Try Begging Novel - Chapter 16

“What?”

Sally was momentarily speechless, dumbfounded by the outrageous assumption. Could it be that Winston’s overly familiar behavior in the torture chamber yesterday had led to this misunderstanding?

“Uncle, you know I wouldn’t do such a thing with that filthy man.”

“Was it not a directive from above?”

“You know very well the higher-ups, especially my fiancé, wouldn’t give such an assignment.”

“…….”

“Uncle.”

“Are you in contact with Joe?”

He abruptly asked if she was in contact with her brother, who had deserted their comrades. To Sally, he was family, but to their comrades, he was a traitor. As she hesitated, unable to answer, her uncle uttered an incomprehensible plea.

“Go to Joe. And never come back.”

She didn’t know how she hung up the phone. Sally slowly replaced the receiver, her gaze fixed on a stain in the corner of the coffee table.

Was it because her uncle’s mind and body had weakened after the torture? Or had she committed some shameful mistake that made her unworthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with her comrades? To her, who had lived only for the revolution and her comrades, to be told to leave and never return…

She was still replaying her uncle’s words in a daze when a loud banging on the wall from next door, complaining about the noisy radio, jolted her back to reality.

All afternoon, Sally chatted endlessly with Nancy over cold coffee. Fragments of her uncle’s words still swirled chaotically in her mind.

When new topics ran dry, and they began to delve into childhood memories, the phone finally rang.

“Took you long enough.”

“I’m sorry, but we’ll have to postpone Cheolsu’s extraction.”

“Why? I told you it’s dangerous!”

Sally’s temper flared at the unexpected answer. He didn’t try to soothe her, but continued in a deliberately grave voice.

“Instead, you’ve been given a new mission. I trust you’ll handle it well, as always.”

“What is it?”

“I hope you’ll listen calmly, without getting angry. And don’t forget that I love you.”

Listening silently to Jimmy’s words, she nervously twisted the phone cord and moistened her dry lips. Could it be a mission that required her to face death?

“If it’s a worthy cause, I’m prepared to sacrifice my life with honor. So tell me.”

“I need you to approach him.”

Sally’s head tilted in confusion. Approach him? Was it her imagination, or did his instructions sound strangely off?

“I don’t understand. I’m already doing that, aren’t I?”

Her fiancé let out a long sigh, then asked in a hushed voice.

“He said he sees you as a woman, didn’t he?”

At that moment, the pencil in Sally’s hand snapped cleanly in two.

A honey trap? The revolutionary army didn’t resort to such dirty tricks.

“Are you out of your mind?”

She raised her voice, and she heard the scraping of a chair from the kitchen. Nancy seemed to be coming this way.

“You know this is a rare opportunity. It’ll be a great help in stopping him. You can also get important information more easily. And when he’s no longer useful, he’ll be easier to dispose of.”

“That’s absurd.”

“I’m not telling you to sleep with him.”

Sally ran a hand over her face, then let out a hollow laugh.

“Then what? You mean I can do anything as long as I don’t go that far?”

The moment she sneered into the receiver, Nancy walked out of the kitchen. Sally turned her back to her friend, who was leaning against the doorframe with a worried expression, and cupped the receiver with her hand.

“That’s not what I mean. Just skillfully evade him and try to charm him. If you play your cards right, you might even be able to control him.”

“How am I supposed to evade him? He’s not a sane man. How could I possibly control him…? Are you even talking about people like us right now?”

“We don’t have time to argue. From now on, you don’t need to send money. You’ll need it.”

He meant she should use her weekly allowance to buy cosmetics and clothes needed to seduce Winston.

“What? I don’t need it. Why have you changed so much? You never used such dirty methods before.”

“You’re too idealistic. Sometimes I’m not sure if you’re truly my lifelong comrade.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What I mean is, I need to be sure that no matter what I confide in you, you’ll understand. Our work is dirtier, more painful, and more humiliating than you think. Sometimes, it requires painful sacrifices.”

As her fiancé’s words continued, Sally’s expression changed with each passing moment.

