Chameleon (The Domino Project Book 1)

by K. T. Hanna

  Deign pales at the image and frantically pushes part of the screen on her desk. “Get that feed back right now, Harlow.”

  “On my way.” Harlow grabs her things and throws Bastian a long-suffering look before they head out of the door.

  Bastian schools his face into an expression of shock as he hears Deign start her tirade in the room behind them. “I thought we were supposed to have backup systems...” is all he hears before the door shuts.

  The facility is on a yellow alert. Guards stand at attention—or, at least, those who aren’t running around trying to be somewhere. Harlow’s heels clip the marble crisply as they make their way to her security haven.

  Bastian didn’t expect to be sent to the security center with Harlow, but he’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth either. There are few better places he could have intentionally situated himself, especially after the monitor glitch.

  Harlow’s brow furrows as the security system she designed herself scans her for access. Once inside the center, she activates numerous desktops and wall displays to provide an alarmingly well-illuminated picture of the current events.

  “I should come down here more often.” Bastian is careful to only lean against the doorway. The other surfaces of the office are far too delicate to bear the weight. “You’ve made some changes.” Changes he realizes he should have noted the last time he visited her. Even a short while ago would have given them the heads up they needed.

  Harlow shakes her head. “I’ve had to be busy. Deign doesn’t make this job easy. She has so much paranoia I need to prove incorrect, not to mention actual individuals trying to utilize that paranoia to their own benefit...” Harlow pauses, shaking her head as she types things too fast for Bastian to follow. “If I didn’t want to make sure my father’s work was continued properly, I probably wouldn’t put up with her crap.”

  Bastian shifts his weight, not quite sure how to play this new bit of information. Surely he can use it to his advantage. He notices the panic in her expression as she realized who she’s said what to.

  “I...” She pauses, her lips slightly parted, brow pinched.

  “What? I’m interested in seeing where it was this image came from so I can let Deign know if we have a situation.”

  Harlow smiles tightly. “Thank you.” She flips through several screens, a frown forming on her face. “I can’t find anything,” she says finally, throwing up her hands in exasperation.

  “Nothing?” Bastian frowns. Surely Kayde managed to pull it off.

  “I can’t find any evidence of infiltration, not from any specified location. It’s more like a flash of something someone might have wanted us to see? It’s used an override code not even I can crack. Wait a second...” She bends over the desk, hands flying over different portions of the surface. She glances up at Bastian fearfully.

  “What is it?” he asks, unsure of what Kayde is playing with. Technically, the plan allowed her a lot of leeway.

  “I think I’m being set up. That’s Deign’s code, Bastian. I don’t know it. I can’t even access it, but the system recognizes it as Deign’s signature.”

  Bastian scowls to cover the laughter he feels in his throat. “Doesn’t Deign need to trigger her own code with a personal scan?”

  Harlow nods slowly.

  “Then something’s malfunctioning in the system. It’s not you—I’ve been with you the entire time.”

  Harlow seems surprised. “You’ll vouch for me?”

  “Definitely. Not many people argue with me.” Harlow isn’t one of the bad guys. His mind races as he tries to figure out how to protect her, and still aide the Exiled as planned.

  Kayde already has everything under control; the next step is to make sure it stays that way. If Harlow remains in the control booth, that’s going to get tricky. Bastian grabs her hand and drags her back outside, hoping his assumption is correct. “We need to get back to Deign.”

  “No, Bastian, I need to stop this. She’ll have me killed!” There’s genuine panic in her voice, her hysteria very real.

  “Harlow! Think a moment. If I leave you here to report to Deign while the systems are down, not even my most convincing argument is going to save you.”

  She pales as her determination sags.

  “If you come with me, then you’ve never been out of my sight. Someone has her codes or access to her DNA scans, and it’s not you and it’s not me. If you’re with me, she can hardly refute that, right?”

  Harlow nods, the color creeping slowly back into her complexion.

  “Excellent. Then follow me.”

