The company had put the two SUVs aside for her. She did the paperwork and left her credit card number for both. All Sonny had to do when he arrived was show his driver’s licence. As she turned to leave, May said, “I was thinking, maybe I should rent a car for myself.”
“Why do you need a car?”
“You were just going to leave me at the hotel?”
“That was the idea.”
“What about the second truck driver?”
And then Ava realized she hadn’t thought about their accommodation. “Geez, I forgot about that. We need to get them a room at the hotel.”
“I know them, and they won’t leave the truck. Besides, it has its own sleeping quarters.”
“Then surely he won’t mind being on his own for a few hours after we leave.”
“I was thinking that if I rented a car,” May said slowly, “he could drive me out to Coloane with you in the morning. I really don’t want to stay at the hotel by myself. I mean, I’ve come this far and I would like to see this through.”
“You aren’t seriously suggesting that you come to the house with us?”
May flicked her hand at Ava. “Of course not. I just want to be close at hand. When you were going over the map this morning, you pointed to where the main road meets the side road that leads to the house. We could park there at the intersection, act as lookouts. I mean, Ava, you wouldn’t want to be in the house and have someone unexpectedly drop in on you. Geng — that’s the other driver’s name — and I can watch the road and give you a warning if anyone turns up.”
She’s going to be pissed at me if I leave her at the hotel, Ava thought. “Let’s decide after we go to Coloane. I want to make sure there’s a place to park the car without attracting unnecessary attention.”
“Fair enough,” May said, in a way that suggested she knew she had prevailed.
“Now call Song and find out exactly where he is.”
May phoned him as they walked to the SUV. “They’re at Fisherman’s Wharf. The truck is parked outside the Rocks Hotel and they’re inside having some lunch in the café.”
“Tell them we’ll be there in five minutes.”
Ava drove south, following the seacoast on her left. The road ran right onto the wharf, which was still a real working place. She passed about thirty fishing boats moored in the harbour, their nets and buoys and traps littering the area. The hotel was at the far end, a five-storey structure that looked a couple of hundred years old.
“There they are,” May said as they parked, pointing to two middle-aged men emerging from the hotel. Dressed in jeans and T-shirts that were stretched across their big bellies, they were alternately smoking and picking at their teeth.
The two women climbed out of the SUV. “Hi, I’m Ava,” she said, extending her hand as she walked towards them. The men didn’t look her in the eye, their handshakes tentative.
“I’m Geng,” one said. Song didn’t say a word.
“We’re going to drive to Coloane so you can see the job you have to do in the morning. We’ll take my SUV,” Ava said.
“Are you sure about Song?” Ava asked May as they walked to the car.
“They’re intimidated, that’s all. And a bit shy around the big boss and her friend.”
“I hope that doesn’t carry over into the way he drives.”
“It won’t, and by the way, there’s the truck.”
It was parked against the far wall of the hotel, the top of its red cab almost reaching the second-floor window. The front was flat and had a grille at the bottom topped by another grille with Volvo slashed diagonally across it. A sheet of red metal separated the upper grille from the window, which was topped by a metal awning. If there had been a driver inside the cab, Ava wasn’t sure she would have been able to see him. “What a monster. I’ve never seen anything that size,” Ava said.
“I think it should do the trick,” said May.
The two men hung back when they reached the car, unsure about which seats to take. “Sit in the back,” Ava said.
Ava took the Macau–Taipa Bridge out of the city to the causeway. The men were quiet. May tried to engage them in conversation, asking about the drive from Wuhan, and then gave up when all they seemed able to say was “No problem.”