Raborn looked up from his computer and his eyes fell upon Erin. He looked her up and down for several seconds, his face expressionless. Finally, he turned back to the technician. “Troy, if this is some kind of joke, I’m afraid I’m missing the punch line.”

Erin’s jaw dropped open at the sound of his voice. For just a moment she was unable even to speak.

“She said she was an old friend of yours and wanted to surprise you,” said the technician, inching away from Erin and now studying her suspiciously.

Raborn shook his head. “I’ve never seen this woman before in my life,” he insisted.

9

ERIN FELT DIZZY and could barely breathe. This was certainly the face she had seen on her computer monitor for years, there could be no doubt about it. Same name, same credentials, same company.

But it wasn’t the same man.

She could hear the difference in his voice immediately. The man she knew so well was more of a tenor, whereas this one had more bass. The other spoke perfect English, but there was a hint of an accent that she had never been able to really define—although since he had been born and raised in the U.S. it must have been a regional accent that he was trying to change or conceal. The man in front of her spoke with no accent whatsoever.

What was going on?

What kind of game was he playing?

It was totally impossible for him not to be the man she had worked with for two years. Not only was he Hugh Raborn in appearance, but his title and company were those of the man she knew. People could put on different voices if they wanted. Celebrity impersonators could sound exactly like just about anyone.

But if he was just acting, just screwing with her mind for some reason, he would still have betrayed at least a hint of recognition during the first instant he had seen her outside of his office. And he had not. No one could fake their reaction to a complete surprise that well. No one.

On the other hand, this had to be him. No other explanation was possible.

So should she challenge him? Make a scene and insist he use his real voice? Her instincts told her not to. She needed to have time to think things through.

All of this analysis flashed across her mind in seconds. “My mistake,” she croaked. “I guess the surprise is on me. I feel like an idiot. The friend I wanted to surprise is also named Hugh Raborn, and also lives in San Diego. But it just goes to show, you shouldn’t Google people and try to surprise them without checking first.”

Both Raborn and the tech named Troy eyed her as though she were a terrorist with a bomb strapped to her chest. Raborn looked as if he was deciding if he should call the police.

“Sorry about this,” continued Erin. She immediately turned to the lab tech. “Troy, if you could lead me out of here, I’ll get out of your hair right away and find the right person.”

Raborn’s eyes narrowed. “She didn’t take any pictures, did she?” he asked Troy.

The lab technician shook his head. “None.”

“Did she have her cell phone out at any time? She could have snapped off a bunch without you realizing.”

“No. She never had it out.”

Raborn caught Erin’s eye and sighed. “Look,” he said, “I know you’ll never understand this, but we try to be as humane as we can be. Testing in animals leads to drugs that save millions of human lives throughout the world. Most of us are animal lovers. Really. I have two dogs at home that I love like children. But we don’t have any choice. We’re required to test our drugs in animals before we test them in humans.”

Erin winced. “I’m really not here about animal rights,” she said. “And I don’t mean you any harm. I just made an innocent mistake. You can both escort me out of here if you’d like.” She frowned deeply. “I’m just as eager to leave as you are to see me go.”

10

ERIN PULLED OFF the road into a mini-mall and parked so she could take stock of what had just happened. Her mind was reeling.

She was faced with two impossible conclusions. Either Raborn had an identical twin, a doppelgänger—who just happened to share his name, title, and company—or he was playing some kind of sick game. She still didn’t believe he could have faked his initial reaction to her so completely. So maybe he had known she was coming. As unlikely as this was, it seemed to make more sense than the alternatives.

She was engaged in illegal activity for him, after all. Maybe he had decided to pretend not to know her. So if she were caught, he could deny everything. He hadn’t seemed the type. But the more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t think of any other explanation that could possibly fit the facts.

Her hands balled into fists of their own volition. So if she called him in private, would he suddenly admit that he knew her, and make up some excuse for his charade? Would he apologize profusely?

You’d think he could have given her some indication. A wink. Anything. He could have told Troy he wanted to personally escort her from the premises, and then while alone with her whispered that he wanted to keep their relationship clandestine for reasons he would explain later.

Or had she been working with someone who had multiple personality disorder? That would be ironic, she thought. Maybe one of his personalities was psychopathic, and the other was a crusader against psychopathy.

She removed her phone from her pocket and took a deep breath. She hit the speed dial to Raborn’s private cell phone. This ought to be interesting. She was furious, and if he thought she’d be forgiving him in this lifetime, he was seriously deluded.

So much for romance, she thought bitterly.

The phone was answered on the third ring. “Hi, Erin,” said an enthusiastic voice. “How are things?”

The voice at the other end was one she knew well, not the one she had just heard at Asclepius. “Don’t give me that shit!” she spat. “What kind of game are you playing here, Hugh? If you didn’t want to admit you knew me, you could have at least winked or something.”

“What are you talking about?” said Raborn.

“What I’m talking about is you pretending not to know me when I visited your office, you shithead. What I’m talking about is you putting on another voice all this time we’ve been Skyping. What, do you use a different voice for each of your accomplices?”

“You visited Asclepius?” said Raborn in alarm.

Erin shook her head in confusion. She wanted to reach through the phone and choke him to death, tell him that of course he knew she had visited Asclepius, but there was something in his tone that compelled her to take his question seriously. “Yes. I wanted to surprise you.”

“Uh-oh,” said Raborn. “That couldn’t have gone well.”

“You were there. You know exactly how it went.”

“I wasn’t there. You must have spoken to the real Dr. Hugh Raborn. Who had no clue who you were.” He paused. “I’m sure you’re pissed off beyond words right now. And I don’t blame you.”

“So why don’t you explain what the hell is going on.”

“Well, obviously I’m not Dr. Raborn. I lied to you. But I had good reason,” he hastened to add.

“Let me guess. You’re his identical twin—but with a different voice.”

“No. No relation. I just needed credibility when I contacted you the first time. And I knew you’d check my background. So I took his identity. When we video chat, I have software that turns my face into his for transmission.”

Erin shook her head adamantly. “Impossible,” she said. “No technology is that good. Your lips and expression match your words perfectly. If there was software out there that could instantly transform your every last expression and lip movement onto a template face, and do it so seamlessly that it could fool someone over dozens of calls, I’d know about it.”