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Chapter 5
Logan pulled the picture from his wallet and placed it on the table.
The photo had been taken when Hannah was five years old, just three days before she’d been walked out of class, down the hall, through the school’s front doors, and, as they’d later learned, driven over the border and into Mexico.
From across the table, Gideon, the IT director, pulled a printout of a scanned photograph from his computer bag. He placed it on the table next to Hannah.
The photo was old, dated in the way most photographs are— by hair and clothing, and the odd color it assumed over time.
“David Law,” he said.
A breeze caught the edge of the paper, lifting it slightly, and Gideon placed his glass on the corner to hold it in place.
Munroe’s eyes came alive, and she reached for the page, David Law’s picture, that spark the first hint of hope that Logan had sensed since she’d arrived on the terrace.
She’d seen the photo of Hannah now three times, but this was the first time she’d been shown David Law’s,
and even a casual observer would have spotted the intensity with which her eyes roamed over his picture.
Her glance darted back and forth between David and Logan and their striking similarities: blond hair, green eyes, similar bone structure.
“David and I aren’t related,” Logan said to her unasked question, “at least not that I know of.
“David was Charity’s boyfriend at the time— a cult baby, like us. He’s the one who kidnapped Hannah and took her back inside.”
“Where is Charity?” Munroe asked. “Why isn’t she here?”
“She wanted to be here,” Logan said. “But she couldn’t make it and so asked me to speak on her behalf. She says ‘hi’ by the way.”
Munroe nodded.
Logan paused, mentally framing the context and where to continue.
Over the years Munroe had heard snippets of this story, and twice her path had briefly crossed with Charity’s.
Munroe knew vague details of Hannah’s kidnapping because during an unusual outburst of frustration Logan had railed against the injustice of it all, but beyond that, he’d told her little.
“It took me four years to coax Charity out,” Logan said. He tapped his head. “For many of us the thickest bars are in here.
“It takes time to overcome the fear and the guilt that a life of conditioning has put into you— especially when all you’ve ever known has you terrified of the outside.
“Anyway, I had an apartment ready, a job lined up for Charity and day care for Hannah, and when Charity finally made her break, David came along.
“Five months after they’d gotten settled, David took off with Hannah and went back.”
“What do you mean, ‘he came along’?”
“David was Charity’s boyfriend, not Hannah’s father,” Logan said.
“And he and Charity hadn’t been together long— maybe a year total, if that— so he kind of just hitched a ride, so to speak.”
“You’re certain he wasn’t Hannah’s father? No chance at all?”
“Not according to Charity.”
“Then why did he feel he had a right to take her?”
“No idea,” Logan said. “Because he didn’t have one.
“He got hold of her passport and then forged a power of attorney, took her across the border, and from there hopscotched into South America.”
“So this wasn’t a custody issue of two parents fighting over who keeps the kid?”
“Not at all,” Logan said. “It was out-and-out child abduction.” He paused and tried to find the words.
“It’s hard to find the ground under your feet when you leave,” he said. “Life comes at you so fast, there’s so much you weren’t prepared for,
“and it sometimes feels like every day is a new attempt to break up to the surface for air.
“But since I’d already made the way for Charity, David didn’t have that problem.
“If he’d really wanted to do something with his life on the outside, he had more opportunity than any of us did, had it very easy by comparison—”
Heidi, the project manager who was sitting next to Gideon, interrupted. “David never really fit in though,” she said.
Munroe said, “You knew him?”
Heidi nodded. “He didn’t seem to care much, didn’t make much of an effort to do anything, just kind of mooched off Charity, really.
“Not everyone can make it out here. Some go back. A lot of it depends on why they left in the first place.”
“We don’t know why he left— why he came with her,” Logan said.
“He could have loved her for a while, or it could have been curiosity, or maybe he didn’t like being ordered around every day…”
“Never a good reason,” Heidi said.
“Or it could be that he was asked to leave with Charity and then bring Hannah back.”
