Chapter Five: The Wrong Save

Shen killed his flashlight before the shot. Darkness altered the gunman's stride. The bullet grazed Lin's shoulder. Shen followed the blue afterimage into Luo while Lin kicked a refrigerant canister down the corridor. White vapor covered their escape through the abandoned ice gate. A bullet had destroyed the drive. Lin recovered only nine seconds of footage and an encrypted list. Before dawn, the club announced that vandals had damaged North Bay Cold Storage. Han did not call police. He sent Shen the team flight time. The message was clear: play, or Lin would become another corrected accident. Aurora traveled to face the league-leading Mountain City Thunder. Before warmups, Gao caught Shen watching his left leg. “You saw me get hurt?”