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

address, but it would have to be enough. She saved the information to the drive Antoine could access. At least she found the school Kari had gone to, and who knows, maybe she grew up nearby. Ari closed the computer then stood to leave when President Higgins walked in.

“Good morning, sir.” She stiffened slightly, realizing she had no idea what VisionTech told him when she left. They oversaw the real life deception of this program.

Pausing mid-step, he looked at her with bewilderment. “What are you doing here?”

“Just finishing up a few things. I’m all set, so I’ll be heading out though. Have a great day.” She walked past him, eyes focused on the door behind him.

He reached out and grabbed her arm. “You should not have access to this floor anymore. You shouldn’t be here.”

“I’m leaving now.” She pulled on her arm, but he didn’t loosen his grip.

“Security,” he yelled. He didn’t have to yell, since inside the VLEX calling for security notified them electronically. They would be here in mere seconds.

“I wish you wouldn’t have done that.” She considered fighting him. He was tall, but with his age, she’d have the advantage. She couldn’t chance though that she couldn’t be gone before security arrived. They could track her electronic signature and possibly track her down physically.

As he started to drag her outside, she focused on the code around her. In mere seconds, President Higgins was left grasping on to thin air. She poured through the code enough to find herself outside nearby the fountain. A small pain throbbed behind her eyes. She pinched the bridge of her nose until it passed, not dwelling on what it meant.

Instead of donning Kari’s appearance, which may now be linked to security. She chose another of the skins she memorized, Stacee. Her dark skin blended with the variety of ethnicities found in VLEX. Ari kept the clothes and hair simple focusing more on getting through the shops undetected.

When she arrived at Emil’s offices, she waited impatiently at the door. A few passersby gave her awkward glances as she waited in front of a door that was obviously open. Finally, an unfamiliar man opened the unseen door to Emil’s rooms and without a word he escorted her in.

Once inside Ari spoke, “I need to see Emil right away.”

“He’s been waiting for you.”

They entered the room, where Emil stood to the side of his desks staring at an empty screen. Empty to her at least. Who knew what Emil saw in this place.

“You shouldn’t have alerted security.” He remained focused on the screen. “The place is on high alert.”

“I have my file,” she told him, uncertainty tightening her stomach.

“I know. I found it when I realized you were here. You’ll need to learn how to hide your information better in here.” His calm demeanor infuriated her.

“I need help and I need money. I’m no longer with VisionTech.”

“Good girl.” He turned with a smile. “Go to worldwide game Gaia and search out Bacchus. He will set you up with what you need.”

Ari recognized the reference to Greek mythology but had no clue where to find this Gaia. “Don’t you get it. I’ll be homeless by the end of the week, stranded in some foreign country.”

Emil stepped towards her. “You’re smart and more than capable if you got away from VisionTech. We can only do so much inside the VLEX. We have connections all over the world. You’re part of the team now and will be taken care of, but it’s not for free. You have to do your part.”

Ari swallowed, wishing for damn water, as she wondered what exactly she’d have to do. She’d do what she had to, to get by and then get those she loved and get the hell out of here. “Okay. I’ll talk to you in Gaia.”

“Not yet. I have a task for you before you leave.”

“A task?” He made it sound as simple as getting coffee, but she knew better than that.

“Yes.”

“I have now,” she checked the time on her HUB, “eight minutes before I need to leave.”

“Then we better not waste time debating this.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I won’t be able to help you financially.” His smile vanished, an icy demeanor chilling her to the bone.

“So that’s it, huh?” Ari didn’t have much to bargain with, but at the same time, it’s not like she could really hurt anyone in here. If Emil wanted money or something of the sort, he could get it himself.

He waited for an answer.

“Okay. I’ll give you five minutes, then I’m gone.”

“Good choice. We’re ready to announce to the world that we are watching them. Hints and rumors have flown through the years. It’s time the world leaders know that they are being watched and will be held responsible for all their actions.”

“And you want me to say that to who?”

“To everyone.” His chagrined smile returned, full force. “I assume you can figure that out. I uploaded the short speech to your drive.”

“Everyone.” The magnitude hit her, but she couldn’t dwell on it. On the physical cost it would take and how it would be painting a target right on her. “You have four minutes.”

Without thinking too hard on it, she focused on what she had to do. As she fled his office, she realized she had wanted to do this for some time. Tired of the hiding and the lies, people needed to know warpers were real. Presidents and those in power already knew as they used them for the tools and weapons they could become, but everyone else should know. Parents raising their kids, and people whose lives were run by their oppressors.

Ari knew exactly where she needed to be. As she worked the code through her mind, a code she learned back at school which felt like an eon ago, she rushed to the main fountain. The morning rush was heading in. People appearing outside buildings, some headed for a morning coffee. Was she really going to do this?

Don’t think. Just