I stared at Kiyoko’s face. Faces. It was possible she was being used, a tool for Keeler and Hayes and whoever else was pulling the strings of this conspiracy. Or she could have been a willing participant. Assuming “willing” was a term that even applied to a programmed clone.

Was the Kiyoko in New Millennium Babs’ prisoner, her accomplice, or her jailer?

The phone in my jaw beeped. “Yah?”

“Vince is here. I ran a program from Blackout 2020, a dystopian thriller. I know you said to focus on the U.S., but I decided to go global. It’s already tagged two matches. One in Taipei, China. The other in D.C. Both date-stamped within the past week.”

“Any recommendations on how to hack a biological computer?”

“We could try a direct neural hack from Neuromancer, but cross-novel tech is risky as hell. The tech they’re using, what book did it come from?”

“All of One. Shunrō Kuronuma.”

“Give me a minute to dig the details out of our catalog. Looks like Japanese cyberpunk. Published back in 2012. Oof. Neural hack is out unless you want your brain turned to pudding.”

“How much longer?” asked Deb, her words tight.

“What if I just yank these electrodes off of her?” I asked.

“I’d have to read the whole book, but I wouldn’t advise it. Too many writers go with the trope that a sudden disconnect from cyberspace can fry your brain.”

“We’re about to have company,” Deb warned.

“Isaac, I’m not going to be able to get you in, but if the clones are all connected, I might be able to use the one at New Millennium as an entry point.”

“She’s got that magic-blocking pearl.”

“She’s also wired into a physical network in Babs’ office, which means I can tap the cables. We’ll head back and see what we can find.”

“Thanks. And Talulah, where exactly was the match in D.C.?”

“That Kiyoko was coming out of the Pentagon.”

The sound of hard-soled boots on linoleum converged outside the door. I moved to one side of the beach ball-sized hole. Deb took the other.

“This is your one chance to surrender peacefully.” The speaker sounded both angry and eager. “We know there are two of you in there, and we will kill you if necessary.”

I glanced at the Kiyokos. Was she communicating our actions to her team? I hadn’t had time to read more than a fraction of her abilities.

“Any ideas?” asked Deb.

I remained mostly invisible, which gave me an advantage, but they were probably wearing more of those magic-damping badges. I could hit the environment around them, turn the floor to quicksand or fill the air with fireworks to blind them. The alternative was to use magic on Deb and myself. If we shrank ourselves to ant size and snuck into the walls, the guards would have a hard time—