by Julian North
Ansel’s eyes flicked over to one of her men. With a head jerk, she sent him scurrying off to verify my theory. “Suppose you’re right, and Virginia will be traveling out to the Hamptons Restricted Zone tomorrow, she’ll still be escorted and protected. We might be able to shoot down her aircraft—which is tempting—but capturing her… that’s a tall order. I still have not heard how that happens, and you’re running out of time to convince me.”
“Here’s where we need the help: Virginia isn’t the gracious host type. My guess is she shows up last, but her distinguished guests will spend the afternoon at her estate waiting upon her pleasure—Jeffery Titan-Wind among them. He’ll be arriving on a government aircraft sent to fetch him, with his family in tow. That’s how we get to her. Jeffery and his daughter, Anise, will give us Virginia.”
Ansel scoured my face. “You’ve piqued my interest. Maybe Jalen Aris-Putch and Rudolph Banks will still get their weapons. Tell me the rest.”
Chapter 28
My face was no longer my face.
Ansel’s special team of alterators from the Intelligence Directorate had done the work on me with the assistance of Dimitri Yasoff’s coveted group of flesh manipulators. Together they had made me someone else—at least on the outside.
I stared into a mirror; the face of Anise Titan-Wind stared back at me.
There was still a matter of our differing heights, but there wasn’t time to adjust that, for which I was secretly thankful. No matter how skilled the alterator, I’d never be able to run the same way if my bones were sculpted to that degree. At least I could have my old face back, if I lived through this.
Nythan and Alexander stared at me as the cutters cleaned the residue of their work from the face.
“I hate to say it, but it’s so close I’ve got the chills. It’s just like the feeling I get around
the real slimey little Anise,” Nythan said.
I knew that I had to look like her for my plan to work, but I hated wearing the face of devious Anise, who always played both sides. Anise, who had played me for a fool.
“I can tell the difference,” Alexander declared. “The eyes, a bit around the nose, and you move completely differently. That can’t be changed with surgery.”
Jenn Ansel strode into the alteration chamber. “You say that because you know them both, Alexander Foster-Rose-Hart, but the guards at Virginia’s estate will never have met Anise Titan-Wind before. She’ll arrive on a verified aircraft with her father, Jeffery, and they’ll both have passed DNA verification scans. I’ve just confirmed that Mr. Frost-Bell was able to secure the DNA samples we need from Anise’s locker at school. We’re growing the fingertip and corneal sheaths as we speak. They won’t be ready until tomorrow morning; you’ll receive the necessary material before your flight. Our sources confirmed the Titan-Winds will be picked up by government v-copter from their New Jersey beach house. The home’s coastal location will make it easy for our stealth ships to make a drop without being detected.”
I ran the back of my hand along the lines of a cheek that wasn’t mine. “How many spies do you have out there living someone else’s identity?”
“Not enough, apparently. There is no way to get adequate genetic samples from Jeffery Titan-Wind or his son, Michael—not in time. Which means he will have to be trilled, even though he is highborn. Can the two of you really pull that off?”
“We’ve done it before,” I assured her.
She took stock of Alexander. He looked better, if not fully himself. “You were practically a chipped slave a little over a day ago.”
“I will do whatever must be done. And I look forward to seeing Anise again. However, I do not like the idea of Daniela going out to the estate to confront Virginia by herself.”
Ansel dipped her head in grim agreement. “That makes two of us, but no one will be able to get through security at the estate without passing a DNA identification scan, and we only have access to Anise’s DNA. Trying to impersonate one person is a huge risk. Sending a second civilian without the proper DNA would be stupid. So, Daniela, make sure you don’t talk unless absolutely necessary. While you don’t sound like a BC girl after your time at Tuck, a practiced ear will know you’re no aristocrat either.” She made a show of examining my newly sculpted face. “Are you sure you can do this? I’m no expert in trilling, but as to the rest, your plan seems difficult, even for someone with your abilities. I would not have approved it except for these unique circumstances. Still, we’re both taking a terrible risk.”
