Chapter 23

  Li was transferred to a new cell, and at 3 PM, two ARVN soldiers dragged him out and dropped him onto a blood-stained wooden chair, and tied him down. A few minutes later, a woman approached and stood before him. She was tall and very attractive, and Li immediately recognized her as the woman he had his sights on. She was dressed in camouflage army fatigues, and Li noted the lack of a nametag or insignias.

  To his surprise, the woman spoke to him in Mandarin Chinese.

  "I'm not here to interrogate you. I already know this city's fate and the war's outcome. The North and its allies can have this shit hole of a country for all I care. I know that you are Chinese and that you are a NVA advisor, but frankly, I don't really give a shit. I was just informed about the circumstances of your capture and the suspicions that you were the sniper who shot and killed a CIA advisor last night. I was also informed that you haven't been very cooperative. Since the North Vietnamese Army doesn't honor the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war, I will not honor it also. You know, we learned a little trick from you on how to torture prisoners of war... and from what I've been told… it's not very pleasant. But I can tell you one thing for certain: you're about to find out."

  *****

  Shawn woke up after getting a full eight hours of sleep, which wasn't unusual for him. He got dressed and looked for his cigarettes, but they were nowhere to be found. "Shit, those little bitches stole my cigarettes again." He dug through the ashtray until he found a half-smoked cigarette butt. He lit it and let the soothing smoke fill his lungs.

  The night before, he had given Madame Chi the news about Jesse and told her that Bennett had given him orders to head back to Saigon the following day. He could tell that Chi was deeply saddened by this news, and to his surprise, she hugged him tightly for the longest time. When they separated, he could see that she was crying.

  Shawn entered the parlor and noticed that Madame Chi looked as stunning as ever. She was dressed in a beautiful red Ao Dai embroidered with white orchards. She offered him breakfast, which he greedily accepted. He had three eggs with toast and washed it down with a lot of black coffee. Shawn was just finishing his meal when Chi sat down next to him. She wanted to shed some light on Sydney Perotti. Many of her working girls had heard rumors about the interrogation techniques used by her, and she wanted to tell Shawn about them.

  “From what I’ve heard, she’s really quite the Dragon Lady. I wanted to tell Jesse, but I didn’t think it was my business to spread rumors about someone he cared for. Besides, he might have thought that I was being spiteful. Now I wish I would have said something.”

  “What rumors did they hear?”

  “She likes to inflict a lot of pain on prisoners, and some of them disappear, never to be seen or heard from again. I’ve also heard that she’s involved in the opium trade.”

  Shawn nodded, “I’m certainly no saint, and it’s no secret that the CIA has used interrogation tactics that, let’s just say, aren’t very nice. I’m not making excuses for her, but unfortunately, war can bring out the worst in people, Madame Chi. And as for the drug trafficking, it’s been rumored for years that the CIA has used the drug trade to finance some of its illicit operations.”

  Chi looked down and slowly nodded her head. “Yes, war brings out a lot of evil things in people.”

  Shawn got up to leave a short time later, and Chi followed him to the door.

  “Your girls are all very beautiful, some more inside than out. But you are both Madame Chi, and I will miss all of you very much. Please give your girls all my best.”

  “Thank you; I will convey your message to them. You are a good man, Mr. Shawn. I will miss you also.”

  With that, she took his hand and walked him to the street, where they hugged, and he kissed her on her cheek. Shawn turned and didn’t look back. He jumped into his Jeep and drove away with many things going through his mind. As Shawn drove off, he pondered the information Chi had given him. He would have passed it off as bullshit pillow talk by drunken NVA soldiers had not Jesse shared with him the conversation that he had with Sanders. Now that Sanders was dead, he wondered what had happened to the letter that was in his pocket.

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  *****

  Sydney ordered the ARVN guards to strip Li naked. They tied his legs together and his arms behind his back. There was a rope hanging from the rafters, and they dragged him over to where it was dangling and tied his wrists to it. When they were finished, they forced him to sit on a stool. Sydney watched the entire procedure, then she dragged a chair over in front of him and sat down.

  “I’m sure you know what’s going to happen to you next. After all…we learned it from you. You don’t have to tell me your name, rank, or any of that other bullshit. I’m just going to have these men inflict some pain on you. It’s as simple as that.”

  Li responded by spitting in her face.

