Page 41 of The Mech Who Loved Me
A pause. She was quite certain he'd mean to say “turning them into monsters,” and it made her feel a little hollowinside.
"Go on," Malloryninstructed.
"Last month Ulbricht was involved in the mass disappearance of people. The kidnappings and disappearances made people afraid, and they also just happened to help feed his mistress'svampires."
Ava shuddered. A truly horrificthought.
"But the people don't know that. Their friends and family vanished, and the Council of Dukes hushed it over and paid out in blood money. Those we rescued from Zero and her vampires were returned safely to their families, but... not all of them came home. It looks like the Echelon are up to their old tricks," Kincaid said, and Malloryn gestured for him to continue. "So Ulbricht takes away their vaccination clinics. Nobody's going to receive the vaccination if his or her friends are coming down with the craving virus afterhavingit."
"For what purpose though?" Ava asked. "Ulbricht's cause was to see the Echelon back in power. How does this help hiscause?"
"I agree. That's a great deal of maybe and perhaps," Malloryn said. "What does itgainhim?"
"If I wanted to cause chaos in the city, then that's how I'd do it," Kincaid replied. "Stir up old resentment. Make people afraid of blue bloodsagain."
"But for whatpurpose?"
Kincaid shrugged. "As you said, we don't know for sure Ulbricht is behind any of this, and until we do, we can only guess what heintends."
Malloryn scratched at his jaw. "I've got all my spies out trying to track down any of the other members of the Sons ofGilead."
"Makes it easy, when they bloody tattoo themselves with a rising sun," Kincaidmuttered.
"Agreed." For once Malloryn seemed almost cordial when he tipped his head to the burly mech. "Ifsuch tattoos were in plain sight. Some of the SOG members think this a game, a lark. Ulbricht's been toying with the young sons of the Echelon, and playing to their sympathies with his tales of how things were better in the good old days. Half of his SOG are stupid young nobles who are fresh out of their Blood Rites and perfectly content to tattoo their allegiance on their wrists. It's not them I'm interested in. They're thesheep."
"The Echelon is still holding the rites?" Ava asked in surprise. Once the Blood Rites had been deemed a nobleman's rite of passage—the time when a young boy was first infected with the craving virus, provided his candidacy was approved, ofcourse.
"It's tradition," Malloryn replied, "and there's nothing the Echelon likes more than to cling to outdatedpractices."
"You don't approve?" Kincaid looked at the duke as if he'd done somethinginteresting.
"I'm not particularly fond of the old ways, or those blue blood relics who cling to them, like Ulbricht and his cronies. The Great Houses manipulating and assassinating their way to glory... it made for a rather wary childhood, if I'm being honest. You only have to have one servant try to cut your throat one morning to realize there are better ways of doing business." He shook his head. "No. I'm interested in progress. The revolution changed the empire, and I'm tired of dragging blue bloods kicking and screaming into a better future. However, when Ulbricht and his cronies start using the heirs of that future—that is when I am going to have to take astance.
"I want Ulbricht's head, and the only way to find him is to find those SOG members who don't flaunt their tattoos. They're the ones in power, and they're the ones I would like to have a rather sternwordwith."
Ava exchanged a glance with Kincaid. Ulbricht deserved whatever Malloryn had in mind, she toldherself.
"I'm sending Gemma and Charlie to investigate Bayard Industries," Malloryn said, "and the Nighthawks are all over KestrelLaboratories."
Her heart fell. "Butthisis—"
The duke archedabrow.
—my case. Her shoulders fell when she saw the implacable cast of his shoulders. One didn't tell Malloryn what to do. Especially not when he was inthismood.
"There was a photograph of the clinic in the paper this morning, with you in the background, Ava," Malloryn said, resting both hands on his cane. "It was claimed you're with the Nighthawks, but if the right people were looking, then they'll have noticed your face. It's not personal. You've done very well so far. But nobody knows Gemma and Charlie work for me. You, however, have rather distinctive blondecurls."
She hadn't even realized the journalists baying outside had had a photographer with them. Damn it. All the excitement she'd felt crumbled to ash, much like the buildingaroundher.
Kincaid crossed his arms over his chest. "Then what do you want me and Avatodo?"
"Wait. The Nighthawks will be bringing back samples of the vaccine from Kestrel Labs, and I'm sure Dr. Gibson would welcome Ava's assistance in testing the vials to see if any of them have been tampered with at the laboratories—or whether they were affectedafterthey'd been transported from the productionfacility."
"It was clearly tampered with at the clinic," Kincaidinterrupted.
"Most likely. But I want to be certain. We have to work out whether the entire production needs to be dismantled, and how to control the outcry. And," Malloryn speared Ava with a stern look, "we still need to discover what this Black Vein is, and how it's killing bluebloods."
"I'm working on it." The problem was she had a dozen puzzle pieces, and no precise means of putting them all together yet. Black Vein seemed to be connected to those humans who'd received the tampered vaccine. She'd found nothing in the contaminated vaccine vials so far that might explain it, but perhaps the Nighthawks’ samples would containsomeclue.
