Balabakk, Lebanon
As soon as I got back to Balabakk, I borrowed the Palmyra's only phone, which might have been new in 1921. My first instinct was to look for the crank.
India answered on the third ring.
"Max? You were supposed to call me a week ago. I absolutely have to see you. I can't tell you what's going on, not on the phone. Can you come back here?"
"Not now. What is it?"
The silence stretched out so long, I gave the phone a shake to see if it had gone dead.
"Dad has a problem."
"He can't find a Scottish castle with central heating?"
"Max, this is dead serious. He owes money. I have to talk to you about it."
"Sure. I should be back in a couple weeks."
"I think it's all going to crash before then. They want someone to run some stuff out to Riyadh in the next twenty-four hours. Any chance you could meet me there?"
"Not right now."
"I'd heard you were in Saudi Arabia."
"A rumor I started."
I could hear the panic in India's voice, but my traveling to Riyadh was out. The fact that she'd heard the rumor that I was in Saudi Arabia was enough to tell me they'd taken the bait. I thought about asking India to come to Balabakk, but I knew our embassy in Beirut would never let her. Damascus might, though. People going TDY to the Middle East often stopped there on their way back to buy rugs. I didn't want to risk saying any of this on the phone, especially from the Palmyra, where the phones were sure to be tapped by Hizballah.
"Remember your dad's and my stories about the time we camped out in this part of the world?"
She had teased me about it only maybe a month earlier. I counted on her remembering.
"Sure. The border-" India caught herself, but I was sure she had the place down.
"I'll be there Saturday at noon. Alternate twenty-four hours later, same
I place. Third alternate forty-eight hours after the primary." "They'll have my head." "You won't be crossing any borders you're not allowed to." "Let me think about it." "Think about it all you want, but I'll be there," I said as I hung up. Frank out of money? As if I needed another reminder that life is fragile.