the doddering old men and generals attempting to pull the strings of a puppet nation.  We see the fear in your eyes as your people rise up to take what is rightfully theirs.  We see your panic as the stones in your wall of shame crumble to dust.  You can sink ships but you cannot sink spirits, Mr. Li.  Soon the spirit of your citizens will sink you because freedom can never be extinguished.”

“My fellow Americans, in 1942 we pulled together and we pulled through.  We triumphed over the two mightiest war machines ever to cast their dark shadow over the Earth.  Even in our grimmest hour, we refused to
admit defeat.  We must pull together once again.  We must refuse to allow a group of cynical, arrogant old men the unmitigated hubris of assuming that we will bow to their
evil will.  We can and will
again assume the mantle of the greatest nation on Earth.”

Millions of Americans watched the courag
eous young American speak and,
though weary of pleas to persevere, sensed that she was right; they had little choice.  Holly had become a folk hero and bump
er stickers and political
pins began to appear bearing her likeness and exhorting citizens to work as one to bring China to her knees.

The broadcast was watched carefully in Beijing
,
and a wrathful Li o
r
dered retaliation against Holly’s father-in-law.  Thro
ughout the nightmare, Brett
languished in a Hong Kong jail w
here his Navy Seal training
kept him in reasonably good spirits.  But Li now had two thugs, highly trained in martial arts, sent to the prison deliver a message. 

Many of the inmates of the Pak
Sha
Wan Correctional Institution on Hong Kong Island were in the yard, some exercising, some just taking the opportunity to talk to others whom they only saw for a half hour each day.  Brett was doing chin-ups when the two thugs approached.  Sensing they had not come to offer him a cigarette, he stood silently facing them as a crowd began to form.  The taller one attempted to move behind him so that he couldn’t see both of them, but Brett moved closer to the chain link fence to avoid being flanked. 

Suddenly the taller man launched a flying knee that barely missed Brett’s face as he dodged.  Brett’s left hook counter punch did not miss.  The blow staggered the man, wobbling his legs.  The other man launched a v
i
cious kick that landed on Brett’s side as he continued circling left.  Brett countered with a right cross that connected and followed with a head kick that did not.  The taller man had recovered and threw two left jabs that pushed Brett backward into the fence, but when the man attempted to close and use a
Mu
a
y
Thai clinch, he was met with an elbow that slashed across his forehead, opening a bloody cut. 

Dozens of inmates had formed a circle around the fighters, preventing the guards, who had been ordered not to interfere, from seeing the action.   The crowd was clearly angry though he could not understand what they were screaming.  Both men now coordinated their assault with strikes to the head and simultaneous body kicks.  With his arms and fists raised to protect his head, Brett never saw the kick that smashed into his crotch, sending him to the ground.  With two strong men launching kicks to his ribs over and over, he struggled to rise and fight, but a blow to the head knocked left him nearly senseless. 

His world
now narrowed to pain and sound and
the unintelligible screams of inmates.  On the ground and trying to fend off brutal head kicks, he knew that unconsciousness and death could not be far off.  Sensing that the crowd had moved in tightly around him, he waited for each to take his turn kicking the downed American.  But abruptly the kicks stopped.  Looking out from under the arm that covered his bloodied head, Brett saw one of the his two attackers go down.  An inmate had kicked him behind the knee, causing his leg to buckle.  The other man lashed out with his own kick, but a fist smashed into his ear, staggering him.  A stocky, mean looking inmate grabbed him around the back of the neck and pulled his head down where a vicious
Mu
a
y
Thai knee crushed his nose.   

What Brett could not have known was that some of the inmates had ended up here as a result of the crackdown.  Others had heard what happened to Brett’s son and daughter-in-law and felt that the ex-Navy Seal had every right to try to rescue his family.  Being prisoners themselves, they had little love for a regime that butchered prisoners for profit, and furthermore, the two men that Li had sent were outsiders, men from the north who did not belong here and who obviously were working for the same men who had put them in prison in the first place. 

Brett felt himself being helped to his feet as the mob continued to beat the two thugs.  Only when he and the two inmates supporting him appeared through the crowd did the guards realize what had happened.  The interve
n
tion of more than a dozen guards barely prevented the two
men from being beaten to death.
  It would be days before they were well enough to return to Beijing. 

