The Sidenstrasse Tapestry: An Indiana Jones Fan-Fiction

Chapter 5: Kashgar, Communist China, 1960

In a cheap motel room in Kashgar, on the western border of China and the U.S.S.R. a man lay on a lumpy bunk, wondering. His mind was spinning in worry and making his own death threats...

Mostly they were focused on the mission. The side of the mission which he couldn't control...

Was Mac alive? Or had the shots fired at their final meeting sent Mac to his death. Or had he been killed when he'd crossed the frontier with hot goods? Was Mac getting help? Or trapped in a Soviet gulag! Mac had to reach Washington!

The spy couldn't fight much longer!

He would surrender, but the Communists wouldn't get him.

Not alive, anyway....

He would take the secrets to his grave... all his training had prepared him for these dire events... but survival kicked constantly, like a heartbeat. He couldn't give up - He didn't want to die!

However, it was only a matter of time before the Chinese secret police, or the Soviets... or someone else... found him.

The desperate spy picked up the revolver.

"Siden?" a voice at the door whispered.

The gun fell to the floor.

"Siden?" she asked again.

The tired spy looked up from the bunk and croaked, "Strasse. The door's open...come in."

Emily Jones stepped inside.

"Where's Mac?" the spy asked.

"He sent me."

"What are you gonna do? Scream when you see the Soviet Red Army?"

"I've already seen the Red Army and they are just like you and me. Different ideas, but people still the same. Besides, all armies bleed red."

The spy focused on her dark eyes. He would see if his mysterious visitor was lying in those dark pools of molten chocolate. Her eyes were concerned and tired.

There was a long pause in the conversation.

He caved and spoke first. "My name is Jake Manifold. Who are you?"

"Emily Jones. I've come for the scroll fragment."

"Go ahead, let them chase you all around the world with it!"

Emily turned back to Jake. "I know what I'm doing! I'm an archaeologist!"

"You mean Mac couldn't even send a spy!?"

"He looked! The man he wanted wasn't there."

"So he sent me a cut rate whore!"

A boot swung. Jake caught it and knocked Emily on the floor. Emily rolled knocking him to the ground. Her hand was blocked by his as she tried to hit his throat.

"Take that back before I pound you to the dirt!" Emily growled. Jake hit her in the jaw to silence her.

"OUCH!" Jake's hand snapped back.

Emily stood up and wiped tears away. "Serves you right!"

Jake cradled his hand near his chest, as Emily ran into the bathroom.

Jake got up, walked over. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, looking down at his feet.

Emily ignored him. Jake looked at her. She was frantically pounding her right side with skin tone make-up.

"Are you ignoring me?" he asked.

Emily jumped. "I couldn't see you!"

"Couldn't see me?" Jake echoed. He touched the make-up.

Emily jerked away. "Don't do that!"

"I'm sorry. Are you afraid of me?"

"No. Just... don't do that."

Emily had backed herself into the wall. Now she turned and battered her face with more make-up.

"Why are you doing that?" Jake asked. "You look beautiful without it."

"Not I'm not!" Emily wiped off the make-up revealing jagged white scars, crisscrossing her right side.

Jake saw the damage close to her eye. "You're half blind, aren't you?"

"Don't tell anybody, or I'll pound you further into the dirt!"

"What happened?"

"There was a cave-in at a tomb," Emily snapped, shaking. "My father crawled through the rubble looking for me. When he finally got out, with me in his arms, he was accused of robbing the tomb. Then he took me to the hospital, the doctor said I wouldn't live. My mother left, with my sister, because she didn't want an ugly daughter, and Dad was a criminal - there was nothing for her in Egypt. About a month later I was kicked out on the streets, even though Dad had paid the hospital bill. I went to his friend's house, stayed for awhile, hiding, because of the scars... and learning how to be... half blind. Dad broke jail, and we got out of the country."

"How old were you?"

"Five!" Emily sank to the floor.

"Does Mac know?"

"No. He knows about the iron in my jaw. I try to keep the blindness a secret."

Jake pulled Emily up and into his arms. "Is it a glass eye?"

"No. My skull fractured and cut the optic nerve. It didn't affect the blood flow or movement. Why do you care?"

Jake smiled. "You have compassion locked away inside your dark mysterious molten chocolate eyes. Why are you even here? Espionage is no place for compassion!"

"You've got it," Emily replied, wrestling out of his arms and returning to dabbing the make-up around her eye staring at the dingy mirror.

"What have you got to prove?" Jake cried.

"Nothing to me," Emily growled. "I've got to prove something to the world. Getting an unknown artifact is my chance. I know what I can do and what I can't." She grabbed her fedora and straightened it on her head, pulling it low.

"You've got to limit yourself. You're in too much danger already."

Emily whirled and shoved Jake away. "Where's the fragment?!" she demanded. "The Communists will never suspect a woman. They know your face - I can get away."

"I have to protect you!" Jake insisted.

"You don't have to protect me!" Emily nearly spat. "My father taught me self-defense. And my father will come get you. I'll make sure of it."

Jake gave up and handed the stubborn woman a carefully folded silk sheet from his pocket. "Who is your father?" His hand refused to let go of hers.

Emily looked at Jake. "My father is Indiana Jones."

He let go of the scroll fragment. "Get out of here!"