In a condemned hotel, an operation to recover a DNA-altering bioweapon goes horribly wrong, sparking a scandal that could bring down an agency ... and a city along with it. Adasha Denali resolves disputes for Naion-using words, not weapons. But with her agency under fire and her mentor blamed for a failed intelligence operation, she'll have to get her hands dirty. Racing to discover who's undermining Naion's security and why, Adasha runs headlong into corporate mercenaries, an engineered spy, and a man losing his mind to a new form of intelligence. Meanwhile, the once-great immersion hacker Neon Nik is on the ugly side of broke, struggling to pay off circling loan sharks. When he inherits a piece of advanced tech that throws him into Adasha's path, threats of dismemberment become the least of his problems. Now he's got a vortex of hired killers on his heels and a decision to make: sell out or suit up.