“Would the leaders do that?” Munroe said. “Order him to find an opening to take her back?”
Logan shrugged. “They don’t feel society’s laws apply to them.”
Heidi said, “Their views on the children born into the group are more like property ownership.
“Even if they didn’t order it, even if he got the idea and planned it on his own— which we doubt— they’ve done well at protecting and hiding him ever since. That’s why it’s taken us so long to find her.”
“And now that you’ve found her?”
“We want you to get her out.”
Munroe returned the photo to the table and slowly placed Gideon’s glass back on top.
She sat back and then grinned. “You want me to kidnap her.”
She’d made a statement, not asked a question, and Logan knew with certainty that she’d said it for his benefit and no one else’s.
It was classic Munroe. Have you really thought this through?
There was silence around the table.
Munroe said, “Now that you know where she is, wouldn’t this be the time to go the legal route?”
“It’s not that simple,” Logan said.
Eli, the med student, said, “We’ve already tried that.
“If David returns to the U.S. he’ll be arrested. He’s also wanted by Interpol, and we figure that’s why he keeps to less-developed countries— less technology, harder to find him.
“But even still, none of it does any good when it comes to actually getting to Hannah.”
“And we’re trying to get to her with minimal collateral damage,” Logan added.
Munroe said, “Collateral damage?”
“We know where she is, we know the country and the city.
“We don’t know specifically which commune. There are at least three in the immediate area.
“If we get law enforcement involved, in order to find her they will raid the communes.
“All of the children will be taken into protective custody, and events have a way of spiraling out of control.
“There’s also a good chance that in the confusion we’ll lose Hannah again, especially if they’ve forged her documents using a different name.”
“Don’t misunderstand,” Heidi said. “We definitely think it’s an unhealthy environment, and it’s not that we don’t care about the other kids,
“but at the same time, ripping them away from the only structure they know and putting them in South American juvenile centers isn’t the solution.”
Munroe paused and then said, “I assume this has happened before?”
“Yes,” Logan said. “And then some.
“No matter how we may feel about The Chosen and its leaders or even about some of the individuals within it, the children are our brothers, sisters, and cousins.
“Right now, this is about Hannah. Charity has full legal custody, there are warrants out for David’s arrest, and it’s just a matter of getting close enough. The cleanest way to do it is to get behind their doors.”
“None of us can do it,” Gideon said. “They know us. As soon as we get close, they’ll know what we’re doing, and they’ll move her again.”
“So what you’re saying is that in order to get her out, I’ve got to get in.”
“Pretty much.”
Munroe was silent for a moment, and Logan could see analysis written on her face.
“This happened eight years ago,” Munroe said, “so Hannah is what? Twelve? Thirteen?”
“Thirteen,” Logan said.
“In the United States, children’s passports are only good for five years, and parents have to be present in order to renew them—
“a situation like this, renewal in a foreign country, only one guardian who’s not even a parent— it’s going to raise serious questions.
“If the alerts are out, as you say they are, why hasn’t she been picked up at a consulate or embassy when her passport expired?”
“It’s happened before,” Heidi said, “with another family. So now the leaders are wise to that and won’t let it happen again.
“As best as we can tell, she’s no longer using an American passport, but we’re not sure which country she carries.”
“So, what you’re saying,” Munroe said, “is that for all intents and purposes, in whichever country she’s living, she’s not an American citizen.”
She paused for effect. “Which means that essentially you want me, an American, to go into a foreign country, kidnap what may possibly be a citizen of that country, and bring her to the United States?”
“If you want to put it cut-and-dried like that, then yes.” Bethany had spoken, the real estate agent, and her tone had a sarcastic edge.
“We’re looking for someone who has the acting ability to get inside, the fortitude to endure it, and the skill to get her out.”
“Okay, look,” Munroe said. “Assuming that I’m capable of doing it, assuming that I even want to do it,
“I can see Logan’s point in all of this— Charity being his childhood friend and his having been involved in searching for Hannah all these years. But what’s in it for the rest of you?
