Page 106 of Never Enough

“That’s. It. No more. Get out of my head,” Haskell whisper-yelled. “You know nothing, Da. It’s not like if you were alive today, you’d come rescue me. You couldn’t. But my brothers would. And Nemo would. He loves me. And Tribe would come out of respect for Nemo, at the very least.

Bollocks, girl. He’s never said he loves you, has he? And why would those mercenaries feel any loyalty to you?

“He doesn’t need to. I know it. He promised he was all in with me. That’s as good as.” She sat straighter in her chair. It was as if she’d suddenly found the will to beat back her inadequacies. She remembered what Nemo said. The look in his eyes when he said it. “He promised,” she whispered. “And I’m going to listen to his voice, not you. Get out of my head, and don’t come back.”

Silence.

No echoing cackles, no sharp rebukes, no snarky comebacks. Could her da really be gone out of her head for good that easily?

Gem stood up from the chair and took stock of her surroundings. Ka-Bar had told her there was no one listening in. All the equipment in the room appeared out of working order, so she believed him. She scanned the room for cameras. Nothing. No red lights on equipment she could see or oddities in the ceilings or corners.

The rock she’d cut from the wall was still in the room. She grabbed it and slipped it back into her pouch.

When Ka-Bar had searched her pockets and pouches in the tunnel, he’d found her screwdriver tool, but he hadn’t taken it. Why?

Vents! He knew her traffic patterns as well as anyone else who knew her. He’d locked the door on his way out, but it hadn’t been to hold her in. It had been to keep her from going out the traditional route, cluing her in that it was being watched. He’d shuttered the window to keep her from breaking the glass and somehow going out the window.

She looked around the room again, but there were no vents at the top of the walls. Stymied, she put her hands on her hips,looking at the ceiling. It was pure rock above her. What the fuck was she supposed to do?

After a few moments of panic, she smacked herself on the forehead. “You idiot!” Immediately, she dropped to her knees and looked at the back wall. In the corner, there was a silver metal airflow unit. “Gotcha!”

In under a minute, she was in the vent. It had been touch and go getting even her tiny frame inside the vent, but she made it. After fifty feet or so, which she assumed was where the metal met the stone wall, there was a sharp bend. Sure enough, the metal opened up into a vertical maintenance shaft with metal rungs going straight up. It was going to be one hell of a climb, and it was going to take a while. Then the challenge would be to get out of the camp and make her way to Beitbridge and the rendezvous point, but she’d get there. Then she’d get to Nemo.

40

SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

Haskell

Exhausted beyond anything she’d ever felt in her life, she gave a shove to the metal grate that was between her and freedom. As soon as it started to rise, someone helped flip it all the way over, and two strong arms pulled her out of the air vent and passed her into two stronger arms. Those arms slung her over their shoulder and took off to behind a small warehouse that housed supplies. They crouched behind some oil drums. “Package acquired.”

She was too tired to fight. It had taken her hours to climb the three miles of ladder. She’d stopped more than a few times to rest, but never for long. Every minute she was in that shaft was one more minute that Nemo was in the hands of the Kaders.

She was sliding off the shoulder of whomever had carried her and was now sitting on the ground, leaning against the tinwall of the warehouse. Someone was checking her pulse, then flashing a bright light in her eyes. Hands gently swiped down her body, pressing lightly.

A canteen of water was pressed to her lips. It tasted metallic, but it was heavenly after all she’d been through.

“Roger that. Medusa is on her way. ETA four minutes. Get ready to run like hell.”

Gem floated in and out of consciousness until a loud boom sounded not too far away, causing the earth beneath her ass to actually shake. The sound of pounding feet went flying past them, voices in Shona yelling and screaming all around them. Her body was slung up over a shoulder again, and she bounced as whoever carried her ran in the opposite direction toward rotor blades she could barely hear over falling debris and crashing objects. She felt incredibly hot for several steps, then there was the feeling of rain falling on her.

No. Not rain. The drops were too big. In fact, it felt more like a deluge.

The water tower. Someone had blown up the water tower.

Cerberus!

Her body left the shoulder of her rescuer, and she was passed quickly into someone else’s arms, then set against the far wall. Several other loud thuds sounded around her, with a yell of “Go!”

“We’re in the pipe, gentlemen. Strap in!”

There was a violent rise as if they were being shot out of a cannon. Then, a sharp bank caused her to physically slide across the floor. Arms stopped her slide, then picked her up and strapped her to a bench seat.

A wet, sloppy tongue licked up her face. There was a yip and then a sneeze that covered her in snot. “Scheherazade,” she whispered. Her eyes opened, trying to focus. When theycouldn’t, she sent her hand flailing off the bench, looking for the dog.

The dog’s head found the palm of her hand, and she gripped the neck fur tightly in her fist. Scheherazade sat by her side, her muzzle flat on her torso perpendicular to her body.

More water was offered. She drank a few sips.

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