Part 5 (2/2)
”Oh Coach, it's not what I want. It's what I can give you. I can give you the best team in the state. All I need from you is for you to coach the team.”
”That's it?” Cade asked skeptically.
”That's it. You recommend the players come to the gym, you stay out of the locker room after practice, and you stop the special drug testing for S2.”
”You're asking me to break the law. To supply my kids with an illegal substance.”
”Not at all! S2 is only temporarily illegal. Soon enough it will be legal when we have a chance to present it to the FDA. And, I am not asking you to supply it. Simply turn a blind eye to it and in return you get a champions.h.i.+p team.”
”What about the state required drug tests?”
”Do them. By all means do everything the athletic board requires of you. Just what they require you to do. No more special testing, which, by the way, the board does not require you to do.”
”And in return I get a share of any profits from the sale of your supplement or maybe from gym members.h.i.+ps.”
Gaylen tossed his head back and laughed. ”Aye, you are a funny one. But alas, no, Mr. Davies. It's much more simple. In exchange, I let that cute little girlfriend of yours live. I always did have a thing for red heads.”
”N...” Cade started to say.
”And if you say no, I will take everything and everyone that you cherish from you, one by one, starting with that hairy mutt of a dog and ending with your mother, or maybe that hot little sister of yours.”
Gaylen's tone had turned deadly. Cade recognized it for what it was. The truth. He would try. He may not succeed, but he believed he would, and sometimes those who overvalue their strengths are the most dangerous because they simply do not understand that they cannot win, so they keep trying. He needed to buy time to see how this would play out.
”Can I think about it?”
Gaylen relaxed and gave his salesman smile. ”Of course you can. I'll give you until Monday morning. Good evening Mr. Davies.”
With a flick of Gaylen's wrist to indicate the meeting was over, the steroid triplets grabbed him and pinned his arms back. The remaining man tied the blindfold over his eyes, poorly, again. He contained his sigh at these amateurs only because he knew Gaylen was trying to be intimidating. He didn't want to fracture his ego. He was a gentleman after all, and he needed to get back to Keeneston as soon as possible so he could find Annie. He had played enough games with her these last weeks, little innuendos and taunts trying to get her fl.u.s.tered and wondering if he really knew who she was. Well, the time for playing was over. He needed her help to protect his team.
Chapter Seven.
Annie couldn't believe it. The b.u.mbling idiots had gotten Cade into the van although he didn't put up much of a fight. Maybe his military record was forged? He always seemed to need saving. She had tried to follow them, but her d.a.m.n keys had been eaten by her purse. She had to toss the whole thing on the hood of the car to find them. By that time the van was gone and she stood alone in the large parking lot.
She'd tossed all her junk back in her purse and headed home. She drove through the church parking lot which was sprinkled with cars for some sort of Bible study or singles dance, or whatever they were scheduled for tonight. There may not be many people in Keeneston, and there may not be that much of a night life, but St. Francis could throw some kicking parties.
Annie parked next to the small wood cottage house and leapt up the stairs to her front door. Unlocking the door she ran to where her computer still sat on the kitchen table the only place she could fit it and booted it up. She may not know where Cade was now, but she could find out where he would be when it was over.
She typed in his name and found his address. She entered it into the mapping system and stared at a dot in the middle of a field. The system said it couldn't find the location. Flipping open her phone she dialed the only number she had bothered to learn since moving to Keeneston.
”Blossom Cafe. What can I do for ya'?”
”Is this Miss Daisy or Miss Violet?”
”This is Miss Violet, dear. What can I do for you, hon?”
”This is Annie Hill. I need to know how to get out to Cade's house.”
”Oh, bless your heart, I won! I won! I never win! Daisy Mae I won!”
Annie had to hold the phone away from her ear as Miss Violet shouted out into the Cafe.
”What do you mean you won? Who is it Violet Fae?” she heard Miss Daisy shout.
”It's Annie. She wants to know how to get to out to Cade's house! I won the pool! Today was my day!” There was a chorus of groans as the patrons of the Cafe checked their dates in the pool and even through the phone Annie bet they could see her red face. ”Thank you, dear. It was about time the two of you got together. You've been circling each other ever since you got to town.”
”I got twenty on a June wedding!” someone shouted.
