Drifters' Alliance, Book 2 by Elle Casey

That is why it first seems that he is lying but then very quickly appears as if he’s telling the truth.”
    Ho-ly shit. A chill runs through me. I know this technique; I learned how to do it very well, in fact. I take a deep breath before continuing.
    “Thank you, Adelle. Do me a favor, when you see that again, flash me a blue light.”
    “Yes, Captain. I will flash you a blue light when I note that he appears to be answering in a deceptive or manipulative manner.”
    I find myself smiling, not hating my compubot nearly as much as I did two seconds ago. “Excellent.”
    I get Rollo back on the line. “Rollo, have you been trained in anti-interrogation tactics?”
    “Who me?” He points to his chest. “No, Rollo has never been trained in anti… what’d you call it?”
    A blue light flashes.
    Something is off about his answer.
    “He used his name again,” Jeffers mutters, his mind obviously on the same track as mine about our stowaway’s quirk.
    Bingo. “Rollo, stop speaking in the third person.”
    He looks left and right before answering. “Okay…”
    A niggling has started deep in my gut and I’m starting to feel sick over it. Something very messed up is going on here, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. I’m missing something.
    “What’s going on?” Baebong asks. “What’re you thinking?”
    Jeffers is staring at the clearpanel, but I know he’s waiting for my answer too.
    “He’s been trained. He’s playing me.”
    “He’s playing us , you mean,” Baebong says, going back to staring at our prisoner.
    “Yeah. Us.” I feel so much better after hearing my friend declare us a team like that, but I try to stay cool on the outside so Rollo won’t detect how much of a mess this is turning me into.
    “Rollo, do you know me?”
    He shrugs. “I guess.”
    A green light flashes.
    Jeffers finally turns around to face me. “Why would you ask him that question?”
    I shake my head. “I don’t know. There’s just something weird going on here…”
    “What’s happening in there?” Captain Bob says. “You going to float him or what?”
    My eyebrows go up at that. “I guess there’s no love lost between these guys.”
    “He’s a pawn,” Jeffers says quietly, watching Rollo pace back and forth in front of the comm box.
    I nod. This makes sense to me. Why else would Rollo say he knows Bob but Bob tell me to go ahead and float him? “You’re right. He is.” But why is Rollo coming after me? Is he just a run-of-the-mill chancer or is something else at the root of his agenda?
    It’s when Rollo looks up at the camera from an angle, his eyes squinting ever so slightly, that a flash of recognition comes to me. I lean in closer to the clearpanel, as if that’s going to make it any easier to see through what I’m starting to suspect has been put in place to hide the real man behind a mask.
    “What’s up?” Baebong says. “I know that face you make.”
    “Oh, yeah?” I get up from my chair, my eyes glued to the image of Rollo on the panel. “What’s that?”
    “It’s your I’m-about-to-go-full-bitch-mode look.”
    When Rollo reaches up and tugs his left ear, I know. I just know I’ve seen him somewhere before. Only before, he had a different face and a different voice. Goddammit! How is this possible?!
    I spin around and leap down the stairs of the flight deck, tripping my way to the door I’m in such a hurry.
    “Where’re you going?!” Baebong yells at my back as I race through the door and disappear down the corridor.
    “Watch Captain Bob!” I yell, not waiting for a response and not offering any explanation. This is between me and the man pretending to be named Rollo.

Chapter Thirteen

    FOOTSTEPS CATCH UP BEHIND ME. I don’t need to turn around to know it’s Jeffers on my six.
    “What are you going to do? Are you going to float him? Why are you in such a hurry?”
    I can’t answer him. My mind is too full of images and sounds, memories from a past I can’t seem to