Aeolus (Frozen Origin Quickies Book 2) Read online

  Pulling out her notepad, she thumbed through it for the number she’d written down a few days ago. Her hands shook as she dialed the number.

  “Lost god’s hotline, Plutus speaking. Can I help you?” She didn’t say anything for a moment. “Are you still there?”

  “I am. I’m not sure if this the right thing to do.”

  “Have no worries. We’ll check it out and if it’s nothing, no harm done. But what if it’s something and you don’t take action?” He asked and he sounded convincing.

  “I’m a nurse and I took a new job recently. It pays, well the pay is almost too good. It’s not a hospital, more like a clinic except they keep patients there. Some of them are restrained. They told me he’s delusional, but he sounds so convincing. The man says he’s a god and he has the height and the build, even though he looks rough.”

  “Did he tell you his name?”

  “Yes, his name is Aeolous but I call him Al. He was in bad shape but since I’ve taken care of him he’s better.”

  “What about the other patients?”

  “There’s one other guy who is locked up, but I’m not allowed back there. The others are abandoned babies and expectant mothers.”

  “What the name and location of the clinic?”

  “Original Medicine, weird name huh? And we’re located on Springer Road near Dublin, Maryland.”

  “How can I reach you?”

  “You can’t.”

  “What about the reward?”

  “Doing the right thing is its own reward. I just hope I’m not working for monsters.”

  “I’m sorry to tell you this, but it sounds like you might be. Please don’t do anything to let them know we’re coming.”

  “I won’t, but please don’t kill me if I’m there when you deal with them.”

  “Ma’am, we don’t kill people. The guilty are turned in to the government. Many turn out to be terrorists or other criminals in addition to what they’ve done to our kind. The law deals with them.”

  “Okay, it’s just there are a lot of rumors and I didn’t know.”

  “It’s okay. You know now.”

  “Good bye.” She hung up and she hoped she’d done the right thing.

  After watching some more TV, she started to smell the food cooking. She went downstairs to pull it out of the oven and put a serving on her plate. The rest she divided up for later. Once she’d eaten and cleaned everything up, she knew she had to take care of her mother.

  Sandra never made the task of preparing her for bed or feeding her easy. “Mother, wake up.”

  “I’m awake. I want something to drink.”

  “No, not unless you want a protein shake. We have chocolate, vanilla, or berry flavored.”

  “I don’t want a fucking shake, Bitch. I want a fucking drink. It hurts!”

  “What hurts?”

  “Every fucking thing hurts. Get me a damned drink.”

  “Can’t we just skip this? You know I’m not getting you a drink.”

  “I want a fucking drink!” She screeched.

  Ange ignored her. She began to prepare her chair for her to be moved to. In the condition Sandra was in today, she’d use the lift. It was the only way she could move her uncooperative mother off the bed to clean it and empty the bedpan. At least there was no IV to deal with right now. Her mother needed one from time to time and that complicated things.

  Once she had Sandra moved, she quickly did everything she needed to as far as the bed was concerned. The hardest part would be giving her mother a sponge bath and redressing her in fresh clothes. As she undressed her, the old lady fought like she was being attacked. Thankfully, she wasn’t half as strong as Ange was. Her mother never had been strong, not in mind or body.

  It was a relief when she got her undressed, bathed, and dressed again. As she reattached her to the lift, her mother complained angrily. “I need a night cap before I go to bed.”

  “No.” Ange finished attaching her and used the lift to move her back into bed.

  As she headed upstairs to sleep, she heard her mother wailing and screeching after her. She called her every name in the book and a few made up ones. When she saw that wasn’t working, she cried and carried on. Finally, she screamed for help. The first few times she’d done that, the cops had come and she’d tried to get them to bring her a drink. Now, no one paid any attention to her. She’d stop when her throat hurt and her voice no longer carried.

  She got up the stairs and to her room and closed the door to mute the screaming. It was never easy living in this house. It had been a tough childhood and it was just as hard on her now. Ange didn’t get to sleep until her mother’s sounds quieted.

  Waking up in the morning, it wasn’t long before she saw it was the same old shit for a different day. This morning her mother was hungry and she helped by holding a shake while she drank it. A bowl of oatmeal followed to give her stomach something solid especially since she’d not eaten supper.

  Being full seemed to tire her mother and she fell asleep watching TV. Ange couldn’t leave so she was stuck at home and she cleaned up her mother’s room leaving the vacuuming until she was awake. Ange went back upstairs and got on her computer checking and paying bills. Emails were next and that didn’t take long either.

  After being up a while, she felt hungry and heated up some lasagna. Before she could eat, her mother wake and commenced her screaming and demanding booze. Ange was locked into a hell of her own making. None of her siblings had been willing to help. Her mother had tried them all. Her brother Ben had suggested she let the old hag die alone since it was no more than she deserved.

  Every morning she came down the steps, she wondered if her mother would be alive. In a way it would be a blessing, and that made her feel guilty as hell regardless of the fact that she knew Sandra was a bad person with no redeeming features.

