Page 96 of Agony

“Why didn’t you?” he countered.

“You already know why I didn’t.”

“Tell me again,” Fisher said.

“I was stupid.” Echo rubbed a hand down his face. “I came back so Solomon would let Rogue go. I thought…” Echo’s voice trailed off and the silence hung between them.

“Echo thought Solomon wasn’t caging kids any longer. He thought we were the only three until Cash came clean,” Rogue said into the silence.

“Like I said, I was stupid,” Echo said.

“And you?” Fisher turned his eyes on Rogue. “Why didn’t you end Solomon?”

Rogue briefly closed his eyes. “He was taking kids off the streets.”

“But what he was doing was worse than living on the streets.”

“I didn’t see it that way,” Rogue murmured.

“That’s because you were brainwashed,” Echo told Rogue. “You were six or seven when Solomon found you. That’s called Stockholm syndrome, bro.”

Rogue rubbed his fingers on his mouth and then dropped his hand. “I’m glad he’s dead.”

Echo sighed, gazing out the window as if lost in thought.

“Echo?” Fisher said.

“Yeah?” The man swung back around toward him.

“This isn’t your fault. Solomon was a master at manipulation.”

“I think…” a muscle ticked in Echo’s jaw and his voice sounded raw, “Solomon molested Azrael.”

Fisher processed that information for a moment and shot a glance at Rogue, who looked as if he didn’t have a clue.

“Have either of you ever heard of a man they call Tanis?”

Echo’s brow furrowed. “Not until Dave said he was involved.”

Fisher glanced at Rogue when the big assassin stayed quiet. The flicker of recognition in Rogue’s face had been very brief, but Fisher had seen it.

“You know him,” he said flatly.

“Know of him, but he’s dead,” Rogue said.

“That’s what I thought too.” Fisher thought he had overheard Solomon telling Rogue that Tanis was dead. He’d been twelve at the time, so he couldn’t be sure that he had remembered correctly.

Rogue gazed out the window, his jaw bunched.

“Is that what Solomon told you?” Maybe Rogue remembered his own conversation with Solomon. Fisher sipped his cooling coffee while he waited.

Rogue closed his eyes as if in pain. “No.”

The word was rasped and Fisher heard the ungodly suffering and that was when it dawned on him.

“You knew what Tanis was doing.”

“I didn’t!” Rogue’s voice sounded tight with strain.

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