Page 2 of One Step Sideways

I could do with a restroom as well, and I was hungry. All I had was a basic ID card and a pre-paid debit card, or “gate-money” as some of the guys called it, but it wouldn’t get me far as the fees on the card were astronomical and I was loath to spend any on gas station junk. And I didn’t have so much as a ball cap to hide my face.

Rawlings eyed me when I didn’t answer. “How about you stick with me?”

I nodded and got out, keeping my head down, and followed Rawlings. Rawlings lifted his hand in greeting to the older man behind the counter and headed to the restroom. He went in first while I just hung around and tried to look like I was choosing a magazine.

I heard the click of the gun as I turned around.

My arms shot in the air, hands splayed as muscle memory from the last seventeen years had taught me before I even made a conscious decision to do so. The older man from the counter was looking down a shotgun, aimed right at me, and his hands were steady. If I breathed the wrong way, it could easily be my last, and I doubted anything I could do would influence the outcome. The last thing I needed was to make the man’s trigger finger shake.

“Get out of my store. I already called the cops.”

We both heard the restroom door open, and the man’s eyes flicked toward Rawlings. Rawlings stopped. “Is there a problem?”

“I don’t want his sort in here. That’s the problem.”

Rawlings nodded as if that was perfectly reasonable. The sirens blared in the distance already. I’d been so close. So fucking close tofreedom. I eyed the shotgun, knowing I’d rather eat one of those bullets than go back inside, but then, almost as if Rawlings had heard me, the fucking idiot stepped in between me and the gun.

“You aiming to die?” the older man asked.

“You aiming to kill me, soldier?” Rawlings answered.

The man was silent for a beat. “Where’d you serve?” he asked.

“3rd Battalion, 75th, but I don’t carry my DD on me.”

He lowered his gun an inch. “What you doing with him?”

“He’s family,” Rawlings stated immediately.

“Then you’d better get gone,” the man said. He nodded to the door. “I’ll say I made a mistake, but don’t come back.” Rawlings nodded and started for the door. Shocked and ashamed to admit I was trembling, I followed him.

“What about the cops?” I asked as Rawlings started the truck.

Rawlings grinned. “You wanna stay and talk to them?” It was obviously rhetorical because Rawlings got the truck moving pretty damn quick.

Another hour and I was forced to ask him to stop, and Rawlings pulled into a rest area. He parked in the farthest spot away from everyone and I jumped out, hopped the small metal fence, and went into the bushes. I wasn’t risking going anywhere with people. When I got back, Rawlings was walking back to the truck with some bottles of water and some protein bars he must have gotten from the vending machines. “I didn’t get much because I called Danny and he’ll have food ready for us. We’ll be back in around forty minutes.”

“Who’s Danny?”

Rawlings paused, but then stared pointedly at me. “Part of the team, but someone who you always treat gently.” Rawlings held my gaze for a few long seconds until I nodded.

What the fuck?Gently?What did that even mean?

“My main team is comprised of Danny—Daniel Sullivan, Drake Starr a.k.a. Ringo; Gray Darling, Emile Razor a.k.a. Mac; Blue Evenson, who we call Jay; and Paula Fielding. They all have different strengths and you’ll get to meet them gradually. I have a couple of others that I can call in with specialized abilities, but they work on a case-by-case basis.”

“Do any of those with specialized abilities have a scar on their face like me?” I couldn’t help the touch of sarcasm in my voice.

“No,” Rawlings answered. “You’d be our first.”

“So why me, then? I’m not sure what you’re expecting, but I can’t do X-Men shit.” And there was no way I was admitting to anything.

Rawlings shrugged. “We’ll see.”

We paused at a red light and I looked around. I had no idea where I was. “Where—”

“Marietta, but this is Henderson Street, and we own four apartments in this complex for the team. I live out of the city, but I’ll stay a few days while you make a decision. Once you have, you can come to my place and meet Pink.”

I met his gaze and for the first time Rawlings looked a little less bad-ass. “My wife.”

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