Page 35 of Never Enough

Midas sighed, and there was the sound of a key click over the airwaves. “Definitely need to work on that. Way too eager to help without direct questioning.”

BANG! A groan.

Nemo rubbed his shoulder, which was now back in its proper joint. “Don’t tell me I have to do that again today. Twice is enough.”

“No, little bro, I promise. You’re on her level now. Move the way you were going when you first got into the shaft, then turnleft. You should cut her off as she dumps out from a pseudo-dead end.”

As he began moving into the cutoff position, he asked, “Can she back up or veer off this system?”

“Negative. She probably has one inch on all sides to work with. I gather she’s not claustrophobic. Only one way for her to go. Gonna nickname her ‘Shawshank,’” Midas joked. “I can only imagine the conversations you, Steel, and she could have.”

Nemo had made it fifteen feet forward to a junction that had a grate from the air ventilation system on the far wall. There were paths to the left, right, and back the way he came in the repair shafts. He sat down perpendicular to where she would exit, his back to the wall, knees pulled up toward his chest, elbows on his knees, hands dangling between them, and waited. “Gah. I feel like I’m in that movieAlien, and I don’t have my gun on me.”

“No worries. I’ll warn you if the big, scary monsters with acid saliva start moving in your direction.”

There was a silence that followed between the two brothers that didn’t have its normal ease. Midas was the one to break it. “So… her or no one, huh?”

Nemo listened for any scuffling sounds coming his way. He wasn’t sure how far away she was, but it was clear that sound would be magnified and travel well in the shafts. When he spoke, it was barely above a whisper, but he knew the links would pick it up. “She’s it. Always has been.”

Midas grunted. “I knew you were hung up on her. No one could possibly be as much of a manwhore as you’ve been otherwise.” He paused. “You know I’ll help any way I can.”

Nemo looked down at his hands. “What about your bet?”

“Not sure if you noticed, but I never placed one. Besides, I always bet on you. You always come first, little brother.”

Nemo smiled sadly.

And there’s the fuckin’ problem right there. He always put me ahead of everyone else, including himself. Legal or not. Right or not. If he knew how much of my past is because of that… But I would do it all again.

“Thanks, Midas, but I’d rather you didn’t help me this time around. Muting.”

Normally, in these types of situations, as he waited for something to happen, he’d be running scenarios on what to do if things didn’t go as intended. Since this was his kitty cat, he knew that no matter what he planned, she would always do the unexpected. She could get into anything and out of anything. He was more concerned about what she would do when she opened the end grate and saw him waiting.

He leaned his head back against the shaft wall and let his mind wander back to when he and his brother were just Sawyer and Kash, not dead men working for Tribe, and the day when a pint-sized pixie changed him forever.

13

JULY 5, 2016 (SIX YEARS AGO)

Sawyer

“So, Haskell from Northern England, you gonna let me hang out here for a while after I finish playing doctor with you?”

Kash hissed over the link. “Seriously, bro? That’s the line you’re going to use?”

Sawyer studiously ignored the voice in his ear that had never turned off. Just because his brother Kash wasn’t physically present didn’t mean that he was cutting off his lifeline to safety. He just hadn’t told Haskell that the man was listening in and using a drone to inform Sawyer when to cut left and dodge right to avoid the Policia Local, who had been much too close several times during their nighttime flight through the forest. After all, he had to use everything in his arsenal to impress her.

His body language may have projected his focus was on her ankle, but Sawyer was incredibly good at focusing on things that he didn’t appear to be focusing on. He’d been fooling everyonefor a long time. In this case, he was cataloging Haskell’s responses to what he was doing. Her mouth winced once or twice when he touched her foot, but when he slid his fingers up to her ankle? The wince made it to her eyes. And when he brushed the top of the ankle bone? She inhaled. She was trying not to telegraph her pain, but she wasn’t fooling him.

“Do I have a choice?” She huffed. “It’s not like I could kick you out with this ankle.”

“No, probably not,” he agreed. Sawyer removed the ice bag and gently ran his fingers over her skin, making sure it was dry. “Okay, before I wrap your ankle, you probably should take off these pants.”

She lowered her chin and raised her eyebrows at him.

He mimicked her face. “Will you be able to get these off over a towel-wrapped ankle?”

She sighed in exasperation, her head dropping back against the top of the futon. “No.”

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