Hades (2 page)

They didn’t really know exactly how the
facility was kept up, they assumed a water treatment facility was
on site and other needs were met by flying in the products needed.
Origin needed locations that weren’t easily accessible, the more
remote, the better since most of their leaders were being hunted.
Unfortunately, Origin going to ground made it harder for the gods
to find their missing brothers or the demons still unaccounted
for.

A particularly large mosquito landed on her
arm causing her to shake it then finally to use her hand to push it
off. She looked where Hades was just turning away, she would have
sworn he was smiling. He didn’t look as miserable as the rest of
them, he was probably enjoying the fact that the mosquitos who were
feeding off the rest of them didn’t seem to enjoy the taste of his
blood.
Damn him to hell, anyway. Why couldn’t she stop thinking
about him and looking his way?

Two more hours of trudging through the forest
before Hades called a halt. She knew they were close, he would send
a couple scouts ahead to see what they were heading into. She was
there to help with medical needs, he also had a computer
specialists, and some personnel that had little training in
fighting that he needed to protect. They would be held back until
the facility was taken, then he would bring them in to do what they
needed done.

Monroe and Heftner slipped out of camp in the
direction they had all been heading after they spoke to Hades. Doc
figured they would scout everything out and come back with
recommendations. Accomplishing this mission wouldn’t come a moment
too soon. This had to be one of the most miserable places on Earth
which was why Origin had chosen it. Olympus was too cold, this
place was too hot, maybe they could find where their facilities
were just by finding the places people didn’t want to go. It was
something to think about. Doc would bet they had a desert location
and maybe an overwhelmingly wet location like a swamp. A shudder
ran through her as she thought about swamps which were even worse
in her mind than jungles, barely.

Guards were on duty so she pulled out her
mat, a convenience most of the soldiers had decided to forego. She
picked a level area in the middle of the group since the noise they
made was easier to put up with than a snake or a bug crawling on
her. She put her head on her hands and was asleep in seconds. A low
insistent voice woke her what seemed like seconds later. It was
Hades, he was rubbing her shoulder sending delicious tingles down
her arm that settled lower in that needy place between her thighs.
How could this man, this god, still make her heart flutter and her
panties get damp after all that had happened between them?

She looked up into his olive colored eyes,
they glowed with the strong emotions he felt. She knew it was the
need to mate that was reflected there. She felt the need to mate
with him as well but it wasn’t as strong as it had been before she
had felt betrayed. It was a case of her mind overruling the needs
of her body and the pull of her heart. She felt like such a sap,
her heart wanted to give him another chance while her body just
wanted him. If not for her clear thinking mind that refused to be
overwhelmed by emotions or needs, she would be in his arms right
now, drawn by the mindless desire. Her brain refused to submit no
matter how much she wanted, needed to. Sometimes having such a
strong will was hard to live with. This was one of those times.

“We’re moving out, Doc. Let me help you pack
back up,” Hades said as he took her arm and helped her up. He
grabbed her mat rolling it effortlessly then handing it to her so
she could attach it to the top of her backpack.

The others were still scrambling about
packing up, drinking, and finishing off their meal as she moved
into position to follow the path to their destination. She was
strong and she would stand firm no matter how unfulfilling it felt.
She took a deep breath, damn, he’d been out in the jungle with them
but still he had a musky masculine scent that drew her in. The rest
of the men just smelled of sweat and jungle which made her keep her
distance. Nothing seemed to make him less attractive to her
regardless of the circumstances.

Hades put them in line, fighters first,
support teams last. He had her at the very end of the line where
she would be protected more than anyone. She looked at him, he had
removed his shirt and sweat slicked his hard muscles making her
hand itch to touch him. He looked wicked, made just to draw her
into a hot, wet dream of utter fulfillment. Her eyes traveled up
where they were caught and held by his glowing olive ones. Her lips
parted in a pant as heat shot throughout her body. Her eyes broke
free and moved down to the steely length that seemed to grow until
it stretched upward to his belly. He couldn’t hide his desire, it
was there for all to see.

OMG! That thing is huge. Would it even
fit?
Her mind kicked in telling her she would never know. He
wasn’t the one for her, not anymore. He was too much like her
father had been, that rolling stone would collect no moss and she
had no desire to raise a child by herself and explain why daddy was
never there. She remembered her mom trying to explain why dad had
to leave and why his visits were always so short. She remembered
the pain each time he left and the sense of betrayal when she found
out his commitment, such as it was, was to another woman and other
children. She had cried and cried while her mother had apologized
as if it were her fault that her father had children with women all
over the place. He was the one that should have thought of the
children he might have and the women he would have to leave. As far
as she had seen so far, Hades was just like him and that, she
couldn’t live with.

They moved forward, those in support
positions moved slower so the fight, whatever that might entail,
would be over by the time they arrived. The others moved quickly,
ready to take out the enemy and take over the facility. They were
out of sight in no time as they sped up to a lope ready to get the
job done so they could leave this infernal place, Doc was in
wholehearted agreement.

Her ears strained for sounds of combat but
there were none. An outlying building came in sight, the guards
already taken care of. The guards at the front moved in checking
just to be sure they were all dealt with. She couldn’t help but
look in the building as they walked by, but no one was in there. It
was about thirty minutes later that they came to the main facility.
It was clear there had been a battle here, but looking at the
guards in place, their guards, it was clear who had won. Would
Origin send in their soldiers to try to recover this place or would
they write it off and save their strength for the next fight?

Doc moved to the front pushing her way in to
see if anyone needed her skills. Mostly minor wounds were on those
she saw and only one fatality, it was one of Origin’s personnel.
Hades had moved ahead and was now sitting with a man who was
handcuffed to a chair. She moved up close to Hades looking at the
man with a question in her eyes. Was this him?

