Morpheus (10 page)

Lu whispered, “Are you two superheroes in
disguise? You can tell me, I can keep a secret.”

“You’re silly,” Cassie whispered back then
she broke into a fit of giggles.

“We’re just really tough,” Donnie added with
a big smile.

Lu couldn’t help but smile at them. These two
were precious. Morpheus came out and pushed past Lu dropping to his
knees and hugging the kids until they couldn’t breathe. He had
tears in his eyes as he spoke. “We’ve not got her back yet, but we
will if I have to die trying.”

“Lighten up,” advised Lu.

“We’ll have her back soon, kids. We know who
has her and we’re going to make a deal,” Lu said. “They just caught
her to trade for something else. They don’t really want her at
all.”

The kids looked serious but relieved. They
were worried about their mom but they would allow themselves to be
reassured because they didn’t want to believe she could be hurt or
killed. Kids just naturally wanted to believe the adults in their
life could take care of anything.

“Maybe you should take them to the park and
let them play a little while, Morpheus. They need an outlet for
their energy and so do you,” Lu gently prodded. Morpheus agreed, Lu
was surprised but happy. He hurried in to tell Hades to try to
speed things up before Morpheus came back.

Cutter was telling them how they would have
to trade for her and her friend would want Morpheus too. That
wasn’t going to happen. They would talk to this Dawson she had
keeping El, they would try to track the call, but they wouldn’t
give up any gods. They would trade for her reluctantly since there
were many gods that would love to get their hands on her abusive,
torturing self, but that was the extent of what they would give as
far as people went.

The call was nearly set up and everyone got
into place. Cutter was removed so she couldn’t hear or speak to the
contact. “Everyone in place and ready?” Hades asked. Everyone said
that they were and it was time to dial. It was clear that Hades was
nervous since his hands were shaking. There was a lot riding on the
call. He dialed and they could all hear the phone ringing.

“Is this Dawson?” Hades asked when he heard
the phone pick up, but no one spoke.

“Who’s asking?” asked a rough low voice.

“This is Hades. We’ve captured Cutter and her
crew. We want to trade for El. Do you have her?”

“I do. What are you willing to give me?”

“I’ll give you Cutter?”

“What if I don’t want Cutter?”

Dread settled over the gods and their human
friends. The fear was that he would asked for something they
couldn’t give. “What do you want?”

“I’ve given this a lot of thought. I figured
as sloppy as she was, she would get caught eventually. I really
want out of this business. I’ve got nothing against you people but
I need a way to escape cause Origin will come after me. I worked
things out in my head and I know if I’m too greedy, you’ll come
after me. I figure a hundred thousand isn’t worth your trouble. Get
me the money and I’ll get you the woman. Another reason to leave me
be, is I can find more of your people for you. Once I relocate,
I’ll contact you with the location of another god for the same
price as the woman. I know there are several hundred out there and
I can find them for you. Some are small groups, many are farmed out
individually. Tell me right now, yes or no?”

Hades swallowed. It was too good to be true.
“Yes, but it’ll take us a few hours to get the money.”

“I expected days, if you can get it in hours,
that’s even better.”

“I need to talk to her to be sure she’s
alright.”

“Not a problem. I’m not like those others, I
don’t hurt people. Any damage she has is from before I got her.
Hey, Hon, come over here and talk to them.”

“Morpheus, is that you?” she asked
hesitantly.

“No, this is Hades. Morpheus is taking care
of the kids.”

“Are they all alright?”

“Yes, but they miss you.”

“This guy has been a lot better than the
others. Slay will help you get the money. Tell the kids, Morpheus,
and Slay that I love them and I miss them.”

“Sorry, but we’re out of time. Call when you
have the funds.” He hung up and the gods looked at each other.

“Did you catch all that, Zeus?”

“Yes, and normally we could track the call,
he was on long enough but he was using a device that sent the call
all over the place.”

“So no location?” Hades asked.

“No, so we better get the money
together.”

