Aeolus (Frozen Origin Quickies Book 2)

by Crystal Dawn

  “Yes, Doctor. Things are very good.” Ange heard the steps as the woman left the room.

  “Take her to recovery and watch her vitals for any sign of trouble.” Doctor Kratz directed. “I’ll check on her in any hour or so.”

  “Where will you be if there’s a problem?” Damn, that sounded like Dan.

  “With the other women. Those babies are due any time.”

  “Okay, we’ll keep you informed.” A new voice that sounded like Craig replied. Shit, she was placed in the care of those two perverts? How lucky could a girl get?

  Everything that had happened lately had been insane. She’d been abducted by the people she worked for, which was something she’d never heard of, unless you worked for the mob. They had almost killed her by overdosing with animal tranquilizer, again something she’d never heard of happening. Now they were going for broke by not only impregnating her with god seed, but they had plans to experiment on her unborn baby.

  It made her feel like she was in a combination of the Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt. She kept expecting Rod Sterling and the Crypt Keeper to both arrive and fight for dominance. And to think, this had all started with a new job. The job that had seemed too good to be true, because it allowed her to make a big paycheck and still have time to take care of her mother.

  Chapter 5

  The Search

  Aeolus was being shown Olympus by Hercules who was not just an old friend, but he had led the team that had rescued him. They had arrived yesterday and he had been taken to Doc and she had run endless test before prescribing vitamins and telling him to eat whenever he was hungry and exercise as much as he could handle. If he wanted to work, that was fine but take off that day to rest.

  Hercules had waited for him to get done. “That was the best doctor visit I’ve ever had.” He’d admitted.

  “Doc’s cool. She’s Hades mate and he’s unbelievably protective of her. More so than any of the mates, to be honest. They also had the roughest start.” Hercules informed. “Today, we all rest, but I’ll come get you tomorrow and show you around.”

  He’d agreed and now here they were touring this amazing home of the gods. “This is the cafeteria. If we’re lucky, Cherish will be baking cookies.”

  “I thought she worked in tech.?” Aeolus asked.

  “She does, but that girl can cook! Cher is incredible, all the mates are talented and strong women. I can’t wait to find mine.” Herc admitted.

  His longing was obvious in his voice. Aeolus thought he’d found his but now she was gone. He’d not protected her and Cronos only knew what they were doing to her right now. The smell of something delicious and familiar only from childhood hit his nose and he and Herc moved faster.

  “Cookies and sticky buns. This is our lucky day. We made it early enough we might get a couple.” Aeolus followed Herc as he pushed his way to the front of the gathering crowd of gods. The buns and the cookies sat on a table.

  There was a group of females sitting on a table behind that one watching to see what the gods were doing. “Herc, you know better than to cut in line.” A soft voice said.

  “Normally I wouldn’t, but this is Aeolus and he’s recently been freed.”

  “Oh, I forgot you’d just come back from a mission. Go ahead, but don’t be greedy.”

  “Thank you, Sierra. Can we sit with you ladies so I can introduce you?” Herc asked.

  “Sure, we have plenty of room.” Sierra replied.

  Herc grabbed a plate of cookies and two sticky buns. “No matter how many Cher makes, it’s never enough. That’s why the ladies guard them and try to get them equally distributed.”

  “Maybe more people need to learn to make them?” Aeolus suggested.

  “Others do make them, or some specialty of their own. Sierra is good with pies and Doc has a cake she makes that is excellent, they just don’t make them often. Cherish bakes around once a week. It’s a fight to get anything at all unless you’re dragging a new guy around.”

  “And here I thought you were doing this for me. “ Aeolus took a bite of his sticky bun. It melted in his mouth and he fought the moan that tried to escape. He wondered if Ange could cook.

  “I see you are appreciating her baking just like I do.” Herc observed with a smile.

  Aeolus couldn’t deny it. He finished the sticky bun, then attacked the cookies even licking up the crumbs. “Thank you Cherish. That was excellent.”

  Cher turned pink blushing at the praise. “You’re welcome.”

  “Okay, we’re both done. Let’s continue with the tour.”

  Aeolus followed Herc as he showed him where the hotline was, the conference room where they usually planned missions, Zeus’ office, and the gym. “Those are the most important places to know. You’ll pick up the others by exploring on your own for a little while. The last step is the library. We have some information we put together for the gods we find so they can learn about what’s happened to all of us, the hunt to free those Origin still has, and how we earn money to support that hunt. I’ll set you up on the computer reserved for that.” Herc took him through the doors of a big room that was obviously a library. It had several rows of book shelves full of books and several computers set up at stations around the room. Children sat at two of those stations and some browsed the shelves for books.

  “Where did the children come from?” Aeolus asked.

