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

Reed, if it even was Reed. She could trigger something and link it back to the team.

Patrick led the way to an Indian restaurant. The two of them ordered drinks to blend in and found a dark corner to sit in. It looked intimate, but it was ideal for the business dealings that often took place inside VLEX. Food was optional, so were drinks. They didn’t cost anything in this realm, since nothing was real. It was a stage for people to relax.

“How long do you think it will take? He sounded confident it wouldn’t take long to find him.” Patrick sipped the steaming tea in front of him. They had planned for Marco to go to the same café Tricky and Ari had seen Reed at, and around the same time. They would only stay inside for an hour to avoid notice, so this could be a one-day or a two-week mission.

“Depends. Marco gets easily distracted. A pretty diplomat that can offer him a business opportunity,” she did air quotes around business opportunity, “could keep him occupied for a good hour.”

Patrick’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t?”

“I hope not, but honestly I don’t always know. He seems like he has changed, but he did set up an illegal VR ring at our school.” She hated the nerves that tangled in her stomach.

A chuckle escaped Patrick, it looked good on him. “Good thing we can keep track of him and make sure he stays on task.” Patrick’s eyes glassed over as if he was staring off in space.

As a waitress passed their table, Ari leaned forward and placed a hand on his arm to make his expression less noticeable. It took Ari back six months ago, when she was pretending to be an aide and he was pretending to be her boyfriend. A twisted game that turned out to save her life.

Patrick had not worn a skin back then but wore his true face in the VR, a dangerous move considering. Looking back, Ari wondered why. She’d had to ask him when they returned to the real. Now she watched Patrick wear the skin of an older man, Caucasian, with blondish brown hair and a prominent nose. No one was ugly in VR, not with the skins they had, but this one wasn’t particularly attractive to her. This skin must have been close to this person’s real face.

The skin Ari wore was similar to this man in nationality, but this skin was for looks. Her slender body curved in all the right places. Her golden hair flowed in waves around her while she tapped her long pink nails on the table.

He blinked a few times and Ari knew he returned. She pulled back her hand, but not before he glanced at it. Nothing was said.

“Your brother is pretty smooth. His talents were wasted on old tech. He could sell a lot more than illegal programs.”

“It is his talent and his curse. None of my girlfriends were safe from his charms.”

“Sounds like his friends weren’t safe either, if you ended up with Reed,” Patrick pointed out.

Glancing down, she pushed back the embarrassment that crept up when she talked about Reed to Patrick. It shouldn’t bother her. She scolded herself and looked back up. “Guess not.”

“Seems like no one is safe from Cynthia either. I think I’ve gained five pounds since your mother started cooking.”

“You needed it,” Ari told him, then it was her turn to check in on her bother. They knew the path Marco was taking inside the VLEX, so combing through the code of the program didn’t take her long. She didn’t touch or alter the code in any way, nothing to alert anyone of their presence. They just watched to make sure he was okay. Ari found him leaving a coffee shop and flirting with an attendant.

She pulled back to Patrick in front of her. “Is it possible that it was all in my head, seeing Reed? Maybe it was a hallucination. A symptom of the virus.”

“Do you think it was? You’re experienced enough to know,” Patrick said.

Ari shrugged. After she arrived, she had told Patrick of the experiences she had with her father. She was scared that the insanity ran in her family. He explained that using her power inside a program can produce true hallucinations. Just like the headaches and other side effects from her body were trying to warm her.

“Can we move a little closer, just in case?” Ari asked.

“Let’s stay here. He’ll move closer in a minute. We blend in more here.”

Glancing around, Ari realized he was right. The restaurant held small tables, hushed conversations, and dimmed lights. Patrick and Ari looked more like lovers than a business transaction.

Patrick faded out to check on Marco.

She sipped her drink and pretended to interact with him. A word here, a touch there helped perpetuate the act to anyone who might be watching.

“Something’s wrong. Well, not wrong, but feels off. He’s talking to a man. I can’t tell who. Maybe it’s Reed.”

Ari shot to her feet, faster than she meant too. “Let’s go then.”

“Wait.” He grabbed her arm with a grip that surprised her.

“We’ll keep our distance. Promise.” Her nerves wouldn’t let her sit still. Ari could probably see the code for herself but reading the subtleties of Reed in code was more difficult than it sounded. Part of her wanted to see him again as well. Part of her knew it was crazy, but she thought she could will him into existence.

Standing, Patrick buttoned up his suit jacket. “Alright. Just remember, no changes.”

“Of course.” With them not knowing if their abilities activated any type of alarm, she wasn’t tempted to use them. Not yet at least.

They started walking and Ari struggled to keep her pace relaxed. Finally, Patrick took her hand. It soothed her and reminded her of the role she played.

They walked for a couple of blocks. The click of her heels on the stone paths kept a steady rhythm. Then they pulled up short and there