Bound by Honor by Diana Palmer Page A

What we teach is a way to raise self-esteem and self-confidence. If you know you can handle yourself in a bad situation, you’re less likely to go out and try to beat somebody up to prove it. It’s lack of self-confidence, lack of self-esteem, that drives a lot of kids to violence.”
    â€œThat, and a very sad lack of attention by the adults around them,” Sally said quietly. “It takes two incomesto run a household these days, but it’s the kids who are suffering for it. Any gang member will tell you the reason he joined a gang was because he wanted to be part of a family. But how do we change things so that parents can earn a living and still have enough free time to raise their children?”
    He put both hands on his narrow hips and studied her closely. “If I could answer that question, I’d run for public office.”
    She grinned at him. “I can see you now, mopping the floor with the criminal element on the streets.”
    He shrugged. “Piece of cake compared to what I used to do for a living.”
    Her pale eyes searched his lean, scarred face while Stevie fell from one side of the mat to another practicing his technique. “I rented one of those old mercenary films and watched it. Do you guys really throw grenades and use rocket launchers?”
    A dark, odd look came into his pale eyes. “Among other things,” he said.
    â€œSuch as?” she prompted.
    â€œHigh-tech equipment like the stuff you saw in my office. Plastic explosive charges, small arms, whatever we had. But most of what we do now is intelligence-gathering and tactics. And intelligence-gathering,” he told her dryly, “is about as exciting as two-hour-old cereal in milk.”
    She was surprised. “I thought it was like war.”
    He shrugged. “Only if you get caught gathering intelligence,” he replied on a laugh. “We were good at what we did.”
    â€œDallas was one of your guys, wasn’t he?”
    He nodded. “Dallas, Cy Parks and Callie Kirby’s stepbrother Micah Steele, among others.”
    Her mouth fell open. “Cy Parks was a mercenary?!”
    His eyebrows levered up. “You didn’t notice that he has a hard time interacting with other people?”
    â€œIt’s hard to miss. But in the condition he’s in…”
    â€œI know. That’s one reason that he isn’t in our line of work anymore. He was one of the group that helped put Lopez’s organization away a little over two years ago—so was I. It was Jess who got to the man himself. But Lopez appealed the verdict and only went to prison six months ago. As you can see, he’s out now,’ he added dryly.
    â€œTwo years ago—that was about the time Cy came to Jacobsville,” she recalled.
    â€œYes. After one of Lopez’s goons torched his house in Wyoming. The idea was to kill all three of them, not just Cy’s wife and child,” he added, seeing the horror in her eyes. “But Cy wasn’t asleep, as they’d assumed. He got out.”
    She grimaced. “But why would Lopez burn his house down?”
    â€œThat’s how he gets even with people who cross him,” he said simply. “He doesn’t take out just the person responsible, but the whole family, if he can get to it. There have been slaughters like you wouldn’t believe down in Mexico when anyone tried to stand against him. He does usually stop short of children, however; his one virtue.”
    â€œI never knew people like him existed,” she said sorrowfully.
    â€œI wish I could say the same,” he told her. “We don’t live in a perfect world. That’s why I want you to learn how to defend yourself.”
    â€œFat lot of good it would have done me the night I had the flat tire,” she pointed out. “If you hadn’t come along when you did…” She shuddered.
    â€œBut I did. Don’t look back. It’s