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“I take it you got what you wanted?” Mei Lin asked again as the Range Rover sped down the Eastern Harbour Expressway towards Quarry Bay.“Yes. I was just cheg the data traffiit server for large data trao New a. You won’t believe this. Over the past month or so, one single institution has been responsible for more in-bound data than all the other ers bined.”
“Whistitution?” Mei Lin asked, glang sideways at him.
“Tsinghua Uy.”
“Tsinghua? In Beijing? My alma mater. New a’s leading academistitution. Iing.”
“Yep. A manages mirror servers for them too. I created a new user on one of their mirror servers. Tsinghua as the source of all this makes a whole lot of sense doesn’t it?” Caldwell mused.
“You say that again. Good stuff Caldwell. As you probably figured, the stakes just went sky high,” Mei Lin warned, with a serious look on her face that gave Caldwell sed thoughts about what he was about to suggest.
“Things are about to get rough?”
“I guess that depends on your plans.”
“I see.”
“”Look, I am going to have this car fixed. It will save me a lot of explanation whete es back. He be quite annoyingly pedantic.”
“I’m not surprised. He strikes me as the uptight old schoolboy type.”
“I guess.”
Mei Lin pulled the Range Rover off the Eastern Harbour Expressway on to a side ramp with a sign that said North Point. They drove up King’s Road past an old yellow building with a sign in English and ese that read: North Point Funeral Parlour & Cryogenics ter. Several stalls outside seemed to be doing a r trade in selling both holographid natural funeral wreaths of various shapes and sizes.
“Cryogenics is big here?” Caldwell asked.
“A growing trend. The ese are very pragmatiow that there’s evidehat Cryogenics is going to work they are more receptive of the idea. A few decades ago the ese thought this was nonsense as did most people, actually.”
“I wonder if my parent’s ashes are still stored there.”
“Oh yeah, I remember that. That is very likely. They keep the ashes there for fifty years or something like that. It’s all gover subsidized anyway.” Was that the pregnant pause of someone making up a story on the fly?
“I might take the ashes back with me to London.”
“Thinking of going back then?” she asked. There was a hint of disappoi in her voice.
“I think that’s the deal with Fouler.”
“You always make another deal if you succeed,” she pointed out.
“Of course. We’ll have to see.”
“You will,” she said, as they pulled up to a garage round the back of King’s Road. Mei Lin typed in a code, disabled the Range Rover’s sole system and removed it from its slot by the handle before they disembarked.
A couple of young ese apprentices in shorts and flip-fops with peroxide silver hair came out to look at the car. One of them whistled loudly. He had some kind of personal music implant in his ears. Caldwell could see the flesh-colored volume trols stig out behind his ear lobes. As the youth leaned over the back of the car he revealed a giant tattoo of some kind of mystical serpent on his back. When he moved the tattoo flipped bad forth making it appear as though the snake was slithering up his back. The other boy had a similar tattoo of a dragon. When he moved, the dragohed fire up his neto his silver shock of spiky hair.
A heavily tattooed half-naked middle-aged man with the most amazing potbelly Caldwell had seen in a long time rolled out from under a silver electric Mercedes. He shook Mei Lin’s hand and nodded hello to Caldwell.
“Young sister Mei, haven’t seen you in a long time,” the man said in tonese. He pulled a red paarlboro Marijuana Lights out of the back pocket of his shorts and ceremoniously offered the pack to them before lighting one and taking a big puff.
“Been busy, Boss Tong,” she said.
“What do we have here?” the man asked, his<bdo>?</bdo> beady eyes dang over the Range Rover’s body.
“Got hit from behind by a car in traffic.”
“Iing,” he said as he walked round the back of the Range Rover to survey the damage. The two teenage meics moved out of his way like tug boats vag the path of an o liner.
“It appears you’ve been shot at too. Lot’s of acts today,” Boss Tong observed slyly, kling his fleshy fad rubbing greasy fi<mark></mark>ngers along small chips in the paintwork.
“Why do you say that?” asked Mei Lin.
