The Greatest Lie Part 16

"God, just what I needed, the hike from hell," I said.

I had hated the time I'd been forced to spend in the Boy Scouts, and I think that roughing it is staying in a Motel 6. For Nancee, it was a journey to her past, and she seemed almost excited.

Eddie continued, "The three of you meet me in Somphet Market at 18:00, by the fish stalls."

"O shit! What about Tran?" I exclaimed. "She's God-only-knows where in Chiang Rai Province!"

"She'll have to come out later. It's OK, she's with my guy. And unlike you, she more-or-less fits in.

"You, my little blonde friend, will make rather conspicuous contraband."

"But she doesn't even know what's going on, and her cell phone will never work until she gets back to Chiang Mai."

"So leave her a voicemail. She'll probably check it.

"Now just cover your hair, wai frequently, and stay away from your house, or anywhere else you see a police checkpoint.

I called Tran's number and chose my words carefully, not knowing who would be the one to listen to it first. "Tran, something has gone wrong on our project and we three and all of the subjects were mistakenly added to the drug blacklist. Until we can get this straightened out, Nancee and are leaving Chiang Mai with some of our mutual friend's guys.

"If you can, FedEx our stuff from its hiding place back to my Mom's house, and then go with our friend's guys.

"Stay safe and do as they say. Good luck, and sorry for all of the trouble. Good-bye." I struggled to hold back my tears as I spoke. To my relief, I managed to keep from breaking down on the spot I did not want to make Nancee any more nervous.

We told Chris we needed to leave for the countryside. After she protested against our disloyalty to Rosepaper and CMU one more time, she organized some rap nong to shop and scrounge for Nancee and me. A rap nong with a motor scooter came back with some sunscreen and instant deep tan for me, and for both of us, Halazone water-purification tablets, mosquito netting, two plastic tarps to sleep on, and two complete Karen outfits including two big, colorfully-woven Karen handicraft tote bags of the sort we could loop over our shoulders we would use them to hold everything that wouldn't fit in our shoulder bags.