The flight was not until almost midnight, and Ingrid was happy to spend her last few hours with  Lui Shi. They had spent most of her holiday together, having met on her second day in the country.

She had been visiting the Zoo, and the world famous Giant Pandas, when she spotted him taking photographs of the visitors.

He asked if he could take hers, and she readily agreed.

He had an easy manner, talking fluently in English, which though was not Ingrid’s first language, was one she did understand, having spent time in England the year before.

Having discovered she was a tourist, he offered to show her the sights, and so began the friendship that would last throughout her stay.

He had spent almost every waking hour at her side, and though he had not pressed himself on her sexually, she felt at ease with him.

For four weeks he devoted his time to Ingrid, showing her the hidden side of the City, as well as the more tourist visible side. He had photographed her in many locations, some she had not been happy about being in, but with Lui Shi by her side, she had felt safe.

Ingrid was sure he would not let anything happen to her.

It was her final week, and her tickets were already booked to fly home.

He had found her in tears when he had come to her hotel room to take her out fr a meal.

She told him that she didn’t want to leave, but she had no choice. She had a course to finish, and her parents were expecting her back. But she didn’t want to leave. She had spent the time feeling so happy, and now, after her flight, she would never see him again.

It happened naturally. There was no pressure,  but as he held her, their eyes locked, and moments later they kissed for the first time. Even before she realised it, she was laying in his arms.

He was a gentle and considerate lover. He took her to levels she had never before experienced, and at the same time, left her wanting more. Each time he drew away, she found herself pulling him back.

And now, she was at the airport, and Lui Shi would become one more part of her past. Though a part she would regret leaving.

“Ingrid”.

The shout came from behind her, and as she turned around, he was there.

“I cannot let you go without a last goodbye” he said. It almost looked as if he had been crying. “I have a present for you to remember me by”

In his arms was a stuffed Giant Panda, at least three feet tall.

“To remind you where we met” he said, as he held her and kissed her cheek.

Ingrid was lost for words. Her face turned to his and  their lips touched., the kiss tasting all the sweeter, as she knew he should be somewhere else. He had given up the opportunity to earn some serious money, to come and say farewell before she caught the flight.

As her flight was called, and she turned to reluctantly join the queue, she heard him say.

“I will never forget you, Ingrid. One day, we will meet again.”

Tears flood3ed her eyes as she walked slowly away from him, cradling the Giant Panda in her arms.

She walked towards the customs desk, wishing she could hold Lui Shi one more time, but she turned around, and he had gone.

As she neared the customs desk she could see the dog sniffing at everyone’s ;luggage. There had been a bomb scare only a week before, and security had been increased. She moved closer and the dog seemed to become more excited about something.

It was only as she stopped at the desk, that the dog began barking crazily. It started to jump up at her, and she dropped the present Lui Shi had given her in fright.

Immediately, the dog began to rip at it with his teeth, growling.

Three custom officers came around the desk, two grabbing hold of Ingrid, the third pulling the dog away from the Giant Panda, now torn open.

As Ingrid looked down, she couldn’t believe her eyes. White powder was flowing freely from the neck of the Panda. This couldn’t be true. Lui Shi wouldn’t have done this to her, they were friends, lovers.

The customs men started shouting at her in Chinese, even though she could not understand what they were saying, it was clear they were annoyed and angry.

The two who had come to either side of her escorted her into a room on one side, whilst the third man picked up the Panda and the spewed contents.

Inside the room, Ingrid was pushed to a chair, as the two men began shouting at her. She had no idea what they were saying, no idea what was happening. Surely they could see this was some giant mistake. Surely the airport cameras had picked uo Lui Shi handing her the Panda as a gift.

Within minutes a woman customs officer entered the room. She was more like a wrestler than Ingrid had ever seen. She stood in front of Mora and started to shout at her.

Ingrid couldn’t help the tears. This couldn’t be happening. Not to her.

The two men left the room, as a second and third female customs officers arrived. Within minutes, they had forcible undressed her, her clothes lying torn on the floor, as they had ripped open the seams on every piece of her clothing.

Naked, and frightened, Ingrid asked for a Consul, but either the officers didn’t understand her, or they were simply ignoring her.

Two of the officers grabbed her arms and pulled her forwards, over the wooden desk, as the third moved behind her, pulling on a pair of thin rubber gloves.