“Well, you see that Mercedes there? It looks like nothing’s wrong with it from the back. We just towed it in about an ho. It was involved in an act in the Chai Wahe stupid guys crashed into a Park N Shop lorry. Free toilet paper for everyohe front of the vehicle is pletely mangled. It’s going to be one hell of a job putting it back together. Not that I am plaining. Tong Motor Repairs Ltd. should make some good money out of it.” He laughed at his little joke.
Mei Lin and Caldwell looked at each other.
“For you though Sister Mei, we only charge cost plus five pert,” he added, misstruing the way Mei Lin and Caldwell had looked at each other when they realized that the car beloo the Japanese.”
“Of course, of course. Who does the car belong to? Hope nobody was seriously hurt,” Mei Lin said, affeg sympathy for the octs.
“Oh, it only belongs to the Japanese sulate. They’ve got many where this came from. And the two sulate guys who were driving only sustained minor cuts and bruises. They refused to go to the Pamela Youde Hospital, which is just nearby. They were very lucky, I think. Although, one of them looked like he’s been in a few acts of his own. Got a face like the devil’s backside.” Boss Tong broke out into thunderous laughter, his huge belly shaking violently.
“Iing. I have a journalist friend at the Xinhua News Agency who would pay a lot of moo find out the names and phone numbers of the two involved in the act. Big story you knoanese diplomats involved in car act.”
“Oh really? How much would your friend be willing to pay?” Boss Tong’s alcohol-dulled eyes lit up at the prospect of a quick buck.
“I’ll have to check. I’d say about twenty thousand Hong Kong dollars.”
“Hey, hang on a minute.” Boss Tong rushed into the back of the garage aurned with a photocopy of a Hong Kong Police Act Report form.
“Everything’s on here. Maybe you pay me for your friend,” the portly meic said slyly.
Mei Lin reached out for the form but Brother Tong pulled it back like a cobra rearing back to spray venom in its victim’s eyes.
“Money in advance, young sister Mei.”
“OK. Not a word though or my fries in trouble. I only pay you in cash. I am sure you have ways of verting that into credit at reasoes, right?” Mei Lin fished a wad of clipped notes out of her shirt pocket and handed Bother Tong twenty thousand dollar notes.
“Eveer,” Boss Tong said. “Some of my busi></tt>ss associates prefer not to leave aronic trail. Of course not a word Sister Mei, you know me.”
“Yeah I do.” Mei Lin moved towards the Range Rover and opehe door.
“I thought you wanted your bumper fixed,” Boss Tong protested. The two young apprentices had lost i in the Range Rover and were busy looking Mei Lin up and down. One of them was scratg his s.
“I o get this to my friend, I’ll bring the car over later,” Mei Lin explained waving the act report in the air.
Caldwell got in the car and watched the fold of Hong Kong dollars disappear down the back of Boss Tong’s shorts. The portly meic dismissed them with a wave of his hand. Mei Lin started the engine and handed Caldwell the act report. The report showed the time, place, octs, vehicle <bdi>?</bdi>type registration, taumbers and the address of the parties involved in the act. Mr. Hideo Sato and Mr. Juniiyagi were listed as living at a residential address in the nearby Kornhill area of Hong Kong Island. Mei Lin explaihat it was a residential development favored by middle-ranking Japanese diplomats and attaches.
***
When they arrived back at No. 10 Shek O, there were two HYDRA agents Caldwell hadn’t met before in attendahey’d retly flown down from Shanghai. Mei Lin made introdus and exged pleasantries before disappearing into her office while Caldwell relutly made small talk with the agents. Both agents seemed to be flirting with Mei Lin. Anthony Ma was about thirty-five years old, well-built and good-looking in a sporty kind of way. He had a friendly smile that he made use of frequently. He was a bit too friendly for Caldwell’s liking. Victor g was taller and more intellectual looking. He had the fident look of someone from a family with a long history of business success.
