Page 52 of Neon Flux

“Gentlemen, I’m sorry—you startled me.” His eyes went immediately to our badges—POM Security, unmissable. I saw sweat bead at his collar and his Adam’s apple bob grotesquely. “What can I help you with today?”

I pulled up a holo of Eon and clipped it to him. “Tell us what you know about this woman.”

His eyes widened behind his Vysor, and he smacked his lips, about to lie. “I’ve never seen her before.”

God, I did not have time for every goddamn fragged yarou in my path putting on this show of bravery. Every damn corpo thought they were so high and mighty—so damn important. Almost made me miss gang life. This sort of shit would’ve been beaten out of him long ago—or he’d already be dead.

“Look, compa, we have orders straight from the bossman himself to gather intel on this woman. You will share everything you know, or I’ll drag you down to the basement myself.”

To my surprise, the man puffed up at that, his eyes narrowing. “I don’t have to put up with this. I knew you security thugs were out of control. As soon as my wife hears about this—”

I went to grab the man by his scrawny throat when Maddox coughed behind me. I sank my rising Flux into the floor and pulled on a smile.

“Your wife, huh? Do you think she’d like to know about the women you’re taking home while she’s on the East Coast?”

It had been a guess, about what Eon had done, but it was right on the money. His collar was soaked now, and his lip twitched. I hated that I was right. I hated that he knew what she tasted like. He was lucky we were at work, or he’d be missing a few teeth already—at the very least.

“I don’t know what—”

“I’m sure Yuri would love to see the holos we have of you.” I moved like I was about to clip him something I didn’t have, but he waved his hands, and I had him.

“Would you keep your voice down?” He half-stood, peering over the walls of his cube. “Conference room MegaBoy—let’s go.”

I gave a mock half-bow as he passed me, then followed. He scurried like the rat he was down the row of cubes.

The conference room was meant for two people, so with the three of us inside, it was a tight squeeze—especially with Maddox, who grunted as he tried to shove himself into the corner as best he could.

“Out with it. We don’t have time for this.”

“Okay, okay…it was a few months ago. I met her at some shitty bar in Blue after a long week. And I…took her home after. I don’t even know her name.”

“You recognized her right away. She must’ve left an impression.”

“You wouldn’t have forgotten her either.” He said it with a shy grin that just about had his brains splattered all over the conference room wall. Maddox grunted again as I twitched, and I pushed the visual of viscera sliding down the glass in a satisfying crawl out of my mind.

“So you took her home. She ask you anything?” Maddox asked.

Roger shook his head. “No…we just…I even took a work call while she was there, but I made sure she couldn’t hear! She just waited for me…”

“So you fucked before and after this call?” He had the audacity to turn red, but nodded his head. “Then what?”

“I fell asleep. She left me her number and was gone in the morning. She didn’t take anything, if that’s what you’re thinking. I always secure everything.” I looked at Maddox as Roger kept talking. “Look, I hadn’t seen my wife in almost three months! They always have her working overseas and—”

I lifted my hand to shut him up. “I’m going to need that number and access to your home terminal.”

“I don’t still have it.” I barely had to glare at him before he gave in. “Okay, I’ll get it. Be right back.”

He left, and I turned to Maddox. “Bet she cloned his credentials after he fell asleep. Dumb fuck probably left his terminal on.” Maddox nodded.

“So what now? That number is probably a dead end.”

Roger came back and handed me a piece of paper with a VysID scrawled across it—and a heart drawn in the corner that had me fuming. I snatched it out of his hand so violently he recoiled, and I pushed past him out of the tight space.

“I think it’s time we set our own honeypot.”

CHAPTER 19

EON