“Marco wouldn’t keep his old school gear. He can get around on the streets better than anyone. He’ll be okay,” Reed said.
Ari squeezed his hand, turning her gaze to the window. Buildings, old homes, and cluttered lots passed by in a blur. She had taken this route several times with her mother to visit her father. Ari had hated seeing his weak, pale frame, barely clinging to life through the tubes and machines. But she’d rarely visited him in the VR despite her mother’s requests. Marco went once but never spoke to her about it. Ari wanted to see her father, but part of her worried that if she went in, he might convince her to never leave either.
The last time she had seen him conscious was her eighth birthday. Her parents had been fighting that morning over money and VRs, the usual things they’d argued about. Both of her parents stopped when Ari entered the room.
“We’re talking about some important things right now, sweetie. Go and play with your brother.” Red rimmed her mother’s heavy eyes.
“No.” Ari straightened up, angry at her dad for using all their money on VR vacations, especially when she hadn’t seen one birthday present anywhere in the house. “It’s not fair. You take all the money. You make Mom cry. It’s not fair. We don’t need you.” Tears streamed down her little face, but she stood strong, cutting her father with a few words. She’d never seen him conscious again.
That same summer, Ari surgically received her own port through school.
Eight years later, guilt and anger gnawed at Ari, but today she had a chance at redemption. She would convince him to leave or make that VR a living hell.
“Hey, you still here?” Reed squeezed her hand, pulling her back to reality.
“Yeah, just thinking,” Ari murmured.
“Me too.” He leaned over and briefly brushed her lips with a kiss.
Her stomach did that happy flip-flop dance that she associated with Reed.
“Get a room,” Tessa added. “A room without me in it.”
“Love you, too.” Ari smiled. She turned back to the window and spent the rest of the ride imagining life without Reed, without her family, in a foreign land by herself. And she’d thought going away to school was bad.
They made it to their stop and found Marco drinking coffee outside at a table.
“Good to see you.” She wrapped her brother into a hug. Stale smoke clung to him, like he now lived in a bar, but she didn’t care.
“Glad to see you’re causing more trouble than I am,” he murmured into her hair.
She pushed him back. “Difference is this isn’t my fault.”
“If you say so.” His eyes had that mischievous sparkle that he’d had as a child. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an old HUB and handed it to her. “This is linked to Mom’s account, so you shouldn’t have any problems getting into the facility. Good thing you look like her.”
The small device didn’t have a bracelet like most did, so she slipped the device into her pocket.
Tessa headed to the counter to buy drinks, mumbling something about decent coffee while the others waited at a table in the corner.
“I have something to give back to you too,” Reed told Marco. Her brother reached a hand out, but Reed shook his head. “Not here. But as pissed as I was to have to bring it to you, I’m glad I had it on the way here.”
The gun. As lucky as they were to have it, Marco could face ten years in prison for having one.
“Maybe you should toss it,” Ari said, but Marco instantly rejected that idea.
“I can get good cash for that.”
“It’s not the cash I worry about.” Ari watched her brother. She hoped he would be doing better at home, but somehow, he looked worse. His face had thinned, and his eyes had a haunted, dark look about them.
“Don’t worry, sis. I always land on my feet,” he said with a familiar smile that Ari had a hard time buying.
Tessa sat with a small drink in front of her. “So, what’s the plan?”
“I’m going to go see my dad, then meet up with Dave. He should be here in a couple hours.”
“When are we heading back?” Tessa turned to Reed.
“After Ari leaves, I suppose. The sooner the better. I have a feeling Williams might be waiting for us.”
Tessa nodded and took a sip of her coffee. “Probably, but I wonder if we took a detour by my father’s condo we could claim we’d been there all along? It may require some hacking, but you could manage.”
“What about your car?” Ari said.
“I let you borrow it,” Tessa told Ari. “We can order a service to take us back. I can figure it out after I have some decent caffeine in my system.”
“I wish I could take you all with me.” Ari took time to look at each of them, trying to memorize their faces.
Marco scoffed. “And leave this great life? I’ve got too much going on.”
“It’s a single ticket, dear, but worth it. Even I’m jealous of your contract.” Tessa took another drink of her large coffee.
“I’m with her, sis. I don’t know why you fell into the pot at the end of the rainbow with our gene pool. I’d kill for that ability.”
“I’d give it to you both in a heartbeat.” And Ari meant it.
The plan was simple—well, simple enough. Reed was going to use Marco’s visitor pass to get into the facility with Ari, while Tessa and Marco hacked the system from the outside. Marco was going to try to erase her trail, or the record of her being there. It wasn’t a guarantee though. Neither Marco nor Reed could guess all the security measures the facility might have in place. Either way, time was of the essence.
Ari’s heart raced as she walked through the large glass doors of the hospital’s entrance. The middle-aged woman at the desk was focused on the screen in front of her. Ari and Reed scanned their cards, and the cards’ pictures appeared on her screen. Reed looked nothing like her brother, but Reed didn’t care. He was going with her. The women glanced at their pictures, gave them an annoyed look, and waved them through. Maybe security wasn’t too tight here. It was only a hospital.
