Page 15

15

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Haskell

Some days, it just didn’t pay to get out of bed. She’d been crawling for approximately forty-five minutes in the pitch dark, and if she never saw another air vent again, it would be too soon. When her current contract expired, it might be time for a new line of work. Something that only required regulation doors and windows.

Stupid Sawyer. Stupid Sawyer with his stupid gorgeous blond hair, stupid gorgeous blue eyes, stupid gorgeous mouth, stupid gorgeous fit body, and stupid gorgeous little-boy charm. Then he went and got all those stupid gorgeous tattoos, stupid gorgeous piercings—especially the extra stupid gorgeous one through his cock that sent her into orbit. And now he had a stupid gorgeous dog.

Stupid girl for falling in love with him at first sight.

Stupid, stupid, stupid .

Finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. She blamed her lack of situational awareness on sensory deprivation. It was the only reason she had for blindly pushing her way through the grate at the end of the tunnel without looking. Her handy-dandy screwdriver had her through that portal in less than twenty seconds, slithering out into the maintenance shaft, basically dumping herself into Sawyer’s lap.

She sighed. “Fuck my life.”

“Almost made it,” he congratulated her.

She hung her head in defeat. Why? Why couldn’t she catch a break?

“Sisyphus,” she muttered.

“Pardon?”

“I said,” she spoke up loudly, “Sisyphus.”

“The guy with the boulder?”

She looked up at Nemo, her eyes wide. He knew who Sisyphus was?

“Y-y-yes?”

“Why are you saying the name of a guy with a boulder that won’t stay put?”

“I’m thinking I should legally change my name to Sisyphus because every time I try to do something, it undoes itself, and then I have to start over.”

He frowned. “Then stop trying to escape.”

“I don’t want to stay here, Nemo.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“Yeah. Why? Why don’t you want to stay here?”

“Because.”

“Because…?”

“Because!”

Nemo rolled his eyes. “Kitty cat, that is not an answer. ”

She pointed her finger at him. “That! Right there! That’s why I need to leave!”

“I’m sorry… I know I’m not stupid, but I’m not connecting the dots here. What ‘that’ are you referring to?”

She twirled her pointed finger at him. “The stupid cute names for me. And the stupid logic. And your stupid charm and stupid niceness and stupid… everything!”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m really not tracking.”

Lying on her stomach in the shaft, she refused to look up. Instead, she just stayed there with her forehead on the cool metal surface and prayed to be swallowed into the first circle of hell.

“Thieves belong in the eighth circle, pretty baby.”

She turned her head to look at him, sitting there all nonchalant as if he didn’t have a care in the world and nowhere else better to be. “How the hell did you know what I was thinking or even know that information?”

He snorted. “You said it under your breath. These shafts amplify everything. As for the other question, I’m a thief, not illiterate, no matter what my teachers said.” He kept his glance at the wall. “My feelings are a little bit hurt. I went to all that trouble to save one of your nine lives, and you took off again . That’s three times, now, that you’ve done a flit on me.”

She rolled over onto her back, unable to suppress a groan at the aches and pains she had now added to the ones she’d already been dealing with.

“Sore?” he asked.

“You could say that. It’s been a rough six weeks.”

“They called us to help look for you.”

“Mmm.”

“Your friends have been worried about you.”

“Mmm.”

“I’ve been worried sick about you. ”

She refused to respond to that comment. Couldn’t respond to it, or she’d give in entirely to the stupidness that was titled “Nemo and Haskell.”

“Where have you been the last six weeks?”

“More like, where haven’t I been? Stumbled into an illegal diamond mine, and the fucking Kader family, joy oh joy. That meant almost forty-two days of schlepping my ass by foot, camel, back of a goat truck, leaking boat, and whatever else I could find out of Zimbabwe, into Tanzania, and finally into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.” She slipped a hand between her lower back and the floor, absently rubbing at the soreness there. “Little piece of advice. Avoid the camels if you’re ever given the opportunity. Blow up the goat trucks because goat piss does not come out of leather. And definitely fly first class on Qatar Airlines whenever possible.”

“Why did you come to Los Angeles?”

“It wasn’t my first choice. More like a Hail Mary pass at survival. When I got in touch with my employers, by the time they could have gotten to me to help, I basically would have been to Nairobi anyway. One of them managed to direct me to a drop box that had some money and supplies. I had to get out of Africa, so I used my ‘get out of jail free’ card and called Cherry as my last resort.”

“How do you know Cherry?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got nothing but time.”

Haskell debated what to tell him. “Short version is that shortly after you and I met in Valencia, she found me and offered me a job. I said no. Next day she found me again and gave me her card. Said if I ever changed my mind, call her.”

“You didn’t exactly call her about a job. How did you know she could help you?”

“I’m guessing the conditions for even knowing what the job was were the same for you as they were for me. Open the folder, you were committed. Change your mind after that, you disappear. Correct?”

Nemo nodded. “Essentially.”

“People who make those kinds of offers are people who have connections. Options. I was betting on the fact that she could help me.”

Another noncommittal grunt. Suddenly, he asked, “Why did you take off?”

She barely registered the whiplash of the change in conversation. “What?”

“Why did you leave?”

Her thoughts raced. “Which time?”

“I didn’t specify, did I? Let’s just worry about today for right now.”

Clearly, they would be returning to times one and two at a later date.

“I panicked?”

“You’re not sure?”

“I panicked,” she answered firmly.

“About what?” He seemed genuinely confused by her response.

She didn’t have an answer for that since she couldn’t tell him the real reason, so she just lay there staring at the ceiling of the shaft.

He sighed.

She waited. When he didn’t say anything or make any move to get out of the shaft, she turned her head to look at him. “Why are you here?”

“Why are any of us here?”

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “You know what I mean. Christ, four years later, and you’re still a total cunt. ”

He ignored the insult. “I’m here because you’re here.”

She turned her head toward him again, her eyes wide at his response. He wasn’t looking at her. Instead, his head was tipped back against the wall, his eyes still on the wall across from him.

“C’mon, kitty cat. Let’s get out of here.” He tapped his ear. “Midas, can you bring the elevator up to our level?” He gestured down the main path. “After you. This will empty out onto the top of the elevator, and then you can drop down into it.”

Rolling onto her stomach and getting onto her hands and knees, she began to crawl in the direction he indicated.