Chapter 26
MARY Joe's premonition was right. She soon found herself in the Governor's room in the forecourt of the Drapchi prison, looking across a green baize table at the governor himself. Apart from the imposing table and the throne like chair on which the governor sat, it was a spartan room. Two manacles were displayed on the blank expanse of wall behind the governor's chair and two faded wrestling prints hung on the walls, one of them slightly askew. It was customary for important prisoners to be brought straight to the governor, who then decided where they were to be lodged and how they were to be treated in the prison. If a prisoner had any jewellery on his person or any other valuable with him, it was likely that he saw the last of it here. Wao Wang was reported to have amassed a vast private horde of stolen jewellery, gold fillings, sacred reliquaries, prayer wheels and rosaries taken away from poor prisoners.
He looked at Mary Joe with his little piggy eyes alight with interest. "So who do we have here. The little American girl who is sought by all yet found by none."
"I am Chinese, comrade."
"Aha, is that right. We shall soon see as to that." He walked up to Mary Joe and stared down at her. Then he did something that he should not have done. He put his hands on her buttocks and pressed them. The soft fat hands lingered lasciviously over their firm contours, the pudgy fingers moving over the yielding flesh like fat caterpillars. Mary Joe's hands were manacled but her legs were free and she drove one knee into the bulging pot belly, knocking the breath out of Wao. Wao deflated like a punctured balloon, clutching his stomach with both hands. But he had been a wrestler in his prime and was used to taking punishment. He recovered quickly.
"So float like a butterfly, sting like a bee eh!" This time he stayed clear of Mary Joe's legs and aimed his huge ham like fist at the side of her neck. Mary Joe saw the blow coming and ducked to let the fist sail overhead. "All right, enough play acting, take her clothes off!" he signalled to one of the guards to carry out his orders. The guard was rash enough to approach Mary Joe without really worrying about what she might do to him. As he got close to her he had his legs kicked from under him. He lay there sprawled on the ground, looking up at the girl and hardly knowing what had hit him.
"All right call Jumbo!"
Jumbo Lee was one of the biggest men Mary Joe had seen. He was as big as Wao Wang, but he wasn't soft like him. He was rock hard muscle, all six and half feet of him and despite his bulk, he moved with the feline grace of a panther. He was Wao' s personal executioner and hatchet man. Whenever a particularly tough prisoner arrived in the prison, who had to be straightened out in a hurry, he was handed over to Jumbo. Jumbo was especially effective on those prisoners who were proud of their physical prowess. Those who thought they were tough, quickly changed their minds once they had a few of their teeth knocked out by Jumbo. Wao was fond of organising gladiatorial contests where these prisoners were pitted against Jumbo. To date no prisoner had so much as seriously hurt Jumbo. Everyone of them had been battered black and blue by the big man, and once you were thrashed before your comrades, beaten in a primordial trial of strength, you lost not only your pride, but also your will to resist. Things had come to such a pass, that no one was now prepared to step into the ring against Jumbo, and sometimes two or even three prisoners were pushed into the arena, like lambs to slaughter, to provide a spectacle for Wao, whenever he felt like staging one of these contests.
Jumbo, approached Mary Joe from behind, quickly put one huge arm around her waist pinning her body against his torso and with the other arm roughly tore off her shirt. Mary Joe cursed under her breath. "If you are man, come arid fight me from the front. Untie my hands and then let us see how much a man are you?"
"Bravo, spirited as well as beautiful," said Wao Wang, after satisfying himself that Mary Joe had no valuables on her person, no concealed wads of dollars bills or other exotic riches which he had hoped for. "Don't worry my dear, if you want to fight Jumbo that can be arranged easily. We will have the fight this evening in fact. I'll see that he doesn't break any bones."
The gladiatorial contests that Wao Wang was fond of staging took place in the courtyard of the Drapchi prison, in the open yard that was also used for exercising the prisoners. These occasions were enjoyed by the prisoners because it gave them a fleeting taste of freedom. They could move about the yard freely, cheer their man, shout curses at Jumbo Lee if they felt liked it and in general breathe in the fresh air and contemplate the blue sky. The guards liked these occasions too, because they could let their hair down, do their private trading with the prisoners and generally enjoy the spectacle, without worrying about the iron fist of the governor. All the guards, except those manning the outer watch towers came down to the yard on these occasions. Partly to maintain order, but mainly to enjoy themselves. Wao Wang liked these occasions because apart from his love of random violence, these occasions gave him the feeling of being a potentate putting up a show for his grovelling subjects. The only person who didn't enjoy these occasions was usually the hapless prisoner who had to be at the receiving of Jumbo Lee's brutality. He usually ended the day in the prison hospital.