  With any luck, Kayde’s outdone herself and tapped through the electronic barriers to be able to hear the whole conversation. He hears the door click behind them with a finality that makes him smile. No one will get past Kayde’s failsafes and into the control booth anytime soon.

  Frances is talking to Deign in hushed tones when they get back upstairs. Deign pushes him none too gently aside when she sees Bastian and Harlow reenter the room.

  “What have you done?” Deign’s voice is silky and soft—a sure danger sign. “I’m waiting, Harlow.”

  Bastian steps between them. “Actually, Deign, it’s what have you done? How has someone got a hold of your codes, your scans?”

  Deign shakes her head and takes a step back. “What are you talking about? No one has my master scan but me.”

  “In that case...” Bastian crosses his arms. “What are you playing at? Because it’s those codes blocking us from everything, and it’s your bio scan now barring us from the system controls.”

  Deign’s eyes dart wildly between him and Harlow. “She’s behind this—all of it!”

  “Then I must be, too, because I’ve been with her since before all this began and she couldn’t reverse what’s been set in motion.”

  Deign narrows her eyes. “You can reverse this with time and get the security back online, correct?”

  Harlow nods. “I’m not sure how long it’s going to take.”

  “Frances said they’ve swept along outside and down through the facility. So far there’s nothing to report. It looks like it’s a malfunction or that someone got creative with that brief image. Still, I want to be sure, so his men are sweeping again. Take the time you need, but don’t let it take too long. I want the grid reserves, the batteries, and the Shine labs back online. Sooner than later. Clear?”

  “Crystal.” Harlow bows and dives to her meeting room workstation to start tackling access to the control booth again. Bastian breathes softly, glad one crisis is averted.

  “Bastian.”

  “Yes?”

  “If there are people in this facility, I expect you to get rid of them. I don’t care who you need to take with you. I don’t care how bloody it gets. Clean it up and make this go away. We have far too important work to do to let someone come in here, sabotage my security systems with my code, and think they can get away with it.”

  Bastian nods, his stomach clenching in response. Deign likes to get her way, and if something interferes with it, she needs it gone.

  She steps closer to him, using her height to her full advantage, and locks her eyes on his. “Do you understand? I don’t care if this is some lab techs having fun and trying to overcome boredom. They need to disappear. This all needs to disappear. I don’t like bad days, Bastian. Do I make myself clear?”

  There’s a weight to her words, a psionic pressure at his temples. Deign’s projections, when angry, can be lethal. He nods, glad he only took a small dose of Shine. “Perfectly.”

  Deign smiles and pats him on the shoulder as the sudden tension surrounding him dissipates. “Good. Now we just need to figure out what the hell is going on. On top of the domino incident recently, it feels like someone is out to get me. Only that’s perfectly stupid, isn’t it, Bastian?”

  Again, he nods, a chill gripping his chest. Whether she knows what it is or not is irrelevant. Deign clearly knows something and isn’t about to let it or him go unless she has
to. That’s the problem with doing his job so well; it’s not the first time Deign has used him for her own personal security.

  Usually he doesn’t care, but right now that’s not where he wants to be.

  “Fine,” he says instead of arguing and turns to the guard. “Frances, take your men and do another sweep of the facility, just to be safe. I know you’ve done it once, but do it again.”

  Frances smiles tightly and nods. “Understood perfectly, sir.” He turns on his heel and the tension in his shoulders reduces visibly. Deign has that effect on people.

  “If he comes back with an all-clear, we can shut down the yellow alert,” Bastian says to Deign.

  She scowls at him and grabs his hand. “If he doesn’t, you’re sweeping the facility and taking anyone out of place down with you.”

  Bastian grins grimly. “As you wish,” he says, glad for the hundredth time that he chooses to cover his skin when she’s around.

  It’s been pitch black outside the windows for the last thirty-odd minutes. Bastian glances at his wrist, while pretending to pour over the reports Harlow is going through, trying to track down the culprit.

