Hard Wired Trilogy

by DeAnna Pearce

  Turning in a circle, he stumbled over his words. “I gotta go back to our room. Maybe one more drink.”

  “There is no room, Dad. There is no cruise, no boat, no damn river. You are in a VR and your only way out is to leave with me, to go back home.” She clenched her fists ignoring the pain in her palms. “You need to come home to me and Marco and Mom. Please, Dad. Come home.”

  Ari’s words appeared to be lost in the air. He mumbled something about code and finding the loophole, but Ari couldn’t make it out. She reached out and shook him by the shoulders, pain turning to frustration. “Dad?”

  He didn’t bother to even glimpse her way. He ripped his arm out of her grasp, and she fell backwards in the dirt. He walked away from her, stumbling towards an empty oblivion. Her whole life he had been walking away from her, and the pieces of her heart that he held, fragile and broken as they were, shattered.

  The sick man, who was no longer her father, continued down the street to an old door, talking to people that were not there, and mumbling incoherently. A numbing sensation poured over her as she watched him in his own make-believe world, knowing she would never have her father back. Her father was dead. The only thing left was this VR recording, a shell of his former desires and wishes stuck on repeat.

  Closing her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose, not able to look at him anymore. She morphed back into the older version of herself with jeans and a black shirt. It hurt too much to look at her childlike hands. Ari knew this could happen, but some part of her, that little girl with pig tails, wanted more. She had wanted a purpose for the past few months of her life. What would she tell her mother the next time they spoke?

  Before she left the VR, a slow methodical clapping echoed in the program. It sounded nothing like her father, so she opened her eyes. In front of her stood Advisor Williams.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  How long had Advisor Williams been watching her from inside the VR? Standing there in his perfectly pressed gray suit and blue tie, his old blue eyes gave nothing away.

  She stood, trying to keep her features calm as her blood raced. “Why are you here?”

  “Oh dear, please don’t waste our time with asinine questions. You children are all so predictable, skirting your responsibility to your country. The question you should ask is, what I’m going to do with you and your newfound abilities?” He stepped purposefully, careful not to dirty his shoes on the dusty road.

  “I’ll go back to school,” Ari lied. “I just wanted to see my dad.”

  Williams gave a small sound of disapproval. “I’ve been watching you and your brother for a long time. Your brother is a waste of space, and at first, I worried you’d be just like him. I have to admit, I misjudged you. That was why it took so long for me to see what you really are.”

  “Really are?” Her gut clenched as she realized he knew about her abilities. She could only play stupid for so long as he closed the distance between them. This was a VR, she reminded herself. He couldn’t hurt her in there. She was stronger than him.

  “Don’t get me wrong. The signs were all there for a warper, but it took me hours of combing through footage to see the truth.” He stood mere feet away, watching her closely. “And even though you are gifted far above what you deserve, you still can’t be trusted. You’ll be taken immediately to a new facility, one that can help guide you through your true responsibilities. You can be shaped into the tool we need.”

  Her head snapped up, her body poised and ready to flee. Dave was right. She had never thought Advisor Williams was a saint, but deep down she hadn’t believed the horror stories about warpers. How in the hell could she get out of this? Reed! If Williams was in here, they must have Reed already.

  “You children think you’re so special and deserve so much. You started from nothing and deserve nothing. Your only worth is what you can give your country.” His tone turned dark, and disgust painted his face ugly.

  “I’ve never asked for a handout.” She stepped back, a bit frightened, never having seen so much emotion on Williams face before.

  “Your life is a handout. Detain.” The last word he said out loud as if talking to someone else.

  Before she could respond, metal links tied her hands in front of her. “What the hell?” Her wrists hurt where the chains bit into her skin. It took her a second to remind herself it wasn’t real. She blinked to find the code, and it took her several more seconds to remove the links binding her hands.

  “You’re too slow and untrained. Do you really want to play this with me? I’ll give you nightmares you’ll never forget.” He pointed forward.

