Ma Si An sat quietly in the lobby of the hotel, looking down at his watch every now and then, absently dealing with the flattery of the hotel's general manager with a somewhat nervous expression.

The hotel, for its part, had been placed under martial law an hour before, and the lobby was quiet and somewhat chilly, with the few necessary staff members standing carefully at their posts, occasionally surreptitiously glancing at their old boss.

They didn't know Ma Si, but looking at ...