A Thousand Faces

by Patterson, Janci

  "Yes," I said. "What is it?"

  "This scanner is set up to respond only to these three particular scans, and only if they're given one at a time, in order."

  A horrible sinking feeling settled over me. "It's a code."

  Kalif's eyes shone with awe. "A door code. Using retinal scans. It's genius."

  I glared. "Maybe it runs in the family."

  He bit his lip sheepishly. "That's not what I meant."

  I smacked him on the arm. "I'm just saying, you don't have to be so excited about it."

  I could tell he was trying to rein it in, but he wasn't succeeding. "I'm just thinking about the applications. Think about the kind of security we could build with technology like this."

  I was used to thinking about breaking through tech, not building things with it. "You're right. But that doesn't make me happy to find it here."

  This was terrible news. Retinal scans were even worse than iris scans—they used the complex pattern of blood vessels in the retina of the eye, instead of the color patterns in the iris. They were almost perfectly accurate on normal people, and a nasty trick to fool for us. It had been a while since I'd practiced retinas. Dad had suggested I master irises first, because they were both easier and more common.

  "The good news is I'm already in the system," Kalif said.

  I shook my head warily. "I fail to see how that's going to make me capable of doing this."

  Kalif took my hand. "Hear me out. I have an idea."

  Twenty-one

  Two hours later, I walked through the business complex in my blazer and skirt, dressed as a forty-something woman with bobbed brown hair that didn't at all suit her square face and pear-shaped body. I had to make her shorter than I was, so a camera doing weight analysis wouldn't detect an anomaly. As a result, the skirt dipped to mid-calf, and the blazer hung unfashionably at mid-thigh. I was careful not to cut my height so short that I'd look like a child in grown-up clothing, though. Nothing screamed amateur shifter like the appearance of a kid playing dress up.

  I'd changed in the park bushes, but now I walked all the way around on the street side to approach Systems Development from the other direction. This should make it a little harder for their security team when they tried to put together the breach later. Much later. When we were all safe and gone.

  As I passed the first building, I put on my cell phone headset and called Kalif, then pocketed my phone.

  Kalif answered. "Are you headed in?"

  "Walking now," I said, as quietly as I could. "I'll be there in a minute."

  "Hang back. I'm watching the door, but there are two women talking in the hallway."

  "Will do." I walked slower.

  Kalif was still set up in the sandwich shop. I'd wanted to move him farther away, but he said security might find the breach and kick him out of the system any minute now. And I needed him in; I couldn't do this on my own.

  According to the schematics Kalif found in their system, the basement was accessible by hallway from the south side entrance to the building, and I looped around slowly, giving Kalif time to announce the all-clear. Through the phone speaker, I could hear the clicks of Kalif typing, and the hum of voices in the sandwich shop, but neither of us spoke.

  "Okay," he said finally. "Go."

  I picked up my pace. I approached from the west, where the bathrooms were located, because there were no windows along that wall through which I might be noticed. When I arrived at the door, I whispered "code," into my headset, and Kalif listed off a set of numbers which I typed into the key pad.

  "I've looped the camera inside," Kalif said. "Let me know when you reach the basement stairs."

  I slipped through the door and found a clear hallway, just like Kalif said I would. I ducked under the window on the first door to my right, and then reached the door that was supposed to go to the stairway down.

  "I'm here," I said. I heard the click of the electric lock—one that Kalif could trigger remotely. I scanned the crack between the door and the doorframe. At the top of the door, I could see a dark patch on the inside of the frame—the magnetic alarm sensor. Before I opened the door, I readied a magnet on my fingertips. It was smaller than I would have liked, but the only magnets I'd been able to find nearby were attached to cell phone dashboard clips. They would have to do.

  I slid it along the doorframe and onto the sensor at the top as I pulled the door open. Now as I opened the door fully and slipped through, the sensor—and the attached alarm—believed it was closed. I shut the door behind me, safely inside the first man-trap.

  "How'd I do?"

  "Perfect," he said. "No alerts."

