Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ice could have been smacked stupid when his personal cell phone rang.

Yeah, it was against Erebus rules, but he was not leaving his cell behind in case Echo tried to call him.

Fumbling, he pulled it from his pocket and dropped it to the pavement. Scrambling, he jerked it up and punched the answer button on the call from an unknown number.

“Hello?”

“Ice.”

His eyes closed, his breath stopped, and he squeezed the phone so hard that his knuckles ached.

“Where are you?” he rasped, his voice unrecognizable.

“We were in a warehouse, but now we’re on the streets of San Bernardino.”

Fuck. That was an hour and a half drive away. With Grit at his side, Ice ran back toward the massive parking garage where he’d left his SUV.

“We?”

“Yeah, I found some of the kids and I took them.”

The laugh Ice almost let out bordered on a sob. “Of course you did.”

“So…we need a ride.” He could hear the smile in Echo’s voice.

“Whose cell phone are you on?” Ice said.

“Rogue’s.”

“Where is he? Is he right there listening? If he is, just tell me what I was wearing when you ran to me on the beach.”

“If he were listening, he’d hear me say you were wearing a stupid hat,” Echo teased and Ice thought his heart would jump out of his chest. “And trust me, he is not here.”

“I’m almost to my SUV.”

“What were you doing?”

“It’s a long story and I’ll fill you in when I see you, but it’s going to take well over an hour to get there. Is there somewhere safe you can go?”

He pressed his earpiece before Echo could answer. “Wrath, I have Echo on the phone. I need to pick him up.”

“Copy.”

“Yes,” Echo was saying. “There’s plenty of places to hide around here. Plus, it’s still dark so we should be okay.”

“I want you to tell me a landmark and then toss that phone. There could be a locator app on it,” Ice ordered.

“Don’t worry, I disabled it.”

He’d forgotten for a moment just who he was dealing with.

“Please destroy and toss it. Just in case he put several backups on it,” he pleaded.

“Okay,” Echo said softly.

“Hang tight. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Echo ended the call and Ice careened around the corner and into the parking structure. He plowed into someone who stepped in his way. The hit knocked the other person back and that was because he wasn’t a small man, and definitely had height on the other person…who was none other than Fisher.

Fucking Fisher with a silencer in his fist.

Ice didn’t wait, he slammed his hand down on the top of Fisher’s gun arm and knocked it out of his way. He’d heard about Fisher’s fighting skills from Creed and Owen and he may not win this fight, but Fisher was going to have to kill him.

Grit launched up snarling.

“No, down,” Ice barked. No way in hell did he want his dog shot at close range. Grit snarled, but lowered his belly to the concrete.

Ice snap kicked at Fisher’s gun hand, trying to get the assassin to lose his grip. It didn’t work. Locking both of his hands around Fisher’s wrist, Ice pointed the gun upward.

Fisher delivered several blows to his side. Each jab sent pain splintering into his ribs.

“Don’t do this, Fish. I found Echo,” he growled, holding onto that gun arm with every bit of power he had. And he had a lot. In an arm-wrestling match, he would have won hands down, but this was different—Fisher was deadly.

Up and out of nowhere, Justice finally arrived. Wrapping an arm around Fisher from behind, Justice, who was bigger than both him and Fisher, closed his hand around the gun in Fisher’s grip.

“Fisher.” Justice squeezed the arm around Fisher’s waist and kept his hand clamped around Fisher’s gun hand.

Fisher was gasping for air, like he’d just run a marathon. And using his free hand, he clawed at the arm Justice had cinched around his waist.

“Go,” Justice told Ice.

Stepping away from Fisher, he stood indecisive until Justice snapped. “Just go, Ice.”

Fuck!

Ice didn’t have any more time to waste.

“Grit! Heel.” He sprinted up the concrete ramp to the third level. He tore out of his parking space and when he passed the spot where Justice and Fisher had been, it was empty.

Once off the freeway, he turned onto Main Street in downtown San Bernardino. It had taken an hour and twenty minutes. He’d broken a few traffic laws.

He punched in the address of the Econo lodge. Not that Echo had any money to get a room, but he said the place was busy for this time of the morning and in numbers there was safety.

Solomon had to be looking for them by now, was all Ice could think. He didn’t want a run in with Solomon until they found all the locations, or before he had a chance to tell Echo what had transpired at Dave’s house.

From the passenger seat, Grit whined.

“You’ll like him, boy,” Ice said. Parking at the lodge, he got out of the SUV and Grit jumped out of the driver’s door. Ice lifted Echo’s shirt from the backseat and held it out to Grit.

The dog nuzzled into the fabric again and then looked up at him.

Ice grinned. Grit was patient, always waiting on his command. “Seek.”

The dog took off like a rocket and Ice let out a shrill whistle to make him slow down. Grit ran in a half circle and back to him as if to say, “What’s the hold up?”

“I’m old, I can’t move as fast as you,” Ice told the dog and snapped on his leash. The few people who smiled at them had to be dog owners. Only pet owners talked to animals.

Echo had said kids. Were these little kids or big kids? He didn’t know what he was looking for, so he just kept running his gaze over every dark haired head he could find as he followed Grit and hoped the dog could locate Echo in this busy place.

At only a little over a year old, Grit was still a bit green, but he pulled on the leash and Ice went with it.

“Ice.”

Hearing Echo call his name, Ice glanced around and found the man standing next to three teenagers. Grit pulled him through the cars and across the parking lot of a big box store. Walking right up into Echo’s space, Ice didn’t hesitate to pull him into his arms.

“Is he your boyfriend?” a young voice asked and Ice pulled back enough to grin down at Echo.

“Am I?”

“Your position is going to be revoked if you have to ask that.” Echo gave him a narrowed look and Ice laughed.

“Yes, he’s my boyfriend. You can call him Ice.” Echo turned to the three others, pointing to each one. “This is Cash, Apollo, and Azrael.”

“Ice, that’s a cool name,” Azrael said.

“Minors?” Ice flicked his eyes over the three and then back to Echo.

“I’m not,” Cash said, then pointed to the twins. “They’re seventeen.”

“All right, let’s get back to my SUV and we can find a place to eat.”

“Cool. I’m starving,” Apollo said.

“Me too.” Azrael gazed at Ice with wide eyes.

The thought of Solomon making assassins out of these young boys boiled his fucking blood and Ice vowed he’d have a hand in killing the son of a bitch when he got the chance.

Gathering up the group, Ice guided them back toward where he’d parked. Azrael seemed fascinated by Grit and vice versa, so Ice handed the leash to the boy. The twin didn’t smile, but Ice hoped that one day he would. Apollo was very protective of his twin and slung an arm around the slighter boy’s shoulders as they walked, and Ice did the same with Echo. Cash brought up the rear.

The morning breakfast and work traffic had started and that brought out more people and bigger crowds.

That meant better cover for them within the city.

Turning the corner, Ice pulled everyone to a stop before they could take a step farther.

Echo jerked Apollo to a stop, which brought Azrael standing still.

“What is it?” Cash asked. Fear had thickened the boy’s voice.

“I don’t like the look of things,” Ice said flatly and urged them back around the corner. “Did you see them?”

“Yes.” Echo’s gaze was fierce.

Somehow, Solomon’s men had found his vehicle.

Assassins were tricky like that.