“Very few people know about that clinic, however. Given how much this would embarrass my family, we have to keep a very tight lid on his admission there.”
“But he got out?”
“Or was helped.”
“Why would anyone help Horace escape a rehabilitation clinic?”
“That’s what I need you to find out.” Nels slid another envelope over the desk: two cred cards, marked for 20k ameros each. “Those are for expenses. You’ll get your full fee when you find my brother.”
The monorail station on the east side of the NeuroSys campus overlooked the river. It was running fast now; white peaks marked where the water tumbled over stones or old boats or collapsed construction. Lux stuffed his hands in his pockets and waited for the train.
Nels had not thought to offer him a helo-shuttle back to the city.
The train had stopped at the string of tech firms situated along the Mississippi north of the city: nanotechnology and genetics and neurohacking. The city planners had called it a "technology corridor," though it was now half-empty and dilapidated. The best companies, the most cutting edge tech, had moved to corporate microstates in the Andes or offshore, to manmade islands in the middle of the ocean.
The commuters were a somber lot, each looking down into their own heads-up displays, reading or watching vids; none making eye contact or engaging their fellow citizens. Lux scanned their faces casually, noting who was watching whom.