  Somehow she made it through the day doing what had to be done. Tomorrow would see a new sitter for her mother scare away. When the screams quieted, she fell asleep and it seemed like the alarm went off after only minutes. Ange got up and got ready hoping the girl would show up. As she moved down the stairs, she heard a timid knock on the door.

  She hurried down the stairs and to the door throwing it open. “Mandy, it’s nice to see you. Come in.”

  “Thank you. You have a lovely home.” Mandy said. The girl was trying too hard. The house was okay, but it wasn’t lovely on a good day.

  “Let me go over what you’ll have to do.” Ange said as she let Mandy help her fix the bed and cleanup her mom. She showed her where everything she’d need was and what her mom could be fed. “And under no circumstances is she to have any alcohol.”

  “Okay. I think I understand.” Mandy said.

  “Here’s my number if anything goes terribly wrong, call me.”

  It was with relief that she rushed out of the house so she could make it to work by six. Luckily, the clinic wasn’t far. She waved at the guard as she pulled through the gate and parked her car. That she looked forward to seeing her patients was no surprise. They were the one bright spot in her existence.

  She started with the babies today because one of them hadn’t been feeling well. It was amazing how much a little love could help. Ange held him and he calmed instantly. She loved taking care of babies, they were so trusting and gave love so freely. The baby smiled at her and it made her smile. Rubbing his back kept him calm until he drifted off to sleep.

  Gently, she put him back in his crib. Now she had the others to feed, bathe, and care for. They had five babies, four boys and one girl. All beautiful, healthy little ones who had supposedly been abandoned. It did seem like a stretch that they would end up at this clinic. Finishing up with the babies, she moved on to the two women expecting babies soon.

  Once she was done with them, she finally got to see the one she’d wanted to see the most, Al. Her face lit up with a smile as she saw him looking the best she’d ever seen him. A few more weeks of proper care and he’d be in good hea
lth.

  “Al, you look good.”

  “I’m happy to see you, but I wish you would quit this job for your sake. Something’s going on and it isn’t good.”

  “Maybe all that will change.”

  She was glad when he didn’t ask her what she meant. It would only call attention to what she’d told him. If she wasn’t worried about someone listening in, she would have told him everything. If he truly was a god, his people would be here soon. Instead I could only hint and hope they’d be here soon enough.

  Ange got to work and did the things she needed to do to see Al was taken care of properly. He was fed, cleaned, and his sores were treated. The difference since she’d started working here only a few weeks ago, was nothing short of amazing. When she was done she headed home.

  Two days later, everything changed. She was done with her shift and ready to go home when two guards caught her at the door. “You’re not going home, Miss Perkins.” One of the guards told her.

  “Did they need me to stay later?”

  “You could say that. It seems they have plans for you.” Dread rushed over her. This was what Al had warned her about and now it was too late for her.

  Chapter 3

  Searching for the Lost

  Hercules was present when the call had come in and he’d listened intently as Plutus had handled the call. The female had been nervous, but determined. It was almost certainly a legitimate call and that gave them all a sense of urgency. Recently they had arrived too late twice, their brothers gone as they were moved to another location. That couldn’t be allowed to happen again.

  He put in the call summoning everyone who might be involved in this raid to the conference room. Zeus, Hades, and those that would be on the team were all notified. It was a new system they had set up after the last two abysmal failures.

  “Close down your station and come to the meeting with me.” Hercules directed. He watched a second to be sure Plutus did as he was told before going to the conference room. Once there he got on the computer and began to collect the information he needed. It was surprisingly easy and everything he saw only confirmed that this was an Origin lab.

  Zeus and Hades arrived first. “What do you have so far?” Zeus asked.

  “Everything I’ve seen confirms what our informer told us. It also seemed to show they are about to move. They already have shut off dates on the utilities. Time is of the essence and I suggest we have a plane ready and plan the mission in the air.”

  Males and a few females began to wander in and soon the room was packed. “Let’s begin.” Zeus instructed.

  “This is the building we will be heading to. It is a potential lab with at least one, possibly two gods, Babies, and expectant mothers. The informant is a female employee, a nurse to be exact. All possible care must be taken on site to care for the innocent. Plutus will discuss the call.” Hercules noted. All eyes turned to Plutus.

  “She was nervous but determined and she had a name, Aeolus. He told her he was a god which she didn’t believe at first. Once she got to know him, she began to doubt her employers and decided to err on the side of caution so she decided we should check things out. She refused to give me her name, she doesn’t want a reward only to do what’s right. I felt she was being truthful and she worries about her patients. This is real, I’m sure of it.”

  “I got enough information to know they are about to run. We need to leave now!” Hercules said.

  Everyone seemed to understand the urgency and in an hour, everyone chosen for the mission was there. Several of the young gods had been included and mostly unmated older gods. Hercules was running the show and Hermes with his mate Cherish had come along. Cherish would do all the computer related tasks because she was a technical genius.

  Cherish was on her computer as soon as she took her seat on the plane and it was in order to give them every advantage that the information she was getting could possibly give. Hermes sat next to her and Hercules near him so they could plan the mission and get any important information as it came in.

