Mortal Crimes: 7 Novels of Suspense (218 page)

Daeng didn’t look like he really wanted to, but he did it just the same.

Logan glanced up and saw that they were now on the opposite side of the river from where they’d started, but still heading north. He scanned ahead, hoping for a wharf or canal or anything that they might be able to use to their advantage. He was just starting to turn back when a large, shadowy form moving steadily down the center of the river caught his eye.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Daeng looked over. “A barge, I think.” There was controlled pain in his tone.

Logan watched for another second. Yes, a barge, just like the ones he’d seen earlier. And if there was one barge, then there was probably at least one more tethered behind it.

Logan could see the tug now, too. It had a few dim lights on and looked tiny in comparison.

“Tell the pilot to head over there,” Logan said. “We can use it as cover.”

Daeng yelled back the instructions, but instead of the boat turning, the engine started to rev down. Daeng yelled again, but the man’s response was short, and though Logan couldn’t understand the words, he was pretty sure he knew what the guy meant: “Go to hell!”

Their pilot then put a foot on the edge of the boat, and jumped into the water.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

AS THEIR PILOT started to swim away, Logan looked back and saw Ryan’s boat closing fast.

He started to scramble back toward the engine to get it going again, but Daeng moved first. The motor suddenly roared back to life, and they shot away from the shore.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Logan yelled.

“I sure as hell hope so.”

They were headed straight for the barge now, with the other boat a lot closer to them than Logan preferred.

“Can’t you go any faster?”

By the look Daeng gave him, Logan was pretty sure they were going as fast as they could.

A searchlight on the tugboat flicked on, illuminating the water in front of them. Daeng whipped the boat to the left, running alongside the barge and staying out of reach of the spot. But Ryan’s boat turned a few seconds too late, and the light caught them. Several people yelled across the water, and a horn on the tug blasted twice, but within seconds the other longboat was back in the dark, too.

As they raced past the first barge, Logan could now see that it wasn’t a convoy of two but of three, each looking like a large football field on a raised, black pedestal, gliding through the water. Just before they reached the halfway point of the second one, Daeng shouted, “Hang on. I’m going to try something.”

Logan was already hanging on, so he tightened his grip and hoped whatever Daeng was going to do would work.

Less than five seconds later, Daeng cut the engine way back, and swung the boat around so that it looked like they were going to ram right into the side of the barge. But suddenly the bulky vessel in front of them was replaced by the gap between it and the third barge. Daeng gunned the engine, shooting them through the quickly closing space and onto the other side.

Logan looked back. The other boat hadn’t been able to turn in time. They were going to have to go all the way around the third barge.

Daeng turned their boat so that they were traveling in the same direction as the barges, only faster. On their right, the gap they’d shot through was coming up again. Logan nearly lost his balance as Daeng whipped them back through to the other side.

“A little warning would have been nice!” he shouted.

“Sorry!” Daeng replied.

As they emerged, they could see the tail end of Ryan’s boat disappearing around the back of the third barge. Daeng turned them south, then matched their speed to the convoy.

For several minutes, they continued on in this way, their presence masked by the massive barge at their side. Logan constantly scanned in both directions, ready to shout out if the other boat reappeared. Finally, Daeng lifted the propeller out of the water, and they slowed until they were simply moving with the current.

Beside them, the dark hulks moved by, until the third barge passed and they were alone in the river again. Daeng dipped the propeller back in the water, and aimed them across the wake toward the other side. Then, just as they were clearing the first of the swells, the sound of another engine cut through the night.

Ryan’s boat.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Logan yelled.

Apparently, Ryan and his pilot had been doing the same thing Logan and Daeng had, only on the other side of the barge. Now they were headed straight at them.

The pilot of the other boat yelled across the short distance between them.

“He wants us to stop,” Daeng said.

“Don’t!”

Daeng kept them moving forward as fast as possible, the front of the boat flying out of the water, then bouncing hard against the river with each swell.

As the other pilot yelled at them again, Logan saw something directly in front of their boat. “Watch out!”

But his warning came too late. By the time Daeng started to turn, they had already traveled into one of the floating islands of vegetation. Logan heard the propeller chew on some of the vines, then catch and stop cold, killing the engine at once.

The other boat slowed as it approached, then stopped beside them, just outside the vine trap. Logan kept his back to them, hoping they could somehow get out of this without Ryan getting a look at him. Because if that happened, and Ryan reported back that Logan was here, the people who had Elyse might decide it was time to cut their losses and make her disappear forever.

“You speak English?” Ryan asked.

“Little,” Daeng said, falling easily into a Thai accent.

“What about your friend there?”

“No speak.”

“What were you looking for?”

“Looking for?
Mai khao jai
. Don’t understand.”

There was a pause, then Ryan asked, “What were you doing?”

“Doing? Fishing. On boat.”

“I don’t see any fishing equipment.”

“Fall out when you chase us.”

“Right. Sure. What were you doing?”

“I tell you already,” Daeng said.

