Running down a side corridor on the far side of the building, Madeline rushed to change her appearance. If only she hadn’t gotten this preposterous haircut. She brushed it back fiercely with her hand, trying to smooth it down, and used the same keycard that had gotten her in through one of the complex’s side entrances to enter her mother’s room. Luckily her mom was out, probably in the TV room or playing bridge by the pool. Thank fuck for that, Madeline thought. Hopefully it would stay that way. Madeline didn’t know how long she had before Lana arrived from the front desk, so she didn’t even try to change clothes. Instead, she just started ripping off her things and stuffing them under the bed.

The doorbell rang all too soon and Madeline grabbed a towel from the room’s bathroom and threw it around herself, grabbing one of her mother’s shower caps and covering her hair with it. She took a deep breath, opened the door and found herself standing face to face with the machine that called itself Lana Wilson. It was the single scariest moment of her life.

Madeline stood there, sweating and panting, half from exertion, half from fear, “Yes?” said Madeline to the woman who she knew had come to Earth to kill her and everyone she had ever known.

“Hi,” said Lana Wilson, pleasantly, “oh, sorry, is this Jane Matthews’ room?”

Madeline looked at the Agent, but the other woman’s face was unflappable. Madeline realized that between her mad rush to get to the room and her innate fear of facing this woman she was dripping with sweat. It was lucky that she was pretending that she had just come from the shower. Madeline’s blue eyes looked into Lana’s deep black eyes and Madeline thanked god she did not have to feign being confused by the other woman’s sudden appearance, “I’m sorry. Who did you say you were looking for?”

“Is this apartment 258?” asked Lana, pretending to check the door number again while she scanned the room with radar and reflective X-ray. It was not a large space, there was a mid-sized living room and kitchenette with a small bedroom off to one side. It seemed unlikely to Lana that two women lived in it. But, that said, here was Madeline Cavanagh, Lana had scanned her facial structure against the AI’s records and confirmed the woman’s identity the moment she had opened the door. It appeared the computer had been right, and the woman had been in here all this time.

But that was ridiculous. There was something wrong here, and Lana longed for the simple authority to just kill the woman and set her mind at ease, a power she had always enjoyed as the daughter of an emperor.