Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #34

Hale's heart rate spikes through the roof. He mentally recalls the past few weeks, wondering if the police somehow tracked down and traced his new serial number. It seems unlikely, and a lot of effort to go to for one stolen android and a thief. When he considers Damo's absence and their argument the night before, a sick pit of boiling nausea opens inside him.

Could Damo have made good on his threat to turn them in?

Theo says, "Shit. You two should hide. C'mon."

She marches over to a storage locker and wrenches the door open as quietly as its rusting hinges allow. The inside is empty—something uncharacteristic of Theo's style of piling as much into every available space as possible. Forbidden from reorganizing her workshop, Hale had never noticed it.

She pushes the back panel, and it clicks open to reveal a false wall.

"Get in," she says. "Rayner's skinny so I'm sure you'll both fit."

"Not that skinny," Rayner huffs under his breath.

Hale ducks his head and climbs into the hidden compartment. It has just enough room for him to stand comfortably with the false wall closed. As Rayner squeezes in beside him, Hale realizes she either overestimated the size of the compartment or undersold Rayner's frame. Sandwiched together chest to chest, there's hardly room for both of them to breathe. Hale refrains, since he doesn't need to.

Theo says, "Keep quiet. I'll see what they want."

Then she pushes the false wall closed with a click, leaving them in darkness. Another hammering knock summons her away.

Muffled voices filter from the reception area of the shop. Rayner whispers that he can't hear what they're saying, but Hale's auditory tech is more advanced than a human's, and he can parse most of it. The cops' words turn his extremities bone cold.

"They say they're searching for a rogue android," Hale whispers.

Rayner's expression mirrors Hale's fear.

Through the walls, he hears Theo say something about there being no androids on site. She lies so easily, just like Rayner. Practiced and smooth enough to fool Hale's lie detection, and hopefully theirs, if they've been kitted with any implants or devices for such.

Then they ask if she has androids on site regularly. She says yes, for maintenance, repairs, or small upgrades.

It's only as she says this that Hale remembers the box, sat in the middle of the workshop. Unmarked and containing his power supply. Clearly illegal tech for all to see.

He whispers, "I don't wish to alarm you, but the bioreactor is still in plain sight."

"Shit!" Rayner hisses. His face goes even paler in the dark. "I've gotta hide it. If the cops see—"

Outside, the cops ask if they can search the premises. Theo says only if they have a warrant. At first, Hale thinks they might be okay to leave the box, but then the cops answer.

"We do. A tracker on the android in question traced him here several times in the past month."

Rayner starts to push on the door, but Hale stops him.

"I'll do it," he says.

"Hale, no, if they see you—"

But Hale is already pushing open the compartment and climbing out as stealthily as he can manage. The window between the workshop and front reception is mercifully closed, but Hale can hear the voices clearly now.

Theo says, "Why don't you follow the trace to where the android's gone now?"

"Because it caught on and either destroyed or disabled it. Let us through, ma'am. We'll only be a few minutes."