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

“We could have had fun.” He kept her gaze as he stepped away from her. “You were more to me than just another freshman girl. But we’ll never know. I wish you the best when karma finally comes your way. It always does.”

His dark expression soon vanished, and he patted her shoulder with a smile before backing away. The haunting feeling was fleeting, and she brushed it off to focus on the task at hand.

“Now, let’s pack you away.” Garrett wandered between the stack of crates leaving Ari to trail behind.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Fingers numb, Ari gripped the nearby crates as the storage truck jostled her down the road. She had only ridden on electric trams or cars. The massive truck with wheels up to her shoulder, bounced along the road with constant vibrations and no heat. The truck ran quietly enough, amplifying the noise of boxes shifting slightly against their restraints in the storage section of the trailer. She clutched a plastic crate nearby to avoid sliding down the aisle.

She had to be ready when the driver, a friend of Garrett’s named Arman, made his stop. Garrett said Arman always stopped at a truck stop which had a good price on his brand of cigarettes. Putting this much faith in Garrett made her nervous. He had more than one reason not to help her.

Ari groped blindly in the dark for the large sliding door at the back of the trailer. It took her a few minutes, especially when her bag, slung over her chest and resting by her hip, kept snagging on boxes. Finally finding the door of the truck, she searched for release switch Garrett had pointed out earlier. No luck. It must be on the opposite side.

Stacks of boxes, like the old building blocks she and her brother played with as children, stood in her way. Finding a toehold on a lower box, she hoisted herself up and through a small space between boxes. Flashes of the traffic that surrounded her turned her thoughts to this huge box she was in becoming a dark coffin. A brief spout of claustrophobia motivated her to hurry. She crawled out the opposite end and found a small area to stand. The panel to open the truck was about the size of her hand and easy to find, even in the dark.

The panel manually opened the door. Arman reportedly had thrown more than one party in the trailer where they’d accidentally locked themselves in. Ari didn’t want to think about what had happened in the trailer.

Now, I wait. His stop was only a couple miles away from school, so she should only have to wait a couple more minutes.

A blue light flickered on her finger, and she unwound her ring and placed it in her ear.

“You okay?” Reed’s voice sounded a bit stressed on the other end.

“Besides being stuck in a moving tuna can, I am,” Ari replied, already missing Reed, his voice, his touch. She mentally reminded herself to focus if she wanted out of said tuna can.

“Good. Tessa and I are sitting at the shop, waiting for you.” Reed assured. “Well, it’s just me right now. Tessa ran in to grab stuff, something about a road trip and an escaped convict.”

Ari chuckled at the idea of her, an escaped convict. She had lived her life for so long as the perfect student, the perfect citizen, the perfect daughter. But she’d never had reason to rebel before. The thrill was actually a little exhilarating provided she didn’t think about the consequences for too long.

The truck slowed as if at a stop light, and Ari adjusted her footing, gripping a shelf for support. An alarm sounded outside the truck, a little way off, but close enough for Ari to freeze.

“What’s that?” Ari asked, not really expecting an answer from Reed.

“You hear that too? It’s an ambulance driving by. That means you must be close. Wait.” Movement sounded through the phone. “I see the silver truck ahead.”

Ari sagged against the wall. “Good.”

“Sort of ... but the truck’s not stopping. It’s continuing straight on the highway. He’s not turning. I’m going to kill Garrett, that—”

“Kill him after I’m out of here.”

“I’m coming. Damn.” A horn blared nearby.

“Are you actually driving?” Most cars were self-driving, but in this case, Reed would have to manually drive. She doubted he had ever driven before. No one in their neighborhood even had a car.

“Yeah, I’ve done it in a VR before.”

“I guess that’s better than nothing.” Ari tried to remain silent to let him concentrate.

A phone beeped. “It’s Tessa. I’m going to have her join in the call.”

Tessa’s loud voice joined the call. “What the hell, Reed? You steal my car the second I leave you alone with it? If you really wanted to be left alone with Ari, you could have told me. Not that I would have lent you my car though.”

“Tessa, quiet please.” Reed snapped at her. “I’m following Ari. The truck didn’t stop. It’s the same one Garrett described to us.”

“Ohhh,” Tessa said.

“I’ll come back to pick you up once I grab Ari.”

“Grabbing Ari is going to be the tricky part,” Ari said, referring to herself in third person.

“I’m actually only a few cars behind you.”

“Really?” Ari lifted the cover off the panel, readying to flip the switch. “Want me to open the back?”

“No!” Reed yelled, making Ari reach up to grab the device in her ear. Tessa swore, and Reed continued talking. “Ari, wait until you won’t get run over. Okay?”

“Okay,” Ari said, letting time pass as she waited in darkness for his word. It took longer than she thought, with only faint static to fill the line.

Tessa was the one who finally broke the silence. “Reed, what’s happening?”

The truck slowed.

“Okay. We’re close to the freeway and I’m not sure when he’s going to stop again. He’s getting ready to turn. Ari, open the door. I’m right behind you.”

She lifted the panel and flipped