Page 45

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SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

Haskell

“Kaders fled the country. No sign.” Midas gave his report from the conference room in Mythos’ safe house back in Melbourne, Australia. The team had remained to allow Nemo’s back to heal and to try and rout out the Kaders, who had fled as soon as the shooting started.

“Rats fleeing a sinking ship,” TB groused, throwing his project folder onto the table.

“Think they went back to Egypt?” Demon asked.

Waters scowled. “If it were me? I’d go underground.”

Haskell exchanged glances with her Mythos counterparts.

“Italy,” she said softly.

The table looked at her.

“They’ll likely be in Italy under the protection of the Salieri. They won’t want to give up on those mines just yet. But they’ll need to regroup, so it’s the most likely place for the Kaders to go.”

Waters tapped his pencil against his project folder. It was easily two minutes of quiet before he spoke. “Someone finally going to clue us in?”

Haskell wiggled uncomfortably in her seat, again exchanging glances with Mythos. “That’s not my call. I already probably shared more than I should have.”

Waters gritted his teeth and ground them together before he spoke. “Well, it’s connected now to Ka-Bar, who is also in the wind again, so I think we’re now in a need-to-know situation. Somebody start talking.”

It was Medusa who spoke, her face inscrutable behind the smoke-tinted glasses she wore. “The simple version is that, as Gem told you, they’re an organized crime family. Mythos’ entire mission is to shut them down.”

“How is it no one has heard of them?” TB asked. “Midas and I have been pretty active on the dark web for years, and we’ve never heard a whisper of them until Flame was taken.”

“And you shouldn’t have even heard of it then, but that’s moot now.”

She took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Gilgamesh got up and went over to a cabinet in the corner and pulled out a bottle of painkillers. When Medusa opened her eyes, she squinted against the light. Loki hit a button on his remote control to lower the light. As the lights went down, her eyes opened wider.

“Holy shit!” Demon whispered from his place across from her.

“Yes, sorry. I know. They’re startling until you get used to them.”

Medusa’s pupils were nearly white, with just the barest ring of mint green around the outside. “It’s a rare condition. So rare, in fact, that there’s no name for it. Probably some form of albinism.” She shrugged. “Sensitive to light, hence the glasses.”

“And the colored contacts,” TB added, “when you’re out in public because they’re awfully recognizable.”

She nodded.

Steel chimed in, “Hence the name ‘Medusa.’ People freeze when they see them.”

Waters chuckled. “Nice try at distraction, Medusa, but I’m still waiting for information.”

She smirked. “Touché.” She laid the glasses on the table. “Women are not valued amongst the Salieri. In fact, there are none in their ranks or even in their families.”

“They’re celibate?” Nemo asked.

“We could only be so lucky,” Loki grumbled.

“No, they procreate,” Medusa admitted. “But the women are used only for that, and they do not raise the children.”

“I still don’t understand how people don’t know about them, then,” TB said. “These women clearly know of them.”

“Yes, but… they’re not around long enough to share the knowledge.” She sighed. “The women are carefully selected for a variety of attributes and characteristics. They are offered a great deal of money to serve as mothers. If they say yes, they live in the ultimate luxury up to the birth of the child.”

“And after?” Nemo asked hesitantly.

“They’re killed,” Loki expelled bluntly. “And if the child is a girl, the child is killed as well.”

The men were so stunned they couldn’t even swear.

Haskell jumped in, “My guess is that those girl children in the mines were daughters of men they’ve recruited into their ranks. It’s possible adult females are used as additional breeders, but we haven’t been able to confirm that. In any case, all of the female line is sacrificed. No exceptions. Now you see why the work is so important.” Her eyes went to Nemo, even though her words were meant for the entire table.

“What’s next?” Waters questioned.

Loki closed the project folder he’d been given and pushed it toward the center of the table. “Gilgamesh, Medusa, Gem, Cerberus, and I will be taking the children to a compound in an undisclosed location. They’ll be provided with food, shelter, whatever they need. We have counselors and teachers on staff. They will be well cared for and, hopefully, adopted into loving families.”

“An orphanage, then,” TB sneered.

“Not like you experienced, TB,” Loki promised. “It’s more like a boarding school. The children are very happy there, but I don’t expect you to take that at face value. Haskell can vouch for them, as can any of the team.”

“Call it what you want,” TB argued. “They’re still unwanted children in a facility.”

Medusa spoke up. “Except they are wanted. We want them, and so do all the staff who work for us. I… We… will accept nothing less. The children want for nothing, not even affection. If someone applies to adopt, the child must also agree to the process, or they stay with us. And if a child is not adopted, at eighteen, they can choose to leave, with as much support from Mythos as they want or need, or they are welcome to stay at our safe haven until they choose to leave.”

