Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)

by William Gibson

up. I was into this routine with a customer. . . .” She dug her fingers deep in the foam. “Senator, he was. Knew his fat face right away. We were both covered with blood. We weren’t alone. She was all . . .” She tugged at the temperfoam. “Dead. And that fat prick, he was saying, ‘What’s wrong. What’s wrong?’ ’Cause we weren’t finished yet. . . .” She began to shake. “So I guess I gave the Senator what he really wanted, you know?” The shaking stopped. She released the foam and ran her fingers back through her dark hair. “The house put a contract out on me. I had to hide for a while.” Case stared at her. “So Riviera hit a nerve last night,” she said. “I guess it wants me to hate him real bad, so I’ll be psyched up to go in there after him.” “After him?” “He’s already there. Straylight. On the invitation of Lady 3Jane, all that dedication shit. She was there in a private box, kinda . . .” Case remembered the face he’d seen. “You gonna kill him?” She smiled. Cold. “He’s going to die, yeah. Soon.” “I had a visit too,” he said, and told her about the window, stumbling over what the Zone-figure had said about Linda. She nodded. “Maybe it wants you to hate something too.” “Maybe I hate it.” “Maybe you hate yourself, Case.” —