  So far, Deign is certain it’s a prank, which allows Bastian some leeway, but soon she’s going to realize it’s not. About when Frances doesn’t return from scouting, or when the feeds fully shut down and begin looping their content, and definitely when the alarm sounds, though he’s fairly certain she’ll catch onto it before then.

  Her pride doesn’t get in the way of her brain for too long. Deign scowls as she pulls over Lourd’s wrist and glances at the man’s watch. “Bastian.”

  As he stands up, the screens flicker on, back to their usual display of empty halls. Except this time he knows they’re on a loop, and in about twenty minutes, so will everyone else. When not one guard patrol has passed any of them, everything is going to hit the fan.

  Bastian plans to be gone by then.

  “What?” he asks, just this side of impatient as he comes to stand next to her.

  “You need to take a couple of guards and go down to check where Frances is.”

  Bastian waves a hand, dismissive of her concern. “Frances is a big boy, Deign. He’ll radio in soon.”

  “It’s not up for debate.”

  “It’s Davis’s lab. Shouldn’t he go down and take care of it?”

  Deign hesitates. “He’s bringing me a failsafe, just in case.”

  “In case? I thought I was your failsafe,” he almost jokes. Failsafe doesn’t sound like a good thing.

  She taps her foot with exasperation. “Not in that way. A just-in-case method.”

  “Deign, don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid? We often have grid-outs. This isn’t all that different.”

  “But we don’t have them for this long without fixing them.”

  Bastian shrugs, attempting to minimize her panic. For the sake of the Exiled operation, he needs to make sure she doesn’t overreact too soon. “What is this failsafe?”

  “Domino,” she answers simply.

  “The dominos aren’t functioning within normal parameters, Deign,” he cautions, though he’s already sure she doesn’t mean just any domino.

  She laughs. “Not them. The prototype appears to be recovering well. He’ll be on standby should I need to send anyone out after you.”

  “I can handle this,” Bastian says, just the right amount of disdain for her disbelief in him coloring his tone. But inside he’s churning. Sending out Dom right now could be disastrous. His memories still haven’t returned, and neither has his humanity. Right now he’s running on pure programming, with the urges of the parasite unchecked.

  “I’ll go run your errands to make you feel better.” He grins at Deign and motions to two of the guards by the door. “I’ll take Filip and Jones with me.”

  “Don’t humor me, Bastian. Do what I pay you for,” Deign says softly before turning and effectively dismissing him.

  Bastian doesn’t look back. Harlow is as safe as he can get her, and right now he needs to try and make it past Kayde’s fortifications to the lower level of the facility to warn Mason and Sai of what’s coming their way. If nothing else, he needs to make sure they get Marlena out and away from that hellhole.

  Sai takes a deep breath and tries to imagine herself not squashed into a tunnel with a crowd of people. “Let me guess,” she murmurs to Mason. “You hadn’t filled out so much last time you went through here?”

  He laughs. “Pretty much.”

  The claustrophobia is hard to drown out, and the air feels so thick, it’s difficult to breathe. She closes her eyes and tries not to imagine the front collapsing and blocking the way out.

  “Our first stop is the Shine labs.” Mason’s words rip her out of her delusional nightmare.

  She glances at her watch, synchronized with every member of their assault team. “We have seventeen minutes to get there. Will we make it?” She bites her lip.

  “You have to,” Kayde’s voice says in their ears. “I may or may not have accidentally triggered an alarm and alerted everyone in Central to a potential breach.”

  “Fantastic,” Sai mutters under her breath, momentarily distracted. They proceed down a ways, shuffling steadily toward their goal.

  “Out through here.” Mason motions her ahead of him into a dark room.

  She can smell stale beer and peanuts. A woman stands on the other side of an elongated room and nods to acknowledge Mason. She’s holding a trap door open. Mason directs the tail end of the troops to leave through the main entrance to the tavern, and start their end of the assignment in the dingy blocks of the city. They need to reach everyone.

