Page 104 of Never Enough

“Hmm. I don’t think it’s very good luck at all.” With the hand holding the balaclavas, he gestured to the guards behind him. Four stepped forward, two flanking the two thieves on either side. “I hope you enjoyed your tour of the mine. Unfortunately, the rest of your visit is going to be far less pleasant.” He gestured again to four of the guards and gave an order in Shona.

One of the guards nudged Gem with the muzzle of his rifle. She flashed a look at Nemo, then proceeded the guards out into the main cavern.

Ka-Bar stared hard at Nemo.

Nemo returned his stare. “Was it worth it?” he asked.

“Was what worth it?” his captor returned.

“Abandoning Zahra. Betraying your sister. Never seeing your son.”

Nemo swore that he saw a flash of something in Ka-Bar’s eyes, but it was gone so fast he couldn’t be sure. He did not miss the tic in the man’s cheek, however.

“Sometimes choices have to be made.”

Nemo berated him, “There are fucking kids down here, and you’re killing them.”

This time, Nemo did see the flash in the eye, and in his lower peripheral vision, he saw the man clench his fist.

Instead of responding, he turned and headed back up the tunnel.

“He’s all yours,” he told the Kader brothers. “Remember. Pharaoh wants his prize undamaged. For now,” Ka-Bar promised ominously.

The two guards flanking Nemo pushed him out into the cavern and toward a second tunnel on this side of the chasm. He fought their herding, trying to find where they’d taken Gem. She was being escorted up a flight of rickety wooden stairs that had the mine’s main wall structure on one side. So that Waters knew they’d been separated, Nemo called out, “I’ll come for you, Gem!”

Ka-Bar turned on the first platform. He looked at Gem fighting the two guards as she stopped where she was on the stairs. Then he looked at Nemo down below. “I don’t think so, Mr. Newton.” He gave a frosty smile, then he turned again and continued up to Gem and the guards, who were once again working their way up the stairs.

38

SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

Haskell

The guards placed her, rather unceremoniously, in what looked like a control room. They had climbed approximately five staircase levels, which appeared to be halfway to the ceiling of the cavern. Once there, one of the guards patted her down, looking for wires or surveillance devices, and he made sure to check extra long at her breasts and between her legs. She withstood it stoically. He also painfully dug into her ears, found the earbuds, and crushed them under his foot.

The second guard pulled a broken-down chair on wheels from in front of a workstation and half tossed her into it once the search was done. Afterward, they both stood on either side of the door, staring at her, rifles across their chests as if they believed she would suddenly spring a weapon out of her skintight shirt and leggings.

Ka-Bar came into the room a few minutes later. “Leave us,” he growled. “You can assume your regular schedule.”

Without a word, the guards exited the room, and she heard them begin the climb upward to the surface.

Ka-Bar set the chunk of rock on the workstation table, shuttered the large plate glass windows overlooking the cavern, and then perched on the edge of the tabletop in front of a series of dials, switches, lights, and monitors. Microphones on flexible stems sat in front of each chair at the long shelf-table. None of it appeared to have been turned on in ages.

They sat, staring at each other.

Finally, Ka-Bar broke the silence. “No one can hear us.”

Haskell hissed at him. “What the fuck, Kent?”

“I didn’t have any choice. They had Zahra.”

“There’s always a choice, asshole! They’re kids!”

“They had pictures of Zahra. Proof they had her before I could hide her. I didn’t know it was a lie.” He cursed under his breath, then began to pace the small space, running a hand through his hair. He turned to Gem. “Have you seen him?”

Gem’s anger dropped. “No. I only heard he’s healthy, and they’re safe.”

“Good. It doesn’t matter as long as she and the boy are safe.”

---