Much of her work was raising support through the churches in the diocese speaking about Father Lee’s work and gathering some of those basic items to be given out at the Center. An avid spokesperson on behalf of the Seamen’s Center, she worked long and hard to keep funds coming in; “But surely,” he thought, “her work for the Center could have nothing to do with George Kelshaw.”
Thinking of the events leading to his death, Ben realized that George Kelshaw was a man on the run. Who knew how far he had come or from who and what he was running.
As he stood in the semi darkness of the Center, Ben was transported back to the small Chinese village of Yencheng and the night he and his mother were caught in a raid on a prayer meeting in a House Church.
A small Christian enclave composed of a few families would gather in a different house each week to pray and study Scripture. There were only three Bibles among the thirty or so members and these were kept hidden until the day or night of a meeting. The books had been acquired through missionaries who had either fled or had been arrested and imprisoned.
Joseph Lee, his wife Soo Ling and their son Kim, had befriended Ben’s mother, Luci Han and her two children, Ben and his younger brother Chan. Kim Lee and Ben were nearly the same age and had become close friends immediately.
The Lee and Han families lived in an old protestant mission compound that held several houses, a one-time school and a building that had once been a hospital and infirmary. A common area courtyard graced in the center by a gnarled and twisted elm tree provided a playground for Kim and Ben. They spent many hours climbing and swinging on its limbs trying to out-climb each other.
Joseph Lee well trained in Chinese herbal medicines, had been an assistant to missionary doctor Charles Graves. Joseph had learned much of western medicine working almost daily in the infirmary. Dr. Graves had stayed in Yencheng until the Communist threat became so great that the mission board ordered him out of China.
Joseph remained and continued to treat illnesses and injuries of the villagers under the scrutiny of the provincial Communist government. It was represented in Yencheng by a small military contingent of the new Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) in which Ben’s father, Jiang Han served.
Unbeknownst to Jiang Han, his wife and oldest son, Ben, were among those in and around Yencheng that continued to meet and pray in the forbidden House Churches.
From the shadows Ben heard the echo of the fury of his father’s voice, “I will never use my military rank to save you from prison again! If you do this another time,” he shouted as he struck Ben’s mother again and again, “the children will be taken away and you will go to prison or be killed. Do you understand me?” he screamed striking one more emphatic blow.
His father, a major in the new Chinese army had been in charge of the raid. Seeing his wife and Ben among the twenty five Christian miscreants, both embarrassed and infuriated Major Han; he quickly ordered a guard to remove them from the main room holding the other prisoners, on the pretext that they had been arrested by mistake.
As the senior officer he had assured the guards under his command that his wife and son’s presence at the house had been coincidental. No one would question the reliability of Jiang Han’s word. They knew him to be a tough and dedicated soldier; one that would never be swayed by sentimentality especially toward enemies of the state. Besides it was unlikely that the wife of Major Han would be so stupid.
Ben recalled how his mother had tried not to cry out but it was too much and Luci Han, with a muffled scream, fell weeping to her knees. Ben’s father, his rage nearly spent, stormed out of the house.
Ben ran to his mother and she held him in her arms rocking back and forth. After a few minutes, Luci looked at her son and through her tears whispered quietly, “Ben, you must go away, now, tonight.”
“No, no, mother, I won’t leave you.” Ben’s eight year old heart was pounding with grief and fear. What did she mean “go away?” Where would he go without his mother?
As Christians participating in a forbidden House Church, Luci and the Lees had talked of this very scenario. Mr. Lee had promised Luci that if his family should be required to flee he would gladly take Ben with them. Luci was prepared for this night.
Luci continued, “Ben, you must listen carefully. Do you remember seeing Mr. Lee at the meeting tonight?” Ben nodded. He knew the Lee family. His best friend was Kim Lee. Luci was holding his face between her hands now forcing him to look straight into her eyes; “Mr. Lee left before the raid tonight, but now the Lees will have to go away or they will be caught and sent to prison. It will soon become known that they are Christians. You must go away with them. We will be all right,” she assured him. Luci had regained her composure and was now standing in front of him.“Why can’t you come too?” Ben pleaded.
“Because I can’t leave your father; he needs me. I believe our God has His hand on you, Ben. That He has special work for you to do away from China. The Lees will be good to you and perhaps some day we can all be together again. Right now my work for the Lord is here. Do you understand?”
Ben nodded, but he wasn’t really sure. “What if they don’t want me, Mother?” his eyes filling with tears. Luci dropped to her knees again and held him close. “It has been arranged, Ben dear, the Lees will be expecting you.” His mother had put together a small bundle and she gave him some money to give to Mr. Lee.
Just after midnight young Ben crept out of the house and made his way to the Lees and a new life. A life that would entail hiding and running many times before the Lee family and their new son Ben would arrive safely in Hong Kong.
Ben’s reverie was broken and he was brought back to the present by a sharp rapping on the door of the Center. Through the glass he could see a Seattle police officer and opening the door he recognized Officer Pete Reilly. “Burning the midnight oil well past midnight aren’t you, Father?”
“Yes, but I’m leaving right now. Thanks for checking on me, Pete.”
“Okay, Father, drive carefully.”
12:45 AM
From their hiding place, Leo and Jake had watched as Father Ben and Andrew left the hospital
“We really messed up.” Leo was disgusted.
“Well Kelshaw died,” the other said. Jake went on, “Too bad I didn’t finish him off at the priest’s hangout.” Jake spit.
“Maxwell ain’t gonna like this,” Leo muttered.
“Yeah,” Jake agreed. “The guy lived to talk to the priest and maybe to that other guy and we didn’t get the stuff we were after besides.”
“We better call the boss.” Leo sighed. “Come on, we can use the pay phone in the hospital lobby.”
“Yeah, right! Are you crazy?” Jake snapped. “The place is crawling with cops.” He looked around nervously.
Leo pushed Jake through the door of the lobby toward the phones. They won’t even notice us; they’ll just think we’re part of some emergency goin’ on.” He dropped money in the coin slot and punched in a number.
A bedroom phone rang in another part of the city and a man answered, “Maxwell.”
“Hello, Detective, this is Leo.”
Monte responded, “Just a minute, give me your number and let me call you back.” Monte got out of bed and went to a phone in the den and dialed the hospital pay phone.
“You’re done? Did you get the stuff?” Monte was impatient to hear.
Leo began explaining the situation while Jake stood by, shifting from one foot to the other and looking around nervously.
“Never mind all the crap” Maxwell broke in, “Were you successful?”
“Yeah, sort of,” Leo replied. “The guy died… but at the hospital.”
“At the hospital!” he exclaimed, “why was that?” Monte asked, his voice betraying his anger