Hades (6 page)

Mark leaned in closer, his eyes lit with
interest. Doc turned away, Hades was sure she smothered a laugh.
Hercules found the sights outside his window suddenly extremely
interesting. Hades wondered if he, too, fought the need to laugh.
In truth, Zeus had directed him to give Mark the option he was
about to discuss but he felt it would be rejected and taken as an
insult. This way, it would appear as if it was Mark’s idea should
he accept it. Doc and Hercules were probably surprised that Hades
was being so sneaky. He was usually straightforward leaving the
machinations like these to Ares.

“What might that be?” Mark asked, his
attention fully on Hades and his voice also quiet even though
everyone in the Hummer could hear what was being said.

“Someone suggested a subdermal tag. That way
if he escaped he would be easily tracked. If he were unaware of the
tag, he wouldn’t know to remove it. He knows there’s no perfect
solution, but it would show your willingness to try to keep Olympus
and especially Zeus’s mate who is now with child, safe.”

“She’s pregnant? I hope Kyler doesn’t find
out. It might send him off the deep end.”

“Few are aware of it but it will soon become
impossible to hide. She is lucky she is in good shape and not
showing when most women would be,” Doc said adding her two
cents.

“I would be happy to offer tagging him if
that would give Zeus the assurance he needs to release him to
us.”

“I’ll let him know you suggested it and I’m
sure he will contact you tomorrow.”

Mark nodded, he looked satisfied with what he
had accomplished. It made Hades wonder if Mark wanted his brother
in his custody for more than personal reasons. They arrived at the
building he and Doc had stayed at before but this stay would be
much more enjoyable. Before, he and Doc had had separate bedrooms,
now, they would share a bed as mates.

The Hummers pulled up, one after the other
unloading their occupants. Everyone grabbed their bags, he grabbed
Doc’s large bag as well as his. Someone held the door open so they
could all bring their luggage in. Mark went to the clerk in the
lobby handing him a stack of papers.

“See they all get a nice room,” Mark said
before he left. Key cards were handed out but he made sure he and
Doc got a room similar to the one they had stayed in last time. It
would be nice to relax even for one night.

Everyone made their way up to the third floor
where their rooms were all in one section. Guards were set to
rotate in pairs every four hours. Feeling safe and in need of rest,
Hades led his mate to their room where they cleaned up and prepared
for bed. They settled in the bed with him curled around her. As he
drifted off to sleep he felt so good lying next to her that he was
sure he was the happiest man in the world.

They woke to knocking on the door. Hades went
to answer it while Doc dressed. It was Hercules letting them know
it was time for breakfast. Everyone packed their bags and loaded
them in the Hummers that sat out front waiting. Once they were done
with breakfast, they would be taken to the helicopters that would
fly them north.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly which
made Hades think that either Origin was unaware of this trip or
they didn’t want to attack while they had a military escort. They
finished breakfast and loaded on the helicopters. Hades was on the
lead copter and he gave the pilot the location they were headed to.
The others would follow only able to guess the destination until
they arrived. Pedro’s two copters arrived just before takeoff and
they followed them too.

They flew for hours stopping once to refuel,
while everyone ate and used the facilities. They finished the rest
of the flight with little talking but everyone was thinking about
the mission ahead. Because it was November, it would be dark when
they landed regardless of when that was. Everyone had night vision
goggles because they would need them. Even with their heightened
senses, they would use anything that gave them a bigger edge like
the goggles. There was an airport nearby, but the nature of the
mission meant they wouldn’t be using it. The pilots they were using
were the very best because conditions there could be and often
were, brutal.

They would be there in moments and they all
put on their goggles double checking their weapons. They were ready
and it was time to get the party started. None of the copters were
fully loaded leaving room on the ten copters for an additional
fifty people. They unloaded and started moving as quickly as
possible to the location. It wasn’t an easy hike but even Doc, the
only human they’d brought was in good condition. If she had shown
any sign of trouble, he would have carried her despite any
arguments she might have had, and he knew she would have had
arguments.

They arrived near the GPS coordinates so
Hades sent out scouts. They returned after they located the
entrances to the building. They couldn’t be sure if the building
was inhabited or not without attempting entry. Pedro and his team
followed along silently, he would say nothing until they were
inside the facility and only then if absolutely necessary. He was
nothing if not a professional and at this point nothing needed
said.

Everyone moved forward following the hand
signals given by Hades and his assistant commanders. Once in place,
they forced their way into the building quickly. It was abandoned
except for four security guards and most of the equipment was still
there. All of the computers were wiped and the files had been
shredded. Pedro got enough to make it worth his time but for the
gods and the military, it was a bust. The trip back was made in
relative silence, the disappointment coming off the gods could
almost be physically felt.

Zeus sat at the head of the table looking at
each person in turn. None of the places on the list they had been
given were a joy to visit. Hades and Doc had no choice but to go
since half the reason behind the mission was setting up a trap. The
problem came with the remaining team members, and the overwhelming
number of volunteers that had asked to be allowed to go along.
Hades was glad the choice was Zeus’s and not his. The trips would
be miserable but their brothers had volunteered hoping they would
be helping to save more of their family. If only one god or demon
was saved, it would be worth the suffering endured on the trip.

“We selected Tristan de Cunha as the next
location. It might sound familiar to any of you who are history
buffs. It is considered the most remote, populated place on Earth
and is near St. Helena, the island Napoleon was exiled to. A second
cousin of Kevin Morose, a vice president of Origin, had a vacation
home there. The facility is rumored to be close to that home. Most
people reach the island by boat because it is rocky making it
impossible to reach by plane, but you will be using ladders to exit
the copters. I wish you all good luck.”

