Fox Hunt (Fox Meridian Book 1) by Niall Teasdale

flicked around the people on the balcony as he took a drink. ‘You, on the other hand, are just going to have to fend off horny drunks because you’re genetically lucky.’
    ‘I would submit that you are too. You haven’t had much work done. Nothing structural, no muscle enhancement. I’m the one with the military-grade tendons and the enhanced muscle fibres.’
    ‘No cosmetic work though.’
    ‘All you do is cleansing and smoothing.’
    He laughed. ‘Okay, so we’re both beautiful. People are going to wonder what’s wrong with us.’
    Fox shrugged. ‘I’m a cop and you’re an escort.’ Sam was, indeed, a licensed prostitute, but more than that, he was a bodyguard. He frequently made more money providing companionship for bored, rich women, but he had male clients, and he did ‘special jobs’ where the sex was essentially a cover for guarding the life of his temporary partners. And despite the fact that his reputation suggested he was fantastic in bed, Fox had never slept with him.
    ‘Well, someone’s going to have to show a lot of promise before I take them home with me,’ he said. Making his living from sex disinclined him to consider it recreationally, which was why Fox had never suggested it.
    Fox settled her back against the bar, curved her spine, pushed out her chest, and watched several men and a couple of women lick their lips. ‘Yeah. On the plus side, it could be amusing to fuck with the dopies for a while.’
    ‘You’re an evil woman, Fox Meridian.’ He turned and stretched so that his arm muscles flexed… Fox was sure she heard someone whimper even over the music.
    ‘I bow to your superior evil,’ Fox replied.

Part Three: Murder Is My Business
    New York Metro, 18 th January 2060.
    The hangover had almost been worth it, the messages Kit had carefully prioritised and stored had been dealt with over breakfast, and then she had got the report through from the forensic techs saying that the mysterious data stick contained even more mysterious data. It was a single, encrypted data file; very high-end, military encryption had been used to conceal the contents. Most of the rest of the day had been spent trying to get authorisation to have it decrypted.
    So on Sunday morning, Fox was really hoping for a lie-in and the buzz for attention from her VA resulted in a groan which became a bitten off scream of exasperation when she noticed the time. ‘Oh-eight-hundred! Fuck, this better be… All right, answer it, no visual.’
    ‘Identity verified against personal implant,’ a dull, impersonal voice said into her head. ‘Inspector Meridian, attend potential crime scene at apartment sixty dash ninety-two, your location. Possible unattended termination; patrol and EMT dispatched but not arrived. Please confirm.’
    Fox let the statement from the dispatch agent at HQ sink in for a second before replying. ‘Inspector Meridian confirming assignment. ETA… five minutes. Inform the patrol to wait before gaining entry.’
    ‘Confirmed.’
    The connection broke and Fox pushed herself up from the bed. ‘Damn. Kit, run the shower, cold.’ Gathering herself, she pushed and rolled and then dragged herself over to the shower which was built into a glassed-in cubicle at the side of the bedroom. Cold water hit her as soon as she stepped in, flushing away most of the rest of the fuzz in her head.
    ‘I should have a cup of coffee ready for you to gulp down by the time you are dressed,’ Kit informed her.
    ‘Off,’ Fox said, unable to take any more. She turned and found the fox-girl standing behind her, dry despite the shower jets since she was not really there. ‘Air jets, please. And thanks for getting the coffee ready, but you standing in the shower with me is creepy.’
    Kit opened her mouth, and then closed it and vanished. ‘Perhaps that was not entirely advisable, no. I shall employ audio only in future.’
    Fox grinned, letting the hot air jets dry her skin for almost long enough before she left the