Though she screamed her innocence, the woman still gave Ingrid a full body search. She had never felt so humiliated in her life, as she felt the woman’s fingers infiltrate her body, searching for more drugs.

Ingrid screamed that the Panda was a gift, not hers, but no-one seemed to take any notice.

After the search, she was given a paper smock with which to cover herself, and her hands were cuffed behind her back. One of the officers led her to a room with only a small window, barred, and left her alone.

Though there was a small cot along one side of the wall, the room held nothing else. It was painted pure white, and made Ingrid’s wet eyes hurt.

Her watch had been confiscated, so she had no idea what time it was. The window was too high for her to reach, especially with her hands still cuffed behind her.

She sat on the edge of the cot crying. Surely this couldn’t happen to her. She had done nothing wrong. Lui Shi had given her the Panda, as a gift. A farewell gift.

The door opened and a man wearing a white suit, white shirt and white tie entered, closing the door behind him.

“Well, young lady. It seems you are in a lot of trouble, doesn’t it”. His English was almost perfect, as he took a seat on the cot close to her.

“The Giant Panda toy you tried to smuggle out, was filled with Heroin. I am sure you are going to tell me that you didn’t know, but, if you will excuse me for saying so, we have heard that excuse so many times in the past.”

“Please” Ingrid started. “I don’t know what you are talking about. It was a parting gift from the man I have been seeing since I arrived here”

“His name?”

“Lui Shi” answered Ingrid, sobbing.

“Address?”

“I don’t know his address” she admitted. “I met him at the zoo, and he picked me up at the hotel every day after that. He didn’t tell me where he lived”

“So. You spend four weeks with a man, you don’t know where he lives, and yet, he gives you an expensive present before you go home? “

The man in white sat watching her as Ingrid tried to understand what he was implying.

“Please. I am telling you the truth. You have to believe me”

“Ingrid. May I call you Ingrid? You have been caught in possession of over a kilo of Heroin. Even by normal standards, that is a lot of drug to be trying to smuggle out. We know you cannot have done this alone, so unless you give us the name and address of your supplier, we have no choice but to charge you as a drugs dealer”

“Please” cried Ingrid. “This is all wrong. I am not smuggling. The Panda was a gift”.

“I am sorry. We tried to be nice to you, but you refuse to co-operate. We have no choice. You are under arrest for smuggling heroin out of the country. You will be taken to court, where, unless you can provide us with the name and address of your supplier, you will be tried for drug dealing and trafficking.”

The man stood up and pressed a button Ingrid had not seen on the wall. Almost immediately, two armed guards entered the room, and grabbed Ingrid’s arms.

Roughly, they marched her out of the room and along a corridor towards a heavy wooden door. As they approached. Another man opened it, and Ingrid could see the large prison van waiting outside.

She tried to struggle, but the two men holding her were far too strong for her, and they held onto her easily as she was moved around the back of the van, and up two metal steps. Inside the van she was pushed unceremoniously into a small metal room, large enough for her to stand, but too small for her to sit. The door was banged shut with a loud metallic sound, and Ingrid felt the tears falling freely again.

The prison in which she had been held was, in Ingrid’s view, not fir for human habitation. She had tried to complain about the dirt and the smell, but it was as if no-one understood anything she was saying.

The guards had thrown her into a cell, the four walls simply bars, allowing her no privacy. She had been whistled at by other prisoners, and had spent much of her time curled up in one corner, as far away from everyone as she could get.

The bed on which she was expected to sleep had only a thin mattress, stained badly from previous users. The floor was almost a thoroughfare for cockroaches, and Ingrid was frightened to even go to sleep, spending much of her time awake, watching, and waiting for them to realise this was all a big mistake.

For three weeks she was held in the same cell. Brought only meals of rice and water. The rice tasted stale as if it was out of date, but she had no choice. Eat it or starve.

It was the third week when things started to change.

She was brought a paper smock, and handed it, told to put it on.

As she did so, the cell door opened and three guards entered. Two pulled her arms together behind her, as the third began to cuffs her hands. Without any more said, she was ushered out of the cell and along a corridor lined with small rooms. One door was open, and she was ushered inside it.

At a table in the centre of the room sat a grey haired man. Ingrid was forced to stand on the opposite side of the table as the man started speaking, in English.

