A Father's Desperate Rescue (Man on a Mission 5)

* * *

Dirk saw the parallel Mei-li had been trying to draw, and when her gaze finally returned to his, he said in an undertone, “So you think that’s the situation with Vanessa...and Chet?”

“It’s possible. If someone approached them, dangled money in front of them as an incentive but assured them money was the only motive and nothing bad would happen to the girls—it’s possible. I don’t think either of them wants your daughters dead.” She smiled slightly. “Or maybe I just don’t want to think it.”

“I don’t want to think it, either.” But he could see it was possible. And now that he thought of it, he remembered Vanessa’s odd reaction the day before. When he’d heard Terrell Blackwood sends his regards, his first stunned thought had been that Linden and Laurel were dead, and he’d said something to that effect out loud. What had Vanessa replied? He culled his memory, and he suddenly heard Vanessa’s choked voice in his mind, saying, What do you mean...they’re dead? They can’t be dead... As if it wasn’t possible...something she would only know if she’d been involved in the planning stages of the kidnapping.

Thirty minutes later, the cab turned left off Route 8 before they crossed the bridge to the airport, and Mei-li immediately questioned the driver in Cantonese. His response was incomprehensible to Dirk, except for three letters—BAC. The cabbie then turned right onto Chek Lap Kok South Road and drove along the water’s edge.

Mei-li put her hand on Dirk’s arm to get his attention. “He says he didn’t take the men to one of the passenger terminals.” There was just a hint of excitement in her eyes. “He says he took them to the Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning a private plane.”

Chapter 9

“But—” Dirk began before Mei-li cut him off.

“But all planes were grounded because of the typhoon. Which means I think your daughters are still in Hong Kong.”

It hadn’t occurred to Dirk that his daughters would be anywhere except in Hong Kong, but now he realized how foolish that assumption was. Especially if Terrell Blackwood didn’t plan to kill them, but had no intention of returning them when the ransom was paid. Linden and Laurel could be smuggled out of Hong Kong, and he would never find them.

He frowned at Mei-li. “But if they were brought here yesterday afternoon...” He tried to put his thoughts into words. “Any private plane with them aboard could have taken off this morning, once the typhoon passed and the flight restriction was lifted.”

“That’s why I’m worth every penny you’re paying me,” she told him with a tiny smile. “What you don’t know is that private planes into and out of Hong Kong are last on the priority list, even behind cargo planes. With the backlog of commercial and cargo flights that were grounded yesterday, I doubt any private planes have been granted clearance to take off yet. In fact, I’d be surprised if any take off today at all.”

Although he heard and processed every word Mei-li said, her first sentence jolted him to the realization that they’d never discussed her fee. They’d never talked about it at all. She’d thrown herself into this investigation, had given him the benefit of her sage advice, had let him know he wasn’t alone in his suffering—hell, she even cried for you, he told himself. But it had never crossed his mind to talk money with her. Not that he would have balked no matter how high the price, but still. This was Mei-li’s job, after all, and she deserved to be appropriately compensated.

Only then did he acknowledge that he didn’t want to be just a job for Mei-li. He wanted her to care about his daughters’ safe return because...because he was starting to care for her.

How was that possible? He’d known her less than a day. Okay, he’d met her two weeks ago, but he hadn’t known her. And yet...he’d confided in her things not even his closest friends knew about him. Things only Bree had known. And she’d shared parts of her past with him—intimate details of her tragic story he was sure she didn’t share easily—as a way to let him know she understood what he was going through with his daughters’ kidnapping. That she empathized.

But that wasn’t all, and he’d be lying to himself if he pretended it was. She’d slept in his arms last night. He hadn’t been able to sleep, hadn’t been able to close his eyes, until she’d sat next to him. Until she’d opened her heart and let him see her private pain. Until she’d instilled hope in him that he would survive this.