Brett Battles - Little Girl Gone

“This morning? You mean before the jet arrived?”

“The private plane? Yes…” she said, drawing the last word out.

“Were you able to follow them from the airport? Do you know where they are?”

She smiled. “Why don’t you sit down?”

“Please. We don’t have time to waste.”

“We do have time to sit.”

One of the people who had been sitting on a fur cube near Logan moved so that the woman could take it. Reluctantly, Logan sat back down, too.

“All right. We’re sitting,” he said.

“First, no one asked us to go to the airport to follow them,” she told him.

He felt the sinking sensation of lost opportunity.

“Second, even if they had, there wouldn’t have been enough time to get there before they were gone.”

This revelation didn’t help much. If he’d been thinking correctly before he left Los Angeles, he would have had Dev call her right away. As it was, Logan hadn’t even asked him to call at all. Doing so had apparently been Dev’s own idea. Logan owed that man a beer or three when he got back.

“So there’s no way to know where they went,” he said, feeling like he was back at square one again.

“I didn’t say that.”

He looked at her. “Are you saying you do know?”

“I didn’t say that, either.”

He could feel frustration bubbling just below his skin, but he took a breath and reined it in. He couldn’t afford to lose focus now. “You haven’t told me your name.”

“That’s true,” she said. She was silent for a moment, then laughed. “You can call me Christina. They all do.” She swept her hand out, taking in the others.

“Can I ask where you’re from?” Logan said. Her accent was a mix—a little American with a hint of British, and a few pronunciations that sounded almost Australian.

“Sorry,” she said, shaking her head, but giving no further explanation. “Now, about those who arrived on this jet. I may not know where they went, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find out.”

“Please,” Logan said. “That would be a huge help.” He took the silence that followed for hesitation, so added, “I don’t have unlimited resources, but I can pay you if that would make a difference.”

Her mouth twisted in an ugly sneer. “I wouldn’t do this for money.” She looked past him at the others. “Everyone out.”

Without a word, they all rose and started for the door. Everyone, that was, except the two men who’d come in the room with her.

Once the four of them were alone, Christina said, “Any help I give you is because of an old friend I owe a debt to that I can never repay. He’s the one who gave Dev my number. He’s the one who asked me to help you if I felt I could.”

“Please, thank him for me when you speak to him again.”

She gazed at Logan, then said with a nod, “I’ll do that.” She paused. “I haven’t been entirely inactive since I talked to Dev this morning.” She motioned at the nervous-looking, suited man behind her. “Mr. Prem has… contacts in the government. More specifically within Immigration and Customs.” She looked back. “Mr. Prem? Can you tell our new friend what you reported to me earlier?”

Mr. Prem cleared his throat as he stepped forward. When he spoke his accent was thick, but understandable. “Van waiting at private hanger when plane arrive. Seven men get off plane. All farang .”

Christina held up a hand, stopping him, then looked at Logan. “Are you familiar with this term? Farang ?”

He shook his head.

“It’s the word Thais use for foreigner,” she explained, then she nodded at Mr. Prem to continue.

“Six men white. One man black.”

If you didn’t count the flight crew, or any other airline employee than might have been onboard, that worked out to the same seven men Logan had seen get on. “Was there a girl?”

Mr. Prem hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. One girl. Asian. Young woman. One man carry her out in arms, like she asleep.”

Unless the girl was a decoy for some reason, Elyse was here.

“At twelve twenty-three, van leave airport.” He took a step back, indicating he was finished.

Logan wasn’t, though. “What about Immigration? They just let them through with an unconscious girl?”

Mr. Prem looked nervously at Christina. She gave him a nod, so he stepped forward again. “Girl have Thai passport. Men with her say she got ill on plane.”

“And the officials believed that?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” Christina asked. “There was nothing suspicious. There are plenty of rich businessmen in Thailand who hire farang to keep tabs on their children traveling aboard. One of them arrives home sick? It’s probably something Immigration sees at least once a month. And you need to remember, Mr. Harper, this is Thailand, not the States. Government officials are keenly aware of where the money is in this country, and the only attention they want to bring to themselves is that they’ve been very helpful.”

“What about tracking down the van?” Logan asked. “Is that something you can do?”

She didn’t answer, but instead looked like she was contemplating how she wanted to respond.

Finally, Logan shook his head and said, “I don’t understand why you seem reluctant to help me.”

“I want to help you. I’m just not sure whether I should or not.”

“Why is that even a question? Dev must have made it clear what was going on. The girl they have, she’s being used as a pawn by the Burmese government to keep her mother from speaking out against them. She’s just a kid. A college student. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Do you have actual proof that the Myanmar government’s responsible for taking her?” she asked.

The expression on the face of the man in the black shirt soured for a moment, then returned to neutral.

“I don’t,” Logan admitted. “But her grandfather is convinced that’s what’s happened, and the fact that she was brought here, within a hundred miles of the border, is enough to convince me he’s probably right. What’s going to happen to her if they take her over there?”

Again, he sensed something in the longer haired man. A tension. But if Christina noticed, she made no mention of it.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she said. “I’m not a fan of the generals. They’re oppressors and killers, we all know that. But things are delicate over here. A wrong move could affect many other things that are also important.”

Logan stood up. “I’ve obviously come to the wrong place. Thank you for your time.”

He turned for the door, but Christina reached out and touched his hand. “Mr. Harper, please. Sit back down.”

He hesitated for a moment, then did as she asked.

She leaned toward him. “I’ve been lucky to have had a certain amount of success here. But to do that, I’ve had to create a reliable information network that stretches beyond the borders of Thailand. I have people in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, and Myanmar… Burma . I have been told there is no chance the generals in Myanmar, no matter how crazy they are, would have sent people to the United States to kidnap anyone.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Logan told her, shaking his head. “I don’t have the proof, but, honestly, I don’t care if it’s them or not. I just want to get the girl back. I promised her grandfather, and I’m not going to let him down. So, please, I’m asking you for your help.”

He locked eyes with her, daring her to tell him no.

After several seconds, she frowned, and stood up. “The truth is, Mr. Harper, I can’t help you.”

His shoulders sagged. He was about to ask her why she bothered bringing him here, when she motioned to the man in the black shirt.