“I would like a private virtual visit,” Ari said, hating that her voice sounded so young and shaky.
The woman had already turned back to the screen. “Fill out the request and pay on the screen.”
Ari entered the required information, her fingers shaking so bad she had to re-enter her father’s name twice, and then she paid with a card Tessa had given her. Ari had only consented to let Tessa pay with the promise that she would pay her back, and that if Ari was caught she would say she had stolen the card from her roommate.
The monitor beeped, and the virtual was scheduled. The woman, eyes still on her screen, pointed to the scanners in front of the double doors. Ari steadied her steps and remained calm though every fiber in her body wanted to run.
Once through the scanners, Reed reached for her hand. “It’ll be okay.”
As they walked through the doors, she wasn’t sure she believed him. The smell of bodies mixed with cleaner hit them first. She’d been in health care centers before, but this dying scent made her gag.
Rows and rows of beds filled one side of the room. Unconscious people were laid out with white sheets covering them. Tubes trailed out from under the sheets into a metal device hanging off their beds. Fluorescent lights shined down on their gaunt empty faces. The only thing moving on these bodies were their eyes, flickering with random disturbing movements.
The other side of the area contained private rooms scheduled for virtual meetings. The metal doors had a single control panel and a number etched inside. Farther down the aisle, she watched an attendant push a bed into one of the private rooms. She assumed it was her father.
They walked down the hall and the tall male attendant greeted them at the door. “6G? For patient 26409?”
She nodded. Her father no longer had a name, but a number. A number she hated and could never forget.
“You ready?” Reed asked.
They both waited as her feet s
talled, heavy like cement. “Okay.” With a deep breath, she stepped into the room with Reed shutting the door behind them.
Her father’s once bulky frame had shrunken, now frail and bony under the thin sheet. His gaze flicked back and forth behind his closed eyes. Silver littered his dark hair, especially filling out his beard. His hair fell down to his shoulders and was tucked behind his ears. He used to wear it in a ponytail tied at the nape of his neck. He never was one to worry about his hair. When she was little, he used to let her put it in ponytails with all the colorful clips she wanted.
She stepped towards him and tears blurred her vision. How could she hate and love one person so much in the same moment? Her chest ached as she strengthened her resolve.
“Are you ready?” Reed asked.
She ignored his question. She would never be ready. Hesitantly, she took a seat next to her father.
“It’s okay if you change your mind.”
Ari reached for her cable. “Go to the original program in his history. It should be the cruise on the Rhine River.”
“If I get word from Marco, I’m pulling you out. You understand?” Reed had received an old HUB from Marco, so they could stay in touch.
“I’ll be quick. Promise.”
Ari bit down on her lip and slid the cable into her port. She closed her eyes, sensing the program was ready for her, and floated into a whole different world.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Now familiar with the transition into the VRs, she wasn’t surprised when the cool breeze off the water brushed against her face. The world around her had turned green and blue. A lush countryside lined the water, dotted with villas and even a small castle in the distance. As the sun set, it gave everything a beautiful golden hue.
Turning away from the water, she pushed off the railing in search for her father. With the size of the ship, it might be harder than she’d thought. Several stories tall and long, there was no end to the white railing winding around the length of the ship.
“Excuse me, miss. Would you care for a drink?” An exotic waiter with a heavy accent offered Ari a glass of what looked like champagne. The waiter’s face with his crystal blue eyes and chiseled cheek bones was perfect, too perfect. The prison held enough beauty and luxury that was hard to leave, but it was still a prison.
“No, thank you.” Ari replied. “But can you help me? I’m looking for Enrique Mendez.”
“I’m not sure about him, but I know most people are upstairs dancing.” He motioned to a set of stairs to her left. “There is a live band tonight.”
“Thanks.” Ari headed to the stairs. Looking down at her outfit of jeans and a t-shirt, she decided to go dancing. Her clothes morphed into a simple blue dress that her mother handed down to her years ago. What Ari used to struggle with in the program, now didn’t take more than a second to fix. The music and laughter rose as she walked up the two flights of stairs.
Her hand trailed along the handrail made from dark wood lined with gold accents. The texture felt off, too smooth for the detailed engraving it showed. Dr. Coleman would be pleased with her observations, but there would be no more tests for her.
Stepping onto the dance floor, she noticed the clouds mingling in the background. High above the water, only the fading night sky surrounded them. The railing turned to soft white fabric laced with lights. Elegantly dressed couples floated by on the dance floor, spinning, smiling, and laughing. Maybe her father really thought he’d died and gone to heaven. She finally spotted his tall frame in the middle of the floor with a woman whose red dress exposed more skin than it covered.
Ari reached for the nearby railing. Despite her anger over the years, her heart leapt to see him so alive and happy. Granted after a minute of watching her father hold this woman tight against him, her joy fizzled. Vacation time was over.
Ari fought against her initial desire to strip this ship down to mere wreckage. It would just push him further away. She strode onto the dance floor, brushing off an approaching gentleman asking for a dance. He wasn’t real. None of this was.
