Page 102 of The Mech Who Loved Me
Kincaid used a crowbar to pry it open. Inside, dozens of small vials rested neatly, filled with a bright green liquid. "There's more than enough serum here to kill hundreds of bluebloods."
Ava flashed before his eyes, curled in a heap on the floor and bleeding from her eyes, with black veins pulsing behind her pale skin. He felt sick. Blue blood or not, this was a crate full of murder, and he couldn't risk heragain.
He needed to find the rest of this bloody serum anddestroyit.
"That's only the last crate, sir," Edward said. "They took the rest of them. This one was misplaced intherush."
"The rush?" Avaasked.
Kincaid slowly lowered the crowbar. "How many crates? Where are they coming from? Who'stakingthem?"
Edward took a step back, his freckles showing starkly against his pale face. "It's.... We're justshippingthem."
"Smuggling,youmean?"
The boy swallowed. "There's a manufacturing facility near Brighton," Edward said. "I don't know what Da's been promised, but the men who came here weren't very nice. All we had to do was smuggle the crates in, hide them in the warehouse, and then hand them over when men with the right codes and tattoosappeared."
"Brighton." He exchanged a lookwithAva.
"That seems awfully convenient," she replied. "Considering one of our suspects was supposedly seen inthearea."
Lord Ulbricht. "Was it a tattoo of arisingsun?"
Edward's face brightened. "Aye, sir." He revealed his wrist. "One of them had itrighthere."
"And they were blue bloods?" Ava questioned. "Pale skin,palehair?"
Edward shook his head. "I don't know, ma'am. I don't think Da would deal with blue bloods, but then he kept me and my brother out of all of this. I... I wasn't supposed to bewatching."
"Describe them," she said, taking out her little notebook as Edward ran through thedetails.
Kincaid paced. Three different men, at least two blond, which could mean blue bloods. Rich clothes, a posh accent, one of them wearing well-shined shoes, so that indicated somemoney.
"They needed the shipments by tonight at the latest," she repeated, when Edward had finished. "Over three thousand vials of serum to be collected in the last few days." Her breath caught in her throat at the number. "Do you know what they're planning to do with all theserum?"
Edward looked pale now. "I don't really know. We were only the smugglers, ma'am. But... I heard one of them laughing. He said, 'flick the match and watch London burn,' and his friend said, 'they're not going to burn, they're going to die, kicking and clutching theirchests.'"
Chests... that could mean hearts. What did thisallmean?
Edward swallowed. "And then the first one said, "Nighthawksfirst."
* * *
"They're goingto attack the Nighthawks," Ava said, the words spilling out of her in a rush as she filled in the rest of COR. Threethousandvials of serum. She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed when she finished, waiting for the others tocomment.
"Blood and ashes," Mallorynwhispered.
"They could kill the entire Echelon with that amount of serum," Gemma added, in a sickened tone. "As well as the Nighthawks, and any other blue bloods in the generalpopulation."
No more bluebloods.
All of her friends, her newfound family.... Ava swayed, and then suddenly there was a warmth against her back, a presence there supporting her. Kincaid's hand rested on the small ofherback.
"I won't let it happen, Ava," he told her. "Ipromise."
And she nodded up at him, letting everything she felt for him fill her eyes. He'd come so far in such a short time. Ava patted his arm, still feeling sickened, and it was only then she realized everyone in the room was looking at the pairofthem.
EspeciallyMalloryn.
