Impostor

CHAPTER 1

T
he straitjacket corseted my body so tightly my arms tingled and my fingers turned numb. I sank beneath the water’s surface, the weights on the jacket dragging me down. I gasped, and a spurt of liquid spilled into my mouth. Chlorine burned my eyes as I watched the distance between me and the surface growing. Blurry shapes moved above. They were watching me.

Panic clutched at my chest when my feet hit the ground. Ten feet separated me from desperately needed oxygen. If I didn’t move quickly, I was going to drown. I tore at the fabric, pressing my arms against my sides, thrashing and kicking, letting my instinct take over.

It’s just a test
, I reminded myself. Summers would never have let me do this if it was too dangerous. She’d been a Variation trainer for years—she knew what we were capable of.

And Alec wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

I stopped struggling and settled at the bottom of the pool, resting my knees on the blue concrete floor. Closing my eyes, I tried my best to ignore the steady pressure building in my chest. I needed air. I’d already wasted too much time panicking.

Focus.

I coaxed the memory of a little girl I’d bumped in the mall. I pictured her delicate features, her narrow shoulders, her slender limbs. I imagined looking through her eyes, inhabiting her body. Immediately, the familiar rippling sensation started in my toes and crept up my calves. Once it reached my chest, the pressure of the jacket loosened. It was several sizes too big now. I wiggled out of my restraints, opened my eyes, and pushed off the ground. With a gasp, I burst through the water’s surface, gulping down air. I felt my limbs lengthening, my body returning to its own form. As soon as my vision was clear, I noticed Alec perched on the edge of the pool, ready to jump in. His dark brows were still knitted, his gray eyes full of worry.

Summers, Tanner, and Holly had gathered around to watch. Tanner winked at me and gestured at the pile of towels in the corner; one of them lifted off and floated toward his outstretched hand.

“Show-off,” I mouthed with a smile and swam toward the ladder.

I took Alec’s hand and let him pull me out of the pool. He wrapped a towel around my shoulders, and I snuggled into the fluffy material, wishing it were Alec’s chest instead. I sank down on the bench, my back against the wall. My teeth chattered as I released a shaky breath. I could feel the panic slowly ebbing away, but my heart kept up its erratic rhythm.

Holly wrapped an arm around me. “Shit. I can’t believe how long it took you to resurface. Are you okay?”

I shrugged and leaned my head against her shoulder. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.

“Morphing into a little girl—that’s quite a party trick, Tessa. But there’s nothing like a near-death experience to get your blood pumping, right?” Tanner said with a grin. His teeth flashed white in his dark face. His red mohawk defied gravity the way it always did—one of the perks of having a telekinetic Variation.

“It’s
not
funny. Tessa could’ve gotten hurt,” Alec snapped. He pressed his balled fists against the wall; the muscles in his back quivered as if he was trying to stop himself from driving his hands through the wall—which he could have easily done with his own Variation. He was stronger and faster than normal human beings— and other Variants, for that matter.

“Everyone needs to learn how to use their Variations in extreme situations. We can’t coddle students and then expect them to survive a mission,” Summers said, running an impatient hand over her messy ponytail. Summers had been an agent for the FEA—Forces with Extraordinary Abilities—since before we were born and had complete authority during our Variation training. But that didn’t stop Alec from challenging her on a regular basis.

“Don’t turn this into a bigger deal than it is, Alec,” she warned, pivoting on one heel and exiting the pool area.

Tanner clapped Alec’s shoulder. “She’s right. You’ve got to chill.” He sat down on the bench beside Holly and me and leaned back against the wall. “Have you guys heard the news?”

“What news?” Holly asked.

“Kate and Major left headquarters before sunrise. They’re on their way to Livingston, some hick town out in Oregon.”

So that was why I hadn’t seen Kate all day. Usually she never left Alec’s side. “Isn’t that the place where that awful murder happened?” I asked.

Tanner nodded. “Yep. And I heard there was another incident.”

Water trickled over my face, but I didn’t bother wiping it off. “Why are they even interested, though? It’s just a small town. And it’s not like every killer is FEA business.”

