Page 103 of Never Enough

“Oh. My. God,” Gem choked out.

“Am I seeing what I’m seeing?” Nemo asked her.

“What are you seeing?” Waters barked out.

“Kids,” Nemo murmured. “They’ve got fucking kids down here, Waters. Maybe thirty of them, and that’s what I can see. All young, maybe eight to ten years of age. Jesus, Waters, we can’t leave them here.”

“Fuck! Lemme think!”

“We were planning to get the workers out in the trucks, anyway,” TB offered over the line. “What’s the difference?”

“These kids are going to need a lot of help. They’re chained together.”

Nemo saw Gem stand up straight out of the corner of his eye. Then he watched her hands go up in the air like she was being held up in a bank.

Oh fuck!

That’s when he saw the gun poking into her lower back, right at her spinal column. Nemo stood as well, hands up, and he turned with Gem. Standing behind them was an array of guards with guns pointed at them.

“Well, this sucks,” Nemo said in an understated tone.

“Fuck,” Gem whispered.

Nemo, knowing he couldn’t let the guards know they had a way to communicate with people topside, did his best to make it sound like he was only talking to Gem. “You didn’t tell me that your last dozen boyfriends were going to come calling. You’d think they’d have brought flowers instead of guns, at least.”

“Shit,” Waters swore. “I’m sending TB and Steel in.”

Gem tried to warn Waters and the others. “I think, perhaps, it would be better to apologize nicely to them this time rather than run out without so much as a goodbye.”

“Boss?” TB asked.

“Stand down,” Waters ordered.

A voice not previously heard before—Cerberus—came in. “Was my surprise package delivered?”

Gem apologized. “Leave it to us to come to a party and not bring favors to hand out.”

“No party favors are needed, Le Chatte Noire. Your presence is present enough.”

The guards parted down the center, and three men in suits passed between them.

The man in the blue suit smiled at Gem. “You’re looking as lovely as ever.”

“Kent.”

Waters swore again. “Kent. As in Leech? Is that Ka-Bar?”

Gem pretended not to hear him. “I see you’ve made some new friends, Leech.” Her eyes roved to two other men who were in black suits. “Hemeda. Pilis. Looking as ugly as ever.”

Ka-Bar walked up to Gem, holding her gaze the entire way. He pulled her balaclava off when he reached her. “Did you get what you came for, little black cat? See something good?”

“No,” she told him.

Ka-Bar searched Gem’s pockets and pouches. He removed the hunk of rock wall from the pouch she had placed it in. Gem had an intense look on her face, one that Nemo didn’t quite understand.

Ka-Bar stepped over in front of Nemo, ripping the balaclava off him as well. “Sawyer Newton. This is a surprise, considering you died, what? Five years ago? Six? Both you and your twin, I believe. How interesting to see that those reports were in error. Howeverdid you match up with our little kitten here?”

“Just good luck, I guess,” Nemo snarked.

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