“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.
