AER (The Elements Series Book 3) by Tracy Korn

Author:Tracy Korn [Korn, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: action, young adult, teen, space, cyberpunk, school, Science Fiction, dual narration, virtual reality, Dystopian, Relationships, adventure
Publisher: Animus Ferrum Publishing, LLC
Published: 2017-09-16T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

Southside

Liddick

Finn's dark eyes narrow just enough that I know not to ask questions—not here. I nod, and we walk on in silence until we get to the edge of Tinkerer Square. The dark pavement with the occasional sand bleed showing through gives way to mostly sand with a few patches of dark pavement. The Southside is the most decrepit part of the Badlands. The faded spray paint on the cement block buildings is crumbled away in places, leaving incomplete art and writing. It looks like someone splashed gray paint over the graffiti, and any second another splash will come to wash away the rest of the tagging. The street lamps spill daylight into the darkened alleys, but I know better than to look down any of them. The last thing I need right now is to be followed by some tweaker.

"All right—we're past the noise now," Finn says, letting out a heavy breath.

"What happened to this place?"

"Tarriff, man. He drove Grisham out about a month ago. Wired everything from Tinkerer Square to the edge of the Southside to keep heat on the street. Eyes. Ears…"

"But why? We were starting to fix this place," I say, looking over my shoulder to make sure we're not being followed by anyone in the alleys we've just passed.

"Power. Tarriff came into some credits recently. Got himself some new GE teeth just like the Cloudies, and suddenly, Extract is all over the street. Grisham thinks someone is supplying him, and he's funneling the coin somewhere, after his kickback, of course. Nobody can process milkweed at the rate he's putting it out there."

"Is Grisham trying to fix this?"

"He's locked down, man, but at least he's got people out there reporting back," Finn answers after a long pause.

"And you're one of them, aren't you?"

Finn shrugs. "You caught that sub to Gaia just in time, Wright. Though, I gotta say I'm glad to see you. Would be nice to get back to work putting things right around here again."

"What about the old crew?"

"Still here, but since Grisham was cut loose from his contacts, they've gone dark."

I shake my head. "We'll put all this right. What did Grisham do anyway?"

"Double dipped, man. He was working on a hack for The Seam, but then threaded his own port-network through it. They cut him off after that…something about him putting them at risk."

"Well, yeah. Not like him to be so sloppy. What was he thinking?"

"Power, man," Finn shrugs. "It got to him I guess."

I blow out a breath. Nothing is how I left it here. "I need his help to find a friend. She had to wander out this way from…Skyboard."

Finn shoots me a wide look. "You let a Cloudy out of your sight around here? And a girl Cloudy?"

"Don't hotwire me, man, I know," I say, watching the dirt blow across what's left of the pavement in the distance. "That's why I need Grisham's grids, all right? I need to find her before morning."

He narrows his eyes at me this time, but I shake my head so he doesn't ask me anything else.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.