I caught it just in time, my heart in my throat. Gods. But before I could secure it back into my suit, the clueless you boy hit me in the cheek with a loose fist. Pain registered immediately on Joseph’s face as he shook his hand. The guy really didn’t know how to fight.

I had no choice. I couldn’t risk him remembering or following me back to the 101, haranguing me the entire way. I punched him hard in the jaw, hard enough to leave a bruise. Hard enough to make it swell. It had to look like a mugging.

Joseph stumbled back, the whites of his eyes standing out in the dark.

Tucking the vial safely away, I reached for a syringe dosed with a memory-wipe. I stabbed Joseph in the back of his hand.

“What the hell was that?” He stared at me, mouth open, then crumpled to the ground.

I patted him down, searching the hidden pockets in his suit. Cashcard. Six thousand yuan in bills. Taking the notes, I tossed the cashcard on the ground beside him. I checked the Palm tucked in one of his pockets, making certain it was juiced and transmitting his location. I almost felt sorry for him.

He’d have a killer headache tomorrow morning.

•  •  •

Lingyi called for a group meeting the next day.

I went after dropping off the vial at Arun’s lab. He thumped me on the shoulder before he took it in his gloved hands. “You kick ass, Zhou!”

I grinned at him. “I hope it’s what you need.”

He stayed behind and skipped our meeting, wanting to test the sample straightaway.

My friends’ energized excitement shot through me the moment I stepped into headquarters. Iris was dangling from a thick rope notched into the twenty-foot ceiling, swinging deftly; she had managed to string red lanterns and paper firecrackers from the high ceiling for the lunar new year. I watched, mesmerized as she maneuvered from one rope to the next. Victor was sitting at the dining table, staring at his Palm. But Lingyi was watching Iris too, her head thrown back so her bob swept against her shoulders. She was grinning, obviously as in awe as I was over Iris’s acrobatics. Iris felt Lingyi watching, glanced down and winked at her; there was an openness in her face that only ever emerged for Lingyi.

“All right, Iris,” I said. “Stop showing off already.”

Iris pinned the last red lantern and gold-trimmed firecrackers before shimmying off the rope as easy as anything. “Zhou. Wait till you see what Victor got for us!”

Vic, hearing his name, joined us in the sitting area. He adjusted his cuff links and straightened his vest.