“You there in the middle. What were you doing out here?”

Logan didn’t move.

“Hey, I bet you
do
speak English. Tell me what you were doing! You were looking for something, weren’t you? I could tell.”

Logan continued to act like he couldn’t hear him.

“Move us in closer,” Ryan said to his pilot.

The motor on the other boat throttled up for a moment. A few seconds later, there was a bump, and the boat Logan was in rocked back and forth.

“Why were you out here?” Ryan said, his voice only a few feet away. “Hey. I’m talking to you. Turn around.”

Logan continued to stare out at the water.

“Tell him to turn around,” Ryan said.

The pilot spoke in Thai, relaying the command to Logan.

Slowly, Logan rose, his back still to Ryan.

“Turn around,” Ryan commanded.

When he didn’t move right away, Ryan grabbed Logan’s shoulder, then pulled at him. Logan resisted for a moment, then finally turned.

A second passed before recognition flashed across Ryan’s eyes. “What the hell?
You?
”

“I thought we agreed you wouldn’t do anything stupid again,” Logan said, then slugged him in the gut.

He’d hoped the blow would send Ryan over the side of his boat, but Ryan caught himself, then swung his gun around, its barrel making a quick arc that would end with its muzzle pointed at Logan’s chest. Before that could happen, though, Logan leaped at him.

There was no way for Ryan to stop their combined momentum this time. He went into the river, and Logan went with him.

They plunged several feet beneath the dark, muddy surface, their arms intertwined. Logan tried to push Ryan away, but Ryan fought back, using his gun as a club. He landed one blow, but on his second try it slipped from his hand, and fell toward the riverbed.

His lungs screaming for air, Logan pushed away from Ryan, then broke the surface, gasping. A second later, Ryan came up, too.

He took a few rapid breaths, then said, “How the hell did you find us?”

“Where’s Elyse, Ryan?” Logan asked.

“Nowhere you’ll find her.”

“Where is she?”

Ryan started to laugh, but it quickly died in his throat as Logan began swimming toward him. He immediately started moving away, but he was a mediocre swimmer at best and no match for Logan. He seemed to sense this, because just before Logan got to him, he stopped.

Pulling up just short of Ryan’s reach, Logan began treading water. “You’re coming with us. I don’t want to hurt you, but if I have to, I will.”

The arrogant laugh was back. “You don’t get it. I already reported in that I was pursuing a suspicious boat. The others are out looking for me now. They’ll probably be here before we even get out of the water.”

“Which way did you tell them we were going?” Logan asked. “North?”

Ryan said nothing.

“Take a look around. You see those lights right over there?” Logan pointed at the east shore. “That’s right about where you originally spotted us. We’re already past that point now. This current’s moving pretty quickly, too. In a few minutes we won’t be able to even see them anymore. And your friends? They’ll just keep going in the other direction.”

Ryan tried to keep his face blank, but he was doing a bad job of it.

“We’re going to swim back to the boats, and you’re going to come with us,” Logan said.

Ryan looked at him for a moment, then gave a reluctant nod.

As they neared the boats, Logan saw that Daeng had moved into the one with the working motor.

“Where’s the pilot?” Logan called out, not seeing the guy who’d been with Ryan.

“Swam off right after you two fell in.”

Suddenly concerned, Logan said, “Which way did he go? We’ve got to get him before he gets to shore. If he tells them about us…”

“Don’t worry,” Daeng said. “He won’t. He’ll be concerned they’d blame him for you getting away. I guarantee you he’ll lie low until they’re gone.”

This didn’t completely relax Logan. “I hope you’re right.”

“I am.”

As Ryan neared the boat, Logan said, “Get in.”

“You should let me go,” Ryan told him. “I promise, I won’t say anything to anyone.”

“Get in the boat.”

“Come on. What are you going to do, huh? Beat me up? No matter what, I’m not going to tell you anything.”

Logan swam in closer. “Get. In. The. Boat.”

Ryan glanced down at the water, resigned. As he turned and reached out, Logan thought he was going to grab the hull and pull himself in, but instead he put his hand on the side and pushed himself under.

Logan immediately dove after him, then blindly reached out, grasping at the area where he thought Ryan might be. His fingers brushed against a pant leg, but it quickly slipped away. He swam beneath the hull, and reached out again. This time he got a hold of Ryan’s foot for half a second before it kicked out, making him lose his grip.

The breath he’d taken before going under had been a quick one, and as he passed under the bottom of the boat, he could feel his air running out. He found the hull with his hand, then followed it up until his head broke the surface between the two longboats.

As he breathed, he looked for Ryan, but there was no sign of him.

“Did I miss him? Did he come up?” he yelled at Daeng.

“I haven’t seen him.”

Logan had to find him. Unlike the pilot, Ryan would definitely go back to the others. He expelled all his air, then took as deep a breath as he could, and went back under.

He knew Ryan had to have come up for air somewhere. There must have been a break in the vines, or perhaps there was space on the other side of the boat that Daeng and Logan had been on. That was something he could check.