E.R.I.C. (The Almost Series Book 2) by Christina Leigh Pritchard Read Free Book Online Page B

see how helpful the keeper can be for us? He’s spent years studying the E.R.I.C.”
    “I don’t care! Machines can change at any given moment as they are based off probability and statistics rather than empathy and humanity.” Dr. Cole’s eyes filled with tears. “Machines don’t care about us.”
    My fingers trembled, frozen, as Amie pressed her palm to mine. “I would choose you over any statistic.”
    I shook my head. “Suppose I don’t save your S.H.A.Y., then what would you do?”
    Amie frowned. “I’d be very disappointed, but I would still choose you.”
    I narrowed my eyes. “Just like how Dr. Cole’s A.M.I.E. chose her?”
    “Please, trust me,” Amie begged. “Why would I connect to you out of all my S.H.A.Y.s if you were not important to me?”
    “Maybe because I was the first to ever try to meet you?”
    She touched my cheeks. My tears felt like ice against my skin. “You’re the only S.H.A.Y. I opened my door for.”
    Pop’s voice rose. “I am unlocking the doors! Dr. Cole is unreasonable and not thinking with her complete mental faculties.”
    She tried to punch his hologram. “Listen. Idiot. I’m in charge, not you!”
    “The N.I.C. approves of his keeper being allowed to enter,” Pop said. “Consider your authority revoked by the N.I.C.” The doors opened and the keeper stepped forward.
    Dr. Cole charged for him.
    Pop shouted, his lights flashing. “Abort, abort!”
    She cut through his hologram and tackled the keeper. They rolled around. Dr. Cole, finally showing her active side, punched him in the face and he kicked her, sending her flying. She landed against the double doors.
    The keeper, his arms flexing, grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her into the sanitation room. He grabbed the privacy curtain, twisting it and wrapping it around the struggling Dr. Cole’s waist.
    “This won’t hold me!” she shouted, jerking violently. He shrugged, turning away.
    “Shay?” he said. I looked him over. He was tall, but not as tall as Eric, and there was a playfulness to him. His face was rounder and he had a beauty mark to the right of his mouth. The keeper’s eyes were a soulful brown. “I’m Nick, Eric’s best friend. We’re like brothers. He doesn’t want to hurt you.”
    “Don’t listen to him!” Dr. Cole warned. “He’s the keeper for a machine!”
    I nodded. “I know, he’s here to save me.” My eyes glanced back, watching Eric swim back and forth. He was unable to figure out a way to enter the aquarium walls.
    Nick stepped closer until his arm rested against mine. He was warm and loving . My eyes set on his. They danced and I smiled. “I’m going to get you out of here, far away from this monster woman.”
    I glanced at my sister. She shared my DNA, but was she really in there anymore? Or was her A.M.I.E. the actual person I spent the last three months with? There were moments that I knew I was speaking to Dr. Cole, but they lasted mere seconds.
    I turned to Nick. “Once Eric locks on to his mom,” I said, pointing at Darla, “he’s going to be reprogrammed to kill her and anyone who stands in his way. He has no choice. That is, if he hasn’t already.”
    “If he had, his eyes would be red,” Nick said.
    “What do we do?”
    “We don’t allow him to lock eyes with his mother. I’m sure you’ve got something here to save her. My dad says you’re one of the most unconventionally creative S.H.A.Y.s he’s ever analyzed.”
    “Is that N.I.C. you’re referring to?”
    He nodded. “What’s the plan?”
    “I had a plan, but Darla will not cooperate, so now I must improvise.”
    Nick squinted. “What are you thinking?”
    I laughed. “Are you studying me?”
    He smiled.
    “Yeah, you are. So, N.I.C. sent you in to figure me out. He’s very clever. I like him.”
    Nick beamed. “He’s highly intelligent and teaches me a lot of really cool things!”
    “You have a relationship like I have with my Pop.”
    “Your P.O.P has bonded to