Brett Battles - Little Girl Gone

As he was contemplating getting another cup of coffee, Daeng said softly, “Here they come.”

Logan casually raised his empty cup to his lips, pretending to take a final drink, while Daeng focused on what little was left in his bowl of noodles. From the corner of his eye, Logan could see two people walking past their table, then suddenly stopped.

“You’re the guy who helped me last night, aren’t you?” a voice asked.

Logan looked over. The man who spoke was the guy Logan had helped by playing doorman. Standing next to him was the other member of their group.

“Hey,” Logan said, smiling. “Beer guy, right?”

“Yeah,” the man replied, no humor in his voice. “We’re looking for a friend of ours. Wondering if you might have seen him.”

Logan kept the smile on his face, staying in friendly-tourist mode. “How much did you guys have to drink?”

“He’s in his early twenties,” the man said, ignoring the comment. “About my height. Short brown hair. White guy.”

Logan paused like he was thinking. “There’ve been a few people like that in here this morning, but most headed toward the back of the train when they left. Was he traveling back there?”

“No.”

“Hmmm.” Logan shrugged. “Sorry. I guess not.”

“What about your friend?” the other guy asked, looking at Daeng.

“Oh, uh, I’m not even sure he speaks English.” To Daeng, Logan said, “Do you understand?”

Daeng glanced up from his bowl. “No speak good,” he said, his accent thick.

“You see another white guy like me? Younger?” Logan asked.

“ Farang everywhere on train. Many. Many.”

Logan turned back to the men. “I don’t think he’s going to be much help. Your friend’s probably at the end of the train, hanging out with the backpackers.”

“Thanks,” the guy said.

“No problem.”

As soon as they passed the snack counter, and disappeared down the passageway, Logan was up and heading toward the front of the train. Daeng, per their plan, stayed right where he was.

Logan moved quickly through first class until he reached the door to Aaron’s cabin. There was no lock, so it slid open easily when he pushed on the handle. The curtain was already drawn across the window in the door, so he was able to work without being watched.

There were only two berths in the room. That surprised him. Counting Aaron, there was three of them. Logan located all the luggage, but there was no backpack. He was sure Aaron hadn’t lied to him about that. So where was it?

He quickly went through each of bag anyway, but the envelope wasn’t in any of them.

Standing up, he frowned. Two beds, three people, with beds barely big enough for even one.

They must have another cabin. There was no other explanation.

He was about to head back into the hallway when he realized there was a door in the sidewall. If he’d noticed it earlier, his mind must have written it off as the entrance to an en suite bathroom. But now, he realized, that didn’t make any sense at all. There was a toilet and sink at the end of every car. Having one in a cabin would take up too much space.

He tried the door. It was unlocked, so he stepped through, and found himself in the neighboring cabin. Here only one berth had been used. And the bag on the floor was a black backpack exactly like the one Aaron had described.

As Logan took a step toward it he heard the front door to the other room starting to open. Quickly, he shut the adjoining door, then went to the backpack, and zipped open the front pocket. The large, rectangular envelope was right inside.

Grab it and go! A voice in his mind told him.

But he knew that might be a mistake. What was in this envelope might not be that important, yet could cause problems if it went missing.

He shot a quick glance at the door, then unclasped the flap, and slipped the contents halfway out.

In the other cabin, he could hear someone moving around, but no voices.

The envelope held two packets of papers, each stapled in the top corner. The language the documents were written in used a whole different alphabet than English. An though he’d only been in Thailand a short time, he’d seen enough Thai script to know this document didn’t look like it was in Thai, either. He looked at the second packet. It was hard to tell for sure, but he got the feeling that it was a duplicate of the first.

Making a split-second decision, he sealed one of the packets back in the envelope, and returned it to the backpack. The other he kept, then headed for the door that opened to the public passageway.

He paused, listening. Whoever was in the other room was still there. As carefully as he could, he slid the main door open and stepped out.

Two minutes later, he walked back into the dining car. Daeng was talking to the man Logan had helped the night before, but the other guy wasn’t around. Without looking, Logan rolled the document into a tube, concealing the words written on it, and walked up.

“Find your friend?” he asked.

The man turned quickly, then relaxed when he saw Logan. “Not yet.”

“Have you talked to the porters? They could probably help.”

“Thanks,” he said, in a way that told Logan they’d already done that. The man looked at Daeng. “Thank you, too, for trying to help.”

“I keep eyes open, okay,” Daeng said. “If see, I tell.”

“Thanks.”

The man headed toward first class. As soon as Logan was sure he’d left the car, he said, “I thought you were going to try to keep both of them away.”

“I’m sorry. The other one shot right past me. I take it he didn’t see you.”

Logan shook his head.

Daeng looked at the paper in his hand. “You took it?”

“There were two. I think they’re the same thing, but I have no idea what they say.”

He unrolled it, and handed it to Daeng.

After glancing at the first page, Daeng said, “This is in Burmese.”

“Can you read it?”

“Not quickly, but yes.” Daeng scanned it for a moment. “It’s some kind of contract. A lease, I think.”

“You mean like for a building?”

Daeng read some more, then shook his head. “Like for oil rights.”

36

The train pulled into Chiang Mai at 9:40 a.m. Daeng got off ahead of the crowd and headed straight into the station, while Logan let several passengers exit before he stepped onto the long platform.

With the population of Chiang Mai nowhere near the ten million that lived in Bangkok, it was no surprise that its train station was much smaller than the one in the nation’s capital. Logan guessed the red-roofed main building would probably have fit entirely within the central hall of Hualamphong. But compared to the stations they’d stopped at through the night, Chiang Mai’s was huge.

Logan slowly made his way down the covered platform, all the while keeping an eye on the crowd leaving the train. So far, he had yet to see Aaron’s two friends.

At the end of the platform, he passed through one of several large, arched openings into the main building. Just inside he found a tourist information booth, and let the girl who was manning it try to talk him into staying at one of the local hotels.

She was in the middle of her pitch when Aaron’s two friends passed by on their way through the station toward the parking area out front.

“Thank you,” Logan said to the girl, cutting her off. “I’ll think about it.”

He fell in behind the men. As they neared the front entrance, Logan spotted Daeng standing to one side, his phone to his ear. The men walked within a couple of feet of him, not giving Daeng a glance.

Logan paused under the cover of the station, and watched them walk out to the curb, then look around. Within seconds, a car drove up, and stopped directly in front of them.