Page 16 of One Step Sideways

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes. I’ll get Danny to arrange a lawyer.” He stood.

“A lawyer? Was that Ringo?”

“Yes. He’s been tracking Kane since he left.”

“The phone,” I said. If I’d asked for the number, I could have done the same.

“Yep, except the idiot has just gone and gotten himself arrested.” Diesel met my gaze. “They’re talking aggravated assault, and this time I might need a miracle to get him out of it.”

Kane

Why? I mean, whythe fuck? I had nowhere to go and nowhere to sleep. The bus to Tallahassee was seventy-six bucks, but I had to get to the Greyhound station, and the fights didn’t happen every night.

I sat on a bench next to the bus stop to wait for a bus that didn’t run for another six hours, prepared to spend the night regretting my life choices. Except that wasn’t true. I hadn’t made any choices. The only one I’d made so far was getting in Rawlings’ truck and if it hadn’t been for…

You stupid, arrogant fuck.

Somewhere in my thick head, I’d thought things were gonna be different. That everyone didn’t hate me. And yeah, I might have liked Danny. I actually might have liked him a lot and it burned that he hated me. He was… notgentleas Rawlings had said I had to be around him. I almost laughed. He was a prickly shit.But so are you.And he’d been fighting for his country while I’d beenlounging in a cell.

Not by choice.

And I should have known better. Once upon a time, I’d dreamed of stepping up. Wearing a uniform. Sure, it had been a healthy dose of getting away from my dad, but somewhere in there I’d hoped to claw back a little pride. Dad already had me beat down before I even got a scar on my face. I’d wanted an escape, and I’d just been offered one, so why the fuck had I thrown it away?

Pride.Goddam fucking pride. Because they’d taken every bit of it away, I had to—fuck. I’d seen the look in Danny’s eyes and pity was the last thing I wanted from him. I’d rather have him as the prickly bastard than be something he felt sorry for. Pride would never fill an empty belly. Which mine was. I was also pretty thirsty, and I’d left without so much as a bottle of water.

I glanced at the gas station across the way. I’d seen the lights, of course I had, but the experience of the one on the way here made me leery of going inside. I didn’t have any cash, but I had my gate money card, and I knew that some vending machines took them. It would mean paying triple the price, but it would also mean not having to go inside.

The place didn’t look too busy. There’d been one car at the pumps, but it had left and there was a car tucked around the side that I assumed belonged to whoever was on shift. I watched as a beaten-up truck pulled up near the door and a couple of figures went inside. I’d just wait until it left, then go across. When it still hadn’t pulled away after a few minutes, I rubbed my tired eyes. For all I knew, they might employ two people. They might be here to collect the guy who was finishing. My ass was growing numb, and I knew that some gas stations closed before midnight. If I didn’t head over there, I could easily be too late. Maybe I could get a cup of coffee as well.

I strode across the road and saw there weren’t any vending machines out front. Determined not to be a fuckup, I went inside. But the lights dimmed just as my fingers pushed open the door. But maybe they hadn’t closed out the register. Was that even a thing nowadays?

Maybe not.

But the barrel pointing at me was.

That was for sure one thing that apparently would never go out of fashion.

Chapter Seven

Kane

I didn’t need the order to put my hands up. It was instinctual, but I was also getting pretty sick of it. How many fucking times had this happened in two days? I’d have even preferred a little variety. I knew how to deflect a blade. I’d had enough practice inside. The guy with the gun—it looked old, but I was pretty sure the bullets could kill just as easily—snarled in my direction, then waved me toward the counter. I obeyed and walked toward it, taking in the middle-aged man frantically emptying the register, and the guy pointing a different gun at him. So unless there was someone hiding, which I doubted, there were just the two of them.

“Sit the fuck down and don’t get any ideas to do any damn tricks. Hands on your head.” I obeyed immediately, especially when the guy pressed the muzzle against my temple. “Got it?” he growled at the other one.

The second one turned his head for a split second. They both wore kids’ party masks. The one with me had some sort of Star Wars one. I didn’t recognize the one at the register, but it hardly mattered. I took him in, and my eyes dropped to his jeans.

And that’s when I recognized him. The same unraveled thread on his left pocket. The same gray eyes, the right one a fraction smaller. Not that anyone else would ever notice, but I knew it was the same person,kid, that had been involved in the robbery with Saunders. And that was why the guy with the gun on me wasn’t worried. The kid must have a special ability.

Was the other guy the driver they hadn’t found?

It would make sense. It also made them desperate. I met the kid’s eyes and knew immediately he’d recognized me, but he had no reason to think I recognized him, thank fuck. What shocked me was he didn’t say anything to the other guy, which gave me pause. The enhanced had seen what I could do. He knew I could obscure everyone’s vision in a second. Not that I was about to. The gun muzzle was a little too close to my skin to panic any trigger fingers.

But apart from a slight widening of the eyes, he didn’t say a word, just waved the gun to make the cashier empty the drawer a little faster. But then the cashier’s hand seemed to shake, and he dropped the wad of twenties he was holding. I watched as every bill hit the counter and most fell to the floor.

“The fuck,” the older guy snarled, but the cashier seemed to freeze then his face crumpled, and he just had a moment to put his hand to his chest before his legs gave way.

The young guy jumped backwards as if he’d been shot. “Dad?”

---