The yard did not have a ring or an arena. Usually a few mattresses were thrown on the ground and the crowd of spectators arranged themselves around these in the shape of a rough square. The size of this square varied according to the status of the fight. When the contestants were fighting well, usually in the beginning of the fight, they were given plenty of elbow room and the square was large. When Jumbo Lee moved in for the kill at the end of the fight, the square narrowed to a few yards. The intently watching spectators gathered around the victim, not out of sympathy, but out of bloodlust, waiting for Jumbo to dispatch his prostrate and helpless antagonist. So easily do men bid goodbye to their finer feelings.
Today the square was larger than usual. The rumour mills had been working overtime and their was a buzz of expectation when Mary Joe was brought to the ring. Some people said she was a Buddhist nun with supernatural powers and Jumbo wouldn't be able to touch her. Still others said she was a Chinese martial arts expert who had been caught while trying to defect to the West. Some even said she was an American or Indian agent with special training in unarmed combat. People Were keen that someone should get the better of Jumbo at last, though most people, looking at the tall slim girl felt sceptical and doubtful in their hearts. Jumbo Lee was simply too big and too powerful for the girl, no matter what skills she had.
Jumbo Lee soon entered the ring in his customary blue robe which he took off when he was in the middle of the arena, flexing his awesome muscles. There were some cheers, and some catcalls, but most of the cheering was for Mary Joe. It was clear that the crowd was on her side. When the contestants had shaken hands, and the referee, an old prison guard had explained the rules to both the fighters, Wao signalled for the fight to begin. The rules were quite simple. The contestants could hit their opponents on any part of their bodies and use any part of their own anatomy as a weapon. They were barred from using anything apart from their own bodies, as a weapon. The fight went on till one of the contestants surrendered or was knocked out. Their were no breaks between rounds. The fight went on without a break right up to the end. That was all.
The art of unarmed combat is all about neutralising a physically more powerful opponent by speed and skill. Brute power, provided by muscle and mass is one thing, but the impact of a swiftly moving body part targeting a vulnerable area of the opponent's body can be even more deadly. Martial art experts are trained to use parts of their body, fists, knuckles, elbows, feet, knees and even the head as battering rams, as guided missiles, and as protective shields. Hands and feet, toughened by hours of practice against sandbags, pummelling hot sand, can become as lethal as sharpened steel. Fingers and knuckles, hardened to the tensile strength of tempered steel can smash through body tissue with the destructive impact of a bullet. Feet strengthened by clobbering piles of bricks and stacks of hardboard, don't take much effort to slice through bone and muscle. The true expert makes his body a deadly arsenal whose awesome power, even he uses with respect.
But this is only the physical side of it. The real fight is always in the mind. That is why for the true practitioner of any of the great systems of unarmed combat, his art is ultimately a spiritual thing, teaching him to concentrate all the energies of his being on a single task sapping the enemy's will to fight. This concentration of mind is the key. When the mind becomes one pointed, drained of all random thought, and focused on the single task of defeating the opponent, it is a weapon more powerful and more deadly than any that the opponent can bring into play. That is why great practitioners of Chen Yoshi for instance, gaze straight into the eye of their opponent. Their calm, unwavering gaze hot only unnerves the opponent, it allows them to anticipate his move and ultimately to undermine his will to fight.
This is what Mary Joe did. She looked straight into the eyes of her opponent, her gaze calm and devoid of all expression. This binocular gaze, void of any human feeling, boring straight into the depths of his eyes, had an unsettling effect on Jumbo Lee. He was expecting the girl to be afraid, but it was he who now found himself wrestling with a tiny sliver of doubt as tried to lock eyes with the girl but found that he could not sustain the stare.
Jumbo Lee's tactics were simple. He usually stalked his opponents round the ring and when he caught up with them, he gave them the bear hug, a crushing embrace that usually cracked their rib bones. He counted on his superior strength to bear down on his opponent. He was so confident of his own strength that he usually did not bother to defend himself. If somebody hit him, he took the blow head on. He had a great capacity to absorb punishment. He was so strong chat most people could barely hurt him. Their blows, he shook off as if they were simply gnat bites, not worth bothering about. In his scheme of things it was his opponent who had to worry about saving his skin. Not that he could save it for long. After playing with his opponents for some time, like a cat playing with a mouse, he usually moved in for the kill. Most of his fights had gone according to this script and that was the way he intended to play it this time too.
So he stalked Mary Joe around the ring, moving after her with his long graceful stride. She was careful to stay just out reach, about ten or twelve feet away. He knew she couldn't keep away from forever. Sooner or later he would corner her. Then he would give her the bear hug. He pictured it in his mind's eye, the girl struggling in his embrace, his lips on her throat and his embrace gradually crushing her rib cage. But just then, instead of back pedalling, as she had been doing all the while, the girl leaped at him with a yell and the extended fingers of her hand raked down his cheek, scoring deep lines in the flesh and drawing blood. The crowd yelled in appreciation. So this was going to be a fight after all. May be the girl was really possessed of supernatural powers. Who knows. The cheering in her favour grew louder as, with another yell she cut open Jumbo's other cheek with a similar raking blow. She then extended two fingers of her left hand and pointed them at Jumbo's eye. The meaning of the gesture was plain. She was saying, next I would get your eyes, watch out.
