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spiraled out of control. It was shredding him apart. All he’d wanted to do from the beginning was bust bad guys. He shook his head at how naïve that simplistic notion was. Eyes now ripped wide open, there’d be no going back to the safety of ignorant bliss, with lines more blurred than imagined. He knew where he stood along the lines of ethical, but his indoctrination into the outlaw’s world and seeing the corrupt subsurface of his agency had fractured his ability to reconcile either.
    He dropped peg just short of where Justice had parked his Hog. There’d been no conversation over the last forty minutes, so St. John assumed there’d be no need now.
    Justice stood ahead of him on a bridge that overlooked a rushing river. The moon still shone bright. St. John saw him bouncing a handkerchief in his hand—he assumed it was the gun.
    “You know, this gun killed one cop tonight. No reason why it couldn’t kill two.” Low and grizzled, Justice’s voice barely resonated over the fast moving waters below.
    There’d be no reason to try and out draw him—Justice had the pistol concealed beneath the rag, but pointed right at him.
    “You got someone else you need to settle a score with?”
    “I don’t know, you tell me.”
    St. John strode closer with the decision to come clean. He wanted the clarity, and mostly needed to know if Abigail was safe. Every time he imagined the Savages hunting for her it made his heart ache, and also fucking pissed him off. He knew Voodoo and Lawless had promised to meet her, but he hadn’t heard from them either. Had the brothers gotten to her first?
    St. John sucked in a big gulp of misty, early morning air. “Justice. My name’s not James St. John.” There, he’d said it. He braced himself for combat.
    “I know that’s not your real name, Louis Seals.”
    His flight reaction nudged him to flee. “How’d you know?”
    “South Eastern Conference football. You don’t think LSU would let a beast like me leave Louisiana? I recognized you the day your sorry ass showed up.”
    “We played against each other?” The adrenaline dump that came with relief exhausted him.
    “I’m a few years ahead of you. Finished early and went to the Army’s Officer Candidate School. Wanted to serve my country more than make Gators suffer.”
    “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
    “Why? You’re looking for a second start in life after that crash—free to change your name to anything you want. Who am I to bust your balls about it,” Justice said, unwrapping the pistol. “I know you’re one fuck of a ball player. What I don’t know is if you’re an undercover cop.”
    “Yeah. Yes I am.”
    It felt like all the air sucked out into the ozone.
    Justice’s mouth gaped open. His shoulders slumped. “What?”
    St. John stepped closer, his body relaxed but tensed for an attack.
    “I don’t want to keep deceiving you Justice. This assignment has changed my life.”
    “I don’t know what the fuck to say.” Justice’s expression was somewhat blank, but slanted on the side of pissed.
    St. John extended his hand. “SFFS?”
    Justice’s eyes drew almost closed.
    The narrowed slits made deciphering his attitude impossible. From the records he’d studied, St. John knew Justice’s psych evaluations front to back—knew he was susceptible to extreme mood swings. That made him as dangerous as TNT.
    Justice stepped back onto the bridge and shoved his pistol in St. John’s face. St. John threw his hands up in a sign of unarmed surrender. Justice’s eyes scanned the wooded area.
    St. John knew he was looking for arrests team. But this was no bust. This was one man facing the truth about a lie he’d been living.
    “You think I’m stupid? Confess to me you’ve been a rat this whole time and think I’ll take your handshake oath? Fuck you, Louis Seals. Like I said, this gun can kill two cops tonight.”
    St. John held his breath but stuck to staying light on his feet. An opportunity to