  "Did I trip any alarms upstairs?"

  "Two," Kalif said. "Motion sensor and floor plate. I disabled them. No one should find the alert until they go digging. I've restored the camera upstairs, so tell me before you go back up."

  "Will do." I hurried down the stairs, and at the bottom, found the eye scanner.

  I steeled myself. I could do this.

  "I have the intercept up and running," Kalif said. "So I can bypass the alarms and give you a couple practice tries. Do you have the diagrams?"

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket. "Got it," I said. A retinal image appeared on the screen. This was Kalif's idea—if I had an image of the scans I was trying to match, I might be able to form them more accurately. The image wouldn't work under most normal circumstances, of course. I wouldn't have looked much like Emmeline if I was bringing a reference along to match her eyes. But in this case, if anyone saw me, I was already screwed.

  "Okay," I said. "Here goes nothing." I stepped up to the eye scanner. I went over the lines of the blood vessels on the screen, shaping each one as I glanced over it. Kalif's program printed a ruler down the side of the page, so I could double check the sizes as I went. I mentally locked each section of my eye as I left it, so I wouldn't lose the pattern before I got to the scanner.

  "Ready," I said.

  "Go," Kalif said.

  I pressed my forehead against the rest on the front of the scanner. The scanner beeped once, but nothing happened.

  I steadied myself on the scanner, making sure to hold on to my persona, even though what I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball.

  If I didn't get through this, my parents were dead, and Kalif and I were going with them.

  "Okay, second vessel on the upper right," he said. "It's quadrant A7 on the diagram, you see it?"

  The diagram swam before my eyes. Why did I always screw this up? "Okay."

  Kalif must have heard the loathing in my voice. "You're doing fine. A7. Tighter on the curve. That's the only part that's off."

  I steeled myself, trying to adopt his confidence. "Okay. Trying again."

  I tightened the curve, trying to interpret my eye into the precise shape of the diagram. Then I pressed my face to the scanner again.

  The scanner beeped once more, at a higher pitch.

  "Great!" Kalif said. "One down. That only took thirty seconds."

  It felt like five minutes. I had to push a button on my phone to keep the backlight on. This pattern was entirely different from the last one. They really made their shifters stretch to enter these codes. More evidence that there probably weren't many of them; even Mom or Dad would have a hard time with this.

  When I thought I had it locked, I turned back to the scanner. "Ready," I said.

  "Hold it there." He paused. "You got it. Two down."

  I squeezed my phone in my hand and went about rearranging again.

  "Check me," I said, facing into the scanner.

  "B8," Kalif said. "You're missing a branch on the third vein over."

  Rush jobs. Never a good idea. "Sorry. That was sloppy."

  "You're doing fine. Tell me when you're ready."

  I focused closely on those particular veins, making sure I got the diameter right.

  "Okay," I said. "Hit me."

  The machine beeped, and the door lock clicked ahead. "Good to go," Kalif
said.

  I hopped up and down on my toes—a decidedly unprofessional move. "It's open."

  "Don't forget the magnet."

  I opened the door the same way I had the one upstairs, sliding the magnet onto the frame as I opened the door gradually so the sensor wouldn't trigger.

  Kalif swore, and a rush of fog spurted into the hallway ahead of me. I froze in the hallway. I'd messed this up, too.

  "It's okay," Kalif said. "The tape is looping, so the security upstairs won't see the fog. But if anyone comes down—"

  I wanted to collapse. "They'll notice something's wrong right away."

  Kalif should have practiced voices more. He couldn't mask his worry. "Yes."

  I could feel my muscles hardening, my body lengthening, ready to bolt. I tried to rein it in. At least with the fog, any cameras Kalif missed wouldn't detect my shifting. If they were using fog as a deterrent, the guards probably had access to infrared goggles. They'd be able to see me, but I wouldn't be able to see them.

  "I need to move fast," I said. "What'd I do wrong?"

  Kalif's fingers clicked on the keys. "I'm guessing the magnet didn't hit the sensor quite right."

