Page 76 of Never Enough

“Copy that.” Demon got up from the table and headed toward the cockpit.

“Gem. Use the maps to get a plan going on which shaft you’re going to use to enter into the mine. We need visual confirmation of the diamonds, taaffeite, and tanzanite in thesame location, in their raw form, so before you leave us, Midas will attach a camera to you for that.”

Gem nodded. “Since this map is four months old, I’ll put together several routes in case we find cave-ins.”

“Excellent,” Waters praised. “Nemo. I need you to run possible exit routes from all sections of the mine. Watch for dead ends.”

“Got it, boss.”

Waters sighed and ran a hand through his extremely short hair. “I’m going to call Cherry. We need to talk to God, no matter where he is. Can’t keep him in the dark any longer.”

Midas snorted as he worked. “You really think he’s in the dark? I’m sure Cherry’s in touch with him regularly. He just doesn’t want to talk tousright now.”

Nemo looked at Waters. “What’s up with that, anyway? Do we really not know where he is?”

“I don’t have a fucking clue,” Waters admitted. “Midas is right, though. He probably has his reasons, but it’s frustrating as fuck. I’m sure Cherry is in touch with him daily, and you can bet he’s not really in the dark. But for whatever reason, he’s just not available to us.” Waters walked away from the table, muttering to himself.

“I thought Waters was your boss,” Gem said to Nemo.

“He is,” Nemo told her, “but our overall boss, God, has been off the grid for a while, and no one seems to know where he is or why. Or if they do, they’re not talking.” Nemo shrugged. “Not like we ever really see him anyway.”

“What does that mean?” Gem asked.

“He only talks to us through conference calls. Audio only. Lives up in the penthouse apartment at Tribe, but he’s never been downstairs that we know of.”

“And you don’t find that the least bit odd?”

“Kitty cat, my whole life has been nothing but odd since Midas and I lost our mum when we were seventeen.”

“Even I’ve seen my boss. Bosses,” she clarified. “Weird trio they may be, but I still have seen them.”

“Yeah, but which one is the head of the triangle?” Nemo asked.

Gem opened her mouth to answer, then closed it with a frown. “You know, up until just this moment, I would have said Loki without a doubt. But now…”

“Now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yeah. We’ve got an ongoing bet. Most everyone thinks it’s actually Medusa who’s in charge. Those who don’t think it’s Loki.”

“Well, it’s definitely not Gilgamesh. And Cerberus is a contractor, like me. Who’s your money on?”

“I think Medusa is like Waters. But there’s someone else pulling the strings. Someone we haven’t seen.”

“Huh.” She thought about it for a moment. She shifted her attention back to Nemo. “None of you have ever seen your boss? Really?”

“None of us have ever seen him. Well,” he reconsidered. “That’s a lie. Cherry’s seen him. And Kubrick.”

“Why Kubrick?”

“It’s kind of a long story, and it’s connected to another handler we had. She was Waters’ sister, and her name was Sarah. Suffice it to say, when she was killed, we all sort of lost our minds for a bit. God put down a commandment—pun intended—Thou shalt not get into a relationship. Punishment was erasure. Complete and total.”

“As in… dead?” Gem whispered the last word. “But the woman wasn’t involved with anyone. Was she?”

Nemo shook his head. “No. After the decree was made,most of us sort of figured God had a thing for her. You don’t get that pissed off over one of your employees. None of us questioned it, and we were fine with the rule at the time. No way were we going to allow another woman to be vulnerable because of what we do. But… time changes things. And when Waters met Kubrick, well, that conference room wason fire. God couldn’t have stopped that conflagration if he’d tried.”

“Wow.”

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