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

arm to its side. I moved back to give it more freedom. “Halle, we need to get you out of here. There are Government agents hunting us and Chris found Dan’s memories, but he didn’t break the code yet and we don’t know what’s going to happen.” I crouched a bit and stared into the kitchen robot’s cold orange optics. “You know what’s going to happen, though, don’t you?”

The robot patted me on the shoulder, then rolled to the kitchen doorway. Dan took a few steps back.

“We need to get it out of here,” I said. “Halle, through the back door!”

The robot turned.

“Viki?” Dad’s voice came down the hall, full of fear. “Viki, are you home?”

Relief washed over me. It hadn’t been the agents outside. “Dad! In the kitchen!” On the one hand, he was not going to be pleased by the mess or by the knowledge I had kept a secret from him again, but on the other hand, he had a car, and right now, we needed transportation somewhere else as fast as possible.

“What’s going on?” He came rushing down the hall and grabbed my shoulders. “Are you all right?” His hazel eyes scanned me for any signs of injury, narrowing at the sight of scrapes and bruises. “What happened?” His gaze shifted and landed on Dan. “Who is this?”

“My friend Dan,” I said. “We need to get the kitchen robot into your car and take it somewhere it can access the Cloud.”

“What?” Dad sniffed the air. “Is something burning?”

“Cookies.” I pulled away from Dad and nudged Dan aside so the kitchen robot could roll past. “Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”

Dad frowned. “What do you need with the robot?”

“Halle’s inside. We have to help it. Please, Dad, it’s important.” Every second we wasted was another Halle was stuck inside the robot, unable to do anything to stop the rogue that might already be putting its plan into action.

His eyebrows drew together. “How did that happen? What’s going on?” Dad stood firmly in the hallway, blocking the robot’s movement forward.

The words came tumbling out over one another in my haste to explain as quickly as possible. “I’m not sure how. There’s a rogue AI on the loose that Halle was helping Agent Smith track down, but I think it might have trapped Halle in the kitchen robot. The rogue AI was tortured like Halle, but it wants revenge on the people who tortured it, and whatever it’s planning probably isn’t going to be good, so we really need to get Halle somewhere it can get out of the robot and stop the rogue AI before something really bad happens.” I sucked in a deep breath and waited.

Various emotions had played over Dad’s face during my outburst. His brow creased in confusion, his eyes widened in surprise then narrowed in anger, and his mouth twisted into a scowl. “Agent Smith came by again and you didn’t say anything to me about it?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Dad. You and Mom were so stressed with work… I didn’t want to make things worse. I know I should have told you, but I didn’t think it would take Halle long to track down the rogue AI.”

Dad’s frown deepened. He ran a hand through his red hair, then pointed at Dan. “Where does he fit into all of this?”

“I’m a military cyborg the rogue AI stole and programmed to infiltrate Viki’s school,” Dan said.

I face-palmed.

Dad’s eyebrows raised. “This isn’t the time for jokes. Viki—”

“Later, Dad,” I interrupted. “We need to go now.”

“The government agents will be back soon,” Dan agreed.

Dad took a step to the side. “Get the robot in the car. You can answer the rest of my questions while we’re on the move.” He scowled at Dan. “You, go home.”

“We might need his help,” I said, already ushering the kitchen robot down the hall.

Dan moved to follow me, and Dad grabbed his arm. “I said…” Dad’s voice died, and he looked down at his hand. “You’re an Upgrader?”

Dan glanced at me. I shook my head helplessly. Dad would not be pleased if I lied again, but at the same time, I didn’t want to tell him the truth.

“Bad accident.” Dan pulled his arm away.

Dad stared at him for a long moment. “All right, you two get the robot in the car. Dan, is it? If you know what’s good for you, you’ll sit in the front seat where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Yes, sir.”

After a few tense moments of maneuvering the robot’s awkward body into the backseat, I got in beside it, Dad and Dan got in the front seats, and we were off. I breathed a sigh of relief and patted the kitchen robot’s shoulder.

“We’re going to find somewhere safe to take you, Halle.” I looked up. “Where are we going, Dad?”

“My lab.” Dad glanced in the rearview mirror, his eyes more serious than I had ever seen them. “Viki. Details. Now.”

I gave him the short version, avoiding all mention of Dan’s true nature. If Dad thought it was a joke, better he believe that for now. When I got to the point of visiting Dr. Sandy, I explained that they had found files that might contain Talbot’s plans, but that they were currently encrypted and Halle might be able to decrypt them.

“Should we take Halle to this Dr. Sandy’s place, then?” Dad asked, pulling to a stop at the corner.

“No! He doesn’t know that Halle exists. We need to get Halle back in the Cloud, but I’m not sure how to do that.”

There was a soft beep from the kitchen robot, and I turned to see the orange lights of its optics fade. My breath froze in my throat. “Halle? Halle!”

“It is all right, Viki, I am fine,” Halle