“You think we should go farther maybe? Just to be safe?”
“We only have the element of surprise. The sooner we go back in the less prepared they will be.”
“Okay. They would probably assume we’d regroup with the others first, anyway.” He took the exit towards the city.
“I only hope Maxim is back online. Would he have gone into hiding?”
“He isn’t one to hide in fear. From what I saw, his whole enterprise is based online. VLEX has never gone down, not since its creation five years ago. The Board can’t afford to keep it down. Not with voting sessions finishing up. If they can’t keep the pretense that everything is okay, then countries will start going elsewhere. If VLEX is up, we’ll find them. They are in crisis mode and the Board should all be there trying to put on a good face.”
“I’m counting on it.” Ari watched the sun fall behind the horizon and the colored lights of the city slowly begin to flicker on. Another city, another skin, it didn’t matter who or where she was anymore. They needed to be safe, then she could run and never plug in again.
The city teemed with a night life, people walking on the streets drinking without care.
“I think there’s some type of festival going on,” Blur said.
“Looks like it.” Ari hoped it would give them extra coverage.
Pulling out one of the many IDs he had, Blur checked them into a private VR room. Ari was grateful they didn’t question him. With his bloodshot eyes and solemn demeanor, it looked like he was ready to murder someone. Ari probably didn’t look too much better. Maybe that was their cover as they both probably looked like VR junkies going for a fix.
“Are you sure you know how to use this?” Blur asked as he worked on the computer that the machines were linked to.
“I think so. Just copy the code and insert it into their mental feed.”
He nodded. “And you know we don’t have secure machines? They’re recent, a couple years old actually.”
“I know. If things turn south, I’ll pull out right away.” Ari turned to him. He had been quiet on the drive, and she worried something was wrong. “Make sure you get out in time as well.”
His gaze looked empty and haunting, and he didn’t reply.
“Blur, promise me. Because Tricky will kill me if anything happens to you. Are you well enough to do this?”
He rubbed his face for a moment. “Yeah. I’m here. I can do it. Just tired from the last trip.”
“Yea, me too. But you’ll run? I want him as much as you, but it’s better to live to fight another day, right?”
“Right. I will. It’ll only take a few minutes to load the virus.” He finished with the computers.
Ari paused for a moment. “Is this the right thing? Patrick left me in charge if he…” She couldn’t finish that sentence. “And instead of making sure everyone’s safe, I’m running to—”
“To rid the world of Maxim and those that abuse their power. None of us will ever be safe. Hell, no one in the world will be safe until he’s gone. They can kill anyone with the touch of a button. No one should be trusted to hold that kind of power alone.”
“Except us? We’re going to use that same weapon on them.”
“We’re protecting our family.” His jaw tightened, and his eyes held a well of emotion.
Ari’s stomach tightened, and she wasn’t sure which way to go. Was she running toward a disaster, or preventing one in the future? The screen in her backpack beeped. Pulling it out she found a message from Marco.
“They got there faster than I expected,” Blur said as she read it.
She stared at the screen for a while, not ready to accept the words in front of her. No. It couldn’t be real. A numbing sensation poured over her body, and she felt cold, so cold. Her world shattered around her with shards of painful glass that all showed her the same thing: Patrick was dead.
Blur came to her side and read the message for himself. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Of all the places I’ve gone to, Patrick started to make this one feel like home.”
The taste of blood entered her mouth. She lifted a hand and realized she’d bit her lip. The pain didn’t register though. Nothing did, except Patrick was dead. They may not have been a couple in the romantic sense, but there was something about him that made people feel like they belonged. How could she care so much for a man when she didn’t even know his last name? But that’s how Patrick was. He instilled hope in people that didn’t have any.
Dark thoughts crept in. Old fears from when she first learned about her power. From day one, she had tried to make those around her safe, protected, and even happy. She took the assignment from school to help provide for her mother. Look how that backfired. She’d tried to make those she cared about safe. It got her family kicked out of their home country, and Reed kicked out of school and stolen by VisionTech. He was only safe now because she left him alone. Everything she touched seemed to fall apart somehow. Even Patrick was now dead.
Instead of ignoring those dark words that told her she was a ticking bomb that destroyed those around her, she used it. She had power, and if she was a ticking bomb, then she would destroy those that started this. She turned to Blur. “Let’s do this.”
He moved to his chair and they both plugged into the ports at the back of their necks. They glanced at each other once last time, no words spoken. Then Ari turned towards the ceiling and melded into the program.
This time VLEX appeared dimmer, like the sun was setting. There
