I had another meeting set up. So either the hand off’s happening right now somewhere else, and these guys are just sitting there waiting, or it’s happening later, and they’re having their debrief right now.” He looked at Daeng. “I’m going to assume it’s the latter.”
“If that’s the case,” Daeng said, “there’s a pretty good chance the girl is—”
“—right over there,” Logan finished for him, his eyes firmly fixed on the cinderblock wall. “Which means I need to get inside.”
“Do I need to point out again that it’s guarded?”
“I know. But so far they’ve shown a lack of interest in using local help. If they’ve only got the people they came with, then they’ll be spread pretty thin guarding that place.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
“Again, true.” Logan paused for a second. “At the very least, we know that they have someone up front.” He put a napkin in the middle of the table. “This is the walled in property. And this is us.” He set a soupspoon in their approximate position relative to the napkin. Using his finger, he traced a route across the tabletop. “If I’m careful, I should be able to work my way around and come at them from here.” He tapped the back corner of the napkin. “To your point about not knowing for sure, I’ll have staged goals. One, assess their security. And two, depending on the results of number one, enter the property, and see what I can find out. What I need you to do is create a diversion up front.” He put another spoon where the front gate would be. “Doable?”
“In my sleep,” Daeng said, but then frowned. “But I’m not completely comfortable with this, though.”
Logan sat back. “All right. What do you suggest?”
“That I come with you.”
“What about the diversion?”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’ll be handled.”
37
Within thirty minutes Logan and Daeng were on the move.
Their driver stayed at the restaurant to act as spotter in case anyone left the compound. If they did, his job was to follow them, and report back.
Logan had no idea who was going to be doing the actual diversion. Daeng dealt with them on the phone, checking in every few minutes as he and Logan worked their way through the neighborhood, and around to the back corner of the target lot.
When they got there, they found enough junk lying around to create a step that would make getting over the wall a little bit easier.
“Let me know when you’re ready,” Daeng said. His diversion team was standing by on the other end of the line.
Staying in a crouch so that his head would remain below the top of the wall, Logan climbed up on the step. “I’m ready.”
“Okay,” Daeng said into the phone.
At first it seemed like nothing happened. Logan gave it a few seconds, then looked back at Daeng. “Anytime now.”
“Patience,” Daeng said.
There was another minute of nothing, then just before Logan was going to ask if something was wrong, he heard a loud voice coming from the direction of the front gate. It was soon joined by others. None of them sounded angry, though. In fact, their tones were just the opposite. Logan thought he even heard laughter.
This time when he looked at Daeng, he raised an eyebrow.
Daeng smiled. “Diversion. Burmese style.”
“Burmese?”
“Refugees. They sneak out of the camps to find work here in Chiang Mai. When I’m able, I send whatever I can their way. So they’re happy to help.”
Logan raised his head above the wall just high enough so he could peek over. Standing just beyond the gate was a crowd of maybe a dozen people. They were smiling and laughing. A few were even carrying musical instruments of some kind. There were a several children, too, running around the adults, and sometimes ducking under the gate for a moment before returning to the other side.
A Caucasian man stood just inside the gate, facing them. His hands were empty, but Logan had no doubt he had a weapon hidden somewhere. Two others, the two who’d been on the train, Logan realized, were walking toward the gate from the main building. Suddenly, the refugee group broke into song.
“How long can they keep it up?” Logan asked.
“They can go all day if we want,” Daeng said. “It’s not like the farang are going to call the police.”
Logan nodded. “I’m going over.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
Logan took a quick look around. There was no one in the back area. In fact the only thing he