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

“We have a meeting with President Salomon.” Ari took lead on the conversation. She showed him her credentials and waited for him to search for a meeting that she never scheduled.

“I can’t find anything on the calendar.” He scanned the screen in front of him. “I would have remembered anything from your office.”

“Check again.” Blur stepped forward. “We must show her edits from the BIO 2B bill. It’s going up this afternoon, and it’s important she sees it beforehand.”

“One minute.” The assistant turned to his computer and typed on the keyboard with the speed of a hummingbird.

Blur manipulated the code while the assistant continued to work.

Finally, he turned to them. “I must have missed it before. Odd. She can see you right now for a few minutes.”

They were escorted to her office. The bland professional décor of her office highlighted a large picture of a woman with her hand lifted in the air. Her face had a sad yet inspiring look to it. Ari wished she had the time to learn the story about that picture.

President Salomon moved from behind her desk. Her short black hair curled around her face as her dark serious eyes watched them. Her file said she was around fifty, she looked a lot young inside—most people do.

The woman reached forward to shake their hands. “Hello. I’m sorry I don’t have time to sit down with you. Hopefully, you can understand given that the session is about to close. I didn’t know there was any additional input for the BIO 2B bill.”

“We won’t waste your time. There is something you need to see.” Blur handed over the paper file he created on the way up.

In a virtual, a file could be transferred in a variety of methods, but for this purpose they felt giving her the paper form would be the fastest for her to read. As she opened the file, an alarm sounded throughout the entire VR realm.

Ari’s heartbeat spiked and she glanced around. If Maxim wanted a fight, Ari was ready to give it to him. The freshly buried rage began to surface. But no one appeared as the alarm continued its incessant screaming.

The assistant arrived in the doorway of the office. “President, we need to leave.”

Beep. Beep. “This is not a drill. Please evacuate as soon as possible.” An announcement sounded from overheard. “This is not a drill.”

“Is this because of you?” the president asked, looking between them.

Ari had to hand it to President Salomon, she was made of strong stuff to not run at the first sound of trouble. Ari’s heart raced as she wondered who in their team set it off. She prayed it wasn’t them.

“Maybe,” Ari said. “The powers that rule this realm don’t want you to see what’s in that file.”

“Is it about the virus?” The president didn’t move to open it.

“Yes.” Blur remained where he was, his hands open with vulnerability. “It shows the murder, illegal money and weapons laundering, and human trafficking that the VLEX board members are knowingly let happen. And the virus Maxim unleashed on India.”

“Maxim? As in the new board member?” Her eyes narrowed. It was obvious she wasn’t a fan of that name. “You don’t work for President Torres’s office? Who are you?”

Ari stepped forward. “I’ve worked in VLEX long enough to understand that you’ll want to know what’s in that file. You fight for the underdog. You fight for your country. Please fight for it now.”

The woman nodded. As she started to read the file. She scanned the first sheet, the surprise evident on her face. As she turned the page, it fluttered to the ground along with the rest of the folder. She collapsed in front of them, gripping her temples.

Her assistant hurried forward.

Ari rushed to her side and yelled at the young man. “Go! Now! Pull her out.”

He left with no hesitation and within seconds the woman followed.

Kneeling on the ground, Ari tried to reel her breath back in. With most of the people in VLEX gone with the evacuation, Maxim must be targeting whoever was left. Taking a moment to look into the code, Ari realized someone had been testing Ari and Blur’s defenses. Attacking them without successes, and eventually they stopped.

But while Blur and Ari used safe VR machines, this woman hadn’t. Ari prayed Salomon made it back in one piece. She wasn’t exposed for long.

Standing, Ari turned to Blur. “Do you think she saw enough?”

“Maybe.” Blur’s eyes turned icy cold but vacant, as if he watched code float by. “It looked like she downloaded the file before she was attacked. I’m not sure the file got across with the virus, but she should survive.”

With Ari’s heart racing, she searched the code herself. “Where is everyone else?”

“Patrick and Harini are in the building over. The others are already gone.”

Ari stood up. “I know we should go. You should go. But if Patrick and Harini are still here, they may be in trouble. I’m going to stay.”

“Me too.” His hand remained clenched and his anger almost had a hungry feel to it.

They would need that anger, Ari thought.

They could have gone down the elevator and walked over to the other building, but they were warpers. And with most of the inhabitants of the program gone, they had nothing to hide. Ari concentrated on the code and found Harini and Patrick. Within seconds, Blur and Ari appeared next to Harini and Patrick.

They stood in a large conference room across from Maxim, the only person to wear his true face. Blur tensed at the sight of him. She was surprised Harini and Patrick remained inside. They all were supposed to leave after delivering the information. This was an unexpected departure to the plan they had, but maybe it would work in their favor. Ari itched to tear him apart.

“Oh, I see some more friends showed up. All the better,” Maxim said with a smile.

Chapter 32

Maxim waved a hand towards the chairs that surrounded the sleek table. It appeared