"Extra! Extra!" the newsboy's voice cut through the street like a knife. I stepped under the eaves and the snow hit my sleeves. The paper snapped in his hands. "Paper for the cipher girl," he said, offering it like a challenge. "Give it here," I said. He shoved it into my grip. Black headline, smaller line beneath it. The city smelled of coal and wet cloth. A gong echoed from the command building behind me. Someone inside tapped a radio; it answered in bleeps. "Is that—" Officer Wang started. "Don't make me read it out loud," I said. My left arm itched where the scar lay under the sleeve. Fingers moved over the print without thinking. "What's the headline?" the newsboy asked, shivering. "A snow telegram," I read. "Harbor City receives winter dispatch. Shipping delayed. Tea merchants report unusual orders." "Unusual orders?" the officer said. He looked at me like he had asked for a favor and got a riddle. "Turn the page," I told him. I skimmed the classified column. A small advertisement, five words in a line that could be a grocery list or a passage home. I didn't blink. "Two jasmine, one oolong, no sugar," I said. The officer frowned. "That's a tea order." "It reads like a cipher," I said. I tapped the line with a gloved finger. "Two-three-seven. Old network. Move to Shanghai. Change cover." The newsboy gaped. "That means what?" "It means someone in Shanghai used an