His eyes narrowed. “Grovel profusely for how long?”
“There are no rules. It’s an indeterminate time decided only by Lea, darling.”
“Got it.”
Scarlet’s phone rang. She checked the screen and said “Eden” before taking the call. “Hey, Rich. You have something new?”
“Yes, I have something new.” His voice was weak thanks to his recent recovery from an induced coma, but the tiny speaker on the phone made him sound even more fragile.
“What’s up?”
“A reliable source has managed to refine the target’s whereabouts in Hong Kong today.”
The team shared an excited look.
“Turns out our man Rat is hopelessly addicted to gambling, but it’s mostly illegal on mainland China so when he wants to lose some money, he likes to travel to the casinos in Macau, or the…”
“Or the racecourses in Hong Kong?” Hawke said.
“You read my mind.”
“Any idea which one?”
“Better than an idea. Rat will be at the Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island this evening. They’re running a big race there tonight and Mr Rat wants in on the action.”
“Tonight?” Devlin asked.
“Happy Valley Racecourse runs races on Wednesday nights,” Eden said. “An old friend of mine, Monty Devane, happens to be on the board of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and he’s already working with their security to try and track him down. He’ll brief you when you arrive. In the meantime, I’ve arranged with the British Embassy for you to be fast-tracked through the airport by an officer with MI6 named Chris Raynes. He will introduce you to another man in the Special Duties Unit.”
“Who are they?” Devlin asked.
“The SDU is a tactical unit within the Hong Kong Police Force whose main work is in counter-terrorism.”
“And they’re happy working with us to track down one of the Zodiacs?” Scarlet said. “They’re Chinese agents after all.”
“It’s complicated,” Eden said. “There are factions within the top of the PLA and not everyone is supportive of the way the Zodiacs work.”
“I get it,” she said. “Sounds like we’re all set up and ready to go.”
“I’ve done all I can,” Eden said. “Now it’s over to you.”
When he disconnected the call, a silence filled the cabin. No one had talked to Eden about the coma he had suffered, but they were all pleased to see he was having such a strong recovery. If he had died, the leadership of the operation would have passed to Hawke and Lea, and that wouldn’t exactly be easy with the way things were right now.
Hawke broke the silence. “All right — get some sleep everyone. It’s not long till we land in Hong Kong and we’re back on the clock. It could get rough. Lexi needs us in a big way right now and this could easily be our last chance. The Zodiacs aren’t the easiest people to track down and I don’t like Rich’s chances of being able to get us this close a second time.”
“I agree.” Reaper cracked his knuckles.
Scarlet sniffed. “Another game of poker anyone? You know what they say — sleep’s for pussies.”
“Count me out,” Reaper said. “I need to rest. I’m not as young as you.”
“And you can forget me as well,” Hawke said with a wry smile. “I’ve seen you play too many games to go up against you.”
“What a couple of jessies,” Devlin said, sitting down opposite Scarlet. “I’ll play you Cairo, and I’ll kick your ass too.”
Scarlet gave the deck a professional riffle shuffle and started to deal. “This I have to see.”
Hawke smiled and walked over to the couch where he collapsed down onto it and stretched out ready for what Ryan had started referring to as a nanonap. He wasn’t exactly sure what one of those was — in his day back in the regiment, it was “forty winks”, but he was prepared to give it a go.
He’d need the rest if the Zodiacs were as ruthless as the briefing notes described them to be.
CHAPTER FIVE
When they landed at Hong Kong International Airport out on the Zhujiang River Estuary, they stepped out of the crushing humidity and into the air-conditioned cool of the airport arrivals terminal. Hawke glanced around at the impressive building and remembered all the times he had been through here on his travels.
The memory that stuck in his mind most was the week he spent here with Liz not long after they met. They had flown in on a Friday night and met with some of his Royal Marines friends. They’d visited the Ladies’ Market and Temple Street. Joked all the way around Disneyland and ridden the funicular railway to The Peak. As the past always seemed to be, it was a more innocent time with easier laughs and less stress and when he thought about it he started to feel like someone had hollowed him out with a combat knife.
After some confusion about where to go, they met with the MI6 agent who used his diplomatic status to expedite them through the customs process. He gave them the names of the SDU men and told them they would meet them at the Jockey Club. Then he casually slid his Panama hat back on and vanished into the crowd.
They stepped outside back into the humidity. Eden’s recent fight with a coma hadn’t dulled his senses or affected his planning skills, and an Escalade was waiting for them outside the airport exactly as he had described.
They climbed inside and before they had even buckled their belts the driver was whisking them along the north coast of Lantau Island. Endless high-rises flashed past them, the view of the apartments obscured by laundry drying on poles hanging out of the windows. Neon signs blinked in the haze, their Chinese symbols making unknown promises to the Westerners as they moved through the bustling metropolis.
As they crossed the Tsing Ma Bridge on their way east into the New Territories, Hawke took in the breathtaking view of the ships out on the water. He lowered the window and felt a rush of hot, humid air on his face. Yachts and container ships fought for space out in Victoria Harbor as they swept south along Route 3. He saw the luxury high-rises of Tai Kok Tsui tower over them and then they slipped into the Western Harbor Crossing tunnel.
They emerged on Hong Kong Island and the driver weaved them east again through the dense traffic until turning south on Route 1. Glimpses of the city’s underworld flashed by, offering a tantalizing view of the metropolis’s exotic underbelly teeming with life in the hot night.
Hawke saw the escorts hanging off the arms of overweight businessmen and the triad gangsters busy with their extortion rackets and their trafficking. He’d seen it all before, but it never failed to turn his stomach. He was woken from his thoughts by the sensation of the car slowing down. He looked up to see the driver pulling up in the taxi rank of the racecourse. He killed the engine and turned to face them, propping his elbow on the top of the leather seat for support.
“This is your stop.”
They checked their weapons, climbed out of the Escalade and scanned the building’s exterior for any sign of trouble. None of Hawke’s many trips to this part of the city had ever brought him to the Jockey Club, but everything he’d ever been told about it made the place almost recognizable.
Happy Valley was one of the greatest racecourses in the world. Planted in swampland at the north of the island back in 1845, it rapidly grew into one of the most famous horse-racing tracks in Asia and later anywhere on earth. Today the course is surrounded by towering apartment blocks and the lush, steamy slopes of Mount Cameron to the south.
Safely inside the grounds, Hawke realized for the first time just what a task lay ahead of him and the rest of the team. The place was an enormous, sprawling venue stretching out ahead of him in all directions.