“We’ll be executed,” he whispered.

Zhi Li smiled at her lover. “Or we’ll be heroes forever.”

Lu Song stared at her, tried to work his mouth, and finally gave her the tiniest of silent nods.

How she loved this man.

Zhi Li turned back to Qi and Dai.

“Boys,” she said. Then she changed her mind. “Qi, Dai, look at me.” They turned, surprised, after everything, all their loyalty, and looked at her.

Zhi Li pursed her lips. “Gentleman,” she said. “I’m about to do something unwise. If you want to opt out, you’re free to go. I won’t hold it against you.”

They turned and looked at each other, and shrugged.

“Your unwise decisions have always turned out pretty well in the past,” Qi said.

“We’re with you now,” Dai finished.

Zhi Li grinned.

“The same goes for you, Keylani,” she told her secretary. “But first, help me find a costume! And a sword!”

“We’re cut off.” Gao Yang said.

Bo Jintao tried to pull up the aerial view of the protests again.

NO DATA.

NO DATA.

His brow furrowed.

He tapped keys, tried to use the terminal to contact General Ouyang .

NO CONNECTION.

His face grew red.

He tried Deputy Minister Ho at the Ministry of State Security.

NO CONNECTION.

“What the hell is going on?” he exploded.

“It’s everything, Premier!” Gao said. “All the systems are down. It’s an electronic attack. And the flow of people into the streets has increased. Hundreds of thousands are marching for Tiananmen Square!”

Bo Jintao paled. He was here, in Zhongnanhai, in the heart of China, the complex where the Politburo Standing Committee ruled the nation from, the imperial park started by Emperor Zhangzong, almost a thousand years ago…

But also almost immediately adjacent to Tiananmen, the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

With just a single wall and the garrison here, and the troops already hard pressed to contain the existing protesters in Tiananmen Square.

“Send for reinforcements,” he said. “More tanks. Helicopters. Everything.”

“Premier?” Gao said. “I have no communications.”

“The soldiers on guard duty here,” Bo Jintao said. “Grab one. See if their radios work. If not, send one to their base. Have them run if they have to. NOW!”

101
Reinforcements

Sunday 2041.01.20

“Yuguo!” a voice pulled him out of sleep. “Yuguo! Wake up!”

Yuguo rolled over, scrambled to unzip the door of the tent, found a face he knew as well as his own staring at him.

“Mother?” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“Zhi Li told me to come!”

Yuguo watched the videos again and again, his mind reeling.

Any star you could name, someone had uploaded a video of him or her exhorting the people to take to the streets, to fight the coup.

It was incredible. The state had lost control of their tame digital pets. The perfect tools for pacification had been turned into tools for fomenting revolution.

Someone had hacked them.