She had bolted away from him, leaving him lying in the street as other beggars scrambled about fighting over the coins which she had dropped. She looked back and realized he seemed to have no interest in the money.

Julie had related all this to Jim, and together they had finally decided to meet the stranger. They had waited for him in the park under the tree for an hour, but he never showed up. When they finally left to return to their hotel room it was nearly dark.

In front of their hotel, they saw a black car with official markings. It was the local police, and they had not been at all gentle when they forced Julie and Jim in to their vehicle. During the short ride to police headquarters they were not allowed to speak, and no words were spoken to them. Both were very scared by the time they exited the car in an underground garage.

Next came a full day of terror. They were separated, and questioned. Both were stripped naked and left in dark, cold cells. Neither received any food or water. Neither could answer the questions they were asked.

The police wanted to know all about the mysterious stranger. No amount of denial would satisfy them that the two Americans were innocent bystanders. The police wanted the man for some reason, and they were certain these two were to have been his ticket out of the country.

dragged

Finally, Jim had been drug into a brightly lit cell. Off to one side was a series of steel tubes shaped somewhat like

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a chair. When he was placed in the arrangement and tightly strapped into place he was bent at knee and waist as if he were sitting in a chair, albeit one with no back or seat. It was very uncomfortable.

He had struggled long enough to know he was helpless. He could never free himself from the implacable bonds. He shivered as the cold steel was slowly warmed by his bare flesh. He shivered again when his interrogator appeared in front of him trailing a long whip.

"There are many forms of torture," the woman now facing him said. "You would be very bright if you just told us what we want to know. You could save yourself, and your wife, much heartache and despair, and no little pain.'

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When Jim shouted out that he did not know anything, and that he demanded to see the U.S. Ambassador, she just laughed. At a signal from her, someone grabbed his head from behind and forced his mouth open. Some kind of goo filled device was forced between his teeth and then his mouth was forced closed. They held him in this position for a couple of minutes. When they released his head, he found his teeth glued tightly together, and his mouth slowly filling with some kind of growing foam.

When it stopped, he was unable to make any kind of intelligent sound. A barely heard grunt was all he was capable of making. She proved it by lashing her whip down across his unprotected thighs. The lash felt like burning fire each time it struck him, but he could not cry out.

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