The FEA was officially a section of the FBI, and the majority of our cases came assigned by them—though we were also involved in larger counterterrorism and espionage efforts. But apart from having the FBI motto
FIDELITY, BRAVERY, INTEGRITY
engraved above the entrance to FEA headquarters, our organization was pretty much autonomous. Whenever a crime reeked of Variant involvement, FEA agents were sent to investigate. Otherwise the FBI left us to our own devices as long as we didn’t draw any attention to our existence. Major wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Tanner shrugged. “Who knows what’s going on in Major’s head. Maybe there’s more to the case that we’re not aware of.”

“Maybe the FBI suspects a Variant,” Holly added.

“If the FEA does get involved, I wonder who they’ll pick for the mission,” I said. We would find out soon enough.

• • •

The intercom hissed.

Holly groaned, bleached-blond hair falling over her face as she sat up. “Ugh. What do they want now?”

I didn’t move. I was beat from my morning in the pool, followed closely by our afternoon run, and wanted to catch a few blissful minutes of rest before Holly and I had ballistics training.

“Tessa. Meeting in my office ASAP,” Major Sanchez bellowed, his voice warped by the old speakers. One would think the FEA could afford up-to-date hardware.

In Major’s world,
ASAP
meant “right this second or you’ll run three laps.” With my legs still burning from my daily run, I wasn’t keen on being late.

Holly grinned. “Good luck.”

I jumped out of bed and hurried out of the room. When had Kate and Major returned from Livingston, anyway?

Major Sanchez’s closed door greeted me,
THE DO NOT INTERRUPT
sign taunting me with its fat black letters. I knocked, and without waiting for an invitation—which would never come—I gingerly opened the door. Major stood behind his desk, his thick arms crossed. His black hair was slicked back with enough pomade to grease the hinges in the entire complex. His dark eyes glared at me, but I’d been on the receiving end of that look so often that I barely flinched.

“Get your butt into the chair, Tessa.”

I stumbled toward the free chair and sank down onto it. It was the kind of chair that made you want to get the hell out of it as soon as possible: high-gloss black hardwood—unyielding and impeccable, like the man who’d chosen it. Not that such a chair was even necessary, as a few minutes in Major’s company had the same effect on most people.

Alec and Kate were already seated, holding hands. Or rather, Kate was clutching Alec’s hand like she was afraid he’d run away. He wore one of the white button-down shirts Kate had bought for him, his hair still wet from his post-run shower. Kate’s narrowed eyes came into my focus: amber with a weird coppery tint—if my turquoise eyes were uncommon, hers were outright unsettling.

I whipped my head around and turned my attention back to Major. If Kate got a direct look into my eyes, she’d use her Variation to read exactly what was on my mind, and that could get awkward.

Major didn’t sit down; instead he stood behind his desk chair, hands gripping the backrest so tightly his knuckles were turning white. Not an easy feat with skin as tanned as his.

I shifted in the chair. My eyes were drawn to the pinboard behind Major’s desk. It had been a while since I had been in his office, and the board had changed since then. Back then, the disturbing photos hadn’t been there.

The first showed a woman splayed on her stomach, a wire coiled tightly around her throat. My own breath hitched at the thought of being strangled, of looking into the eyes of my murderer as I struggled for breath, of dying with a killer’s cruel face as my last glimpse of the world. My eyes drifted over to the second photo, of another female—it was hard to tell her age, as her body had grown bloated and taken on a greenish hue. Floaters were the most horrid corpses of all. I’d never seen one in real life—or any other dead body, for that matter. But I’d seen plenty of pictures during Basic Forensic Pathology, and those were disturbing enough.

“There’s been a new development in the serial killer case in Livingston.”

I sat up, startled by the topic. Major had never spoken directly to me about that case—or any case. Kate and Alec nodded in unison.

“His fourth victim.” Major continued.

“Fourth? Who was the third victim?” I’d only heard of two. Apparently, the gossip channels in the FEA didn’t work as well as I’d hoped.

“A Mr. Chen. He was a janitor in Livingston’s high school,” Major said.

“A man?”

Major sighed. “That gave our profiling team quite a stir. Their analysis up until then had suggested a misogynist.”

Four murders. That must have been a shock for a town as small as Livingston. “Why do we even think it’s a serial killer? What seems to be the connection?”

Major released his grip on the chair. “Two victims were killed with a wire around their necks. Two were found in or near the lake—we can’t say for sure how they were killed. But they all had one thing in common: the killer had cut an
A
into the skin over their rib cages. We don’t yet know why.”

