Page 4 of One Step Sideways

Kane shook his head. “I told you I wasn’t some superman.”

I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. “No, Finn has that honor.”

“The guy on his honeymoon?” Kane frowned. “But didn’t you say he’s a regular?”

Diesel grinned as well. “It’s a long story, but yeah, Finn isn’t enhanced even though Talon thinks he probably is.” It was clear Kane thought we were crazy, but I didn’t care. We weren’t here to explain ourselves.

“Secondly,” Diesel continued. He put his fork down and blew out a breath. “I believe in second chances.”

Kane met his gaze. “Either that or you think a guy in my position doesn’t have many first ones.”

Diesel bent his head in acknowledgement, scooped up some more food, chewed, and swallowed. “Do you remember Archie Newhold?”

Kane

I nodded slowly. Of course, I did. Archie Newhold was a lifer. He’d already done twenty-one years the day I was dumped in there, nothing more than a terrified sixteen-year-old kid. I never knew what Archie saw in me, but Archie immediately took me under his wing. Archie didn’t run with any of the gangs, and for some reason they all left him alone, and by association, me as well.

Archie was in for multiple counts of murder, except in and amongst his revenge killing spree, he’d gone into a local convenience store for some milk and saved the life of a fourteen-year-old girl from a hopped-up junkie wanting money and had decided to spray bullets around the store when he didn’t get it fast enough. The only reason he’d lived through the store robbery was because he’d caught the bullet meant for the girl by diving in front of her and the gunman had thought he was dead.

Archie’s life was all kinds of screwed up. Archie’s entire family, including his wife and nine-year-old son, had been gunned down in a gang-style revenge shooting because Archie’s younger brother had defected from one of the most notorious gangs in Atlanta, DFE orDead For Ever. Up to that point, Archie had worked in a bank of all places and hadn’t seen his brother in over seven years.

He nearly wasDead For Ever, and it had taken three months for Archie to recover in secret. They’d even had a funeral for him. The US Marshalls had known he would be a target and arranged to relocate him on the day he was discharged from the hospital. But Archie slipped his guards and disappeared to plan his revenge.

Over the next twenty-three months, one by one, every member of the gang had been killed. The day the last gang member had died, Archie had walked into the local station and given himself up.

There wasn’t a judge—not one that wanted to be re-elected anyway—that could possibly have handed down the death penalty after that.

“I can see you do,” Diesel said. “But do you know a lady by the name of Constance Picket?”

I shook my head, giving up on the food as anxiety filled my belly, and pushed the plate aside.

“Constance was the fourteen-year-old neighbor he saved, and they wrote to each other right up to his death from lung cancer three years ago.” I knew that, just not her name. I knew the girl had begged Archie to let her visit, but Archie had refused, worried it would paint a target on her.

Diesel swallowed his mouthful. “The special agent in charge of the enhanced unit is named Anthony Gregory. Apparently he gets quite a few letters regarding his team, but the one he got from Constance Picket he passed on to me. Archie told her numerous times that you didn’t deserve what had gone down and she wanted the team to be ready when you came out. Now, Gregory—good as he is—can’t do a lot with someone with your history and witnesses, so he gave your name to me around four months ago.”

I stared at him in shock. For some reason I was surprised that Danny’s face reflected the same emotion. Diesel obviously hadn’t shared those details with his team.

“But like I said, I’m assuming you never got any of my letters?”

I shook my head. I might have once, but not after O’Connell got transferred there just before Archie died.

“I can’t fly and I can’t carry a gun,” I reiterated. Not that I wanted to do either. Well, travel maybe. Diesel inclined his head in agreement. “Then who can I guard?”

Danny made a noise of disgust but stood and took their plates. He made it obvious as he noisily scraped the food I hadn’t eaten into the trash. Guilt gnawed at me more than my half-empty belly. But I didn’t know what the guy’s problem was. It was clear he didn’t like me. Either the scar or my record, I assumed.

“So tell me what you can do, then,” Diesel challenged. “I know last year, despite getting beaten to hell, you made no attempt to fight back.”

I narrowed my eyes. How the fuck had he known that?

“I also know that certain guards turned their backs while it was done, so my second question would be, what did you do to piss them off?”

I felt Danny still and turn from where he was tidying the kitchen counter, clearly waiting for my answer. “I don’t know why O’Connell had it in for me.”

“O’Connell? That was his name?”

“And I knew better than to do anything that would get me more time inside.”

“It would have been self-defense,” Rawlings argued.

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