The Few (The Abductions of Langley Garret Book 2) Read Free

don't know how you managed to get back here, because I was sure that you would never be seen alive again. But whatever happened, I know you understand that it's not a game and that there are people who believe we pose a threat to them and……..'
    'It's all over for me Chara. All over. Nothing has happened since I got back, and really, that's the way I'd like it to stay.'
    'It's not over Lang, I assure you. Otherwise I wouldn't be here.'
    'Look, I don't want anything to do with all this crap! Just walk out the door and leave me to get on with my life Chara, Sandra or whoever you are,' I said, as I got to my feet and walked to the window. 'Just leave and let me get back to my boring life,' I muttered, looking out from the window, down onto the slate roofs of Neuchâtel town below me. She didn't answer, yet I could feel her presence coming towards me as I fixed my gaze on nothing in particular. I felt her hand take mine, and then wrapped my hand around something she had placed in it. Looking at her briefly first, before lifting my hand slowly and opening it to find a wedding ring. One I recognised immediately. My eyes burned into Chara's face with anger, disbelief and helplessness.
    'She loved you and protected you Lang. Helen was a loyal daughter of Cleito.'
    My eyes continued asking the obvious questions as they moved between Helen's wedding ring and Chara's face, which now had firmness and determination written all over it.
    'How did you get her ring?'
    'I was given it and told to bring it to you. I don't know any more than that.'
    'Or won't tell me.'
    'About Helen's ring, I swear, I don't know any more. But I'll tell you what I do know. Leda betrayed us and has opened the gates of hell upon each and every one of us who are descended from Cleito.'
    'Your boss on the island? I thought she was just a lawyer or something like that.'
    'She was the Commander on Decem Filios and highly trusted and admired. That's what has made it all the more dangerous and damaging. She knew a lot, if you know what I mean.'
    'So she changed sides, or was working both for some time?'
    'I don't know a great deal, but the end result is that it's a dangerous time for the Sons of Cleito and especially for you. Whether you want to accept that reality or not,' she added, as if saying that it was not going to be a matter of choice for me. I closed my hand tightly around Helen's ring, almost wishing to crush it in anger and confusion. 'I know none of this makes any sense to you right now but you are in grave danger Lang, and it is my swornduty to protect you.' My eyes asked the questions my mouth couldn't form. 'You ar e Soter, the spirit known as Daimon and you are the embodiment of safety, preservation and deliverance from harm. You are for some, a son of Zeus, but for all, you are our saviour and the one who will deliver our destiny. This Helen knew. We knew her as Eupraxia.'
    'What?' was all I could mutter.
    'Aeschylus said, that when you invoke the gods, do not be ill advised. For Peitharkhia, Obedience, is the mother of Eupraxia, Success, wife of Soter, Salvation; as the saying goes. So she is, but the power of Zeus is supreme, and often in bad times it raises the helpless man out of harsh misery even when storm clouds are lowering over his eyes.'
    'I thought you were dead,' I said, as my brain decided that it couldn't decipher a single word she had just said, so it went for something that would perhaps have a response that it could comprehend.
    'As I thought you were,' she said, and moved her hand towards her head and pulled her hair back from her neck and bared a scar about two inches long, running diagonally across the back of her neck. 'It was some kind of stun pellet with a cocktail of chemicals. Who ever shot me with it was probably aiming for my back, and being nice enough not to want to kill me, but where it hit caused problems and had me in hospital for three operations.'
    'So who were they?' I asked, as she let her hair drop back across her