“Did he do it postmortem?” I asked as all kinds of horrible images flooded my head.

“Yes. But that’s not why I ordered you into my office; you’ll become familiar with the cases soon enough.”

The thought was enough to make my pulse speed up.

“Yesterday the killer tried to strike again,” Major said.

“Tried?”

Major’s glower made me add a hasty “sir,” but it didn’t change his expression.

“Yes, tried. He strangled a girl and threw her into the lake afterward, but she washed onto the shore, where a jogger found her. He called an ambulance. She sustained severe brain damage and was placed in an artificial coma. That’s where it gets interesting.”

Interesting? I glanced at Alec and Kate, my stomach knotting into a tight ball, but they just listened, straight-faced.

“The doctors give her a few days to live, at most. Once she’s dead, Tessa, you’ll take her place.”

CHAPTER 2

M
y fingers gripped the sleek wooden armrest. I felt as if a hole had suddenly opened into the earth and threatened to swallow me. “You can’t be serious.” He wanted me to pose as a dead girl to chase a serial killer?

Major straightened, eyes narrowed.

I took a deep breath. “I’ll take her place?” My voice shook, despite my best attempts to appear strong. I knew I should be grateful for the opportunity, but this was more than the usual entry-level missions, like reconnaissance or conducting background investigations. This was me at the front.

“Yes, that is what I said. Once she’s dead, you’ll pretend to be her.”

He said it like it was nothing, like posing as a murder victim was a perfectly normal occurrence.

“But everybody will already know she’s dead, won’t they? I can’t pretend to be a corpse.”

“No, they won’t. Everyone will think there’s been a miracle and she recovered.”

“But what about her parents?” I asked.

Major traced a finger over the photos on the wall. “They won’t know, either. They’ll simply think that you’re her.”

“Don’t you think they’ll get suspicious if I don’t act exactly like their daughter? They know her better than anyone. I’ll never be just like her, no matter how hard I try.”

“Yes, but
think
, Tessa. Why would they suspect anything? For them there’ll be no other explanation for their daughter’s recovery than a miracle. And any small changes in her behavior will be attributed to the trauma. They could never imagine that Variants exist. An average human’s imagination doesn’t reach that far.”

Average human
—only Major was able to make it sound like an insult. He looked at me like I was precious, his most prized possession. His trophy Variant.

Alec sprang out of his seat and began to pace the room, stalking past Major’s glass case of tin soldiers and awards, past the filing cabinet, before he finally stopped in front of the picture window.

“Don’t you think the mission is too dangerous? The murderer will obviously try to get rid of the only person who might be able to identify him. Tessa will be his prime target.”

A tight knot of unease gathered in my stomach, but I tried to ignore it. If I let it gain momentum, I’d dissolve into a puddle of anxiety.

Major smirked, as though Alec’s words had been a joke. “Alec, Tessa will be facing much worse once her training is over. All of you will be.”

Our training was ultimately geared toward one goal: to prepare us for more important future missions all over the world. Tanner’s brother Ty had recently completed training and was immediately sent on a covert assignment abroad. We didn’t know where he was, but rumors said Iran or China. Only ten percent of all agents were currently stationed at headquarters; the rest were out in the field.

“This case will look like a piece of cake compared to what’s ahead. Do you think it’ll be safe to impersonate the leader of a terrorist group or the president of a country that’s spiraling out of control? That’s what awaits Tessa in the future, because she’s the only one who could do it. I don’t have to tell you that some people in the Department of Defense and the CIA are licking their fingers at the prospect of having Tessa’s talent at their disposal. She is the perfect spy—the ultimate weapon. So far I’ve been successful at keeping them at bay, but it’s time to prepare for the future. This mission is the perfect test run.”

Ultimate weapon.
The words echoed in my head. I pressed my arm against my stomach. Even with my Variation, I was still just a girl, not some extraordinary spy. Alec’s eyes met mine, his jaw locked tight.

“Regarding this case, Tessa’s attracting the killer’s attention is exactly what we’re hoping for. He’s killed three people, and the fourth is as good as dead. We must find him before he strikes again.”

Alec’s dark eyebrows drew together in a V. “So Tessa will be bait?” His voice sounded calm as river water moments before a flash flood.

“She’ll also try to find out more about the girl’s friends, about her school, about every single inhabitant of Livingston.” With a sigh, Major lowered himself into his chair.