  Fast, like lightening, pain erupted across her thigh, and she cried out. Red blossomed on her jeans. She couldn’t figure out what Williams did, but it hurt like the devil. Why was this hurting so bad? VR programs were meant to dull pain receptors.

  Williams spoke again, something she couldn’t make out, and the pain in Ari’s chest brought her to her knees.

  Every breath she took was painful.

  He stepped forward. “Do you like this little program? An addition I created when needed to motivate individuals.”

  Her eyes widened. She’d never thought anything like this was possible. With his next step forward, blinding pain erupted along her spine. She closed her eyes and dropped her head to the ground. She tried to force her way out of the program, but nothing happened. She tried again and again, screaming in frustration. Why couldn’t she leave? A coppery taste of blood entered her mouth, and she thought she would die. No, she wanted to die.

  “After several months at school, you still don’t know your way around a VR. How disappointing.” He crouched close to her prone form, his voice creeping inside her mind. “This is my little invention. It’s modified to obey certain commands and protected by walls you’ve never seen.”

  The code. She searched deep into the program. Numbers and letters flew by and she recognized certain specifics, grass, sky, and more. But there was something she had never seen before. Totally unfamiliar, she tried to delete it, to wipe it out, but nothing happened.

  “You’re not the first warper I’ve had to drag in kicking and screaming.”

  He touched her temple and a blinding pain stabbed inside her mind. Past her screams, the pain reminded her of another time, the day in the VR, when someone had destroyed her drive. The blank file hurt like hell to try to navigate. There was nothing but pain. She still remembered the ringing in her ears and the migraine she’d had for hours. Before she could think too long about her decision, she erased everything she could see, all characters in the code. She hoped that by destroying all the data Williams’s program needed to run, she would be free. Rage fueled her power, and she deleted everything. When her mind began to spin, she pulled out.

  Unsure if she made it, she struggled for breath in the darkness. Snippets of light in the room she left flashed in front of her. She struggled to make things out as pools of black swam in her vision and code scattered across the darkness. Her wrists ached, restrained in front of her, and she realized she was back in reality. She glimpsed a guard as she tried to turn her head, the wires pinching her neck.

  He reached for her neck to pull out her cable. He spoke, but the words were mumbled as if she were underwater. She wrestled under her restraints. It took another minute of panic until her vision came fully back.

  Even though her wounds took place in the VR, her body ached, and her head throbbed. She ignored the pain and trying to search the room. “Reed!”

  A soldier pushed her back down. “Quiet.”

  She fought as another man’s rough hands pulled the cables out. “Reed,” she screamed again, panicking as she tried to find him.

  Reed called her name from somewhere afar but was cut off by the dry thud of a punch and responding moan.

  Arching back, she continued struggling against their hold. “Let me go.”

  They ignored her, lifting her to her feet and hauling her out the door. Back in the main room, unco
nscious patients remained unmoved by the chaos in front of them. A few feet down the main corridor, Reed stood between two guards, a gash on the right side of his temple, and blood in the corner of his mouth. His gaze was frantic as he called for her.

  “Reed!” Ari needed to know he was okay. He had to be okay.

  “No need for theatrics.” Williams appeared, his creased forehead the only sign that Ari might have gotten to him in the VR.

  She strained against her captor’s grasp, kicking behind her and twisting. She’d grown up wrestling with Marco, who never took it easy on her, and she knew how to fight. The guard hit her from behind, and her legs collapsed under her. Pain shot down her back, and she gritted her teeth.

  “Stop!” Reed pulled forward.

  “Don’t injure her,” Williams ordered, and her guard stilled. Williams’s gaze traveled briefly between Reed and Ari, finally resting on Reed. “The boy, on the other hand, is disposable.”

  “No!” Ari shouted.

  “Then behave.”

  She stopped struggling and the guard lugged her to her feet.

  Reed’s eyes were frantic and worried. “This isn’t goodbye, Ari.”

  If it kept him safe, she would do whatever they asked. Even if that meant going with Williams. As they walked past the private rooms, her heart ached to see defeat written on Reed’s face.

