Chapter One: You Will Die in Seven Minutes

The moment a red point lit inside it, the email refreshed. “Millimeter-wave beacon. Your position is confirmed. Five minutes and forty-one seconds remain.” Lin pulled the power, dropped the capsule into a metal tea tin, put on his coat, and headed for the door. Then he paused. He packed the router into his backpack but left the tea tin on the windowsill. “If someone wants me dead,” he said to the empty room, “I should at least see who.” He descended the fire stairs to the third floor and forced open an abandoned storage room. His phone had no signal, but the countdown in the email continued. “You do not need a network?” he typed. The reply came at once. “Do you believe networks exist only on frequencies licensed by carriers?” “Who are you?”