Page 85 of Perfection

He shook his head. “Damn.”

Kindra waved a hand in a flippant motion. “To hell with Seville. I had no choice but to put the children in cryo. The virus would have progressed. The children would have died.”

“But to fire you? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I know. They believe the other scientists there will find the cure. HERO does the bulk of the work.” She exhaled sharply. “I’ll keep trying to appeal to Chairman B-Cobb.”

“Tell him thegoodnews,” Cal prompted.

Her eyes lit with a show of sparkle. “I have a copy of the latest updates on a micro-dot.”

“Excellent,” York said, proud of her initiative and quick thinking. “That means you can continue to work on a cure?”

“Yes. It will set me back and take longer without access to the resources at Seville, but it can be done. I just have to find a new workstation.”

York swept his gaze around. “Would this place do? We have testing equipment.”

“No. I’m certain your computers aren’t advanced enough.”

“What about the morgue?” Cal asked.

She shook her head. “No. That won’t work, either, for the same reason.”

York entwined his fingers, then twisted his wrists, stretching. “The police lab? They have forensic equipment and supercomputers.”

Kindra nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. That might do.”

York clapped his hands together and rubbed them enthusiastically. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Kindra said. “We need to establish a system where the cryo facility acquires blood samples from new victims and sends them to us as well as Seville.”

“That’s a problem. Will Seville want to continue testing?

“Probably.”

“Then they’ll have to submit samples to both,” York said.

“The more people working on the cure, the better,” she said.

“Yeah. And besides, the Coders won’t go to Seville,” Cal added.

“We’re the police. Where a crime is concerned, we have jurisdiction over any health and safety issues. We have authority over every aspect of a suspected crime, which is how the virus originated. So Foster Cryo shouldn’t argue with sending the samples to the police lab, too.” York moved to the door and held it open. “After you.”

She paused as she moved past him, briefly resting her hand on his arm. “Thank you for your help and support. I… I don’t know how I would have dealt with this without you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said uncomfortably. A selfish part of him was pleased Kindra wasn’t associated with the genetic center any longer, but he didn’t have time to examine that inappropriate feeling. They had to focus on saving the children and finding the perpetrator. Flashes of the conflict he’d had with the Committee over his son beat at the edges of his memory. The Committee could be impossible to deal with.

This was a huge setback.

* * *

York had called ahead to Captain Avery to get approval of the change in plans and venue, officially bringing Kindra under the wing of the police jurisdiction as a consultant. When they arrived, maintenance workers were still pushing things around inside the lab they’d created for her. He guided Kindra toward the wall and out of the way.

Captain Avery strolled in with Cal right behind him.

“Captain, this is Dr. Kindra B-Zaika,” York introduced her.

“Glad you’re hanging in there with us, Dr. B-Zaika.”