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

them. Whenever the comp was removed from one’s wrist it automatically disconnected from the corresponding account. Upon contact with skin, the nano-interface used DNA and other biometrics to confirm the wearer’s identity before granting access. Fooling a comp into believing its rightful owner was trying to use it was a delicate process.

‘No, sir. He doesn’t trust me that much,’ she admitted. ‘He will know it would have to be me who leaked the information.’ She didn’t have to spell out what that meant. It was clear.

Gonzalez nodded a few times, processing the information, and made the necessary decisions.

‘We will go after Wagner’s comp tonight. Your job at the 4th is done, Megan. I want you out. Do you understand me? Out!’ As if by magic, the last piece of the plan fell into place. It was insane and desperate, but so was their cause. His mind whirled, and the mental cogs locked and turned, polishing all the little details, but then something distracted him. Megan was simply staring at him, her face expressionless. ‘Megan! Do you hear me?’

‘I… I can’t,’ she stuttered. ‘Wagner is meeting someone tomorrow—a woman. They spoke on the comp a few times. I broke through Wagner’s encryption, which allowed me to hear his calls, but I couldn’t hear her side of the conversation. Last time she called, whatever security software she was using also hid Wagner’s side of the conversation, but I’m sure it was the same woman.

‘The encryption… The skills needed to pull this off… Sir, I can’t begin to understand how she could have fooled my own spying program so thoroughly. I need to know who she is. I have to stay.’

Gonzalez stared at her for a second, weighing the odds. It sounded like it was some sort of personal curiosity about the anti-spook software that she wanted to satisfy, but he knew better than that. If the enemy had at their disposal technology that they couldn’t identify, they were in deep trouble.

‘You can decipher the call from Wagner’s account through the wrist-comp from here. You don’t need to—’

‘I can’t, sir,’ Megan said. It wasn’t like her to interrupt an Elite officer. ‘Those calls aren’t on Wagner’s account, not with the encryption she used. It disabled the recording function. But if we know who she is, we can get to her another way.’

Gonzalez bit his lip.

I need Megan—I can’t lose her. I can barely follow what she’s doing when she gets all witchy with the computers. I can’t replace her skills. But after we steal Wagner’s comp, the sonofabitch will go after her. She won’t have another day. Can we afford to wait that long before going after his comp?

He looked at the clock again and frowned. It was early enough to set his plan in motion and do it tonight. Something told him they had to do it tonight. Some loosely scattered pieces of the puzzle looked like they were about to fit together, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was happening where. He just knew they had to act now.

‘Megan, you will leave the 4th tonight. Do not go anywhere near his residence. You get the fuck out of Lyon. Do you understand me?’ He glared at her, sensing her resistance even through the impersonal call.

The young woman hesitated. She had her own intuition.

‘Gendarme O’Haress, I am ordering you to stay away from Wagner’s residence and get your ass to Roc de Chere tonight.’

Megan was no fancy pilot, but it really didn’t take much skill to fly an XST. And with her other skills, no one would even know she had ‘borrowed’ a police aircar until the next day.

‘Sir, we could—’ she began, but he cut her off, slamming his palm into his desk, and the noise carried clearly through the comp connection.

‘Dammit! I gave you an order.’ It wasn’t like Megan to argue. She’d changed.

No Leech in the 28th century could make it into adulthood without maturing fast. Megan was no exception, but somehow she had reached a new level of maturity since Gonzalez left the 4th, and with that came stubbornness. For the first time in years, she had to fend and think for herself in a very precarious position, and her independent streak had intensified.

‘Yes, sir,’ she replied, deadpan. He could see that she was still fighting an internal battle, but that was fine. He knew she would do as she was told. No, he didn’t know that. He only hoped so, desperately.

‘Good. Now go and get yourself ready. I want you in the air by seven.’

CHAPTER 30

Roc de Chere

Lac d’Annecy

Afro-European Alliance

Monday 27 April 2725

DAY 8

‘You want me to do what?’ Eloise stared at Gonzalez, confused. The morning’s experiences and revelations had shaken her to the core, and now this.

Gonzalez had spent the last ten minutes describing his plan and bringing Ingram and Rivas up to date on what Megan had said. Tilly was still crunching the data they had received.

‘I want you to arrange a date with Wagner,’ he repeated calmly. ‘I’ve checked, and you’ve created a rather wide selection of dating programs, both full VR experiences as well as VR dating portals for people to meet, so I assume you know exactly what a date is?’

Ingram and Rivas stared at Gonzalez, their mouths open, and he felt the corners of his own quiver at the childish thought of ordering them to close them. This was not quite what he’d had in mind, but now the ridiculousness of the situation was rather amusing.

‘But I’ve never had a date,’ Eloise squeaked plaintively. ‘I mean, not outside of a VR enviro.’

‘Excuse me, but don’t your VRPs claim to be as good as reality, or even better?’ Rivas beat Ingram to a retort. ‘You should have plenty of experience.’

It’s amazing how no amount of shock is great enough to stop the two of them snatching at every opportunity to have a go at her. I should really put a stop to that. Gonzalez shook his