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

the VRs, like a panic attack from the old days just threatening to make an appearance. Maybe she couldn’t blame it completely on the coffee.

Every morning and evening they sat around the conference table to report on their progress. The large screen in the corner counted how many hours Tricky had been under. It was almost up to forty.

Patrick looked recently showered and waited for the team to be seated. Ari watched him. He was almost twenty-four, and shouldered responsibility for this whole team. She didn’t know many twenty-four-year-olds that could handle that. Maybe it helped that he learned that he was a warper at a young age. It sounded like his parents did everything they could to prepare him. She wondered where they were now.

“Where are we with progress at VisionTech?” Patrick asked.

“They are hard to track, at least with regard to Reed or any new programming positions. They have their fingers in a lot of pots.” Harini pushed back the floral headband that had slipped down. The messy ponytail that held up her black hair looked about to explode. “If they have anything to do with the virus, they are being very tight-lipped. They don’t really have a reason to attack Tricky, unless it was a warning that they want Ari was back. I did find an IP address associated with Maxim that I sent over for Blur to trace.”

“Did it trace back to Maxim?” Patrick turned to Blur.

“Not that IP address. It went higher up. Locked down by VLEX’s top security. I’m still asking around and will let you know when something comes up.” Blur’s dark eyes told Ari that he hadn’t been taking his prescribed naps. She didn’t blame him. “But Maxim has been busy. He’s hiring more and more programmers for better security. But the names I’ve heard that have gone that way work on the dark net. Maxim is paying a lot for it. More than he should, in fact. He has the motive and the money. Doesn’t mean he is working alone. The owners of VLEX, or any other of the worldwide virtual realms, would be more than happy to have a virus like this to keep people in check.”

“Governments that work with Maxim will be going against the last Geneva accords. They can’t risk the world cutting them off,” Patrick said. “If Maxim wants to screw with us, then let’s show him what we’re really capable of. We’re not going for a front door attack. He’ll be prepared for that. Get creative, Blur. Hurt him where he doesn’t expect it. I’m going to work on the virus with Ari this morning. You’re in charge of the team, and we’ll meet up this afternoon.”

Blur nodded his agreement, his jaw tight.

“Let’s get to work then.” Patrick turned to Ari. “Follow me?”

“Of course.” With a quick goodbye to Marco, who was in deep discussion with Joe, Ari followed Patrick out of the room. She had to quicken her pace to keep up. It didn’t take long to figure out where they were headed. He turned into the VR room, where Tricky and Ari last went online.

She wiped her palms on her jeans and realized her old anxiety of VR programs decided to rear its ugly head again. Her phobia, created early on with her father’s VR addiction, had been a constant fear in her life. After school and her work on the island, it became more of a nagging reminder of the danger each time she entered. Watching Tricky be attacked had done a number on Ari’s anxiety levels. She would deal if it meant saving Tricky, though.

“What’s the plan?” She turned to Patrick, who stood at the computer.

“I know you’ve been struggling to identify or recreate the virus, but you’ve been working in reality where your abilities are constrained.” He typed a final key then looked up. “We’re going in a simple closed program where it will be easier to reconstruct code.”

“That makes sense.” The tightness in her throat eased up. At least with a constrained program, it was limited to the confines of this computer with no access to the outside world. Ignoring her anxiety, she climbed into the chair and began hooking up.

“Are you alright?” Patrick settled into the chair next to her.

“Fine.” With a deep breath, she clicked the cable into place. Closing her eyes, she saw her father hooked up to the machines.

Opening her eyes, she stared at the ceiling, a vise tight around her heart. I’m not my father. I’m Ariana Mendez, and right now my friend needs my help. Swallowing a couple times, she forced herself back into the program before Patrick noticed her absence.

She awoke to a simple office, similar to Patrick’s. Her heart pounded from her earlier flashback of her father. Having that nightmare bleed into her dreams was one thing, but not here. Forcing herself to calm down, she turned in a circle, taking her environment in.

Patrick stood by the desk. “I thought you’d feel more comfortable working somewhere familiar.” The smell of pine drifted in the office, and Ari wondered if he carried that into this realm on purpose.

“It helps. Thanks.” She realized even his smell made the tension in her shoulders relax. She didn’t have the time or desire to dissect what that meant.

A huge screen hung on the wall. He waved his right hand and code appeared. It was the basis of what Ari had been working on. It read as a simple break on a file. Or, in the VR world, it meant the file was a mind. She could get the basic outline of the code but not what trapped Tricky in the program and scrambled her mind.

Ari played around with different versions and the possibilities filled the screen. Then she turned to the walls, lining them with options. “I’m missing something. Something important.”

“This one.” He pointed to the one over the desk. “What’s that character doing in the code, like some hieroglyphic? What would that do?”

“I don’t know, but