Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2) by Heather Hayden (the top 100 crime novels of all time .TXT) 📕

It didn’t weigh much. I tucked it under an arm. I’ll have to hide it in my room. Another problem occurred to me. “Isn’t it risky for me to go into the lab with unsecured implants? What if another AI escaped?”

“It could be dangerous,” Halle agreed. “After all, a phone is how I escaped; moving through an implant’s link would not be much more difficult.”

“After this AI escaped, all other AI projects on the premises were shut down for the time being,” Agent Smith replied. “There’s no need to worry about another breach.”

“Shut down? Permanently?” Halle sounded upset, and I didn’t blame it.

“Not necessarily. Just put on hold for the time being.”

A ping came from the house speaker—incoming call.

“It is the hospital,” Halle said. “Most likely your mother.”

I frowned. “Better let it go to voicemail. Wait, no, she’ll expect me to be home by now. Pick it up.” I shot Agent Smith a warning look. He nodded and tugged on the brim of his fedora as Halle answered.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, smiling in an attempt to make my voice sound happier.

“Viki! I’m glad you’re home. I’m so sorry, my phone’s battery died and things have been so hectic I only just got a chance to use one of the hospital phones. I’m going to be late today again; there was another shift change. There should be leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry and don’t want to make something.”

“Halle made lasagna.”

“Good. Thank you, Halle! I’ll have some when I get home. How was your day?”

My smile was pinned to my cheeks so hard they hurt. “Great.”

“I can’t wait to hear about your classes. Did Neela and the others enjoy their vacations?”

It took me a second to remember that I had told Mom they had all gone off on trips with their families. It let me avoid telling her the truth, that my friends didn’t want to hang out with me anymore. I didn’t want her worrying about me more than she already did. “Yes, they did.”

“Wonderful. Give my love to your father when he gets home—he should be coming home early today. He called me during lunch to let me know that he’d had a big breakthrough, and they’re finally back on schedule.”

I froze. “That’s wonderful,” I said, my voice squeaking a little on the way out. “Did he say when he’d be home?”

“I was about to ask him when my phone died. I’m sure it will be soon, he wanted to be there for dinner. I need to go, but I’ll talk to you later. Love you!”

“Love you, too.” I was glad to hear the soft beep as the phone hung up.

“Uh oh,” Halle said.

“Yeah.” I looked at Agent Smith. “You might want to leave now. Dad won’t be happy if he comes home and finds you here.”

“I’ve no doubt of that.” He glanced at his clipboard. “I’ve scheduled the appointment for Wednesday afternoon. That will give Halle enough time to make the necessary adjustments and for me to sort out a few more things.” He looked up. “There’s a corner store one block from your school. Meet me there after school.”

I nodded, still uneasy about this plan, even if it didn’t sound very dangerous. All I had to do was walk through a laboratory with him while Halle sneaked around. I could do that.

“One last thing.” Agent Smith hesitated, mouth twisted as though he’d tasted something sour. “The government laboratory we’ll be visiting doesn’t just study AIs. They are experimenting with developing an AI to be used in conjunction with military cyborgs.”

Cyborgs? Part-flesh, part-machine androids? I grimaced. “I thought they stopped developing military cyborgs years ago.”

“These are peacekeepers. Used for handling insurgents and the like. However, there was a theft the same night the AI escaped—several of the cyborgs went missing.”

“And you think the rogue AI might be responsible?” Halle asked.

What would Talbot want with some cyborgs? I frowned. There were no good reasons to steal military cyborgs, only plenty of bad ones.

“It’s very unlikely. There are too many fail-safes to prevent something like that. The two departments aren’t even connected; they have separate, isolated servers. However, it’s possible whoever stole the cyborgs inadvertently gave the AI a chance to escape. The servers are all stored in a central area, and both sustained damage. There was also damage to the equipment that shields the lab from the Cloud.”

I refrained from pointing out that said fail-safes hadn’t prevented Talbot or Halle from escaping. “Why didn’t you mention the theft before?”

“I only just learned of it this morning, and technically I don’t have clearance to tell you this yet.” His brows drew together. “However, given the close proximity of the rogue AI’s escape and the theft, there could be a relationship between the two.”

“I am almost positive there is,” Halle said. “If I had a way of accessing the lab’s records, I could say for sure, but there is no way in from the outside.”

Agent Smith shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to get you that kind of access. Perhaps the scientist who shows us around the lab can answer some of my questions, and if you have any questions that might be pertinent to this investigation, please let me know so I can ask them for you.”

“I will do so.”

“Now, about the time—”

The click of the door’s lock made us both jump. Crap, Dad’s home! I watched as the door handle spun, then grabbed Agent Smith and dragged him into the kitchen. “You need to leave now. I’ll meet you Wednesday a little after 3 PM.”

He tucked his clipboard under his arm and nodded. “Thank you. I’ll see myself out.”

“Viki?” Dad’s voice called from the front door. “You home?”

Keep it cool, keep it cool.