  As she moved past him towards the exit, the world exploded around her. The blast knocked Ari to the ground as pieces of rubble rained down on her. An alarm blared above, cutting through any conscious thought. Pain radiated up her leg and the side of her face burned. For a moment she worried she was back in the VR with Williams. She struggled to open her eyes as smoke flooded the room.

  “Get your ass moving,” someone yelled in her face, someone with purple hair. Tessa.

  Ari tried to speak, but started coughing instead, which sent her head spinning. Shouts sounded over the alarm. Sprinklers turned on overhead, water raining down over Ari.

  A burly guard approached. A blast of light shot from Tessa’s hand, and the man fell to the ground, convulsing as if being electrocuted. Tessa pulled on Ari’s good arm, and she focused on getting her legs to stand. Ari cried out when she put pressure on her leg. A large piece of plastic stuck out of her thigh.

  “Don’t look at it. Just move,” Tessa ordered.

  Ari obeyed. With Tessa’s help, she could walk. Unfortunately, standing didn’t help the world swimming around her. Ari searched for Reed but couldn’t see anything through the smoke and chaos.

  “Reed?” Ari yelled over the alarm.

  “Up ahead. Just keep moving.” Tessa pulled her through the maze of beds. The rain didn’t bother the unconscious patients as it splattered their faces and soaked their white sheets.

  Ari couldn’t help but worry some of them might have been hurt by the explosion, even though it had come from on the opposite wall. “What happened?”

  “Oh, your brother is now into black market toys. Sort of cool, if it doesn’t kill him.”

  Ari moaned. If they all survived this, she was going to kill him.

  Reed appeared on Ari’s other side and a flush of relief coursed through Ari’s body.

  He glanced down at her injured leg and swore. “Let’s get out of here.”

  They hurried to where Marco stood by an emergency exit. Marco’s lip pulled up into a large smile, far too large for the trouble they were all in. “Hey, sis.”

  “Save it.”

  “Of course.” He opened the emergency exit and they filed out into the alley.

  A shot fired behind them, and Ari instinctively ducked. Williams hollered over the alarm. Marco turned back. He pulled the gun from the back of his pants and took aim.

  “Marco,” she yelled in protest.

  Reed held her back. Ari knew most of the staff had already taken cover once the alarm had sounded. Armed guards stormed towards them. Marco got off several shots before the doors closed.

  Out in the alley, they all ran, or as close to running as Ari could manage. Reed supported Ari’s bad leg, helping her unsteady stride. A doorway appeared up ahead, and Marco motioned for them to take it. They were in the middle of an industrial park, filled with sky-rise buildings and offices. They continued down the alley, and it opened to a street. People cluttered the sidewalks, most dressed in business attire.

  “One sec.” Reed had Ari hold onto Tessa. He took off his button up flannel, leaving him in a black t-shirt.

  “What are you doing?” Marco must have finally noticed Ari’s wound. “Shit, sis. That’s bad.”

  She sucked in a harsh breath as Reed pulled the piece of plastic out of her leg. He tied his shirt around her leg, covering the wound. “It’s not close to a major artery, so hopefully that should hold for a little bit.”

  “That’s a hell of a lot of blood for fine.” Marco’s eyes widened.

  Ari tried not to look at her leg.

  “I’m sorry—” Marco started.

  “I’m just glad to be away from Williams, and I don’t want to go back.” She exhaled a big gust of air and focused on their next step. “We have to split up. They only want me.”

  “No,” Reed and Tessa said in unison.

  Reed continued, “You’re getting on that plane first.”

  “What plane? I’m supposed to meet Dave several blocks from here.” She briefly glimpsed the busy street. “We won’t last out here for long. Every cop in the area is probably looking for us.”

  “I called Dave. He’s meeting us on top.” Tessa pointed up.

  “There?” The sleek gray building next to them rose high in the air.

  “We aren’t totally useless,” Marco said. “Let’s move.”

