Page 4 of Never Enough

The man in question slid down the pitched roof on his ass, his right leg outstretched to brace himself when he hit the lip of the roof. “Thank you for calling. Saving the girl. Leave a message!” He anchored himself with his left foot, then reacheddown to grasp the dangling cat burglar. “Gotcha!” he cheered as he clasped her wrist. “Give me your other hand, kitty cat.”

He watched her glance down at the ground, then up at him, fear in her eyes and a whimper in her throat.

“You know better than to look down. Scratch and claw, tiny. I’ve got you!”

She tried to swing her arm up to reach for his grasp, but she kept missing his outstretched hand. “I can’t!”

“You can, kitty cat! Le Chatte Noire isn’t losing one of her nine lives this way.”

With a gasp and a grunt of sudden energy, she swung wildly and managed to get the dangling arm up above the eave. Nemo grabbed her forearm and leaned back with all of his might, working to steady her swinging body. Under one hundred pounds or not, she was deadweight, and he could feel his shoulders and arms burning with the effort to keep her from slipping.

“That’s it. Hang on!” Slowly, he managed to pull her up over the edge and brought her slight form on top of him on the pitched roof. Just in time, too, for, as her feet came over the edge, the gendarmerie rounded the corner of the narrow alley below.

Voices gathered in the streets, whistles blasting. They lay there, trying to gain control of their breathing and calm their pounding hearts as the police gave chase through the streets below, looking for the shadowy figures they had seen slide down the side of the tower. When the voices and whistles diminished, Nemo remembered to check in with the squawking voice over the airwaves.

“Thank you for holding. Nemo is back in the office. How may I help you?”

“Cut the jokes. Are you two all right?” Midas asked, his voice in a panic.

“Nothing a good beer and some NikNaks won’t cure,” Nemo assured him. To the woman beside him, he said, “Well, that was exciting.” He raised his head just enough to glance into the alley below.

The small woman lying on his chest stared at him wide-eyed. “You didn’t let me fall.”

“Nope. Do I get a prize?” His eyebrows pitched up and down.

Instantly, her eyes became guarded, and her body froze. “What do you want?”

“Just to see the pretty face that goes with the pretty eyes of Le Chatte Noire.” His hand reached up and pulled the balaclava from around her head and neck.

Just as beautiful as the first time.

In the moonlight, Nemo could just make out the gray storm clouds in her wide blue eyes. He swiped a gloved hand through her springy curls that popped out from under the hood, and his hand brushed the hair behind her right ear where an industrial piercing glinted.

New metal. Wonder what else is new? Maybe some more ink?

He suppressed a shudder of heat and need at the thought.

“Still such a pretty kitty,” he crooned.

“Stop calling me that,” she groused, grabbing wildly for her hood. “And give me that back.”

He held it out of reach and grinned. “Is that any way to treat the hero who saved your life? Again.”

She rolled off him and scooched out of his reach. “While I’m thankful for the assistance, I can’t say I would have done the same.”

“Hissy tonight, aren’t we?” He winked and shifted his focus. “Midas, are you still there?”

“Where else would I be? Quit fuckin’ around and get out ofthere. The gendarmerie is moving in the opposite direction still, but it won’t be long before they realize you’re behind them and decide to double back. You’ve got maybe two minutes.”

“Copy that.” He looked at the pint-sized thief next to him. “We gotta go. Unwanted guests in two minutes.” He tossed her the balaclava he’d torn from her head and pulled his own back up.

“How do you know we’ve got two minutes?”

“My eye in the sky has a drone. He can see all of our little friends running around. C’mon.”

He helped her pull her hood in place, then he stood and grabbed her hand, leading her toward the back side of the rooftop. They both looked down over the side of the roof, gauging the distance to the next building. “Too far to jump this one. Gotta go down.” He whipped his head around and scanned the wall below. Finding a rain pipe, he bent down and gave it a quick tug to test its strength. “Gonna be iffy. You go first. Should hold you no problem.”

“What about you?” she gasped.

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