Peng wasn't the only nervous person that evening. At home the Thornberrys were also suffering from shattered nerves waiting for news of Peng's departure.
"Our house was relatively near the airport and we could hear the planes, we were waiting to outside our house to hear Peng's flight leave," Thomas said. "When the scheduled time passed and nothing happened we thought it was all over. Then to our relief and an hour later than expected we heard the plane take off."
The Thornberrys were arrested in March 1971 and accused of "unfriendly activities and attitudes against the ROC." After being labeled CIA operatives and agitators, the couple was deported from Taiwan in March 1971.
"We never worked for the CIA. They [the CIA] wouldn't have had us, as we were fairly competent," said Thornberry. "We were simply two people who believed that it made no sense that somebody so special should be going through what he was."
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