63

Li had awakened in a very foul mood.  His aides would have gladly donned ballet slippers if it would have helped them tread more lightly.  Everywhere he looked, it seemed that events conspired to thwart his plans.   He had acted precipitously when he had the strikers detained, not bothering to inform himself as to whether or not they were key employees and could be easily replaced.  Furthermore, the brutal way in which the strikers were treated by the police had further inflamed passions.  Brutality, in fact, was quickly becoming
the face of his administration.  F
rom the South China Sea to the streets of China’s major cities, his iron fist was leaving an imprint that would not soon be forgotten. 

That his citizens had begun to perceive him as a brutal leader did not trouble Li in the least.  To the contrary, he saw it as an indicator of his su
c
cess.  For millennia, China’s emperors had governed by fear and brutality and Li considered that a historical testament to its effectiveness.  If anything, he felt emboldened and resolved to use China’s now formidable power in the furtherance of his goals
–
even if it meant war.  So when he was informed that the thugs he had sent to the prison in Hong Kong had not fared well, he did not hesitate to act, ordering that Brett be flown to Tianjin immediately, where he would occupy the same cell his son had.  Only this time, there would be no escape. 

******

Less than twenty-four hours later,
an informant at the airport
reported seeing a chained, manacled and bandaged American male being led by police through the concourse without so much as a hood to shield his identity.  Based on the description, it almost certainly had to be Brett.  That Li would be so bold and so disdainful of any consequences only underscored the sheer hubris of the man. 

A report of the sighting was in Benedict’s morning packet at CIA.  He in turn relayed it to the president during the morning briefing.  The president sat silently for several moments, as if weighing the news and then moved on to the next item, leaving Benedict, National Security Advisor James Langley and others wondering what, if anything, he planned to do.  If the report was
correct, one had to wonder why the Chinese would be moving Brett north from Hong Kong.  Certainly they didn’t believe that the Americans planned to break him out of a Hong Kong prison.  There was another possibility that no one wanted to contemplate but, given Li
Guo
Peng’s
actions thus far, could not be discounted. 

At 10:00 am, Captain Davis picked up the phone.  Benedict was cal
l
ing.  It was not so much that the DCI felt that Captain Davis would know how to deal with what he was about to share with him but that the captain had proven himself to be both resourceful and audacious in the past.  And once again it involved his family. 

“Yes, good morning, Sir,”

“Richard, I have something I want to share with you, something that has not been confirmed and must not be acted upon in any way.  I’m sharing it with you first because it may involve a member of your family and second because after you’ve had time to think about it, I’d like to invite you to pass along any thoughts you may have.”

“I understand, Sir. What is it?”

“A man resembling your son-in-law was seen being taking through the Hon
g Kong airport in manacles,
with no attempt to conceal his identity.  Based on the gate number, it appears that he was being flown north to Beijing or perhaps Tianjin, but we cannot be certain.  I must stress that even his identity has not been confirmed.” 

“Is the president aware of this?” asked the captain.

“He was briefed this morning.”

“What does he intend to do?”

“As yet, he has not shared that with me,” replied Benedict. 

“In other words, nothing,” said the captain with obvious disgust. 

“It’s too early to know that, Richard, but I must ask that this be kept strictly between us and I repeat, that no action whatsoever be taken.  Do I have your word?”

“Yes, of course.  Frankly, I don’t know what anyone could do but I’ll give it some thought and let you k
now if I come up with any ideas.
”

“Director?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t have to tell you that two young members of my family have b
een through something that I can scarcely
comprehend.  I don’t know how I would tell them if anything happened to Brett, especially in Tianjin.”

“I hope that you will never have to do that, Richard.  Some of the best people I have will be working very hard to bring Brett home.”

“Thank you, Sir, I’ll be in touch.”

Only days ago, Davis had thought they were close to getting Brett r
e
leased, but that was before the sinking of the container ship, the crackdown - and rumors of a coup.  There had obviously been a sea change in China.  What it meant could only be guessed.  The next call was going to be difficult, but he had to tell Jim.  The three of them had together saved a great many Americans; most would never know to whom they owed their lives.

Jim and Sally arrived at half past seven.  The news was followed by several minutes of pained silence; it was as if China had decided for some unfathomable reason to not turn loose of this family without inflicting further suffering.  The worst part was that none of them knew how to tell Maggie that by saving Raymond and Holly, Brett may have sacrificed himself.