The Mech Who Loved Me(30)

Ava went into a line of questioning about how the vaccine was stored, and the science behind it. Kincaid found his attention drifting.

"Do you have a sample of the vaccine?" Ava asked.

There was an icebox in the corner, and the good doctor fetched them a tray of small vials.

"May I?" she asked, gesturing to Dr. Harricks's microscope.

Kincaid nudged the servant drone. It was stuck in the corner, bumping repeatedly against the wall. The sensor must be stuck. "Want me to have a look at your drone unit?" he threw over his shoulder. "I used to work the enclaves."

The doctor waved a hand in his direction with a "Yes, yes," but his attention remained on what Ava was doing.

Kincaid pulled his small lockpick set out of his pocket. There was a three-inch-long screwdriver in there, as well as various other tools. He knelt beside the drone and reached beneath it for the Off switch. It hummed to a stop, an exhale of steam warming his calves. Kincaid placed a hand against the steel barrel body of the drone. Hot. But not excessively so, considering the boiler had been going for a while by the look of it. The bloody things could run on a pint of water a day. He deftly undid the screws in the electrical panel, watching Ava as she reared back from the microscope.

"What is it?" Dr. Harricks demanded of her, drawing Kincaid's attention.

Ava looked perplexed, and adjusted some knob on the microscope. "This batch of vaccine looks like it's been untreated. The virus is alive, not inert."

Harricks pushed her out of the way, pressing his face to the microscope in horror. "That's impossible. I've been meticulous with my testing." He drew back, clearly confused. "You're right."

The good doctor snatched up a vial, reading the labels on it. Kincaid returned to his task, prying the back panel off the servant drone. Wasn't much he could do to help right now. This was Ava's area, not his. And sometimes it didn't hurt to vanish into the background and watch a suspect's body language-not that Harricks was a suspect. Yet.

"Hold on," Harricks burst out, examining the vial she was testing. "This vial label is missing its category number."

Ava leaned closer to look. "Do you think it's been tampered with? Or replaced?"



       
         
       
        

Kincaid watched for a second, hands setting the panel out of the way as he peered inside.

An 1864 service model. He winced. Jaysus. Didn't the queen provide better funds for her clinics? No wonder the drone was struggling. It was over twenty years old, and he knew from past experience the '64s often had a fault in the wiring of their electrical circuit. He'd fixed enough of them in his first two years at the Southwark Enclave before he transferred to the King Street Enclave, once his talent with mech-work was noticed and he was set to work on war machines.

One of the wires was missing from the circuit board. Without a light, he couldn't see much else, but that was easily the problem. Watching as Ava and the doctor had a spirited discussion about the vaccine's manufacturer, he reached inside and brushed the wire gently out of the way with a wooden tongue depressor he'd found in the doctor's supplies, pausing as he heard a faint click-

Tick, tick, tick....

Kincaid jerked his fingers out of the drone and peered inside. What in the devil's name? There was a small clip attached to one of the wires-a pressure sensor by the look of it. And a luminescent clock face leered up at him from the bowels of the drone, the second hand ticking steadily toward twelve. Anchored to the clock were an explosive device, two sticks of dynamite, and a few wires.

"Ava!" he yelled, launching to his feet and sprinting toward her.

Kincaid caught a startled flash of her expression, the doctor's shocked, "What on earth?" and then he dove toward her and the doctor, sending all three of them flying through the window.

His shoulder hit it first, and glass shattered. They landed in the back alley, sharp shards stabbing into his back. Ava bounced in his arms, and the doctor rolled free, tumbling over the top of him.

"Get down!" he bellowed at Harricks, lurching to his feet with Ava tucked under one arm, throwing them both behind a moveable waste receptacle in the alley.

The doctor held his hands up to protect his head, looking utterly perplexed. "What is the meaning of-"

The explosion lifted him off his feet, flinging him back into the opposite wall. Ava screamed, and Kincaid slammed her into the wall, using his body to protect her from the rubble as bricks, glass, and steel flew past them.

A waft of heat roared over them, thick with black smoke, and his ears rang. Ava squirmed against him, clapping her hands over her ears. It seemed to last forever. But finally, finally the intensity of the heat died down, and Kincaid lifted his head, feeling Ava gasp and collapse against his chest.