China Strike by Stephen Mertz

Author:Stephen Mertz [Mertz, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action & Adventure
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

It was almost with a sense of relief that Dr. Yu heard footfalls approaching his cell.

Except for stale bread and water, and a bowl of some unidentifiable gruel, shoved into his cell once a day, he had been in solitary confinement for close to forty-eight hours, by his estimation.

Exhausted mentally and emotionally, he had spent much of that time drifting in and out of a fitful sleep. He continued to have dreams about his family, about his wife and Ti and Yim-fong.

Thankfully, his subconscious had spared him the nightmare of his daughters drowning and the world turning black. But the dreams that haunted him were almost as bad; visions of his wife and children floated in and out of his addled brain, and their faces were never tranquil, never relaxed, no. Their expressions were twisted into masks of fear and terror and dread.

The approaching footfalls had mercifully pulled him from such a dream.

His little corner of the world remained the whitewashed walls of the cramped, six-foot-square cell, the wooden bed with the straw mattress, the small barred window darkened by night. The overhead light in the steel mesh had remained on the whole time of his confinement.

As bad as sleep and the dreams were, his waking hours had been just as difficult. Ever since their last conversation, when Kwan had mentioned using Mei and the girls to force him to talk, worry had festered like a cancer within Dr. Yu, consuming him with its own kind of pain.

He told himself they were safe in Hong Kong. That Ling Pao, the man that had smuggled them out, could be trusted. That they were somewhere waiting for him, where Colonel Kwan could not reach them. But of course he could not be sure, and the worry grew within him.

Twice he had been stunned to feel the sharp, tightening pain in his chest that he had not felt since before the open heart surgery eighteen months earlier. Then the chest pains had gone away and the only physical discomfort he felt was a rawness around the eyes from the constant bright light. But the chest pains had been real enough.

Something else to worry about, but not as much as he worried about his family.

Were they all right? Forty-eight hours ago, Kwan had threatened that the next time he interrogated him, he would have Mei and the girls with him and this would make Dr. Yu cooperate.

The footfalls came to a stop outside his cell. A key turned in the lock.

Dr. Yu felt his heart pounding against his rib cage. He stood in the center of the cell, facing the door, afraid to look but forcing himself to. He did not know what he would do if Kwan appeared with Mei or one of the girls in custody, threatening to do them harm.

Yes, yes, he did know what he would do. He would tell them everything they wanted to know if they would only promise not to harm his loved ones. He would

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