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

“Getting out of shape hanging out with you and eating donuts.” Joe shut the door on him and hurried to the other side of the car. “We better hurry. The only thing that saved us was they don’t know their tail from their head yet, but they will.”

Sitting in the back with Marco, Ari looked him over for any other injuries. Red filled his weary eyes. They were lucky the soldiers were trying to capture them, not kill.

Patrick swerved up on the sidewalk around the stalled traffic, forcing pedestrians out of the way. She scooted onto the seat and scanned the area. “I can’t think why they’d let us get away so easily.”

“You thought that was easy?” Joe said, the first sign of a joke she had ever heard from him.

She shrugged. “But why aren’t they following us now? And what happened with their weapons?”

“That explosion was a small EMP blast so they couldn’t communicate with the others. I wired faraday cages into your corset and our bags to keep our weapons working.”

“You could have told me beforehand.”

“I was hoping we wouldn’t need them.”

“What about the stuff you took from Echo’s apartment?” she asked.

“It’s good.” Joe tapped the bag.

“Next time can you let me know what you’re planning?” Ari asked. “I thought you were jumping to your death for a moment there.”

“You know how to fight. I’ve seen you before.”

Ari thought back to her practices but never really remembered seeing Joe. Maybe he was more like a ninja than she thought. “Still, next time, heads up would be helpful.”

He shrugged.

Patrick finally got out of the congestion and let out a big sigh. “Okay, now that I can breathe right. How about you guys start from the beginning?”

Chapter 25

They had caught Patrick up with what happened by the time they arrived back in their room. While Joe looked through what he took out of Echo’s apartment, Patrick, Ari, and Marco started to pack. They shouldn’t have any reason to suspect the authorities were on to them, but they weren’t going to hang around to give them a chance to find them.

Ari quickly changed out of her outfit and took a shower to wash off the smell of that club and Echo. Though the adrenaline had worn off and the memories of what happened to Echo began creeping in, she pushed them away and busied herself with getting ready to leave. Leaving the bathroom, she found the apartment cleaned and the bags on the bed.

“We need to head out under the hour. Marco, did you need to shower?” Patrick motioned to the open bathroom.

“Yeah, I’ll be quick.” Marco grabbed his bag and headed in.

“I’ll go wipe down the car and make sure it can’t be traced back to us.” Joe slung his bag over his shoulder and left.

Ari turned to her bag, planning and packed her dirty clothes in her duffel bag.

“Ari, we need to talk.” Patrick stood by the door.

The serious edge to his words stilled Ari’s busy hand. Zipping up the bag, she turned to face him. “What’s up?”

“Let’s go out for a minute.” He motioned to the door, his face not giving anything away. “Bring your bag.”

“O-kay.” Ari couldn’t figure what he would want to talk about that couldn’t wait until they were on the plane. And why the bag? Did he need an errand run before they took off?

As she followed him out into the hall, she noticed a small black bag in his hands. Joe was already gone, and Patrick headed towards the stairs. He kept forward, not bothering with small talk.

“I think I’ve had my fill of stairs today,” Ari tried to joke to lighten the mood.

“I bet you have.” He paused for a moment to let her catch up, then continued down the stairs. “You were pretty spectacular back there. You know that, right?”

“You didn’t see Joe. He was amazing.” Ari wished she could have recorded it and replayed it in slow-motion.

“Yes, he is, but that’s Joe. He’s been at this game for a while.” He opened the door and exited into the side of the lobby. The night sky gave the lights an eerie glow to the deserted lobby. “But you kept a level head and rolled with everything that was thrown at you. You were better than anyone could have expected. I’m lucky you chose to join our team.”

“Thanks. I feel pretty blessed to have found you too,” Ari replied, then realizing how it sounded quickly added, “and everyone on the team.”

His words were kind, but the look in his eyes told her there was something more. Something he didn’t want to tell her, something hard to say. She stepped forward and reached a hand out. “Patrick, what’s going on?”

He handed her a bag. “This is for you.”

“What’s this?” She opened the bag to find a new phone, several cards, and other papers. It was a new identity. Turning on the phone, she saw an airline ticket across the ocean to the Americas. Home. An icy chill crawled up her skin as she lifted her chin to meet his focused gaze. Was he telling her to leave? She searched his face for an answer.

“I want you to go find Reed. See if he’s really there.” Besides his intense gaze, Patrick’s face showed no emotion.

“But what about the mission? I can’t leave Tricky, and—”

“You can and you are.” His tone took an icy edge. “I can’t have you half here, sneaking off whenever you catch a hint of Reed. You’re either all here or you’re not. You’re a liability, as is Reed. Bring him back, stay there, whatever you want. Message me in thirty-six hours with your decision. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll assume you’ve been compromised and have to relocate the team. Your brother and mother will be safe regardless, you have my word. Both have proven to be valuable members of the team, and while they don’t replace my most promising warper, they have permanent places in