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SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

Haskell

Haskell took a quick look around the side of the bulldozer they were behind. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Nemo tie off their ropes. She knew her answers to his questions had upset him, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now. She also knew she desperately wanted what he was offering. Had since she first met him, but they just couldn’t. She had commitments. So did he. And those commitments weren’t going to change for some time, if ever.

“Midas. Camera check.”

Over the airwaves, she heard keys clacking. “I’ve got you, Gem, but Nemo’s is static.”

She felt the man in question come up next to her. She turned her head to look for the red light on his goggles and gave the right lens a flick .

“Hey!” he complained.

“Got him,” Midas confirmed.

“You were static. Everyone knows when technology doesn’t work?—”

“Flick it. I got it. And I heard him. I do have an earbud in. I could have flicked it myself.”

“What would be the fun of that?” she teased.

She glanced around the side of the bulldozer again.

“Anything?” he whispered.

“No. Clear the opposite side.”

He chanced a quick look. When he gave the thumbs-up, both slinked around the prospective sides of the bulldozer to ensure that no one was hiding along the front of the machinery. When their eyes connected again, she pointed to the pallet of crates fifty feet ahead of them, letting him know where she was headed.

He gave her a thumbs-up.

She sent the update. “Clear. Going in.”

Both took off and plastered themselves to the crates when they arrived there, then ducked their heads around the sides to check for guards. Nothing but a huge open seam in the ground, separating them from a cave on the opposite side, and no crossing in sight.

“Bollocks,” she muttered.

“What is it, Gem?” Waters asked over the link.

“Small obstacle.”

“Small obstacle? That’s like saying I have a small cock. I’d hate to think what you see as ‘large,’” Nemo whispered.

“Hey! Open channel, you two,” Waters reminded them. “The picture is fuzzy. What do you have as an obstacle ?”

“Just a crack in the ground,” she reassured with a look up above them .

“Crack? Woman, we need to have a talk about your understanding of the English language when we get home,” Nemo griped.

“How big is a ‘crack’?” Waters asked.

Before Haskell could answer, Nemo did. “Her ‘crack’ is about twenty feet wide.” He glanced up to where she was looking. “Fuck. We’re playing George of the Jungle , aren’t we?”

With the balaclava over her head, she knew he couldn’t see her smile, but she felt her body come alive as she looked at him. “Just don’t do the yodel as you cross.”

For the first time in a long time, this felt fun again. She wondered if it was because he was here with her. As soon as the thought occurred, she shoved it aside. She scrambled up over the crate to the top, a palm to her ass giving her a boost. The crates were bundled together and attached to a crane hook. As she was unclamping the hook, Nemo came up the other side of the pallet to join her. He held the chain steady as she went to the edge of the box to look over the side and into the open seam in the ground. “Piece of cake. You’re only going to get one shot when I let go, and this chain swings back, so be ready.”

“I’ll be ready,” he grouched.

Nemo held the chain steady as she backed up the few steps the top of the crate allowed, then gathered momentum with her steps to pitch herself at the impromptu “jungle vine.” As soon as she grasped on, her tiny feet catching the top of the hook on the end as support, Nemo let go of the chain and gave her a push for additional momentum.

She swung to about ten feet over the chasm, then headed back his way. Luckily, he had stepped back two steps to be sure to be out of the line of the chain. At the top of her backswing, she pushed with her knees, like when she’d played on the swings as a child, and sailed halfway across the chasm before swinging back again .

On the third swing, she calculated that she probably could have flung off the chain to safety but decided one more round would be safer.

The fourth swing, she cleared the opposite side of the chasm and let go. When she sailed to the top of the arc, she pitched herself into a swan-dive posture, then tucked into a roll as she came at the ground. She hit with a jarring thud, somersaulting end-over-end several times. Her body would definitely hurt tomorrow, but for today, it was all good.

Haskell didn’t get to see Nemo’s catch of the chain, but he was already hitching a ride on the backswing when she managed to look behind her. Then he was swinging her way. It only took him two swings since the chain already had momentum, plus he had her by almost a hundred pounds, and he was able to just pitch off and land on his feet. He managed to hold onto the chain, although there was a wince when he did, and he looped it around a piece of machinery so that they could use it to swing back across later.

Once he was safely on the ground, she took off for the tunnel on the left, scanning for guards as she went. Nothing. It seemed like too much good fortune for them, which probably meant that it was. Somewhere along the line, something was going to go wrong. She just hoped they weren’t going to have to kill anyone in the process.

After they dashed through the tunnel entrance, she stopped and plastered herself to the wall, looking out to see if anyone had come out into the cavern behind them. No one.

“We’re in the tunnel. No one in sight.”

“Confirmed on our end. While on the one hand, that’s good, it doesn’t bode well that there are no guards in the main area,” Waters grumped.

“Or it means they feel secure in the methods they’re using,” Haskell offered .

“Have you seen cameras?” TB asked.

“That’s a negative,” Nemo replied.

“Okay. Heads on a swivel. I’ll have Midas try to hack into their system and see if there’s a camera system.”

“There isn’t,” Midas jumped in. “One of the first things I looked for. The fucktwats apparently didn’t want to invest. But secure in their methods or not, it’s still odd that there are no guards in the cavern. I’ll crack open their radio channel and see if there’s any chatter. These guys don’t seem to be terribly high-end, so if there’s anything suspicious, they’d likely talk about it out in the open. Stupid criminals, stand up, please.”

“High-end or low-end, stupid or smart, keep an eye out,” Waters ordered. “Underestimating the enemy is mistake number one on any project.”

“Copy,” Nemo confirmed. “Okay, Gem. Next stop.”

She turned her eyes to him. “This is where things could get dicey. There should be workers down this tunnel.”

He frowned. “Not a lot of light if there are workers.”

“No,” she agreed. “I can’t imagine the tunnel would be empty. But maybe they’re just not working this vein this shift.”

“Doesn’t make sense if this is where their rare finds are coming from.”

“Unless…” She let the word hang in the air. “What if they found something even bigger in the other tunnel?”

She watched Nemo chew on the thought for a minute and look out across the chasm to the tunnel where the workers had been herded. “What could be bigger than tanzanite and taaffeite in what should be a diamond mine only?” He looked at her. “We need to know what’s in that tunnel.”

“That’s a negative, Nemo,” Waters cut in. “Stick to the plan. Get your video proof, get your samples that are a sure thing, and get the fuck out. No time for improvisations.”

Haskell held Nemo’s eyes with her own. Out of sight of the camera, she reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. It was understood. Video. Samples. Then, orders be damned, go down that other tunnel. There should be time.

With one last look out into the cavern, they took off down the trackway to their first goal.