Predictably and reassuringly, No Ro Shi, the demon-hunter, believed every word that Chen said. He was immediately engaged with the task at hand, promising to get in touch with his vast range of contacts, and set the city on a war footing. Chen, sitting in the temple of Kuan Yin, was a little doubtful as to the success of this, but he directed No Ro Shi to his own desk (now carefully denuded of any reference to Inari) and gave him full use of the facilities. He had just finished running through the complex sequence of bioweb passwords when the voice of Captain Sung echoed over the phone. Evidently, he had been listening in.
"An engineered plague out of Hell, Chen. That's heavy duty stuff."
"I know. No Ro Shi's mobilizing the troops, so to speak. We'll need medical backing."
"It's not just a question of cleaning up after the fact, though, is it? What are we doing to make sure this doesn't happen at all?"
"I'm already on the case, sir."
"What does that mean?"
"Wait a moment," Chen said. He stepped through the door into the courtyard, away from the statue's accusing gaze. It wouldn't make any difference—the goddess had ears in the earth itself—but it seemed more polite, somehow. "I'm going to need a leave of absence."
"To do what?"
"Go to Hell, sir."
There was a short pregnant pause, then Sung said, "You nicked my line, Detective. All right. Leave of absence granted. Are you planning to take anyone with you?"
"No. I can't, anyway. That's not part of the deal between myself and the otherworlds. If I go, I go alone."
"All right. Can I ask what precautions you're taking?"
Chen had already given this matter some thought. He said, "I'll be adopting a basic disguise, as a laborer. Hell's full of them. I've got a cover story ready."
"So you'll be undercover? A snake agent, as the vice squad calls it?"
"That's right."
Sung considered this for a moment, then said, "Well, I wish you luck. But you should remember one thing. There have been a number of irregularities associated with this case, Chen. The disappearance of a prominent citizen, not to mention his house. The ghosts of girls going astray. Demons manifesting on the deck of your houseboat. Vice cops from Elsewhere. And now something that threatens everyone in the immediate vicinity of Singapore Three and presumably beyond, as well. We don't normally have this amount of activity, Chen, and I don't like it. I'll say here and now that there's no way you're going to be taken off this case, since no one else would touch it with a barge-pole. You have my full and total support, as long as I don't actually have to go any nearer to this supernatural shit than I can help, and as long as you sort it out. But if you don't, the city will be looking for a scapegoat. That scapegoat will be you, Chen."
"I rather assumed that would be the case." Chen tried not to sigh too loudly.
"Very well," Sung said, adding, "And be careful."
"I always am," murmured Chen, but he didn't sound too confident even to his own ears.