  I blew breath out into the fog, which rippled around my face in little eddies. "Okay," I said. If we'd had time, I would have bought one of these sensors and tried different magnets on it until I found the kind that worked best. At least we had the means to control the damage.

  I could still do this.

  I ran a hand down the wall and moved ahead, my other hand in front of me to make sure I didn't run into anything. My fingers brushed something solid, and I stopped.

  "I've reached another door," I said. "After this, Mom is down the left hall?"

  "And your dad is down the other hall on the right. But don't mess this door up, because that alarm triggers the roll-down doors and the foam."

  At least this one didn't have an eye scanner.

  I checked the door ahead for the alarm sensor, and found it half an inch from where the first one had been. That must have been what went wrong with the last door—I hadn't checked to see if they were installed differently, which was a sloppy mistake. I slid this magnet over the frame at the top, clapping it onto the space where the door opened as quickly as I could.

  "I'm through," I said.

  "You're in. Who first?"

  "Dad," I said. He'd be upset to see me, but he was the more likely of the two of them to see the necessity of going along now, and yelling at me later.

  "Three doors down to your right."

  I could almost breathe. "Thank you."

  "Don't thank me yet. We still have to get you back out."

  I edged along the wall to my right. The lights down here were probably automatic and wired to the doors, because the hallways were dark except for the emergency lighting along the floor. Between the darkness and the fog, I couldn't see, so I counted doorframes with my fingertips. One, two, three. I felt my way along the wall until my hand bumped the eye scanner on the far side of the third door—Dad's door.

  I pulled the phone back out, squinting at the lit screen through the fog. Since I'd recently done them, I could get the general shape without much trouble. Then I went over each part of it, holding it close to my face to see through the fog, making sure I hadn't missed anything.

  "I'm ready at the sensor," I whispered.

  "Okay," Kalif said. "Take your time."

  I took deep breaths, resisting the urge to push through. Dad was just beyond this door, but I was no use to him if I got caught now.

  The machine beeped for my first scan, and then for my second.

  "Nice," Kalif said.

  I went over the last diagram, making sure not to miss that tiny branch Kalif had pointed out to me before. Then I took the last scan.

  The door clicked, and I turned the doorknob and pulled the door outward.

  Dad looked up at me as I came in, billows of fog following after us. He jumped to his feet and I offered him my hand. After I gave him our signal, he grabbed me by the shoulders. It was all I could do not to collapse against him. This was my dad. Alive.

  But I stayed on my feet. We still had a job to do. There could be no celebrating until we all got out of here in one piece.

  "Jory," he said. "How did you get in here?"

  "I'm sorry," I said. "I know I shouldn't be here."

  "None of us should be here," Dad said, "and it's been so long, I was beginning to think you wouldn't find us."

  I froze in place. "You wanted me to find you?"

  Dad's grip on my shoulders tightened. "I wanted your mother to live. And I wouldn't mind living myself. Did you find her?"

  "She's in a cell down the hall. Mel and Aida framed you for a bunch of murders. But it was them. They're the killers. They set you up."

  Something about the sharp way Dad sucked in his breath made me pause.

  "Dad?" I said. "Did you know?"

  "I suspected as much," he said. "The way it went down during that job. They were the only ones who knew we were there."

  I cringed. It had taken me a lot longer to figure that out. "Do you know where we are?"

  Dad shook his head. "Not exactly. But there are two new shifters here. They work for a tech company called Systems Development."

  I raised my eyebrows. I knew Dad was good, but to figure all that out from inside a cell was impressive. I guessed I shouldn't have been, though. He was experienced at this, and it was his job to know all the higher ups in Silicon Valley. "We're in the basement of the Systems Development building now."

  Dad looked surprised at that. "In their basement. That's bold."

  I nodded. "How did you know it was the Carmines?"

  "I knocked out one of the men who questioned me. He turned into a woman I didn't recognize, though she looked suspiciously like Aida."

  "I think it's her mother," I said.

  Dad nodded. "When she came to she was disoriented, and she turned into Wendy Carmine."