“Do you have any who choose to leave?” Waters asked.

“A few,” Loki admitted, “but it is rare. Most who leave have met someone and married, so they go to their own homes. The damage for some is too difficult to surmount sometimes, but we continue to try.”

Nemo brought up the question he’d been curious about. “The hit on Gem. What are we doing about that?”

Midas cleared his throat. “I was watching the bid. Apparently, The Collector came out of retirement.” His eyes looked across the table to TB.

Nemo’s head snapped to look at TB, and everyone followed his gaze. Stunned, he asked, “You bid on the job?”

TB nodded. “I figured if I logged in as The Collector and bid on the job, offered a high enough price, no one else could take it.”

Nemo floundered. “That’s… The risk… The cost had to be huge! Fuck, if that links back to you… Flame? Your…” He caught himself before revealing TB’s secret.

“Turns out Nova is really good at creating fake photos. We provided proof of death to the Kaders. Gem died in the crossfire inside the Murphy Mine.”

“I applaud your ingenuity, but what happens if someone ambitious traces the money?” Waters asked, concern on his face. “Identifying The Collector after all this time would be quite the coup.”

TB turned his gaze to his boss. “Fourteen accounts, remember? But no one will link it back to me. Golden Fingers over there”—he nodded his head toward Midas—“with the help of Nova, put several additional layers of protection on me, and suddenly, all of my accounts disappeared. Oops. ”

“That’s everything you worked toward for years.” Nemo was in awe.

His teammate shook his head. “I just said it disappeared, not that it was missing.” TB shrugged with a knowing smile. “As you’re so fond of saying, what’s life without a little risk? Besides, I owed a favor.” His eyes flashed to Nemo. “A life for a life. If I’d lost everything, it would have been more than worth it.”

Haskell watched the two men share a moment, and Nemo gave a near-nonexistent nod to his teammate.

“Thank you, TB,” she said.

TB gave a single nod and a cocky salute to her.

Loki broke the moment and cleared his throat. “What will Tribe do now?”

“We’ll be heading home,” Waters claimed. “We’ll be continuing our search for Ka-Bar. If you receive more information, we’d appreciate it if you’d share it with us.”

Loki nodded. “And we hope you will do the same.” He stood at his seat. “We’ll be leaving at five a.m.”

The Mythos team members stood and began to push away from the table. She looked at Loki. “I’ll meet you at the airport in the morning.”

He looked at her with a hard expression. Then his eyes flicked to Nemo, who stared back just as hard. When he glanced back at her, he ordered, “Don’t be late.”

The group filed out without saying goodbye or handshakes.

Once they were gone, Demon whistled. “Those are the weirdest motherfuckers I’ve ever met. Present company excluded, Gem.”

“No offense. They all have some strong past ties to the Salieri, and it’s made them a bit darker than most. I’m not technically a member of the team, just a contractor, so I have no connections other than what I’ve seen and heard, but that’s bad enough.”

Nemo’s fingers were drumming on the table. “Waters, I’m going to take some time. I won’t go far.”

Waters looked steadily at him. “Keep your watch handy. Don’t turn it off.”

“I won’t.”

He got up from the table, Scheherazade following with joy at the thought of a walk. When he pulled the door open, he pulled so hard it went as far back as it could, then slowly began to close on its automatic hinges. Scheherazade stopped in the doorway, looking back at Haskell. Her head tilted, and she yipped as if to say, “You coming?” When Haskell remained seated, the dog chuffed and took off after Nemo. There was silence as the door continued to close.

Haskell sighed. “I’ll go after him.”

“Gem?”

She knew what question TB was asking, and she shook her head. “I can’t. Please understand. This is just too important.”

“Maybe it’s just best to let him go, then. Kinder to him,” Demon intoned, refusing to look at her.

“Maybe. But I can’t do that either.” She stood and crossed to the door. Turning back to them, she thanked them. “Thank you. For everything. I hope…” She didn’t finish the sentence. It was just too hard to speak around the lump in her throat.

She slipped through the door and jogged to try and find Nemo.

When she got upstairs, she flew out the front door, but Nemo was nowhere to be seen.

It was late, and there were few cars in this neighborhood at this time of the night, but the streets were well-lit. There wasn’t a single person in any direction.

“Shite. Where the bloody hell did you go?” She looked up and down the street. Running a hand through her hair, she blew out a frustrated breath. This could not be how they said goodbye. Not this time.

A seagull landed on the fence across the street. She smiled. “You can run, but you can’t hide, burglar boy.”