“I don’t like it. Tessa isn’t bait,” Alec said, stalking around the desk to face Major.

Kate pursed her lips, rose from her chair, and hit me with a withering glare before she placed a hand on Alec’s shoulder. “Alec, honey, Major knows what he’s doing. Tessa doesn’t need your protection.”

This mission probably had Kate secretly elated. If it were up to her, she’d lock me in a room with the killer and throw away the key.

Alec braced his hands on the desk. “No. I won’t allow it.”

Defying Major was unheard of. As head of the FEA, Major’s opinion was the only one that counted. Even the FBI and the deputy director respected that. But Alec wanted to protect
me
. Warmth spread through my body at the very thought of it.

“I don’t need your permission. Remember your place,” Major snapped.

Kate’s fingers bored into Alec’s upper arm. “Stop it. This is bigger than you. This is about the FEA, not your own worries.”

Alec’s hands dug harder into the wood of the desk, his strength causing it to crack. I darted out of my chair and rested my hand over one of his. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

The hard lines on his face smoothed. Kate jerked away and sidled over to her chair, dramatically scraping it over the floor as she plopped down.

Alec straightened, and my hand slipped from his. I itched to take hold of it again. He leaned against the wall—away from Major, who was glaring at him with a quiet fury unlike anything I’d ever witnessed before.

The ticking of the clock sounded in the room.

Tick. Tock.

I slinked back to my chair, my rubber soles squeaking on the linoleum floor. The hard wood of the backrest pressed against my spine.

Tick. Tock.

Major folded his hands on the desk and cleared his throat. “We can’t begin our mission as long as the last victim’s still alive.”

We were waiting for someone to die. It felt all kinds of wrong.

“But, sir, I have to see her before she dies,” I said, my voice catching on the last word. After all, I could only take the shape of people I’d touched.

Major nodded. “That’s all been taken care of. I’ll accompany you and Kate to the hospital this afternoon.”

Kate’s expression fell. What right did she have to be dismayed? She didn’t have to pretend to be a dead girl; she didn’t have to lie to someone’s parents. She just had to secretly search people’s brains without their ever being the wiser.

Major leaned back in his chair, his face businesslike. “You’ll get a few minutes alone with the victim so your body can gather her data.”

He made it sound all clinical and easy, but it wasn’t.

He turned to Kate. “And you, Kate, will try to gather more information from the family and the hospital staff. Unfortunately, most of the doctors are men.”

I envied boys and men, who were safe from Kate’s power. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do to permanently avoid her gaze. FEA scientists had searched for an explanation for Kate’s selective talent but hadn’t come up with one. By definition, Variants deviated from the norm, defied the laws of nature. Analyzing our gifts wasn’t exactly easy.

“And Alec, I’ll need you to speed up Tessa’s training. This mission is potentially very dangerous. I wish we didn’t need her so soon, but it’s necessary. You’re our best fighter. Get her ready.” The way Major and Alec looked at each other, I had a feeling there was more to Alec’s involvement in this case than just self-defense lessons.

“Sir, I know how to fire a gun, and I’ve been taking karate since I arrived here,” I said.

“Two years of karate and knowing how to fire on an unmoving target aren’t enough. In the next few days, Alec will teach you how to fight for your life.” Major trained his gaze on Alec. “Teach her how to walk away from a fight as the winner.”

The fire in Alec’s eyes sent a jolt of electricity through my body.

“Kate, Tessa, get ready. We’ll set out in thirty minutes.”

Alec smiled encouragingly as he walked past me. I wanted to return the gesture, but the muscles in my face refused to obey. I was going on my first real mission. As bait.

I hurried along the ocher corridor, in the direction of my room. The dismal yellow shade reminded me of the carpet in my old room back at home.

Two years.

Sometimes I forgot how long I’d been living with the agency. The last image I had of my mother was of her back as she’d let Alec and Major take me away. She hadn’t even turned around to say good-bye. And now I was supposed to pose as someone else’s daughter, become a part of a normal family, which was the last thing I knew how to pretend. Even before I came to the FEA, a family was the one thing I’d never had. I couldn’t remember a single thing about my father since he left with my brother when I was only a toddler.