  “Watch the video first, it will tell you. I’ll leave you to it and if the computer gives you any trouble, just ask one of the kids for help. They all are miniature tech experts.”

  Herc walked off leaving Aeolus wondering if that had been a joke. Clicking on the video he watched amazed at it took him through the raid, showing the members of the team that were still there at Olympus like Doc and Sierra. It went through the raids that had come after the first one. The gods had organized and executed them, sometimes with help and other times alone.

  It showed the balls the gods had in order to raise money and give the single males among them an outlet for sex and a way to find a mate. Several gods had found mates at these events. Some mates came to them with children in tow. Many mates had babies within a year of mating. Other children came to them because they were rescued in the raids.

  Herc had been right, the video had told him a lot. After that, there was a lot of practical information. It told the jobs that were available like manning the hotline phones. Gods also worked for a security company and the US and their allies hired them for jobs. Aeolus could see himself working any one of those jobs, but not until he found Ange.

  By the time he was through, he had information overload and he was ready for lunch. Herc was in the cafeteria like he was waiting for him. “Tell me what you thought of the information packet?”

  “It was a lot to process, but it gave me a good overview on what happened and the choices that were made.” Aeolus admitted. “I could see myself doing a variety of things in time, but right now my focus is on getting Ange free. I have to be part of that.”

  “I understand. Before you get fully integrated, we have a meeting with our leaders to go to. You can ask them whatever you need to.” Herc replied.

  “Let’s grab some food, eat, and I’m ready to go.”

  “Let’s just grab some food and we’ll all eat during the meeting.” Herc countered.

  They got up and went to the get a tray and then move down the line choosing what foods they wanted. It smelled so good that Aeolus overloaded his plate. He hated to waste food, but he was uncertain he could eat it all.

  Aeolus followed Herc down the hall to the conference room his heart hopeful he would now get some answers. Herc opened the door and strode in and he followed him. Two seats were left for them and Herc took one and Aeolus the other.

  “Let’s get this thing started.” Zeus said. His mate Sierra sat next to him. He’s seen in the video that she often took part in planning sessions because her experience with the US military made her an asset. She was also the one who had originally h
ad the connections in Mexico. “I understand you are concerned about your nurse. She helped us find the clinic and we want to find her too.”

  “Any luck yet?” Herc asked.

  “We have half a dozen tips that fizzed out before that we are reinvestigating.” Hermes offered. “Most of them are from the hotline. One problem is that this could be a new location. We are monitoring any calls that mention Mexico and Sierra has friends in the both the US and Mexican governments that will inform us of any information they find that might point the way to an Origin ran facility.”

  “It’s driving me crazy to think of her at the hands of those psychopaths.” Aeolus admitted. “Maybe if I work the hotline a couple days a week and work wherever they are compiling the information a couple days a week?”

  “That could be arranged. Would you like to start the hotline tonight?” Herc asked. “You have time for a nap and I’ll come wake you up and get you started.”

  “I can do that. It will help to feel like I’m working on it and not just standing by helplessly.” Aeolus admitted. Everyone there nodded in agreement. They were all people of action and could understand his way of thinking.”

  The meeting broke up and everyone picked up their trays to carry them out. Zeus grabbed Sierra’s and gave her a hug and kiss while awkwardly holding the trays. She hurried off and he moved out of the room.

  “I’ll grab your tray and save you the walk back to the cafeteria.” Herc offered. Aeolus nodded, it was fine with him.

  He did wonder why Herc seemed so happy to have him on the hotline, but that was a question for later. For now, he intended to take a nap. Hotline shifts were twelve hours long and he wasn’t used to doing a job anymore. It was something he’d missed, that sense of purpose and belonging that having coworkers gave a person. United against the bad boss, like he and his fellow gods had been when they’d done their work for Origin.

  Finding his room was easy now and he entered the plain but cozy place. It was like a studio apartment, but with plenty of room for one person. It was the most comfortable place he’d ever had long term. The bed was a double and extra-long to accommodate the height a god had. Once he settled in under the blanket, he was asleep in seconds.

  The pounding that he’d thought was part of his dream, turned out to be Herc at the door. He opened the door and got dressed quickly. “Lead the way. Who is my boss going to be and dish on him. Is he an asshole?”

  “The biggest one you’ve ever met, but he likes you.”

  “There’s not too many that I’ve seen here that I know. Give me a hint?”

  Herc chuckled. “I’m one of the guys in charge of the Hotline. Hades was helping out, but he’s on other things. Plutus and Tycho are my assistants, one for each shift. Tonight is Plutus night off so I’m covering the shift and I only have one guy working. You’ve met him, Jupiter. The lines can be boring, sometimes there aren’t many calls, and sometimes the calls are women trolling for a boyfriend. The younger people handle that shit better than adults do. They’re allowed to play on their phones if no calls come in.”