Jumbo stared at the two fingers pointing at him, as if mesmerised. He was angry with himself for having allowed the girl to hurt him. He was also frustrated that he hadn't been able to hit the girl as yet. He was losing focus. The clarity of his mind was becoming turbid with waves of emotion. He didn't know what he should do next. Because his mind wasn't clear he didn't see that the girl had stepped closer to him. But then he realized it and make a lumbering charge at the girl, holding out his arms as he did so to give her the crushing hug that was his speciality.
But the girl again took him by surprise. She didn't back pedal or rush away as he expected her to. Instead, she actually stood her ground. Then her left hand which she had been holding out with the two fingers pointed at him suddenly drew back and her right hand shot out like the bolt of rifle and two extended fingers jabbed into his solar plexus with the explosive force of slingshot. Jumbo Lee was a strong man. Had there any one at the receiving end but he, that person who would have collapsed like a pole-axed steer. Jumbo remained on his feet, but only just. He wobbled on his feet, his vision clouded and a dark cloud of pain seemed for a while to shut out the whole world.
But Jumbo recovered quickly. He also decided, for the first time in his life to change. tactics. He knew that he couldn't really hurt the girl by chasing her. He decided to let her take the initiative and make the moves. For the first time in his fighting career, Jumbo Lee went on the defensive. Mary Joe saw the change of tactics. She decided it was time to move in for the kill. She aimed a flying to kick to Jumbo's head, which if it had landed, would have knocked out an elephant, but Jumbo saw it coming and parried with one massive arm.
The blow landed just below the elbow. Jumbo felt the sickening crunch of bone hitting bone. He felt his whole arm jar violently. He realized that though he had parried the blow it had hurt him badly. For the first time he began to be really afraid. He had never before thought about being beaten, but now he thought about it. The prospect of being beaten, that too by a girl, wasn't calculated to please him. He pictured himself lying on the ground with the girl standing over him in triumph. He did not like what he saw. In desperation he looked at his mentor, Wao Wang sitting on a chair on a raised platform. Wao saw the desperation in Jumbo's eyes but there was nothing he could do about it.
One of the guards standing around the ring had a wooden club in his hand and now Jumbo grabbed this club out of his hands. A roar went through the crowd. A shower of well aimed missiles hit Jumbo, egg shells, rotten tomatoes, onions, stones and bricks were all used. Some people pushed the guards aside and broke through the ringside cordon. Soon more people surged through the breach. All these prisoners fell on Jumbo who soon disappeared beneath a mass of angry bodies. Then other prisoners fell on the guards. It was pandemonium everywhere.
As this free-for-all was going on, Mary Joe felt a pair of hands on her arm. She was pulled out of the ring and quietly taken through the melee to the outer office. No one stopped them. The guards were too busy fighting the mob of rioting prisoners to take note of them. Besides they all knew Tsering by sight and knew that he was allowed to leave the prison at will. The inner door of the prison was naturally locked, but Tsering knew where the keys were kept in the Governor's office. He went straight into Wao's room and opened the third drawer of the imposing deal table. Taking out the keys he went upto the door and opened it. The guards were all inside the prison, so no one stopped him.
Before stepping out he had a whispered consultation with Mary Joe. This was the critical part of their escape because the guards posted at the outer perimeter were still at their posts, unaffected by the rioting going on inside. They had still to cross the fifty yards of exposed causeway and then the final barrier of the outer gate. And the guards in their watch towers still stood impassively at attention, their carbines pointing ominously down at the causeway. They would have no compunction in shooting at anything that moved down that causeway.
But Lama Tsering was known to the guards and it was understood that he had been given the right of free passage by the governor. No one shot at him as he came out of the gate and boldly walked down the causeway. Coming to the outer gate he asked the guards to let him out One of the guards stooped to open the low postern gate set within the portals. It was then that Lama Tsering made his move. He snatched the carbine from the unwary guard and shot him down, being careful to shoot at his legs. Before the other guard could react he was also hit by a stream of bullets. The Lama didn't want to kill the guards. He was careful to aim low, but he had to immobilise both the guards quickly and there was no time for accurate shooting.
Having put out both the guards at the guardhouse Tsering came back on the causeway and started shooting at the guards in the watchtowers, shouting at Mary Joe to make a run for it at the same time. Mary Joe realized that this was her only chance. She also realized that Lama Tsering was making a diversion for her by risking his own life. She ran down the causeway as fast as she could. Tsering kept shooting up at the guards, who shot back at him, using the metal sheeting around the watch tower as a protective shield. T sering was hit by several bullets, but by drawing the guards' fire at himself he had allowed Mary Joe to escape. He didn't really feel the bullets as he lay on the causeway looking straight up at the immense blue vault of the Tibetan sky. He felt his soul soaring up to merge in its ethereal depths. For the first time in forty years he felt at peace with himself. He had discharged his debt to his country.
