could see that probably hadn’t been there for a long time was a large, gray cargo van parked by the side of the building.
“I’ll know soon enough.”
If he had it figured correctly, and Bell had limited his group to the men he’d come to Thailand with, then there should have only been two people left in the building, not counting the possibility of Elyse.
As soon as Logan pulled himself over the wall, Daeng followed. Logan almost told him to stay where he was, but he knew Daeng wouldn’t listen. So together they made their way across the junk-strewn lot to the back of the central building.
Like the rest of the property, it was rundown, with several windows broken out and many of its bricks missing. Logan quickly figured out that they could use this to their advantage.
He whispered his idea to Daeng, then started up the side of the building, using the holes where bricks had been as a makeshift ladder. Soon he came up beside one of the broken second-floor windows, and peeked in. The room beyond looked like it hadn’t been used in years.
He slipped his hand through the break, and undid the latch. A few seconds later, he was standing inside.
Except for several chairs piled up against one wall, the room was empty. The only exit was a closed door directly across from the window.
Stepping lightly, he made his way over to it, and inched it open. As he did, Daeng enter the room, and came up behind him. Logan took a peek through the slit in the doorway. On the other side was a wide room that took up much of the rest of the floor. It, too, appeared empty.
The others had probably contained their activity to the ground floor, having no use for anything more. Logan led the way in, intending to find a staircase that could take them down.
“Wait,” Daeng whispered. “What are those?”
Logan wasn’t sure what he meant at first, but then he saw the holes. There were dozens of them, each about the size of a soda can, cut into the floor about every six feet. He guessed that the place had once been used for manufacturing of some kind, and the holes, though empty now, had served as conduits for cables and wires.
He knelt next to one, hoping he would be able to see down into the first floor. Unfortunately, the only thing he saw was darkness. He moved to the next one. Black again. He checked three more, all the same.
Standing up, he decided the stairs were still their best bet, but before he could start looking for them, Daeng motioned for him to come over.
Logan crouched beside him, next to another one of the holes.
“What is it?” he asked.
Daeng held a finger to his mouth, then pointed down.
Logan looked into the hole, and wasn’t surprised to see it was dark like the others. He was about to say as much, when he realized that while it did looked like the others, it didn’t sound like the others. There were voices coming up through it.
He leaned down, turning his head so that his ear was only inches from the opening.
“…out of here,” a male voice said.
“I tried to find out what they want, but I don’t think any of them speak English,” a second replied.
“Find someone who does, and get rid of them!”
There was a lull, then a third voice spoke up. “Does it really matter? They’re not doing anything. Just standing at the gate, playing a few songs. Have you tried giving them money? Maybe that’s all they want.”
“We tried that,” the second voice said. “It just made them play more.”
“I bet if we ignore them, they’ll go away.”
“They can’t be there when we head out.” This was the first voice again, the most authoritative of the three.
“That’s not for another four hours. More, if we haven’t heard from the woman by then. It’ll be fine.”
There was a pause, then the first voice said, “It better be.”
Silence again. Logan looked at his watch. It was almost 11:00 a.m. If the four hours was an approximation, that meant they would probably be leaving anytime between 2:30 to 3:30.
He had to assume the ‘where’ was wherever this hand off Aaron had mentioned was to take place. Time was rapidly running out. If Elyse was in the building, Logan needed to get her out now.
He pushed himself up.
“Where are you going?” Daeng whispered.
Instead of answering, Logan turned toward the back of the