Neon Ghost

Neon Ghosts

Zara…

A sharp hiss echoed as rain splattered against the neon-drenched streets, bouncing off the slick pavement. Towering buildings loomed above like jagged steel beasts, their windows flickering with cold, artificial light. Corporate drones buzzed overhead, casting intermittent beams through the hazy night, scanning for anything or anyone out of place.

Zara moved like a shadow through the rain, each step precise, each breath steady. Her black tactical pants hugged her legs, her worn leather jacket barely concealing the sleek metal of her cybernetic arm. The cold steel was a constant reminder of everything she’d lost and everything she’d become. Thermal vision clicked into place, her gaze sweeping over the streets in a wash of red and blue. Nothing escaped her sight.

A hollow pulse thudded in her skull—a message incoming. With a flick of her wrist, her HUD sprang to life, the holographic display hovering above her forearm. Kane’s face materialized in the rain-soaked air, his voice cutting through the static, cold and mechanical.

“Zara. I have a job for you.”

No pleasantries, no preamble. He didn’t need them. Kane’s power was absolute in the city. She was just a tool he used when necessary.

Zara’s jaw tightened as she replied, her voice low, hard. “I don’t work for scraps.”

“This isn’t scraps,” Kane replied smoothly. “It’s Cade.”

That name stopped her cold. Cade. The one ghost she had spent years trying to bury. His face flashed in her mind—sharp, familiar, painful. Once a lover, now a fugitive. The kind of man the city wouldn’t just forget.

“I’m not interested in chasing ghosts,” Zara muttered, turning her back to the rain and the neon lights.

“You’ll be interested in the reward,” Kane said, his smirk almost visible through the broken transmission.

A data packet blinked on her HUD. Zara glanced at the numbers, her heart stilling for a moment. The payout was staggering—enough to disappear, enough to walk away from this cursed city for good. Freedom, finally. But then there was Cade.

Zara hesitated, her breath clouding the cool air around her. “Where is he?”

“Underground,” Kane replied, his voice dropping lower. “But not for long. You know what to do. Bring him to me. Alive.”

Zara’s eyes narrowed, watching the neon sign from a nearby bar flicker as Kane’s transmission cut out. For a moment, the streets seemed quieter, as if the city itself was holding its breath. Her muscles tensed, fingers brushing the hilt of the blade embedded in her arm. This wasn’t just a mission. It was personal.

She took a slow, measured breath and moved forward, the rain beating harder now, her HUD blinking as her AI assistant Kira activated.

“Payout looks substantial,” Kira remarked, her voice flat and robotic.

Zara didn’t break stride. “It’s not about the money.”

Kira paused before responding. “Then what is it about?”

Zara’s eyes scanned the city, her thoughts heavy with memories she had buried deep. Cade had once been everything to her, and now he was a mark. The city had a cruel way of twisting love into something ugly, something unrecognizable. She had to remind herself that this wasn’t about the past.

“It’s about ending this,” Zara whispered, her voice barely audible over the rain. But deep down, she wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince—Kira, or herself.

As the rain soaked her skin, Zara pushed forward, her footsteps disappearing into the hum of the city. The hunt had begun.