“I am here to inform you that your trial will begin next week. I will not be allowed in court to speak on your behalf, the Chinese Government are taking this case very seriously, and, if you are found guilty, they intend to make an example of you”

“Please” began Ingrid. “This is all a mistake. I didn’t know there was drugs in the panda. It was a farewell gift”

“From a man the police cannot locate? I know it saounds harsh to you, but they hear this story all the time, and unless you can give them an address, and they can find this Lui Shi, then I am afraid they will not listen to you”

“I don’t know his address. He always came to my hotel. Ask them”

“Apparently, they did ask, ad the receptionist has no recollection of him. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist, but that she cannot remember. This, unfortunately, does not help you. The Prosecutor is asking for the most severe penalty if you are found guilty. So it is in your interest to find a way to locate this Lui Shi. “

“Most severe?” asked Ingrid, her voice trembling.

“The death penalty, I am afraid. He wants to use you to show that smuggling is not acceptable in this country. He wants to use you as a deterrent to others. And the judges are likely to agree with him. Smuggling has become big business, and the Government are doing everything they can to stop it.”

“No!” screamed Ingrid, her body shaking. “They cant do that. I have rights. Surely the consul will do something to stop it”

“Unfortunately, there is no Swedish consulate here. And as for your rights? You are in China. I am sure you have read how few civil rights there are here. You forfeited your rights the moment you were arrested, I am afraid. As I see it, you have two choices. Give up your supplier, or face the consequences. You have until Monday”

He had started out speaking calmly and pleasantly, but had ended up sounding like a prosecutor. It was either Lui Shi, or her. 

Moments later she was led back to her cell, and the paper smock was taken from her again, leaving her as she had been since her arrival at the prison, naked.

She was not alone in that respect, though most of those who had arrived minus their clothes, had found a way to buy or beg some. But Ingrid did not understand Chinese, and had not been able to do so.

Ingrid sat in the dock dumbfounded and confused.

There were three judges sat behind a heavy desk, and a prosecutor who kept pointing at her, ad then at the drugs on the large table in front of the judges.

She had not understood a word that had been said, but the custom’s officers had appeared, as had the man in the white suit, and the man she had seen at the prison.

All had given evidence, and had been shown the Giant Panda and the drugs. Each had said something in return, pointed to the evidence on view, and then at Ingrid.

Ingrid was frightened, very frightened. No-one had been to see her about her defence, and she was still not able to give them Lui Shi’s address. She simply didn’t know it.

She had looked around the court room, expecting him to come to her rescue, but now, after three days, he had still not appeared.

She waited patiently, for her turn to give evidence, but at the end of the third day the judges left the room, and Ingrid was made to sit quietly and wait.

The clock on the wall above the judges bench seemed to move slowly. Much slower than she remembered time passing when she was with Lui Shi. The four weeks had passed as in a haze, and were over almost as soon as they had begun.

But now, the seconds seemed to last forever, as she sat and waited.

It was almost an hour later when the three judges returned and took their places. Now it would be her turn to give evidence.

She was pulled to her feet as the three judges took their place, and the prosecutor moved in front of them.

He started speaking, though Ingrid could still not understand what was being said.

She waited, as the man continued to speak, and then watched in horror as the first judge, the one nearest to her, put his hands beneath the bench and pulled out a black hood, pulling it over his head.

Ingrid didn’t need to know what was being said to understand the significance of that. The first judge had found her guilty.

She screamed out that she had not given evidence yet, but the prison guards either side of her forced her to her knees, and hit her shoulders with heavy wooden batons.

The prosecutor was addressing the second judge, and moments later, he, too pulled a black hood from under the bench and donned it.

Ingrid couldn’t believe this as happening. They were finding her guilty, and she had not yet given evidence. This wasn’t justice.

The prosecutor turned to the final judge whom even before the man started talking, already had his hands under the bench.

Within seconds, the black hood covered his head and face. All three judges had found her guilty.

Again and again Ingrid screamed her innocence.  The prison guards hit her time and time again with their batons, until she collapsed silent in the dock, too frightened to utter another word.

The prosecutor was still talking, though Ingrid only saw the court through a haze of tears by then.

She remembered what the man in the prison had said, that the prosecutor would be pressing for the most severe penalty. Death.

This couldn’t be right. Surely this was all wrong. They couldn’t do this in this day and age.

The prison guards dragged her to her feet, where the prosecutor addressed her.

