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

the dull thud of hit after hit punctuated with the moans of pain. It not only looked real, but felt real, like she was the attacker. The Suit spun around, using his elbow to strike at the man’s jaw. A sickening crack echoed through the room as the robed man fell back; Ari turned from the screen unable to stomach any more.

She noticed Niomi standing further in the room with the director at her side. Ari had only met him one other time, when she first signed her contract. She remembered how generic and perfect his looks were, with dark hair, pristine pearl skin, and purposeful brown eyes. Now, with the dim light of the room, Ari thought her first impression was right—attractive yet nondescript.

Niomi glanced over her shoulder. Narrowing her eyes, she motioned for Ari to watch the screen, her lips pursed together with a firm silence. Ari didn’t dare speak and turned back to the screen.

The suit straddled the robed figure, whose fight appeared to finally die out. The robed figure spoke with the accent of an elite, “I don’t have the answers you seek. Killing me won’t help.”

“Oh, I don’t plan on killing you.” The suit slowly bent forward and grabbed the man’s forehead.

The screen blanked out, replaced by lines and lines of code in teal stripes. Code flew by faster than Ari could read it, and she had been practicing. After a moment, things slowed, and she caught bits and pieces. What was this, and where was this coming from? It looked like they were scanning a drive of some kind, but if so, that meant the suit was in a virtual world.

She had hundreds of questions, though with a quick glance at Niomi, Ari knew better than to ask. Whoever was running this, it appeared they were looking for something. They followed certain trails of code, then abandoned the trail and began with another. The lines slowed down. When Ari could finally read what he was after, she thought she’d be sick. Small children… couriers for information… She couldn’t figure out all the details, but there was something about them going insane and there was a slaughter…

“What the hell?” She reached for a nearby table, not trusting her legs to do their job at the moment.

“Pause feed,” the director spoke to the screen and then turned to Niomi, his condescending tone evident in every syllable. “You sure she is ready for this?”

Niomi watched Ari closely, as if accessing her reaction. The reaction beyond what the smart suit recorded. She turned back to the director. “No, but I’m sick of hearing her complaining. And we don’t have time for it.”

Ari snapped her head towards Niomi. “I don’t complain.” Okay, that maybe wasn’t technically true, but she did all Niomi asked.

“Let’s not get into that now.” Niomi’s dark red lips pulled up into a smile. “The director wants you pulled into your next level of training.”

“I didn’t think beating up politicians or clergy would be part of training. With as much money as you guys have, I would have thought you could hire some thugs for that.”

The director walked towards Ari, seemingly unbothered by her accusations, like they were too beneath him to address. His pressed white uniform held a small silver clip on the pocket. It didn’t say a name or anything as mundane as that, but Ari was sure it held something a lot more important. “Arianna, we don’t expect you’ll fight anyone. Your training for Niomi is merely for your health and protection in and out of the virtual. But we need to make sure you are ready for whatever gets thrown at you.”

“If I didn’t watch that guy get beat to a pulp, I’d feel better about it.”

“That agent was always a bloodthirsty type,” Niomi said.

Niomi must have trained him.

“We soon plan to introduce you to VLEX and want you prepared.”

“VLEX?” Ari took a seat at the nearby silver table that she often worked at with Niomi. After her workout, her body couldn’t take any more hits.

“I’m sure you’ve heard about it. Even whispers in your school?”

Ari shook her head.

“It’s the elite virtual world created for diplomatic meetings and international business cooperation,” the director explained like a lecturer on circuit.

“I assumed those types of worlds existed, but never heard of the name.”

“VisionTech has quite an investment and active participation in VLEX.”

“I see.” Ari couldn’t get the bloody image out of her mind.

“VLEX is nothing like what you just saw. That event didn’t transpire inside VLEX and that agent wasn’t ours. Someone released it to expose people. We just needed you to see what type of people are out there and what could happen if you’re not careful.”

People that obviously need to be tried for their crimes.

“If I had my way, it would have been a lot bloodier,” Niomi said.

“I was hired to program, not fight or be some cyber spy.” Ari pressed on her temple, wondering why they ever thought to hire her. “Ask Niomi, I’m a horrible fighter.”

“I don’t want a fighter,” the director said. “I want a smart mind that can gather information and protect itself against digital manipulations.”

Ari almost laughed. “And here I thought I’d be stuck writing virtual-in-virtuals for pervy old guys.” She’d learned about programs where one could go so deep in the virtual world that they would forget they were in there. Rich people often wanted to retire like that.

“The powers you have to manipulate the virtual environment are a lot more important than that.”

“So, what’s next? Going into VLEX?” Ari asked.

With a voice command, Niomi turned on a smaller monitor in front of Ari. “Soon, but time in the VLEX is very expensive. You’ll watch, learn, and train first.”

The screen flicked on to a picture of a grandiose city, streets lined in stone, and buildings rising up to reach the sky. People moved around the city like ants scurrying around on an expensive table. The sky was a perfect shade of blue, the clouds scattered around