“This is Jones, he’s in charge here,” Hades
said in answer to her look.

She examined the average looking guy, neither
tall, broad, nor muscular. The only exceptional thing this man had
was an oversized ego. She had listened to and read some of the
intercepted communications and this man thought the world of
himself. He was bad, but Smith, the generally acknowledged leader
of what was left of Origin, was much worse. Jones smiled at her
giving her his most flirtatious look. Why did this jerk think she
would be interested in him especially with what he had to know
about her?

“I think he likes you,” Hades whispered in
her ear. Shivers ran through her as her heart sped up and her
panties grew damp.

“So, I don’t care what he likes,” she
whispered back.

“You have no patients, maybe you can help us
with him.”

He was right, she hadn’t seen one serious
injury except the fatal one. “What do you want me to do?”

“Show him some sympathy while I act like I
don’t like the attention he’s getting from you.”

Good cop, bad cop? Okay, she was game.
She nodded, she could do that and Hades would fill his role
effortlessly because he never liked her attention on another male.
“So Jones, how did a nice guy like you end up in a mess like this?”
She moved closer to him with a sweet smile on her face.

“I don’t really know,” he said with a nervous
laugh. “The job was just supposed to be supervising a lab that
worked with DNA, no big deal right? But nothing was what it was
suppose to be. I didn’t know they had men they had fucking made.
What gives anyone the right to create people much less for your own
particular purposes? By the time I realized exactly what was going
on, it was too late, I was in, part and parcel.”

“Why didn’t you just take off?”

“At that point they said I was in and they
wouldn’t let me go. I knew too much to be allowed to leave. I’ve
never harmed anyone, I just do what they tell me which is mostly
gather information, that was until they put me in charge of this
place.”

“Jones, you’re a fool if you think
information never hurt anyone,” Hades growled.

“I do what I have to do to survive, just like
anyone else would.”

“I’m not sure how this is going to work out
for you, but if I was you, I’d tell them what they want to know and
ask for mercy,” Doc advised.

Jones hung his head, it was never smart to go
along with the herd. He’d known it but he’d done it anyway, now he
would pay the price.

Hades sat in the corner watching Jones while
others watched through a two way mirror. Achilles sat there, he was
his second in command and one of the few gods that had come along.
He spoke to Hades on his headpiece. “She’s a keeper. I think he’s
ready to talk now.”

“She’s a keeper, but she doesn’t want to be
kept.”

“You’re not a quitter. Go after what you
want. You made a mistake, you’re as much man as god. She craves
you, I see it, smell it. Make her see you two belong together, if
that doesn’t work, throw her over your shoulder and take her to
bed.”

She and Hades stepped out the door into the
hall leaving Jones alone to stew. Hades and Achilles would handle
him now. Hades went to her, grabbed her arm leading her to a room
set up for a doctor. “I need you to check out every god they kept
here to be sure there isn’t anything we missed. Helicopters will be
here in a few hours to start pickup.”

“It looks like a standard set up in here,”
Doc said as she looked around.

The freed gods were already lining up. She
was sure they would be glad to leave but they would miss the
regular booty calls. Gods loved women, they saw the beauty in
everyone of them. The only thing that turned a god off, was a lack
of beauty on the inside. If they had to, they’d screw them anyway
but it took away a lot of the enjoyment for them.

“I’ll get right on it,” she said as she
opened the door for the first god to come in.

Hades left returning to Achilles to question
Jones. Maybe they would find out something that would help them
before Jones was turned over to the US government. Zeus had made a
deal with Mark that would give them Jones once the gods were
through with him. Hades wondered what Mark really wanted the Origin
leaders for but he supposed it didn’t matter. Mark had financed
this mission, supplied most of the soldiers, and was letting them
keep most of the equipment they were using here including one of
the helicopters, it was one of the new ones. It just seemed to
Hades that they wanted Jones too much which meant they hadn’t been
honest about why. He could only hope that someday when they found
out, the gods didn’t regret letting him go.

Doc was going through the line quickly and
efficiently with help from a medic. These gods weren’t sex starved
so they weren’t as bad as those at Olympus had been, but these gods
didn’t realize Hades claimed rights to her so they hit on her. At
least they did until Hades told a few of them they wouldn’t live to
touch her. Everyone feared Hades, she couldn’t help wondering why.
She worked through nearly a hundred gods. They were all healthy,
handsome, and seemed to be in good spirits. Jones certainly hadn’t
tortured, starved, or otherwise mistreated them. It was a point in
his favor, of course they needed to be kept healthy for the role he
needed them to fill.

She was halfway through the check ups, when
the first helicopter arrived. She had to smile, thank goodness they
wouldn’t have to hike out of this place. She tried to speed up her
work, home was calling and she was ready to answer. She finished
the last physical she needed to do when Hades came in. The look on
his face alarmed her, not for her safety but that he was bringing
bad news.

“Jones is spilling his guts and he told us
there is an underground level he isn’t allowed to go to. We need
you right away, we’ve found a small group of demons and they’ve
been experimented on.”

Doc grabbed a bag and filled it with the
things she would most likely need. Her day had been going too well,
she should have expected something bad to happen. She followed
Hades to a wall that opened into an elevator, they went down one
floor and it opened. The smell of death and sickness hit her nose
almost causing her to retch. Without being told anymore she knew it
was bad.

Hades led her to a lab with demons restrained
to the beds. She knew without asking that Hades had left them
strapped in so they wouldn’t hurt her. The first one she saw was so
close to death she could see, hear, and smell it. If she
immediately started treating him with anything she could think of,
it might prolong his life. If she could keep him alive long enough,
his natural healing would cure him. She spoke to him softly telling
him about Olympus and the freedom he would enjoy if he would just
hold on a little longer.