Little Girl Gone

“Okay, Kai. Let’s go!”

42

The road between Wat Doi Suthep and Chiang Mai followed the contours of the mountain down to the plateau where the city lay. The hillside was covered with tropical vegetation. With the exception of where there was a roadside business or home, the plants and trees came right up to the edge of the road, sometimes even creating a partial canopy over the top.

It would have been beautiful if Logan had had time to pay attention, but his focus was on spotting the van that was somewhere ahead of them, not on the local flora. He kept his eyes glued over Kai’s shoulder at the asphalt ahead. If this had been a straight road through a flat countryside he would have seen them right away. But the curves severely shortened his visual range.

Finally, after another sharp turn to the left, he saw the van, then pointed at it.

Kai said something.

“What?” Logan asked, unable to understand.

“What you want do?” Kai yelled.

“Go around him,” Logan said. “And keep going fast all the way to the bottom.”

“Why bottom?”

“I have friends waiting there.”

“Okay.”

Kai gunned the engine, and within seconds they were whipping past the van. Logan made sure not to look at it as they went by, so that those inside wouldn’t know he was interested in them. Soon the van disappeared behind them, swallowed up by the bends in the road.

It had taken Logan and Daeng twenty minutes to climb the mountain to the temple earlier, but the trip down on Kai’s motorcycle took no more than five.

“There,” Logan said, pointing to a wide spot on the side of the road that Daeng had described to him earlier.

They pulled over, and Logan immediately hopped off. He then pulled out another thousand baht note from this pocket gave it to Kai.

“Thanks,” Logan said.

“You need more help?”

Logan shook his head. “Trust me. You’ve done more than enough.”

“Okay, if you sure. Good luck,” Kai said, then took off.

Daeng had told Logan there would be five of his Burmese refugee contacts waiting at the wide spot if they ended up needing them. So Logan was a little surprised to find nine of them there. It seemed the only ones missing were the kids and a couple of the others.

 He pointed at the two cars parked nearby. “Yours?”

“Yes,” one of the man said.

“Who’s driving them?”

He signaled for a couple of the other men to join them, and Logan quickly explained what he wanted to do. The main guy had to do a little translating for him, but they all got the gist of it.

“You guys okay with this plan?” Logan asked when he was through.

“Okay,” the main guy said. “No problem.”

“Excellent. Then they should get ready. It’s almost time.”

The two drivers got into their cars, and started their engines.

“Just tell me when you want them to go,” the headman said.

Logan nodded, then, after a moment, said, “Daeng said you might have a gun I can use.”

“You sure you want?”

“Better to have it than not.”

The man retrieved a pistol from the back of the closest car, and gave it to Logan. “Police catch you, not good.”

“I’ll remember that,” Logan said.

He quickly found a good spot, then looked up the hill. Through the trees, he could see a small stretch of the road that was beyond the curve just up from their position. He kept his eye on it, waiting for the van to appear. Finally, the gray van moved by, then passed out of sight.

Forty-five seconds, tops and they’d be here.

“Now,” Logan said.

The headman waved at the two parked cars. Instantly, they pulled into the street. Only instead of merging with traffic, they drove across the lanes, and halted, creating a roadblock. The lead car was all the way on the road, while the second car hung partially over the shoulder.