Home was Bangkok, Thailand.
The country right next door to Burma.
24
The first flight Logan could get out on was at 12:55 p.m. on Cathay Pacific. There’d be a plane change in Hong Kong, and by the time he reached Bangkok, it would be nearly midnight the following day. In the best of cases, he would be at least fourteen hours behind the people who had Elyse, but thought it prudent to assume the difference would be closer to sixteen.
Would that be too late? As much as he tried not to think that way, the thought did keep creeping in.
His father was true to his word. He and his friends brought Logan an envelope containing five thousand dollars in cash to the motel before he left.
“If you need more,” his dad told him, “just let me know. I expect you to check in everyday, too.”
“Don’t,” Logan said. “I’m not going to stop whatever I might be doing just to let you know what’s going on.”
“I didn’t mean that, but—”
“Dad, please. If I can, I’ll call. If I can’t, I won’t.”
Harp was going to say something else, but Barney put a hand on his shoulder. “Do what you need to do, Logan.”
Logan nodded his thanks.
“And just in case,” Barney said, then handed him a small bottle. “Sleeping pills for your flight.”
On the way out, Logan stopped by Tooney’s room. Elyse’s grandfather was sitting on the bed, his packed bag on the floor near the door. As soon as Logan left for the airport, he and the others were all heading back to Cambria.
“Are you doing okay?” Logan asked, sitting down beside him.
“I’m happy she’s still alive, but…am still worried.”
“I’ll…I’ll bring her back.”
He looked at Logan, and tried to smile. “I know you will.”
Logan patted him on the arm, then stood up. “I gotta go.”
“Thank you, Logan,” he whispered. “Thank you.”
Logan didn’t know what to say, so he simply nodded, and left.
Outside, Dev was waiting next to the El Camino, ready to drive Logan to the airport, then take his car back up the coast.
“Thanks for all the help,” Logan said once they were on the road.
Dev shrugged like it was no big deal. “I assume you just want us to hold onto everyone?”
Logan hesitated. “Eventually we’re going to want to turn them over to the police, but I don’t want to do that yet. Let’s see if I can learn anything that can help us out first.”
“Okay.”
“That is, unless your people do mind.”
“They don’t mind.”
They fell silent for several blocks.
“Dev, I need to ask you for a little more help,” Logan said. “I’m hoping someone you know might have contacts in Bangkok that can assist me. Probably someone who—”
He stopped as Dev pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket, and handed it to him.
“What’s this?”
“What you just asked for,” Dev said. “A phone number. When you get there, call it.”
“A friend of yours?”
“A friend of a friend.”
Logan hoped he’d say more, but in typical Dev fashion, that was it.
“So you were expecting me to ask for help,” he said.
“If you didn’t, I would have given it to you anyway. Tooney’s a good guy. Find his granddaughter, Logan. And if you can, make the ones who took her pay.”
• • •
Logan wasn’t sure how long after his plane had taken off that he fell asleep, but he knew they hadn’t reached cruising altitude yet. Barney’s pills really worked. By the time Logan woke, he’d been out for seven hours. Which was nice until he realized he still had about another seven to go before the plane was due to land in Hong Kong.
He filled some of the time by working on his laptop. In the morning before he’d left the motel, he’d received an email from Ruth containing Forbus’ latest information on Burma. Not having time to look at it then, he’d saved it to