“You didn’t fly in from around the country and offer to put money in a pot just because of an arbitrary connection to a thirteen-year-old girl.
“Are you each related to Charity or Hannah or Logan in some way? There’s got to be more.”
“Eli is Charity’s half brother,” Logan said. “And although we each have our private reasons— certainly some of this is about us and our personal issues with the past and the people who were responsible for what happened— it’s primarily about Hannah.”
Munroe said, “Or revenge?”
Logan said, “If we want to avoid semantics entirely and call it by its most simple definition, then yes.”
She stood and said to Logan, “I need to think about it.” After Munroe left, there was a momentary silence,
and then one on top of the other the opinions and comments flowed, a mesh of conflicts and agreements that grew in volume.
“Goddamn it, Logan,” Gideon said, “the way you described her, described the plan, the whole thing seemed plausible,
“but seriously, who are we trying to kid? We might be able to get Michael in, but how the hell is she supposed to get herself, much less Hannah, out?”
“She can do it,” Logan said.
“Just because you like her and trust her doesn’t mean we do.
“Just because she’s willing to do the job— assuming she’s willing to do it— that doesn’t mean she should do it.
“We get one shot at this. If she screws up, it’s game over.”
“She can do it.”
“It’s not just about Hannah,” Heidi said. “You know that if this goes wrong, it’s going to come back to burn us.”
Logan rolled a bottle of water between his palms, then set it down on the table and stood.
“Eli, how much are you putting into the pot?”
“About three grand.”
“Ruth?”
“Five.”
Bethany held up two fingers and the others did as she had, fingers speaking the words, as Logan’s eyes went from one to the other.
“That’s what? Twenty-five grand between us in order to pull this off, right? Anyone want to venture a guess on what Michael’s last contract paid out?”
Gideon said, “I dunno, fifty thousand?”
Logan paused, waited a beat, and then said, “Five million dollars.”
The table fell silent. “Yes, Michael is my friend,” Logan said. He paced.
“She’s my friend, which is the only reason this project even registers on her radar screen. Twenty-five grand won’t even cover expenses on a job like this.
“Michael’s not looking for crazy, she’s here because I asked her to come. If she does this, it will be for me.
“We can sugarcoat it as much as we like, but she’s not stupid, she’s been down this road before and knows that even the cleanest of ins comes with a complicated out.”
“How’s her Spanish?” Bethany asked.
“Last count, she spoke twenty-two languages.”
Logan sat and leaned forward, elbows to knees. “I don’t know, it could be more by now. But yeah, she’s fluent.”
Bethany continued, “So, assuming she gets in and locates Hannah, assuming she’s able to get her away from the commune, does she even know what it’s like dealing with corrupt officials—
“and what if things go wrong and she ends up having to take the rural routes out of the country? Can she do it?”
“Let me put it this way,” Logan said. “If it came down to pulling a trigger to protect Hannah and get her safely out of the country, Michael wouldn’t hesitate.”
He paused and held his hands up in a form of backed-off caution.
“I’m not saying she would go in guns blazing, I’m just saying that she’s capable of doing it if necessary.
“And she’s spent more of her life navigating shit-hole, despot-run countries than any of us, including Gideon.”
“I have a hard time seeing it,” Gideon said.
“Hey, don’t take my word for it,” Logan said. “She’s downstairs. I dare you. I dare you to go pick a fight.
“No wait, you don’t even have to do that. I dare you to lay a finger on her. Touch her shoulder, grab her wrist, anything.”
“I liked her,” Ruth said, putting a pause on the tension.
Ruth, the lawyer, who had until now remained silent. “She’s smart, very smart, and I think she actually gets it.”
“I’ll agree to that,” Heidi said. “She gets it. But can she do it?”
“The question is not can she do it,” Logan replied. “It’s will she do it.”
