Little Girl Gone

22

Ruth called Logan back as he was pulling into the motel parking lot just before midnight.

“Please don’t tell me the plane’s stolen, too,” he said.

“Now that would be interesting, wouldn’t it? No, not stolen,” she said. “Chartered.”

“From who?”

“A place called Midwin-Robb Express. The plane was chartered by a company called Kajiwara Research, specifically by a man named Robert Andrews.”

“What do you know about Kajiwara?”

Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she said, “Wow. I so did not expect you to ask that question. Lucky, I accidentally looked them up while I was at it. Well, tried anyway.”

“Tried?”

“Kajiwara’s a shell company. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Runs through a half dozen other corporations that I’ve been able to find so far.”

“Where does it end?”

“That I don’t know.”

Logan hesitated, then said, “Can you keep looking?”

“You are definitely getting me fired.”

“That is definitely not my intention. I promise.” He paused. “What about the flight plan?”

“The one on file has them going to Tokyo.”

Logan was afraid of that. Not Tokyo specifically, but just somewhere out of the country. There was a very real possibility that Tokyo was not even their destination, and had just been used to explain their initial flight path.

“I really need to know where the plane ends up. If it is Tokyo, fine, but if not I need that location. Can you…keep tabs on it?”

“Logan, please.”

“Ruth, can you?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“That’s all I can ask,” he said.

“Good night, Logan. Don’t wake me up again.”

She clicked off.

It had been a long day, packed with a hell of lot more than Logan had bargained for. But as much as he would have loved to just lie down and fall asleep as he walked back into his room, he couldn’t. Time was the enemy. With each passing second, Elyse was moving further and further away.

He found a phone book in the nightstand drawer. Midwin-Robb Express was listed under Airplanes, Charter. He called the number and, as he’d hoped, a live voice at an answering service picked up. A charter jet company in Los Angeles, where entertainment industry bigshots kept ever-changing schedules, had to be available 24/7 if they wanted to stay in business.

“I need a plane,” he said. “I have a client who needs to leave for New York first thing in the morning.”

“May I have your name, please?”

“Sure. James Cole.”

“All right, Mr. Cole. I’ll have someone call you back at this number in just a few moments.”

True to her word, his phone rang three minutes later.

“Is this Mr. Cole?” the woman on the other end asked.

“Yes, it is.”

“Hi, my name’s Debbie Midwin. From Midwin-Robb Express? You called about a charter?”

Logan was impressed. She sounded like it was the middle of the day, not midnight.

“Yes, I did. I’m hoping you can help me out of a bind. My client has an event he needs to attend in New York tomorrow afternoon, but he’s here in L.A. right now. How soon do you think you could get him there?”

“We have a plane at the Van Nuys Airport that can take off at six a.m., and get him there a little before two p.m. Eastern Time.”

“He was hoping he could fly out of Santa Monica.”

“Well, we do have a plane there that’s also available tomorrow. But the airport’s closed until seven a.m.”

“So, three p.m. in New York, then?”

“Yes, sir. Around that.”

“That would work.”

“That’s great. Would you like to book it?”

He paused for effect. “Well, here’s the problem. My client is…particular. Before I can book anything, I’ll need to see the plane first.”

“Of course,” she said, without missing a beat. She’d obviously heard this tune before. “When would you like to look at it?”

“Can we do it in, say, fifty minutes?”

“One a.m.?”

“Yeah.”

“No problem,” she said. She gave him the address. “Can I ask who your client is?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that right now. If everything’s cool, and we book the charter, of course, you’ll know then.” He paused, then, in a faux whisper, added, “But I can say he probably won’t be bringing along the Oscar he just won.”

He thought he heard a smile in her voice as she said good-bye and hung up.

Logan took a cool shower in hopes it would revitalize him. It wasn’t the perfect solution, but it helped.

He had just pulled on his pants and was grabbing a clean shirt out of his bag when someone knocked on his door.

He wasn’t surprised to find his dad standing outside. Harp immediately pushed past him. “I saw your car. How long have you been back?”

“Not long,” Logan said. He waited at the door for a few seconds in case any of his dad’s friends were with him, but apparently he’d come alone. Logan shut it, and pulled on his shirt.

“Well? What happened?” he father asked. “Dev got all ‘can’t talk right now’ as soon as he got off the phone with you, then disappeared.”

“Elyse is alive.”

“What?” His father’s eyes grew about as wide as Logan had ever seen them.

“I saw her.”

“You saw her? And she’s alive?” His dad’s voice stuck in his throat. Logan could tell he’d been assuming the worst, but hadn’t voiced it for his friend’s sake. “Where is she? We should go get her.” He started for the door.

“It’s not that easy,” Logan said, stopping him.

“Why not? If you know where she is, we just need to—”

“Dad, she’s on a plane.”

“A plane?” his father said, as if the word was foreign to him. “An airplane?”

“Yes.”

“Where’s she going?”

“The flight plan says Tokyo.”

“Tokyo?” His dad sunk onto one of the beds, and sat there for a moment, staring at the floor, before he turned his gaze back to his son. “Why did you let her get on?”

“She didn’t get aboard by herself. Someone put her there.”

“And you just let this happen? You should have grabbed her.”

“It wasn’t exactly an option at the time, okay?” Logan paused, trying very hard not to let his own frustration show. “At least we know she’s still alive. And, for the moment, we also know exactly where she is.”

“You mean in a plane, above the ocean?”

“Yes,” Logan said, ignoring his father’s tone.

Harp looked defeated, like he’d let down Tooney, and there was nothing he could do to make it right.

Logan sat down beside him. “You wanted me to find her and bring her back. Dad, that’s still what I’m going to do.”

“Do you think you really can?”

The answer that came immediately to mind was, “I don’t know,” but instead he said, “I’m not going to stop until I do.”

Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.

Finally, Logan said, “Wherever she’s gone, Dad, I’m going to have to follow her.”

“Well, that’s not a problem,” his father replied, grabbing onto the thread of hope Logan had given him. “I told you we’d cover all costs.”

“I’ll need cash. A few grand at least, and that’s not counting the plane ticket.”

“The boys and I will go to the bank tomorrow.”

“You should probably do it first thing,” Logan said. “I’ll need to leave as soon as I can.”

“For Tokyo?” his dad asked.

“That, I don’t know yet.”

Harp gave his son a smile, then said, “Thanks, Logan. I’m glad you’re here, and I know you’ll do the best you can.”

I hope so.