Page 123 of Neon Flux

He left without waiting for a response.

The air still felt charged after he was gone—and it wasn’t just Levi’s Flux.

I turned back to Tex, who was already absorbed in his work again, the moment dismissed.

Even though my shoulder hadn’t hurt nearly as much since whatever Eon had done, the ghost of pain never went away. And I felt it twinge now.

I practically ranto Maddox’s desk, where he looked as uncomfortable as I felt.

“What’s up?” I asked, throwing myself down into a spare chair.

“Eon sent me some of the data she’s reconstructed so far.”

“There a problem with it?”

“No…but she had her AI explaining it to me and—” He swiped his hand along the side of his Vysor so I could hear what he did.

“…AND another thing, I don’t like the way you were pushing E around with your rifle in the underground. You know she doesn’t like guns. You should be more respectful—” Maddox tapped his Vysor again, and the voice of Eon’s AI assistant muted.

“She’s been yelling at me for about ten minutes.”

I clapped his shoulder. “Women, huh?”

“DITA has informed me she is not a woman, but a digital being whose gender is influenced by her current desire and function.”

“Digital being? Don’t let the guys in legal hear you say that.”

Maddox huffed.

“What’s the data show?”

Maddox tapped the side of his Vysor again, and DITA’s voice returned. “Ask her yourself.”

“Is that Cy? I have some things to say to you as well!”

“Save it for later. Tell me about the data, and I’ll let you yell at me whenever you want.”

“I’ll hold you to that. E has only managed to recover a few files so far from your destroyed Vysors, but they showed a trail of high-value donations to the Church of Divine Light by a corporation called Aharut.”

“What the hell was so shady about that the Kitsune had to keep it under wraps?”

“I had to trace it through a couple other holdings, but it all leads back to Renard,” Maddox added, and DITA chirped approvingly.

“So at least some of what Renard was hiding was his connection to the Church,” I mused, leaning back in my chair.

“Didn’t you say Hinokawa said something? And Akira said he was with the Church now too.”

“‘Angels that are cast out of heaven become demons,’ or some shit like that. Think it means something? I thought he’d finally just gone senile.”

Maddox shrugged. “It seems like the Church is involved. POM’s had us keep tabs on them for a while, ever since they started gaining popularity. Maybe Renard had some dealings with them that he didn’t want the rest of the board to know about.”

“Fuck, another lead to investigate? We only have a few days left.”

“Why do you think I’m here so late? I’ve already got calls out to some informants, but nothing. You should do the same.”

“And here I thought you liked spending time with me, Maddox,” DITA purred, her voice a little too flirtatious.

“Don’t love being berated.”