Riding in a bus with about 40 other college students on a trip in the Qinghai province of china just north of Tibet in the town of Nangqen Jason stared out the window admiring the small rural town. Patrick sitting next to Jason kept saying how they should ditch the group and go for a real adventure. After turning down one of the side streets the bus stopped. several students went to the front to see what was going on. “Hang on everyone” the guide said with her native accent “it will be just a few minutes. A local vender has his cart stuck, just take your seats it will only be a moment.” with that everyone headed to the front to see what was going on ignoring the directions of the guide.

“This is our opportunity lets go” Patrick said as he tugged at Jason’s arm heading out the back door waving to Lisa and Kim to come along. Walking down the side streets they admired the feel of the small town with its family owned shops and how welcoming the community was.

Patrick waved his friends on as he stepped into a small local tea shop. They sat on the patio in front. The waitress received their orders then left to prepare the tea. Tires squealing, an unmarked van pulls up and four men armed with AK47s and UZIs grab them and throw them into the van, covering their heads with cloth bags so they can’t see where they are going. After riding for about a half hour the van stopped and they were taken inside what sounded like a large building. Put in separate rooms Jason feared for his life, but even more so for the lives of his friends. Hearing a man come into the room, the bag was quickly removed and he could see the room, with its painted white concrete blocks, its fifteen-foot ceiling and four tall windows and believing that it was much the same for the other half of the room, supposing he was in the middle of it, he observed an average sized man of Asian descent standing, head shaven, facing the window wearing a Gi “who are you?” he asked

“What do you want man?”

“Who are you?” the man asked again even more incessantly.

“I’m Jason Carpenter I go to the Gem City University of California. I have about 700 bucks on me, you can have it”

“That’s not what I want”

“Then what is it that you do want?”

“For you to know pain” said a familiar voice from behind him.

Just as he heard the man behind the familiar voice walking around him, the bald man pulled his handgun that looked like it was from World War II and shot Jason in the left shoulder. As he began to pass out from the pain and loss of blood, with his vision blurred he could still tell who it was. “Patrick” Jason said faintly as his head bobbled. Then, he could hear the screams of Lisa and Kim in the other rooms, along with the sound of machine gun fire, just before passing out.