Stan

The situations that this woman kept getting me into was unbelievable. I would have never thought that me, a lawyer, would be helping an escapee get out of prison and the country. It was surreal, but at the same time, I could see how it was the only choice we had. There wasn’t another way to take care of this. This is how it had to be done.

Eve was afraid that her friend was going to be mad at her because of it, but I hoped that wasn’t the case. Eve had been through a lot to get her friend out of there and I couldn’t understand wanting to stay here in the first place. I was sure that once she was out, she would change her mind and be happy that she was back in the states.

We had to do it all in the cover of nightfall and my heart was beating a mile a minute. I don’t know why I was so worried, but I was sure that something bad was going to happen. I didn’t do things like this and if I had, I would have worried about what the outcome would have been. It was Eve that I was doing this for and I couldn’t believe that she was able to convince me that this was a good idea. It wasn’t. Anyone that had half a brain could see that this was a bad idea, but here I was doing it nonetheless. Eve had hold over me and we hadn’t even talked about what was going to happen when we got back home. We still lived hundreds of miles apart.

“You’re quiet.”

We were waiting in a cab at the backside of the jail. We were waiting for one of the prisoners to escape so that we could bring them over the boarder illegally. Yeah, this was not something that I had seen coming and I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to it if it would have been anyone else. I couldn’t blame it on Carl anymore. I’d helped his sister. I just hadn’t known that she was going to be this way. I didn’t realize that I was going to fall for her like I did.

“Yeah, this is kind of out of my element. You look too calm.”

She shrugged. “I’m more worried about Callie being mad at me then I’m worried about anything else. We’ve been friends for forever and I don’t want her to be mad at me. I hate when she is. She gives me the silent treatment and everything else. “

“It will pass.”

Eve didn’t look so sure and I wasn’t concerned about it. Her friend could be mad at her in America. That’s all that mattered. We just had to get her in the car and get her to the plane. From there, we would be out of their airspace in minutes and that would be that. I would be happy when I could leave Cambodia behind. Far, far behind.

My eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness outside of the car and it wasn’t long at all until I started seeing movement at the back of the jail. It was more than one figure though. It appeared that Callie was bringing a friend and when they got closer, I could see that her friend had a guard uniform on. It didn’t take much sleuthing to realize who it was that was with her. She’d decided to take her lover with her on her escape.

That would be aiding an illegal into the country to the list of crimes that I’d committed in the last few hours. They seemed to stack up quickly and I wasn’t sure why I was so bothered by that. It wouldn’t be the first time that I’d done something that wasn’t exactly according to the law, but this was the first time that I kept doing it. I should stop. I know I should. I would have done anything to get Eve back in my arms though and that couldn’t happen if she was here in Cambodia trying to save her friend.

“Who is this?”

“This is Qing.”

“That wasn’t part of the deal Callie. What are we supposed to do with him?”

“He is coming back to America with me.”

I wanted to tell her that it was a bad idea, but Eve beat me to it.

“This is not going to end well. You have to have papers to be in America.”

She waved her friend off and told her that she wasn’t leaving without him.

“If you stay, you’re a fugitive and you will go back to jail for even longer Callie. This isn’t a good idea. You can’t stay here.”

“You made it that way.”

Eve closed her mouth and didn’t say anything more. I know that she felt bad about it, so I told her that it was going to be fine. He could do the paperwork when he got there. I knew that it was going to be a bigger mess, but that was something for another day. Instead of arguing in the back of a jail with an escaped prisoner, we really needed to get out of here and get in the air. I wasn’t going to feel safe until we were out of Cambodia and on our way home.

The cabbie was the same one that I had used both times that I was here. He knew a bit too much, but the pay was very good for him and he was the sort that knew when to keep his mouth shut. When everyone was in, he started towards the airport and the plane that was on standby waiting for us.

I had never been so happy to see an airport in all my life. I couldn’t help looking behind us every so often just to make sure that we weren’t being chased. I know that the man we paid off said that it wouldn’t be until tomorrow when they realized that she was gone, but there was always that chance. Nothing ever went the way it was supposed to, and I was waiting for it all to go to hell. I half expected it to really.

But nothing happened. We got to the airport and the cabbie took us towards the back where the private planes were, and we were on board and on our way in no time at all. Save for a couple of stops for fuel, it was nonstop home and now that I had everyone with me, I could finally relax. I came back for Eve and I ended up with two other stowaways.

Like I said before, that was a problem for another day. Not today.