She awoke to a simple office, similar to Patrick’s. Her heart pounded from her earlier flashback of her father. Having that nightmare bleed into her dreams was one thing, but not here. Forcing herself to calm down, she turned in a circle, taking her environment in.
Patrick stood by the desk. “I thought you’d feel more comfortable working somewhere familiar.” The smell of pine drifted in the office, and Ari wondered if he carried that into this realm on purpose.
“It helps. Thanks.” She realized even his smell made the tension in her shoulders relax. She didn’t have the time or desire to dissect what that meant.
A huge screen hung on the wall. He waved his right hand and code appeared. It was the basis of what Ari had been working on. It read as a simple break on a file. Or, in the VR world, it meant the file was a mind. She could get the basic outline of the code but not what trapped Tricky in the program and scrambled her mind.
Ari played around with different versions and the possibilities filled the screen. Then she turned to the walls, lining them with options. “I’m missing something. Something important.”
“This one.” He pointed to the one over the desk. “What’s that character doing in the code, like some hieroglyphic? What would that do?”
“I don’t know, but there was something like that. Something that made her unable to get out. I tried to get her out, tried to break it.” Ari’s voice broke. She coughed, trying to hide the emotion.
Patrick placed a light hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”
“If I haven’t been distracted by Reed, I might have got a better look at what she was doing.”
“Doesn’t mean you would have been able to stop it. These are expert organizations that will stop at nothing to get what they what. Don’t forget that and don’t underestimate how dirty they will play.” He watched her intently.
They hadn’t been alone since the trip to get her family. She had ignored the spark of restless energy between them. Now that she felt it again, the nagging guilt about Reed settled in.
She turned back to the code on the wall. The muted white numbers and characters turned and twisted as she tried to recreate the code she had only seen for a few moments. It almost felt like her old child’s toy where she could touch and move the letters to make different words. Instead of a screen, though, the code filled up her whole view, and they were way past simple words.
“Let me try.” With a flick of his hand, Patrick pushed a section behind them and started a new line in front of them. Then he slowly went through variations as they flashed past. “Sometimes if we isolate sections it’s easier to get it right.”
“Wait.” She grabbed his arm. “Go back.”
“Which one?” He flipped through the options.
“There. That one.” She dropped his arm and pointed to the screen.
He enlarged the characters. “Really? This?”
“It’s not exact, but it is the closest thing I’ve seen.” Ari knew she wouldn’t ever be able to fully recreate it. She didn’t have enough time with it.
He stared at it for a while. “Okay. I’m not sure I understand how this works, but maybe Joe will have an idea. He has more experience with viruses.”
The tightness in her chest lifted as they made some progress, but it wasn’t enough for her. “Patrick?”
Turning, his intelligent eyes were intense. “What?”
“I want to go with you and Blur.”
“When?”
“Against Maxim. I’ve seen him before and familiar with how he works. If you’re going after him, I want in.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
She stepped towards him. “Please. I feel responsible. I was there when it happened.”
“I understand, but I’m not going to put my team at risk because of your guilt.” He reached for her hand, then pulled back. “Sorry.”
“At least think about it. I’m an asset. You know that.”
Glancing at the code again, he quickly transferred it to the outside computer. “I’ll think about it but can’t promise anything.”
“Okay.” That’s all she could ask for.
Ari closed her eyes and pulled out of the program. Blinking against the light, it took a minute for her vision to clear. Longer than it should, but she wasn’t going to say anything. Not now, with Tricky lying unconscious in the other room. No, she’ll rest after.
Once out of the system, Patrick and Ari headed towards Joe’s office. “Why don’t you work with Joe and Marco for a bit on this new code and see what you can come up with? Maybe put some feelers out there on the dark web and see if anyone knows anything.”
“I’m sure Joe has some ideas.” Ari didn’t know Joe much, no one really seemed to, but he was impressive to work with.
“Don’t discount your brother either. He’s held his own with the team.”
“I try not to think about where he learned his skills.” Ari always worried about Marco. He may be her older brother, but the dynamics were usually reversed.
“Speaking of the devil,” Patrick motioned down the hall to where Marco walked towards them. “What’s going on?”
“Joe wanted me to let you know if you weren’t already out. Blur headed in the program this morning. Just after you and Ari went in.” Marco looked uncomfortable, probably because he wasn’t used to ratting out others.
“What?” In a flash, Patrick’s stress morphed into anger. Then, without another word, Patrick sprinted away.
Marco looked between the two of them. “Is that normal for him? Should we follow?”
“We better hurry.” Ari started towards the other VR room in the basement. “And yes, Patrick usually doesn’t sprint around here. But I’ve never seen someone go against his directions either.”
“It is his sister.” Marco sounded sympathetic.
Ari remembered Blur that morning, with the dark circles under his eyes. “Blur is running on caffeine and revenge. Going in by himself was stupid. We work as a team, to stay safe.”
They arrived at the room. Blur was unconscious in the chair while Joe sat behind the screen.
