Chapter Four: The Second Scene

The newspaper's fire stairs did not lead to the street. Three Zenith security vans waited outside the ground-floor door. Red targeting dots wandered across its frosted glass. Zhou glanced at the load-bearing beam, seized Lin and Cheng, and pulled them back half a landing. “Down.” As a drone broke through the door, he kicked the valve off a fire hydrant. The jet struck an electrical cabinet and killed the lights. Golden lines still filled Zhou's vision: boots flexing the floor, rifle stocks loading the hinges, water rebounding from concrete. The forces drew him an escape route. He led the women through the laundry and down a freight shaft packed with old newspapers into the basement pressroom.