Undercover - In China - Book 7

Part 19 - Empty the Bucket

I examine the red line across Licia's cheek. Tears streaked her face. 'Are you okay?' 

 'Yes, but I lost my glasses.'

'I have them,' Miguel announced quietly. 'I caught them when Ziff stopped that guy. I think they're Oscar Kilo.'

There was a lot more arguing and shouting before we were escorted along a wide road that ran straight from the city gate to a watch tower built in the middle of a wide intersection. We were thrown into a black, smelly, windowless cell. There was just enough light, from a small hole in the door, to see that the cell was empty except for a heavy wooden bench and a bucket. 

 Miguel gave the door a push. 'We are definitely locked in. 'Now, what're we going to do? 

 'Why did I agree to go with you guys?' Licia asked bitterly. 'This place is awful. And I need to pee.'

 'It's worse than the girls' washroom at Silverwood,' Miguel agreed sympathetically. 

 'It's much worse,' I observed. 'I can't even read the graffiti . . . That bucket must be the toilet.'

 'Eeww. The bucket is half full,' Licia complained. 'You two turn your backs. I can't pee with you looking.'

Miguel and I put our faces together and peered through the hole in the door while Licia tinkled in the bucket.

'The mob seems to have gone,' I noted. 'There's just two guards left.'

'I wonder what happens next,' Miguel said.

'I guess we wait,' I said.

And that's what happened for several hours. We sat on the bench and talked and waited.

 'There's not even a place to wash your hands,' Licia grumped.

'I wish we had brought some chocolate chip cookies,' Miguel remarked wistfully.

Licia looked at him sympathetically. 'Withdrawal symptoms, eh?'

'Gosh I feel sleepy,' Licia said. I guess it's the jet lag. Do you mind if I stretch out on the bench for a nap?'

Miguel and I sat on the floor with our backs against the wall and debated how we might escape. After a while, I noticed Miguel had stopped talking. He had fallen asleep using his shoulder bag as a pillow. I suddenly realized that I needed sleep also and tried to get comfortable on the floor.

It seemed almost immediately I was awakened by a clatter of metal and I looked up at Miguel who was looking through the hole in the door.

 'What's up?' I asked.'

The guard is exercising.' 'What's going on out there?' Licia asked. 'Take a look.' The guard was prancing about, making theatrical slashes and lunges with a long handled, dagger axe, as if he were fighting imaginary foes.

'Let's try to get out of here,' I suggested. 'Licia, do you think you can make him angry? Tell him he is a klutz who should not play with sharp toys . . . Miguel,' I added, 'help me move this bench.'

 'I'll try,' Licia replied. 'They seem to speak a dialect somewhere between Mandarin and Cantonese but I can't understand a lot of the words because the tones have changed.' Licia started yelling at the guard in Mandarin. 'I told him he was such a knot-head; he was losing the shadow fighting contest. Laugh!' she ordered. 

 Miguel and I laughed loudly, 'Ha, Ha, Ha.' 

 It sounded false but it seemed to annoy the guard. He shouted back angrily. Licia yelled more insults. 

 'He claims to be a master of martial arts. I asked him whether he had been toilet trained yet.'

 The guard stormed to the door and screamed at Licia through the hole. She spat in his face. He bellowed with rage and snatched the door open as Licia backed into the far corner still yelling in Mandarin. The guard charged into the cell, waving a bamboo rod, but he tripped over the bench and fell on his face. Licia dodged around him and skipped after Miguel and me through the door. The guard was hobbling toward the door, bellowing in pain and anger as he stepped over the bench, put his foot in the bucket and fell over.

'Quick! The door.' I slammed it shut and Miguel dropped the wooden bar in place to lock it. He held up a hand and I slapped it triumphantly.

'Save the high fives, you two,' Licia snapped. 'Let's get out of here.' The guard was apoplectic, hammering on the door and screaming at us. 

 Licia shouted back in Mandarin as we ran out onto the street. 

 'I told him he should empty the bucket more often.'