CHAPTER FIVE

China sits on the hard, kitchen chair with her hands tied behind her and a blindfold securely in place. There isn’t a sound to be heard except a low humming noise that seems to emanate from everywhere. She is cold and uncomfortable, and she is angry.

Mostly with herself.

She has gotten caught because she isn’t careful enough. She has taken to the tunnel at the first sound of the police coming into the house but isn’t confident that she should exit through the cold storage shed at the back of the property. These people are not stupid, after all, and will have guards there just in case, even though they can’t possibly know about the tunnel.

In any event, she has explored every inch of the tunnel for hours and found another way out that led to the sewers, which gives her access to the street a few blocks away. She thinks she is safe but an old lady walking the streets alone at night is an invitation to trouble.

Two street punks approach her demanding money, threatening her with knives. She deals with them quickly, but a police car has seen the two boys on the ground and come to their rescue. They call an ambulance for the boys and put her in the back of a police car waiting for their superiors to show up and sort out the mess.

But the superiors are working for others and here she is tied up in a black site like a common criminal. Soon they will come to question her and it won’t be pleasant.

She hears the shuffling first, like someone who walks without lifting his feet entirely off the floor. Like an old man would. A second chair scrapes the floor as it is dragged into place facing her and she hears a small grunt as the man sits down. She recognizes the smell -cigarettes and cheap perfume.

“Hello, mi amor,” she says. “It’s about time you got here.”

Silence.

Then her blindfold is pulled down and she blinks a few times, but now there is no doubt.

“I suppose you can get out of those ropes on your own,” he says.

“That was five minutes ago, before you got here,” China says. “Just in case.” China stretches her arms and then places her hands in her lap.

The man grunts with satisfaction. Then he sits back in his chair. “You haven’t changed,” he says.

“Yes, I have,” China shoots back. “I’m nearly eighty years old and these bones aren’t used to all the physical activity. Don’t you have a more comfortable chair?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, tell me where we are then.”

“You figure it out.”

China looks around at the dim room with the single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling between them. The floor is packed dirt, and the walls are made of wood. “We’re in an interrogation room at the farm.” La Granja is a black site operated by the secret service of Paraguay. So, she is in safe hands. Hopefully.

“Why are you here?” The man isn’t very friendly, which is strange since they have been married for ten years. Back in another life.

“Moises, what’s going on? Why am I tied up? And why are you the one interrogating me? I thought you were undercover with El Doce.”

“I retired. They aren’t a threat anymore, in fact they are supporting democracy in Paraguay,” Moises says. “Apparently it’s good for business.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? You could have come to Chicago to live with us, and reconnect with your family.”

“I couldn’t leave Paraguay without raising too many questions.”

“So, what’s going on? Can’t we have this talk over a cup of tea or something?”

“Why are you here?” Moises asks again.

“You brought me here, mi amor. Remember?”

“Don’t play games with me. You were told never to come back to Paraguay. Yet here you are. Why?”

China is silent. She weighs her options carefully.

“You know why I had to leave,” she says.

“You killed General Stroessner,” Moises says. “Good riddance.”

“I murdered the General,” China corrects him. “I still have nightmares. I took him into the jungle on that helicopter on the pretense that I was helping him escape and rejoin his brother.” She is silent for a moment.

“You did what you were ordered to do,” Moises says quietly.

“But never in cold blood.”

Silence.

“The boy is in danger,” she says finally. “If they find out what I did, they will kill him.”

“They don’t know,” Moises says. “Nobody knows. Colonel Oveido is dead. I took care of the helicopter pilot.”

“You killed him?”

Silence.

“But only you have the codes,” Moises says quietly. “And now we are all in danger.”

“He is my grandson. I will not make that sacrifice.”

“It is out of your hands,” Moises says. “When he turns 19…”

“You can’t touch him,” China interrupts. “I don’t care about his mother. She’s a Stroessner but I didn’t know until recently that Miguel Angel was Arnold’s child. He’s your grandson too.”

“That’s why you’re here? To save him? We knew about Lujan and her boy from the beginning. We just didn’t tell you.”

China nods slowly. “Because I have the codes and you couldn’t risk me coming back.”

“Yet, here you are.”

“Here I am.”