I will, Feng said. Then he rose. It was time to go. Ling was his responsibility now. Time to take her, and himself, and get them the hell out of here.

Feng slammed the powered ascender home around the cable, his harness locked to it, the full two kilos of battery wired to it, set for emergency discharge, all the rest of his gear behind.

Ling cradled in his arms.

Sam was skyrocketing into the night.

Feng, Su-Yong sent. I’ve loved you like a son. Always. Thank you for everything.

You gave me freedom, he sent back, pushing back his grief, pushing it back like a soldier, pushing it back with pride. I’ll tell them the choice you made.

The door is primed to close on emergency power if the reactor fails, she sent. The signature of the reactor should be unmistakable. Get clear of the building if you can.

Then Feng jammed his thumb home on the ascender’s trigger, and acceleration slammed him down into his harness as the ascender rocketed him up towards the light.

“Decapitated,” CIA said.

The video played, shaky phone recording of flames engulfing Zhongnanhai.

China’s White House.

Pryce just stared.

“Who has control of their nukes?” Secretary Stevens asked.

“We don’t know, sir.” CIA said. “It could be anyone. Loyalists. Rebels. A rogue element in their military. Anyone.”

“Jesus H Christ,” the Secretary of Defense said.

The two silos at Jingxian were still open, the missiles surely fully fueled now, ready to launch for anywhere in the world.

It was the stuff of nightmares

“All elements reporting ready,” STRATCOM said. “We can take out China’s offensive launch capability in eight minutes.”

“By dropping a hundred megatons on the country,” Pryce said. “By firing first.” She looked at Stevens again. “Don’t do this.”

Stevens exhaled. “They have to close those tubes.” He looked at the clock. “One minute left.”

Su-Yong reached up, into the minds above her.

She found Sun Liu, reached into him and, though it pained her, inserted a last suggestion, a last gentle tweak, a necessity, a gift to those who’d come here, who’d saved the lives of millions.

Then she searched through the minds of soldiers and officers from Dachang, inserted code that would decay the structures her monster had built inside them, decay them over time.

Among them she found the General in charge.

And then she told him of her unconditional surrender to the nation’s demands, of her impending self-destruction.

The General picked up his radio, and made a call, to General Ouyang Fan.

Sam let her ascent slow and then stop as the top neared, then clipped herself to the safety line they’d rigged there, and pulled herself into the Secure Computing Center.

Her face was hot. Her eyes were wet.

Kade.

Damn it.