“What the heck is that?”
Bent almost double to avoid hitting his head on the van’s ceiling, Zizi shuffled over to show them. “A charm I modified with a curse. I gave half to Mochi. This here”—he waved the paper doll—“is my half. It’s quite simple, really. Depending on the kind of magic Yiran puts out, this lights up in a different color, and it tells me something. Orange means he’s found Song Liming; blue indicates that Song Limingisn’twith him. Pretty nifty, huh?”
“Why didn’t either of you tell me about this?” Ash said irritably.
“Mochi and I have our own understanding.”
“We don’t have time for this. What understanding?”
“I watch his back, he watches mine,” Zizi said tersely. “It was awhat-ifscenario. I figured he might not be able to get a message to us and this might help.”
“Did you put the other half of the charm in his orange juice?” Rui said, remembering breakfast from the other day.
Zizi’s lips quirked. “Clever girl.”
She felt her cheeks warming. “You clowns should have told us.”
Lieutenant Shuang’s voice came through again. “I’ve got eyes on Yiran. He’s leaving with someone—a boy. They seem...” He paused. “Close.”
“It’s Yuki,” Zizi said.
Ash pursed his lips. “Your charm can’t tell us where they’re going, can it?”
“Afraid not.”
Shuang’s voice crackled, “I’m tailing them from a safe distance. Yiran just dropped something in the trash along a side street. Maybe a food wrapper? Looks like they’re headed to the subway station.”
“We might lose him if he gets on the train,” Rui said.
“Scratch that. There’s a sanitation vehicle—white, small dent at the left rear—they got in.” A beat later: “Going south. Sending you a grab of the license plate.”
“Thanks, Shuang.” Ash relayed the message to Kodie and focused on his screens as she filtered her surveillance for the van.
“The roads will be gridlocked for the next hour at least,” Rui said. “Everyone’s rushing home before the lockdown. Why would they get into a car now?”
“Maybe they’re not leaving the city,” Zizi said. “Remember the tunnels? They might’ve found refuge in abandoned buildings on the outskirts, but they’ve been building an extensive networkinsidethe city too. Wherever they’re going, it’s within the city limits.”
“Makes sense,” Rui agreed. They had assumed Song Liming was at the dive bar, and that had been proven wrong. If Yiran was on the move withYuki... “I think it’s a safe bet to say Yuki’s bringing him to Song Liming.”
Yiran wasn’t carrying a phone. The Hybrids had the technology to scan for trackers and the like, and they would be sure to check his pockets if they were suspicious of his sudden return. He would have to find a way to communicate, and not just through Zizi’s paper doll.
The trash.Rui buzzed the comms set. “Lieutenant Shuang, can you find what Yiran threw out earlier? It could be a clue.”
“Will do.”
Tension filled the van as they waited for him.
“Captain—” There was a pause, and they heard sounds of paper andmetal and plastic crushing against each other. Shuang was rummaging through the garbage. They heard him cursing. “Thereisa note, but something spilled on part of it and the words are smudged. I think I can still read some of it—qi pennies. Anyone know what that means? And was there something in the cellar of the bar?”
“Yiran said he saw devices like our qi sensors in the cellar,” Rui said. “There was a whole mix of things.” She tried to remember Yiran’s description of what he’d seen, and another image flashed in her mind.Qi pennies.The mini yangqi bombs Teshin had invented. The ones she herself had used against the Hybrid in the tunnels. “Incendiary devices,” she gasped. “I hope I’m wrong, but I think the devices are explosives of some kind.”
A loud swear word burst out from the comms set.
“Ash, we’ve got a situation,” Shuang said. “Whatever Yiran saw in the basement last time isn’t there anymore, and he scribbled some locations on the note.” Shuang read off a list of names.
“Major intersections,” Zizi interrupted. “They’re major intersections in the city, scramble crossings, subway stations where the key lines meet.”
“Bombs—just like the assembly hall.” Ash hit the side of the van. “We miscalculated. News of the lockdown might’ve made them desperate, but it also made them reckless.”
