[A Thousand Faces 01.0] A Thousand Faces by Janci Patterson

Author:Janci Patterson [Patterson, Janci]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, shape shifter, Thriller, Spies, Mystery
ISBN: 9781516999422
Amazon: 1516999428
Barnesnoble: 1516999428
Goodreads: 26203438
Publisher: Garden Ninja Books
Published: 2015-08-20T06:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

We both stared at the screen in silence. This couldn't be right. They'd been a step behind us, but I'd thought it was because they were playing it too safe, protecting themselves. "If your parents wanted to kidnap mine," I said, "they could have taken them out of their beds. They could have drugged them—we eat at your house all the time. Why botch the job?"

"They wouldn't," Kalif said. "There's got to be another explanation."

I waited. His eyes crinkled as he focused on the screen.

"Not coming up with anything?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I will if you give me a minute."

"There has to be one," I said. "This was too theatrical. That's not the way your parents work. It's almost as if . . ." A realization sank through me like a stone to the bottom of the ocean.

Kalif looked at me. "What?"

My head throbbed. There was no reason to grab my parents in the middle of a job unless they were trying to throw someone else off their trail. It couldn't be my parents they were trying to fool—they'd been captured, so they weren't looking at the security tapes.

But there was someone else Mel and Aida had to worry about.

There was me.

"They knew I'd go looking for my parents," I said. "That's why they borrowed the van. They were setting up a story, one that I could follow to Eravision, and to Megaware, and to Circom . . ."

Kalif closed his eyes. "But you wouldn't look here."

I balled my fists, ready to punch them square into Aida's jaw. It was classic diversion. My parents trusted Aida and Mel. I wanted to trust them, too, so I didn't stop to think that the pieces of evidence diverting suspicion away from them might have been planted by them, for just that purpose. "But when we looked at Circom, we found the email," I said. "They left a trail. They wouldn't have done that if they thought we were going to look."

Kalif shook his head. "My parents both encrypt their email, so that I can't read it."

I stared at him. "They know how to do that?"

"No. They hired someone to build the program for them. It was good work."

"But you did read it."

Kalif waved his hand at me dismissively. "I broke through their encryption long ago. Took me a good month, though. It was a real challenge."

I sank onto a stool. "But if you've been in your parents' email all this time, why didn't you know about this before?"

"I don't ever read it," Kalif said. "I just wanted to see if I could break into the program. I've never had a reason to use it until now."

I stared down at my hands. "I can't believe I didn't see this."

Kalif held up his hand. "It's still hypothetical. There could still be other explanations. Think about it. There's no reason for my parents to want yours to disappear. It was their idea that we all work together in the first place. And why now, after all this time?"

I rolled my shoulders back.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.