RainStorm

skyscrapers,
    there's a timelessness about the place, a slower pace than is to be
    found on Hong Kong Island a few kilometers to the south, as
    though the area is gradually emerging from a long agrarian sleep
    and still suffused with the dreams of what it saw there.
    We took Highway 3 north to the container port. Because we
    couldn't afford multiple passes of the port facility lest someone notice
    and get suspicious, we stopped along the way and bought a
    video camera.
    I drove; Dox videotaped. When I took us along Cheung Fi
    road, the thoroughfare that leads to the Terminal Nine gate, Dox
    looked to the area opposite and said, "Well, this does look like fine
    sniping terrain. Fine, fine, fine."
    I glanced over to see what had elicited his reaction, and saw a
    series of terraced hills, rising to what I estimated to be about one
    hundred and fifty meters above the road and overlooking the terminal
    entrance. Some of the hills were wooded, some were grass,
    some were cleared and home to what looked like partially constructed
    apartment buildings. Dox would have his pick of ingress
    and egress routes, cover, concealment, and an unobstructed field of
    fire. He was right. It was perfect.
    We went to a teashop in Tsim Sha Tsui to talk things over. Dox
    was pleased about the terrain, but I was uneasy.
    "The problem is that our information is limited," I said. "Kanezaki
    says he'll know from Belghazi's sat phone when Belghazi is on his
    way to Hong Kong, so we'll have some warning about that. And
    the time window is manageable, too--apparently, Belghazi conducts
    his business at Kwai Chung between oh two hundred and oh
    four hundred. But we don't know what he'll be driving. We don't
    know whether he'll get out outside the gate, or stay in the car and
    drive in."
    "What do you think he's been waiting for? He's been in Macau
    for you said, what, a week now?"
    I shrugged. "Part of it probably really is the gambling. Part of it is the appearance he wants to cultivate for anyone who's trying to figure
    out what he's up to in the region--'oh, he's just there to gamble.'
    And maybe part of it has to do with whatever shipment is being handled
    at Kwai Chung. There might have been some logistical problem
    along the way, the ship could have been delayed. A lot of things that
    could have kept him in place longer than he'd originally planned."
    He was quiet for a moment, then said, "There's another thing.
    You said he's a careful man, and that he knows you're after him so
    he's extra nervous. What if he rents an armored vehicle for his little
    trip to the dockyards? A place like Hong Kong, with all the
    property magnates and such, would have armored Mercedeses and
    Beamers available, I'm sure."
    That was a good point. I thought for a moment. "What about
    armor piercing ammunition?"
    "Well, I could use some, it's true. A 7.62 AP round will penetrate
    fifteen millimeters of armor at three hundred meters and take
    out a hundred and twenty millimeters of Plexiglas, too. But if I
    start capping these guys with that kind of ordnance, it won't exactly
    look like some bodyguard who decided to open up with a
    pistol from close range. And you said that if it didn't look like an
    inside job we might not get paid."
    "We've got some flexibility on just how much of an inside job
    it needs to look like. The main thing is that it should look less like
    an assassination, and more like an arms deal gone to shit. We're going
    to have to play some of the details by ear."
    "Okay, I'm just thinking out loud here."
    "No, that's good, and you're right about the armor." I thought
    for a minute, then said, "What about two magazines, one with armor
    piercing, one with standard? You'd only need a few seconds'
    warning to switch as circumstances required, right?"
    "That's right, yeah. We could do that."
    I nodded. "All right, let's break it down. We know that, one
    morning soon, Belghazi is going to be visiting Container Terminal
    Nine. It's not reachable by train or realistically by foot, and the harbor
    approach is patrolled, so a boat isn't likely. Meaning we can
    assume he'll be coming in a car. The only approach is south along
    Cheung Fi road. Using that information, what do we need to do to
    make sure this is Belghazi's last road trip?"
    "Well, the first thing is, we need to stop the car. Once it's inside
    the terminal or off Cheung Fi, we lose access to it."
    "Right. Can we count on it stopping in front of the gate?"
    He nodded for a moment as though