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

that right.” Leaning over he pulled out a pad and a screwdriver from his bag. He flipped it over, unsnapped the edge of the cover, and with a flick of his small tool, popped a wire out of place.

After putting it quickly back together, he handed it to her. “If anyone catches you, play dumb. The wire must have accidentally broke, severing the connection to the network. You were just trying to admire your boyfriend’s artwork.”

Relief loosened the tension in her shoulders. “This means a lot to me.”

“One condition.”

“Name it.”

“I get to take you out and you’ll fill me in on what’s going on, soon.”

“Definitely.” Nodding, she looked forward to that. Then she reminded him what he said earlier. “What did you want to tell me?”

“It can wait.”

“Really?” Curiosity and patience never went well together for her.

“Yeah. You need to deal with this first.”

“Thanks.” She checked the time on the electronic pad he just handed her. “By my calculations we have three more minutes to make out before you have to go back to work.”

“Does that include walking back there?”

“We can’t kiss and walk?”

“I can learn.” He laughed, his gorgeous smile lightening up her spirits. The worry about her file lessened as she soaked him up for the three minutes they had left.

Ari didn’t head back right away as the increased security in her room could make even opening the document in her dorms chancy. Instead, she paid for a private VR room and didn’t plug in. After locking the door, she sat down on the reclined chair, feet crossed, and opened the file on the electronic pad.

The amount of data she found on herself was overwhelming. Every public record, every test, school report, on not only Ari but every member of her family. Her heart tore as she flipped through the information about her father. Surprisingly they didn’t have much information about his past work with the government. His files were sealed. Huh? Once he married Ari’s mother, her father worked at odd jobs to sustain his VR habit.

It looked like they even went over her brother’s life with a fine-tooth comb, which didn’t look great under magnification. But when Ari opened her file, pictures, charts and lengthy documents opened on the small screen. The first picture came from the weekend away at Tessa’s parents vacation home. The first time she used her abilities, by accident. She didn’t even know what she was. So, how did they already start tracking her?

She thumbed through charts from her smart suit. Medical data to track her health. Who would find how often she slept or had a bowel movement relevant? It felt like overkill. Checking the time, she hurried through the file. Time raced by, and she couldn’t be late to meet with Antoine.

In the back of her health files, she found a document titled Shelf Life. It grabbed her attention, and she opened it for further inspection. The document was long and complex, but at the end has a SUMMARY heading.

Ariana continues to excel in cardiovascular activity and complex physical training. The migraines only occur when she pushes her abilities inside the program, which has been reduced with environmental manipulation. Her blood pressure, blood tests, and neurological testing predicts a healthy future for the subject and shelf life of five years or more given the continuation of optimal conditions.

A knock sounded at the door.

She jumped, the pad tumbling to the ground. “This room is taken.”

“Ariana Mendez?” A deep voice sounded on the other side of the door.

They found me. She swept up the pad on the ground. “What?”

“You need to get back to your wing. I noticed you were out of the VR. Is anything wrong?”

A myriad of swear words flew through her mind. “Nothing’s wrong. I’ll be right out.”

“Please hurry. We need to escort you back right away.”

“Okay.” Ignoring his request, she looked at the file one more time. ‘A shelf life of five years or more.’

Her chest tightened as she realized what exactly that meant. She had a shelf life, like a tool or a fresh vegetable. In five years or less she’ll expire. Not exactly sure what that meant, she assumed the worst. If it wasn’t bad, then they would have told her from the beginning.

But why would a company mention that the one thing that will bring them millions of dollars might cause someone to die? They aren’t stupid. And that’s probably one reason there aren’t many warpers around to tell the tale afterwards. She remembered Hailey and the other warpers inside the VLEX. Why would they continue to do it when they had a choice?

“Ms. Mendez.” The man now banged on the door. “We have security here and will be opening the door.”

Her hand trembled as she replaced the drive into her necklace and hurried to open the door. “Sorry.”

The two towering guards didn’t look happy.

Ari forced a smile and pushed by them. “We better hurry.”

Driving back to meet Niomi, her mind spun out in every direction. How could Niomi, who she considered friends, continue to put Ari in the VR knowing it was slowing killing her? How could Vinh? Does he know? Does everyone here know but her? Slamming on her brakes, she almost crashed into a small monkey, skittering across the path. Her breath escaped in short pants filling the otherwise silent car.

Pull it together. Don’t jump to conclusions. Knowledge about warpers was as rare as warpers were. Shrouded in rumors, not many people knew about them. And any available information was heavily guarded. But what she did know was when she used her powers, she got sick. Thinking back to the few times she was pushed inside the VR, she remembered the hallucinations, the confusion of voices and noise. Would she go insane before she died?

She bit back the sob that threatened to erupt. She noticed one of the guards in the car behind her stepped out and approached her vehicle. Rolling down the window, she waved him back and started