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His voice hardened. “Whatever it takes.” And he knew it for the truth.
Her eyes searched his face, as if seeking confirmation of his words, but he knew she couldn’t see his eyes—the most revealing part of his anatomy. She reached up to remove his sunglasses...and he let her. Eventually she nodded. “I am, too. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
They stared at each other for several seconds after that, and something tugged at Dirk. He wasn’t sure what it was; all he knew for damn sure was that they didn’t have time for him to figure it out. “So, I take it our next step is to check out these planes.” It wasn’t what he’d intended to say—he hadn’t even been thinking about the list in Mei-li’s purse. But it broke the spell.
“Yes,” she replied, handing him back his sunglasses. Then she pulled the list out of her purse and quickly perused it. “Three of these are legitimate charter services. Doesn’t necessarily rule them out, but I’d push them to the bottom. This one and this one,” she told Dirk, pointing to the two names, “I don’t recognize. Let’s start with them.” She flipped to pages further back, reading what was printed, and frowned suddenly. “One of these planes is headed to Taipei, in Taiwan. The other filed a flight plan for Manila, in the Philippines.”
“Meaning what?”
“Nothing...yet. Manila’s about two hours away on a commercial flight. Taipei’s less than that. The flight to Taipei specifies four passengers. The flight to Manila has only two.” A reflective expression settled over her face. “Two kidnappers and two children equals four passengers. On the other hand, two kidnappers carrying two small children as luggage, which we already know to be the case...”
It was a sickening reminder, and Dirk flinched inwardly before curling his hands into fists as rage slashed through him. His unconscious daughters transported in duffel bags...treated as inanimate things, not children...
He brought himself under control with an effort. Mei-li had already taken him to task for things he did that accomplished nothing, and letting his emotions rule him was another item on that list. But there will be a reckoning, he promised himself. Even if the kidnappers never went to jail, they would pay. Somehow.
* * *
Lunchtime was a distant memory by the time Dirk, Mei-li and Rafe walked away from the last plane hangar. Not that they’d had lunch, Dirk realized with a flash of compunction. He’d been so intent on getting here when they’d found the cabdriver—and then so intent on finding out whatever he could about the five private planes once they were here—that food had been the last thing on his mind. The cabdriver had munched on his bag lunch while he waited for them, so at least he hadn’t suffered. But Mei-li and Rafe were a different story, and they were probably as hungry as he was.
Especially since they hadn’t uncovered anything meaningful. They hadn’t found his daughters—not that he’d really been expecting to, but he was surprised at how cruelly disappointed he was that they hadn’t. Apparently hope for a miracle is a natural human response, he reasoned, but there hadn’t even been a sign of the twins. And there’d been no red flags—at least none that you spotted, Dirk told himself. Mei-li might have a different take. He turned to ask her, but she must have read his mind—or read his intent on his face—because she shook her head regretfully.
“No, nothing stood out for me, either. Except...” She hesitated.
“Except what?”
“Nothing. Nothing I can point to. I just got a funny vibe from the Aussie pilots of the second plane, the one going to Manila. That’s all.”
“Yeah,” Rafe said slowly. “Now that you mention it, I got a hinky feeling from them, too. I thought it was just me.” He gave a little huff of not-quite laughter. “At first I chalked it up to their impatience to be off—time is money to them, and having to delay the flight because they can’t get a takeoff clearance, well, I understand that. But then when that mechanic volunteered their plane had been damaged in the typhoon and they were having to wait for parts to be shipped from the States...did you see their reaction?”
Dirk nodded. “Almost as if they didn’t want us to know.”
“Exactly. Why would they care? It didn’t make sense. Also, if you know you have to wait for two or three days, why let yourself get bent out of shape? Nothing you can do, so you might as well take it easy. But they weren’t. They were anxious about something.”
