Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

there really hadn’t been anything she could have done, back in the early years, but right this minute it didn’t matter.

She bristled angrily, irrationally needing to lash out at someone. She couldn’t reach those who were responsible, but she could reach the person who had made the VRP, facilitating all of it. It didn’t matter that if it hadn’t been for Eloise, someone else would have done it, or in the absence of a VR training enviro, a real one would have been used. Her fury needed an outlet. Any outlet would do.

She spun around, wanting to grab the stuffed-up bitch and drag her closer, show her the misery she had caused. Show her how Leeches had no choice but to agree to suffer such degradation, forced intoxication, injuries, even death, because they saw no other way to provide for their families. How they would hang on, literally, until their body gave up, too desperate to quit.

‘Happy with yourself? Are you?’ she bellowed mid-turn. ‘Your safety locks do fuck all against the abuse. In a few seconds his muscles will give up and he will fall. If he can stand after that, he will be ordered up again. If he can’t stand, he will be left where he fell. That’s it, end of story! Back to the slums! Or worse! Off to some lab to be experimented on!’ A quick pause for a gulp of air. ‘That’s the fucking abuse you facilitated. But you had no fucking idea what would happen, did you? You have no clue what life is about. Living happily in your stupid VR lab, surrounded by luxuries! Spoilt!’

Ingram felt her rage rising even more when she realised Eloise was paying her no attention. The Elite woman was staring at the scene in front of her, at the man now slipping down the net, and her face was more expressionless than ever.

‘Are you fucking listening?’ Ingram shouted. She moved towards Eloise and grabbed her shoulders to shake her.

And then, she winced as Gonzalez’s fingers wrapped themselves around her left wrist.

Ingram glared at him. For a moment nothing seemed to matter, but then his expression registered. Gonzalez wasn’t even looking at Ingram. His hand shot out instinctively to grab hers, but all his attention was on the Elite woman, and Ingram followed his gaze.

No, Eloise’s face wasn’t expressionless. At least, not entirely. Her head was cocked, and her eyes were tracking fast, as if she were speed-reading. She was in some kind of a trance, though it did nothing to hide her rapid breathing.

Ingram released her hold and took a step back, exhaling with relief as Gonzalez’s iron grip eased off on her wrist.

Gonzalez was still watching Eloise, hardly daring to breathe. He was distantly aware that Ingram had backed off, and that was good enough for now. His attention had been on Eloise since the VRP activated, so he had seen what Ingram hadn’t.

With every second Eloise’s professional attitude had been shrinking as her breathing intensified. It looked like the woman was trying to force her mind to stay professionally focused, but she was losing the battle. Gonzalez wanted to see where that would go.

The whole VRP made no sense. It was an old military training VRP, recovered from a police commissioner’s account, one that had been used by what looked like a bunch of civilians. It was probably just some sick entertainment Wagner had amused himself with, re-watching an old recording. But even if they couldn’t get anything useful out of it, this might be exactly the thing Eloise needed to see to believe them.

‘Why?’ Eloise wailed, her knees giving in. She put her arms around her head, trying to shield herself from the surroundings, but it wouldn’t help, and she shook her head violently. ‘It’s not what it was meant for…’

No, not what it was meant for, but exactly what it was used for, Ingram thought. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the instructor grabbed the phobia-stricken man and dragged him towards the pole supporting the net.

And then he smashed his head against the pole, a dull clank reverberating along the length of it.

Eloise shuddered at the sound, watching terrified for what might happen next. Mercifully, the VRP froze, having reached the end of the recording, and waited for an instruction. That was it, the whole of the sequence that Wagner had watched.

Ingram opened her mouth to order the VRP to shut down, but Gonzalez spoke first.

‘Replay,’ he demanded, and Ingram shot him a surprised look, her eyebrows rising.

Eloise sobbed, but was too deflated to object.

‘Sir?’ Ingram enquired. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing all that again. The last few minutes had been a far more intense trip down memory lane than she would have liked, and that damn metallic sound was still ringing in her ears. Eloise Moretti seemed to be in a far worse state, and it seemed a terrible idea for her to see it all again.

Gonzalez raised his hand to stop Ingram saying or doing whatever she was about to, but his eyes remained focused on Eloise. Ingram could see the unyielding resolve in his eyes, that steel, and a shiver ran down her spine. He wasn’t going to change his mind until he got what he wanted. She knew that look—when the patient and understanding CO was gone, replaced by pure, uncompromising determination. Eloise couldn’t take it; it would break her. It would—

‘Sir,’ Ingram whispered gently. She didn’t particularly fancy seeing that uncompromising determination lashing out at her for interfering, but she could live with that. Eloise possibly could not.

‘Not. Now,’ Gonzalez replied, calm but firm.

A new waft of acrid urine stink arrived, followed by a higher intensity of yelling and violent threats from the instructor. Eloise pressed her arms tighter around her head, rocking back and forth.

Briefly, Ingram wondered why the VRP was still running. Why Eloise’s n-suit wasn’t switching the VRP off after sensing her desperate desire to be somewhere else, anywhere. She looked