“Excuse me.” She placed a hand on her father’s shoulder, stopping them cold. “Can I have this dance?”
Her father kept his long black hair tied neatly in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Without his beard, he looked younger. His hazel eyes peered out behind his heavy brow.
“Enrique?” The woman turned to her father.
Staring at Ari, he didn’t hide the confusion that flashed on his face. Ari wasn’t sure he would recognize her.
“Isabelle?” he asked, calling Ari her mother’s name.
“Not quite.” Ari remembered that he hadn’t seen her for eight years. She had changed a lot since she was eight.
Her father dropped his hands, dismissing the woman he was with, or rather ignoring her. She strode away towards the bar. He then reached for Ari and drew her into his arms. The resentment of years past, constantly eroding Ari’s soul, quieted, and she was back in her father’s arms, like a little girl dancing on his feet in the kitchen. She had to fight the urge to get lost in this dream as well.
He reached into his pocket and handed Ari a simple white cloth. She noticed the tears that had been silently falling onto her cheeks. She gave an embarrassed smile and brushed them away.
“Are you going to tell me who you are? I thought you were Isabelle at first glance. But not quite. A relative, perhaps?” His lips pulled up into a big goofy smile, a favorite of Ari’s and one she never thought she would see again.
She took a deep breath, needing the extra air to draw the words out. “I’m Ariana ... Ari, your daughter.”
He stopped dancing. “No, you can’t be.” He pulled his hands away from her and stepped back. “That would mean ...”
“I’m sixteen. You’ve been gone for eight years.”
Rubbing his jaw, he shook his head but kept his gaze locked on her. The music played on while the couples danced around them in an artificial state. The perfection of it all was absurd, especially with the tumult of emotions happening in the small little bubble that contained Ari and her father.
“It’s time to come home, Dad.”
He shook his head slowly. “I can’t leave. Your mother and I must finish our vacation. It’s not every day one can celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.”
She stepped towards him. If only she could reach him, hold onto him. “It’s been more than ten years, Dad.”
“How did you even arrive on the ship?” He spun in a circle now. “I know you say you’re my Ari, but something’s not right.”
She concentrated for a moment, analyzing the code around her. People turned into streams of numbers and letters. The dancers vanished, music stopped, and a light shone overhead, like high noon in the summer. She kept the river and the basic frame of the boat. The bright light showed her father’s worn and tired features, something he couldn’t even hide in the VR.
“What in the world?” He squinted against the bright lights, blankly searching for the others.
For a moment Ari thought she’d gotten through to him. She held her breath, praying it had worked.
Then something odd happened. The world resumed to normal. Like a rubber band, everything she’d torn down snapped back to perfection. What was happening?
While she stood dumbfounded, he moved toward the staircase. “I think I drank too much tonight. I better head back to my room.”
Ari rushed after him and grabbed his hand. “Please stop, it’s me.”
He turned back, his breath choppy and labored. Confusion creased his eyebrows, and she wished she could be that eight-year-old little girl again with two long braids down her back. Then the thought crossed her mind that she could change herself, or at least his perception of herself.
She closed her eyes and imagined a picture of herself at that age, specifically the one from her eighth birthday. She was blowing out the candles with her brother next to her, wearing her favorite purple shirt. It took longer than Ari liked, and when she op
ened her eyes again, she realized she might have made the wrong choice.
His eyes bulged, and he stumbled back. “I need a drink.” He turned to the bar.
In anger, she deleted the code again, wiping away the bar and the people.
Even though nothing stood there, he continued going through the motions, ordering a drink and mumbling thanks to the non-existent barkeep. With nothing there, he appeared like a child playing make-believe.
“Dad.” Her voice cracked as silent tears fell heavy on her cheeks. “Mom wanted me to bring you home. She’s worried about you.”
He exhaled loudly, looking familiar with this argument. “Oh, I know. I’ll be up to join her in our room shortly. She was never one for staying out late. It’s okay, sweetie.”
“She left her room. She’s at home waiting for you.” With emotion tightening her throat, the words came out small.
“How could she possibly leave? Just give me a minute.” He tipped back a drink that only he could see.
“There was an emergency. She’s hurt.” Ari struggled to make up anything to convince him to go. “She’s in bad shape, Dad. We have to go now.”
She reached for his hand, trying to budge him, but he remained glued to the invisible bar. Even though he wasn’t in his right mind, his brush off tore at her. She couldn’t give up though.
“They would have come and got me. I spoke to her a while ago. She’s fine.”
Roughly wiping her tears away, she shoved those years of hurt into a box, the same box she had struggled to keep shut for years. Ari was no longer that little girl. An ocean breeze curled around her, and she focused on the code and what she could change.
She obliterated the ship, the sea and the surrounding lush landscape. Letters and numbers flew like a tornado around her head, breaking apart and morphing into something new. When she finished, Ari and her father stood on a plain dirt road, like the one that ran behind their apartment.
Hard Wired Trilogy Page 25