Brett Battles - Little Girl Gone

As he reached out to grab her arm, Logan said, “You don’t want to touch her!”

But he did it anyway, or at least he tried. As his fingers brushed against her arm Logan pulled his trigger again. The only difference this time was that he wanted this guy to live. The bullet hit the man just below his knee, and he collapsed screaming onto the floor of the truck.

Bell, who had been keeping Elyse close to him, suddenly let her go. “She’s all yours. Please, I’m not going to do anything.”

Sein immediately rushed over to her daughter, and threw her arms around her.

“Take her outside,” Logan said. “And shut the door.”

Sein looked at him for a moment, then nodded, and helped Elyse to her feet. As they passed, she whispered, “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

“Don’t even worry about it. Just get her out.”

As soon as the door was closed, Bell said, “What are you? Some kind of mercenary?”

“No. Auto mechanic.”

Logan pulled the camera out of his pocket. He stopped the recording, then started it again so he’d have a new file, and then pointed it at Bell.

“Let’s you and I have a little talk.”

44

To say it was a bit of a diplomatic mess was probably an understatement.

The only way to stem the fallout on the U.S. side was to swiftly move to arrest those suspected of being involved in the “Kidnapping for Oil Scheme,” as it was soon labeled by cable news.

Within 24 hours, Charles Bracher, Samuel Schwartz, David Lyons—the CEO of Lyon Exploratory Research and the “L” of LRB Oil—and several other employees of all three companies were behind bars. The government had also filed extradition papers for Scott Bell, Aaron Hughes, and the remaining members of Bell’s team with the Thai government.

As for the secret police team from Myanmar, Logan was never really sure what happened to them. But he had a feeling that even if they were sent back to Burma, things weren’t going to go very well for them.

He heard later there was a little bit of confusion when five Vietnam Vets showed up at the Federal Building in West Los Angeles with three people they claimed were connected to the matter. But it was soon cleared up, and Elyse’s former roommate Angie, along with a Mr. Williams and a Mr. Dean were turned over to the FBI.

Logan was a big part of the mess. He had actually killed someone, and shot a member of the Myanmar secret police. For those reasons, it had been decided early on that his name wasn’t to be mentioned in connection at all with the case. Like what his father and the rest of the WAMO gang had decided about the attack on Tooney, Logan was apparently not involved in this incident either. That was okay with him. He wasn’t interested in the publicity.

Still, the authorities didn’t know what to do with him, so he was detained for nearly a week, talking only to governmental representatives of the U.S. and Thailand.

It was Sein who finally got him out.

They were all in a room somewhere in Bangkok, Sein, two men from the U.S. embassy, three from the Thai government, and Logan. After they’d gone on for a half hour about how it was impossible for Logan to just walk away without paying some kind of price, Sein reached into her bag, and pulled out a laptop. Setting it on the table, she turned it so everyone could see the screen.

“ One ,” she began. “Mr. Harper is to be release today , within the hour, with no charges made against him.” She looked at the representatives from the U.S. “This includes anything that may have happened in California before he left for Thailand.”

Detective Baker was not going to be happy to hear that, Logan thought.

“ Two , if anything happens to Mr. Harper, now or in the future, and I mean anything , I will make a point of including both of your governments’ involvement in the blame when I talk about what happened here. And then I will show this.”

She tapped the spacebar, and a movie began to play on the screen.

As Logan watched, a smile grew on his face. Someone had done a pretty damn good job of cutting together all the footage that had been shot at Doi Suthep. Logan’s footage was there, too, because he made sure to slip his camera to one of Daeng’s refugee friends before the police had taken him in. But there was more than just what they had shot. Intercut at strategic points was news footage and stills showing prominent leaders from both the U.S. and Thailand in the company of Mr. Bracher and Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Lyon.

Logan was released the moment the meeting was over, and was even given a free flight home, courtesy of the Thai government.

He did get to see Daeng one more time, though. They had lunch in Bangkok the afternoon before his flight left. Daeng seemed energized and more focused than ever.

“Word of our… work is spreading in Burma. More and more people know what happened to Sein Myat and her family, and that she survived to continue working for their freedom.”

“If it helps, I’m glad to hear it,” Logan said.

“I told you, it’s a long fight for us. Years, decades, whatever it takes. At some point my mother’s people will be free again. And you. They know about you, too, and the part you played.”

“Yours is the one they need to know about. Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere. And you’re still here helping them.”

“Of course they know my name. I’m not stupid.”

They both laughed.

“If you’re ever looking for a change of scenery, you’ll always be welcome to come here and work with me,” Daeng said.

“Thanks,” Logan told him. “And if you’re ever back in L.A., give me a call, and I’ll drive down.”

Daeng smiled. “I’ve been craving a little bit of that mild weather, so I’m sure I’ll make the trip soon enough.”

“Please tell Christina thank you for introducing us.”

“I will.”

The funny thing was, the only person Logan didn’t talk to was Elyse. She was still heavily drugged when the ambulance took her and Sein away in Chiang Mai, and Sein had told him at the meeting that her husband and Elyse had flown home several days earlier. Logan was actually glad to hear it. It meant he’d accomplished what he set out to do, to see that Elyse got safely home.

Thailand not only paid his flight to LAX, they also threw in the commuter hop from there to San Luis Obispo. When he got off the plane, he thought he’d have to rent a car to get back to Cambria, but waiting for him in the lobby was the entire membership of WAMO.

Logan got handshakes and backslaps and “well dones” all around. When Tooney’s turn came, he shook Logan’s hand first, then threw his arms around him. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“I was lucky,” Logan said.

“No, I was lucky,” Tooney told him. “Lucky your father convince me to trust you.”

“I had a lot of help. So it wasn’t just me.”

“Yes. Yes. Yes. I know. But you, you make everything happen. You brought her back.”

Logan mumbled a reply, then headed outside with his dad and the others.

It was a beautiful, mild day, the humidity of Thailand suddenly a distant memory.

They were almost to Jerry’s Cadillac, when Harp pulled Logan to the left. “Our ride’s over here.”

Parked in the next aisle was Logan’s El Camino, its back end facing them. It took Logan a few seconds before he realized the damage was all gone.

He leaned down for a closer look.

“I figured since you weren’t using it, I’d have the guys over at Floyd’s Body Shop see what they could do. The took care of the front, too.”

It looked good as new to Logan. “Thanks, Dad.”

Harp was silent for a moment. “I owe you at least that much. For what you did for Tooney.”