Page 45 of Black to Light

Black made a show of glaring at Leon Wicker.

“Why wouldn’t you want our eyes on it?” he snapped. “I have experience in these cases.” Black’s eyes flickered towards Nick. “So does my team. He was a police officer.”

The man shook his head, firm. “I-I-I’m sorry, Mr. B-B-Black. I was told n-no p-p-possible way was I to let y-y-you in there. N-not for any r-r-reason.”

Nick scowled.

Black continued to look caught between humor and disbelief.

I could tell the man managed to genuinely surprise him, though.

Black’s living light flared out tangibly, intensely enough to make him seem to gain a few inches in height. He folded his arms, and his gold eyes flashed with charge.

“Extraction process?” he asked coldly. “Explain.”

Wicker blanched.

He stared up at Black, eyes blank. I decided to help Black out with a little push, so he could focus on reading and asking questions.

Good little doggy,I sent towards Wicker gently. I pushed a touch harder with my light when I felt him focus on me.Answer the question. That’s a good boy… be good…

I felt Black stiffen.

He gave me a brief stare with so much heat in it, I blinked back at him.

What?I asked, bewildered.

Nothing,his mind muttered back.

He shook his head the barest amount, then focused back on Wicker, who was already flushing darker as his words tumbled out in answer to my prod.

“…Well, y-y-you know, Mr. Rucker was a p-p-pioneer, even with his own inventions,” the man said in a stammered rush. “He w-w-wore one of the p-prototypes, after the initial testing had been c-completed on human s-subjects… so we had to g-g-get it out, before the p-police or coroner found it. That was the main r-r-reason to d-d-delay bringing in the police…”

“So you don’t mean the bullet?” Nick clarified. “You’re not talking about extracting thebulletout of this poor fuck, or finding out more about how he died? You’re talking about getting some kind of experimental computer shit out of his body?”

“His b-b-brain,” Leon Wicker clarified. “B-but… yes. Yes. An i-i-implant. H-h-highly experimental. Very valuable. More than one h-hundred million d-dollars.”

Jesus.

“But what does itdo?”Black growled.

He’d clearly decided he didn’t mind talking about dead bodies now. He’d decided to use my push to get what he could out of Wicker while we were alone with him.

“I-I-I can’t tell you that,” Wicker stammered.

Yes you can,I pushed softly.Be a good boy. Tell Mr. Black everything he wants to know…

Jesus fuck, Miriam,Black growled in my mind.

I pulled out of Wicker’s mind, and blinked.

Before I could respond, Black barked at Wicker.

“Youhaveto tell me,” he demanded coldly.

I felt hisaleimicshove at the man like an iron hand around the human’s throat. It couldn’t have been more different than mine if he’d punched Wicker in the face.

“If you want me to find whoever murdered your boss,” Black growled. “Then I need to knoweverything.Particularly anything that might be the reason Luc got killed in the first place.” His eyes slid out of focus enough that I knew Black was reading him now, too. “It’s some kind of brain implant. Something no one else has. Is it the same experimental tech your colleague, Rania Gorren, wore into my office this morning?”

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