Add 0 padding to Sqlite entry in AutoHotKey

I am trying to add one or two zeroes to the left of an integer. I get the 0 added in the ahk variable, howeverm when I add it to the sqlite DB, the zeroes are omitted.

StringLen, sLen, sequenceNumber
    if (sLen == 1)
    {
    sortOrder = 00%sequenceNumber%
    }
    if (sLen == 2)
    {
    sortOrder = 0%sequenceNumber%
    }
    if (sLen == 3)
    {
    sortOrder = %sequenceNumber%  
    }
    msgbox, sort order: %sortOrder%  ;it shows right results 009, 010
    record.SortOrder := sortOrder

I tried to use the || to concat to a string in Sqlite, but it won't work inside an ahk script. It acts as the OR operator and returns 1