“I didn’t know he planned to go under,” Joe told Patrick, who watched the screen over his shoulder. “I needed to speak with him about what Marco found, and he was already in here. It looked like he went to one of the dark realms. One of Maxim’s regular joints.”
“Get the address ready,” Patrick instructed Joe. “I’m going in.”
Before Patrick could reach the other chair, Joe raised his hand. “Wait. He’s back with us.”
Blur blink his eyes open.
“You better have a hell of a reason to go against a direct order.” Patrick stood over him, anger and worry focusing those steel eyes.
“There was a rumor that Maxim was in the Dark Caves Realm.” Blur removed the cable and got out of the chair. The empty look in his eyes didn’t speak positively of his trip. “I had a short window and didn’t have time to interrupt your little date.”
“What the hell are you talking about? We got a lead on how the virus works.” Color dotted Patrick’s face as his voice rose in anger. “Don’t give me weak excuses to cover your ass. You could have taken Joe or anyone else to help. You were stupid and reckless to go in alone. If you were attacked, we would have learned nothing.”
“I wasn’t attacked. I kept a low profile. I’m fine.” He pushed past Patrick toward the exit.
“What happened?” Patrick stayed close behind him.
Blur stopped in the doorway. Hanging his head down, he placed one hand on the wall, the other on his neck. Whatever he did inside took a toll on him. “He’s connected to the Board.”
“Who?” Ari asked, assuming he meant the board that ruled the realm of VLEX. Since VLEX was the most used international political realm, the Board had more power and influence than anyone.
“Maxim,” Blur spit out. “I went in on a tip from that IP address Harini had me trace and it led back to the CEO of VLEX.”
&n
bsp; “Are you sure?” Patrick kept his distance, while his body lost its angry stance.
“I heard from multiple sources and traced some of his accounts.” Blur scrubbed at his face with both hands. “I just can’t believe they would ever entertain that murderer. Don’t they know what he’s done?”
“What does that mean?” Ari asked. The implications could vary in degree and magnitude.
“It means our battle just got a hell of a lot harder.” Blur’s bloodshot eyes glared at her. “Board dealings are not recorded, and every electronic footprint is supposed to be erased.”
“Not exactly,” Joe said from behind the screen. “It means we dig deeper. Nothing is ever completely off the grid. Even if he financed the virus, it doesn’t mean he worked alone. Maxim is the starting point, and we need to connect the dots.”
“You need to get some rest before you can connect anything.” His stance may have softened, but the anger in Patrick’s voice was still present as he spoke to Blur.
“I’m f—”
“Don’t say you’re fine. You can’t plug in again until you take something and sleep for a few hours.”
Everyone knew Patrick was right, even Blur, but it didn’t mean he took it any better. He pushed past Ari and Marco as he stormed out of the room. As he left, the energy in the room deflated a couple of notches.
Patrick drew both hands through his hair and closed his eyes briefly. “God, sometimes being in charge just…”
“Sometimes life is too much, and there’s not much you can do about it.” Marco spoke for the first time in a while.
“But we can do something about it, can’t we?” Patrick turned to him. “Call the others for me.”
Chapter 15
At the meeting, the team expressed a mix of shock and anger at Maxim’s meeting, and a new fear that they missed something. Harini visited Tricky right before they came together and reported no changes. She left Sketchy behind to watch after her. Harini’s eyes were rimmed red as she dabbed at her nose. She had been taking Tricky’s coma hard. Maybe Harini and Tricky were closer than Ari had assumed.
“We need to get moving with this new information.” Patrick stood at the head of the table. “We need to see what the connection between Maxim, the virus, and the board is.”
Joe raised a hand to speak.
“Go ahead,” Patrick nodded at him.
“I was looking at the code you and Ari came up with. It looks similar to something I saw a long time ago. It sped up the deterioration of the mind, overloading it, and triggering its own stress chemical until it freezes up. It never worked in code. They had to administer chemicals in conjunction with the program for it to work.”
“What?” The shock on Harini’s face was evident.
Ari didn’t know much about Joe, but if he was working on that kind of project, she wondered just how he got out.
“It was a dead end. Someone must have created something similar.”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Marco asked the question Ari was thinking.
“He mentioned it to me,” Patrick said at the front of the room. “It was a possibility. That division Joe worked with is no longer around and everyone he worked with is dead. As far as a lead goes, it is very limited.”
Everyone turned to Joe.
His face remained impassive. “No, I didn’t kill them. They killed themselves by playing with things no one should.”
The heavy silence had Ari’s mind spinning with a million questions she didn’t dare ask.
Patrick brought everyone’s attention back to the front. “The reality is that now someone has a weapon that is very effective against warpers. We have to be careful where we tread inside and run at the sign of trouble. Ari and Marco, I’m not discounting VisionTech either right now. The timing with Reed is too convenient for me. Take that angle for the next day and see what you can find.”
Sketchy stuck his head in, interrupting Patrick. “Hey, Boss, Tricky is stirring.”
Everyone straightened with his news. Harini jumped to her feet.
Patrick stood as well and waved her down. “Everyone head to lunch. I’ll let you know how she is.”
“Patrick, don’t you—” Harini started to argue, but didn’t get far.
