Page 38 of One Step Sideways

“Fuck you,” I snapped. “This is exactly what you wanted.”

There was a scuffle and Oliver Michaels took the phone. “I don’t need to know why,” he drawled, “but nothing will happen before Monday. Even if you committed some grievous crime, you wouldn’t see Shae, somaybe just wait.”

“I’ll be there in an hour,” Rawlings said.

Joy.

Because no matter what happened, no matter what I had to do, come Monday, somehow I had to go back inside to protect Shae. To do whatever I had to. So long as he got out and lived a life, I didn’t care.

It had always been too late for me, anyway.

Chapter Sixteen

Kane

“The problem is,” Danny said slowly when we were all sitting around the table hugging coffees and Danny, a tea, “is even getting you into Ware.” I knew that, but I was just as certain there were only a few prisons that would take enhanced. I knew Ware Correctional was outfitting a special unit for enhanced, and it had supposedly opened the week I was released. Fuck knew what was in it, but I knew I had a good chance of getting sent there. The other two places were Orlando and New York, according to Danny. None of the west coast had caught up. “And if he’s in the new unit, your fall guy can’t get in there anyway,” Danny said.

“Don’t you know a ton of FBI, though? Can’t they pull some strings?” If something didn’t happen soon, I was convinced Shae would be dead. Or gone, like the other ones.

Rawlings nodded his head. “Already done. We just need to work out the best way of getting you arrested.”

I scoffed, but at a small, almost distressed sound from Danny, I met his anxious gaze and everything else—for a moment—fell away. Our pasts, our problems, my new boss. Everything in me narrowed in on him, and I wanted him to know, to understand. “I desperately needed someone when I was a shit-scared sixteen-year-old sent in with lifers. There was this guy called Henry, spoke with a British accent, sounded like he should have been at some fancy tea party. He didn’t threaten me. Didn’t attempt to trap me in a cell on my own like some bastards, and for a couple of weeks before I met Archie, I thought he mightbe my savior because he seemed almost as if he was in the wrong place. Like he was innocent.” I swallowed the sudden nausea down. “Guess what he was in for? The rape and murder of seven kids. All boys. All teenagers. Without realizing it, I was setting myself up as his next victim. Because the guards wouldn’t know what was happening or wouldn’t care if it was shoved in their faces.” No, that was wrong. Some of them did. “It was only Archie who saved me and he’s dead.”

Danny’s eyes glinted with moisture, and I cursed. I hadn’t meant to make him feel guilty or responsible. It wasn’t his fault, and he had enough burdens to carry without me adding to them. This was something I had to do for myself.

“Shae needs an Archie.” I let that sentence hang and turned to Rawlings. “What was your original idea?”

He gazed at me. “Do this for the right reasons. It’s your job. You don't owe the universe. If anything, it owes you.” Fuck the universe, I just didn’t want another kid to go through what I had. I waited silently until he expelled a long breath. “We have people that can make it happen.”

I nodded and stood. “I need a gun.”

“What the fuck, Kane?” Danny snapped out.

I glanced at him, my gaze softening, and I appreciated his one-eighty about me doing this, but I was running out of options and running out of time. I returned my gaze to Rawlings. “I don’t need one, but I want to keep my abilities secret until needed. A quick visual will do it.” Then I remembered the cashier who’d had a heart attack. “Can we set up a victim? I don’t want to scare anyone.”

Rawlings agreed instantly and got on the phone. I felt Sadie’s body press against my leg and for the first time it didn’t scare the crap out of me, and I dared to drop my hand and ruffle her fur. Rawlings was talking and couldn’t hear us. “It’s the only thing we can do.”

Danny was silent for a few moments. “I want to explore this,” he said eventually, and I understood what he meant. Us.

“So do I,” I agreed. It hadn’t been something even on my radar. I’d spent so long just surviving, actual living had never been a thing, but suddenly the possibility of a future was so close, I wanted to grab it with bothhands.

“I’m going to get one of my guys in there as well,” Rawlings said, ending the call. “I haven’t worked out how yet, but there’s no way you can be in there without backup.”

I nodded, simply not to make waves, but I knew better. You could make every C.O. an undercover agent and the prisoners could still get to me, but I didn’t want Rawlings to delay any longer.

“I need a gun.” I repeated, looking at Rawlings. “Pretty sure you keep something here untraceable in case of emergencies.” I was bluffing, but was also unsurprised when Rawlings disappeared for a few moments, then came back with one.

I took it and looked it over. The only gun I’d ever held killed that poor dog, and it hadn’t been the animal’s fault Dad had fucked us both up. But Rawlings didn’t need to know that, and I had no intention of firing the thing. He gazed at me. “Are you good with it?”

“Yes,” I said confidently, and tucked it into my waistband at the back, hoping like fuck I didn’t accidentally shoot myself in the ass.

“Liar,” Danny said softly when Rawlings went to make some more calls. He wrinkled his nose. “I meant I don’t think you like any guns, especially with what happened.” I knew he was thinking about the dog as well.

“I know they’re necessary in many situations,” I hedged.

He nodded. “Exactly, unfortunately what is and what isn’t necessary is completely out of control in the moment.”

I didn’t respond. If that was a political or even a moral stance, I was so out of date it was laughable. The only current affairs I ever knew were the ones Archie shared with me and the gossip from other inmates.

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