Page 51 of One Step Sideways

Shivers raced up my arms. Kane wouldn’t have resisted anything. What did that mean they had done to him?

It took a couple of hours, but Diesel finally got back. We’d deliberately not used Oliver Michaels this time, as he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from getting Kane released, which was the opposite of what we needed to happen, but a newbie from his firm, an overwhelmed one.

“The cops just about ran him over,” Diesel said, pouring his coffee. “I almost felt sorry for him. Oliver’s gonna kick my ass.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” I snapped. He hadn’t led with Kane being okay, just complained about the fucking lawyer, like I cared.

Diesel sighed. “They said he resisted arrest, and they tasered him.”

I went really still. Like, all my body went on alert and Sadie tried to practically climb in my lap. We’d all been tasered as part of basic, and it was utter shit. Ride the lightning, it was called, and a lot of us agreed being shot was less painful. “What the hell?” He wouldn’t have resisted.

Diesel paused. “The two that arrested him freaked out when they saw the scar, but the second car arrived with a friendly and he told us Kane just froze and stopped cooperating when they swapped the cuffs for zip-ties. We know he has issues to work through. This might have been a trigger none of us guessed.”

“But we should have,” I snapped. He’d been locked up as a scared kid for seventeen years and had been released barely two weeks ago.“We should have.”What the hell did we just do?

Diesel nodded. “But he’s in. The lawyer reported he’s being sent to Ware Correctional. They won’t keep him in the cells even overnight because it’s not enhanced-proof.”

I scoffed. “There’s no such thing.”

Diesel dipped his chin in agreement. “They just opened the new enhanced wing, but even I’m having trouble finding out what that entails. Talon told me they hadn’t been asked for any consultation on the new facility and he’s personally worried.”

“Fuck,” I spat. “What the hell have we sent him into?”

Diesel met my gaze. “He wanted this. It’s up to us to try to get him backup.”

“Ringo?” I answered. “Who else?”

“Ringo definitely. He’s going to be a CO. New posting, but as ex-military, the warden likes that. He’s ex-military himself and favors similar applicants.”

“Who else?” I pressed.

Diesel huffed. “There’re a lot of vacancies.”

I’ll just bet there were. “Like?”

“Therapists, medics, you name it.”

“Medics?” I asked. “Like one for just the unit?”

Diesel narrowed his eyes. “Danny, you can’t just—”

“Fuck yes, I can.”

Diesel’s gaze roamed over me. “You can’t take Sadie.”

“I know.” What the hell was I saying? I was insane.

“And if you have a panic attack?”

I winced. I knew Diesel was only looking out for me. Tough love. “It’s like I’m in a holding pattern,” I tried to explain. “Same old, same old.”

“Don’t pretend like you haven’t done amazingly well,” Diesel said quite forcefully. I knew he had his own guilt; because of a stupid minor injury, he wasn’t there. I didn’t think he’d ever forgiven himself.

“I need to do this,” I said. Quietly, gently. I knew he was only looking out for me.

“Okay, I’ll set it up. Take Sadie to Pink.”

I ruffled her fur. She would love it. Diesel’s wife adored Sadie, and the feeling was mutual. Which meant at least one of us would be okay.

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