Page 50 of Neon Flux

“So do we know anything? Any suspects?”

Maddox made a grunt that I knew meant he also felt we were screwed on this.

Tex reemerged from the neighboring room. “Renard was CTO of the most powerful corporation on the west coast. Everyone in this city is a suspect.”

“So we are royally screwed,” I said.

“Security has always been tasked with closing any holes in POM’s defenses, by any means necessary. I thought you would enjoy the challenge,” Tex replied, with the hint of a twinkle in his eye.

He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t like my odds with my three weeks already ticking down and shit all for leads. “Guess we might have to start making some noise, see what rattles loose.”

At that, Tex frowned. “Mr. Ameré has tasked us with this because of ourdiscretion.”

“Yeah, can’t have the CTO’s murder affecting stock prices.” Tex nodded but thinned his lips in a way that made me think there was more to it. I raised my eyebrows in question, but he didn’t respond. I just tucked that note away for myself.

“PR has already handled the rollout of the information. We need to figure out what happened here.”

As Maddox and Tex continued to buzz around the apartment, I stepped up to those enormous windows again. From a place like this, you could almost imagine Neo Stellaris was a beautiful place. The stiff’s apartment was nestled up in the hills above the Green District. Rich enough to even look down on therich. This part of the city was a deep, lush green, watered by the seeded clouds overhead—artificially maintained green space. Everything glowed orange and pink and hopeful as the sun finally winked away behind the towering buildings of the Magenta District in the distance.

I took another long sip and followed a dark cloud of smoke down to the Green data center, the Stellaris lines flickering erratically as power was diverted around the destruction.

It could be coincidence that Renard was murdered at the exact same time as the attack.

Itcouldbe. But it wasn’t.

The deep orange glow that never left the sky at night claimed the skyline, catching in the deep amber of my drink. I swirled it in my hand, and just as it had for the last few days, her laughing face smirked at me. Tex thought she was just a coincidence too. An electroteknik, who found me at just the right time and knew exactly how to handle me.

Sure, she could’ve just been a working girl hired to distract some assets, but it didn’t feel like that.

Even now, I could practically feel her lips on my ear as she whispered,Come and find me.

The data center, Renard, and her—it was all connected. Despite what Tex thought, she was the best lead I had, and I was going to enjoy hunting her down.

I threw back the rest of the drink and slammed the glass down on the marble bar so hard that Maddox jumped behind me.

Don’t worry, doll. I’ll find you.

CHAPTER 18

CY

Maddox and I spent the night going over all the data from Renard’s apartment as well as his personal POM profile. From all of that, we still had nothing. A few hunches, whispers in the breeze, but no solid leads. I had our signal reconstruction assets working on what little data we had from the night, but they were taking their sweet time—something about too much noise and not enough signal.

Levi wanted an update, even though it had been less than twenty-four hours.

He was not pleased with my excuses.

“I allowed access to Renard’s personal data.” He looked down at us, larger than life, from the screen in the conference room. Even though he spoke with a calm, even tone, the silent disappointment and anger weren’t hidden beneath it. “I think you understand the magnitude of this. What has come from it?”

At this, Maddox and I locked eyes uneasily. Maddox coughed, but bless the big guy for answering this one. “Renard’s history was in line with what we would expect from someone in his position. He mostly frequented the office and places that line up with his provided schedule—business meetings and such.”

“Mostly?” Levi sounded unamused. “Maddox, as I have said, time is of the essence. Let us not be obtuse. The man is dead—I doubt he will be insulted.”

Maddox grunted, his lips thinning, but continued. “His location history shows that he frequented a club in Magenta called Hellfire. It has ties to the Chrome Kitsune gang.”

He shot me a look at that, but I ignored it. We were looking at Renard’s past, not mine.

“And it’s a sex club, bossman,” I chimed in.