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“You’re sure?”
“Positive. Which only leaves the fifth plane, the one heading to Manila.” She tried but failed to curb her excitement. “Look at what the background report says.” She pointed at a specific paragraph, not waiting for him to read through everything. “Those pilots are reputed smugglers. Open to the highest bidder. Drugs. Guns. Human trafficking—they smuggled a crime boss out of the Philippines two days before he was going to be arrested, and no one knows where he escaped to. There’s no proof of any of this, of course, or else they’d be in jail. But the man who compiled this report? I believe him.”
“So they were paid to take my daughters to Manila.” Dirk’s voice was dangerously soft.
“Manila was probably just a waypoint. No way to know for sure. But their plane was damaged in the typhoon—wasn’t that what the mechanic said? They have to wait for parts to be shipped from the US before their plane can be repaired. So they can’t leave. Which means the kidnappers can’t leave, either.”
Dirk stood so abruptly his chair toppled over. The dangerous softness was still in his voice when he asked, “How long have you known this?”
He towered over her, and Mei-li looked up a long way to his face, which was hard and implacable. “Since early this morning,” she admitted, not quite getting why Dirk was suddenly so angry. “I read the report, then printed it out before I came over here.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was going to, but—”
“But what?” His lips were white around the edges.
“Delivering the ransom was more important,” she explained quietly. “Did you or did you not tell me in this very room that the only thing you cared about was bringing your daughters safely home?”
His brows twitched together. “Yes, but—”
“Convincing the kidnappers you were willing to do whatever they asked of you was more important than showing you this report. Between the time I arrived and the time we had to leave, there was no opportunity. I didn’t deliberately keep it from you, Dirk. I showed it to you the first chance I had.”
“You could have given it to me when we were driving up to the Peak.”
“With Patrick in the car?” That stopped him. “I trust Patrick...well, after what you said, I mostly trust him,” she added even more quietly. “But you don’t. So there was no way I was going to mention this with him in the car listening to everything we said.”
His expression morphed from anger to contrition, and after a moment he said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I—” His hand came up as if he were going to touch her cheek, but he didn’t, and his hand dropped to his side. “I—all at once I thought you were keeping secrets from me—shielding me—and I couldn’t bear it. Because I have to know, Mei-li. It’s like looking at the pictures of my daughters. It’s like talking with them on the phone. It tears me up inside, but I have to do it. Maybe I can’t do a damn thing, but I have to know.”
Guilt slammed into her. Not about the report, but about the other secret she was keeping from him. The one she was afraid to tell him because she wasn’t sure she could convince him this was their best chance to recover his daughters alive.
She cleared her throat. “I understand. But you have to trust me, Dirk. You have to trust I know what I’m doing.”
She wanted to tell him everything—trust was a two-way street. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Dirk asked, “So if we know that plane—those pilots—are involved, what can we do about it?”
“They’re being watched. We’ll know the minute the parts arrive.”
“Watched?” He froze. “You called the police?” Buried in the way he asked that question was a plea for her to deny it, because he didn’t want to believe she’d put his daughters’ lives in danger.
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t do that, Dirk. Not without your knowledge and consent.”
“Then how—”
“Trust me, please. I can’t tell you how, but every move those pilots make is under observation. They won’t leave Hong Kong with your daughters, I promise.”
From the expression on his face she knew he was going to insist on knowing how she knew, but his smartphone rang just then, and after a quick glance at the screen he answered it. “Yes, Rafe, what have you found?” He listened intently, then said, “No. I know it’s a needle in a haystack. But what else can you do except keep looking? Check the airport. The airline counters. Maybe they decided to make a run for it and bought tickets.” Rafe must have asked a question, because Dirk said, “Hang on, let me check,” and walked down the hall.
