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 might be 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 both hands.

"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.

"Okay," Rawlings said, pushing his phone in his pocket. "We set up a liquor store out on the corner of Roswell and Merritt. It's a busy place but shuts at nine. Tonight, the owner's going to be a little later closing as he's doing inventory. You need to be there exactly at nine. The cops will be summoned via a hidden panic button."

Rawlings hesitated. "I'm going to try to arrange the cops." Which meant they wouldn"t panic seeing an enhanced. I looked at my phone. Six forty-five.

"How long will it take me to get there, and do I need a car?" I'd driven one of my dad's when he was too drunk to manage, but it had been a long time, and I definitely didn't have any sort of license.

"I'll make sure they find the keys on you to a beat-up truck parked outside. Give me a few minutes." And Rawlings disappeared again to use his phone.

Fuck, what was I doing? I'd sworn I would never put myself in this position and I was doing this voluntarily. I felt the hand on my arm and glanced at Danny. "You don't have to," he stressed. "No one would think badly of you. You—" His voice cracked. "It's like asking me to walk myself back into that pit."

"No, it isn't," I croaked back and wrapped my arms around him, forgetting he didn't like to be caged. "Nothing I went through compares to what—" But Danny's finger found my lips and silenced me.

"We can't compare pain. I didn't know what that meant until you said that. I mean, I knew what my therapist meant in a factual manner, but never applied that to myself." Some devil in me opened my mouth and caught his finger between my lips. Danny's breath hitched and his pupils distended, and I wished for clean sheets and all the time in the world.

Except we'd just run out of that.

I bent down and brushed a kiss against Danny's lips. He clutched my shirt, and it shocked me into stillness. Gazing into the blue of his eyes, I saw things I'd always dreamed of, but never thought I'd ever have a chance at. Need, yes, but it was much more than that. His pupils were distended enough, his breathing almost ragged, and his pulse beat a furious tattoo on his throat. But there was something else. More than just a physical response, more than just biology. I didn't know what it seemed like to Danny, but to me, it looked an awful lot like hope.

Danny

I don't think I'd ever hated myself so much as I did right that moment, watching Kane and Diesel walk out of that door without me. Sure, I'd been on some ops, but always from a safe distance. Hugging my laptop like it was armor. Gray had gone through exactly the same hell. In a lot of ways, he'd had it worse, but he was a full team member. And he'd protect his husband Sebastian with his life and already had.

I could never do that because I was too much of a coward to put myself in that position in the first place.

My phone rang, and I answered it without looking, too wrapped up in my one-man pity-party. And I hadn't realized it was a video chat until I was staring at Mom and Dad. I didn't have to accept it; I'd made improvements on the original program and taught them both how to use it, but I had at least thirty minutes before I needed to log in to the store cameras, and if I didn't accept it, I'd get a disapproving call from Emily, who had always made herself responsible for corralling her brothers.

"Hi, you two," I said, accepting the chat and sitting down at the kitchen table. I watched as my mom's face beamed in pleasure and Dad remained stoic but pleased. Not that I knew what he had to be pleased about simply because I had answered the damn phone.

"Daniel, we're so glad we managed to catch you." Mom cooed. I tried not to squirm. I definitely avoided their calls, but something in my dad's look of acceptance told me I wasn't doing a great job of it.

"How are you both?" I responded automatically and glanced over at my dad. "How'd the appointment with Doc Grady go?" Dad had always seemed invincible to us as kids, but while I had been in hell, Dad had gone through his own with a diagnosis of prostate cancer.

"Excellent," Mom answered for him. "They don't want to see him now for a full year."

I smiled, genuinely happy, and suddenly I was glad we were talking. "That's great news."

Mom hesitated and I knew what she was going to ask, as always. "It's yours and your dad's birthday soon, as you know, and we were thinking of getting everyone together."

Because I'd been born on Dad's birthday, it was always a huge party when I was growing up. Lately? Not so much, and guilt settled heavily on me. I hadn't made it home for the last three birthdays, citing work, and I knew from the look in my mom's eyes that she was expecting the same, and suddenly I wanted something different.

"Actually, I think that sounds great." I paused. "Would it be okay if I brought someone?" Surely whatever happened, Diesel wouldn't let Kane stay in there for more than a week. I wouldn't. My mom's gasp was telling, and she lit up like the Fourth of July.