Hades thought they would need all the luck
they could get. This time Ares and Poseidon would go with him as
well as several secondary gods and demons. Before they hit the
tenth spot, many of his brothers would have their chance to
contribute to the search for the lost gods and demons they looked
for. This trip would be closer, but no place was that close to
Olympus.

This trip would be made fully by copter with
special fuel and enlarged tanks making sure they were able to make
it there, but they would have to refuel to make it back. Zeus had
someone meeting them to deal with that. The trip would be would be
uncomfortable by civilian standards. It was a good thing none of
them were civilians, not even Pedro’s guys who were all
mercenaries. They were here now and would follow them to their
destination. They would see a lot of Pedro while they worked their
way through the list.

They sat in the back of a copter, no way to
be intimate, all he could do was hold her to him. He still smiled,
these days he was a happy god. He thought back to when they had
returned from Canada and Eres had greeted him.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,”
Eres said as he leaned closed to Hades staring at his face as if he
had something out of place there.

“Is there something on my face? No one else
has said a thing.”

“You could say that, brother. You have a
sappy smile where a smile has never been at all.” He laughed as he
moved to avoid Hades’s fist.

“Ha, ha!” Hades thought about it, but Eres
was right. His life had never been anything to smile about, but now
he finally had someone that was all his. He worried about the risk
they were taking but he knew that neither of them could live with
the threat of Origin over their heads like that. It would be worse
when they had children and he realized he had no doubt that they
would have them.

Doc was so smart their children would
probably be geniuses. They’d take after her in looks too because
she was so beautiful. He only wanted them to have his strength and
only because as a god he would be harder to hurt than she was as a
human, even after the changes his venom would cause. He would love
those children as much as he loved their mother and he would
protect his family with his life. He pulled her even closer, he
would protect her with his life.

This mission wasn’t a success nor was it a
failure. They found the lab and it was monstrous what they did
there. Three gods and two demons were freed but it was the
experiments with embryos and fetuses that brought tears to the eyes
of all that saw them.

“They never intended to grow them to term.
I’m not even sure they would have survived so badly mutated,” Doc
said her voice shaking.

“What purpose was there in doing that?” Hades
asked.

“We may never know,” Doc answered.

There had been rows of embryos and fetuses,
some nearly to term, in large glass containers that had been left
to rot, after they had terminated them. The gods and demons had
been left to starve and die, abandoned for some unknown reason.
Maybe they had intended to come back for them or maybe it was just
too difficult to move them according to the odd way Origin
thought.

The next location was the Cape York Peninsula
on the northern tip of Australia. It has a huge expanse of
untouched wilderness, the perfect place to hide an illegal
facility. The place they were headed was near the ocean and there
were several beaches nearby to land on. Hades knew their luck had
been too good and it was only a matter of time before it
changed.

It started when they landed and one of the
copters broke down. They hit the facility and it was completely
abandoned, even Pedro found nothing of value. The worst part was
when they returned to the beach where they had landed. Origin hit
them with a full force, were it not for their tactical body armor,
lives would have been lost. Origin had only provided their team
with vests so they had lost several men. He had come so close to
losing Doc and in the end, it had been her ability to protect
herself that had saved her.

He knew he was agitated, knew he needed to
calm down, but the ride back to Olympus had not helped his state of
mind. They had been waiting for them, how had they known? He had
two wounded gods and he might have lost his mate forever. Who knows
what Origin would have done with her and if the gods could have
even found her again. He wanted to kill each and every person that
worked for Origin and damn their souls to hell like the Hades of
Greek myths could. Unfortunately, he couldn’t and he wasn’t happy
about that, it made him feel helpless.

“Calm down,” she whispered to him before they
headed into the meeting room.

“I’ve tried but I can’t. I didn’t protect you
and I almost lost you. Those bastards almost took you from me and
you had to save yourself.”

“I’m part of the team, sometimes I have to
help you fight. I’m a warrior too, you’re not alone.”

“I don’t want you to have to fight, you’re a
healer.”

“I am a healer, but I’m also a warrior, a
lover, a sister, a friend. I’m many things, Baby, and I’m strong
enough to be all of them.”

He knew what she meant and he respected her
for her strength, but he had been scared to death he would lose her
and he still hadn’t recovered from that hollow feeling even just
the thought had given him. He had seen her during the battle
fighting her way through Origin soldiers while he was forced to
fight his own adversaries, unable to go to her aid until they were
all defeated.

Zeus sat at the head of the table once more
taking the time to look at each person present. “Anyone have any
idea what happened and how it happened?”

“They must have some inside information, they
were waiting for us when we returned to the copters. If we hadn’t
had our gear on, it would have been a slaughter,” Hades said. “The
place was a total bust, nothing of value at all. The only thing
there was a trap.”

“If we have a leak, we need to seal it,” Zeus
said. “We can’t have another mission like this. Nothing recovered
and we had guys injured. It could have been worse, but we need to
get it together so no one gets injured.”

“How will we find out where the leak is? No
one knew which location we were going to,” Hades pointed out.

“Origin may have allowed the list to fall
into our hands. They may have teams at more than one location. We
need to take the time for satellite surveillance.”

“It takes too long, our guys could die before
we get to them,” Hades growled.

“The risks are too great, we have no
choice.”

Hercules took charge of the surveillance
personally and less than a week later he had some information that
would give them something to think about. They sat in the meeting
room, just the core leaders and their mates. Mated gods and most
demons weren’t sent on the mission normally but Hermes and Cherish
had both been involved in the satellite surveillance since they
both had skills in that area. Poseidon, Apollo, and Ares would
decide which of the gods they directed would be sent on each
mission. Lu was there representing the demons who would also send
someone along.