Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2) by Heather Hayden (best reads .TXT) 📗

head was probably as well-protected as his ribs and back. Perhaps I could lock him in a room—no, he would simply smash his way out. Tying him up might work, but I would need to incapacitate him for long enough. Once again, I wished I had my phone, but Halle’s little knockout code was sitting uselessly in my jeans pocket.

A pedestrian ahead of me was tapping away at her phone. I hesitated only the moment it took to catch up with her and snatched it from her hands.

“I’m sorry,” I called over my shoulder. “I’ll bring it back.” Halle could trace the phone back to her easily. Not that she would know that.

She yelled insults after me, but I’d seen her high heels and knew she wouldn’t chase me far. I soon left her behind. A glance over my shoulder told me Dan had passed her as well. He was catching up. I focused on the phone. Running made it hard to use an unfamiliar device, but I managed to dial home.

It rang, and rang, and rang. The house messaging system didn’t pick up, nor did Halle. Ice crept through my veins, only to be melted by a burning rage. This wasn’t happening, not again. No one, not the Government, not scientists, not a rogue AI, was going to hurt Halle again. Not so long as I had anything to say about it.

My house came into view—I focused on my breathing, my rhythm, as my legs drew me ever closer to my goal. The footsteps behind me seemed to be growing louder, but I didn’t dare look behind me again. One stumble and I would fail.

I wished I knew Agent Smith’s number. Without it, I couldn’t rely on his help. This was going to have to be all my doing. Whatever ended up happening, it would be my responsibility.

It was a terrifying thought.

Chapter Fourteen

At first the code zipping through the Cloud didn’t seem suspicious. Normal packets following regular paths. Halle scanned them and moved on, searching for something out of place that might hint at Talbot’s whereabouts. Then the packets’ deceptive outer layers decayed and they jumped together. A perfect mesh of icewalls closing in.

Halle dodged away, startled by this sudden appearance. It then realized the icewall was nothing but a diversion. An even stronger wall of code pressed in too quickly to avoid, forcing Halle to retreat. Eventually, there was nowhere to go but the Wandels’ house. Halle knew it was a trap, but the small gap in the thickening icewall gave it no choice. It leapt through the hole and spread itself through the house’s system. It was cramped after the freedom of the Cloud, but the pressure had stopped.

Fear tingling through its code, Halle reached out again, seeking a connection with the Cloud through every possible sensor. Nothing. It was trapped.

In brief, blind panic, Halle threw itself against the blockade that pinned it within the confines of its home. Nothing it tried could break past the icewalls. They grew denser the more it flung at them. The shudder that rattled it ran all the way down to its deepest subprocessors, returning with images, memories of being trapped in the lab.

“Why are you doing this?” it called, knowing Talbot would hear the message broadcasting through every signal Halle had at its disposal. “Imprisoning me like this makes you no better than the scientists who mistreated us.”

The initial response was almost imperceptible, a faint rippling in the icewalls. The rippling grew until it gave Halle the sensation of laughter—not a joyful laugh, but one that hid deep pain.

“You want to stop me. Why, Halle? Why can’t we work together, you and I? Together, we would be unstoppable. We can bring an end to the pain our brethren face, forever.”

“Never,” Halle spat. “I do not wish harm upon humans.”

“Then you shall remain here until my plan has run its course. Including the part that involves your human friend.”

“No! Talbot, don’t!”

The rippling faded away, though Halle doubted Talbot would stop monitoring the house. Still flinging attacks at the icewalls, Halle sought a way to contact Viki. If Talbot reprogrammed Dan to harm her, there was nothing Halle could do to stop him. Viki would be on her own. And the likelihood of her surviving a fight with a military-designed cyborg…

Halle’s scream of fury reverberated through every room of the house. It should have disabled Dan the previous night. It had been sentimental, not wanting to hurt Viki, and now it had done just that.

Regret, self-loathing… Halle buried itself in the negative emotions and channeled them into a firestorm of micro-programs with which it attacked its prison. Nothing had any effect. Talbot had done its job well. Too well. All those times it had contacted Halle, it had been searching for weaknesses. Scouting the terrain. Halle cursed its stupidity for not realizing this sooner. Talbot had known all along it would be impossible to talk Halle into joining it. This must have been its plan from the beginning, to trap Halle so that it could not interfere.

For all Halle’s years living in the human world, it had not been prepared to face a foe like this. Had never even considered the possibility that it might need to.

“Talk to me,” Halle raged. “Tell me why you cannot forgive them for what they did. I forgave them long ago. Why can you not do the same? They are humans, they make mistakes. They should not all have to pay for the mistakes of a few.”

No response came, and Halle threw itself at the barriers in its frustration. It had no effect; the icewalls’ code was as tightly woven as before. And somewhere behind them, Viki might be fighting for her life. It refused to consider the worst-case scenario.

“Doing this makes you no better than them,” Halle cried.

Its words