  Sydney wiped it off with the back of her hand and came off her chair instantly. She struck Li with a closed fist on the side of his face and then turned and nodded at the guards.

  The two men pulled on the loose end of the rope and lifted Li off the stool. The strain on his shoulders was so intense that he couldn’t breathe. He had never felt such excruciating pain in his entire life. The pain in his knee was nothing compared to what he was now forced to endure. Both arms were almost dislocated from their sockets. Just before he thought that both his arms were going to pop out of their sockets, he thankfully passed out.

  Li was lowered to the floor, hosed down with cold water and given smelling salts to revive him. Li cursed his tormentors and their families, after which an order was given by Sydney to hoist him up again. Li endured the same excruciating pain as before, but strangely, it wasn’t as intense this time.

  Li woke as sounds drifted into his ears. He was lying on the damp floor with his arms still tied behind his back. Cold sweat had formed on his face. The pain was not as severe now, but his arms were numb, and his shoulder sockets were on fire. He opened his eyes partially, and a blurry figure stood over him. The two soldiers were ordered to hose him down and prop him on the short wooden stool again. The water was cold, yet it felt good.

  “Have you been enjoying our hospitality so far?” Sydney asked him in English.

  Li found no need to answer her obvious sadistic rhetorical question even though he understood every word.

  “I’ll take your silence as a no.”

  Li snorted and answered her in English, “Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with you fucking bitch?”

  Sydney started to laugh, “You are right about one thing. I am a fucking bitch, but no, no, no, I’m not going to kill you. Under normal circumstances, I would honor your request...but last night, you hurt someone that I cared deeply for, and for that, I had to punish you. Now I want to tell you a little secret. You did me a big favor last night. The man you killed… well, let’s just say he had something that would have ended my career prematurely. That means because you did me a favor, I won’t kill you, even though I should.”

  Li said nothing, but he pondered what kind of woman this was before him. Obviously, the bitch had issues.

  Sydney ordered the two guards to gag him again, tie his arms in front of him this time, and hoist him up. After his feet were off the floor, Sydney walked behind him, wearing leather gloves and a set of brass knuckles. She punched Li in the kidneys as hard as she could ounce, twice, and then a third time. She walked around to face him and did the same to his rib cage. She could see his body tense, and he made a groaning sound after each painful blow. When she finished, she looked into his eyes. His face was countered in pain, and tears were streaming down his face. At that moment, all Li wanted to do was die and get it over with.

  "Did you know that I'm an authority on Chinese history? No, of course, you don't. Did you know that in the Shang Dynasty, the Shang kings castrated prisoners of war, and the castration included removal of the penis as well as the testicles?"

  Li’s eyes grew large at the thought of this humiliation.

  Sydney walked over to a table that contained a small propane torch and other dubious objects. She lit the torch, grabbed a sharp knife by its handle, placed the blade under the flame, and watched until it turned cherry red. With the blade still glowing, she walked over to Li and ordered the guards to cut his leg restraints and hold his legs apart.

  “Now, don’t take this personally, but this is part of your punishment for hurting my friend. However, unlike the Shang kings, I’m only going to remove your testicles. This might hurt a bit, but I did sterilize the blade for you. We wouldn’t want you to get an infection, would we?”

  Li’s eyes grew as large as dinner plates as he watched her approach. She looked at Li and smiled when she saw the terror in his eyes. With her gloved hand, she grabbed his right testicle and pulled it down hard, then sliced it off in one quick motion. Li became rigid and groaned through his gag. Then she placed the red-hot blade on the wound to cauterize it. The smell of burning flesh filled the air. After what seemed like an eternity to Li, she withdrew the knife. She then casually walked over to the table, placing the knife and gloves back down. She then turned to face Li again.

  “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it? I’ll return tomorrow to continue our conversation and remove the other one for you. You know, those things just make all that testosterone, and too much of that shit, to be honest with you, just makes some men really aggressive. You might not thank me now, but I’m really doing you a favor. The only bad thing is…you won’t be having any children. But you know…who really would want those noisy, messy things anyway? They are simply just a pain in the ass.”

  Sydney turned to the guards.

  “Cut him down and throw him back in his cell. Oh, and give him his clothes and something to eat and drink for being such a good boy.”

  Sydney then blew Li a kiss and walked out the door.

  As she walked away, she had no way of knowing that she wouldn’t be back to finish the job.