Page 85 (1/2)

Prologue

Grinder

Thirteen years ago

Pine Correctional Facility, Upstate New York

Time waits for no man It spins ahead, out of our control, no o by too fast For others, it drags on and on, while you slowly rot away

Prison steals time better than any thief

It had stolen two years from me so far

Rock stared at the papers in his hand, then stuffed the it under hisyou behind”

The raw anguish in his voice punched ut

“It’s not right,” he continued

“It is what it is,” I gruot you into this”

He’d be checking out of the correctional facility we’ve called home for the last couple of years any day now

But I’d bought myself an extended stay I’d had no other options It was kill or be killed My body was littered with the scars of survival I did what I had to do to keep us alive and didn’t regret my choices

Now the time had come

One of us had to stay

One of us had to leave

“Use your head I don’t want to see you in here again,” I warned him “You feel me?”

“I’ll do my best”

“Do better than that” My words needed to be a hammer to pound this into his thick skull “Keep Wrath and Zero out of trouble You’ve got the cunning and skills They’ll follow your lead”

His , I ended up in here?”

Rock was smart I had faith he could run the club the way it was meant to be run