Chapter One

11:40 p.m., November 14
Mae Hong Son Province, Northern Thailand
Scared. The word didn’t even begin to describe how
I was feeling. Words like frightened, terrified, and sheer panic came closer. Yet, somehow, I tried
to catch my breath and stay silent at the same time as my heart raced and every cell in my body told me to run. Beside me, my best friend, Mike, crouched next to the tree I was hiding behind, peering back into the darkness.
The black Thailand jungle pushed in on all sides. Earlier in
the day, the jungle had looked exciting to me, full of promise,
mystery, and things to explore. Now, at just a little after midnight,
it had become a humid, terror-filled nightmare.
My two other rafting buddies, Hollis and Dave, were hiding
ten feet away behind another tree. I could see only their
vague shapes in the faint moonlight, and I couldn’t hear them
at all over the pounding of my own heart.
Dear Lord, I don’t want to die. I repeated the thought, like a
prayer. Dear Lord, please don’t let me die. Not now. Not here.
The men who had been our guides, and who now wanted
to kill us, crashed through the brush. It sounded to me like
they were very close behind us. The noise they made seemed
fantastically loud, like they were giant horror movie monsters.
My mouth was completely dry and I wanted to throw up
what was left of the fish dinner I’d eaten a few hours ago, back
when everything was still wonderful, still a happy adventure.
But I knew that if I did, they’d hear me. They’d find me. They’d
find my friends. And our lives would be over.
I took shallow breaths, trying to be