Situation Room

“Please do. You know who I work for. Your complaint will get as far as the office shredder. It will go right down the memory hole. But do it anyway, as an intellectual exercise.”

“I plan to,” Swann said. With that, he went out the door. He pulled it tight behind him, but did not slam it.

Luke exhaled. He looked at Ed. “Ed, can you please fill up these watering cans at the kitchen sink? We’re going to need them in a minute.”

Ed gave a devilish half-smile. “With pleasure.”

As he picked up the watering cans, he stared at Li. He showed Li the crazy giant eyeball look that he sometimes used on people. It was a look that gave even Luke the willies. It made Ed seem psychotic. It made him look like a man who found sadism pleasurable. Luke wasn’t sure where that look came from, or what it meant. He didn’t really want to know.

“Brother,” Ed said to Li. “Your day is about to get a lot longer.”

As Ed busied himself in the cabin’s tiny kitchen, Luke looked closely at Li. The man was quaking now. His entire body vibrated as if some low current of electricity was running through it. His eyes had become wide and scared.

“You’ve seen this before, haven’t you?” Luke said.

Li nodded. “Yes.”

“On prisoners?”

“Yes.”

“It’s bad,” Luke said. “It’s very bad. No one holds up against it.”

“I know,” Li said.

Luke glanced at the kitchen. Ed was taking his sweet time in there. “And Ed… you must know how he is. He enjoys this kind of thing.”

Li didn’t say anything to that. His face turned bright red, and then gradually morphed to dark red. It seemed like there was an explosion going on inside him, and he was trying to contain it. He squeezed his eyes shut. His teeth clenched, then started chattering. His whole body began to shudder.

“I’m cold,” he said. “I can’t do this.”

Just then, something occurred to Luke.

“They’ve done it to you,” he said. “Your own people.” It wasn’t a question. He knew it like he knew his own name. Li had been waterboarded before now, and in all likelihood, it was the Chinese government that had done it.

Suddenly Li’s mouth opened in a scream. It was a silent scream, his jaws opened to their full extension. It somehow reminded Luke of a werewolf howling in agony during the bone-breaking transition from human to canine form. Except there was no sound. Almost nothing came out of Li, just a low gagging sort of noise deep in his throat.

His entire body was stiff now, every muscle tensed as if the electrical current had just gone up ten notches.

“You were a traitor,” Luke said. “An enemy of the state. But you were rehabilitated in prison. Torture was part of the process. They made you into an agent, but not a valuable one. You’re one of the expendables. That’s why you were out here in the field, and that’s why you had cyanide pills. If you got caught, you were supposed to kill yourself. There was almost no way you wouldn’t get caught, right? But you didn’t do it, Li. You didn’t kill yourself, and now we’re the only hope you’ve got.”

“Please!” Li shouted. “Please don’t do it!”

The man’s body shook uncontrollably. More than that. A smell started to come from him, the thick humid smell of feces.

“Oh my God,” he said. “Oh my God. Help me. Help me.”

“What’s going on here?” Ed said as he returned with the watering cans. He made a face as the smell hit his nose. “Oh, man.”

Luke raised his eyebrows. He almost felt sympathy for this man. Then he thought of the more than a thousand dead, and the many thousands who had lost their homes. Nothing, no negative life experience, could justify doing that.

“Yeah, Li’s a mess,” he said. “He’s a trauma case. Looks like this isn’t his first time around with waterboarding.”

Ed nodded. “Good. So he knows the drill already.” He looked down at Li. “We’re gonna do it anyway, you hear me, girly boy? We don’t care about the smell, so if that’s your game, it didn’t work.” Ed glanced at Luke. “I’ve seen this before. People try it because they think that the smell is so rank we won’t want to go forward. Or maybe we’ll take pity on them. Or whatever.” He shook his head. “The smell is nasty, but I’ve never seen it work. We wouldn’t be here if we were the sensitive type, Li. I’ve smelled men after they’ve been disemboweled. Believe me, it’s worse than anything you can push out the regular way.”

“Please,” Li said again. He said it quietly now, almost a whisper. His body was shaking out of control. He hung his head and stared at the floor. “Please don’t do it. I can’t take it.”

“Give me something,” Luke said. “Give me something good, and then we’ll see. Look at me, Li.”

Li’s head hung even lower. He shook it. “I cannot look at you now.” His face made a grimace, a mask of humiliation. Then he started crying.

“Help me. Please help me.”

“You better give me something,” Luke said. “Or we’re going to get started.”

Luke stood ten feet away and watched him. Li was slumped over in the chair, his head low, his arms tight behind his broad back, his entire body trembling. There was no organization to it – every part seemed to be doing something different and unrelated to every other part. Luke noticed now that the crotch of Li’s jumpsuit was wet. He had also pissed himself.

Luke took a deep breath. They’d have to get somebody in here to clean this guy up.

“Li?” he said.

Li was still facing the ground. His voice sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a well. “There is a warehouse. It’s a small warehouse, with an office. An importer of Chinese goods. In the office, everything is explained.”

“Whose office is it?” Luke said.

“Mine.”

“It’s a front?” Ed said.

Li tried to shrug. His body jittered and jived. His teeth chattered as he talked. “Mostly. It had to be somewhat functional, or else there is no cover story.”

“Where is it?”

Li mumbled something.

“What?” Luke said. “I don’t hear you. If you play with me, we’re going to do this the hard way. You think Ed wants you off the hook? Think again.”

“It’s in Atlanta,” Li said, clear and firm now, as if telling it was a relief. “The warehouse is in Atlanta. That’s where I was based.”

Luke smiled.

“Well, you can give us the address, and we can fly down to Atlanta. We’ll be right back in a few hours.” He put his hand on Li’s shoulder. “God help you if we find out you’re lying.”

*

“Nice job, Swann,” Luke said. “I couldn’t have asked for better if I had written the script myself.”

“Did I ever mention I was in the theater club in high school? I played Mack the Knife one year.”