Chasing the White Lion by James Hannibal (mind reading books .TXT) 📕

The trucks were gone. Not one soul moved between the two cinder-block buildings.

Tyler slid in behind the wheel of the jeep. “Let’s go see what we see.”

On the way, Finn traded his place in the truck with Darcy so he could ride with Talia in the jeep. “How’s your head?” he asked, notably failing to add princess or your highness.

Talia smiled. “Better. Thanks for asking.” She touched the spot and winced. “One of Jafet’s men left a pretty good bump back there, but the headaches and nausea are gone.”

The area surrounding the target compound offered no cover besides a random hill in the otherwise flat plain, terraced for rice. Mac and Tyler parked the pickup and jeep behind the hill, but the team still had to cover a hundred meters of open ground.

Tyler tapped his ear. “Comms on. Spread out. Eddie, grab the scope and hang here. Call out movers and weapons as you see them.” He set off from the north end of the hill with Finn and Talia. Val, Mac, and Darcy set off from the south.

Ewan and Po followed Finn, and the thief glanced back, scrunching up his brow. “Where are you two going?”

Po shrugged. Ewan nodded toward the compound. “With you.”

“Not on your life. Stay put. Eddie will tell you when it’s safe.”

A hundred yards was a long distance to cover over a flat, muddy plain, especially when facing armed militiamen. The team fanned out, and Talia kept her eyes moving, senses on full alert.

Finn, however, seemed bored by the whole procedure. “Commando. Thieves . . . Hmm . . . Commando-thieves.”

“What about thief-dohs?” Darcy said over the comms. “Or how about comman-ieves, yes?”

Eddie chimed in with his own idea. “I’m going with Comanches.”

Talia’s case officer instincts told her not to encourage mindless chatter on a tactical net, but she couldn’t help herself. “We can’t use Comanches. That’s cultural appropriation.”

“Don’t be such a snowflake.”

“You’re the snowflake.”

Mac unleashed a heavy sigh into the comms. “Not to be a killjoy, but the kidnappers are likely linin’ us up in their sights as we speak.”

No one said anything else until they crossed the gravel road into the compound.

“The kidnappers should have challenged us by now,” Talia said. “Eddie, do you see anything in the scope?”

“Negative.”

Finn and Tyler split left to circle the north building. Mac and Darcy split right to circle the other. Talia and Val went up the middle.

Val was the first to spot the dark stain. “Looks like blood.” She held her weapon ready and signaled for Talia to kneel and check.

Talia pulled her fingers away with a grimace. “Guys, we have a big puddle of blood seeping into the dirt between the buildings. Still sticky. Skull fragments too. Someone was shot here.”

“The term you’re looking for is executed,” Val said.

“I don’t like this. We need to check inside.” Talia tried the doorknob on the north building. Locked. Naturally.

The others cleared the perimeter, then Darcy set tiny charges on the main doors of each structure. They split into threes again and breached both at once.

“Clear!” Tyler said, first through the door of Talia’s building.

Talia passed to his right, into a large chamber, and made a wide turn into the first of two smaller rooms. The whole place smelled of filth and sickness. “Clear!”

“This room’s clear as well.” Finn had taken the second room. “Our building’s empty.”

“Ours is not,” Darcy said. “Come over here, and come quickly. Eddie, send Mr. Ferguson.”

“Already done. He and Po are on the way.”

The second building smelled the same as the first, a scent on the edge of death. Food containers and empty water bottles lay on the floor. Darcy led the team through a cramped hallway to a chamber guarded by a pink and yellow linen curtain. Mac and Val stood on either side, looking stricken. Mac held the curtain back to let the others through.

A man, burned and unconscious, lay on a ragged cot, lit by rays of sunlight streaming in through a high rectangular window. A woman, barely conscious herself, cradled his head. Before Talia could fully process the sight, Ewan and Po rushed past. The woman seemed to recognize Po. She spoke to him in a voice raspy and withered, regretful.

Po dropped to his knees, head hanging.

The woman’s eyes broke Talia’s heart. “What is she saying, Ewan? Where are the children?”

Ewan choked on his reply. “Gone, Miss Talia. The children are gone.”

CHAPTER

SIXTY-

TWO

SEUX KHORNG HIGH RISE

SATHON DISTRICT

BANGKOK, THAILAND

TYLERPRESSEDASCOPE against the office glass to minimize the glare of the city lights. He focused the lens on the half city block of new white marble comprising Twin Tigers Plaza, nestled in a sharp bend of the Chao Phraya River.

“Anything?” Eddie asked from the computer station behind him.

“Negative. I don’t see our girls.”

The mood had remained somber since the discovery of the pastor and teacher from the refugee camp. Ewan had taken them to a hospital to receive care, but Tyler had cautioned him against sharing too many details about their injuries. Fortunately, in Bangkok, doctors weren’t generally friendly with local police.

The team had set up shop in an empty office with a view of the plaza, and Tyler had passed the day greasing the wheels he’d set in motion for the con—what wheels he could, with the limited information the White Lion had given his team.

“My cameras are online,” Eddie said. “You can watch from over here.”

“Copy.” Tyler didn’t move. When possible, he preferred his own eyes over a digital surrogate. But he did lower the scope a moment later when the elevator let out its telltale ding.

“Pizza’s here,” Finn said, stepping off with Mac. “Seafood delight and bacon-bit special.”

Pell crinkled his nose. “Didn’t they have a standard pepperoni?”

“You said you wanted local flavor.”

“I was talking about Thai food.”

Finn set his boxes on a folding table. “There’s a pizza shop every fifty meters in this town. From what I’m seeing, this is Thai food.”

Mac picked up a slice covered in white cheese and crab meat. “This and Burger King.”

Eddie abandoned the