Ding Wei had regained his courage, after coming back with Zhijian's laptop. There were no new messages. Obviously, the criminals had not gained access to the bungalow or installed surveillance equipment there. They seemed to be safe for now.
Zhijian set to work as soon as the technology was ready for him. His fingers flitted over the keyboard. The phone was already plugged in. Xiao Dao had written the pin on a piece of paper, so the younger man could unlock it himself.
Ding Wei looked over his shoulder, curiously. He hardly understood what Zhijian was doing, but it looked professional. Ding Shenghuo would have attested him talent. Hopefully the kidnappers didn't know about it. Otherwise they would certainly demand, that he brought Zhijian along with Wenjie. After all, a talented hacker in the hands of criminals would be a good weapon against the police.
"Ha, you see," Zhijian rejoiced and pointed at the screen. A series of numbers and symbols could be seen there. A few clicks later, the right screen frame showed a map. A red dot was flashing at one point.
Wenjie sat down next to him and Zhuang Yaobai sat down on the other side of Zhijian to see what he had found.
Ding Wei frowned. Somehow it was too easy. He stared thoughtfully at the red dot. "You found it so quickly," he muttered.
"Of course I did. All I had to do was hack into the mobile phone provider that the number belongs to and it was really easy to locate it. The owner of the phone should be there, at the harbour."
"They want us to find them," Wenjie said at that moment.
"What makes you think that?" Zhijian sounded confused.
"When Ding Shenghuo arranged our meeting half a year ago, he made sure that the police couldn't listen in. He also went to a lot of trouble to ensure, the place they were hiding wasn't discovered straight away. He wouldn't make a mistake like that. The fact you were able to locate the phone so quickly means, that they want to be found. This in turn means, the phone is either in a storage location where no one is, or they have prepared a trap."
Zhijian reached for some crackers in a bowl on the table and polished them off. Then he took the phone off the table and looked at it.
Ding Wei wouldn't be able to eat anything in this situation. But perhaps it also served the younger man as a means of relieving stress. Wenjie's explanation certainly sounded logical. His friend had probably hit the mark with it.
"Better cut the connection again," he advised Zhijian. "Who knows if they have a hacker too." It was probably too late now and they had already found out what they had done. But he felt better about it.
While Zhijian was trying to gain access to the surveillance equipment on the hotel grounds, Ding Wei grabbed his phone. He would send another message to the mysterious messsenger. It couldn't hurt to keep them busy for a while. If he received a quick reply, they could also assume that Wenjie's suspicions about the trap was correct. Otherwise, the phone was simply in a place where no one was at the moment.
"Will you let Zhiyue go, if I take Wenjie to the harbor?" Xiao Dao pressed send and waited.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the images on Zhijian's computer change. He was amazed, how the hacker actually managed to get into the hotel system. "Impressive."
"It's not the first time I've done this," Zhijian replied. "But definitely the last time."
Ding Wei couldn't help but laugh. He was about to reply when the cell phone vibrated. That fast? So it was a trap. He moved a little away from the sofa. Wenjie's alarmed look did not escape his notice.
"You're not in a position to make demands," was the short reply.
Ding Wei gritted his teeth.
"We need to know if she's all right," he wrote back.
"She's in a safe place. Don't try to find her. Otherwise it won't do you or her any good."
Ding Wei swallowed. Damn. That was surely a hidden clue to what they had done.
"What are you writing?" Wenjie stood up and joined him.
"I wanted to test your theory. Since they responded immediately, it's probably a trap. So we don't even need to go there." He handed the phone to his friend so that he could read the messages too.
At that moment, the cell phone vibrated again.
Wenjie held the phone so that Ding Wei could also see the display. This time, the sender had sent a video. It showed a room with metal walls.
Xiao Dao's first association was a room on a ship. He saw a bed and a table. There was a plate with bread rolls, a cup and a jug with unknown contents. Zhiyue was sitting on the bed. Nothing seemed to be wrong with her. She was just a little pale and obviously had no appetite. Ding Wei could understand that. He wouldn't feel like eating in this situation either. But at least the men hadn't done anything to her so far.
"She's on a ship," Wenjie confirmed his assumption. "Probably not Dock 3, that would be too easy." With slumped shoulders, he handed the phone back to Xiao Dai. "They sent the video to show us that she's fine as long as we do what they ask and don't go looking for her."
Ding Wei nodded glumly.
"Bloody hell," came from the sofa.
Their gazes immediately turned to Zhijian. The screen was still showing a series of images. Some showed the hotel grounds, others the street. "They must have been in the system. There's no one to be seen anywhere. There ...."
He pointed to a picture of the place where they had found Zhijian. A time was displayed at the bottom. This revealed, that it was a recording, that fell within the appropriate time frame. Only the avenue could be seen on the accompanying video frames. There was no sign of Zhijian, the kidnappers, Wenjie or Ding Wei.
"Oh gosh..." Zhijian let out a string of curses. "Well wait." He eagerly pounded on the keys.
"What are you doing?" Wenjie returned to the sofa.
"I'm getting access to the cameras at the harbor."
"They'll have manipulated them in the same way."
Zhijian broke off and slumped down. "But we have to do something."
Wenjie was right. The video surveillance at the port didn't give them any new information either. They were in the dark and the clock was ticking.
to be continued ...
