A Father's Desperate Rescue by Amelia Autin

Author:Amelia Autin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Don’t do anything stupid, Dirk read again, gritting his teeth. As if I needed that reminder.

Suddenly his smartphone dinged, signaling an incoming email. The message was blank, but there was an attachment he immediately opened. Then he just stared at the photo, relief his daughters were still alive combined with fury at the sight of them huddled in the corner of a filthy room somewhere. Their blond hair was tangled and uncombed, and their faces were none too clean—grimy hands had obviously wiped away tears, leaving smudges. But they weren’t crying anymore. And their hands and mouths weren’t bound as they’d been yesterday.

Mei-li was looking at the picture with him, but her expression betrayed nothing of what she was feeling. Then her eyes met his, sending a private message. And as plain as if she’d uttered the words aloud, he knew she was telling him he needed to download the picture onto his laptop so they could check the GPS coordinates. See if they were the same as last night’s picture. And he needed to do it in private.

“Victoria Peak at eleven,” Dirk announced with a quick glance at his watch, then added, “I’ve got map software on my computer,” disguising his true purpose as he headed for the study, where he kept his laptop.

“You don’t need a map—I can take you,” Patrick volunteered. “Plenty of time if we leave soon,” he said, looking at his own watch. “Thirty-five, maybe forty-five minutes with traffic, but there’s always traffic on that road.”

“I still want to know exactly where I’m going,” Dirk insisted. “I’ll be right back.”

He’d no sooner closed the study doors behind him when one of them opened again, and Mei-li slipped inside. “I sent Patrick to get the car,” she told him. “Rafe and Mike are putting the packages of money in the shopping bags.” She took a manila folder from her purse. “I wanted to show you these.”

These were the sketches made from the cabdriver’s descriptions of the two men he’d driven to the airport. They weren’t any more detailed than the ones done from the doorman’s descriptions, but they did match. Which meant the sketches they had were accurate depictions.

Mei-li stood quietly with her back against the door while Dirk turned on his laptop and waited impatiently for it to power up. “What are you going to do about Rafe and Mike?” she asked. “Are you taking them with you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t need a bodyguard, not even carrying a quarter million at a time. And if the kidnappers are watching me, I don’t want an entourage. I’ll ask Rafe and Mike to see if they can find out what happened to Vanessa and Chet.”

“You still think Patrick might be guilty?”

He grimaced. “Not really, but I—” He stopped abruptly to key in his password and tapped one finger impatiently on the corner of the keypad. “And besides, I think I really do need him to drive me—there’s no way I’m going to drive myself.

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