Chapter Five: The Bullet from a Kilometer Away

Lu Chen examined the city reflected in the droplets. Each showed a different rooftop, but one contained an inverted clock. A kilometer across from Hanhai stood the old customs building with its four-faced clock tower. At 1:50, plainclothes officers sealed the summit. Han Ce, just over forty, wore rimless glasses and the mild smile of a professor. He showed no surprise at Lu Chen's press badge. “You're six minutes earlier than the model predicted,” Han said. Lu Chen hid his tension behind his camera. “What model?” “One that predicts crowd movement.” Han looked through the windows. “If a city is a web, someone must know which strand will snap first.”