Finally, after fifteen minutes, she showed up; she was visibly shaken. We moved toward the taxi stand where we joined a long line of people waiting for the next available taxi. While we waited, she told us what had happened. After her case had gone through the x-ray, the security guard had pulled her aside. A pair of guards escorted her to a side room, where they opened up and examined the contents of her case. They told her they were going to confiscate the majority of her materials. In the end, they only ended up taking half of it for which they wrote up a receipt that they gave her. She was told that when she came back through, she could pay a small fine and get back her confiscated materials. Then they sent her on her way to continue on with her trip. No long-term detention. No arrest. No cancellation of her visa.
Right about the time she finished her tale, our taxi pulled up to our rendezvous site. I was led to yet another room in yet another non-descript building. In the room, a contact was waiting for us. I was introduced to her and my hosts explained what role she played in the whole process, but I didn’t quite catch it. I was too busy trying to unload my materials and stack them on the table. From here, the materials would be distributed far and wide.
We didn’t spend any extra time lingering. My two hosts briefly conversed with their contact and worked out some future logistics. Then the four of us left. We used a different route as we made our trip in reverse.
After a quick meal at a fast food joint, we had enough time to make just one more trip across on this particular day. That was fine by me. It had been a long day. It was late and my back was sore. It had been an exhausting day.
And to be honest, my nerves were a little frayed.
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