Chapter One: The Spider at 5:17 A.M.

It was not sight. It was an invisible web extending three meters around him. He tilted his head. The wrench skimmed his ear. He crushed the bottle underfoot, slid into the kidnapper, seized the lighter, and kicked a case of water across the advancing flame. 05:59. The man drew a knife. The web in Lu Chen's mind shuddered. He bent backward as the blade passed his nose, caught a shelf, swung at an impossible angle, and drove his knee into the man's chest. “What are you?” the kidnapper gasped. Lu Chen wanted the answer too. He cut the boy free. At exactly 6:02, a timer ignited the rear of the warehouse. Carrying the child, Lu Chen followed the only safe line through falling beams and crashed through a side window.