Cutting Edge by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online Page A

nanotechnology—”
    “Nano? Like biocomputer cells?”
    “Beats me, I haven’t a clue, though I bet Duke Rogan does.” She winked. “He could give Apollo a run for his money.”
    “Apollo?”
    “He looks like an Apollo to me. Zeus is too old—”
    “Quin!”
    “Right. All business, all the time.”
    Nora reluctantly realized that Duke probably did know a lot about nanotechnology, but she didn’t want to ask him if she could get the answers from Quin or someone else. She really didn’t want to bring Duke in as a civilian consultant, but he did have clearance and expert knowledge in security, as well as being familiar with Butcher-Payne.
    “Forget I told you about Duke, Quin, or I’ll never talk to you again about men. What did—”
    Quin interrupted. “Do I hear a bit too much protesting?”
    “Tell me what your boyfriend said, Quin.”
    Quin knew when to get serious. “Okay, so their big thing used to be nanotech, but they shifted gears a couple years ago and are now heavily involved in gene therapy. Looking for a cure, or an inoculation, for the avian flu. It’s a particularly strong virus that can be spread from birds to people. Other strands can be transferred from pigs to—”
    “I’m familiar with avian flu,” Nora said.
    “Great. So Butcher-Payne has apparently developed a way to prevent avian flu using gene therapy. At least, that’s their goal and they’ve had some minor success, Devon said.”
    “I don’t quite see the implications.”
    “Well, if no birds are carriers, then they can’t pass on the virus to humans, right? Over time the virus will disappear.”
    “I read an article somewhere that gene therapy was illegal.”
    “On humans, not animals. There have been several successes with animal testing. We’re a lot more complex, I guess. Anyway, it’s a truly cutting-edge technology.”
    “This isn’t a copycat, right? Arson to cover up corporate espionage?”
    Quin wrinkled her nose and dismissed the idea, as Nora had earlier. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly. “Unless one of the arsonists is in it for something completely different. It’s not a copycat — that I’m almost one hundred percent certain. Same graffiti, same accelerant, same burn pattern, and when I get through this mess I’ll bet I’ll find pieces of their sneaky little bomb.”
    “Bomb?”
    “Molotov cocktail. Boom. Just like the others, they doused the place in grain alcohol — most likely because it’s one of the least toxic when burned and any residual fuel will evaporate. I certainly don’t have to tell you about bombs. They burn extremely hot and fast. Light a cloth fuse, attach it to a bottle of grain alcohol, leave it in the middle of the room. When the fire hits the vapors in the bottle, there she blows! Cheap, easy, and gets the job done.”
    Quin paused and raised an eyebrow. “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”
    Nora knew exactly what she was talking about, because she’d thought the same thing as Quin was talking. “Just like the bombs Lorraine used to make.”
    “Not that she put them to much use.”
    “She graduated pretty quick from the modified Molotov cocktail to pipe bombs,” Nora said, irritated that Quin was bringing up their mother in conversation. Quin seemed to enjoy digging into the past. “All the information is readily available on the Internet, in the library, and in the
Anarchist’s Handbook.”
    “Testy, aren’t we?”
    “Quin, is there anything that differentiates the BLF device from others?”
    “No. The bottles they picked can be bought pretty much anywhere in California and most other states. I have enough pieces from the previous arsons to link them, and I suspect this will be no different when I’m done. Find a suspect and bomb-making supplies, and I can match them. There’s no unusual signature if that’s what you’re asking. These aren’t people who get off on the fire.”
    “There’s drawbacks in the method they chose,” Nora said. It