  I wished the cameras had saved footage farther back. I would like to have seen that. "Did you know they were shifters before they took you?"

  "No," Dad said. "It's a longterm cover, and obviously a good one." The fog grew thick in the room, and Dad moved into the doorway, peering into the hall. He waved it away from his face. "Nice cover, yourself."

  Yeah. We'd totally pretend that I did that on purpose. And that I hadn't ruined our chances of hiding down here if anyone noticed the fog.

  Kalif's voice in my ear made me jump. "I've lost visual of the room. Where are you?"

  I stepped up to the doorway with Dad. "We're moving back into the hall now."

  "Good," Kalif said. "Tape is still looping, and so far no one's come downstairs."

  Dad's hand latched down on my arm. "Who are you talking to?"

  My heart thudded. Oh, crap. I hadn't thought about how I was going to explain that. "Kalif. He helped me get in here—"

  Dad's grip tightened and he reached for my earpiece. I dodged. "No," I said. "He's on our side. He's disabled all the alarms for us and—"

  Dad's voice was low and patronizing, like he was trying to talk a knife away from a toddler. "Jory. You know the Johnsons betrayed us. I know you like him, but you can't trust him. It's probably a setup."

  I tried to shake Dad off, but he held on. My relationship with Kalif was more than the stupid crush it had been a few days ago. I trusted Kalif. I did. But suddenly the fog felt tight around me. "If it's a setup," I said, "then we're already inside the trap."

  I expected Kalif to question that, to say something to defend himself, but the line was silent. Dad and I stood perfectly still, breathing, listening. This was obviously the ominous moment. The time Kalif would disconnect the phone, turn on the alarms, and bring our captors down on us.

  The fog muffled all sound; I heard nothing but silence, and my own breathing.

  Finally Kalif said, "Jory? You there?"

  I swallowed, hard. "I'm here. You?"

  "Of course. But y
ou need to get moving. The halls are clear, but I don't know how much longer we have."

  We. Because we were working together.

  I stood up straighter. This was my mission. I was the one who'd gotten his door open, not Dad. I twisted out of Dad's grip and then grabbed his arm with my own hand.

  "Come on," I said. "Let's go." And then I stalked down the hall in the direction of Mom's cell—on the opposite side of the basement from Dad's room. Dad hesitated for a moment, but then his feet padded along behind me as I pushed through the fog, eddies swirling in my wake.

  I paused in front of the door that led to the man trap. Now that there were two of us, we should use that asset, instead of blundering around together in the dark. "You wait here," I said. "If anyone comes after us, they'll probably come through here." I paused. "And they'll probably have infrared."

  Dad was already feeling around the hallway. "No doubt."

  "The door's unlocked," I said. "With a magnet over the sensor." I smiled. "And the make is Allegion, in case you were wondering."

  "Noted," Dad said. And he must have decided I wasn't a total fool, because he let me move down the hall after Mom without further argument.

  When I got to Mom's door, I paused. "Sorry about that," I said to Kalif.

  "Yeah, well," Kalif said back. "It's not like we didn't see it coming. Maybe I should hang up before you talk to your Mom."

  "No. We need your help to get out. We work together, and they're just going to have to deal with it."

  "Okay," Kalif said. I could hear his smile, too.

  Rolling back my shoulders, I stepped up to the final eye scanner. "I'm unlocking Mom's door now."

  "'Kay. I've got you covered."

  I smiled. Of course he did. I'd get Mom out, and he'd help us sneak back upstairs. Nothing to worry about here. And to prove it, I entered each of the eye codes perfectly, without a single hitch.

  "Beautiful," Kalif said. "Now get your mom and get out before the Carmines realize what I've done to their security."

  I hauled her door open. Mom scrambled to her feet in the corner, still wearing her home face. She stared at me in alarm, eyes wide, obviously not knowing who I was. "Mom," I said. "It's me." I held my hand out to her, and she hesitated, and then took it. I shifted my palm softer—the first part of our signal. But her hand clamped down hard on mine, as if to hold me in place.