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

on top of the gold band was bigger than Ari had ever seen before, but that didn’t mean much growing up where they did.

“Where did you get it?” Fetu pulled out a magnifying glass.

Surprised, Ari wondered that as well. There were no stores of that type on the island that she saw. Her thoughts meandered to what could have been.

“A friend got it for me,” Reed answered then turned to Ari. “Niomi got it for me a few weeks ago. Sent for it from the mainland. At the time I just thought she was super supportive. Now, I just wonder if they wanted it to keep you there.”

“I don’t know.” Ari had thought back to her relationship with Niomi several times, wondering if VisionTech’s motives tainted all the good things that happened to her. “Maybe both.”

“The cut is from the Far North, the Russian mines.” Fetu set the ring on the desk in between them. “You know I can’t give you what you paid for it.”

“We need new lives and a ship to cross the ocean to Acadian.” They had already picked where they were headed.

Antoine and Kari’s vacation destination had the benefit of being a very liberal country with many tourists and was not too far north from their own home. They would have the best chance of getting in without much suspicion and contacting Tessa. She knew that with DNA scans, they could probably never go home again, but somewhere safe was all they needed.

Fetu leaned back, a tattooed hand running over his short beard. “Those are hard to come by and will take some time.”

“How long?” Ari knew VisionTech would be sure to look for them soon.

“A couple days at least.”

“We need them sooner. We can’t stay here long.”

Fetu’s gaze traveled between the two of them. “The best I can do is tomorrow morning.”

Ari and Reed glanced at each other, both probably wondering the same thing. Did they have that much time? Or did they have any other choice? Turning back to Fetu, Reed nodded agreement.

Ari turned back to the man. “Can you recommend a clean place to stay?”

“We do offer a lot, but that may be one of the more difficult amenities to find.”

She cringed. “The cleanest and cheapest possible.”

He gave them directions to a nearby place with rooms to rent. They closed their business deals, and Ari prayed this man would keep his word.

As they climbed down the stairwell, she voiced her concerns. “How do we know he’ll keep his part of the deal? I don’t even want to know how many cryptos you spent on that.”

“Then I won’t tell you.” Reed stepped on the stairs and reached for her hand. “Don’t worry I had the money even after sending some back to my mom.”

“What if he takes off?”

“Then he takes off. I trust Manu and hopefully Fetu will play out too.” He started down the street. “But we don’t have many options, and we’re doing the best with what we have. Nothing else we can do at this point.”

“You’re right.” Ari leaned into him, grateful for him at her side. “By the way, that ring… way too big for me.”

“Really?” he glanced down at her. “Niomi said something about three months’ salary, and they paid me well on the island.”

“In retrospect, I’m glad you did since it was the best way to get money off the island. But for the future, I’ll take an old washer if it means I get to be with you forever.”

He chuckled. “I’ll remember that. Scratch ring, find old tech for a ring.”

He wrapped an arm around her as they walked and squeezed. “Let’s go find somewhere to rest.”

She wrapped an arm around his waist. “With luck we may actually have a bed tonight.”

Before he could answer, something sharp poked through her jacket, a breath away from cutting her. A rough voice spoke behind them. “Want to pay me for your girlfriend’s kidney before or after I remove it?”

Chapter 38

Reed started to turn around and something slammed into the base of his skull. As he fell, Ari started to tumble with him. Without thinking, the countless hours of training with Niomi kicked in.

Grasping for the hand behind her, she spun out of its reach while twisting the man’s grip. He pulled back, and instead of fighting against him, she let go, using the momentum to strike out at his throat. Obscenities flew through the night, obviously these two young attackers were not expecting someone to fight back.

Ari tried to focus on the man in front of her, ignoring the struggle with Reed nearby. The faster she eliminated this threat, the faster she could help Reed. She wished for a staff or, hell, even a stick or pipe would help. Instead, this guy, probably not much older than her, with dark greasy hair, held a knife while she had nothing. Well not nothing, she did have a bag.

He stepped towards her, and in a flash, she tossed the bag at him, rushing in right after it. While he fumbled with the bag, she struck repeatedly at his face with her palm and elbow. A sharp crack told her she did some damage.

Pushing back, her attacker held his nose, which now gushed with blood. With a final curse, he turned and ran. Reed and the other guy were locked together in an awkward embrace while they each struggled to get hits in.

Searching the ground, Ari found a piece of twisted metal. Hard to grip, but not impossible. It cut into her hand, but she ignored the bite of the metal and slammed it into the back of the other thug’s head. He crumpled into a heap and almost took Reed down as well. She caught Reed’s arm and helped him regain his balance.

Reed glanced her way; his battered eye was quickly swelling. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” She looked down the empty alleyway. Guess his friend didn’t stick around for backup. “We better get out of here before the authorities come.”

“If there are authorities