”What?!” Annie shouted into the phone. ”Miss Daisy, what was that?” Annie's stomach had flipped at hearing the word wedding. Talk about a commitment-phobe. With her history who wouldn't be?
”Oh nothing, dear. Now, you want to know how to get to Cade's. Easy. Turn right out of your house onto Main Street and keep going for about five miles. You'll see his parents' stone gate entranceway on the right. Go a half mile further and turn left into Fire Gate Nineteen there. Then make a right on the first dirt road you come to and take that for about a mile. It'll stop at his house.”
”Seriously, there are still dirt roads? And what's a fire gate?”
”You'll see it. There's a break in the fence line, like a driveway, and there's a white wood marker that has the number 19 in red on it. That's the fire gate. Of course there are still dirt roads, honey. His house is almost a mile from the road. You know much that would cost to pave? Now, would you say you like the month of July or September better?”
”Neither. I'm partial to January.”
”Isn't that a little soon? Oh well, why waste time is what I say. Have fun tonight!”
Annie closed her phone and stared at it for a full minute. She could just see Miss Violet putting twenty bucks on a January wedding that was never going to happen. Not that a wedding to Cade would be bad, but those were just fantasies. First she needed to make sure he was still alive.
Annie missed the fire gate twice and the dirt road once. A mailbox or a light would be helpful. She turned onto the dirt road and turned on her high beams. She drove through pastures and saw more cows than she ever had before in her life. Soon she came upon some trees and followed the dirt path through the woods.
She rounded the corner, slammed on her brakes, and sent dirt flying as she stopped before hitting a family of deer. Letting out the breath she realized she was holding, she started heading down the dirt road again. She drove around a bend and came out in an opening. A white farmhouse stood there. It was beautiful. She could tell from the architecture that it was very old, but also from the fresh paint job and what looked like a new deck, that Cade had just finished some renovations.
The house was lovely, a two-story, wood farmhouse with a large front porch that had soft-looking chairs sitting out and speakers wired for music. She pulled up to the front steps and turned off her car. The house was dark, and Cade's SUV was nowhere in sight. A tingle of worry crawled down her spine, but if half of what she read in his military file was true, then he could easily handle himself. She had to admit, she was pretty curious to find out what that joke of a kidnapping was about.
She climbed up the stairs and looked at the comfortable porch chairs, but then she looked toward the house. She wondered what it was like inside. She also knew that to do her job, and do it well, she needed proof that Cade was not supplying his team with S2 or anything illegal. Evidence like that coming to light during a trial would break any case she would make against any of the dealers. Sometimes in her job she had to do things she didn't like.
Well, if she were honest, a little B and E never hurt anyone. And think how much she could learn about Cade. She took out her pick case, but when she reached for the door, she discovered it unlocked. The k.n.o.b turned easily in her hand, and she felt her heart speed up at the thought of walking around Cade's house alone.
She pushed at the door and nothing happened. Huh? It was unlocked. The door was open just a sliver. Why wasn't it opening all the way? She pushed again, but it didn't budge. Was something barricading the door? She took her pick and ran it through the sliver of open door. No, nothing was barricading the door. She took a step closer to the door and bent her knees. She put her shoulder to the door and pushed.
She heard someone grunt and the door flew open. It opened so fast she fell forward onto the old hardwood floor. It was her time to groan. The jeans had prevented her knees from being sc.r.a.ped up, but she had landed hard on her hands. She lay there for a second, regaining her breath, when she felt that she was not alone. She slowly raised her head and came face to face with him.
Annie stared, he stared, and neither of them moved. He had big brown eyes that seemed to look right into her soul. With his lopsided grin, he looked like he was laughing. Even his soulful eyes twinkled with some untold joke.
”Hi there. I wasn't expecting anyone at home,” she said in a calm voice so as not to upset him.
Slurp! A big pink tongue lapped her across the face. She looked at the happy face in front of her and at his tongue hanging out, his white hairy jowls, and his big, black tail as it thumped against the ground, and smiled. Cade's dog looked like he had just stepped out of a Disney movie.
”What a guard dog you are. You sure know how to keep people out and then how to make them feel welcome once they can push past you.” Justin's tail thumped again as he c.o.c.ked his head to one side.
”Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a look around. Do you want to show me where things are?” Justin stood and walked beside her. His big, black nose kept nudging her hand every time she stopped rubbing his head.