Hearing the words in Chinese, Alex froze. He looked at him montarily, his face blank, before he forced a smile.
"Why certainly," he replied, pulling out the fake passport and ID Kujaku had made before grabbing the ones for Kary and Violette and handing them over.
Kujaku had forced him to install a translation app on his neurophone, insisting that it worked better than the ones readily available on the device, and he now understood why. The new app worked in real ti!
It had taken him a second to process that, as the man spoke to him, he understood each word as if it were in English. And when he replied, he saw that the man didn't react to his English.
He wasn't sure whether it was because the language was widespread enough that he could talk it or because the man was well-learned, but he was glad they could understand each other.
The customs agent scanned the passports, tapping his screen a few tis, before handing them their docunts back.
"Have a nice day, Mr. Corden," he said in Chinese again, before waving them away as the barrier raised in front of Alex's car.
"Thank you. You too, sir," Alex replied, grabbing the docunts and putting the car back in drive.
He drove off, trying to stay as casual as possible, as his heart pounded in his chest. "What the hell?! That was so easy!" he exclaid once they were almost a mile away. Violette jumped at the sudden shouting and looked at Alexander in the mirror.
Kary only chuckled, finding this reaction a bit out of proportion. But they weren't out of the woods yet.
"This was good, but we still need to reach the rendezvous point. From what I see on the navigation app, it's a little ways off the bridge, and I don't know if we'll et resistance from local authorities once we are in Macau.
"There is no telling how they'll react to a white family in a Chinese-plated car. If they suspect anything, we could still get pulled over."
But as they drove ahead, slowly crossing the bridge and passing many toll booths, there was still yet to see a single police car.
Once on the Macau side, Kary looked at the people on the sidewalks and found herself confused.
Plenty of white people were around, and she felt like this scene was out of place.
"I don't understand. Shouldn't most of these people be out of the country?" she murmured. It was Violette who replied to her silent question.
"From what I see online, Hong Kong and Macau are big trading hubs with the Western world, and many Westerners live here full ti and have residency or visas. That would explain why Miss Aoi wasn't worried about us getting stopped here. Only about us wandering outside the car."
This made so sense in the two adults' heads, as they imagined it was easier to sneak so white folk amongst other white folk, even in a lockdown situation. They silently wondered if Kujaku had planned for this, or if it was a lucky coincidence that they landed in Hong Kong.
Reaching an intersection with the light turning red, Alex stopped the car and waited for the signal to turn green when a vehicle pulled up next to him.
Turning his head reflexively, Alex almost jumped out of his skin as he saw the blue car, with a clear red strip on the side, marked Policia, with so Chinese Hanzi on each side.
But Alex didn't need to understand the characters to know that the Policia in between them ant police.
He almost broke out into a nervous sweat, staring at the two n inside the police vehicle without realizing it.
When one of them looked his way, they smiled and waved at him before the light turned green, and they started moving forward.
Alex reflexively followed suit, going slower than them, noticing they weren't trying to keep pace with him, and he sighed.
He laughed nervously, gripping the steering wheel tightly again.
"What were the chances, right?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly.
Kary looked at him with a shake of her head.
"Jesus Christ. Will you calm down? You are acting so nervously; it's a miracle we haven't been pulled over for being suspicious already. Just breathe and act normal," Kary said, trying to get him to focus.
"Think like this is Montreal, and we are just taking a stroll sowhere," she added.
Alex looked at her with a fake smile.
"I'm trying. But I don't know if you've noticed, but this isn't Montreal. And we are here illegally," he replied through tight lips.
She wanted to facepalm so hard right now. It was an understandable reaction, but it was one they couldn't afford to have currently.
"I am well aware of that, Alex. But we need to blend in. Relax. Breathe in, breathe out. And take the next left," she said, giving him instructions and reassurance.
Alex tried his best to think of sothing else, but it only cald him down enough to make him tap the steering wheel annoyingly instead of being tense like a bowstring and bending the damned thing.
It was the best he could do and what Kary would have to settle with for now.
Fortunately for them, they reached their destination without issue, and Kary frowned as she looked at the large cent structure.
'Really? A parking complex? Isn't that a bit on the nose, even for her?' she thought as Alex pulled into the parking lot.
They drove up to the exact coordinates Kujaku had written in her text ssage, Kary now realizing why there was an altitude number in there, and parked at an empty parking spot.
As they parked and shut the engine off, a car in the row behind them honked, and Kary saw in the mirror it was a big black SUV. The windows were tinted, so she couldn't see inside, but by the rhythmic pattern of flashing lights, she knew who was inside it.
'It's like she wants us to stand out...'
"Our ride is here," Kary said, keeping her thoughts to herself.
Alex and Violette shared her thoughts as they noticed the large black SUV frowning
simultaneously.
"Way to go on discretion," Alex comnted, having trouble understanding the woman's
reasoning.
The window on the passenger side lowered a little, and Kujaku's voice barked at them.
"Stop dawdling and get in!"
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