Free Hades by Crystal Dawn Page B

followed by
more. They assumed the others at the back door had also been
successful. They met resistance at each double door in the hallway
as they made their way deeper into the facility.
    The team that entered the back of the
building caught up to them and they all proceeded down the hall
checking each room they came to. So far Origin employees were all
they had found. One of his men shouted, he had found an elevator.
An additional level explained why no gods or demons had been found
because they preferred to keep their kind below ground. They went
down, but he left half his men behind so he wouldn’t be trapped a
level below if the elevator was knocked out.
    They hit the jackpot on this level, there was
cage after cage of gods and demons. Some were in good condition
while some were in terrible shape. Hades had them find the doctors
and nurses Origin always kept around in their labs. He got on his
radio to get Dragos brought to them so he could receive the help he
needed too. All the cages were opened and the four missing gods
were found but there was no sign of Doc. Had she escaped her
attackers?
    Hades got his team organized and medical care
was given to those who needed it. Food was found and prepared so
they could all eat, and beds were found so they could rest in
shifts. He contacted Olympus and Zeus would contact the copters who
had gone back to the nearest fueling station which was hours away.
They would have to dig in and stay for a while. He radioed for the
rest of the team to join them. He would send out small teams to
look for the copters but he would wait until it was time for them
to return.
    He had Nikias chose a partner then head out
to try to track his mate down. Another pair was picked out to go if
Nikias wasn’t back in four hours. She was human and even with her
changing chemistry couldn’t move nearly as fast as a god. He could
only hope they would find her since this was a dangerous place to
be by yourself even as a god, a human would have little hope of
surviving for long.
    He tried not to drown in regrets, he’d made
the best decision he could with the available facts. He just tried
to believe she would return to him. Anything else was simply
inconceivable and would drive him crazy. He followed Argos to the
cafeteria so he could eat to keep up his strength. When she needed
him he would be there for her. Argos sent him to bed so he could
rest, he considered saying no but he was tired. Before he left he
got a head count, seventy-four gods and twelve demons rescued. It
was a good mission if he found his mate and returned to Olympus
with the lot of them.
    His radio buzzed, Nikias had found tracks. He
would follow them, but he suggested sending the other pair of
trackers straight south in an attempt to cut her off. Hades called
Argos and had them sent. He felt better as he laid down on the
narrow cot trying to rest even though worry ate at his mind.
Somehow he managed to sleep despite his concerns. He woke achy all
over, probably from using his powers. He normally refrained from
using them because his brothers weren’t the only ones who feared
them, he feared his gift too.
    He contacted Argos finding out that he had
only slept for two hours but that was two hours more than Argos had
slept. All the patients were stable, Lu was up and at them, and
everyone was accounted for but Doc. Nikias was moving in on her
position and so was the other team of trackers. He would feel
better once she was sighted.
    His heart hurt and he wasn’t sure exactly
why. He had noticed Zeus, Hermes, and Darius were never far from
their mates but he had assumed it was because they didn’t want to
be since none had been mated long. Was it possible it was because
of this hollow painful feeling that distance brought on? If they
didn’t find her soon, he feared he might go crazy from not just the
emotional anguish, but the physical pain he felt. It occurred to
him that she might feel this as well and it made him worry
more.
    The