Accountability

Leo Priest served fifteen years imprisonment for a crime that he did not commit. It wasn't the first time that he heard an inmate claiming innocence. You serve long enough and you discover everyone inside is innocent. Including Butcher Morgan, a brute of man who had been recorded on video murdering three of his drinking partners after an argument at a local pub. Behind the tall walls and iron bars the notion of innocence is considered by inmates as something of a joke. Something that had nothing to do with reality. Not that he had been given much of an opportunity to discuss his predicament with many others. Not initially anyway. Powerful people dictated the terms of his incarceration and treatment. A solitary cell the only contact time between him and other inmates limited to the exercise yard and mealtimes
As a former British army soldier with a specialized skill set relating to survival, he had dealt with initial physical threats encountered in the exercise yard swiftly and memorably. Over time within the prison community he quickly found himself respected by all those around him including the prison staff.
However, after fifteen years his self-confidence began to slip as he acknowledged time had taken its toll. Mothballed in a confined environment did nothing to placate his fears that he had lost his edge. It wasn’t that he did not exercise as much as possible or continue to train his martial arts technique. Yet, nothing he did could overcome his aging. Upon his release aged forty-five he was well aware the army categorized him as over the hill. The edge he had owned during his twenties and thirties dulled.
Stepping out of prison into the fresh air prompted a dilemma with just two choices. Hunt down the real killer or move to another country and put the past behind him.