“I can do it. Once Alexander has helped me break Jeffery Titan-Wind’s mental defenses, I can control him myself. But I only really need him to believe that I’m his daughter to get me through security. The rest won’t be hard. You said your interrogation drug can break anyone—even Virginia.” The voice that wasn’t quite mine sounded confident. I was becoming adept at bluffing and lying. I wanted to believe that was Kristolan’s influence.
Nythan was watching me carefully out of the corner of his eye. He knew I was lying, at least in part. I hoped Ansel didn’t notice. He wasn’t a great poker player.
“Our scientists spent years developing the interrogation serum. My aircraft will be in position as well. If things start falling apart, we’ll have a strike team ready to attack. If you succeed, they’ll attempt to pull you out. I also reviewed your message to Bronx City and the other big cities. Very impressive, very inspiring—in its crass way. Our best computer models suggest a high probability that you will provoke a general uprising that should require the attention of several Northern divisions to quell.”
I huffed. “You didn’t need to use a computer. Just talk to any nope who had to watch the highborn live in self-important splendor beside them about how it feels at night, when they’re alone in their bed, thinking about the life they’ve been trapped in. We’ve wanted to fight for years—we just never had weapons before.”
“You are a remarkable young woman.” Ansel said it, but the way it came out, it didn’t sound like praise.
“I never asked for any of this. It is just what I have to do.”
Ansel’s eyes took on a distant glaze. “Nia Timber-Night and I were classmates, back in Buckhead, a long time ago. Before Arthus Ryan-Hayes won his first election. She did everything well then too; she had a knack for succeeding.” Her eyes refocused, her stare resolute. “You remind me of her.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“No, it is not.”
Ansel had something else to say, but she held it in. I was glad when she left, and I wasn’t the only one.
“That woman gives me the creeps,” Nythan said.
I slipped off the sculpting table, worried that I might get dizzy, but there seemed to be no ill effects from the procedure. “California would not have helped us without her championing this cause. Even Dimitri wouldn’t have been able to sway them without her.”
“That is what I mean. She’s in deep with this. I’ve spent some time working around her. To her, it’s personal.”
I chewed on my lip. “They knew each other. History can linger.”
Alexander fixed a glum frown on me. “Daniela, there must be another way to do this. You versus all of Virginia’s security is madness.”
I expected his protest. “It is the only way. But more importantly, this is my choice alone, not yours. Truthfully, I am relieved to only have to worry about myself, and to be the one who will pay the consequences of failure.” He was about to reply, but I placed a tight hand on his wrist to silence him. “Nythan showed me the beach this morning. It would be wonderful if the three of us met there again this evening.”
They both understood. Alexander held his words; Nythan’s eyes told me he’d get what I needed.
“I need to speak to Rhett and make some other arrangements before tomorrow. Excuse me, gentlemen.”
Walking around wearing someone else’s skin was unnerving. Ansel’s minders kept watching me, but I suppose they would’ve done that anyway. They were under or
ders not to let me off the floor with my new face, even though the entire building had been secured. It took a call to the boss lady herself to arrange to have Rhett brought down to meet with me. I thought about asking to see Alissa as well, but in the end, the trust wasn’t there, not completely. Scars linger, even after a wound has healed.
Rhett and I found a nook near one of the numerous internal courtyards situated throughout the floor to speak. His easygoing aura seemed to have faded, or perhaps it was my perceptions that had changed.
“I liked your original look better,” he said as we took a seat in front of an intricately arrayed pattern of tiny stones.
“That’s a relief.” I tried to smile but failed. It didn’t feel right with these lips. “I may not get another chance to speak to you before tomorrow, and I wanted to thank you again—for saving me, and for staying here to help when I know the people you care about are in the South, fighting for their lives.”
“Not all the people I care about are in the South, Daniela.” The familiar sloping grin appeared, and I felt better. “You have shown yourself to be a true leader.”
