Page 2 of In Hiding

He sat up. “What can I do?”

“Jake Langley, I need to know that I can really count on you.”

Jake laid his hand over Erik’s for a brief second and nodded. “You can.”

Erik gave a single nod. “Put this somewhere safe and meet me outside.”

Out in the exercise yard, late autumn sun streamed down and warmed their shoulders. They walked side by side, following the path along the walls of the rectangle strip of concrete. In the middle, inmates used the exercise equipment. Most lifted chipped and battered iron weights, layering on more muscle. Jake had spent his fair share of time in there, more to stay busy than build size.

In the center of it all was Ryan Mitchell. Six feet tall and built like a brick shithouse, Mitchell wasn’t a man to be messed with. He eyed Jake and Erik as they walked, trying to be discreet but nothing hid the pure hatred Jake had seen—and felt—at that man’s hands on his first day.

Mitchell and Erik were mortal enemies. Whichever side Jake had ended up on would have earned him a passionate adversary. Instinct assured Jake he was on the right side.

“I see we have his attention,” Erik murmured beside him. “Keep moving.”

Jake turned away from the meatheads in the center of the yard. “You want his attention?”

“Always,” Erik snarled under his breath. “He needs to know I will never forget what he did, and I need to know he continues to fear me.”

Unsure whether he wanted to hear more, Jake kept pace with the Great Dane. “This is the part I don’t know.”

“Correct.”

His time in prison taught Jake one thing: watch and learn, then speak. He’d never asked why Erik tried to kill Mitchell and the Dane had never shared it, but he sensed the time had come.

“He’s my brother-in-law.”

Jake’s step faltered momentarily. He swore softly and wondered if that explained Mitchell’s attack on Erik’s newly arrived cell mate.

Erik nodded. “It is true. He married my sister. If I had met the man first, I would never have allowed it, but Kat is headstrong. Stubborn. Willful, even.”

Jake suspected he could fill in the blanks. A man who liked to dominate paired with a woman who would defy him? Was never going to end well. “What happened?”

Darkness fell over Erik’s face. “He mistreated her. He almost killed her.”

“Almost?”

A small nod preceded, “I stopped him.”

Three, small words held the weight of a life. “Which brought you here.”

“Yes. The day he showed up here was a both a miracle and a burden. I could kill him easily enough, but it might surprise you, Langley, that I do not wish to spend my whole life in here. I would like to see my sister again.”

Jake frowned. “You’ve never mentioned her. Come to think of it, I don’t recall her ever visiting you.”

“At my insistence. She did as I asked and disappeared for her own safety. I would like for you to find her.”

Jake stopped moving. “You what?”

Erik threw a sly glance toward his nemesis. “He is seeking parole.”

“But if it’s like you say?”

“He has been a model prisoner, Jake. Yes, he intimidates the new arrivals, and yes, he runs a small cigarette operation within these walls, but he has also won favor with some of the guards.” Erik grimaced. “And he comes from money.”

They continued walking as a magpie flew overhead, squawking against the clear blue sky. The shrill noise ricocheted off the concrete ominously. “But, parole?”

Erik gave a dismissive shrug. “He claimed it was self-defense, that she goaded him to attack. The fact that she was unarmed was played down by his defense. They focused on the fact that I almost took his head off. Claimed we were violent and ganged up on him, putting him and his son in danger. It’s a load of shit. We weren’t that family.”

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