Free Hades by Crystal Dawn Page A

your gift. I wasn’t avoiding you nor would I, you saved us all.
A few were herded away including your mate, but we’ll hunt them
down. I suspect they were taken to the facility. They may believe
us all dead, won’t they be surprised?” Argos asked with a cruel
smile. He was a good person, but a terrible enemy. He would
terrorize Origin with his last breath which made him a good male to
fight by his side. He leaned down holding out his hand which Hades
took. He pulled him up and Hades looked around noticing Lu had been
moved, hopefully somewhere more comfortable than the ground.
    “Do we have any confirmed losses?”
    “No, but four are missing, three have wounds
that will heal, and one needs medical care soon.”
    “Who is it that needs the care?”
    Argos looked sad. “Dragos has several life
threatening injuries. One on his head, one on his chest, and one on
his lower back. We have done all we can with a med kit, but we need
Doc and a med facility.”
    “Which way?” Hades asked and no one pretended
not to understand.
    Nikias answered, “They went southwest cross
country. No roads nearby, I think they are heading straight to the
facility we search for.”
    Hades liked that Nikias was on their team
because he was an exceptional tracker, it was his gift. They
gathered what they needed ditching what was unnecessary then they
followed the obvious trail that had been left behind.
    “How long were we out? Has everyone woke
up?”
    “I’m not sure but I would guess at least an
hour passed judging by the sun. Lu is still out, he took a hard hit
being so close to you, but he will be okay,” Nikias replied.
    He would leave some of Pedro’s men to deal
with the bodies. They took the weapons Origin’s soldiers had
carried and distributed them to those who needed them but when they
started going through the pockets and removing the jewelry from the
dead, Hades turned away so they wouldn’t see his disapproval. It
was true there was no reason to bury their valuables with them, but
some of them left behind families that would need whatever they
could get. He had never thought that way before he had met Sierra
and Doc. He had been with their dad when he died training him and
the rest of Zeus’s team. He felt guilty whenever he thought of
it.
    He made the hand motions that told his team
and those of Pedro’s that would follow them, to spread out five
wide and follow the trail. It wasn’t long before they came upon a
body. It was one of Origin’s men and his throat was cut.
    “I think your lady is leaving breadcrumbs,”
Nikias said with a smile. Most gods would have shot the enemy or if
they had no gun, snapped his neck but Doc was good with knives and
carried a couple hidden on her.
    If she still had her weapons, maybe she
hadn’t been captured at this point. He could hope for the best
while he planned for the worst. It had been too long for him to
scent her because of the cold and the time, his senses weren’t up
to the task. He moved faster, he could hope he might make up some
of the time they were behind. He tried not to worry about what was
happening to her because for now it was out of his hands, but he
was sure they wanted her alive.
    They moved carefully over the level but icy
ground. The scouts he had sent ahead came back telling him they had
only two miles to go before they reached their destination. He sent
the scouts to take a group and circle to the back entrance so they
could cover all the doors. They found no more bodies and no further
signs of struggle so Doc must have been incapacitated, since he
knew she would fight to her last breath.
    They finally were within sight of the place
though the part above ground looked more like a shack than a lab.
Looks could be misleading and in this case they were. He hoped she
was in there, she just had to be. Two of his team moved up to break
the code on the door lock. A satisfying click sounded and the door
was opened. Two others went in with guns at the ready