I squeezed two hands against the strange face I wore. “I don’t want this responsibility. I don’t want any of this.”
“That is why you are good at it. If you ever want it, something is wrong.”
I didn’t want to think about the risks I was taking or about the lives my gamble would cost. “How is your uncle holding up?”
“He’s happy with the weapons they are getting, and about our assurances that there won’t be any critical turncoats this time, even if he still doesn’t know exactly why—something Jalen Aris-Putch is fuming about, by the way. You had promised otherwise.”
“Jalen told me once that he would do what he had to do—promises be damned. I’ll keep my word. It will just be delayed. They’ll know the whole truth soon enough. Everyone will.”
“You should know that the South has appointed a new acting president, Corbin Jay-Halley.”
I arched a brow. “Another highborn. Never heard of him.”
“Old southern family. A bit of a bastard, if I’m honest, but his private militia is critical to what remains of the Southern army, so Uncle Rudolph and Jalen are going along.”
“More of the same. This Jay-Halley, Governor Clarke, even Jenn Ansel. All cut from the same cloth.”
“Yet you are still fighting, risking your life and asking others to do the same.” There was no accusation or judgment; it was just a fact.
“I’m still fighting them as well, but that is a separate battle.” I stood. Rhett did as well.
“Is that the reason you wanted to speak to me? The political situation in the South?”
I punched him. Not hard, but enough to make my point. “I don’t deserve that. At least I don’t think I do.”
“Sorry,” he stammered. “It’s that—”
“Just listen—this is hard for me. I wanted to talk to you because we’re going somewhere dangerous tomorrow, and because in this life, I’ve had little in the way of family… and not many friends.” I forced the eyes of my fake face to meet Rhett’s stare. I hoped he could still see what was inside of me through that fake lens. “Thank you for being a true friend. In my life, that has been a rare thing. We are blood as far as I’m concerned, you and I.”
A range of emotions swept across his face: some joy, but also disappointment, and finally concern.
“You sound like a martyr. Like you don’t expect to come back from this.”
“I’m a realist, Rhett. I’ll see you on the plane tomorrow.”
I walked away.
Chapter 29
We took off before dawn, racing eastward, desperate to reach our destination before the sun broke the horizon. Visual sensors were the biggest risk; in the dark, our stealthy razorFish was practically invisible. The interior was smaller than a standard razorFish, and we were cramped: besides the two pilots, Alexander, Rhett, and two members of the Intelligence Director’s special forces were huddled together, shoulders touching.
I had received my fingertip coating and corneal covers from a lab tech just before boarding the aircraft. My eyes still stung and watered. I’d been assured the bonding would be complete by the time we reached New Jersey. For the purposes of genetic scanning, I was Anise Titan-Wind.
Jenn Ansel’s people looked formidable. The one next to me—Linx—reminded me of Katrina in the elegance of her movements, but she had none of her grace or beauty. The agent’s nose had an unnatural sharpness to it, and her lips were strangely angular, as if they had been drawn with a ruler. I wondered if she had undergone an alterator’s scalpel one time too many. Her companion, Jaxon, was the opposite: handsomely refined features, coiffed hair, soft eyes. He was almost distracting, which was probably the point. I had hoped Ansel would send only one of her operatives, but arguing about it would’ve looked suspicious. The best I could manage was to insist on having Rhett with us as well. Still, it wasn’t an auspicious start to what was likely the riskiest day of my entire life.
We wore flight helmets with communicators, but no one spoke. We all knew what we had to do. I spent the flight rehearsing scenarios, worrying, dreading. My eyes drifted to Alexander several times. There I found only determination and acceptance of what was to come. Rhett slept, or at least pretended to. Nythan had assured me that he had briefed Rhett on what had to be done.
A voice spoke into my ear, crisp and clear, “Ten minutes until drop point.”
A projected image of the Titan-Wind residence appeared in front of each of us. It looked very much the same as on my last visit. Then, I had gone in search of the help of a teammate who claimed to be a friend. This time I came as a predator.
