Page 33 of Never Enough

“Not backing out,” Nemo said firmly.

Waters considered Nemo long and hard before he took his turn at the board. “SIXTY DAYS.” He looked at Nemo with a shrug. “I’ve got your back, but I think it’s going to be harderthan you expect. I’m actually more concerned about you staying faithful. It’s not really in your makeup.”

Everyone turned their eyes to Steel. The most stoic member of the group was staring at the empty room on the monitor. Then he swept his eyes to Nemo. His expression was blank, but Nemo could tell when the man was thinking long and hard. If anyone would get this bet right, it would be him.

At long last, Steel crossed to the board and wrote down his bet, “NINETEEN DAYS.” After throwing the marker in the tray, he clapped Nemo on the shoulder. “You should have more faith in yourself,amigo.” Then he went back to where he had been originally standing.

Midas looked to Waters. “God going to want in on this?”

“Who the fuck knows,” Waters replied. “I don’t even know where the man is, let alone when he’s going to check in next.”

“Maybe Cherry does,” Demon suggested.

Nemo’s brother changed the subject. “Umm, bro, you better get on with locating your girl. She picks the wrong turn at a junction—she could end up in the furnace.”

Do we even have a furnace? This is Los Angeles.

“Nemo, your?—”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it. Midas? Gonna need your golden fingers and Tribe’s blueprints.”

“On it.”

Nemo looked at Scheherazade and made the signal for “stay.” She whimpered but put her head down on the floor and closed her eyes.

After quickly snapping a picture of the board, he put it in a group chat so that no one could change their bet, then dug a plastic case out of his cargo pants. After opening up the case, he pulled his earbuds out and slid one in his ear, pushing it down so it would lodge comfortably in place. Not even diving into a raging ocean swell would cause it to become dislodged now.

12

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Nemo

Jogging out the door and heading into the hallway, Nemo spoke out loud at normal volume. “Nemo, table for two, and I need a window seat.”

“Copy, Nemo. Need just a moment for Nova to scan the cameras and blueprints.”

Nemo waited, hands on hips. He wasn’t sure if he trusted this new AI program at the same level his brother did, but he did trust his brother.

Midas came over the airwaves. “Okay, here we go. You want to be creative and test the system out, or do you want to go the direct route?”

“We can give her a test run. If we run into a problem, we can always go back to direct.”

“All right, bro, here we go. Nova,” Midas spoketo his new program, “guide Nemo through the ventilation system to find the subject known as Haskell.”

“Acquiring target,” the smooth female voice replied. “Target Haskell acquired. Nemo, access the main elevator. When inside, select the Emergency Stop button. Remove the ceiling panel directly above you and ascend into the shaft. There, you will find an access panel in the ventilation system on the southern wall.”

“Whoa. That’s creepy.” He shook himself. “Copy that.”

Nemo jogged to the elevator, which was across from Cherry’s desk on the second-floor landing. She was sitting behind her desk, looking like she was hard at work on something on her screen, but Nemo knew her brain was definitely working overtime, just not at whatever was on the screen.

He tapped his ear once, muting his voice from Midas. “You okay, Cherry-girl?”

Cherry startled at his voice, then immediately fell back into her cool and collected state, which was her standard mode. “Yes, thank you, Nemo.”

“You know that once they’ve recovered from the excitement, they’re going to be on you about why you were with Haskell at that café and nobody knew about it?”

“Yes. I know. Nemo…” She bit her lip, a look of regret on her face. “Nemo, I would have told you at the very least, but she wouldn’t come in unless I promised not to. I honestly don’t think it meant she didn’t want to see you. I think it was more that she did, if that makes any sense.”

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