“At the far front corner,” Daeng said. “You see him?”
Logan looked. Just visible above the top of the wall was the head of a man. He seemed to be watching the road.
“Yeah,” he said.
“We should go into the restaurant. He may have spotted us when we turned, and he’ll be more curious if we don’t get out.”
The place wasn’t much more than a glorified food cart with a permanent roof over the eating area. They took a table near the front so they could keep an eye across the street, then, for appearance sake, Daeng ordered them some food.
“What do you think?” he asked Logan.
“Aaron said the hand over was going to happen today.”
“You think that’s where it’s supposed to take place?”
Logan looked over at the wall. It encircled a large property with a couple of commercial-type buildings in the center. “Figure the guys from the train must have reported that Aaron was missing before we even got to Chiang Mai. If I were in charge, I would want to talk to them in person as soon as possible. What I wouldn’t want, though, was have them brought someplace where I had another meeting set up. So either the hand off’s happening right now somewhere else, and these guys are just sitting there waiting, or it’s happening later, and they’re having their debrief right now.” He looked at Daeng. “I’m going to assume it’s the latter.”
“If that’s the case,” Daeng said, “there’s a pretty good chance the girl is—”
“—right over there,” Logan finished for him, his eyes firmly fixed on the cinderblock wall. “Which means I need to get inside.”
“Do I need to point out again that it’s guarded?”
“I know. But so far they’ve shown a lack of interest in using local help. If they’ve only got the people they came with, then they’ll be spread pretty thin guarding that place.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
“Again, true.” Logan paused for a second. “At the very least, we know that they have someone up front.” He put a napkin in the middle of the table. “This is the walled in property. And this is us.” He set a soupspoon in their approximate position relative to the napkin. Using his finger, he traced a route across the tabletop. “If I’m careful, I should be able to work my way around and come at them from here.” He tapped the back corner of the napkin. “To your point about not knowing for sure, I’ll have staged goals. One, assess their security. And two, depending on the results of number one, enter the property, and see what I can find out. What I need you to do is create a diversion up front.” He put another spoon where the front gate would be. “Doable?”
“In my sleep,” Daeng said, but then frowned. “But I’m not completely comfortable with this, though.”
Logan sat back. “All right. What do you suggest?”
“That I come with you.”
“What about the diversion?”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’ll be handled.”
37
Within thirty minutes Logan and Daeng were on the move.
Their driver stayed at the restaurant to act as spotter in case anyone left the compound. If they did, his job was to follow them, and report back.
Logan had no idea who was going to be doing the actual diversion. Daeng dealt with them on the phone, checking in every few minutes as he and Logan worked their way through the neighborhood, and around to the back corner of the target lot.
When they got there, they found enough junk lying around to create a step that would make getting over the wall a little bit easier.
“Let me know when you’re ready,” Daeng said. His diversion team was standing by on the other end of the line.
Staying in a crouch so that his head would remain below the top of the wall, Logan climbed up on the step. “I’m ready.”
“Okay,” Daeng said into the phone.
At first it seemed like nothing happened. Logan gave it a few seconds, then looked back at Daeng. “Anytime now.”
“Patience,” Daeng said.
There was another minute of nothing, then just before Logan was going to ask if something was wrong, he heard a loud voice coming from the direction of the front gate. It was soon joined by others. None of them sounded angry, though. In fact, their tones were just the opposite. Logan thought he even heard laughter.
This time when he looked at Daeng, he raised an eyebrow.
Daeng smiled. “Diversion. Burmese style.”
“Burmese?”
“Refugees. They sneak out of the camps to find work here in Chiang Mai. When I’m able, I send whatever I can their way. So they’re happy to help.”
Logan raised his head above the wall just high enough so he could peek over. Standing just beyond the gate was a crowd of maybe a dozen people. They were smiling and laughing. A few were even carrying musical instruments of some kind. There were a several children, too, running around the adults, and sometimes ducking under the gate for a moment before returning to the other side.
A Caucasian man stood just inside the gate, facing them. His hands were empty, but Logan had no doubt he had a weapon hidden somewhere. Two others, the two who’d been on the train, Logan realized, were walking toward the gate from the main building. Suddenly, the refugee group broke into song.
“How long can they keep it up?” Logan asked.
“They can go all day if we want,” Daeng said. “It’s not like the farang are going to call the police.”
Logan nodded. “I’m going over.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
Logan took a quick look around. There was no one in the back area. In fact the only thing he 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.