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

his sister go under. Ari heard that rumor before she knew about their back history with Maxim. And while she understood why Tricky had to do it, Ari also understood why Blur couldn’t stand to watch.

“Is this where you were hiding out when Mom ambushed me over breakfast?” Ari asked.

Marco smiled. “It’s about time someone else gets yelled at besides me.”

“I liked it the other way better.”

“You would.” He turned back to the screen. “You better sit down, if you want to catch the lunchtime rush.”

They couldn’t see inside VLEX without being there—one of the security measures of most realms. They couldn’t even see who was there unless they hacked the realm’s main server which was protected beyond belief. They could monitor the filtered real time political feed from the VLEX and sometimes the amount of people going in and out. It wasn’t much, but they worked with what they had.

“That it is.” Patrick watched the screen over Marco’s shoulder. “You two better get ready.”

Tricky and Ari took their places in the reclined chairs and inserted the cable into the port in the back of their heads.

“Ready in three, two, one.” Patrick counted down. “Be safe.”

With his usual command, Ari closed her eyes and the program began.

Marco placed Ari and Tricky at the corner, near a coffee shop. Tricky didn’t miss a beat but started walking down the narrow road. Ari wondered how she did that.

It took Ari a minute to acclimatize to her surroundings. She remembered this corner and the lunch and coffee shops lining the street. Working for VisionTech, she spent several months here. She took in Tricky’s profile first, as to not lose her, which was difficult as it was created to blend in.

Tricky took on the skin of a beautiful Italian women with brown wavy hair and olive-toned skin. Most people looked beautiful in here. Even if people kept their own physical makeup, they often cleaned up any blemishes and amplified certain features. For example, eyes. Why have blue eyes when they can shimmer like sea glass? A person with hazel eyes passed, and they shone like expensive gemstone.

Looking down, Ari took in the profile that she had read about last night. This skin was darker, a deep chocolate, with petite hands and lightly painted nails. Her business suit kept her more serious than Tricky’s profile. Ari became the skin for the lunch hour, as the woman who it belonged to had already signed out. Staying in for an extra lunch hour, hopefully wouldn’t attract undue attention.

Once comfortable with her skin, Ari turned down a different street. She continued with her detour for several minutes then met up with Tricky in a small cafe. Since food wasn’t a necessity inside here, these restaurants and shops were more set for meeting. With a nice drink, comfortable food, and a good atmosphere to play a backdrop in whatever meeting that was to be had.

Ari spotted Tricky across the room and turned to head to the bar, each playing their separate role. Ever since Ari’s declaration last time she was in, there were too many eyes in here to take one step out of place.

Tricky looked tense though, which set Ari’s nerves on edge. Did Tricky sense something that she didn’t?

Ari ordered an espresso and tried to look bored. Behind her expression, she pulled back slightly from the intricate world around her and into the code beneath. While manipulating code felt as natural as coloring in a child’s screen, searching thousands and millions of code without alerting authorities wasn’t as easy. She watched for any mention of Maxim or VisionTech. Nothing popped up with bright red flags screaming “here I am, come get me,” and Ari realized she could sit here for hours and still not find anything. Tricky was faster at scanning code, probably since she shared genes with Blur.

Ari pulled her attention to the screen in front of her set into the bar. It was a directory of worldwide governments and companies wealthy enough to purchase permanent office space here. As she scanned the hundreds of names, the thought entered that VisionTech probably had an office here. She never went to it before because she was never supposed to be associated with them in any way.

Just as she thought, after scrolling to the bottom, she found a listing for VisionTech. They were in the electronic trade division not too far from here, even. She wondered how much she could look into VisionTech before getting noticed.

Popping back into the code, she now searched for VisionTech where she knew they would be. Unfortunately, they held all real information close to their chest. They weren’t dumb enough to do otherwise. Ari did make note of the listed CEO and contact representative for out in the real. It wasn’t much, but who knew.

Using the same method as she did with VisionTech, she scrolled for any of the shell companies that they knew that Maxim worked with, which turned out to be over twenty. When rich, immoral people want to hide things, they make it extremely complicated. On about her tenth name she was about to give up, but then found something. Windsor Corp traded stock from the Icy North of the Americas. It focused on European holdings. Maxim had used it several years ago, Ari remembered. It was a small company but knowing that it was big enough to get a holding in VLEX might mean something.

She stood and walked over to Tricky’s table, where she pretended to read a book. Those eyes were blank though, not taking in the table in front of her.

“Hi, do you remember me?” Ari extended a hand, keeping up the facade of their characters.

“Yes, it’s good to see you.”

“You too. I was just here for a meeting with Windsor Corp, but their representative stood me up.”

“That’s too bad. I just saw their information cross my desk.”

“Good to know.” Out of the corner of Ari’s vision, she saw an all-too familiar face.

Reed?

Ari looked out of instinct