  They turned the corner onto the sidewalk. Ari stood in between Reed and Tessa, with Marco in front trying to block the view of her bloody leg.

  “When we saw Williams enter the center, we improvised with the explosives,” Tessa explained.

  Reed tightened his hold around her waist. “Don’t look now, but there’s an officer across the street.”

  Ari turned her gaze down, knowing her face would be the first they would recognize. After a moment, she dared a glance. The officer, dressed in dark fatigues, was approaching them, talking to into his headset.

  “Run,” Reed yelled.

  They hurried into the building and headed to the elevator. Their ragged appearance drew curious glances, and they ignored the receptionist’s shouts.

  “Sorry this one is full.” Tessa pushed a man aside as they raced inside the empty elevator.

  The door closed as a security officer sprinted towards them. Marco jabbed at the buttons for top floor and roof access. He pulled out a small device and hooked it into the system. It took mere seconds for him to override the system and grant them access.

  Everyone was breathing hard inside the small elevator. Ari’s leg throbbed, and black dots danced in her vision. She focused on staying upright and ignored her desire to sag to the floor. If she went down, she wasn’t sure she could stand again. The bruises on Reed’s face blossomed into a deep purple. Marco put his equipment in his bag and slung it on his back, sweat gathering on his brow.

  Ari brushed back her hair. “Do we know if Dave is there yet?”

  Tessa’s face fell. “He said he’d hurry.”

  So that was a no. “And if there is nothing but officers up there?”

  Nobody answered. Reed reached out and squeezed her hand, saying everything they didn’t have time to say. The elevator passed the top floor and arrived at the roof.

  The doors binged opened, and the sun shone into the elevator. Reed held the door open with a hand and waited for a moment. The roof held random maintenance units, big silver boxes scattered along the roof. There was no sign of Advisor Williams or other security.

  In the corner of the roof, a sleek pale blue aircraft was parked with its engine running. It had a modern oval shape with angular wings protruding from the sides.

  “Look.” Ari pointed
to the aircraft. Relief coursed through her limbs. It had to be Dave.

  “Run,” Marco hollered, and they raced onto the roof.

  With Reed at her side, she forced her heavy legs to run towards the plane. Even though every step was jarring and painful, she pushed on. Once in view, the rear side door opened in the aircraft. Dave sat in back with an armed guard and waved them in.

  Shouts erupted. Coming from across the roof, Williams, disheveled and injured from the blast, shouted to the guards surrounding him. Two of Williams’s armed men continued chasing them, while the guards dropped to a knee next to Williams.

  She focused straight ahead. They were going to make it. They had to. The plane lifted a few feet off the ground, readying for takeoff. Gunfire exploded across the roof. Ari ducked her head but kept moving.

  Tessa jumped inside first, and then Marco slid in right behind her.

  Mere feet away, Ari and Reed fell to the ground. Pain shot down her leg from the impact. Pushing up, blood painted the ground in front of her, but it wasn’t her blood. Reed. Blood pooled from his shoulder.

  Two men in full protective gear jumped out of the plane, one returning fire and the other pulling her into the plane. Rough hands picked her up. “Reed!” she screamed. “Get Reed.” Panic flared at the idea of what Williams would do to Reed bleeding out on the ground.

  Deposited in the plane, she turned to the open door. Rapid gunfire and screams rang out as the plane lifted a foot or two in the air. A guard carried Reed under one arm, and they climbed on the readied plane. The door slammed shut behind them. Shots continued bouncing off the plane as it lifted in the sky.

  Dave shouted orders to the pilot and grabbed a med kit. Reed moaned in pain and Ari placed a hand on his leg, wishing she could do more. One of the men pushed her out of the way as he worked on Reed’s shoulder. She turned to look out the window, not able to shake the feeling that they were still being chased. She pulled back slightly, and then moved closer to the thick window. Numbers and letters raced around Williams, replacing the roof and the men, and running like code in a VR. Her pulse quickened. This couldn’t be real, it couldn’t be happening. Her heart raced as she glanced to the others in the plane. No one else was paying attention.