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“Yeah. I just forwarded the email to you. Before you ask, I’ll tell you. It’s not the same GPS coordinates. I did the calculation, keyed the numbers into Google Maps, and...” An expression of frustration crossed his face. “It puts their location right in the middle of Victoria Harbour.”
“That’s not possible. Could you have made a mistake when you did the math?”
He shook his head. “I did it three times. So either he knows about the GPS embedding feature and somehow managed to change it, or he was on the ferry when he took the picture. And I can tell from the picture they’re not on the ferry.”
“There’s a third possibility.”
“Which is?”
“GPS in cameras isn’t always perfect. If you turn the camera off—in this case, his iPhone—then turn it back on and take a picture before the camera receives an updated GPS signal, the GPS coordinates embedded in the picture will be the ones at the last location where the signal was received.” She hurried to add, “That’s why I said we need two pictures with the same coordinates to nail down their location.”
“Terrific.” The acerbic way the word was delivered was more to the point than the word itself.
“I’m sorry. I wish I had a better answer for you.” She looked at her watch, then back at Dirk. “If we’re going to go, we should leave soon. It’s more than an hour’s drive to get there. The Tian Tan Buddha is on Lantau Island, west of the airport—nearly as far as Tai O. And it will take us a while to climb the stairs.”
“What do you mean, if we’re going to go?” he demanded. “I thought you said we should do exactly what the kidnappers asked.”
“Slip of the tongue,” she countered swiftly. “I meant to say—”
He shook his head and cut her off. “I don’t buy that. You had a reason for saying it.”
Mei-li hesitated, but by the stubborn expression on his face she knew he wasn’t going to be deterred—he wanted an answer, and he would wait until he got one. So even though she wasn’t sure, she confessed, “I think the ransom deliveries today are a ruse. I think they’re meant to keep us busy, so we don’t have time to do anything except deliver the ransom.”
Dirk went very still. “Why do you say that?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“Because...” You have to tell him, her conscience insisted. “Because the two previous ransom drops we made were never retrieved.”
He didn’t respond at first, but a muscle twitched in his jaw. Then even more quietly he asked, “And how do you know that?”
Chapter 15
When Mei-li didn’t answer, Dirk’s eyes narrowed and he nodded to himself, as if the answer should have been obvious to him. “You had someone following us. Watching us make the drops. And then watching to see who picked them up. If someone picked them up.” The lack of emotion in his voice hurt her more than she’d ever imagined possible. She knew he thought she’d betrayed him...betrayed his daughters. And the only way he could deal with it was to shut down his emotions.
“It’s not what you think.”
His bark of laughter grated. “You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“Yes, I do. You think I put your daughters at risk. I didn’t. This is the only way, Dirk. I told you two days ago I have no experience with kidnapping for revenge, but you wanted me on the case anyway.” She moved until she was standing right in front of him, and her voice was urgent, needing to convince him. “You trusted me—don’t stop now.”
“I’m supposed to trust you...but you haven’t trusted me.” The dangerous softness was back in his tone.
“You’re right. And I apologize. I should have told you right off the bat what I was doing and why.” Her apology didn’t appease him, she saw. She glanced at her watch again. “I’ll explain everything, but not right now. We really do have to leave. This time of day, there’s no telling what the traffic will be like.”
“Why bother?” he asked, bitter self-mockery lending a sarcastic edge to his words. “If the kidnappers aren’t even going to retrieve the ransom...why bother delivering it?”
“Because we’re being watched to see if we do what we’re told to do.”
He stared at her for a moment. “And you know this how?”
