By half past two that afternoon, every officer with pips on his shoulders from the four district Anti-Triad Units under Zhou Quan had arrived early at West Kowloon Headquarters.
Apart from the two Inspectors, Ma Jun and Chan Fung-cheung, all the others were Senior Inspectors with Two Stars and One Petal.
Not one of the Chief Inspectors from the four district Anti-Triad Units had appeared, however.
This was not because those four Chief Inspectors refused to show respect to Zhou Quan, who held the same rank.
It was because all four were foreigners coasting along until it was time to leave.
Having a deputy direct an entire department, as Zhou Quan did, was one such arrangement.
Commissioner Wong was not the only one making such arrangements. The chiefs of the other four districts were following suit.
As Hong Kong's return to the motherland drew closer, those district chiefs would certainly make preparations in advance and put their trusted men forward for promotion.
Apart from the senior foreigners in the Police Force's Tai Kwun and the police districts commanded by foreigners, things were different elsewhere.
In almost every other police district, Chinese police officers had already stripped virtually all the foreigners of their authority.
Those foreigners were also well aware of their awkward position.
The vast majority chose to accept their lot and swallow their pride.
Only a small number of unwilling foreigners still clung to the foreign senior officers in the Police Force and stubbornly resisted.
Under Commissioner Wong's firm hand, however, there were clearly no foreigners in West Kowloon District who failed to know what was good for them.
The foreign Chief Inspectors of the four districts under Zhou Quan also knew he had no desire to deal with them, so they simply stayed away rather than become an