  “Now I know why my offer made you so happy.”

  “It’s a hard job to keep filled and one of the few we don’t feel comfortable outsourcing. We don’t want sensitive information to get out. Most of these kids know most of what goes on around here. Some of them even seem to have a good gut feeling about whether a call is legitimate or not. Any of the kids ten or over can work here for extra money. Most of the ones over fifteen have other skills like computer talent they can use to make money and turn up their noses at manning phones. Here we are.”

  Herc held the door open, Al walked through, and Herc followed him in. There were at least six stations set up and Herc pulled out a chair. “This one’s for you.” Al dropped into the surprisingly comfortable chair.

  “I’ll sit next to you and catch some calls if we get several at once.” Herc promised.

  Jupiter came in after them and with a wave toward them, dropped into a seat on the other side of the room. The two guys that had been working the lines, hung up as they finished their calls and left. Al’s phone rang and he stared at it like it was monster.

  “Answer it.” Herc directed.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this the lost god’s hotline?” A male voice asked. The voice sounded familiar.

  “It is.” Al confirmed.

  “I get a reward if my information checks out, right?”

  “You do.”

  “How much?”

  Al looked at Herc. “Ten Thousand dollars if it checks out.” He read from the paper Herc had written on.

  “I know where they are holding some females bred with god seed.”

  Herc motioned to Al and they switched places. “Do you have a GPS location?”

  “Are you a different guy? You sound different.”

  “No, I’m just excited.”

  “Okay.” He gave them GPS coordinates that Herc wrote down. “Should I give you bank account information?”

  “Sure, but aren’t you going to meet us before we do the raid?” Herc asked.

  “Hell, no. I fell into a job with those guys, but I want out of all of it. I didn’t realize what they were, how they were, until it was too late. Tell me when you are raiding the place, because I don’t want to be there. Don’t wait too long. They are more nervous than a cat on a hot tin roof, because someone raided the place we just left.”

  “Okay, I have the banking info, but we have to do reconnaissance before we go in.” Herc admitted.

  “Take too long and you’ll have nothing. Call me at this number and let me know when you’re coming in so I can stay home.”

  “Okay. We’ll be in touch.”

  The phone call dropped and Al turned to Herc. “Are we really giving him a heads up before we raid the lab?”

  “Hell no. Anyone should know that would be stupid. This feels legitimate. We need to get right on it. It’s early enough Sierra should be available.”

  “Why Sierra first and not Zeus?”

  “The quicker she gets a hold of her connections, the faster we get on our way. I’ll leave you with the phone, but I’ll get back as fast as I can.”

  Al nodded, he was a god. He could handle a phone line for an hour or two. An hour later, he was ready to scream.

  “No ma’am, we don’t have any mail order husbands here.”

  “That’s too bad because I would so buy one. What about you?”

  “I’m not available either.”

  “Could you send me a picture so I can see who I’m talking too? If you don’t have any clothes on, that’s okay. I’m not shy.”

  “Sending pictures from the hotline is against the rules.” If it wasn’t, it should be.

  “Why don’t you send me your email addy? We can be pals?”

  “I have a girlfriend that gets jealous.”

  “Do you have the email addresses of any other gods that are single?”

  “Sorry, I don’t. It was a pleasure talking to you, but I have three calls waiting. We’re shorthanded tonight.”

  “You people need to hire some help. The guy I talked to last night said the same thing.”

  “We’re working on it. Goodnight.” He hung up before she could say anything else. “Grrr!”

  “You alright over there, old man?” Jupiter asked.

  “I’m fine. I’m also not old.”

  “You’re old compared to me.”

  “Older, not old.”

  “Whatever, Dude.”

  More calls and a few hour later and Herc came striding into the room. “You alright?” Herc asked.

  “I am, but I understand why no one wants this job. Why don’t you just block the females that call to find boyfriend or flirt with a god?”

  “We were considering it a few months ago. There was an older lady that called every night for two weeks talking to whoever was on duty. It looked like she was just bored and looking for excitement. We’d agreed to block her, but just hadn’t done i
t yet. Sierra used to man a phone line once in a while and the lady called and got her. I don’t know why, but it seemed like something she said made Sierra feel she had information. She set her at ease and talked about what we were trying to do. Told her the people that helped us free lost gods were angels and how much she admired them. The lady started crying and told Sierra everything she knew, it was a lot. We recovered half a dozen gods, a couple expecting females and three young children. There was also a dozen Origin employees and leader we took prisoner. They had money, equipment, and other things of value that helped us continue tracking down more lost gods. They also had folders full of information we were able to use.”