Page 12 of Never Enough

“Not even sure why they lock this door. The tumbler is so ancient, I probably could have jiggled it open,” Nemo groused.

“Look at it as an opportunity to practice your lock-picking skills. You’re keeping your old self alive.”

“Pfft,” Nemo replied. “Lock picking is nothing. Give me something challenging.”

They slunk through the open door. There was little concern of a building alarm. The building was so basic it didn’t even have a sign on it naming the business. A square, nondescript, flat-roofed structure, it was the perfect place to hide a captive. Non-native rescuers would stick out like a sore thumb, so guarding someone wouldn’t need to be a major production.

Inside, Steel and Nemo paused.

“Well. This is unexpected,” Nemo said.

The building was basically one big open space—more like an unfinished warehouse. And stacked in neat rows, four tall, were boxes approximately seven feet long by two feet tall and equipped with computer locks.

“Look familiar?” Steel asked.

“Uh-huh. What the fuck are they doing here? Are the guys who have Ka-Bar connected to what happened with Flame?”

“Dunno. Sure looks that way, though.”

The two men walked quickly and quietly through the rows of coffin-sized boxes with Steel taking pictures. Nemo was remembering the recent rescue of Flame, TB’s woman. She andsix other women who had been captured were put into similar boxes and had been in the process of being shipped to buyers on the dark web. These, however, were more sophisticated. The boxes appeared to have computer controls on the front doors, whereas the prior boxes just had ordinary locks.

Steel looked closer. “These aren’t just locks,” he whispered. “There are other buttons here. Temperature controls. Oxygen and carbon dioxide monitors. They must have been losing people during transport. Had to increase their technology to ensure survival,” he surmised.

A noise came from a dark corner of the room. Quietly, both men drew their weapons and focused in the direction of the sound. The floor of the room was concrete, and the tapping that was coming toward them was not human.

Steel whispered, “Dog.”

A golden-colored dog appeared in the moonlight. Just short of two feet tall from pointy ears to feet, the animal was skinny as could be. Looking at the two men frozen in their tracks, the dog lowered its head and let loose a soft but menacing growl.

“Nice doggie,” Nemo breathed out.

The dog advanced two steps closer, the growl becoming slightly louder and more menacing.

“Nemo. It’s a female.”

“So?”

“No, dumbass. Look. She’s had puppies recently.”

Sure enough, her belly dragged with teats. “She’s frickin’ emaciated. How is she feeding puppies? Shit, shit, shit.”

“Back up slowly. Maybe if we show we’re no threat to her pups, she’ll leave us alone,” Steel said.

The dog was in heartbreaking condition. Nemo’s fear seemed to suddenly vanish. He felt like he understood this dog. She was clearly here as protection of the space. She was being starved to make her mean, and protecting her puppies wasn’thelping the situation. He remembered more than a few days of his life being hungry and vulnerable.

“Hey, girl,” he whispered. “You hungry?”

“Nemo,” Steel hissed. “What the fuck?”

Nemo holstered his weapon, then ever so slowly reached into his cargo pocket for a tube from his dinner MRE he had stashed there. He gently tore open the package and gently squeezed some of its contents over the edge of the opening. Just as slowly, he hunkered down into a crouch and extended the tube to the dog. “Hey, sweetheart. You’ll like this. C’mere, girl.”

“Nemo, she’s gonna bite your face off, and we cannot go to a hospital when she does.”

Nemo just ignored the man behind him. He squeezed a little bit more of the contents so that the dog could get a better whiff of it.

“Nemo, what is that?”

“Peanut butter. It’s okay for dogs, although at this point, I don’t think much could be bad for her.”

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