  Hercules looked over the team as they entered the plane and sat down. Plutus hadn’t wanted to come preferring to stay home these days now that he was mated. He’d come anyway understanding how important this mission, hell, all these missions. As time went by, freeing living gods became much less likely than recovering bodies.

  The only thing in their favor, was Origin was realizing with all the attention they’d garnered, it was harder to get new subjects so they were trying to take better care of those they still had. They were less abusive and fed those gods they had as prisoners. The nurse’s information had shown they’d been upset that Al looked bad. Enough so, that they fired the bad nurse to hire a better one.

  That was more care than they’d shown since the main facility had been raided and the gods declared free. It showed that they were valuing their subjects more and that gave them hope for the many missing gods and the children sired through the programs Origin still carried out. They were like a many headed serpent, but eventually the gods hoped to cut off all the heads so the damn thing would just die.

  Pluto sat nearby, his game player in his hands looking like an average teenager. He was anything but that. One of the young gods from a facility that they had raided, they were doing well considering how much their lives had changed. Saturn sat on one side of him and Janus the other. Saturn was the youngest of the three and he would be used as lookout or a messenger.

  Everyone put their seatbelts on and the plane rolled down the runway. Once the all clear came from the pilot, they took off their seatbelts and got back to what they had been doing.

  “It seems they are moving every six months to a year. By the time someone gets suspicious and reports them, we find an empty building.” Hermes observed.

  “These guys are about to move so we can’t delay. The utilities aren’t our only hint, they have a mover hired for equipment and office furniture. They’ll be coming in three days. We have a narrow window and I suggest we sleep on the plane because until the raid, there’ll be no beds. After we land, we go straight there.” Cherish informed.

  “How will you run the computers you need?” Hermes asked.

  “I’ll have a truck that will house all the equipment we need waiting at the airport along with two SUVs.”

  “Sounds like we have a basic plan and just need to fill in the details.” Hercules noted. The trip was a split between resting and planning the mission. “Everyone needs to sleep when we aren’t going over mission details. We aren’t checking into a hotel when we arrive, but we’re going straight to work.”

  A few groans rang out, mostly from the young ones. Plutus seemed happy, probably assuming it would save time and get him home faster. Maybe it would. Mated gods weren’t happy when they were separated from their females. Hercules wondered if he’d ever find his perfect one. Sometimes he felt alone, even among all his brothers. It even hit him at the events the gods had to raise money even when he was with the women he picked up at those events.

  He settled in to sleep, but it was hard to just turn his mind off. Eventually he drifted to sleep but he dreamed of the mission and saw a hundred reasons that could make it fail. Hermes woke him in time to go over the mission one more time before they landed. The vehicles Cherish had mentioned waited for them.

  It was an odd feeling going straight into to a lab this way, but he knew it had to be done. They would take a short time to get information once they were on site, then they would go in and nothing would stop them. The gods split up with Hermes driving the surveillance truck. Hercules, Cherish, and Saturn went with him. The others split between the two SUVs. They could have fit in one, but experience had taught them that a backup vehicle was a good thing.

  An hour later, they sat near the clinic, but out of sight. Cherish began to do her magic, hacking their security and their internet. She did it so quickly it was always amazing to watch. “I’m in.” She declared and everyone moved closer to see the screen.

&n
bsp; His heart froze in his chest and pain ran through him. “It’s Aeolus. He looks…”

  Hercules paused unable to think how to describe him. Yes, he was a sight for sore eyes, but he’d been a vibrant healthy male before. The sad part was the nurse had admitted he looked much better now than he had.

  “We’ll get him home soon.” Hermes observed as he patted Hercules’ back. It helped calm him and he was ready for whatever might happen.

  “It can’t be soon enough.” Hercules agreed.

  “Look.” Cherish said as the camera showed babies, five of them. The screen moved to another room, but it was empty. It looked like someone had been in it recently. “I hope we aren’t missing anyone.” Another screen showed with a filthy male in it pacing.

  “Do you think it’s another one of ours?” Hercules asked.

  “Odds are good that it is.” Hermes confirmed.

  “Any sign of the nurse?” Plutus asked.

  “No, I don’t see her at the site.” Cherish answered.

  “Good.” Plutus declared. Everyone could agree and innocent didn’t need to get caught up in this if it wasn’t necessary.

  “Let’s get in there. We’ve seen enough and Cherish or Saturn will alert us to any changes.” Hercules directed.

  Plutus led the group that moved around the back of the building to gain entry there. Cherish had the security well in hand. “It weak and the cameras and equipment are cheap.” She had declared as she sent them off.

  Hercules and Hermes, just walked up to the front gate where a guard sat, head down on the desk taking a power nap. He woke as they restrained him. “What the hell are you guys doing to me? Are you the law? I’ve got rights you know.”

  “Not anymore.” Hermes called for Saturn who came and picked up the guard. He began to yell and carry on and Saturn shot him with a tranquilizer. No one wanted to listen to that. The young god looked pleased with the results. Throwing the guard over his shoulder, he carried him to the back of one of the SUVs, opened the back, and tossed him inside.