Chapter Four: North Bay Cold Storage

Shen knocked her down. Steel crushed the terminal and refrigerant flooded the room. The door locked as the temperature plunged. Lin's fingers stiffened, so she called out wires while Shen opened the control box. Blue lines marked falling lamps, exploding valves, and lethal jets of pressure. Every time he avoided one, a death seized him: a guard in snow; a child in an Aurora scarf convulsing; Gao kneeling on the ice, his left leg bent impossibly. Shen pulled the final fuse. The fans died and the lock released. By the time they fell into the corridor, his lips were blue. “How many times did you use it?” Lin wrapped him in her coat. “I don't know.” “Next time it may not be a fan that stops. It may be your heart.”