Jackie Blake and her young daughter Melanie had planned their trip to China for almost a year. They decided against an organized tour in order to have the freedom to spend additional time at favorite sites if they wanted. With that freedom came a somewhat uneasy feeling of being truly alone at times.
About one week into their planned two-week visit, they found themselves far inland at the smallest of the cities they had seen so far. Despite its remote location, the city had a school with working computers and Internet access. After a little haggling with the school administrator, the tourists were told they could use the computers for an hour to e-mail friends and relatives later that evening. Jackie was certain the ten-dollar fee was going straight into the old man’s pocket.
Jackie was a 40 year-old stockbroker who was divorced from Melanie’s father for ten years. Melanie, nineteen, was on summer vacation after completing her first year at college. Both were tall blondes, making them stand out in the crowd wherever they went, and there was little doubt in the minds of the “locals” that these were Americans.
That evening, they sat in their hot motel room talking about what they had done and seen that day. They were both enjoying the trip, as well as spending time together.
“Well, let’s go,” Jackie finally said. “I hope the old man comes through with these computers. But, if not, I’m only out ten bucks.”
“That may be the most money he’s seen in months,” Melanie said.
They locked the door behind them and walked the short distance to the school. The school, like most buildings they had been in, was not air-conditioned. So, they wore shorts, as usual. Jackie had on a sleeveless shirt and Melanie wore a tank top without a bra, which annoyed her mother to no end.
They found the school administrator in his office and he took the women to the room with the computers. In broken English, he advised them the school would close in one hour. Jackie and Melanie agreed and thanked the man, who bowed and left the room.
Despite slow connections, the women were into their mail accounts within a couple minutes and worked in silence, except for the sound of their typing. About fifteen minutes later, voices could be heard in the hallway outside their room. Jackie looked up as three uniformed men entered the room, followed by the administrator.
“Stand up,” the first man in a brown military-like uniform said abruptly.
Jackie and Melanie looked at each other, then pushed their chairs away from the desks and stood.
“Come with us,” the man ordered.
“What? Why?” Jackie said, confused.
The two younger uniformed men each took one of the women’s arms and led Jackie and Melanie down the hall.
“Hey. Wait a minute. What is this?” Jackie’s voice was getting louder and more forceful.
None of the men acknowledged her pleadings as they reached the front of the school. They walked down the steps and in the direction of two awaiting cars. Jackie was led towards one, Melanie the other.
“Mom. What’s happening?” Melanie shouted.
“I don’t know, hon. We’ll be OK,” Jackie answered.
The car doors closed once everyone was inside the cars and they sped off toward the center of the city.
“I demand an explanation,” Jackie said.
There was no response from the man sitting next to her, or the driver. She sat back and resigned herself to the fact no answers were coming from them. Jackie turned around and watched the second car follow them. Melanie’s head could be seen in the back seat and there didn’t appear to be much being said in that car, either, Jackie thought.
Soon, the cars pulled up to the front of a two-story stone building with other uniformed men walking in and out. The women exited their cars and were ushered up the steps into the building, closely observed by passing officers and citizens on the sidewalk.
The group passed a small reception desk and proceeded down a narrow hall past offices on either side. Near the end of the hall, they turned into a little room consisting solely of a wooden table and four chairs, with windowless doors at either end. The women were told to sit next to each other on one side of the table and, without further discussion, were left alone in the room, the door shutting loudly behind the last of the uniformed men.
“Mom, I’m scared,” Melanie said.
“Don’t be. It’s…” her mother was saying when the door to the hallway opened.
A middle-aged man entered the room, wearing a darker version of the same uniform the women had seen before. He was short, not unattractive and powerfully built. The arms under his short sleeve shirt rippled with muscles as he pulled out a chair from across the table and sat down.
“Ladies, I am Zao Lin, commander of this station. You have been brought here under serious charges,” the commander said, pausing to look at the women. “You are charged with bribery in order to view pornographic material on our computers.”
“What?” Jackie exclaimed. “That’s a lie.”
“Enough,” Lin said loudly. “Do you deny giving Mr. Tung ten American dollars to use the computers?”
“If you mean the school administrator… he demanded the money,” Jackie stammered.
“So you don’t deny it,” the commander said.
“I didn’t…he demanded…” Jackie was saying when Lin interrupted her.
“Stop. Come with me,” Lin said as he stood from the table.
He faced the women until they, too, stood. He then motioned to the door at the end of the room opposite the hallway entrance. Jackie and Melanie walked around the table while Lin moved to the door and opened it.
The room they entered was a little larger than the first one, with dark curtains hanging on the opposite wall, a couch and a wood table in the center of the room with no chairs. A second door was next to the curtains.
Two men in uniforms stood by the table. The commander spoke Chinese to one of the men, who then took Melanie by the arm and walked her towards the far door. Melanie looked back and said, nearly in tears, “Mom.”
“It’ll be OK, hon,” Jackie told her, as her daughter disappeared into another room.
Lin spoke to the remaining officer and the younger man moved to the curtains, pulling them apart in a swift motion. Jackie could see into the next room, where three men joined Melanie. Directly across from the window, which Jackie assumed was a mirror on the reverse side, was a single bed with a gray, metal headboard. In the center of the room, two sets of chains dangled from the ceiling with shackles at the ends.
Jackie watched, her heart pounding, as one man grabbed Melanie’s arms and pulled them behind her. Jackie could see Melanie’s mouth open with a scream, but couldn’t hear anything. A second man stepped in front of the girl and put his hand on her face, then moved it down her neck until it rested on her breast. He squeezed it before putting his hand inside her tank top and cupping the breast.