The razorFish slowed and its engine quieted. If my friends and I hadn’t been aboard, they wouldn’t have bothered with landing, but I had no idea how to repel out of an aircraft—even if I could’ve found the courage. Therefore, the razorFish was forced to descend. Linx signaled for us to get into our positions at the exit hatch. Jaxon had the lead. He, Linx, and Rhett wore black body armor, with targeting helmets and short projectile rifles that supposedly fired silently but could still put a hole in duraglass. They also had stun pistols at their waist—something I had insisted upon. Alexander and I wore civilian clothes and carried both stun and force pistols on either side of our waist. The hatch opened and Jaxon jumped through, followed by Rhett, Alexander, and myself, with Linx covering the rear. The razorFish lifted back off from the group the instant Linx’s foot touched the ground, silently disappearing into the night. We were on our own.
A home defense drone hovered silently five feet in front of the house’s glass front wall, blinking but otherwise blind. The Titan-Winds’ drones were linked to their company’s network, which made their devices Nythan’s toys. At least that’s what he claimed.
Jaxon took up position at the front door, while Linx ran to the rear of the house. We guessed that the family wouldn’t be using the secret subterranean rooms, but we couldn’t be sure. The key to the operation was taking over the house before an emergency signal could be transmitted, and that meant getting in without tripping the alarms. Everything linked to the net was supposedly jammed by now, but there was still the matter of simple noise alarms, and the likelihood that Jeffery Titan-Wind had some kind of emergency transmitter that even California’s spies couldn’t block.
Jaxon opened the front door with a shiny device linked to his viser, and I presumed that Linx was doing the same in the rear. A lock clicked, and Jaxon entered the house with a tentative push on the door. Rhett followed on his heels, then Alexander and me. In many ways, Anise’s betrayal had bitten deepest with Alexander. I wondered if he hungered for vengeance the way I did.
The night vision on my helmet made the dark interior of Anise’s house appear like a net simulation, but the familiarity of the place gave me goose bumps. The distinct mixture of salt air and environmental controls brought back memories of the dinner we had shared before leaving for
the extraction platform. Linx appeared in the kitchen doorway, a fist held high to signal that all was going according to plan. It was time to attack. I was about to become a kidnapper. I felt no sympathy for Jeffery or Anise. I didn’t know about the complicity of the rest of the family; Ansel had assured me they wouldn’t be harmed unless they resisted.
Rhett joined Linx in formation just outside the corridor that led to the upstairs sleeping quarters. Alexander and I trailed behind. Jaxon was positioned outside the servants’ quarters. We all had our stun pistols drawn. Linx held up an open hand, and my blood started flowing. Time to race. She made a fist, and we all moved into action.
Trouble came swiftly.We’d been prepared for the motion detectors and security sensors and everything else the spy masters in California could imagine would be installed in a wealthy man's house. No one—including me—had given any thought to an old trick still used in Bronx City: a simple trip spot. If a foot came down on a section of floor, the alarm went off. No computers needed. Unfortunately, the corridor leading to the family bedroom had one. Linx stepped right on it.
The alarm was a distinctly low-tech air horn. The house had been cut off from any external security network, but it was still plenty loud. Linx moved like a branding iron had hit her backside—she was down the hall at a pace even Coach Nessmier wouldn’t have taken issue with. I was slower to react but quicker on my feet. Even so, it almost wasn’t enough. The security system wasn’t just noise: a metal grate dropped from the ceiling, sealing the bedroom corridor off from the rest of the house. Essentially, the entire living wing would become a safe room. I dove as it fell. My feet cleared the gate by a fraction of an inch. I stared back at the barrier that had almost crushed me, belatedly realizing that as fast as I was, I wouldn’t have made it if the security gate had been properly maintained. There was rust on the heavy alloy bars—the humidity and salt air had likely saved my life and this mission. Maybe. My eyes locked with Alexander’s on the other side of the gate for a flashing moment.