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

“I have something to give back to you too,” Reed told Marco. Her brother reached a hand out, but Reed shook his head. “Not here. But as pissed as I was to have to bring it to you, I’m glad I had it on the way here.”

The gun. As lucky as they were to have it, Marco could face ten years in prison for having one.

“Maybe you should toss it,” Ari said, but Marco instantly rejected that idea.

“I can get good cash for that.”

“It’s not the cash I worry about.” Ari watched her brother. She hoped he would be doing better at home, but somehow, he looked worse. His face had thinned, and his eyes had a haunted, dark look about them.

“Don’t worry, sis. I always land on my feet,” he said with a familiar smile that Ari had a hard time buying.

Tessa sat with a small drink in front of her. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I’m going to go see my dad, then meet up with Dave. He should be here in a couple hours.”

“When are we heading back?” Tessa turned to Reed.

“After Ari leaves, I suppose. The sooner the better. I have a feeling Williams might be waiting for us.”

Tessa nodded and took a sip of her coffee. “Probably, but I wonder if we took a detour by my father’s condo we could claim we’d been there all along? It may require some hacking, but you could manage.”

“What about your car?” Ari said.

“I let you borrow it,” Tessa told Ari. “We can order a service to take us back. I can figure it out after I have some decent caffeine in my system.”

“I wish I could take you all with me.” Ari took time to look at each of them, trying to memorize their faces.

Marco scoffed. “And leave this great life? I’ve got too much going on.”

“It’s a single ticket, dear, but worth it. Even I’m jealous of your contract.” Tessa took another drink of her large coffee.

“I’m with her, sis. I don’t know why you fell into the pot at the end of the rainbow with our gene pool. I’d kill for that ability.”

“I’d give it to you both in a heartbeat.” And Ari meant it.

The plan was simple—well, simple enough. Reed was going to use Marco’s visitor pass to get into the facility with Ari, while Tessa and Marco hacked the system from the outside. Marco was going to try to erase her trail, or the record of her being there. It wasn’t a guarantee though. Neither Marco nor Reed could guess all the security measures the facility might have in place. Either way, time was of the essence.

Ari’s heart raced as she walked through the large glass doors of the hospital’s entrance. The middle-aged woman at the desk was focused on the screen in front of her. Ari and Reed scanned their cards, and the cards’ pictures appeared on her screen. Reed looked nothing like her brother, but Reed didn’t care. He was going with her. The women glanced at their pictures, gave them an annoyed look, and waved them through. Maybe security wasn’t too tight here. It was only a hospital.

“I would like a private virtual visit,” Ari said, hating that her voice sounded so young and shaky.

The woman had already turned back to the screen. “Fill out the request and pay on the screen.”

Ari entered the required information, her fingers shaking so bad she had to re-enter her father’s name twice, and then she paid with a card Tessa had given her. Ari had only consented to let Tessa pay with the promise that she would pay her back, and that if Ari was caught she would say she had stolen the card from her roommate.

The monitor beeped, and the virtual was scheduled. The woman, eyes still on her screen, pointed to the scanners in front of the double doors. Ari steadied her steps and remained calm though every fiber in her body wanted to run.

Once through the scanners, Reed reached for her hand. “It’ll be okay.”

As they walked through the doors, she wasn’t sure she believed him. The smell of bodies mixed with cleaner hit them first. She’d been in health care centers before, but this dying scent made her gag.

Rows and rows of beds filled one side of the room. Unconscious people were laid out with white sheets covering them. Tubes trailed out from under the sheets into a metal device hanging off their beds. Fluorescent lights shined down on their gaunt empty faces. The only thing moving on these bodies were their eyes, flickering with random disturbing movements.

The other side of the area contained private rooms scheduled for virtual meetings. The metal doors had a single control panel and a number etched inside. Farther down the aisle, she watched an attendant push a bed into one of the private rooms. She assumed it was her father.

They walked down the hall and the tall male attendant greeted them at the door. “6G? For patient 26409?”

She nodded. Her father no longer had a name, but a number. A number she hated and could never forget.

“You ready?” Reed asked.

They both waited as her feet stalled, heavy like cement. “Okay.” With a deep breath, she stepped into the room with Reed shutting the door behind them.

Her father’s once bulky frame had shrunken, now frail and bony under the thin sheet. His gaze flicked back and forth behind his closed eyes. Silver littered his dark hair, especially filling out his beard. His hair fell down to his shoulders and was tucked behind his ears. He used to wear it in a ponytail tied at the nape of his neck. He never was one to worry about his hair. When she was little, he used to let her put it in ponytails with all the colorful clips she wanted.

She stepped towards him and tears blurred her vision. How could she hate and love one person so much in the