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

“Okay.” Emil leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “Two things. First, if you want to learn more, you need to join us.”

“Us?”

“We’re an Elite Team that monitors worldwide virtual sites, keeping government officials in line. There are over a hundred people who work with us in different capacities all over the globe.”

“In line? You need to be more specific. Because right now you sound like a different version of the same company I’m working for without the benefits.”

“We have benefits,” Hailey said. “Like not being trapped on some island with limited access. It’s called freedom.”

“We watch those that have no one watching,” Emil said. “At this point that is all I can say, until you prove yourself.”

Ari stood, not wanting to even know what prove yourself meant. This guy may have answers, but she wasn’t willing to play his little games to find out. “Then sorry. I’m out of here.” She headed to the door.

“You didn’t ask what number two was.”

Hand on door, she stopped. Something in her gut told her to stay, just a moment longer. “What?”

“You never asked me why you have headaches?”

Icy tentacle gripped her spine as she forced herself to turn around. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re lucky you’ve only had two episodes. Maybe because you never spent much time in the VR as a child. But warpers have their own special Achilles heel. Ever wonder why VisionTech cares about your health so much?”

Ari’s hand stayed frozen on the handle, waiting for him to continue. She questioned that hundreds of times while Niomi was torturing her.

“It’s because they don’t know how to save your mind. They’ll try everything they can to keep their asset around a little longer. Every time you use your power, you slip away a little more.” He tapped the side of his temple. “These tools up here may be worth millions to the right companies, but they have a shelf life. Some get five years, some ten or twenty, but everyone slowly slips away to their own little world. We just want to make the biggest impact on this world as we can, before we slip away. And we found a way to hold it off a little bit longer.”

Ari glanced at Hailey, and for the first time saw a sadness lurking behind those beautiful eyes. Could this be real? Or is this just another corporation manipulating her?

She gave a short laugh. “You really expect me to believe all this. You’re the one who caused my headache. Now you want me to prove myself to you guys. How do I know you’re not just manipulating me to do your dirty work for you? And you want me to believe you guys oversee all of this for the good of men and not your own benefit?”

“Of course we benefit.” Emil stood. “We’re not saints. But most of us came from simple means and want to keep these governments and corporations in line. Given your upbringing, I thought you’d be interested. We can help you and your family.”

“VisionTech told me the same thing then trapped me on an island.”

“We’ll give you the money and papers to get out of the country, you do the rest.”

She didn’t forget the caveat though. “But I have to do something for you first, right?”

“You need to prove yourself. It’s different. We need to know you’ve cut ties to VisionTech and are ready to commit to us.”

Commit to someone I didn’t know. He was ballsy. “And what would that be?”

“Steal us the project file from your trainer.”

Ari pulled back a touch with surprise. “What project file?”

“They’ll have a file on you. With your expected longevity, goals they have, and other pertinent information. Feel free to delete your family’s information. We have no need of that. But your health history will be helpful to both of us if we’re working together in the future.”

The words ‘expected longevity’ struck Ari with a force that took her back a step against the door. Words blurred together and got jammed in her throat. What scared her the most was that maybe he was telling the truth. With that terrifying thought, she left.

Chapter 23

Ari’s steps echoed down the dark corridor. Once outside and back in the regular VLEX program, she focused on keeping her breath steady. Niomi would notice any spike in her heart rate. She walked past the shops, past the fountain and up to her office. Gratefully, she was alone. Staring at her blank computer screen, she replayed her conversation with Emil over and over, picking apart what he said and trying to decide if he was being honest.

Her boss startled her when he walked through the door, and she hurried back to her work. She continued to copy his private correspondence and sent it off for VisionTech, though now her conscience nagged her about it. Was she only helping some obscenely rich company rake in more money? Ari needed to figure things out before she took her next step.

She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do, but ever since Emil mentioned her file, she knew she had to see it for herself. It held the truth, or she hoped it did. Getting her hands on it would be another story.

Niomi greeted Ari as she returned to the lab. Ari unplugged and wrote her notes, remembering to keep her poker face firmly in place. Lately, it had become easier and easier.

“Hey, I noticed a spike in blood pressure at lunch. What happened?”

“Just Antoine.”

“What happened now?”

“Nothing really. Just in the process of breaking up with him, like you said.”

Niomi turned towards her, the tattoo in her ear flashing. “You need to make it clean and quick. Just like a bandage. It hurts more at first, but it heals quicker.”

Ari nodded. “Yeah. I know. I’m going to head off and get some rest.” She didn’t feel like getting a lecture on relationships from a drill sergeant.

“Okay. Vinh’s on the schedule to run some tests on your suit this