“I know I can’t keep you away, Harini. Let’s hurry to see how our girl’s doing?” The two of them headed off while the others slowly filed out.
Ari wanted to go too but knew the small room would already be filled.
“Ready to eat?” Marco said.
“No, but I don’t think I have a choice. Mom would track me down.”
“That she would.” He nudged her with a shoulder. “Sucks to be cared for, huh?”
“Totally.” She smiled at him and they continued down to lunch.
No one had a great appetite, even though the food was great. Even the conversation was dampened as they all waited to hear the news of Tricky. It wasn’t only Tricky’s life on the line; it was all warpers. If they had something that could kill them, then everything became more dangerous.
Patrick appeared in the dining room and the room quieted immediately. “She woke for a few minutes.”
A collective exhale went through the room. Ari let go of the breath she was holding, even though she knew they weren’t out of woods.
Patrick waited for it to settle down again before continuing. “She said a few words to Blur, then slipped back under. Sue thinks it is her brain’s way of protecting it from overload. Like turning off a car before it overheats. It’s still a waiting game, but definitely a good sign. I’m going to go back and check on Blur.” He left again just as quick as he came.
“That’s good, right?” Marco said. He knew the ins and outs of VR comas as he was even older when their dad had his troubles. “She was conscious for a few minutes.”
“Definitely good. Now we just need to figure out how it all happened,” Ari reminded him.
“We will, sis. We will.”
Ari and her brother spent the rest of the evening working on VisionTech. They hadn’t worked together since their mom made him tutor her in programming for her exams. In the past, he was usually distracted by gaming or girls. But the vibe was different between them now.
“Want some coffee?” she asked as she got up to get her own.
“Sure.” He kept his eyes glued to his screen, while his fingers tapped absently against the table.
They worked in the conference room, which was empty except for them right now. Harini and Blur were probably with Tricky. Ari assumed Patrick was working with Joe. She filled up their mugs and returned to the table.
“I wanted to say thanks, by the way,” she said, before sipping the steamy mug.
Marco pulled up his gaze from the screen and noticed the drink. “What are you talking about?”
“Not only did you manage to keep Mom safe while I was gone but look at you. You’re working hard and it’s not even about you.”
“Have you not seen my paycheck? It’s a little about me.” His lips pulled up into a familiar sarcastic smile that Ari could easily see beyond since growing up with him.
“I have seen our paychecks, but we have a while until we find a safe place to spend them.”
He took a drink. “True.” Then reached for the cream that Ari put on the table. “It goes beyond money though.”
Ari figured that but didn’t want to say anything.
“There’s Reed.”
His name hurt Ari a little to hear it. “Yes, Reed.” She echoed his phrase.
“Did you really see him?”
“I think so. It looked exactly like him, but he was acting a bit weird. Of course, he didn’t know it was me, and he was talking, maybe flirting, with some woman.” Ari was too worried to be jealous. After all, it probably wasn’t even him, and what better way to get Ari to react in VLEX than have her see her boyfriend flirting with someone else.
“Well then it must be him. He sucks at flirting,” Marco said.
“
Does not.” Ari realized how young she sounded as she said that.
He shrugged, not bothered by her disagreement. Then he set down his drink. “I want to go in.”
“Why? I don’t think Patrick will go for it.”
“Why not? It doesn’t put any of his people in danger. And will anyone suspect me, someone who isn’t a warper?” Marco’s hand tightened into a fist on the table.
Ari realized he was serious, so she slowed down to think it through. “It’s hard to get into VLEX. Only certain people are authorized, and you have to assume one of their skins when they’re not online to even enter. We all have skins of people we mimic. Ambassadors that are on lunch. Secretaries that called in sick. We hack into their addresses. No alarms are raised, and we can change our appearance if needed.”
“I can’t change my appearance at command, but you can feed me a skin before I get in. You know I can blend in and sneak around better than anyone. If it’s Reed in there, I’ll be able to get at him without you getting into any danger.”
“I wouldn’t let you go in alone. Not after seeing what happened to Tricky.”
“We don’t even know if that works on normal people. Maybe it’s just a warper thing.”
Ari flinched when he said normal people, even if she knew he didn’t mean it in that way. “And maybe it isn’t just a warper thing. But you alone, unprotected, won’t work.”
His nostrils flared as if he wanted to fight more, but he didn’t. Dragging a hand through his hair, he leaned back. “Not sure we should tell Mom, though.”
“It might be one of those ‘ask forgiveness not permission’ things,” Ari said. Ari wasn’t sure how she just got talked into Marco going into VLEX, but that’s how her brother worked. “The tricky part is going to be convincing Patrick that it’s needed. Blur’s the best at hacking in and getting us lines. He’s out right now. They don’t care about finding Reed. They want to find the virus.”
“What if they are one and the same? I agree with Patrick. I don’t believe in coincidences that much.”
“Neither do I.” A sinking feeling started in her stomach. If it wasn’t a coincidence, then what role did Reed play in the virus? “That’s what worries me.”
Hard Wired Trilogy Page 61