Chapter Two: The Man Who Heard Secrets

Han collapsed in the mud. The fever vanished from his eyes. He stared at his burned hand as if waking from a nightmare. Minglan closed her fist around the badge. "Who was the man you mentioned?" "I pressed a key last night," Shen Yan said. "I heard the secret Han most wanted to hide." She did not laugh or call him mad. "What was the price?" Shen Yan looked at the old man. "Once the secret was heard, his deepest desire escaped his control." Minglan opened her hand. The thirteen grooves had left red marks across her palm. "Then if you heard a murderer's secret," she said softly, "what would a murderer's deepest desire be?" From the burning car beneath the clock tower came a single blast of its horn. As though someone were still sitting inside.