RainStorm

it, marveling at his
    good luck in acquiring such expensive, high-quality luggage, and
    saying nothing to anyone about where it had come from.
    Back at the room, I took an extremely long, extremely hot
    shower. I changed, packed my things, and headed down to the
    lobby. At the hotel checkout counter, I told them that my plans had
    changed suddenly, that I needed to check out earlier than planned.
    They told me they would still have to charge me for that evening.
    I told them I of course understood their policy.
    I took a cab to the ferry terminal. I saw no police barricades,
    technicians sniffing for evidence, or other evidence of official interest
    in what had happened here earlier. On the contrary, in fact:
    it seemed that things had been quickly cleaned up and returned to
    normal. I had been right about law enforcement priorities on Macau.
    I went to the Turbojet counter to buy a ticket. The ticket clerk
    informed me that only first-class seats were available on the next
    departing ferry. I told her first class would be wonderful.
    Once aboard, I settled into my first-class seat and watched the
    lights of Macau fade into the distance. I felt myself beginning to
    relax.
    Yeah, there were problems. There had been a breach in the security
    I depend on to do my work and get away alive afterward.
    And, although the evidence was so far circumstantial, it looked like
    Belghazi was on to me, which would make it a hell of a lot harder
    to get close to him and finish what I had started.
    The thing in the elevator had been a close call, too. But it had
    turned out all right. Maybe that was an omen. Nothing like a little
    luck to give you that wonderful sense of well-being. That, and having
    killed and survived someone trying to do the same to you.
    I smiled. Maybe I would write a self-help book. Live off the
    proceeds.
    I would worry about the problems later. There was nothing I
    could do about them on the ferry. My relaxation deepened, and
    I actually indulged a light snooze on the ride over. I woke up refreshed.
    The Hong Kong skyline was already looming before me,
    its proud towers eclipsing the silhouetted hills behind them, dense
    crystals of light that seemed to have erupted out of the earth to
    embrace the sky and dominate the harbor.
    The City of Life, the local tourist board liked to call it. It
    seemed a fair description to me. At least for the moment.
    This world-- to what may I liken it?
    To autumn fields
    lit dimly in the dusk
    by lightning flashes.
    MINA MOTONO SHITAGO,
    nobleman, scholar, poet
    Part Two
    SIX
    I called the Hong Kong Peninsula from a pay phone and reserved
    a Deluxe Harbour View room. I like the Peninsula because
    it occupies an entire city block in Kowloon's Tsim Sha Tsui
    district, has five separate entrances, multiple elevators, and more internal
    staircases than you can count. Not an easy place to set up an
    ambush.
    Also, it's one of the best hotels in Hong Kong. And hey, it had
    been a rough day. A little luxury along with the usual dose of security
    didn't seem objectionable.
    I could imagine what Harry would have said: You trying to impress
    her?
    Nah. It's just about the security, I would have told him.
    He would have known not to believe that. It made me miss him,
    and for a moment I felt bleak.
    I made my circuitous way to the hotel and checked in. I paid for
    the room with a credit card under the name of Toshio Okabe, a
    sufficiently backstopped identity I used from time to time for just
    such transactions. A porter escorted me to room 2311. The room
    was on the south side of the new tower and, as promised, had a
    stunning view of Hong Kong across the harbor.
    I shaved in the shower, then soaked for twenty minutes in the
    oversized tub. I'd been forced to stay mostly at more anonymous,
    downmarket properties to protect myself since leaving Tokyo two
    years earlier, and damn if a Deluxe Harbour View room at the
    Peninsula didn't feel good.
    I changed into a pair of charcoal gabardine trousers, a fine cotton
    mock turtleneck of the same color, and a pair of dark brown
    suede split-toe lace-ups and matching belt. Then I spent a half
    hour re-familiarizing myself with the hotel layout--the placement
    of the internal staircases and which ones could be accessed without
    a staff key; the positions of the numerous security cameras; the
    movements of security personnel. When I had decided on how I
    would arrange to meet Delilah while continuing to ensure my own
    safety, I went out.
    I stopped