“So was this guy right? Will you let the
hundred K go and leave him alone?” Zan asked, speaking for the
first time.

“Yes,” Zeus said with a sigh. “It would cost
us more to hunt him down and there’s the possibility he will help
us find more of our people.”

“He could be lying.”

“If he doesn’t deliver, we can revisit the
issue but we can’t take the chance that he could find even one and
not give him the chance to make it happen.”

“He’s too smart. He managed to peg you guys
right off the bat. I wouldn’t trust him,” Zan observed.

“I don’t, but right now we have no choice but
to play by his rules,” Zeus replied.

Morpheus chose that moment to bring the kids
in. “Any word?” he asked with hope shining in his eyes.

“Yes, it’ll be alright. He just wants money
and Zeus is working on it. We’ll have her back soon,” Hades assured
him.

There was relief on Morpheus’s face but it
was tempered with caution. “This is good, right? We’ll pay and
he’ll give her back.”

“I certainly hope so,” Hades said. “Zeus will
get us the money, and then we’ll get your woman.”

They waited, but it was too late in the day
to get the money together until the morning. Zeus got it started,
but it would be near noon the next day before they got the money in
hand. Hades called Dawson who wasn’t surprised at the delay. Now
they could do nothing but return to the hotel and rest until
morning came.

The First National Bank of Northwestern
Virginia was busy this morning. People moved in and out of the
large double doors getting and leaving money in their wake. The
bank president waited for them seemingly anxious to do his part.
Maybe it was the large sum of money he had yet to count out to them
that caused the sweat to collect on his brow and run down his face.
He took on the chore personally, either not trusting any of his
employees to do the job or feeling it was a job that required the
one in charge to handle it.

He was an older man with silvery hair a
slight paunch and restless brown eyes that moved constantly
surveying the area. His hands were gnarled as if he had worked them
hard all his life, but they easily began to count the bills as if
he lived for nothing else. He was efficient and the whole process
from entry to exit was completed in less than thirty minutes. He
wished them luck and the relief he felt was palpable. The money was
now in their hands and the hardest part still ahead of them.

Hades called Dawson to set up the meeting.
“Dawson here.”

“I have the money and I’m ready to meet you.
Tell me where to go.”

Dawson gave him the directions and gave him
no time to prepare a surprise. “Come alone, Hades. We don’t want
this to go wrong.”

There was no doubt they would follow
direction except he would take everyone with him part way and go
the last couple of miles alone. It would be stupid to go to the
middle of nowhere alone with no back up anywhere. They made their
way to the meeting place and there was an old abandoned house
around three miles from the meeting place. That was where Hades
left the rest while he headed on.

He made the designated meeting place and
stopped to look around. He saw no one but there were places someone
could hide. He held the briefcase over his head. “I have the money,
where is the girl?”

He heard the sound of someone moving. “Keep
your hands above your head and turn all the way around so I can see
if you have any weapons.” Hades did as he was told even though he
didn’t see how anyone would think they could see concealed weapons
that easily. “Walk this way slowly.”

Hades headed in Dawson’s direction. He just
wanted to make the trade and get El home to Morpheus. He also hoped
Dawson really could help them recover some of their brothers. It
would be worth everything they had gone through with El and
Morpheus if he could. “Look,” Dawson said.

Hades looked and he saw El. One of Dawson’s
men held her still by her arm. He was glad she didn’t look harmed,
she didn’t even look scared. It gave him a positive impression. He
moved up to Dawson as Dawson moved to him. El was moved near them
too. It was time to make the exchange. Hades slowly handed the
briefcase to Dawson who immediately opened it scanning the cash. He
nodded to his man and he let El go. She moved quickly to Hades who
pulled her close against his side.

“You’ll hear from me soon. I’m following up
on a lead for Aeolus who was given to an unknown scientist. She’s
researching anti aging so you want him back quick. Those tests can
be traumatizing.”

“I hope we hear from you,” Hades said with
what he hoped was just the right amount of threat.

