Hard Wired Trilogy by DeAnna Pearce (smart books to read .TXT) 📕

And what would the cost be of going back in? Was her life like an hour glass? Every trip or manipulation ticked off a few more days or weeks of her life?

Antoine offered her a drink of the large wine bottle he’d taken from the restaurant. “You look like you could need a drink, too.”

“No thanks.”

“Do you have someone here with you? Family nearby?”

Ari turned to him, wondering why he asked. “No.”

“I’m just surprised you came all the way here to tell me this.”

“Me too.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence, interrupted only by him finishing off the bottle of wine. They stepped off the tram, and the cold slammed into them full force. She burrowed deep in her jacket, but the cold still penetrated.

“Up this way.” He motioned to the right, then watched as she put on her thick gloves. “You really aren’t from here are you?”

“No. I can’t say I care for it.”

“People wonder why we drink so much.” He buttoned up his thin coat and headed into the wind.

Tall old buildings lined the street, and he motioned to the brick one on the corner. “Keep your head down. I can erase the security feed, but in case they beat me to it, we don’t need our mugs pasted everywhere.”

Surprised at his ability to erase the security feed, she pulled her hoodie up and focused on her steps in front of her. Every step felt surreal, like she was back in VLEX living someone else’s life. Someone who escaped off islands, stowed away on boats, and went with tall dark strangers in the middle of the night to break into buildings. Kari’s life almost felt normal in comparison to her own.

He quickly got them inside the building, bypassing the security with ease.

“What do you do for work?” Surprised at his ability, Ari didn’t think most diplomats or aids could hack a system like Reed or Marco.

“I started here as IT. After a few years, I got assigned to provide technical help inside the VLEX.”

That’s convenient.

Heading upstairs, she pulled off her gloves, rubbing her hands together to warm them. Then she pulled out the small drive from her necklace. “I’ll need you to upload this to the server when I get in.”

“Why?” He took the miniature drive and turned it in his fingers. “What’s on this? Codes for stolen cryptos?”

“Nothing that exciting. It’s just me.” Files and characters that boiled down to be the story of her life. Sad to think everything she had and was could be hidden on something so small. That was all she had left. Yes, inside a program she may have vast possibilities, but out in the real world, it felt insignificant.

“Okay. Have a seat.” He powered up a nearby station. “Now, I warned you. Twenty minutes is all I can give you before security is alerted and is on their way down. I want Kari’s real address, her physical location. If not, I turn you over to the authorities. I have enough proof even now to throw you away for a while. Do you get me?”

Mouth dry, Ari nodded. “The drive has everything you need on me to help you put me away for a while. I’ll put Kari’s information on the drive I gave you. If things get bad, take it and run.” If things went bad, jail time for breaking into here would be her least concern.

Pushing her hair aside, she plugged into the machine and leaned back. The cold leather chair sent a shiver down her spine. Closing her eyes to the real world, she wondered if reality would look the same when she woke.

Chapter 42

Since she was signing in under an unfamiliar account, she was careful how she entered the VLEX. Keeping her presence a secret was imperative. As she entered the VLEX, she awoke to the code surrounding her. Antoine put her outside his office building. Because of the time zone change, she barely beat the rush hour. Checking the code for time in VLEX she realized she had a few minutes until most offices opened. For now, mostly security and overzealous employees roamed the open streets.

She thought of just stealing the data from Kari’s old office without even appearing in the program, but the mass amount of data to sift through was too much, even for her. She didn’t need Kari’s real address. Tessa already searched that out and didn’t find Kari. Ari would have to locate her family home or some other connection to find her.

So, between one second and the next, Ari donned Kari’s familiar skin and stepped out from the shadows of a nearby building. She followed the familiar cobblestone street to the building where she had spent so many hours. It was quiet as she took the elevator up to her office. They had changed the access codes from those she previously knew, but a quick hack of the code and she was inside.

She dug through files wondering where someone would put their own childhood address. It’s not like she’d be writing a personal plan for a visit. Despite Antoine’s threats, Ari really did want to find the address, to find out for herself whether she killed Kari by being willing to take over her life.

File after file and she couldn’t find anything. Ten minutes had passed, and she still had a lot to do besides this. Ari turned to Kari’s email in hopes maybe she found a meeting with someone for coffee or something. Then she remembered she wouldn’t contact outside people or at least she shouldn’t. Ari had been reading her emails for weeks now and would have seen something. When else would someone refer to something personal at work? Then it came to her. School.

Ari searched for any mention of schools, colleges, and then resumes. She found it. A message from a college six months ago that mentioned an upcoming reunion. It wasn’t an