One Step Back

By Carole Cummings

When Sahir is busy running for his life, it never occurs to him that the wrong place at the wrong time might turn into the right place at the right time. Not until he literally collides with Nicholas and salvation comes by way of magical intervention. But when Nicholas ends up being the one who really needs help, Sahir has to decide the best way to give it—and how to offer it to someone who can't even figure out if he wants it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rocky Ridge Books
• Release date: Oct 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201719753

Carole Cummings

Carole lives with her husband and family in Pennsylvania, USA, where she spends her time trying to find time to write. Recipient of various amateur and professional writing awards, several of her short stories have been translated into Spanish, German, Chinese and Polish.

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ONE STEP BACK

CAROLE CUMMINGS

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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One Step Back © 2021 Carole Cummings

Cover Art © 2021 TL Bland

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Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

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All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

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Digital eBook published Sept 2021 v. 1.0 Rocky Ridge Books

DEDICATION

In loving memory of Pam—P.D. Singer—my publishing mom and sorely missed friend

ONE STEP BACK

HE’S GOING to die here. He’s going to die here in the dark and the filth, and no one will even think to wonder where he is for another… God, probably not until he fails to show up to work tomorrow.

Sahir drags in a lungful of cold, wet air that turns to fire on its way down, and tries to pour more speed into legs he almost can’t feel anymore, the burn and the ache of overused muscles tamped down beneath the churning in his chest, the fear in his throat. The air is heavy, chilled right through, and the pavement is slick with gasoline rainbows and the oily residue of garbage made sludge by a fine haze of rain. The distorted light of the moon bullies through the low-hanging mist to fuzz at the edges of shadows, soften the austerity of deserted city sidewalks in the sodium-gold haloes of street lamps. Sahir’s footsteps are loud, insulated to the ground by the scrim of fog then ricocheted outward, and he should be trying for stealth, softening his steps, but he can hear footfalls behind him just as clearly, and they’re gaining on him.

A whistle cuts the fog, short and sharp. Muted echoes make it hard to tell direction, but Sahir is sure it came from up ahead, and then another comes from behind.

Shit.

They’re cutting him off.

There isn’t much thought to the skid sideways and the lurch up the crumbling steps of a derelict-dark tenement. There’s no thought at all to the desperate wrench and shove needed to get the warped door open.

Breath twisting out in panicked gasps, Sahir heaves the door shut behind him, but the hope for a lock is a short one. He jams buckled wood into the distorted frame as hard as he can, then turns and bolts… up. It’s the only way he can see, so he vaults toward the black well of a stairway, and just keeps going.

They’re not fooled. Sahir hears the rough fracture and give of old wood, and voices behind him. He thinks about freezing where he is and just hoping they start searching the first floor so he can quietly make his way… wherever they aren’t. Up. Away. But he distinctly hears split up among the muttering, so he keeps going.