Chapter 14 #2
“No. I’m trying to find her. If she shows up there, please have her call me.”
“I’ll call the police.”
“They’ve been notified. I’m heading up to the accident scene now.”
“Accident? Oh my God. I’ll say some prayers. Let me know if we can do anything to help.”
“I will.”
We pull up, and I see the car off the side of the road. The inside was set on fire, but the fire department put it out. I spot a body in the driver’s seat and what appears to be a blond woman in the back. I can only see her head, but my intuition tells me it’s a decoy.
I approach the ambulance and overhear Thompson giving the police his version of events.
A man came up and shot them all, then pushed the car over the side after throwing a Molotov cocktail into the interior.
He identifies the body as Daphne, but I remember Delphi’s words. The guy told her to get out of the car.
“It’s not her,” I bark at him. “That isn’t my wife.” I face the cops.
“Are these hers?” One of the cops walks up with Daphne’s wedding rings. They don’t look like they were in a fire.
“Yes. Where did you find them?”
“On the floorboard of the car. They must have fallen off.”
“No. They were getting tight on her fingers. She’s been retaining water. I think she’s pregnant. That isn’t my wife. Bring her up here, and I can tell you for sure.”
“Boss, it’s her. I swear,” Thompson says, and I pin him with a hard stare.
“Then you’re a dead man. That isn’t my wife. I have a witness who says she was directed to get out of the car. The car you were already out of.”
“They’re lying.”
“Oh, are they?” I dial my phone and put it on speaker. “Hades, are you with her?”
“Yeah. Why? What’s up?”
“Put her on.”
“Did you find her, Darrell? Oh my God, we need to call my parents.”
“After we get off the phone, sis, you can do that. I need you to calm down and tell me exactly what you heard and what Daph told you.”
“Daphy said they were pulled over to help a young woman. That Thompson got out to help her. I remember hearing Grand grumbling that it didn’t feel right.
Then I heard a loud bang, and Daphy started screaming.
She told me she was in trouble and to get help.
Then a man told her to get out of the car, and he knew her name.
She got out. I remember hearing her say something about how the man looked familiar.
Then I didn’t hear her anymore. I could hear voices talking.
One belonged to that guy Thompson who Daphne said bothers her. ” Delphi pauses for a moment.
This is the first time I’ve heard my wife had an issue with him.
“Then I heard a couple more gunshots,” Delphi continues. “Daphne screamed before I heard a bunch of other noises I don’t even want to think about.” She chokes. “Then a voice said, ‘She’s mine now,’ and the line went dead.”
“See. He’s lying. Arrest him, or we’ll take him.” I point to Cronus.
“He’s going to the hospital. Then we will investigate him further,” the cops say, but I don’t trust them to get the information we need.
I turn to Cronus, and he nods.
“National Security. I need that man in my custody, now.” Cronus pulls the one card I need for him to get Thompson.
I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t my wife and the love of my life. Thompson knows who the man is who took her.
“Does he mean Thompson? Cronus, he’s involved. Daphy said over and over the man was shady,” Delphi says, still on the phone.
“Okay, sis, we’ll take care of him. Hades, bring her here and get the parents sent this way.”
“On it.”
I hang up, then dial Titan. “Sorry, man. I know it’s the ass crack of dawn there, but my wife was taken. I need a geo net set up on the road around my house. Here’s the exact pin for where she was taken from.” I send him the pin drop, then hang up, knowing he will do what he’s trained to do.
Cronus gets Thompson into the back of his car after the paramedics release him.
The woman’s body is retrieved from the vehicle, and I’m correct.
She is not my wife. She’s a blonde, but not the right shade.
She’s also smaller, maybe in her late teens.
The police run instant fingerprints, and they come back as belonging to a missing nineteen-year-old from Atlanta.
I wait on scene with Cronus until they bring Grand’s body up. I place my hand on his arm, giving him the respect he deserves. He died for my wife.
We head out to Cronus’s warehouse in Chattanooga. Several of the guys from his unit, the Unknowns, are waiting to help.
Poseidon walks over and thumps me on the back. “We’ll bring her home.”
“In what condition?” I ask the question I’ve been struggling with.
“Safe, and you’ll do whatever you can to make her whole again.”
I nod, because when I get her back, I’m never letting her go.
Hours pass, and Thompson still won’t talk.
The man who went by Spencer at my office confirms it was an alias.
His real name is Smith, and he’s an actor.
He tells us he was hired to play a role by a man claiming to be a movie director.
He had no idea what was really going on.
He shows us his proof, and I start to believe him.
But he is an actor, after all. I tell Cronus to hang onto him just in case.
Finally, the call I’ve been waiting for comes in.
“Titan, what do you have?”
“Not a lot. I’m sorry. I have a phone number that goes to a burner phone. I followed it off the mountain. You need to implant a tracker in her. I’ve heard about those. I might have to do that to my wife.”
“You do and I’ll kick your ass,” Poison says in the background.
“What else?”
“Give me a couple more hours. I think I have a link to your actor there and what Delphi said about the guy looking familiar to Daphne.”
“I can’t wait much longer.”
“You’re going to have to.”
“She could already be dead or worse.”
“There isn’t anything worse than dead, Darrell. I know.”
“I know, man, but still.”
“Darrell,” someone yells my name, and I turn as Delphi runs toward me.
I wrap her in my arms and hold her tight. She’s sobbing as Hades stands there, struggling not to take her from me. His brother, Poseidon, walks over and thumps him before their friend, Aries, stands with him too.
I just hold her as she cries and begs me to get her back.
“She’s still alive. I know it,” Delphi says.
I look down at her. They have the twin bond.
“I know. Me too.” I nod. I don’t feel like she’s gone either.
“Put me out there as bait. Tempt him to come get me too. He’ll want the pair of us.”
“No,” Hades barks.
She swings around on him. “You don’t have a say in this. So fuck off.” She turns back to me. “My parents are waiting for your jet to come get them. They’re in Greece, so it will take some time. Daddy said to do whatever you have to in order to get her back. Use me.”
“No, Delphi. He didn’t mean that, and I won’t do that. She’d never forgive me.”
“Son of a bitch. Do you all have a plan?” She waves her arms around. “What are you, like a secret service unit? Go find my fucking sister.” Delphi breaks and falls to her knees. Hades lifts her up, and she wraps around his large frame.