Yet almost all of Kwan Chai-ba's movements were under Zhou Quan's watch.
Although Zhou Quan had never found Kwan Chai-ba's hideout, he had already worked out most of his rescue plan.
With one side prepared and the other unaware, how could Zhou Quan possibly let Kwan Chai-ba succeed?
On the morning Ching Wing-si was to be escorted to court, Zhou Quan convened the final briefing before the operation began.
Inside a Multimedia Conference Room in West Kowloon's Operations Department, Zhou Quan stood on the lecture platform with a pointer in hand.
Superintendent Kong Chi Lap, the current Flying Tigers Commander; Superintendent So Tsz On, commander of the Regional Major Crimes Unit; and Chief Inspector Kwan Man Chin, Deputy Commander of the Mobile Unit's B Company.
The commanders of the three departments participating in this operation sat upright in the front row, dressed in pristine white uniforms, their heads high and chests out.
The other senior officers from the Major Crimes Unit and the Anti-Triad Unit sat formally in the rows behind them.
Zhou Quan operated the computer, projecting a photograph of a middle-aged man with upturned eyes and an arrogant grin onto the large screen behind him.
"Kwan Chai-ba, a major Southeast Asian drug lord and the uncrowned king of Malaysia's underworld!"
With a light tap of his pointer, Zhou Quan explained evenly, "According to reliable intelligence, Kwan Chai-ba has secretly entered Hong Kong Island."
"His movements are extremely secretive, and the Police Force cannot locate his hideout in such a short time."
"But we have fully established his objective in coming to Hong Kong Island."
At that point, Zhou Quan projected another photograph onto the projection screen.
"Ching Wing-si, Kwan Chai-ba's wife, was arrested by our West Kowloon Region's Major Crimes Unit a week ago."
"At nine thirty this