Little Girl Gone - By Battles, Brett Page 0,83

down, glad for the confirmation that she was alive. It did nothing for his overall feeling of frustration, though.

He turned his attention to the rest of the room. Sitting just behind Elyse were two men he’d never seen before, and clear across the room near the corner were several others. Perhaps Bell had gotten scared when Ryan had disappeared, or when he was unable to contact Williams and Dean back in the States. Or perhaps he’d always planned on having extra help for the scheduled hand off.

Logan pulled back into the hallway, and silently closed the door.

It didn’t really matter what the reason was for the increase in manpower. It meant only one thing.

Logan’s job had just become considerably more complicated.

38

Logan and Daeng were back at the roadside restaurant. Across the street, everything at the compound had returned to normal, their diversionary group of Burmese refugees having walked off as soon as Daeng had given them the signal.

Four hours, Logan thought. Probably more like three and a half by that point.

They had to assume that was when Elyse was going to be turned over to someone else. Once she was in the others’ hands, Logan’s chances of getting her back dropped to near zero. So three and a half hours was all the time he had to free her.

Without a platoon of commandos, getting her out of the compound wasn’t an option. And while Daeng had proven resourceful in obtaining help, access to elite soldiers was a little beyond his reach. So that left two options: grab her while she was being transported to the handoff point, or do it at the handoff point itself. While Logan didn’t want it to come down to the last minute, he felt there were too many ways she could get injured or even killed if they made the attempt while she was riding in a car.

Like it or not, the hand off point was the most logical place to make their move. Or would have been if Logan had actually known where it was.

As he tossed around a few generic plans with Daeng, something in the back of his mind tugged at him, demanding attention.

He looked out at the road again, focusing on nothing as he attempt to let whatever was hovering back there come forward.

Slowly, he started to remember. It was something he’d heard. While he was…in the building across the street. When…

When I’d been listening at the hole. That was it.

He’d been listening to the conversation coming up through the first floor.

It wasn’t the thing about the four hours. That he hadn’t forgotten.

It was after.

Right after.

… more, if we haven’t heard from the woman by then….

The woman.

He’d assumed at the time the speaker had been talking about whoever it was they were supposed to be meeting. But wasn’t it possible it meant something else?

Something more straightforward? Like…

“No,” he said softly to himself.

“What?” Daeng asked.

Logan stared into the distance for a moment longer, then glanced at Daeng. “Give me a minute.” Pulling out his phone, he called his father.

“Hello?” his dad said.

“Is Tooney still staying with you?”

“Logan?”

“Dad, please. Is he?”

“Yeah. He’s still here.”

“I need to talk to him.”

“He might be asleep.”

“Now, Dad.”

“Sure, sure. Hold on.”

Logan looked down at the table, hoping that he was wrong.

“Yes, Logan?” Tooney voice sounded old and resigned, like he was expecting bad news.

“When I talked to my father yesterday he said your daughter was on her way to Thailand. Do you know if she made it yet?”

“Sein? I believe so.”

“Do you know specifically where she was going?”

“Everything I find out from other daughter. Sein not talk to me again after she call about Elyse.”

“Tooney, I need to know where she is.”

Tooney paused. “Can you wait? I call Anka.”

“I’ll stay on the line.”

Logan glanced at Daeng, and could see his new friend was putting the pieces together, too.

Less than a minute later, Tooney came back on. “Anka says Sein in Chiang Mai.”

Logan closed his eyes. He was right. “Do you know where?”

“Hotel called NS Guest House.”

“Do you have a cell number for her?”

Tooney gave it to him, then said, “Do you think…is Elyse…”

“I’m doing everything I can,” Logan said.

A pause. “I know you are. Thank you. I wait to hear from you again.” Tooney hung up.

Logan dialed Sein’s number, but the call went directly to a voicemail message that merely restated the phone number. After the beep, but before he could even start leaving a message, a recorded voice cut in and told him, “Mailbox full.”

“Dammit.” He looked