Page 23 of Never Enough

TB asked, “Can’t you just snip some wires or MacGyver that shit to prevent it from blowing up?”

“No, Tiny Brain, I can’t,” Nemo answered his work nemesis, TB, as he unwrapped the gum, stuck it in his mouth, folded the gum wrapper in half, smoothing out as many of the wrinkles in it as he could, and inserted it into the mechanism, being extremely careful not to touch the trigger hammer. “And even if I could, I wouldn’t dare try.” His voice was garbled around the sugary confection in his mouth.

“Okay, TB and Steel, the best thing we got right now is a dumpster in the alleyway behind the café.”

“On it, boss,” TB replied. Nemo could hear the sounds of running feet as the pair disappeared down the alleyway.

“Sorry, Nemo and Haskell, but you’re gonna need a serious shower when you’re done here,” Waters apologized.

“Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt.” Nemo chuckled, remembering how, during the rescue of Flame, TB’s woman, he’d ended up losing a battle with a dumpster.

“What’s going on?” Haskell asked.

Nemo reached his opposite hand back behind the oddly placed shoulder joint, giving it a sharp, quick yank. Now it appeared to be in its proper position. He massaged it absently as he stepped in front of Haskell and got down on one knee, his forearms leaning on the bent knee. “How are your legs feeling, kitty cat?”

“Like noodles,” she confessed nervously.

“So I’ve got the proverbial bad news and good news. The bad news is that I can’t defuse this thing. No matter what I do to it, it’ll trip the timer, and I can’t see how long we have between the click and the boom. The good news is that two of my friends went to grab a dumpster from the alley. What’s going to happen is, once they bring that dumpster here, they’re going to open it, they’re going to put one of these chairs in front of it.” Nemo nodded to the chair she was sitting in. “One of them is going to get in the dumpster and serve as our doorman. When the second guy clears the area, I’m going to grab you, throw you over my shoulder, and we’re going to do a little dumpster diving.” Nemo winked. “Nothing’s too classy for my girl on our first date.”

“Do you have a twitch?” Haskell asked.

“Huh?”

“A twitch. Your eye. It winks a lot.”

He was stunned. Then he grinned.

The laughter on the comms was almost deafening.

“She’s got your number, bro,” Midas threw out.

He started clearing chairs and tables that were in the pathway of getting her directly to the dumpster.

TB and Steel came trotting in, pushing the unwieldy container up the alley. His twin gave him encouragement over the comms. “Demon’s right. Don’t get dead.”

“No worries, bro. Not the first time I’ve done this.”

“Yeah, but the last time, you had a lead bathtub to dive into and a lead fire blanket to cover yourself with. Now you’re going to have extra weight, plus a small hill to climb.”

“Relax, Midas,” Nemo reassured him. “She’s a tiny-ass little thing. Maybe weighs a hundred pounds, and you and I both know I’ll have several seconds before the big bang.”

“No guarantees on how many, Nemo, so just be careful.”

TB was already in the dumpster, holding onto the open lid.

“I drew the short straw, Nutsack, so let’s get going here.”

“Aww, see, I knew you loved me. Together to the end, Total Butch to my Sundance.”

“Fucker. Let’s go.”

Nemo got down into a crouch again in front of Haskell and smiled into her bright blue eyes. “Okay, kitty cat, you ready for some fun?”

“No, but I’m not ready to be dead yet, either.”

“Thatta girl. When I say ‘three,’ I need you to go limp for me, you got it? I won’t be touching you yet, so you need to trust that I’m going to grab you on the number four and get us out of here. Can you do that?”

“Yeah,” she whispered.

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