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

and an hourglass figure that would make anyone turn their head in real life. In a virtual program, it was commonplace.

Standing next to her, Ari took the form of her security guard: a handsome man with broad shoulders and smoldering eyes. She’d practiced this one for a while.

Tricky lifted the old-fashioned door knocker and tapped it twice. It echoed through the house. Mere seconds passed before a maid opened the door.

“Welcome,” she motioned with a hand for them to enter. Ari doubted she was real, but her programmed petite frame, angelic face, and golden hair made her the idyllic servant. “This way.”

The maid led the way through an oversized entryway with a stone staircase winding up to a second and third story. They passed the staircase and moved into a sitting room or library of sorts. Expensive paintings, large bookcases, and ornate furniture littered throughout. Years ago, this might have impressed Ari, but now it only took a blink of her eyes to see past the program to the code underneath.

Someone paid a programmer quite a bit to set up his house, but Ari could tear it all down in seconds. This was a program, numbers and characters built upon each other to create the illusion of wealth and power in this virtual realm. This realm was open to the public, but it cost a pretty penny or maybe your mother’s kidney to step inside.

Their target, Maxim, sauntered into the room dressed in white linen that offset his gold tan perfectly. He had short black hair with neatly trimmed facial hair. Or at least he did in this virtual. Who knew how close this was to his face in the real world?

Ari did know that this man must have given up a lot more than his mother’s kidney to have come this far. A known international weapons smuggler, his resume alone made him deserve to rot in jail for several lifetimes. Death would be too easy an out for this guy.

“Cara, I’m so glad you made it.” The way he rolled the ‘r’ in her name sounded seductive. He kissed Tricky lightly on both cheeks. As he acknowledged Ari, his smile fell slightly. “You brought company.”

“Yes, my colleague, Guy.” Tricky had a thing about giving Ari the worst names possible. At least Guy was better than Dick and Knob. Hard to keep a straight face while people called you Knob.

“Nice to meet you,” Ari lied as she extended a hand, and noticed he had bare feet and smelled of the ocean.

“Charmed,” he replied and turned his attention back to Tricky. “Let’s sit.”

He waited for her to be seated, then took a seat close by, ignoring Ari completely—which she appreciated.

“I was hoping this visit wasn’t completely business.” Maxim remained focused on Tricky.

“Business first, then we’ll have time for pleasantries.” Tricky let her velvety voice trail off.

As Maxim’s hand traveled across Tricky’s thigh, Ari turned before she got sick. Just get to business. This was why Ari was secondary. She didn’t have the stomach for this, not the way Tricky did. The only thing that gave her away was the twitch of her fingers.

Tricky, an Icelandic twenty-year-old, had been working this target for months, trying to get names and codes out of him. He had security in place to protect him electronically inside this world, but with them both in here they hoped to grab enough information to prosecute him in several countries.

So, while Tricky flirted and talked about the upcoming deal, Ari scanned the protections he had in place. Tricky’s twin brother, Blur, would be better at this, but Tricky didn’t think he could stomach Maxim. Ari couldn’t say she blamed him.

She ignored the conversation behind her and inspected an art piece, only there wasn’t an art piece in her vision anymore. Letters, numbers, and unique characters flew past her. She dug around for a bit, searching through his home. In the bedroom, there was more than she wanted to see, but she couldn’t leave anything unturned.

A sour taste rose up her throat as she finished sorting through his personal items and found the home link. His firewalls kept anyone from hacking into his personal files. Hence the needed deal. When he gave them what they wanted, he’d transfer the file outside the program and that small window would be enough for Ari to slip inside.

Ready to move, Ari turned her attention back to the conversation.

“There. 3.2 million cryptos all yours,” Tricky said in the seductive voice that Ari had grown tired of.

Without missing a beat, a servant entered the room and nodded at Maxim to confirm the deposit and then disappeared. Getting messages in and out of a virtual program could be difficult without leaving a trace. Having a man come into personally deliver it protected Maxim more than he knew.

Maxim turned back to Tricky with delight. “3.2 million cryptos. Beautiful.”

“My file?” Tricky leaned forward, touching his arm.

“Should be already be there.”

“What?” She pulled back with surprise. “You were supposed to be giving it to me directly.”

“It’s better to be secure. Let your assistant check it for you.” He motioned to Ari.

Stupid flipping arms dealers changing plans last minute. Ari was supposed to follow the delivery electronically to get more information. If the delivery wasn’t happening in here, then there was no chance.

Struggling to keep her anger under wraps, Tricky turned to Ari. “Please check the delivery.” If Maxim wouldn’t transfer files in and out of the program in front of them, they couldn’t risk it either.

Closing her eyes, Ari willed herself out of the program. Some people felt as if they clicked off a light when they left a virtual program, or even shut a door as they taught at school. For Ari, she imagined stepping backwards. She inhaled and something inside of her chest pulled her back into reality.

It took only seconds for her to pull out of the virtual world. Glimpsing the basement, she didn’t bother looking around but spoke to the others standing nearby. “Did we