Page 108 of Never Enough

“Murphy Mine, South Africa. Pharaoh Kader has him.”

“Thank you, Gem.” He used a cane to stand. His movements to the door were stilted, but he managed to move silently. When he reached the door, he stopped. “I know you care for him a great deal, as much as he cares for you. But I ask you to remember your commitment to Mythos. Nemo will be a huge temptation to you to throw everything to the wind for him. To do so, however, would be… inadvisable.”

“You don’t make decisions for me. No one does but me. It’s none of your business what choices I make.”

He sighed. “Trust me, Gem. Stay with Mythos. It will make things painful for him, but it will serve you both best in the end.”

The door quietly snicked shut. She sat there staring at the wall in front of her, absently stroking through Scheherazade’s fur. She had no idea how long it was before the door opened again.

This time, it was TB. “Hey. Glad to see you’re up. How are you feeling?”

“Oddly enough, I feel fine. Is everyone here? We need to start planning how to get Nemo back.”

“We’ve been looking. There’s been no sign of him. His tracker went dead.”

“I just told God where he was. He didn’t tell you?”

TB stared at Gem. “How did you tell him? There’s no phone in here.”

She looked at him like he was crazy. “I told him in person. He was just here.” She flicked a hand to the chair.

TB clicked a button on his watch and barked into it, “Midas. Search the cameras. God was just here. He visited Gem. I was only out of the room for thirty minutes, so it can’t have been long. And get everybody in here. She knows where Nemo is.”

A flurry of footsteps could be heard in the hallway, coming from both down the hall and from downstairs.

“God washere?” Midas’ eyes were practically bugging out of his head.

“Where the hell has he been?” Demon demanded.

“What did he say?” Steel asked.

“What does he look like?” TB asked.

“How the ever-loving fuck did he get past security?” Waters bellowed at Midas.

The Tribe started arguing amongst themselves.

Haskell stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled so loud it even hurt her ears. It did, however, get the cacophony of overlaying voices to stop. “Yes, he was here. He didn’t offer me a copy of his itinerary. He asked if I knew where they took Nemo. I couldn’t see his face because it was in the shadows. And his name is freakin’ ‘God,’ so he probably appeared in a bolt of lightning and left the same way. Now will you wankers please shut the fuck up so I can tell you where Nemo is since he didn’t?”

The men were all staring at her. “Sorry, Gem,” TB apologized. “We just haven’t spoken to him in weeks, and as far as we know, he’s never been seen by anyone other than Cherry or Kubrick. Of course we want to know what you have on Nemo.”

“And I want to know what that son of a fuck, Ka-Bar, wasdoing keeping you prisoner.” Waters’ face was so red she worried he might spontaneously combust.

Midas grinned. “That’s a new Kubrickism for the board. I like it.”

“Fantastic. I’m glad you’re impressed with my woman’s ability to swear,” Waters growled at him.

“Okay, everyone needs to calm down. Here’s what I know. Goons One and Two took me to the original mine’s control room. After my earbuds got destroyed, Ka-Bar arrived to talk to me. He told me that Nemo was removed through the second tunnel on the same side of the chasm we were on to get the sample. It has a path to get into it with full-size vehicles. Hemeda and Pilis were taking him to Pharaoh Kader. Have you heard from them yet?”

“No,” Waters said. “What do they want with him?”

“They wanted TB or you, but they settled for Nemo.” Gem scowled at Waters. “How long has it been since you pulled me from the camp?”

TB spoke up. “When we lost contact, Cerberus told us to look for an air shaft. Said you’d escape, either alone or with Nemo, and that’s how you would do it. You appeared at the top of it almost twelve hours after you were taken. You were covered in dirt and delirious. Dehydrated. Once we had you, Cerberus blew the water tower as a diversion, and Medusa came screaming in on her ‘little bird.’” He put the phrase in air quotes with his voice. “That was yesterday. This is the first time you’ve been aware of anything around you.”

“Bloody hell,” she muttered. “Why haven’t they contacted you yet?” She looked back to Waters, worrying her bottom lip. “Nemo was taken away immediately. He’s a bargaining chip. They’re going to ask for Zahra and the boy in trade for him. If you don’t comply, they’ll kill Nemo. If you do comply, they’ll kill Zahra.

“Where did they take him?”

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