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

Cool air rushed loudly in his ears, accompanied by the screams of the woman. For the first time she gripped his arm tighter. They landed on a net of some sort and bounced up a few times before settling on the fibers. He didn’t have time to catch his breath or apologize to the woman—but she was the one who had drugged him, so his sympathy had been tested a bit much today.

He rolled away from her. There appeared to be nothing underneath them, the safety net completely invisible and unsteady. He remained on his hands and knees, crawling to the edge of the net away from the building. They still were at least fifteen feet in the air. He stumbled slightly as he reached the edge, grasping onto the invisible wire. Grateful they had two exits on this net.

Shouts echoed behind him, and he swung his legs over the side and dropped down below, landing in a bush. He paused for a second to regain his footing, but nothing was broken. Looking above, he saw the men swarming up the net. Pedestrians nearby shouted out in alarm. Marco did the only thing left that he could do. Run.

His head pounded, and body ached as he sprinted through the shops. People hollered, but most moved out of his path. The fact there were pedestrians gave him hope. They were in public, to an extent. And hopefully, the people chasing him wanted to keep a low profile.

He raced towards the front door, but out of the corner of his vision noticed someone turn towards a door marked, “Employees Only.” With a sharp turn, Marco slowed his steps and entered the door. Employees bustled about in teal and white uniforms. A couple of people gave him sideways looks, but no one confronted him. Marco hid among the busy chaos—something he excelled at.

A row of keys lined small hooks by the back door. He reached for the small black button labeled G4 and slipped it in his pocket. He winked at a cute girl crossing his path and exited the back door. This almost felt too easy.

The door opened to a loaded dock, just as busy as inside. A man in uniform guided a stack of boxes on an electric cart. He looked confused or lost, maybe.

“Excuse me,” Marco said politely as he stepped to the side.

The man’s creased forehead, dampened with sweat, showed a tired overworked employee. So, noticing the key that hung halfway out of the man’s pocket, Marco couldn’t pass up this opportunity. As the man crossed the doorway, Marco stepped towards him.

“Do you need any help?”

“I’m looking for the manager. I’m new, and they sent me to straighten out a backlogged order that the last guy who screwed up.”

“Of course. Head straight down the corridor, and it’ll be the second right.” And with a smile on his face, one hand directed the man to the incorrect location while Marco’s other hand stole the man’s key. “Best of luck.”

The man shuffled off, and Marco turned around. The large delivery truck that matched the man’s uniform wouldn’t be ideal when it was reported stolen, but it should hopefully get Marco out of here. It also saved time he didn’t have to locate the other car.

Traffic inched along at first, and every time he stopped, he risked a glance behind him. Where they after him? And if they did find him, would they drag him back to the program? They were after Ari and he was one of the few that could find her.

After a few miles, his hands began to shake on the steering wheel. The nagging knot in the center of his gut, kept asking him if this was real. And he had no idea how to find out. The knot grew, tightening his chest. Even though VR in VR was popular, it was limited by the government. Once inside a program, hoping into another could lead to a rabbit hole that no one can survive. So even though he believed this was reality, that didn’t calm his worry.

His breaths came out shallow, and he struggled for each gasp. He quickly recognized where he was and tried to focus on his next step: finding his mom. It didn’t take long to ditch the truck, and he walked a block to the nearest tram. At the next stop, he got off and switched again. After switching routes four times, he finally settled into his seat for the long haul downtown to their meeting spot.

Marco and his mom set up this meeting place months ago. It was a repair shop, one that they never went to. They found it when a man hit on his mom. The romance didn’t go anywhere, but Marco checked him out anyway. They figured it would be a great place that wasn’t tied back to them.

Her work would be finished, and she could be home. Or with them? Who was them? The government made the most sense, or another hacker company that somehow found the link between Ari and him. Either way, he hated not knowing who the enemy was.

As his breath slowed, he starred at his hands. Slightly scratched and beat up, he wondered if they were really his. They began to shake, and he jammed them in his pockets.

On the tram, a woman sat down next to him with a small child, a pretty woman with dark eyes and long black hair. Marco wondered why she sat so close to him. Was she part of this program as well? Her eyes bore down on him as she offered a small smile.

The tightness in his chest returned, and he averted his gaze. He needed to get to the meeting place. If his mom was there, he would know the truth. They picked that house in reality—it was the one thing he was sure of. Only his mom knew about it. No program could simulate that.

When his stop arrived, he bolted out of his seat and strode