Page 116 of Never Enough

Cerberus handed Gem his gun with the silencer on the end. “Fire at anything that comes down that tunnel, love. The rest of Tribe and Mythos are a little busy, so it won’t be them.”

Steel moved to Nemo’s left, cutting away the rest of the restraints. “Jesucristo, hermano,” Steel uttered under his breath. “Gem, hold the light.”

Nemo realized that Steel had seen his back. “Don’t, Steel. It’s fine. There’s nothing we can do about it right now.”

“You can’t go back the way we came when you’re in this condition.”

“What’s wrong?” Gem asked. Then she caught glimpses of torn flesh. When she passed the flashlight farther back, she gasped. “Oh my god. What the hell did they do to you?”

“Just some lashes with a belt, kitty cat. I’ve had worse.”

“Nemo, this is more than some lashes with a belt,” shehissed. “When we get this vest off, will I be able to see any of your actual back? All of your lovely tattoos…”

“Demon will clean it out and put it all back the way it should be. We have bigger issues right now.” Nemo looked at Steel. “You got an extra earbud for me?”

Steel dug into his pocket and pulled a case out, handing it over to Nemo. As Cerberus continued to work on the vest, Nemo proceeded to put his shoulders back into place against the cave wall. Gem winced with both grunts he let out, but he didn’t have time to feel bad about it. Then he pushed the earbuds into place and spoke over the channel.

“Nemo online.”

“Thank Christ,” came TB’s voice over the channel, as well as rapid gunfire. “Hurry your asses up down there.”

“Waters,” Steel started, “we can’t come back through the fissure. Nemo’s back is torn to shreds. It’s already going to be hard enough on him to move through this, let alone scraping his back on the ragged edges of that tunnel. On top of that, the explosives they strapped to him… they did it all with adhesive tape. We’re not going to be able to remove it here.”

Cerberus explained, “I can dismantle the wiring, but I can’t pull it off without taking inches of flesh off him.”

“Got it. TB and Demon will make the path.”

“Wait. We’ve got another problem.” Nemo looked at Gem. “Remember the tunnel in Zimbabwe?”

She nodded. “Yeah. The kids. They’re using them here, too.”

“I didn’t think it could get worse, but it did. Waters, they’ve gone allIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. There’s another tunnel here. When you get to the end of it, it’s like a frickin’ ancient burial ground, with all those slots for bodies. Only problem is, they’re not dead bodies in them. They’ve got kids crawling in there. They’re sending them into these narrowhuman wormholes like we used to get inside Zimbabwe’s cavern. But they’re all girls. I don’t know why only girls, but that’s all I saw. Little ones. They’re even littler than the kids we saw in Zimbabwe.”

“Fuckin’ Salieri again.”

“Gem?” Nemo asked.

“No time to explain. Waters, I’m not leaving another group of kids behind.”

“Loki and Gilgamesh have got it, Gem.”

“But—”

“I said, they’ve got it. We’re not leaving them behind, I promise. Nemo, make sure her ass is with all of you coming out of that tunnel.”

“You got it, boss man.”

At that same moment, Cerberus pulled a wire delicately from the explosive device strapped to Nemo. “Okay, we’re clear. Let’s get him out of here.”

Nemo could barely move. The beating had been restricted to his back, but he was still struggling to move due to poor circulation over the last thirty to forty-five minutes. He hobbled as best he could, one arm over Gem’s shoulders, the other over Steel’s. The pull in his back from the open and reopened wounds was excruciating, but it was better than being blown up. You couldn’t put that back together.

“TB and Demon, have you got them?”

“Elevator doors are opening now.”

When they got to the mouth of the tunnel, Nemo had never seen a better or worse sight at the same time. Two elevator doors on the far side of the cavern opened to reveal the team’s interrogator in one and the medic in the other. From a far tunnel, Waters emerged with a group of children who seemed to be in distress. Steel, Cerberus, Gem, and Nemo made their way to him, each sweeping up a child or two in theirarms and racing for the elevators. TB and Steel kept them covered in case of last-minute appearances from additional guards, but no one arrived.

As the elevator doors closed, Waters updated everyone.

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