The Mech Who Loved Me(102)

Ava swept ahead of Kincaid with a pleasant smile. "Good morning, sir. Mr. Leicester, I presume?"

Mr. Leicester was sweating in his beige cardigan. "Ah, good morning, ma'am. How may I help you?"

"We're looking for something," Kincaid said, moving around the desk and glancing at the papers strewn all over it. "Perhaps you could help us?"

Ava tugged her Nighthawks badge out from inside her reticule, showing it to the man. "Do you know what this is?"

His face paled, and then he took off running.

Ava stepped back in surprise. What on- "After him!"

Kincaid took two steps, ripped the lid off a nearby crate, and threw it discus-style toward the fleeing man. He went down, and Kincaid hurried after him, stomping a foot in the middle of his back when the fellow tried to flee. "I'm not much for speed," he told her, reaching down and flipping Mr. Leicester over. "Why'd you run?"

"P-pardon," the man said. "I didn't... I panicked. I just.... I meant no harm by it."

Kincaid circled him slowly, and with his leather coat clinging to those broad shoulders and his thick brows drawn together, he looked quite menacing. "In my experience, innocent men don't run. Ava?"

"We're looking for something you might have imported," she said, withdrawing her notebook from her pocket so she could show him a sketch of the mushroom they were after.

"No! No! I won't say anything." The man cowered. "I can't! He'll kill me."

He?

"Who will kill you?" Kincaid demanded, shaking him a little.

Leicester kicked and scraped at the floor, trying to escape. Kincaid picked him up and slammed him back on the desk, both of his fists curled in Leicester's cardigan. "I won't ask again."

"You, unfortunately, have a choice to make," she told Mr. Leicester, trying to restrain Kincaid with a gentle touch. "You clearly have information we require, and we're running out of time to get it."

"Fucking craver," Leicester said, and spat in her face.

Ava didn't see what happened next. Kincaid's fist blurred past her in a savage blow, and blood spattered across the desk. Ava wiped her face clean with her handkerchief as he punched the man again and again, driving him onto the floor. "Kincaid!" she yelled, grabbing his raised arm.

Those blue Celtic eyes were wild with rage as he looked at her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." She eased his arm down. "We need him to talk to us, Liam."

Kincaid let the man go with muttered curse, raking his hands through his hair as he turned away from her. The man curled into a ball on the floor, sniveling and clutching at his broken nose. Blood streamed from it, and for a second she felt like she wanted to cast up her accounts.

"If you even look at her less than politely," Kincaid snarled, "then next time I won't stop."

"As you can see, you're facing quite the predicament," she said, shaking a little. She'd never been spat upon before. "My friend here is not quite as civilized as I am. And if you don't answer my questions-"

"You're not going to kill me," the man blustered. "You can't. You're a Nighthawk."

"No, we're not going to hurt you." At least some people in this city still knew what the Nighthawks stood for. "But I think we're going to take you to see a friend. He's not quite as nice as we are, and unfortunately, he's willing to do whatever it takes for the greater good."

"Malloryn?" Kincaid asked.

"Malloryn," she confirmed. "Pick him up and I'll go through the shipping statements."



       
         
       
        

"There's no need for that," a child's voice called.

Both she and Kincaid spun around.

A young man, barely a lad, stepped hesitantly toward them, his hands raised in front of him, and a cap on his head. "Please don't hurt him," he called, his nervous eyes flickering to the man on the ground. "I can show you what you're looking for."

"What we're looking for?" Ava questioned, standing a little straighter. Neither she nor Kincaid had mentioned anything in particular.

"Edward! No!" the man on the ground bellowed.

"You're going to get us all killed," the boy shouted back. "You're going to get yourself killed. They're Nighthawks! They can help us."

"You have my word," Ava told him. "If you tell us what we want to know, I'll use any influence I have to see you and your family are safe."

"You're here for the serum, aren't you?" the boy piped.