Loud booms greeted me as I stepped into my room. Holly was sprawled out on her bed, reading a book and moving her legs in rhythm with the music. I switched the speakers off, launching the room into a sudden silence. Holly whirled around and sat up. “What did Major want?”

I leaned against our door, trying to take some weight off my trembling legs. Outside the picture windows, dark clouds were gathering in the sky over the forest—harbingers of another snow storm. It was March, but here in Montana, so close to the Canadian border, the winters were long and brutal. In the distance I could make out the mountains of Glacier National Park, their peaks still crowned by snow.

“He wanted to talk about the serial killer case in Livingston. There’s been another victim—the fourth. She’s still alive, but she doesn’t have long, and—” I hesitated a moment before continuing. “I’m supposed to take her place once she dies.”

Holly’s eyes grew wide. “You’re going on a real mission?” She couldn’t keep the envy from coloring her voice. Holly and I had started at the agency at the same time and were usually called into training together. I was sure her invisibility had the head of the CIA and the Department of Defense salivating.
If
she ever got a grip on her talent.

“The mission can’t start until the girl
is dead
.” Maybe she hadn’t absorbed that detail the first time I told her.

Holly still looked enthusiastic. “Wow. I can’t believe they’re going to let you work on a real murder case. I’ve always wanted to pretend to be someone else. You must be so excited.”

I shot her a withering glance. I was about as far from excited as one could get.

“So wait, you’re leaving now? Are you going out in the field already?” Holly twittered close behind me as I gathered my coat and slipped a few essentials into my purse.

I shrugged. “Today’s just preparation. The real action doesn’t start for a couple of days.” The flight to the hospital would take at least two hours, enough time for me to completely and utterly freak out.

“Good luck!” Holly shouted as I left the room.

I would need more than just luck.

• • •

The gray facade of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital loomed above me, lightning flashing in the sky behind it. If it hadn’t been for Kate and Major, I’d have turned on my heel and hidden in the sleek black Mercedes limousine that brought us here from the heliport.

The sliding doors glided open without a sound, giving way to the sterile white reception area. My nose stung from the smell of disinfectants. We breezed ahead without asking for directions. Major knew his way and nobody stopped him; not the nurses who whispered to each other as we passed or the doctor who nodded his head in greeting. The FEA was thorough in absolutely everything.

The corridor looked like an endless tunnel with walls that threatened to close in on me. One identical door followed after the other, concealing an endless succession of patients.

Finally, Major stopped beside a door being guarded by a man in a black suit. FEA, no doubt. He had a hooked nose set within a narrow face and reminded me of a hawk. He was probably one of the many external agents scattered around the country—those unfortunate agents whose Variations weren’t useful enough to be part of the more prestigious espionage and counterterrorism missions. The local agents’ jobs were considered boring by some, but at that moment I’d have switched places with him in a heartbeat.

“Where are they?” Major’s tone took on the condescending edge it always did when he talked to people from the outer circle—everyone who didn’t live or work in headquarters. Hawk-Face stood up straighter, and though he was about a head taller than Major, he managed to appear much smaller. “Cafeteria, sir. They won’t come back before six.”

That gave us twenty minutes. I didn’t know why the family had gone to the cafeteria or why Hawk-Face knew when they’d return, but some FEA agents could mess with other people’s minds in all kinds of ways.

Mental Variations were the most valued in our world. Major’s official Variation was “night-sight,” but many people believed he was one of the few Dual Variants whose second mental Variation remained a secret. Apparently most Dual Variants hid their more powerful mental Variation behind the obvious physical one.

“Kate, you know what to do,” Major said.

She nodded and set out for the cafeteria, where Mrs. Chambers would soon have her mind raided.

Hawk-Face stepped aside as Major opened the door and gestured for me to enter. As soon as I set foot into the room, I wanted to turn around and bolt. But Major was right behind me, blocking my only way of escape.

My eyes were instantly glued to Madison Chambers, still and silent in her green hospital gown. Her pale skin was almost the exact same shade as the white walls surrounding her. Veins shone through her skin, like blue vines had been painted on her arms. I tried to swallow, but my throat was too dry.

Madison’s dull blond hair fanned out on the pillow around her head like a faded halo. Her neck was wrapped with gauze. Was that where the wire had cut into her skin? She appeared so fragile, so tenuous amid all the tubes and beeping machines. I backed away and collided with Major’s muscular body.