Chapter Seventeen

“What about you?”

Echo’s question jogged him from his dark thoughts.

The fucking monster who’d locked Echo and other boys in a cage had been Solomon.

He needed to call Dave.

“Tell me.” Echo kissed his jaw, pulling his attention back.

He smiled at Echo’s earnest expression and it took all of his self-control to switch the subject, but he managed it by shoving away the images of how much pain he was going to inflict on Solomon.

“My childhood was normal. I grew up in a fairly happy home, the only child of elderly parents. I lost them in a car accident when I was seventeen. I stayed at a…friend’s house until I turned eighteen and then joined the military.” He ran his hands up and down Echo’s arms, his mind racing.

“What branch?”

“Navy. I became a SEAL,” Ice said and then paused. He needed answers. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why haven’t you already killed Solomon?”

“That’s…a long and complicated story.” Echo gazed toward the ocean.

Ice realized Echo had more than likely shared enough for today so he didn’t pressure. He would bet fucking money that Solomon had a hand in setting them up. He wanted to talk his thoughts over with Echo, but he stayed silent. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what Echo had lived through. Were Echo’s feelings similar to Stockholm syndrome? If that was the case, Ice would have no problem putting Solomon down.

“Tell me when you’re ready,” he murmured, stroking his hands down Echo’s back.

Echo finally turned back to him and changed the topic back to him. “So, what did you do after the military? How did you become an assassin?”

“I kicked around doing mercenary work at first. I eventually found Erebus when I mentioned to Dave that I was looking at gun for hire jobs. You know, to make some real money.”

“Wait…you told the former Secretary of Defense you were searching for hit jobs?”

Ice chuckled and hugged him tightly again. “Yeah, Dave and I go way back. He was an Army buddy of my father’s. I knew Dave before I even went into the military. Although, I think he’s still a bit peeved that I joined the Navy. He’s all about Army Special Forces.”

“Then you quit Erebus,” Echo said.

“Yes. I quit and went back to mercenary work. Then I ran into Seven. He’s an old friend and after I helped him out of a jam, he wanted me to come work for Pegasus.”

“Pegasus…I’ve heard of them. What exactly do they do?” Echo looked intrigued.

“They’re a group of operatives that help out when law enforcement’s hands are tied. But I didn’t want that. I was more attracted to the dark side of things.”

Echo nodded. “Me too. I wanted to wipe out the trash that preyed on the weak.”

“Same with me.” He smiled.

Echo smiled. “I didn’t know you’ve known him that long. Was his house the place you stayed after your parents were killed?”

“Yup, he didn’t have the place he has now back then, but he made room.”

“So, you’ve known him pretty much your whole life.”

“Yes.”

“How old are you?” Echo’s forehead creased adorably and Ice chuckled.

“I’m thirty-eight. How do you feel about older men?” He waggled his eyebrows making Echo snort with laughter, and fuck it was an awesome sound.

“I’m thirty, I’ll have you know.”

“You don’t look it.”

“It’s my Asian heritage.”

“Who from, your mom or dad?”

“My mom.” Echo turned and gazed toward the dark shoreline that was just visible via the lights from the house.

Kicking himself in the ass for not remembering that Echo more than likely didn’t know who his dad was, he held Echo close, listening to the sound of the waves.

Memories from Echo’s past had to be painful and he vowed to bite his tongue for now.

And his rage built.

“Hello?”

Ice smiled when Dave picked up on the first ring even though his call had to have come through as an unknown number.

“Dave. I’m safe.”

“Damn it! How the hell could you wait two months to call me?” Dave shouted.

“It’s been nine weeks.”

“Are you fucking kidding me!”

Ice had to pull the phone away from his ear that time. He pressed it close again.

“Calm down,” Ice heard someone tell Dave.

“Fuck off!” Dave snarled at whomever that had been and then drew in a deep breath. “Where are you?”

“Don’t you want to know what happened?” Ice asked, easing back in his lounge chair.

The sun was bright the following afternoon and he could hear Echo in the kitchen making sandwiches. It was after midnight where Dave was at, but Ice knew the man wouldn’t be sleeping and probably hadn’t slept much since he’d disappeared. He’d wanted to call sooner, but they didn’t risk using phones. Plus, he’d been in no condition during those earlier weeks…so his hands had been kind of tied.

“I already know what happened. Solomon told me.” Dave gave another deep sounding sigh.

How the fuck did Solomon know what happened? Was it like he’d thought? Had Solomon set them up? What about the job to take out the trafficker, had that been bogus? And the phone call with the robotic voice, had that come from Solomon too? He mulled over something in his head—Solomon had been the man from Echo’s past and he’d bet money that the guy wanted him dead.

“What did he say?” Ice asked calmly.

“I can’t tell you over the line, you know this isn’t secure,” Dave said with a heavy sigh. “How’s Echo?”

“He’s good.”

“And you can’t say where you are?”

“No. I’m sorry. The lines are not secure,” Ice said, using Dave’s line.

“Who’s that?” Echo said around a mouthful of sandwich. The assassin sat down in the chair next to him and placed a large plate of cut ham and cheese sandwiches on the small nearby table that sat between them.

“It’s Dave. He said that Solomon filled him in on what happened,” Ice said.

Echo’s eyes widened and then narrowed to slits in his handsome face, and Ice snorted when Echo snatched the phone from his hand.

“Hi Dave. You want to know the real story? Find Justice,” Echo said and hung up the phone.

“You just hung up on the SecDef,” Ice pointed out.

“Former.”

Chuckling, Ice grabbed a sandwich just as his phone rang.

“Did he just hang up on me!” Dave shouted into Ice’s ear.

“No, my finger hit the end button when I took the phone from him,” Ice lied smoothly and took a bite of food.

“Oh.” A moment passed. “When are you coming home?”

“I’m almost back to one hundred percent, so soon…I have something important to tell you,” he said around a bite of food. Even though leaving this island didn’t sound appealing at all, the thought of killing Solomon trumped everything right now.

“Wait… one hundred percent what?” Dave said slowly. The man’s voice had changed into a tone that Ice only heard when Dave was beyond pissed—as in…ballistic angry. It was a quiet voice filled with deadly power that caused a person to sweat, and he was once again thankful that Dave had never used it on him.

Ice swallowed his food and murmured softly. “Like Echo said, ask Justice.”