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

early morning, actually,” Halle said, resisting a smirk at the agent’s glare. “And I wish to discuss your involving Viki in this mission of yours. She does not deserve to be dragged around in any more of your stupid Government’s plots. Leave her be, and I will do my best to aid you in your search for the rogue AI.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. You may not like it, but you need Viki as a cover.”

“What?” The cat blinked, a reflexive action from years of speaking with humans, who expected changing facial expressions. “What are you talking about?”

“The Government believes you dead.” Agent Smith raised his brows as though surprised Halle needed clarification. “If they discovered the truth, you would be in danger again.”

“Then your promise regarding the new laws was a lie?” Halle hissed.

“I believe your assistance in capturing this rogue would be beneficial. Both for yourself and for us. However, I have withheld the truth of your continued existence for the time being, for your protection as well as my insurance. If you were to decide not to help me…”

“They would never believe you. I would simply hide again. Finding me would be impossible.”

Agent Smith shrugged. “Perhaps. Or perhaps we’d finally track you down. Either way, there’s no point in arguing. Provided you cooperate, I will do everything I can to help you receive protection through the new laws. If you don’t, well, a dangerous AI might succeed in whatever it’s planning.” The man half-smiled. “Not to mention I’d lose my job.”

“That would be unfortunate. You would be unable to care for your son.” Halle knew about the boy, currently resting in a nearby hospital. Agent Smith kept him close—the disease he suffered from was rare, untreatable, and potentially deadly.

“Leave him out of this.”

Halle’s avatar shrank back a little, startled by the vehemence in the man’s voice.

“I am sorry.” Halle’s apology was honest. The agent, for all the grief that he had given it, was a caring man. “And I am…grateful for you protecting my secret so far. What I do not understand is why you must involve Viki in this matter.”

“My superiors believe she has potentially useful knowledge regarding rogue AIs, as she was a previous ‘victim’ of one.”

The cat’s hackles rose. “They bought that excuse?”

“There are two scientists dead.” Agent Smith ran a hand over his short brown hair. “This rogue isn’t playing games, Halle. My superiors gave me permission to follow any lead necessary. I needed your help, if you were still around, and hoped Viki would be able to help me contact you.”

“There is no need to involve her further,” Halle protested. “Simply tell your superiors that she was unable to help.”

“I’d rather not, as I need her to accompany me to a laboratory in a few days.” The agent rubbed his forehead, but the creases remained about his eyebrows.

Halle winced, a mental jerk away from the idea of its friend entering such a place. “That is insane. If you leave her alone, I will help you from behind the scenes—”

“There is a reason I want her help. Her implants—you can hack into them, correct?”

“Yes,” Halle replied, unsure where this was going.

“Good. There’s no way for me to bring you into the lab directly, but her implants are linked to the Cloud, like all implants. Now, the scientists with implants at the laboratory have special programming in theirs that circumvents the Cloud, which prevents hacking. But if Viki enters the laboratory, you’ll be able to tag along.”

“What would be the point? Her implants would not allow me to access the laboratory systems; those systems are closed.”

“With the right tweaks, you would be able to monitor conversations, even communicate to me if necessary. My partner has already run some simulations, under the assumption that he would be the one listening; I can provide you with the information for the adjustments. Surely it wouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

The implied challenge almost brought a retort from Halle, but it paused for a moment to collect its thoughts.

“It might be possible, but what would be the point?”

“I cannot bring any monitoring devices with me. Even my phone will be confiscated for the duration of the visit. However, as Viki is a visitor, she would be exempted from the implants rule, since we won’t be visiting any extremely sensitive areas.”

It was a tenuous plan at best. “Viki is only sixteen. You should not be involving her in something like this.”

“The rogue AI must be stopped before it kills someone else, Halle. What else would you have me do? You two are my best chance right now. Will you help me?”

Halle hesitated for a long, long moment, the nanoseconds ticking by with excruciating slowness. It didn’t want to think about the dead scientists or the fact that one of its kind, perhaps the only other one of its kind, could have done such a thing.

Not that Halle had never used threats, but to go that far meant this AI was as bad as humans could be. Worse, even. If it were as advanced as Halle, it should know such actions were unthinkable. A tiny part of Halle argued that even it had, at times, wished for its tormenters to die, if only for the pain to stop.

Halle compressed that part down and shunted it into deep storage with its other unwanted memories. Perhaps the rogue thought it had the right to do what it did. Maybe Halle could change its mind. Regardless, if this rogue focused on learning how best to kill humans now that it was free, Halle did not want to consider how wrong things could go, or how fast.

“Well?” Agent Smith rapped his knuckles on the desk. “Will you help me?”

“I have a few conditions.”

The man massaged his temples. “It seems like conditions are