THE TOY FACTORY

The well-dressed Chinese factory representative confidently escorts a group of financiers into a very modern-looking building in northern China. Among the attendees is one who is less smiling and more alert. His name is not the one on the lapel card, for he is there in place of the person who formerly used that name. One who has no use for name tags now.

The representative efficiently escorts his audience through clean and well-organized front offices populated by cheerful, smiling workers. The workers pay strict attention to their computers, only slightly noticing the clutch of foreigners passing through.

"As you can see, this facility is most modern and efficient. We fulfill all our contracts with Otoys on time and below cost. Our workers are among the best-paid in China, and ..."

As the rep continues leading the group, John Ball separates from the others, looks carefully around, and then sneaks through a door marked "No Entry" in Chinese and English.

John speeds down several hallways. He emerges into a grimy factory room. It seems endless, a vast area checkered with noisy machines placed at regular intervals on wet and grimy floors stretching into a dark and hazy infinity.

Children are shackled to machines, working to make toys. John signals quiet and begins to force locks open as he passes.

A factory guard removes a dead child from shackles and puts a new child in the shackles. As the guard drags the body away, John rises, snaps the guard's neck, takes the keys, unlocks shackles of several children, cautioning them to silence in Chinese. John moves furtively from machine to machine, whispering in Chinese to the waifs shackled in place. He hands the keys to three children and gestures for them to release the others.

"Here. Take the keys and unlock all the locks. Then run. Do you understand?"

The children nod and begin to free their compatriots. John hears Guards coming to find him. He waits.

Security personnel enter the factory floor and discover the dead guard. They shout for reinforcements and then fan out in the room.

John ambushes three men and downs them. He takes their keys and weapons. He tosses the keys to some other children They nod and scurry away to set their comrades free.

John rushes a door, breaking through rotten wood and wires. Children follow. They are scared and excited. Some have difficulty keeping up with the others. When they are outside, they shade their eyes and look for a direction. They run toward a ravine which leads toward some low hills. More and more children emerge from the hole in the wall of the shiny building. Their line of escape resembles a trail of ants.

John mounts a hill outside the factory. He uncovers a dirty and battered vehicle. He scans for enemies. He gets a pair of binoculars from a bag in the vehicle. He crouches low to avoid being seen.

John uses the binoculars to watch the scene at the factory. The last children are running from the building. Guards run after them. Limousines are leaving with dignitaries. Office workers run from the front. When the people seem to have cleared the building, John uses a device to explode the structure. He smiles faintly.

John leaps into his disreputable utility vehicle and speeds north toward Mongolia. As he drives, he changes his costume and appearance, making himself over into a tribesman. A cloud of dust rises behind his whining vehicle.

Now seeming to be a local tribesman, John Ball takes a wild ride down an almost vertical cliff into a desert canyon full of dry brush.

The vehicle splashes through one of the muddy wallows in the bed of an intermittent stream. A lost goat scampers away from the menace.

Behind him he can see there is a pursuit. He scans the skies, expecting aerial assault. He finds a narrow canyon and drives the circuitous bottom, pausing in an overhung bend to complete his disguise. He gathers brush and piles it in the vehicle. Then he drives calmly onward.

An airplane spots him. The airplane circles and fires cannon into the canyon.

"Alright. Have it your way."

John drives up out of the canyon and watches the aircraft circle to begin an attack. John uncovers a rocket launcher and shoots down the airplane. Then he drives fast and recklessly onward. A column of vehicles raises a cloud of dust behind him. He finds some spike chain in a box and tosses pieces of the tire-killer chain behind him. He also scatters spike trapezoids to right and left.

John pulls out a jug of Kvass and drinks heartily. He splashes the smelly beverage on his clothes and on the seat of his vehicle. He produces a sliver of tough dried meat and begins chewing. The pursuers fall behind and their cloud of dust settles as John makes his ugly vehicle move surprisingly fast. In a while, he reduces his speed to a normal pace for a local vehicle.

Day becomes twilight as John slowly drives between scattered yurts on the great Mongolian plain.

He comes to a stop among Mongolian sheepherders. John greets them and raises his bottle of Kvass. The men gather, ready to jest with the rich stranger.

A sheepherder addresses John in Mongolian.

"Hello, stranger. What is happening?"

John replies in Mongolian, "My friends, the idiot Han are shooting at sheep with their airplanes!"

Another herdsman laughs and says, "As always. Did they shoot your beer, also?"

The other herdsmen laugh and relax.

"The gods still laugh in their full bellies. Will you share a cup of my second wife's Kvass?"

Another man says, "If you share your second wife!"

Amidst general laughter. John gets out of the vehicle and shares the beverage among his new friends.

John trades scarves with the men. He reenters his vehicle.

"I go to Ulan Bator to drink what my wife won't give me! Who would come with me?"

The first herdsman and third herdsman toss out the brush and get in the vehicle. They urge motion. John speeds away.

John leads a song.

"Chengis horse was tired that day, but Chengis would not pause ..."

The Herdsmen join the song, "Many leagues lay between Chengis and the enemy ..."

ESCAPE

In a smoky bar and brothel in Ulan Bator the smoke swirls as the doors protest their opening. John leads his rowdies into the bar. He shakes his head side to side, gives a gruff cough and orders drinks, food and entertainment.

Some men leave and some enter. Prostitutes approach the new customers.

John grimaces at his companions and sticks out his tongue. He reaches out for one woman.

"This is the drink my wife number two will not serve!"

The prostitute asks, "Are you an important man, lover?"

John says, "I have something big and important for you."

The other herdsmen engage in similar conversations. John sticks a coin on the forehead of the prostitute and laughs. He flips coins to his friends, who are bemused by this good fortune.

A barfly in awful smelly rags demands, "You might as well give me some of that money, friend."

The barfly takes the coin from the Prostitute and snarls at John.

John laughs at the barfly and calmly stands to confront him.

"You must be a woman! You are the ugliest woman I have ever seen!"

Thugs enter the bar and converge on John. They push through the crowd.

The barfly growls, "You will be a woman soon!" Then he throws a punch and slashes with a knife.

John parries, connects with a punch and ducks beneath...