Page 19 of One Step Sideways

Rawlings breathed out in a rush. “The problem is, there’s another seven cases in similar circumstances in this area. Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee. All enhanced who had nearly served their time or were no problem to the guards.”

“I don’t see what we can do about it, though. I mean the Tampa team, yeah. They’re FBI.” I looked up when I was met with silence.

“They need someone to go in and—”

“No.Fuckno.” I was on my feet as exactly what they needed me to do hit me like a two by four.

Rawlings nodded as if he expected that reaction. “The Tampa team is very visible. They have a couple of other local agents, but again they have been seen. Any search, especially facial recognition, would identify them. You, however, have already been arrested after what might have been a robbery. You know the system. You have no links to the FBI, and while I collected you from prison, you’ve already turned down my offer once.”

I couldn’t. I couldn’t go back there. Absolutely fucking not. Not now.Not ever.

Chapter Eight

Kane

Things had been quiet since I’d turned Rawlings down. He’d decided to go home for the weekend, and I was glad. I was surprised Danny hadn’t gone with him because, from the sounds of things, he was a regular visitor. Rawlings had asked me, but I’d told him I wanted a quiet weekend. I knew Rawlings was disappointed in my refusal of the undercover job, but the thought of going back inside made me ready to take a knife to myself.

I didn’t want to live in any reality that involved me being back there. None. It wasn’t what I signed up for either. I was supposed to be a bodyguard. In fact, some guy called Ringo was coming around later to take me somewhere safe to spar. Which was good. I certainly didn’t want to spend the weekend in my room, that was too close to what I’d done for the past seventeen years.

It was odd that Rawlings still hadn’t asked me about my ability. He hadn’t pushed me to see the doc either, but I imagined all that would happen next week. I’d signed the initial three-month contract.

And yeah, I’d been avoiding Danny. He was giving me a bit of whiplash, and…shit, no, no he wasn’t. He’d tried to be friendly, but I was avoiding him because I didn’t want to give him another reason to dislike me. It seemed I wasn’t good at speaking up for myself.

Big surprise.

I got a text from Ringo a few minutes later and saved his contact details. He was coming around in an hour, so I decided to do a few stretches because some guys could be dicks, take one look at my scar, and decide they had somethingto prove. Like I said to Rawlings, I was fit, but normal human fit, and I didn’t know Ringo. I didn’t know how hard I could punch because I’d always held back.

I heard Danny in the kitchen and decided I was hungry. I could get a snack. It was weird and a novelty to eat when I wanted. I would be careful, though. I didn’t know how intense the sparring session, or whatever it was, would be.

As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I knew something was wrong with Danny. The fact that he was sitting on the floor. The fact that Sadie was practically sprawled over him. That his skin was gray, his breaths were shallow, and I absolutely knew if I could feel his pulse, it would be off the charts.

I hunkered down without a thought of being near the dog. “What can I do?” Danny didn’t answer, just focused on the floor like it was alive. I remembered what I used to do with JoJo and risked that, scooting close. Danny’s hand clutched Sadie’s collar like it was his last grasp on reality.

“Look at Sadie,” I said. “She scares the shit out of me, but she’s got a really pretty coat.” I focused on her as well. Actually, it was. I usually didn’t look past her teeth.

I debated touching him when the violent trembles continued. JoJo hated touch. He liked you close, but you put a finger on him and he’d bite it off. “Do—” but my words cut off abruptly as Danny moved and grabbed my hand. He still clutched Sadie with the other, but now he held me as well.

I held my breath for far too long. Touching, being touched, except in anger, had never

been a thing for me. I guessed my mom had—maybe—but she’d left before I even started school, and I suppose the fact that she didn’t take me with her spoke volumes.

“I wanted a dog once. Dad brought in puppies. Beat the shit out of them until they turned mean, but there was this one girl. She had sad eyes. Nothing he did made her turn.” And I’d wanted to keep her desperately. My breath hitched, which was embarrassing, and I swallowed. “I walked nearly all day to take her to a no-kill shelter.” I huffed. “They called it Chasing Tails. And then I just pretended I’d forgotten to lock the crate when I got back.”

“S-sorry,” Danny rasped, either at the dog or sitting on the floor, and it brought me up sharply. Some help I was. I was getting stuck in my own head, so I started talking about other things. Told him about Archie, the gangs, and how he’d avenged his wife and son. Told him that Archie let me come into his cell and read, and that the guards used to leave me alone when I was with him. That I’d missed so much school growing up even before I got the mark, that Archie had taught me everything other than the basics I was shit at anyway. “He used to say that I kept him sane, but really, it was the exact opposite. I was so angry when I went in, I doubt I’d have even made it to twenty-one alive if he hadn’t been there.” He’d been my dad. Not the bastard that called himself that.

We stayed there on the floor for some time.

“I don’t really know exactly what I can do.” I felt Danny’s breaths ease and knew he’d turned to look at me. “Did Rawlings tell you what happened?” It distracted him, but it was eating at me, and I wanted to know if I was being played with.

“Rawlings hasn’t told me anything. He wouldn’t.”

I pondered that for a couple of seconds. That made no sense. “It didn’t take me long to find out my eyesight was different after I transformed. I can see in the dark. I don’t know why, because Archie warned me not to say anything, so I’ve never seen a doc or anything. I can also…” Shit. Rawlings had seen me, so it was kind of out there, anyway. “I can stop other people from seeing things. This dark cloud kinds of comes out of my hands. Fuck,” I swore. “This sounds so dumb.”

“Actually, there’s a guy on the Tampa team that can make fire come out of his fingers,” Danny said. “But he doesn’t have to use his fingers to create it either. Do you know if you have to use your hands?”

The question surprised me, but I was relieved Danny seemed to be more cognizant. And he made it matter-of-fact. Like it was normal and not fucked-up. “I have no idea. I spent the last few years hiding what I can do. I’ve never tried to see what else I have going on.”

Danny hummed thoughtfully. “What’s the reaction of whoever is blacked out?”

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