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from the roof, and one of the men stood, waving.
    “That
appears to have paid off,” interjected Ping, who quickly looked away from the
glare Hong gave her.
    “I see
your insubordination has rubbed off on your partner.”
    Li
wasn’t sure what to say.
    “Relax,
both of you, I’m just keeping you on your toes.” He sighed. “Sometimes I wonder
if I’m cut out for this type of life.”
    Now Li
definitely wasn’t sure what to say. He scratched behind his ear.
    Hong
dismissed the statement with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry yourselves. My
mother-in-law is visiting. This is about the only opportunity I get to feel
like I’m in control of some part of my life. For two weeks I definitely haven’t
been in control at home.” He smiled and slapped Li on the back. “We choose our
wives, but not their families!”
    Li
smiled politely, and bowed.
    Hong
leaned in, lowering his voice.
    “But I
was serious about one thing. Keep this quiet. No press, no leaks. We can’t have
people finding out that tourists are being killed by some crazed sniper.”
    Li
nodded, his alarm bells immediately going off as Hong walked away to glad-hand
with an official who had just arrived.
    “Did you
hear that?” hissed Ping.
    Li
nodded.
    “Do you
think he means that these aren’t the first?”
    Li
frowned. “I hesitate to guess what he means.”
    But
if these aren’t the first, then what we have here is far bigger.
    And
far more terrifying.

 
     
     
    Outside the Forbidden City, Beijing, China
    January 13, 1875
     
    Li Mei stepped deeper into the shadows. It had been far longer than
an hour, perhaps two or three. She had lost track of time, and could only guess
by how low the sun was on the horizon, the long shadows cast across the now
quiet farmers’ market speaking volumes to the hour.
    And a
woman, alone, with a baby, standing in the street, was bound to draw the
attention of anyone looking for exactly that.
    She knew
what Su Ming had said. Go to her family if he wasn’t back in an hour. But she
hadn’t lost hope yet. She had edged much of the way back down the alley on
several occasions, and peered around the corner where she had lost sight of him,
and she was certain she had seen him on at least one of those occasions, though
it was hard to tell in his peasant outfit.
    A sandal
scraped on stone, and her head whipped around to find two people half walking,
half running, down the alley. Her heart leapt. It was Yu and one of the
soldiers from the court whose name she did not know.
    “Over here,”
she whispered.
    They
stopped and looked, then smiled as they walked casually over.
    “Are you
okay?” Mei asked.
    Yu
nodded, and peeked at the baby. “And you?”
    “Terrified.
Have you seen anyone else?”
    Yu shook
her head. “Only Su Ming and you. I found Jun just minutes ago near the
fountain.”
    Mei
looked at Jun and nodded, now that she had a name to go with the face. “We saw Xiao,
one of the maids, and Zhu, one of the soldiers, enter the butcher’s shop, then
Commander Fang went in. There was a struggle inside when Su Ming and I walked
by, so we kept going.”
    “We’ve
been betrayed,” said Jun, his face grim, his eyes flaring with anger.
    “What
are we to do?” asked Yu, biting her finger.
    “We
can’t leave without Su Ming,” said Mei.
    Yu
nodded. “I told him I have a brother not far from here. I gave him directions
and told him to meet us there. He’s going to pass the word to anyone else who
may show up. He didn’t mention you, so I suspect he thinks you’ve already
left.”
    Mei
nodded. “I was supposed to leave two hours ago, but I just couldn’t bring
myself to.”
    Jun put
a hand on her shoulder. “You’ll come with us.” He looked about. “We’ll go on
ahead, you follow us, no closer than twenty paces.”
    Mei
nodded, and Jun took Yu by the arm, and they walked purposefully across the mess
of the market. Mei counted to twenty, then followed, praying the little one
would remain quiet now