"Oh darling, an important someone?"

"Not that he can't always bring a friend," Dad chided my mom gently.

I grinned, suddenly giddy as warmth spread through me. "Yes, I hope so." Then I laughed as a hundred questions spilled from her lips and for once my dad didn't attempt to rein her in.

"His name is Kane, mom. He's just started working for Diesel." I hesitated, wanting to get this one out of the way. "He's enhanced."

"That's great darling," Mom said, not missing a beat. "Like Sebastian and all his friends?"

Mom adored Sebastian, and it was mutual, I was sure. "Yep, but he's new, and so are we," I stressed, which she ignored and carried on with the questions.

"Does he have a family?"

I could tell she was ready to invite them as well. "No. He has a dad but once he got the scar, well, you know how it goes." They did. Most people did, just as most people were frightened or turned a blind eye to their treatment.

"Then don't you worry," she said fiercely. "He'll always be welcome with us." I grinned back. I'd only met Connie—Vance's mom from the Tampa team—once, but I knew instantly that she and my mom would be great friends, and god help anyone that got between those two mama-bears and their cubs. It hadn't been my parents' fault I was bullied at school. I never gave them a chance to repair the damage because I didn't tell them. That was on me, not them.

"He's just left for his first assignment with Diesel, or I'd introduce you to him," I explained.

"No rush, son," Dad said, but I could tell he was as pleased as Mom. He just showed it in different ways. Neither of them had ever given me a single day's worry over being gay, and my mind flashed back to that day.

"Dad?" I remembered thirteen-year-old me shuffling into the TV room. I'd waited until Mom was busy bathing my much younger brother Stephen, who had been a shock to us all. I felt that I needed to tell Dad first. I wasn't sure why, but it had seemed important.

"I need to ask you something," I said hesitantly. I was scared witless, if I was honest. Would they stop loving me? I'd read all the horror stories online.

He put his book down and smiled. "Yes, my boy?"

Emboldened, I sat on the padded stool Dad sometimes put his feet on. "I needed to ask you something." I'd already said that, but they were words to say before I thought of the right ones. "Do you remember why Jamie's older brother ran away?" I asked, almost whispering. His god-fearing parents prayed in church every Sunday for him to come home as if he'd run away, but according to Jamie, his dad had thrown him out because they'd caught him in the barn with Axel from the feed store.

"Yes, Danny. We talked about that, and I said I would never want any of you to think that was your only choice." He reached out and patted my hand. "It's important to both your mom and me that you feel able to tell us anything." I remembered, which was why I dared to say this.

"Well, I'm not sure…" I wasn't totally lying, feelings confused the hell out of me, "But, I might feel the same."

Dad smiled gently. "Thank you for trusting me with this, Daniel. I know feelings are very bewildering at your age, but the most important thing to know is none of them are wrong, and no one else gets to say what they should be."

I blinked because Dad's face kept getting fuzzy. "So, it's okay?" I thought that was what he'd said, but I wanted to be sure.

"It's okay," he said solemnly in his dad voice, the one that told me I was safe. Mom bustled in at that point and asked if I wanted a warm drink before bed and had I done my homework? And because it was all so normal, I flew at her and hugged her really tightly. She hugged me back just as fiercely, which made me think afterwards that she might have been standing outside the door while I talked to Dad, but that was okay.

"I want to bring him to meet you. He hasn't had a good home life, so all the family might be a bit overwhelming."

My mom nodded. "Then if you can get the time off, why don't you drive up a couple of days early so he can get to meet us and be comfortable before the horde descends?"

I nodded eagerly. It sounded perfect. Mom filled me in on a few updates, but then I reluctantly said I would have to go as I was monitoring the computer. And this time it was genuine. I promised to talk again soon, told them how much I loved them, and then ended the call just as one came in from Diesel.

"We're on our way back. The ops a bust."

I blinked stupidly and tried not to be ridiculously happy. "Why?"

"Shae ran. The paramedics were transferring him and despite four cops all standing there aiming their guns, the second he was untied he moved so fast the cops never even saw him. One second he was there and the next he was gone. I've never heard of an enhanced that could move so fast." Diesel hesitated. "Just expect the building to be watched. They'll think he might come here."

But I knew he wouldn't. They'd found him here. Shae wouldn't risk it again. I was pretty sure that would be the last we would ever see of him.