The black hybrid Range Rover exploded out of the gates of The Mansion like an enraged bull charging at a matador. Mei Lin had it guzzling fuel because it ate up more road that way, she explaio Caldwell. Only the elite of Hong Kong could afford to keep hybrids on the road these days as the tax on hybrid vehicles was double that of electrid both petrol and diesel were severely rationed with prices to match. They were trying to hit town before lunchtime as Mei Lin reed that robably the best time to breach the facility. At lunchtime guards were down, awareness was low as staff trated oing a good square meal to see them through the afternoon. Caldwell and Mei Lin, oher hand, were skipping lunch.
「You get a quota every month. Once you』ve used it up, that』s it. If you don』t use it, it doesn』t carry over to the month,」 she explained.
「Similar to the Union, except that the hybrid tax is a lot more punitive. That』s if you get a lise,」 Caldwell observed pensively.
The Range Rover screeched to a halt as a set of temporary traffic lights turned red. A se of oning lane had been blocked off. A yellow eleic sign with an amber dot matrix display on a black background read 「Maintenance Works in Progress」. They waited as oning traffic threaded round the road works and glided past their vehicle. Some of the drivers stared at the Range Rover w who oh could afford to run a hybrid with the engine idling at a traffic light.
The temporary traffic light turned amber, then green. Mei Lin hit the gas and the huge car inched forward. There was a silver Mercedes S-Class electri the opposite lahe driver was tapping his hands oeering wheel. As they drove past, Caldwell took a look at the driver. His face artially obscured by the rear-view mirror. Caldwell』s attention turo the front passenger. An ugly mask of battered features stared straight back at him. The eyes widened in disbelief, the twisted mouth a near-perfect zero of surprise. The disfigured Yakuza』s hands went up and he gestured wildly in their dire. It was the Yakuza heavies from the Union.
The Range Rover surged forward leaving the traffic behind. Caldwell looked in the rear-view mirror. The silver Mercedes was doing a u-turn and cutting off on-ing traffic. Horns blared noisily. Mei Lin had noticed all this without taking her eyes off the road. She sent the accelerator crashing through the floor of the vehicle.
The Range Rged the bend like a greyhound, the powerful engine purring with the effort. The smell of burnt rubber filled the air as the car maneuvered one of the numerous hairpin bends that plagued drivers on the winding Shek O roads. Caldwell checked the rear-view mirrain.
「They are closing in,」 he warned.
「Just what we don』t need. I take it those are the tanese you entered in London.」
「One and the bloody same,」 Caldwell said with exasperation.
Once again he checked the rear-view mirror. The Mercedes was making a lot of ground. Their Range Rover, even in fuel mode, was no match for it. Luckily the Range Rover was built like a tank and would give the Mercedes a run for its money should the Yakuza attempt to run them off the road. On this stretch of road, with its bends and its sheer drops, it ossible to die in any number of ways without aig.
「I khis was a bad idea,」 Mei Lin said.
She』d barely spokehe Mercedes scraped their tail. The Range Rover surged forward and veered dangerously to the opposite lane, barely missing a two