Twelve days after Jin’s big announcement at the memorial hall park about the cheaper suits and the collapse of Patient Zero, the death toll had risen to over two dozen in Taipei from Jin’s flu strain. Although the disease was spreading rapidly, the government had yet to officially declare a state of emergency, as only poor meis had been affected. Many who died were already suffering from illness and had compromised immune systems or were homeless and living on the streets, but Arun assured me that this avian flu was bad. “It can wipe out half of Taiwan if we don’t do something to curb it,” he said. “You have to return to Jin Corp and steal a sample for me.”

So three days after Daiyu gave me the tour, on a Sunday in the dead of night, I went back.

Just after two a.m., I took my airped and flew to Jin Corp. I was fully suited but disconnected from the com sys so my whereabouts couldn’t be tracked. Armed with Daiyu’s security code and the capture device that had recorded and could “ghost” her brain waves for the scan (Lingyi had assured me that it should work), I let the euphoria overtake me. Racing faster than two hundred mph, I soared over Taipei, the trendier districts filled with young yous and meis alike, looking for a good time. The flashing signs and lasers in these areas were a stark contrast to the dark, quiet buildings in places that were abandoned or occupied by the less adventurous, who were fast asleep.

It didn’t seem the youth of Taipei were taking notice of the flu epidemic, too jaded to care about another outbreak, and too oblivious to know how lethal this one actually was. So many lives depended on whether I could smuggle one of the samples out for Arun. Failure was not an option.

I guided my airped back into the shadowed labyrinthine streets behind Jin Corp, parking on a narrow, deserted street. Without hesitation, I wound my way through the dank alleyways, my path illuminated by my helmet and suit. This time, I had half a dozen knives hidden on me, although they would be useless if I triggered security and Jin Corp went into lockdown.

Ignoring my increased heart rate displayed in helmet, I found the back entrance that Daiyu wanted to sneak me into the first time we tried to visit Jin Corp. The touch pad was dark but took on a faint glow when I punched in Daiyu’s personal code with a gloved hand. I waited, heart pounding in my ears, and the door clicked open quietly after five seconds. I used the motion detection enhance Victor had gotten for me to search for any signs of movement beyond the thick walls. Seeing nothing, I slipped inside.