Fortunate Sons

Chapter 36: The Hungry Ghost

Taylor awoke with a heavy head and foggy vision, his skin prickled by something rough and splintery. Only when he was fully awake did he find his wrists bound with itchy ropes and his shirtless torso pressed against the rough wood of a post.

"Dix?" he panicked. "Mitch?"

"Tay?" Dix asked. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know, where the hell are we?"

The room was dimly lit, bare of anything save for the posts that the three companions were tied to. They heard heavy footfalls approaching from the doorway, the heavy boot heels making the bamboo floors creak and groan. Their eyes widened in fear as the figure emerged from the darkness into the dim, orange light of the lantern that hung from the ceiling above. To their horror, it was the very figure from the photographs that they had seen back at the embassy compound.

"So," he said stonily. "We meet at last."

General Cao was exactly like his photograph, ugly as sin with a snakelike glint in his hard, black eyes. He always stood ramrod straight, sometimes with his hands behind his back or at his sides. But there was something within this notorious general that only the three companions could see, something nightmarish and dark.

"You three and your ragtag team of backwoods villagers have caused me more trouble than I could ever account for," General Cao said to them. "I'm sure an old friend of mine will be pleased to know that the nuisance will be taken care of in a matter of minutes."

"Colonel Paulsson will have you shot if they find out we're here," Taylor retorted. "So will Colonel Swyft."

"Will they now?" General Cao replied with a deadly smirk.

Two of Cao's men hauled in two familiar figures, the figures of their commanding officers, each one restraining them by the arms. A bloody gash had run its way down Paulsson's temple with small red rivulets trailing down his jaw. He was bruised and battered, terribly battered with ugly black and purple welts on his arms and face. The same had been done to Swyft. The two bulls had become as submissive as a pair of oxen.

"Damn dirty dogs!!" Taylor shouted.

General Cao drew the sharply pointed dagger concealed at his side and held the cold, metal tip against Taylor's throat. "Temper, temper," he said, pretending to chide him. "If I kill you now then my enjoyment will be gone. You wouldn't want that to happen now would you?"

Taylor clenched his teeth and glared at the General. Anger and rage boiled up inside like a freshly stirred fire, growing and growing until his only desire was to kill General Cao and spill his blood upon all of Vietnam. He'd just be one of thousands more......he thought. Cao's death would mean nothing to people.....just another infamous name in the history books.

"Now then," the General said dangerously. "I believe that the three of you have something that I want and you're going to tell me where it is, otherwise you'll have a miserable time."

Taylor tensed but relaxed when Cao pulled the blade away. The burn and sting of the metal was still fresh, even as the mark in the skin disappeared. "I suppose I'll have to resort to other methods," Cao mused. "I don't want to, but if I must, I must. Now, which one of you would like to tell me of the book?"

Taylor, Dix and Mitch felt their hearts hammering against the wood posts and echoing back against their chests. "How do you know about the book?" Taylor questioned sharply.