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This time he hesitated. Call on his government to help him? He had great faith in the FBI. They had a kick-ass reputation, especially where kidnapping was concerned, and his first instinct when he’d learned his daughters had been snatched yesterday was to contact the US consulate. He wasn’t sure why he was hesitating. “Maybe I should,” he said, more to himself than to Mei-li. “Maybe I should at least notify the consulate.”
“Your call.” She closed her lips tightly as if she wanted to say something more, but wouldn’t.
“You don’t think I should,” he said shrewdly.
“Your call.” The decisive way she said it told him she meant it—even if she had an opinion.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t.”
“Your. Call.” Each word a separate sentence, emphasizing she wasn’t going to try to influence him in any way.
That decided him. “Then, no. At least...not today.”
She didn’t respond one way or the other, but her eyes—either he was beginning to be able to read her, or she was letting him see what she was thinking—her eyes told him she approved of his decision. “Now tell me why,” he insisted.
She sighed. “Because in my experience a policeman—any policeman—can’t help being that first. Which means no matter what they say, no matter how hard they try to see things from your perspective, in the back of their minds is the desire to apprehend the perpetrators. A need to bring the criminals to justice, to protect society, so it doesn’t happen again. That’s their raison d’être—their reason for being policemen. Yes, the safety of the victims is also important, and they try very hard to make it paramount, but...”
“I see,” he said slowly.
“Which is why families in Hong Kong tend to pay the ransom first, recover their loved ones first, then contact the police...after the fact.”
It made a hell of a lot of sense. “I understand,” he told her. “What else?” Her brows puckered in a question, and he elaborated. “Are there any other choices I have to make right now?”
She nodded. “You have to decide how far you trust Rafe and Mike.”
That took him aback. “You said you don’t trust them.”
“That’s me. I don’t trust many people—my parents, my cousin Patrick. My brother...when he’s around.”
Dirk was distracted for a moment. “You have a brother?”
“Yes. But we’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you. Your life. Your children. We can do this on our own, but it would be easier if there were more people we could trust.”
He thought about it. Carefully. “I used to trust all the people who worked for me. My housekeeper, Hannah. Vanessa. The twins’ bodyguards—all three of them. But now...”
“But now...?” she prompted when he didn’t continue.
“Hannah,” he said unequivocally. “She would walk through fire for Linden and Laurel—she’d be here now if she hadn’t broken her leg right before we were supposed to leave.” There was barely a pause before he added, “Vanessa, no. Chet, no. Mike?” He grimaced. “Not sure. But Rafe?” He considered what Rafe had said and done this morning. It just didn’t make sense for him to have brought the doorman to them if he was involved. “Yeah, I think I do.”
“Then anything you confide in Rafe will have to be in private. And you’ll have to make sure he doesn’t share anything he knows with Mike. I didn’t get the impression they were friends outside of work—”
“They’re not.”
“That’s good, because it would be very difficult for Rafe to dissemble if they were friends.” She hesitated for a moment, then said, “There’s one more choice you have to make, Dirk, and it’s best to have it out in the open.”
“Which is?”
“How far will you go to rescue your daughters?” She held up a hand to prevent him from answering too quickly. “What I’m asking is, are you willing to break the law? Are you willing to go to jail?” She let that sink in before adding, “Are you willing to admit that sometimes it’s not a matter of right and wrong, but rather choosing the lesser of two evils? How far are you willing to go?”
Dirk’s smartphone rang before he could answer, and though his heart skipped a beat, thinking it was the kidnapper calling again, he quickly realized from the ringtone that it wasn’t. He swiped a finger over the keypad and recognized the caller. “Yes, Rafe? What is it?”