“You have been found guilty by three judges. Each has confirmed that the Government’s stand on drug smuggling will be demonstrated in harsh form.  The sentence is death by hanging. You will be taken from here to prison, and from there you will be executed in two days time. Your life and belongings are forfeit to the great state of China.”

This was the first time she had heard the prosecutor speak anything but Chinese, and she was taken aback by it. The shock of what he had said set in moments later.

Her knees failed, and she collapsed on the floor, unable to stand. Her head swam, as the realisation of what he had said hit home.

Ingrid was dragged back to her cell in a daze, unable to comprehend what was happening to her. Surely Lui Shi would come forward ad stop this happening. But even then, she knew he wouldn’t do so. He had used her, and would probably be already using someone else. He would not rescue her.

She lay in her cell unable to stop the tears and the heavy sobbing that racked her body.

She still could not believe what the prosecutor had said. There had to be a chance of leniency, surely?

Ingrid walked slowly into the room, helped by two strong hooded men.

The noose was impossible to ignore, it hung from the centre of the ceiling, and beneath it, clearly visible, was the trap door that would be her last step.

It had not meant to be this way, and even now she hoped that someone would come and say it was all a mistake.

But there was no mistake. The two men frogmarched her under the noose, and one of them pulled her arms behind her. She tried to fight it, but it was useless. Rope encircled her wrists several times, and then passed between her wrists and hands, circling the ropes already in place.

Immediately, more rope was tied around her waist, and her wrists brought to this rope and tied in place, bending her elbows, and preventing her having any movements of her hands.

Another rope was tied around her elbows, pulling them painfully together, and forcing her chest out.

The other man had knelt and had tied ropes around her ankles, her knees and her upper thighs. Other than falling over, Ingrid was now unable to move in any direction.

She felt weak, almost unable to stand, but the two men now held her upright..

One of them produced a large ball gag, and forced her mouth wide, inserting it behind her teeth, before fastening the strap at the back of her head.. Ingrid tried to force it out with her tongue, but the second man was already wrapping duct tape around her head, and over the gag, to stop it coming out.

More tape was wrapped around her eyes, taking her into darkness, she knew she would never leave.

Her whole body shook in fear. She could feel herself losing control of her bladder, but the two men seemed igIngridnt of the stream of urine that trickled down her thighs and legs, pooling at her feet.

Although she could not see it, she could feel the hood being pulled down and over her head. She tried to shake it free, but to no avail. She could feel it tightening at the back, as the lace was pulled tighter, and secured.

Ingrid began to pray for salvation. Someone had to stop this before it was too late. It couldn’t end this way.

Helplessly she stood as the noose was slowly lowered over her head, until it reached her shoulders. Someone was tightening it. She could feel it through the hood. She tried to scream, but the effectiveness of the gag stopped the sound before it left her mouth.

No-one would come to her rescue. No-one would stop what was happening and explain that it had all been a mistake.

The noose felt tight, now, and she could feel knots behind her left ear, as the rope was stretched upwards. She was already fighting for breath, every breath was precious, however foul it tasted. She knew she was about to take her last breath, and savoured each one as if it were just that.

Someone was speaking, but she couldn’t concentrate on the words. She heard the word sentence, and the word hang, but nothing made sense to her anymore.

She knew she was sweating, but the room wasn’t hot. Her own fear was doing this to her.

Her bare feet could feel each crack in the wooden trap door beneath them. She felt with her toes for somewhere she would gain purchase once the doors opened, but there was nothing there to grab hold of, even had she been able to do.

It happened so quickly, and without warning. One second she was standing on the trap doors, the next, her legs were swinging wildly, trying to find something to stand on. The noose was tight around her neck, stopping her breathing. Her wrists were pulling at the ropes, cutting into the flesh, as her body swung free in the air.

Her head pounded as the blood filled her head. Her eyes felt as if they were popping out, the gag pulling harder into her mouth.

Still she looked for purchase with her feet, unable to find anything that would relieve the pressure on her neck. But there was nothing, as her body slowed, hanging limp from the noose. The two men stood, watching unconcerned as Ingrid’s body hung motionless from the noose.

Her bowels had lost control, as her had bladder, once again. The dregs of her life lay on the straw, three feet below her feet.

It was a harsh price to pay, but smuggling drugs in China, had been a mistake. A mistake for which she had paid the dearest price of all.