Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

she ready to tell him the truth? In doing that she wouldn’t ever be able to come back here as Kari.

By the time she walked back to her offices, she decided she needed to do something. Maybe talk to Niomi or even her supervisor. If she laid down the line, they couldn’t force her to do anything against her will. They had to have other work for her to do.

Due to the lack of work, President Higgins let Kari go home early. Ari pulled out of the VR. She woke to the lab, bright lights radiating around her.

“You’re done early.” Niomi turned away from her computer and helped Ari up from the chair.

While Niomi cleaned the cable, Ari walked over to the work station. Niomi usually never left her work open, so Ari took the chance to glance at the screen. It was some type of correspondence.

VP238: How much longer will the assignment be viable?

TR41-A: The team says one week. No one will notice the absence until the session is over.

VP238: Push for more information. We need to know who was behind the final vote?

TR41-A: We are.

“Close screen,” Niomi said from behind her and the computer obeyed.

Ari had read enough though to know Tessa was right. If they hadn’t killed Kari, they had restrained her in some way. Ari prayed it was the later.

“I thought you knew better than to pry into things that don’t concern you.”

Ari had buried her irritation for so long, it bubbled near the surface, ready to explode. “I think it does concern me.”

“Really?” Niomi cocked one brow, her tone dismissive.

Ari fisted her trembling hands. “I stole a woman’s life. Not to mention Representative Tao. Are you killing them? I didn’t sign up for this.”

Niomi barked a harsh laugh. “You don’t begin to understand how this all works. The information you get changes life, saves lives sometimes. These international laws affect everything, trickling down to every shabby home town. And you’re saving your family’s life with the money you send them. You have no idea how good you really have it.”

“I want out.” She blurted out the sentence before she could stop herself.

That stopped Niomi’s usually snarky response. Her sharp jaw tightened, and her steely eyes watched Ari. “Have a seat.”

She placed a hand on the nearby table. “I’d rather stand.” Honestly, she had lost all feeling in her feet but needed to keep strong while it lasted.

“Okay. I will.” Niomi pulled up her metal stool. “Maybe I’ve been too hard on you. My sarcasm has a stronger bite than I intend.”

Ari didn’t reply.

“You want the truth. I’ll do my best.” She flipped up the screen, with a couple of movements of her hands she opened to Representative Tao. “He had a heart attack and died in the middle of the night. VisionTech intercepted the call for health services. They had a short window of time to fake that he pulled through, send in a team member to hack his VR feed and get you in. You voted the same way he did to avoid detection, but you got us the information we needed. He was an isolated member, so it was easier to pull it off, but it was far from easy.”

Ari let go a breath, glad she wasn’t responsible for his death. “What about Kari?”

Niomi closed her screen before turning back. “I’m not exactly sure. They don’t tell me details. Representative Tao was in the news thread.”

“Not good enough.”

“It’s all I have. In the past, they have picked loners, people without a lot of friends who are willing to skip town for a bit for a price. Some are sick and would take the payout to let someone else replace them at work for a while.”

“Kari didn’t seem like that type. Especially with Antoine.” Why wouldn’t Kari break up with Antoine before she left the VLEX?

“When you’re young, love is all encompassing. Kari has had lovers before and will have them again. You are more in love with the idea of them then Kari probably ever was with him.”

Ari rubbed a spot on the edge of the desk. Something wasn’t setting right. Was she really just young and stupid? Would she really be willing to sacrifice Reed and everything for her family, because she was naive? What about what Tessa found?

“Look,” Niomi said. “You only have a week left before session is out. I’ll ask for an extended break. It will be good for you.”

Good for me? Ari wasn’t sure she could even tell what was good for her anymore. But she wasn’t about to trust anyone with that either. “I’m not sure I’ll ever want to go back. I hate lying about who I am all the time. Stealing other people’s lives, even if they are okay with it. Isn’t there another division I could work with?”

Niomi let out an exasperated huff. “You don’t get how rare you are. You’re the sole warper employed by VisionTech. If it’s getting to be too much, ask for more money, ask for your family to come here. There isn’t another division for you. This is it. And life outside of this is a hell of a lot harder. Trust me. You have nowhere else to go. No papers. And your government would be more than happy to find you, charge you for all types of espionage, and haul your ass to forced labor for life. You’ll be forced to do the same thing without any of the perks. Do you understand?”

Biting down on her lip, Ari fought to keep her emotions locked down. She gave a curt nod. She understood. She understood that when she first lined up to get her assignment, she was signing her life away. This may be a different cage, but it still was a cage to her. One she’d never be happy living in.

Chapter 22

Ari wanted to wait before she contacted Emil to think things over, but she didn’t have time, not if Niomi expected her to take a vacation