Page 111 of Never Enough

The man continued to smile. “If she means nothing, then I guess we should start our negotiations with her as the prize. We have yet to contact your employer, so yes… I think we’ll start with Miss Dawson.”

Well, fuck. That backfired.

“Goodbye, young man. If I need to have someone disposed of, I always like to meet them first. Look them in the eye, as it were.”

“Well, I guess that’s something if you don’t have the courage to actually do the disposal yourself,” Nemo snarked.

“Oh, I do, and I have. But those days are long behind me. Now I have people for that.”

Nemo watched the man leave the room, heard the thud of the door and the clunk of the lock. Now that he was alone, he laid his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, wincing against the pain of his destroyed back.

The team would come. It was just a question of when. He just had to hold on.

His bigger hope was that they were looking for Gem first. Otherwise, if they were looking for him, and she was the one who was on the trading block, they wouldn’t get to her in time.

If the Kaders attempted to use torture on her, she had nothing to tell them. She didn’t know where Zahra and the baby were. Didn’t know much of anything about Tribe, really. And if Waters felt Tribe was compromised in any way, the company had other offices, other corporate shells to work through. Each of the men had their own bolt-holes they could scatter to, as well. He and Midas had several together and apart.

She was a tough cookie, but she wouldn’t last long in the face of a beating or, heaven forbid, an assault. His thoughts went briefly to Sarah Miller, Waters’ sister, and then he slapped those thoughts away. He couldn’t think about that. Not his Gem.

“Please,” he whispered. “Please go after Gem first. She’s worth so much more than me.”

43

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

Haskell

“His primary tracker isn’t responding, which means they likely found it and dug it out. But I’m having difficulty getting the secondary to activate, and that’s buried down deep toward the spinal column. The only reason that wouldn’t be activated is if it also had been removed, and that would be fatal.” The frustration in Midas’ voice was evident.

“If he’s in the mine, could the depth be blocking the signal? I mean, we know he’s at the Murphy Mine. Is it just that we need to get closer?” Haskell asked.

Midas propped his elbows on the dining room table and ran his hands along his skull. “No. The only thing that might block a signal would be if he were inside a lead box of some sort.”

No one responded to the implications of that statement.

Haskell walked up behind him. Instinctually, she put her arms around his neck and hugged him. “You’ll find him,” sheassured him. “He knows you’re looking for him.” She wondered if she wasn’t trying to convince herself as much as him.

Midas grabbed her arms and gave them a squeeze.

“One hour. Then you get some sleep,” she ordered. “TB’s good with computers, even if he’s not as good as you. He can work on it while you nap. You’re not good to Nemo or us if you’re too exhausted to think straight.”

Midas looked like he was about to argue, but Waters intervened. “She’s right, Midas. One hour. Then sleep, a shower, and some food. You’ve been at this for over forty-eight hours.”

Midas replied, “Then I guess I better get back to it.”

An hour later, while Midas was sleeping, the rest of the team began to work out a plan for how to get to Nemo. Without a location from his trackers, it wouldn’t be impossible, but it would require searching building by building of the compound, and cavern by cavern of the mine itself. Going in blind would be dangerous and take time. Time that maybe Nemo didn’t have.

Three hours later, Haskell stood, frustrated and feeling helpless. She’d dragged the table in from the pool deck, and with the help of electrical tape, she’d planned to grid out her kit the way Nemo had in Los Angeles. It wasn’t her normal approach, but she’d hoped it would calm her. Make her feel closer to him. Instead, her eyes were blurry with tears she refused to let fall, which also meant that her hands were shaking and unable to tear the tape.

Slamming one hand down on the table, a strangled sob worked its way up through her throat and escaped her mouth. The other hand holding the tape roll went up to her mouth, the back of the hand covering her lips, hoping to keep any further sounds trapped inside. Her shoulders rolled over as she fought the urge to be sick.

A pair of hands reached from behind and to the side,pulling the hand holding the tape away from her mouth. Quiet and low, a voice offered, “Let me help.” She looked up into the green eyes of Demon. He nodded with encouragement to her, but her fingers didn’t want to let go, as if somehow that meant she was letting go of Nemo. Giving up on him.

“Easy, Gem. Let go. I’ve got you.”

He managed to slip the roll from her grasp, then pulled a long strip of the tape clear from the roll. He gave her the free end, then he walked around the table until he was across from her. After pulling more of the tape clear of the roll to reach all the way across, he ripped off the piece and pressed his end to the edge of the table. He waited, watching for her to do the same.

Meticulously, as if the straightness of the tape made it more likely they would get to him in time, she attached her end of the tape to the table. Together, they smoothed the piece of tape down, edge to center, their fingertips meeting in the middle of the table. She looked up at Demon, and he nodded at her, saying nothing. Then he stood up, started to pull another piece of tape, handed her the end, and they continued the process until the table was gridded out to her satisfaction.

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