Page 30 of Hell’s Weapon

These basement levels are far more interesting. Besides the offices, the next level down holds a gym, including a pool, and an underground tunnel to the main building. Wanting to know where that led I reopen the drawer I found the compound maps in and begin rooting through it for the one covering the main building.

Just as I find the correct one someone clears their throat from the doorway.

Jolting back in the chair, I nearly topple over backwards. Grabbing for the desk to steady myself, my heart starts repumping the blood that’s just frozen in my veins as I see who I’ve been discovered by.

“Hades, you scared the shit out of me,” I tell him firmly.

“Why am I not surprised that you broke in here?” he chides, voice full of amusement at scaring me half to death.

“Because I have a job to do, one which you told me to do, and you failed to tell Officer Stick-up-his-ass that I was here to help him,” I grouch, leaning back on purpose this time and folding my arms across my chest.

“I never said letting the guards in on our plan was part of the agenda. In fact, I think I said it needs to stay just between us. The fewer who know the better.”

“I disagreed.”

“I’m your employer. I get the final say,” he reminds me, rolling his eyes. We’ve had the same conversation before, many times, just in different contexts.

“And I’ve always told you, that as your employee, you’re meant to listen to me because the reason you employ me is to come up with the best ways in which to get the job done.”

He sighs heavily as he takes the chair opposite me. “I take it you don’t know who has started killing the contestants?”

“No,” I admit. “But I could have, had I been allowed within ten feet of the body.”

“Officer Zephyr is a perfectly capable detective. If he couldn’t figure it out then I don’t think you would’ve either.”

I just raise an eyebrow in response.

“Officer Zephyr is head of Tartarus you know, he has almost as many credentials as you do.”

“Almost being the operative word,” I say with a smug grin tugging at my lips. “Is that why we’ve been blessed with your presence? Because of the murder?”

“Indeed. I was called as soon as it was discovered, I tried to intercept Charon with the soul but it was too late.”

“Are we close to the river?”

“Indeed. You’d have to cross the Styx to reach Elysium. Garrick thought it would be an extra layer of protection in case the Angels invade. Charon agreed.”

I think about that for a few seconds. If we were that close to the river the speed with which a newly dead soul would reach it would mean we’d have a few minutes tops to intervene before it crosses into the afterlife. Charon might protect the area in which the souls enter the water but generally he doesn’t stop them. He only gets involved where one refuses to cross, or where he’s been ordered by Hades to halt it.

“What was the method?” I ask, realising the soul is a dead end and switching to the body instead.

“Throat slit.”

“Any prints? Murder weapon? What’s on the CCTV?” I reel off the standard questions.

Hades’s stare intensifies. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” My fingers tap on the desk surface.

“Not a trace.”

“Damn. I know you pick the best but I didn’t think a human was capable of a completely clean kill.” I contemplate the action, it's commendable. If they hadn’t just committed a murder going against a clear order from Hades himself they would’ve done well in his assassin guild–providing they survived the next games of course.

“It’s a nuisance is what it is. We’ve got enough to deal with trying to ensure the Angels don’t fuck things up again without idiots that can’t follow a simple rule.” Hades turns his hand over which had been resting on the arm of the chair. Smoke tendrils appear from his palm as I watch him fight to control his magic.

“I’ll catch them,” I say confidently. “Even if they’re the best we’ve seen in decades, I’m still better. They’ll trip up sooner or later.” Them and the spy if they’re not one and the same.

“I know you will.” Hades meets my gaze, his pupils shifted to his demonic form. They’re entirely black and swirl with more of the smoke that he controls like a pet. “But you better get out of here for now. Officer Zephyr will have your head on a spike if he catches you.”