  “How are you, Mary? Where’s Garr?” Mason asks as he drops down the short jump into the tunnel, barely tall enough for him to stand in. He motions for Sai and the rest to follow him as he moves to help the old woman hold the door open from below, while the rest file into the corridor.

  “Garr’s keeping watch. Things will be much better after tonight.” The woman smiles and gently urges Sai along into the tiny, death-trap-like space.

  A few minutes later they’re all shuffling through another tunnel. “Who was that? Who is Garr?” It’s easier to ask questions than to think about phobias.

  “Mary knew our mother,” he says, lips tight, looking straight ahead. “And Garr... Well, Garr is a long story. Get Bastian to tell you sometime.”

  Sai makes yet another mental note.

  Several minutes later, another group splits off and heads toward the residential blocks of Central. Two sets of operatives deployed, and now it’s her turn.

  Finally the cramped and dingy path ends. They stop at the exit and glance at their watches.

  “In a minute, the camera system in the Shine labs will go down.” Kayde’s voice is loud and clear through the ear piece. “It’ll remain down for thirty minutes only, by which time you need to be out of there.”

  Sai keeps telling herself to breathe.

  Kayde continues her briefing. “The power outage will disable most of the locks, under which different variations of pure Shine are secured. You are go in five...four...three...two...one...”

  Mason motions them all forward as the whir of the cameras powering down starts. Swiftly and silently, they move as one down the left-hand corridor. “Here.” He motions for different teams to each take a separate door.

  “Some workers might be lingering. Not everyone in Central relishes going home. Make sure you take everything you can get your hands on and make it snappy. The less they have to work with, the more precarious the drained reserves become. We have twenty-five minutes. I want three minutes of safety to get back to the entrance area for our TV debut. Talk to people. Don’t stab first and ask questions later, okay?” The soldiers nod. “Finish with one room, move onto the next.”

  Sai, Aishke, and two of the soldiers she only knows by sight separate off into their own groups. While she now understands the importance of Shine for the Exiled to develop Ebony and to, at l
east temporarily, inhibit the storage of drained psionics, it doesn’t make the retrieval any easier for her.

  If it were up to her, she’d douse it all with degrading chemicals.

  GNW has become complacent. They may have halted the Damascus with their pulse device, but their once-infamous control over pharmaceutical security has grown lax.

  In the third room she checks, Sai comes across a man huddled against a tiny glass-doored fridge. In fact, he’s hugging it. He holds a button alarm in one hand, frantically pushing it, tears coursing down his face.

  He mutters repetitively, eyes clenched shut. “You can’t have this. You can’t take this.”

  “Sorry,” Sai says as the soldiers pry him away from the fridge. “But we have to take it all.”

  “They’ll kill me,” the GNW employee stutters. “I’m the only one on my shift with access to the source. If it’s gone and I’m here, they’ll kill me.” His eyes are wide with fear.

  Sai pauses, perplexed by the fridge and its contents, not to mention the suicidal employee. Not only is the refrigerator lock still powered, but it’s also locked with an old-fashioned padlock. Her watch beeps. They have four minutes until they need to head back. She thinks quickly. “I don’t have much time. If you can help us open this, we can save you. Do you have the key?”

  He holds it out, hands shaking.

  “We’re going to knock you out now and take you with us. At least this way, you won’t die. Deal?”

  His eyes light up for a second, and he holds his hand up just in time to stop the hit. “It needs to be refrigerated. Take one of the bags next to the machine. The black one is the best one. Don’t let it heat up more than 4 Celsius. Ice blocks are in the bottom drawer.” He closes his eyes and cringes in anticipation.

  “Thank you,” Sai says, surprised and slightly suspicious, but she’s running out of time and motions to the men with her to knock him out and tie him up. “We’ll leave him at the entrance point.” She fumbles with the keys, trying not to think how easily metal like this would bend to Dom’s will.

  “Let me do that?” Mason takes the keys from her and works magic on the locks. “We need to head back now. Hurry up.” He squints through the glass door as it opens and deposits the contents into the black bag. “Is this what I think it is?”