Lu Han dozed on the couch, Yixing on the recliner. Neither slept well, and often Lu Han would open his eyes to see Yixing looking at him. As if he was a puzzle. As if he was trying to figure out something.

                Maybe he was confused by all of this as he was.

                Morning dawned hazy, hinting at the summery day to come in the waning weeks of autumn. Yixing joined Lu Han in the kitchen and proved he was adept at slicing grapefruit and cooking eggs. They didn’t have much to say. Lu Han was dreading the meeting with Kai. He suspected Yixing felt the same, but at least he looked determined.

                At eight o’clock, the sun still far in the east, Lu Han called the senior inspector. Kai took his call promptly.

                “I’m sorry to bother you,” he said, “but I may have a serious problem.”

                “What’s going on?”

                “Zhang Yixing and I need to talk to you. Privately.”

                There was no hesitation. “Are you at your place? Both of you?”

                “Yes.”

                “I’ll be there in ten.”

                He hung up and looked at Yixing. “You’re sure about this?”

                Yixing closed his eyes a moment. “It doesn’t feel wrong. And that’s all I’ve got to go on, really.”

                Kai arrived in his personal vehicle, dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket. He often eschewed the uniform, but everyone in the city recognized him on sight, so what did it matter? Kai was a totally unforgettable man.

                He joined them in the living room, crossed his legs loosely, ankle on thigh. “So what’s going on?”

                Lu Han hesitated. “This is one of those things you’re going to have a whole lot of trouble believing. And the two of us need some. . .”

                “Objective thinking,” Yixing said when Lu Han trailed off. “We’ve been discussing this for a couple of days, and I don’t want us to get into a folie à deux. If we’re not already there.”

                “I’m listening.” He gave Lu Han an encouraging smile. “And trust me, I’ve probably heard weirder things than you can dish up.”

                “I’m not so sure about that,” Lu Han said. “Maybe I should start at my beginning and let Yixing take over with his part.”

                Yixing nodded agreement. “Sounds like the best approach.”

                “Okay,” Lu Han said. “I told you I was edgy because some numbers hadn’t matched at work, and that was probably why I was overreacting to Yixing being on the park bench every night.”

                “I remember,” Kai said, “Seems you got past that, since you’re both here.”

                “Well, not exactly. But let me tell you some details. I was uneasy because I’d discovered an inventory discrepancy. Microchips unaccounted  for. I don’t know how much you know about what we do at the plant, but a lot of it is on government contracts.”

                “I’ve heard,” Kai said. “Security clearances and all that. I’ve been part of more than one background check when the NIS has come to ask questions for someone’s security clearance. So missing microchips could be a big deal, not just a monetary matter.”

                Lu Han felt a wave of gratitude toward this man for understanding so quickly. “That’s a part of the reason I was uneasy. Not just because I might have made a mistake, but because it could cause the company a real hassle regardless of whether I was right or wrong. That’s why I mentioned I might get fired. Not likely, if we sort it out ourselves, and it turns out to just be a miscount on someone’s part, including my own. But even if it’s a miscount and the NIS hears about it, we could have problems.”

                “I get it. So you had cause for anxiety. Then Yixing shows up. Yeah, I’d be watching him, too, If I were you, and getting paranoid.”

                “The thing is, I didn’t know if those chips were classified. We make unclassified ones, too, and everything is coded. So I might have discovered that some run-of-the-mill chips were missing. I mean, it was really up in the air, and the main thing ̶  I thought, anyway – was that I was worried about my job. I wasn’t looking past that. Until Yixing.”

                Kai trained his gaze on Yixing. “So how do you fit?”

                “This is the part where you’re going to want to toss me out of the city,” Yixing said, obviously trying to make the words sound light. He didn’t quite achieve the effect.

                Leaning forward, he told Kai his whole story, start to finish, his voice breaking a bit when he spoke of the plane crash, the death of his family and the visions that had preceded it. The sympathy on Kai’s face was unmistakable.

                “But it doesn’t end there,” Yixing continued after a moment of silence. “I started having new visions a few weeks ago. And they brought me here. The compulsion has been overwhelming to be outside this house every night at the same time.”

                “Why?” Kai asked quietly.

                “Because someone is going to try to kill Lu Han. I see it. Over and over I see someone standing in his bedroom in the dark with a silenced pistol.”

                “Damn,” Kai said expressively.

                Hurrying, in case Kai might dismiss it all, Lu Han jumped in. “What’s more, even though at first I thought Yixing was just, well, a nut, I began to realize that I’d been having feelings that something bad was going to happen. That something was lurking right around the corner. Think about it, Kai. How many times do people say ‘I knew that was going to happen.’”

                “You don’t have to convince me,” Kai said flatly. “I’ve had experiences that make me think we don’t begin to understand these so-called paranormal things. Okay, so you both have an idea that someone might try to kill Lu Han. Give me something solid.”

                Yixing hesitated. Lu Han finally spoke. “We managed to find out that the missing chips are classified. They’re for weapons systems, and they can’t be sold to anyone but the Ministry of National Defense.”

                “I won’t ask how you figured that out, considering Lu Han just said everything is coded.”

                “Thanks,” Yixing said. “Thanks for that.”

                “Well, if those chips are really missing, and someone knows you found out, that’s ample cause for murder. Either to protect the thief or to protect the company.”

                “My thinking exactly,” Yixing said.

                “But the thing is,” Lu Han interjected, “it struck me the only way we can find out is to let this guy come after me just the way Yixing sees it. Otherwise, if this is really happening, I could be targeted somewhere else.”

                Silence greeted his words. Even Kai looked as if he had swallowed something awful.

                “Bait,” he finally said.

               “Exactly.” His voice was subdued. “It scares me, Kai. Yixing can tell you I was actually shaking last night. I want to run, I want to hide. But how can I ever have a life again if this doesn’t get resolved somehow?”

                “So what you’re saying is to let Yixing’s vision play out. But what if it doesn’t?”

                “I can’t even think about that now.” A small shudder passed through him. “Since we found out what the missing chips are, I’m more terrified than ever. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.”

                One corner of Kai’s mouth tightened as he thought. “I could call the NIS, let the chips fall – no pun intended – and go into witness protection. Except I know the costs of that. You not only lose your whole life, but you still can’t be sure no one will find you. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens.” He paused. “And frankly, I don’t know why you should pay such a heavy price when you’ve done nothing wrong.”

                “There’s a heavier price,” Yixing said.

                “True.”

                But Lu Han shook his head. “Would I like to run? Hell, yes. I think I’ve already said that. But. . .give up everything and still have to look over my shoulder for years at least? I don’t want to do that. Something in me says I should take this risk, terrified or not. But to do that, we have another problem – we can’t do anything that will materially change what Yixing has foreseen. That’s why I didn’t want to come to you. If you put a guard on me and this killer finds out, the whole game changes.”

                “I already figured that out,” Kai said.

                Yangshim chose that moment to wander in and hop up beside Lu Han on the couch, laying his head in his lap. Lu Han his silky ears and waited. His chest felt tight, his heart heavy, as if this moment was freighted with an entire future of terrible possibilities. And maybe it was, given Yixing’s vision.

                “Okay,” Kai said after a few