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She broke off suddenly, and understanding came to him out of the blue. Compassion made his voice low and deep when he asked, “Is that what happened with your fiancé? Is that how the ransom delivery was botched?”
After a few seconds she nodded. “Someone picked up the suitcase and turned it over to the police, never dreaming... The man never even looked inside. And it was very busy at that particular police station that day. No one opened the suitcase to see if there was some kind of identification in it for hours. By the time they did, by the time they saw the money and realized what it was, it was too late.”
Her face took on a closed expression that told Dirk she really didn’t want to talk about it anymore, but his heart ached for her the way he knew hers ached for him. After a moment he forced himself to return to the original subject. “But this isn’t a regular kidnapping. So what are our next steps?”
“Normally I’d advise my clients to clear their schedules, but—”
“Damn! I never even thought of that. I’m supposed to be filming today.” He pulled out his smartphone, but Mei-li stopped him.
“I called my father this morning when you were ordering breakfast. I didn’t give him the details, but he knows your daughters were kidnapped. But don’t worry, he’ll keep the news to himself.”
“I wasn’t worried. I know Josh well enough to know that.”
A faint smile touched her lips. “He told me to tell you he’s very sorry this happened and for you not to worry about anything except getting your daughters back. Since he’s the producer as well as the director, he has great latitude. You’ve got a nasty case of the flu, and he’s going to rearrange the schedule to shoot around you for the next week.”
“Good of him to do that, but if there’s a financial impact to the picture I want to—”
Mei-li cut him off. “Worry about that when and if it happens. You’ve got enough on your plate right now.”
“Okay,” he nodded. “So you’ve cleared the decks for me. What else?”
* * *
Terrell Blackwood’s secret cell phone rang just after 9:00 p.m. He was alone in his Minnetonka mansion, having given his servants the week off—he wanted no witnesses available to testify to anything he said or did this week. Fending for himself for that long would have been a hardship twenty years ago, but not now. Not after prison.
“Yes?” he answered.
“There is another problem with the delivery of your packages,” a cold voice said with no introduction. No greeting.
“Problem?”
“Yesterday’s typhoon damaged the plane on which they were to have been shipped. Parts to repair the damage are not readily available.”
Terrell cursed mentally, but all he said was, “What do you suggest?”
“It would be...inadvisable...to attempt to ship your packages via another plane. There could be damage beyond our control.” Terrell correctly interpreted this statement to mean his agent was worried about approaching another pilot with a different plane to transport the little girls. “I suggest you delay shipment until the original plane is available.”
“How long?”
“Parts should be available within three business days, possibly sooner. They have to be shipped from the manufacturer in the US. Once the parts arrive, repairs should take less than a day.”
Three to four days. An eternity. But he’d already waited this long, he could wait a few days more. “Do it,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the cold voice answered.
Then Terrell remembered. The message delivered to Derek Summers yesterday—the message he’d wanted Summers to receive—had included his name. He’d thought the little girls would have been safely outside Hong Kong by now, on their way to their final destination in the United States, or else he’d never have allowed his name to be given to Summers yet. Because, while he wanted Summers to know whose hand was delivering this crushing blow, he had no intention of going back to prison. So he said, “Because of the delay, you’ll need to modify your other plans.”
From the beginning the plan had been for his agents to collect the ransom—and not return the twins to their father. Terrell had guaranteed a set fee to the kidnappers over and above the ransom for several reasons, not the least of which was he didn’t want the little girls killed. But it had seemed poetic justice to Terrell that Summers himself would pay for the kidnapping. Another twist of the knife. And Terrell had had every intention of letting Summers know that little detail...at the appropriate time.
