Page 14 of Neon Flux

I scrolled through the data Taos sent, a plan quickly forming in my head. The only hiccup was I would need a partner, but I knew just the girl.

I flicked my fingers to scroll through the contacts on my Vysor. It rang three times before I heard: “E? What up, girl?”

“Hey Mercy, you have time for a job in two nights?”

“A job? E, I thought you got out of the life. What’s going on?”

“This one’s special. Not just a pair of regular johns. A pair of assets.”

“I see you are still knee-deep in shit. You never learn, do you?” Even though her avatar didn’t show it, I knew she was crossing her arms at me in that matronly way she favored. It didn’t hurt that it also pushed her tits ups.

I gave her an innocent smile. “You know me, always some bleeding heart cause I need to help.” She didn’t have to know that this time the bleeding heart was mine.

She continued to glare at me, and I continued to smile until she sighed and gave in.

“Fine! Only for you, though. Someone has to keep you out of trouble. Pay’s good, right?”

“Pay’s fair, Mercy.”

Now she laughed. “Where’s your bleeding heart when I need it?”

“You wouldn’t respect me if I was a pushover, now would you?”

“Right you are. So what’s the job?” she asked.

“The less you know, the better. I’ll tell you then. Just meet me at The Blackout in the Magenta District. Dress cute.”

“Always do, chica.”

“Oh, and Mercy, I know this one is just your type.”

“Now that’s more like it.” She giggled and hung up.

CHAPTER 4

CY

“Check this surveillance package.”

I tapped the side of my Vysor, sending the vid I had pulled up over to my partner's screen. The windowless ground-van we hunched in suddenly filled with the obscene ragged breathing of a woman mixed with whispered confessions about security systems and corporate access points.

My partner, Maddox, didn't react. That unflappable composure was his defining trait, and it only made me want to fuck with him more.

He occupied twice as much space in the vehicle as I did, leaning back against the small bench, the light from the vid screen playing across his dark skin and the glossy surface of his darkened Vysor. His drop fade transitioned into twisted dreads, the tips dyed a confrontational red—the one rebellion in his otherwise regulation appearance. He'd built his reputation in the Neo Stellaris Police Department's surveillance division before POM scouted him. Now he was stuck with me.

“One of your 'enhanced interrogations'?” he asked, voice deliberately flat.

As if answering his question, my recorded voice emerged from the vid: “You're nasty, huh? You love being on camera. Now tell me about those access codes again." The informant's breathless response was unmistakable.

She'd spilled everything after that—access routes, security rotations, the whole package. Amazing what people reveal when pleasure overrides caution.

Maddox responded with a resigned grunt that communicated volumes about our partnership without wasting words.

“Information retrieval takes many forms, man,” I said, teeth gleaming in the screen light. “You think our intel comes from asking nicely?”

“I don't ask about your methods,” he mumbled.

“You just did.” Most POM Security assets maintained rigid professional boundaries with informants. I found blurring those lines yielded better intelligence. "Look, she revealed the data we needed."