24. Sneaking Into Macau Under Japanese Noses
Bill Chong’s first mission behind enemy lines was to find out what had happened to the British consul in the Portuguese enclave of Macau, with whom contact had been lost. Macao was officially neutral, but it was teeming with Japanese, who had heavy patrols throughout the region.
As our hero put it: “I found out if you tried to go there by boat, you’d get shot … If you walked, you’d get caught. So how the heck was I going to get there? I went to a smuggler’s town, bandits, crooks, just like you see in the movies. You didn’t find a good guy there, all bad guys. I stayed in a little crummy hotel, and I began to get friendly with them.” After winning their confidence, Chong got the smugglers to sneak him into Macau, where he confirmed that the consul was OK.