I shut the door behind me and turned around to see them standing over Gobi, looking down. She didn’t seem too worried about them, but I doubted they had come just to visit her. Were they here to take her back? Why had they come?
I was about to walk over and pick up Gobi when there was another knock at the door. I saw Richard standing in the corridor, so I opened the door and exhaled a little in relief.
“Hey, man, what do you need?”
“Um, yes, mate,” I was terrible at bluffing like this. But I didn’t mind. Richard was ex-Marines and having him in the room made me feel a lot safer. More important, he spoke Chinese and could help me get to the bottom of all this. “Didn’t you want to come and get some of those posters to take home as souvenirs?”
Richard stayed by the door as I picked up Gobi and waited for Nurali’s husband to speak. He fired off a whole load of Chinese and waited for Richard to translate.
Nurali and her husband had seen all the press coverage about Gobi and were worried I would blame them for her escape.
“All I want to do is get Gobi out of here and back home. I’m not interested in trying to find out how she escaped, and I’m not interested in trying to find someone to blame. As far as I’m concerned, it was just an accident, and it’s all fine now. It’s in all our interests to keep it that way, isn’t it?”
Nurali’s husband nodded. There wasn’t much more to say.
Later that night, after I’d taken Gobi back down to the basement for another ten-pound bathroom break, I watched her fall asleep, then tiptoed out of the room, closing the door silently behind me. I hung the “Do Not Disturb” sign up again and hoped that when I returned a couple of hours later, she would still be there.
It was time to visit the hotel restaurant for the thank-you dinner. I knew I had a lot to be thankful for, and for the next two hours, I was almost able to forget about the events of the day.
The search team had worked harder than I could have hoped for. They had put in long hours in scorching heat and walked mile after mile sticking up thousands of posters. They had been shouted at, ignored, and ridiculed, and they had done it all for a dog they had never even met. Their sacrifice, endurance, and love left me a little teary, and I was honoured to be able to stand up, offer them a toast, and tell them all how deeply grateful I was.
Mr Ma was there, too, with his wife and son. I handed over the reward money, and though he protested a bit at first and seemed slightly confused, after I insisted a few times, he eventually accepted the ￡1,000.
Midway through the evening I realized that even though I’d been in Urumqi for almost a week and had spent ten days in China for the race, this was my first time socializing with Chinese people. Many Westerners assume the Chinese are serious people, not given to acts of spontaneity. Looking around the restaurant and seeing it full of my new Chinese friends, all laughing, singing, taking selfies, and relaxing, I didn’t see anyone who fitted that stereotype.
The doctor was laughing the loudest, Malan was right in the middle of the action, and Mae-Lin, the hairdresser, had turned full-on cougar and was trying her absolute best—but failing—to seduce Richard. I caught Lil and Lu Xin staring at them, and we all laughed even harder.
“I remember when I first heard about Gobi,” said Lu Xin.
“When Chris called you?” I asked.
“No. When you were racing. There aren’t many news stories about dogs, so whenever there is a story, I always follow it. I knew Gobi was special even then, but I never thought I’d get to meet her.”
“You did a lot more than just get to meet her, Lu Xin,” I said. “Without you we wouldn’t have found her. You’re the reason we’re all celebrating tonight.”
She blushed at the compliment, but I meant every word of it.
She looked up and pointed at the doctor, Mae-Lin, and the others. “Before Gobi, we were trying to care for stray dogs, but nobody listened to us. We were fighting but had no power and no influence. Finding Gobi has changed all that. It’s given us a voice. You’ve helped show that it’s right that people should care for animals.”
I didn’t want to leave, but the longer the night went on, the more I thought about Gobi. I hoped she was still okay in the hotel room on her own. Eventually worry got the better of me, and I headed back upstairs. Gobi was fine, and I did a brief interview with The Times before heading back out briefly to find Richard, who was leaving early the next morning.
I knew that having him join the search was going to be helpful, but I didn’t know quite how much I was going to depend on him. He didn’t just help me keep going when I was at my lowest point; he masterminded the plan to get Gobi into the hotel and gave me some convincing back-up when I thought she might be taken.
I’m a bit of a loner by nature—it’s non-negotiable for someone who needs to log a hundred miles or more in training runs each week. But the irony is that some of the strongest friendships I’ve formed in my life have been formed with people I’ve competed alongside in ultras. We go through hell on our own out there on the course each day, but the bond that forms is powerfully strong.
When I flew out to Urumqi, I assumed the search was going to be just like another ultra. I thought I’d have to push myself hard, and I expected others to do the same. But in finding Gobi, I found out some valuable lessons for myself as well.
I discovered that working as a team—rather than as a bunch of individuals—wasn’t nearly as bad as I used to think it would be. I found out that my areas of weakness were covered by other people’s strengths. I didn’t have to shoulder the work all on my own. I could lean on the others, and they could take it. They didn’t let me down. And I didn’t fail them either.
19
Every radio station and TV network that I had spoken with while the search was in progress wanted a follow-up interview after Gobi was found. In the days immediately following Gobi’s return, I gave a total of fifty interviews in person, over the phone, or on Skype. Being that busy suited me. It took my mind off the fear that was growing stronger within me with every hour that passed.
It wasn’t just the visit from Nurali’s husband or the encounter with the housekeeper that had me worried. In the hotel bar after my Times interview, Richard had been sharing his conspiracy theories with me, and all that night my mind had been filled with shady characters lurking in the shadows.