Read Online The Rise of Io by Wesley Chu - Free Book Online

I don’t need you and I would appreciate it if you just stop talking as long as I’m alive,” huffed Ella. “I’m going home.” She stood up and stomped across the beach.
    That will not happen and you do need me. A criminal gang is actively hunting you in your own neighborhood, it seems the police are looking for you as well, and the Genjix will now come after you.
    Ella balled her hands into fists and tried unsuccessfully to push the voice out of her head. She felt like a cornered animal and, to make matters worse, she had forgotten to eat today, so she was starving. That was a bad combination for her.
    Why are you risking your life stealing from low-level criminals for such small payouts, anyway? Is this how you want to waste your life?
    â€œYou don’t know me,” Ella seethed. “You don’t know what I’ve been through. Who are you to judge how I live my life?”
    I know a lot about you, more than I want actually. I probably made a mistake inhabiting you.
    â€œI obviously made one saving that woman’s life and getting you inflicted on myself!” Ella became aware that she had just practically screamed in the middle of a busy street. Fortunately, most of the people around ignored her. The citizens of Crate Town were good at minding their own business. Getting involved in other people’s problems tended to lead to bad things. Even showing that you noticed could get someone in trouble.
    However, there was a big difference between getting involved in something and paying attention. Everyone paid attention, and everyone gossiped. Ella was pretty sure that half the slum would know that she was talking to herself and screaming at nothing by evening.
    Watch–
    â€œShut up, shut up, shut up. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” Ella was so frustrated she was on the brink of tears. However, she would rather have died than had people on the street see her cry. That would just ruin everything.
    No. Listen! One of the gangsters is eating at that curry stand to your left.
    Instinctively, Ella slipped behind a stall and glanced over the side. She saw the patrons eating at the counter at the curry stand, and scrunched her face. “Are you sure? I don’t recognize any of them.”
    The third one from the left facing the street. He was the muscle standing in the corner next to the door when the deal went down.
    â€œHow do you know this? I don’t remember him at all.”
    An image flashed briefly into Ella’s head. She was pulled back into the dark smoky room where the trade deal between the Pakistani gangsters and the Indian smugglers was happening. There were nearly twenty men and two women in that cramped room.
    Ella had been hired to serve as the translator between the two groups. She remembered thinking how bad ass and cool those two women were. More images flashed in her head until one came from the time Ella had to look away because of the thick cigar smoke. That was when she saw the man standing in the back with his arms crossed. It was the same man stuffing his face, just meters away.
    She pulled away from the street and took a different route. “How did you do that?”
    I am in your head, girl. I can dig through your memories. I retrieved that con you pulled off yesterday to study how you operate. You are not a bad thief; a lucky one, perhaps. I found some problems with your plan. I also caught a few things you missed, like that man I just warned you about, or that you could have grabbed that satchel of cash instead of one of the briefcases.
    â€œFor your information, I didn’t go for the money intentionally. If I had, both gangs would be on my ass. Right now, I only have a couple from one. I don’t appreciate your poking in my thoughts like this.”
    I am not sorry you feel this way, because I have saved your life twice in the past hour.
    Ella couldn’t argue with that logic. “Fine,” she sputtered.