Chapter 1 - The Man in the Corner
Nobody in Mason’s Diner paid much attention to the man sitting alone in the back corner.
That was exactly how Daniel Hayes liked it.
Outside, Chicago’s South Side was turning dark. Headlights slid across wet pavement. A city bus groaned past the front windows, followed by the distant cry of a police siren.
Inside, the diner was warm.
Burgers hissed on the grill.
Coffee poured.
Forks scraped against plates.
Daniel sat with his back against the wall and his eyes on the door.
Always the door.
He wore a faded leather jacket over a gray shirt. A thin scar ran from his eyebrow toward his cheek. His hands were rough, the knuckles marked by old damage that never quite disappeared.
A waitress named Carol stopped beside him with the coffee pot.
“Another?”
Daniel looked at the cup.
“Sure.”
“You ever drink anything besides black coffee?”
“No.”
Carol smiled.
“That explains the personality.”
Daniel almost smiled back.
Almost.
She filled the cup and walked away.
Across the room, a family laughed over milkshakes. Two construction workers argued about baseball. An elderly man read the newspaper near the window.
Normal people.
Normal problems.
Daniel envied them more than he wanted to admit.
Five years earlier, normal had stopped meaning anything to him.
He had spent those years trying to become invisible.
No uniforms.
No missions.
No orders.
No dead friends.
No waking up at three in the morning because a car backfired outside his apartment.
He lifted the coffee to his lips.
Then the bell above the diner door rang.
Daniel looked up.
A boy stood in the entrance.
Maybe nine years old.
Too-thin hoodie.
Dirty sneakers.
A cut across one cheek.
And eyes filled with the kind of fear Daniel recognized immediately.
The boy looked over his shoulder.
Then he ran.
Straight toward Daniel.
People turned as he pushed past tables and nearly knocked a tray from a waitress’s hands.
Daniel set down his coffee.
The boy reached him.
Grabbed his sleeve.
And whispered four words.
“Please. They found me.”
Daniel’s body went still.
“Who found you?”
The boy looked toward the front windows.
His face turned white.
“They’re here.”
Daniel followed his stare.
A black SUV had just stopped across the street.
Two doors opened.
And two men stepped out.
The next chapters are on the left side of your screen.
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