“You certainly will. I need to make a living
for me and my men. These recovery fees will support us until we get
back into our old lives. Want me to use your hotline or you have a
number for me?”

Hades handed Dawson his personal business
card. He used those cards when they were out in the human world
trying to find more of his brothers. If Dawson would truly help
them, that would be priceless. Hades took El’s hand and pulled her
behind him as he walked speedily to the SUV he’d come in.

He drove fast, Morpheus and the kids were
waiting. Cutter and her men were restrained ready to catch a
private plane out of there. It was worth a hundred thousand dollars
to keep the evil bitch and they would get some information out of
her, Hades looked forward to it. It was just a little way up the
road and everyone was waiting for them. The outcome had been the
best possible and Hades thought Dawson might be a useful contact
for them in the future. He needed money and they needed to recover
their brothers.

Chapter 11

A Safe Return

Hades pulled over in front of the waiting
group. Morpheus shook with worry, would he have her? Would she be
alright? She slid out of the passenger seat, closed the door, and
just stood there a moment searching until their eyes met. Morpheus
saw his future, his life, and his love in her eyes. He stayed back
to allow the kids to greet their mother first. He watched them hug
before she waved her arm to tell him to join them. He put his big
arms around them all but he’s careful not to squeeze as tight as he
wanted to. He never wanted to let them, his family, go.

He hoped this would be the end of their
troubles and that El will agree to settle into mated life with him.
He believed with all the people that kept him imprisoned now
captured, the threat to him and El should be gone. They could live
in Olympus or stay in the area El was raised in, all he wanted was
to be with her and the kids. As far as he was concerned, they were
already his, but if she wanted to get married, he would happily
comply.

They all went back to the hotel with El and
the kids sitting next to him in the van. He held her hand just to
reassure himself that she was really back with him. They made it
back to the lobby and they all filed into the suite Morpheus and El
had been staying at. They all wanted to know what had happened.

The room was packed with people sitting and
standing everywhere. Morpheus wanted the kids to go to their room
but El allowed them to stay. “They need to know what has
happened.”

“Tell us what you know about how they found
you and where they kept you?” Doc asked quietly.

El nodded. “I can do that. We were all hungry
and we didn’t have any food here because we left in a hurry.
Morpheus stands out so much, besides he doesn’t have a driver’s
license, so we decided I needed to go to get food and other stuff
we needed. Morpheus stayed behind with the kids, we thought it
would work out. I think they were in the parking lot here and they
followed me waiting until I was vulnerable. It makes the most sense
since I went into a store to buy some things and I was in there
maybe twenty minutes. I came out and started to unload the cart
when the door to the backseat of the van behind me opened, someone
grabbed me, and put a rag over my mouth as they dragged me into the
seat. The van took off as this big guy restrained me. He had my
mouth taped with duct tape but he kept asking me where you and the
kids were. I couldn’t answer and finally the woman in front told
him to give it a rest, they’d interrogate me at base.”

El paused to sip a drink Doc had brought her.
Morpheus wanted to hit himself for not thinking about her needs. No
doubt she was hungry and thirsty after all that she’d been through.
“Did they say how they discovered your location?” Hades asked
gently. No one was sure of exactly what she’d had done to her and
they were afraid to asked.

“They couldn’t bug the phones but they had a
microphone of some sort.”

“A laser microphone?” Hercules asked.
Surveillance equipment was more his line of expertise. The
microphone would be pointed at a window or some weak spot and could
pick up sounds from inside that room.

“I think so. He said they picked up enough
information to get the general location and the rest was luck. They
were there to get a room. I’m not sure I believe they could be so
lucky while we were so unlucky, but they had no reason to lie. They
kept asking me where Morpheus was, hitting, pinching, and biting
me. I hope you killed that bastard, but it got bad so I started
giving them room numbers, not the right ones. Finally the woman,
you called her Cutter, she said to stop because it was a waste of
time and she would figure out something different. She sent me with
the guy that you made the deal with.”