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He pushed himself up and propelled himself onward. He had accepted his fate, but he wasn’t about to quit without sacrificing himself for the operation. If he could get SUBLIME away from the Americans, then maybe she could still complete her mission. He wouldn’t be around to receive accolades for his role in the reunification of Taipei, but his legacy would be cemented in the annals of history.

There, in the hills north of San Diego, he would sacrifice his life for the future of his people.

Guo Kang stumbled again and fell to his knees. He coughed and spat thick blood onto the dirt underneath him, fearing that he was in worse shape than he first suspected. He took a labored breath and heard a rattle from his chest, recognizing the symptoms of his lungs filling with blood. He tilted his head up and spied the safe house through the trees only two hundred yards away.

I won’t make it.

He growled at the coward inside him and lunged upward once more. He refused to accept defeat and would use every last ounce of energy to reach SUBLIME. But to be safe, he needed to alert the General. If they stopped him before he could free her, he needed the General to know before he committed their forces to the invasion.

While struggling to put one foot in front of the other, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Forsaking standard protocols in favor of expediency, Guo Kang dialed the General’s number through the Signal app and hoped their leader answered the call.

“What is it?” the General asked when the call connected.

“I am…” Guo Kang coughed, and his mouth filled with blood. He spat it onto the ground before continuing. “I am finished.”

“Is she safe?”

The rattling in his chest was getting worse, and his odds of surviving were dropping with each step. But still he moved forward. Never retreat. Only attack.

“Not… yet,” Guo Kang said.

“Are you hurt?”

He hated to admit it. In all his years as a commando in the People’s Liberation Army and paramilitary operator for the Ministry of State Security, Guo Kang had never been wounded. He had never been bested on the field of battle, and he felt shame that it had happened in what was to have been his defining moment in service to the State.

“Yes,” he said. “I’ve been shot.”

He coughed again. More blood. His vision blurred, and he felt the world tilting around him as he struggled to remain conscious.

The General sighed on the other end. “Pull back,” he said. “We will get to her another way.”

“But…”

A searing pain erupted between his shoulder blades as a force slammed into him and toppled him forward. He barely had time to register the echoing sound of a gunshot behind him before he fell face first onto the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of him, and the rattling in his chest grew louder as blood poured from his mouth. He opened his mouth to warn the General, but nothing came out.

“Guo Kang,” he heard the distant voice cry out. He spotted his cell phone on the ground three feet away, but he knew it was too far. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sanitize it before his pursuers were on him, so he focused on staying awake long enough to make his last stand.

“Federal agent!” another voice called out.

Guo Kang lifted his pistol and pointed it behind him without looking. He squeezed the trigger and felt the gun recoil with each shot, but he didn’t know if any had found their mark. He only knew that he would die as a warrior, with a gun in his hand.

Another round slammed into him, and his body twitched with the impact.

Guo Kang suddenly felt nothing at all.

* * *

Tan Lily opened the door and saw Shen Li clutching Cher tightly around her neck. The cur stood erect, blocking the little girl with her body as she watched the door open.

“Mama? What’s happening?” Shen Li asked.

She crossed the room quickly, barely registering that the dog bristled as she neared and emitted a low rumble from deep within her chest. Then, she saw her daughter’s eyes grow wide with shock, and she realized she was covered in Margaret’s blood.

“We need to go,” she whispered. Cher growled when she reached for her daughter’s hand, and she stopped short.

“Mama, you’re bleeding.”

Tan Lily wiped a hand down her face, smearing the older woman’s blood. As if the cur could smell her master in the metallic scent, Cher growled louder and barked at the doctor. But Tan Lily had heard the gunshots too. She knew that meant whoever the General had sent to rescue her had either been stopped or had bested the Americans. Either way, she was running out of time.

With a flick of her wrist, she drew the knife and slashed at the dog as the blade sprang open. She felt the sharp edge slice through the dog’s skin, and Cher yelped in pain as she recoiled from the strike. Tan Lily took the opportunity and snatched Shen Li’s wrist and yanked her off the bed.

“You hurt Cher!” the little girl shrieked.