Caldwell and Agent Hsu arrived at The Mansion at No. 10 Shek O Road, HYDRA』s Hong Kong headquarters. The sun had suddenly e out of nowhere, despite the unmistakable chill in the air. Shek O Road oher hand was relatively cool with shadows dang on the asphalt as the hoverbyke glided up to the gates. In the distance, betweerees, Caldwell could make out a white four-storey house that looked like the residence of a reclusive billiohere was nothing about it that said secret anization. At least that』s what Caldwell thought initially.
A long winding gravel drive led up to the house, undulating through well-tended greenery. Caldwell could hear the hiss of a sprinkler system. Agent Hsu parked the byke in front of the grilled metal gate, which was sandwiched between two imposing crete pillars. Caldwell noticed the le surveillance cameras, one on each pillar, panning and zooming the eretch of the road and its environs. On closer iion he realized there were several camouflaged cameras in the foliage of the trees above them.
「At night, the cameras automatically switch to night-vision, capturing anything that moves with amazing accuracy,」 explained Mei Lin. She hopped off the hoverbyke, which bobbed on its artificial air cushion to adjust for the weight loss. She entered a code on a keypad recessed into one of the pillars. A Plexiglas s slid open and she positioned her fa front of it. She had taken off her helmet and there was no mistaking who she was, a fact that left Caldwell utterly speechless. Her face was much harder now, more angular but she was without doubt the same Mei Lin. A green laser caressed her face. She then placed her hand ihe recess. There was a clid the gates slid open.
Mei Lin remounted, maneuvered the hoverbyke into the pound, and turo watch the gate close. She hadn』t spoken much since she』d delivered the bombshell. Caldwell figured that he had a whole lot of explaining to do but that now was not the time. First things first, there would be time enough for explanations. Caldwell had his suspis that it could all be an elaborate setup. The memories of the girl Mei Lin could be Fouler』s way of ensuring that he cooperated with Agent Hsu and didn』t do a runner. It ossible that he had never met her before and Fouler was just taking advantage of the fact that Caldwell was born in Hong Kong to plant these fake memories. In fact, was he actually born in Hong Kong? There was no way of knowing without hag the Births and Marriages database of the Hong Kong gover. That was easy enough, time permitting. He could also check school records, the Hong Kong Iional School robably still around.
「Ihe building there is a surveillan with a mainframe puter that trols all the cameras, listening devices and security access to rooms in the building. Multiple monitors systematically display the various eye views of the cameras. Any slight movement anywhere on the grounds es up on one of the ss with analysis of the most likely subject based on dimensions and speed. The puter is programmed tnize humanoid shapes in particular,」 Mei Lin tinued with her lecture.
「Do you need all this security?」
「Not so far but you 』t be too careful. We are a British agency, I should say Union Agency but we are still very British, operating in a hotbed of illegal and destiivity. When people use the cliché that Hong Kong is East meets West, those in the know are actually talking about spies, eleid otherwise.」
The byke cruised up to the h