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Hunter reached out and grabbed ahold of his arm while Seven ran out into the hallway yelling.
Ice couldn’t respond, and the room closed in on him.
Echo stood just at the corner of the hallway where Ice’s hospital room was. He gazed at the closed door that Ice lay behind. Both Seven and Hunter had gone inside a while ago, but he wouldn’t be going in there until it was dark. If that. Ice was out of the woods now according to Stone. It pissed him off that Solomon wouldn’t tell him jack shit where Ice was concerned.
“Why do you need to know that?” The man had growled the words, his tone ugly.
“Because I’m the one that stabbed him. I just need to know where he is…” his voice had trailed off.
Fucking hell, he hadn’t sounded like himself. What the hell was wrong with him? He didn’t give a shit about Ice. But that didn’t stop him from storming out of Solomon’s office when his boss had refused to answer. Echo sought out Stone, who had told him about Ice’s complications.
He’d been stunned.
That jab shouldn’t have caused that much damage. Had he gone that deep? Was he slipping? Or had his desperation affected his skills?
“Something’s wrong!” Seven’s shout snapped him back to the busy hospital. And when Seven ran to the nurses’ station, Echo sank back around the corner and out of sight. With a pounding heart, he squeezed his hands into fists when nurses and staff started running past him. They disappeared into Ice’s room. Maybe with such a big crowd going in, he could slip in unnoticed.
And do what?
Frozen, he stayed where he was until the doctor, staff, and most of the nurses left the man’s room. Seven and Hunter had stayed inside. That meant whatever the hell had happened, Ice had made it through.
Fuck!
He stayed still for several more moments before he slipped down the stairs and outside into the cool night air. Wiping the back of his hand at his nose, he bent over and placed his hands on his knees and sucked in huge gulps of air.
He had no time for this shit. He had things to do, jobs to finish, and he definitely didn’t have time to even think about a man he despised. Rubbing at the sudden heartburn in his chest, he pushed all thoughts of Ice from his mind as he slid behind the wheel of a borrowed vehicle. He left the parking lot and dialed Stone.
“What’s up?”
“Did Seven call you?” Echo said.
“No. Why?”
“Something’s going on with Ice at the hospital. Can you find out and call me back?”
“Will do.” Stone hung up.
Echo pounded his fist on the steering wheel.
So much for not thinking about Ice.
Present day.
Several months later, Solomon still hadn’t agreed to make him permanent.
It was now the end of February and the jobs remained inconsistent as fuck. What was supposed to be one month of probation had turned into six. That was long enough for a fucking probation period.
“What’s the holdup?” he said, taking a seat in one of the two leather office chairs that sat in front of Solomon’s desk. He squared off with the Erebus leader, who sat behind his big wooden desk.
“It’s my call.”
“It’s Dave’s call.” Ice squinted.
“It’s mine,” Solomon said with a sneer. “You were injured on the job. You took four weeks off to go to Greece in October. Just consider this your continued probation period.”
“One month extended to six because I was knifed?” Ice snorted. Personally, he thought Solomon was an asshole to the nth degree, but he might be alone in his thinking. For all he knew, other assassins might think the sun rose and set in the guy’s ass.
Solomon continued to stare with his big hands clenched into fists on the top of the desk.