“You’re not thinking this is an excessive sacrifice, are you? So many people lose their lives, and I hope you’re not trying to protect yourself.”

“You’re my fiancé, and yet… No, you know how dedicated I am to this work, so how can you say such a thing?”

“Please understand that this was a difficult decision for us too. You told me, didn’t you? That you wanted to be a steadfast comrade to me, just like your parents were. And don’t forget, I love you.”

Jimmy knew exactly what words his fiancée was weakest against. When he played his trump card, Sally bit her lip tightly.

“I have to go. I need to leave before the streetcar stops running.”

It was still a bit early for the streetcar to stop, but Sally fled the safe house as soon as she hung up. She knew Nancy would undoubtedly pry into what had happened.

She stomped her feet, venting her anger on the innocent pavement as she walked towards the streetcar stop. When she saw the department store where she had given money to the boy, Sally paused. She clutched her bag, hesitated for a moment, then crossed the main road and entered the post office.

The post office lobby, incomparably larger than Hailwood’s, already had people queuing, waiting for their turn. The post office staff, busy with the approaching closing time, didn’t even glance at the newly arrived customer.

Sally took out her round sunglasses from her bag and put them on. She also securely wrapped a black scarf around her head and chin to cover her injuries before joining the end of the line.

After waiting for about 30 minutes, her turn came. A clerk with gold-rimmed glasses glanced up at Sally and asked half-heartedly,

“How may I help you?”

“I’d like to send a money order.”

Sally pulled out a wad of cash from her bag. The clerk’s eyebrows shot up at the amount, and he handed her a form and a pen to fill in the sender and recipient details. While the man counted the banknotes, Sally’s pen moved decisively.

Sending money through someone other than Peter might be traceable. But identifying the sender in such a bustling metropolitan post office would be difficult.

She finished filling out the application and handed it to the clerk. The recipient’s name, scrawled in a fit of pique, was her brother’s alias, not Jimmy’s.

She watched silently as the clerk’s fingers rapidly danced across the typewriter, and Jimmy’s words from earlier echoed in her mind.

“From now on, you don’t need to send money. You’ll need it.”

No. I don’t need it.

In the end, the money extorted from Winston would not be used for headquarters’ war funds, nor for Sally’s operational expenses.

Sally’s nephew, whom she had never met, would be able to have a happy Easter. That, at least, offered some comfort.

Still, she felt terrible and wanted to keep moving. But now that she had no gun, wandering the dark streets alone at night was dangerous.

On the way back to the mansion from Hailwood, the capricious April shower had left her hair and clothes damp and heavy. Could anything better suit her heavy, drooping spirits?

She wheeled her bicycle through the servants’ back entrance of the mansion. The setting sun cast the garden into darkness, illuminated only by sparsely placed lamps. She walked towards the desolate annex, turning her back on the main building, which spilled out brilliant light.

Once inside the annex wall, Winston’s car was nowhere to be seen. She put her bicycle in the backyard shed and looked up, but the lights in his study and bedroom were also off.

Had he not returned yet?

The revolver, still ‘confiscated’ in his study drawer, briefly flashed through her mind. But she quickly dismissed the thought.

He always locked the drawer, but today he hadn’t. He couldn’t have forgotten. It was a trap, deliberately left open for her to steal.

Sally let out a long sigh as she climbed the annex stairs to the attic.

She couldn’t even get a new gun. No matter where she hid it, Winston’s filthy hands would grope around and find it.

What excuse would he use to call her tonight, and what dirty deed would he try to commit?

Rescue operations, bomb placements, royal villa heists.

She had been assigned all sorts of dangerous missions, but this was the first time she had ever felt the urge to run away.

‘Damn you, Jimmy. How can you call yourself my fiancé?’

But it was she who had wished to live as a comrade, just like her parents.

‘But this is truly wrong.’

Mulling over the phone call, Sally paused at the door to the maid’s room. A shopping bag from the department store she had visited today hung on the doorknob.

Could Winston be here?