They were sitting in the louh the plasma s, watg the news and nursing whiskeys on the rocks. The agents asked several questions about London and the Union. They were particularly ied in knowing why HYDRA had sent him to Hong Kong. Caldwell made a story up on the spot. The agents’ apparent ignorance suggested that only Mei Lin ate were privy to the real reasons for his presen Hong Kong.
“Fouler feels that we are a bit out of touch with what’s going on in New a and wanted me to e down for a couple of weeks a up to speed with what’s happening here.”
“Good old Fouler. Always out of touch but seems to know what’s going on all the same. The Union authorities though, are living in some kind of bubble,” exclaimed Victor g, with some bitterness.
“Very much so. That’s why I am here. To burst the burble, give them a dose of reality.” The two agents eyed him suspiciously, not believing a word he was saying. They had their own theories as to why he was in Hong Kong.
“Well when you return to the Union just tell Fouler, if you have that kind of clearahat it is getting harder and harder to get intelligen New a. I think HYDRA is way behind agencies from Japan and the Uates in this regard. We need more resources. Just having two guys in Shanghai does not cut it,” g plained.
“Just you two?”
“Yeah, and we are not even there all the time. We fly up once a month for two weeks. The wo weeks we spend here at our desks writis that result in nothing. Occasionally we get to go up to Beijing which is where the a is but not nearly often enough,” Ma chipped in.
“So what’s happening in Shanghai these days?” Caldwell asked, figuring that they were in a good mood to spill. They might let out something useful.
“Same old Shanghai. ter of the universe,” said Anthony matter-of-factly.
“So what’s eology-wise?” Caldwell insisted.
“Not a lot, except there are rumors of a breakthrough of some kind.”
“What kind of breakthrough, we don’t know. Some people say its AI, others say neural works VR, AR. Difficult to know who to believe or what to believe. That’s why we o be up there iigating instead of pushing paper down here,” Victor g added.
“True,” Caldwell said absent-mindedly. Something oV had caught his attention.
News Bulletin:
A fire ravaged the 28th floor of ower iral this afternoon at 2.03PM. The blaze came just after the Newa Eleic Xge & Teleunications paed to police that they had discovered an intruder ia ter trol room. The trol room is also located oh floor. A pany spokesman said the two is were not related and that the cause of the fire is being iigated with the help of the Fire Services Department. Arson has not been ruled out. The fire started out at the terminal of one of the pany’s employees. Nobody was hurt.
Newa Eleic Xge & Teleunications is one of the largest providers of data ectivity and data ter services in Hong Kong and Greater a. The pany has direct data links to major cities in New a and provides data services to some of the largest panies and institutions in both Hong Kong and New a. A spokesman for the pany said that er data and information systems were not affected as only a siernal terminal was destroyed in the fire.
Newa Eleic Xge & Teleunications, also known as , is owned by Hong Kong’s powerful Lee family.
“Bloody hell, you believe that?” exclaimed Anthony Ma.
“Mr. Lee is going to be really pissed,” Victor g observed.
“Yeah and so are his ers,” Anthony Ma retorted, laughing.
Caldwell was too stuo say anything. He stood up, walked out of the lounge and headed to the office area. He knocked on Mei Lin’s door. She was sitting at her desk looking incredulously at her puter terminal. Her office window looked out on to endless expanses of greenery and a hill at the back of the house.
“I guess you saw the news?” Caldwell asked.
“Yes. I take it that wasn’t you?”
“Of course not. Why would I do that?”
“Just cheg. A bit of a ce. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, it ’t have anything to do with me accessing the data traffiit server it? That’s impossible. Intrusioion AIs ’t start a fire.”
Mei Lin looked at him as though mentally trying to figure out how she thought an AI could go about starting a fire. She shook her head.
“Impossible.”
“Exactly.”
“I think our visit to and the explosion are related somehow. We better get to work,” she suggested.
“Doing what?”
“Yoing to hack Tsinghua Uy’s systems right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t I take you down to the Operations Room<bdo></bdo> and I’ll see you down there later.”
“Why, where are you going?”
“I’ve got an appoi in Kornhill.”
“Kornhill?”
“I think it’s about time we found out exactly what your Japanese friends are up to.”
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