Noble Lies Read Online Free Page A

her voice that he didn’t expect, and he could see her clenching her teeth as the pickup slowed to a crawl.
    A lanky teen stood at the side of the road, his arms somehow crossed behind his back. It looked painful and the pose accentuated every peak of his angular frame. He smiled a gapped-toothed smile when the driver waved him over to the passenger seat, young enough to enjoy the thrill of riding shotgun, old enough to twist around to check out Robin’s legs. Mark followed the boy’s gaze. The kid was young but he had a good eye.
    â€œI know it’s stupid to blame the hotel,” Robin said, “but I can’t help if that’s how I feel. That tsunami really screwed things up for me.”
    â€œHow inconsiderate,” Mark said, knowing how it sounded and saying it anyway.
    â€œThe good thing is that he’s still alive,” she said, missing or ignoring his tone. “All we’ve got to do is find him.”
    â€œI told you, he may not want to be found.”
    â€œI heard you.”
    â€œBesides, living through something like that, watching all those people die, everything just ripped away, it affects people, screws with their heads. Why did they survive, why didn’t they do more, what are they going to do next…”
    Her eyes narrowed. “What are you trying to say.”
    â€œThere’s a lot of drugs out there.” He was going to say more, tell her about the Golden Triangle and the opium trade, about uncut heroin cheaper than Jack Daniels, and amphetamine-laced caffeine pills, tell her about the bands of strung-out Westerners, the hepatitis, and AIDS, but by the way she looked at him he could tell she knew.
    â€œFirst we find him,” she said.

    Â 

Chapter Four
    Â Â Â 
    The man behind the counter smiled at them and said, “Fuck it.”
    Mark Rohr set his bag down on top of the registration desk. “Excuse me?”
    â€œFuck it,” the man said again, his big, toothy grin framed by the patchy strands of his blond beard. “That’s what everybody says when they come in here. Fuck it.”
    Mark hadn’t planned on saying anything, deciding that since she was footing the bill Robin should handle the hotel registration, but when they had entered the lobby she had dropped back a step, allowing him to take the lead, shrugging now when he looked over his shoulder.
    â€œUsually it comes out like, Fuck it?” the man said, changing his voice to indicate a hesitant question. “But it’s not. It’s the p h that messes people up.”
    â€œThe p h?”
    â€œThey see the p h and think phone,” the man said, punching numbers on an invisible mobile. “Or maybe photograph or physics, I don’t know; I should ask. Anyway, they say fuck it.”
    Mark was reaching down for his bag, ready to agree, when it clicked. “Phuket.”
    â€œYeah, that’s it,” the man said, the loose curls of his dreadlocks bouncing as he nodded his head. “Poo-ket.”
    â€œAs in Phuket Inn by the Sea?” Mark pointed at the sign above the man’s head.
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œExcept that it’s not exactly by the sea…”
    â€œTrue,” the man said, curls bobbing, “but we’re not much of an inn either. Inns are homey places, with room service and afternoon teas and maybe a communal living room; you know what I mean? Us? Got a busted Coke machine in the stairwell and as far as communal space, you’re in it, man.” He waved his hands around the cramped room, taking in the potted plant in the corner, the end table covered in dive shop brochures, and the condom machine next to the tourist map tacked up on the wall by the door.
    â€œI’m sure it’s wonderful,” Robin said, setting her bag down on the counter and pulling out her passport and wallet.
    â€œNo, it’s a dump,” the man said, laughing as he said it.
    Mark looked around the room.