Page 116 of Bad Enough

Then Gendry did something TB would not have imagined. He reached up and tilted the camera inside the box so that it caught his face on camera. He smirked into it. Stepping back, he put his arm around Flame’s shoulders and turned her to face the camera head-on. TB could feel her fear through the screen and the revulsion as Gendry kissed her cheekbone, one hand squeezing her chin to hold her in place. He laughed, said something to Flame, and then forced his mouth on hers.

When she struggled and tried to avoid the contact, he used his teeth to bite her lower lip, causing her to cry out in pain. He took advantage of her mouth opening and thrust his tongue into her mouth, clenching her chin tighter so that she couldn’t close her teeth on his tongue. When he pulled back from her, he looked straight at the camera, winked, and shoved her away from him. His last act was to refocus the camera away from her and directly on her timer.

Three hours, minus seconds. That’s what he was reducing his little Flame’s life to. Time. It was a taunt. This is how much time you have, and I’m not even going to let you see her.

“Midas,” TB growled.

“I know, big guy, I know. I’m working on it. Triangulating is tricky. He’s bouncing this fucker all over the place.”

Waters clapped him on the back. “Come on. While Midas dominates the zeroes and ones into submission, let’s work on location from another angle. Profile him. We know who this fucker is, so let’s use what we know and find him. She’s not going anywhere right now. And if he’s selling her, he’s going to want her in perfect shape for the best price, so exhale, take a step back, and think.”

TB nodded. “I know. It’s just… she’s gotta be so fucking scared.”

“She knows you’re looking for her.”

“Yeah, but her tracker’s not working. Why?”

“Midas said something’s interfering with the signal. Like she’s inside something that’s thick metal.” Waters clapped his shoulder one more time. “I’ll say it again. She knows you’re looking for her. And she knows you’ll burn down the world to find her. So yes, I’m sure she’s scared. But she’s also smart. She won’t panic.”

TB’s brain was refusing to process. He needed to get in the correct headspace, but all he could think about was that his woman was locked in a tiny box, about to be auctioned and sent who the fuck knew where, and he couldn’t get to her.

His eyes went to the screen and watched the numbers tick down second by second.

An alarm went off. The telescreen reduced all the previous video footage to the lower right of the screen and refocused to show the front of the building. Two men—Loki and Gilgamesh—stood in full view of the camera, clearly knowing they had Tribe’s attention.

“Nemo, go let them in,” God ordered over the speaker.

“Boss—” Waters started.

“Nemo, do as you’re told.”

“On it.” Before leaving for the front door, Nemo bumped TB’s shoulder to get his attention. In his hands, he had several folders. “Midas had me go get this from his cave. It’s everything he’s got on Gendry, Flame, and her parents.” Nemo set the folders down, then took off to let the two strangers inside the sanctum walls.

It was mere moments before the three men were back in the room.

“Your man here says you have a vehicle make, model, and license. If you give it to us, we can work that angle for you.”

“Who are you people?” Waters asked. “Why should I give you that info when I have no idea who you are?”

“Because that’s our… woman he’s got,” Loki argued. “And we’ll owe you if you help us find her.”

TB thought the word choices were off, but he was too borderline panicked to pay it much attention.

“Inject a tracker in them and let them have at it,” TB yelled. “At least we’ll know where they go if they decide to double-cross us.”

“No trackers. We’ll take one of your guys with us as insurance for you.”

It was a gamble. God’s voice bellowed through the speaker. “Steel! Go with them.”

Steel considered the two men carefully, then stepped forward. He nodded at Loki and Gilgamesh.

Waters swore. “I don’t like this.” He hesitated another moment. “Give them earbuds. I want check-ins every five minutes. Miss just one, and I’m coming after Steel with every weapon we possess.”

Loki turned on his heel and headed back toward the lobby. Gilgamesh nodded at Waters. “No double-crossing planned. Just need to find our girl and help you get yours back. The other girls getting free is a bonus. C’mon, Steel.”

Midas handed earbuds to Steel for the two men, then went back to his computer screens. As Steel left the room on Gilgamesh’s heels, he looked to TB and gave a single head nod. Then he was gone.

Nemo was back. He had opened the top folder of intel and started laying items out one by one along the table. TB watched his teammate’s face. He was fully concentrating on the task at hand. He wasn’t cracking jokes or making lewd remarks. He wasn’t cracking his gum or blowing obnoxious bubbles. Hell, he wasn’t even chewing gum at all. He wasn’t even fully dressed. He’d clearly flown through a shower and thrown on whatever was handy because he was wearing green sweatpants and a navy blue T-shirt, and he had on some sort of dock shoes instead of his normal boots.

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