Night, around 1:30 a.m. Cat is at the Destino Bay Ferry building, which appears to be totally deserted-- even the man in the ticket booth is either unconscious or dead. Cat encounters an armed hitman. Cat pulls his cat's-claw knife from his sleeve; the hitman shoots it out of his hand with his silencer. The hitman says, ""The others are in the waiting room. You could not be the one who hired me."" Cat responds, ""Nor you the one who hired me."" The hitman introduces himself, ""I am Scorpio. And your name?"" The man in black answers, ""Cat--T. Hewitt Edward Cat."" (intro music)

Scorpio, now toting a machine-gun, unlocks the big, metal sliding gate and takes Cat into the large waiting room. There are 4 anxious people-- 2 men and a couple-- who are desperate to get across the Destino and over the border. The first to talk is Benjamin J. Gross: a bald, heavyset man around 60; he is the one who hired Cat for protection. Gross is carrying a large briefcase; he is desperate to cross the bo