They want her to kill for the Party—but she has other ideas.
As a baby, Tara Wolfe was kidnapped by Hong Kong triads. After a bungled ransom demand, she was taken secretly to the mainland. Now known as Wei Mei, she has known no other life but the rural village where "Mummy Rita" raised her. When men with guns arrive in the village looking for her, she runs away to the Chinese megacity of Shenzhen, and a life on the streets.
Witnessed by a talent scout defending herself from an assault by three rich kids, Mei is recruited for a Communist Party school for assassins. The training is brutal, but Mei makes a couple of friends along the way: "Rats" and "Sis". Then, after an arduous training exercise, something happens that tears the tight-knit trio apart.
Mei’s dreams hint at a life she can’t remember. Determined to escape and return to make sure Mummy Rita is safe, she ends up in even worse danger than before, as foreign agents close in. Then she discovers the secret that will destroy any chance she has of returning to a normal life.
She hatches a daring plan to free herself from the Party’s clutches before it’s too late. But with just 24 hours before she is taken to a Beijing facility where her fate will be sealed, time is running out, fast.
