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

backup. As much as she enjoyed the storm, she didn’t want to be lost in the jungle during it.

The community center was quiet this morning. As she headed over to grab a drink, she noticed Tamar talking at the vacant gambling tables with his sister.

He leaned back and laughed, his eyes jovial. His sister turned away from him, acting annoyed but struggling to not smile. Ari missed that sibling rivalry with her own brother, even missed how he would frustrate her.

As she approached, Tamar finally noticed her. “There’s our desert girl. Surprised you made it out in this, you might have drowned.”

“Desert girl?”

“Yeah, Jewels told us how enchanted you are with all this green. You must be from the desert.”

“She’s right. But it doesn’t mean I don’t know how to swim.”

He appraised her, looking her up and down like an analyst. “Not bad for a desert rat, but do you know how to surf?”

“No.” Reed tried to teach her, but it wasn’t her favorite. Flipping upside down with water up her nose wasn’t her idea of fun.

“Don’t let him give you crap. Not all of us run away to surf instead of working.”

Ari chuckled and asked Oliana, “Tamar ditches to surf?”

“Since he was three.”

“Three? Impressive.”

A smile lit up his face as he took a seat nearby and kicked off his shoes.

Oliana turned a disappointed look at Ari. “Haven’t you learned not to complement him yet?”

“Sorry. I’ll restrain myself in the future.” Ari fell into a nearby plush chair as well. “So, Oliana, what do you do for fun? Are you a surfer?”

“No.” She shook her head dismissively. “I’d rather dance.”

“That was pretty impressive.” Ari remembered the islanders at the party with their rhythm dancing.

Keeping her smile to a minimum, Ari could still see the pride in her eyes. Going back to work, Oliana stood on a stool that raised her up to the large gaming screens. These screens showed inside the VR where people competed and gambled. It surprised Ari that the islanders, who worked with the gaming and electronics so closely, seemed to shun it at the same time. Maybe they didn’t?

“Do you guys ever play in the games?” Ari asked.

Oliana turned, the scathing look on her face spoke plenty. “No,” she said, before returning to her cleaning the screens.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean…” Ari turned to Tamar for help.

He reclined in the chair, obviously not as bothered as his sister. “Don’t worry. VRs are a sensitive subject among our people.”

“Not that I blame them, but why?” Ari asked.

He shrugged. “The usual stuff. Many of the islanders became addicted. The elders banned them. There is still a battle as each generation grows.”

“Can’t say I blame the elders.” Visions of her father trapped in a VR coma flooded her mind. Struggling to keep composure, she stuffed that back into its neat little box in her mind. There was nothing she could do about that now.

“You too?” He leaned forward. “You have loved ones that are lost as well?”

“Yeah.” She must not have hidden it as well as she thought.

“Then why are you here?”

“Money. Safety. I could ask you the same thing.”

With a small tilt to his smile he replied. “Sometimes the only way to survive the devil is dance with him.”

“Huh?” Ari leaned back in the chair.

“Idiot.” His sister mumbled under her breath and he smiled.

“So, you’ve never gone in?”

He cocked an eye.

“You don’t have to lie on my account. I know you do occasionally.” Oliana finished cleaning the screens and hit the button to lower the stand.

“Many islanders try them now and again, but for the majority of the time, I try to steer clear.”

“I wish I could.” And normally, Ari did, but right now she wanted to get inside to check on her family. She didn’t feel like she could trust Vinh to relay messages to Tessa and was sick of going through ten channels to get a hold of her family. But what about other channels?

Tamar stood and got a drink for his sister. With a steaming cup of coffee in her hand, she took a seat next to Ari. “What are you up to?” Oliana asked, snapping Ari out of her thoughts.

“What do you mean?”

“I can tell your wheels are turning. What’s going on?” Oliana sipped her drink.

Glancing around, Ari leaned forward a bit. “Do you have a way to contact people off the island?”

“Why would we need that?” Oliana had a tension to her words.

When Ari turned to her brother, he shook his head. Obviously, it wasn’t something they could talk about here.

“You should come dancing again.” Oliana gently sipped her coffee. “You really are horrible. Practice may help.”

Ari’s gaze flashed in between the two siblings trying to read what they didn’t say. “Sure, I’d love that.”

Oliana set down her drink and stood, signaling the end to the conversation. “Good. We’ll let you know when.”

As Ari headed back into the stormy weather to her unknown appointment, an inkling of hope stirred. Could the islanders help her talk to Marco and her mother? Maybe, maybe not. But it’d be better than sitting in an empty room like a grounded little girl.

Chapter 28

Making it back through the rain with her guards close behind, Ari had time to grab lunch before hurrying down to her appointment. She wore her normal clothes, jeans and a shirt, to the appointment. She didn’t want to give Niomi anymore of an advantage with her smart suit by letting Niomi know just how nervous she was.

Heading down the hall, she passed Niomi’s offices and stopped at conference room C. Standing at the door, she waited for it to open and resisted the impulse to bite her lip. Finally, with a swoosh, the door slid open.

A long smooth white table stood in the middle of the room. Along one side, Niomi sat next to the director and another woman Ari didn’t recognize. The woman had pitch black hair, a feature perfected to a fine edge. Ari reminded herself this wasn’t her fault—maybe if