Charlie Evers is a tenth grade student at an international school in Shanghai, China. He will never finish his last research assignment. Ignoring all warnings about Chinese Internet censors, he navigates to sites that look informative, but shred the government on politically sensitive issues. As a teenage American student he thinks he is safe. The illusion of safety is ripped away when Charlie is taken. Imprisoned onboard an old river boat, a seven-day journey up the Yangtze River catapults him deep into China’s turbulent past, to a buried mountain fortress. This is the headquarters of ChinAlive, a Democracy movement he never imagined, with a mission the world thought long dead — the overthrow of the Chinese government.

The life Charlie Evers took for granted is over. His new life — that of a conspirator, terrorist, and refugee — is certain to earn him a date with the executioner. But the bullet will not be free. Families who wish to reclaim a loved one’s body are charged for the bullet – but only if Charlie’s family is still alive.