Bluegrass Undercover (12 page)

Cade handed her a glass of white wine and led her outside to the brown and green cushioned patio furniture. Annie sat down on the iron scroll chair and looked out into the night. The lawn was dotted with various trees and bushes before opening up into gently rolling pastures outlined with black fences. She closed her eyes and snuggled into the soft cushion, resting her head against the back of the chair. She opened her eyes and looked up at the star-filled sky.

Annie watched as he took a seat in the chair a few feet away from her. No wonder all the teachers in the break room swooned when he came in. His shoulders were wide, his stomach flat, and the way his jeans sat on his hips forced her to think about wild nights in bed…oh no, she was getting sidetracked and she really needed to focus on the case. It didn’t matter that he was sexy as sin, nice, great with kids, and obviously secure in his sexuality. His dog did have a pink bow in his hair, after all. And it didn’t matter that he seemed to be the only person who understood and supported her theories on the case. But, those things didn’t matter. She was here to do a job, nothing else.

“
So, what are your plans now?” Cade asked, dragging Annie back to reality.

“
I want to go to the gym in Lexington. See if I can join and maybe tail Gaylen. See if I can find the drop locations and also see if I can get evidence of him dealing.” Annie was also thinking about doing the same with the personal trainer. See if she could get close to him somehow. Maybe hire him to train her.

“
No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“
What? Why not?” Did he have a better idea? She watched as he leaned forward in his chair and set his beer on the table.

“
It’s too dangerous. Larry, Moe and Curly may be amateurs, but Gaylen is a pro. May I remind you, he’s also a pro who has already threatened you, a pro who knows what you look like and may be instantly suspicious if you are suddenly around all the time. It’s just not a good plan.”

She watched as Cade ran his hand through his disheveled dirty blonde hair, his hazel eyes hidden in the shadows. Well, maybe she was wrong. Maybe he didn’t get her job. No, don’t jump to conclusions, she thought.

“
Cade, you do know it’s my job, right? I’m good at my job. I have done tons of undercover work. I can easily appear at the club and blend in as just another patron.”

“
No you can’t. I’m telling you, Gaylen is not some street thug you trick into selling some dope to you. He’ll know instantly that something is up. I won’t have you placing yourself in danger.”

Annie bolted up from her seat, “You won’t have it?”

“
That’s right. I won’t have it. It’s a stupid move and you know it.” Cade leapt to his feet and grabbed Annie’s shoulders, pulling her towards him. “I don’t want to see you in danger. What’s so hard to understand?”

Annie leaned forward even more, “Let me set the record straight. This is my job. I’m trained for this. You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do. Do you understand? Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I can’t go into danger, Mr. War Hero, and do whatever else a man can do.” Great, just when she thought he was different he goes and turns into a patronizing jerk.

“
Can you write your name in the snow?” He shot her a cocky grin and she wanted to scream.

“
Don’t demean me! I will do whatever I damn well please and that includes running head first into danger. You don’t have a say!” she yelled.

The grin fell from his face, “Then maybe I need to make myself clear,” he practically growled.

Cade wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. He felt her breasts press into his chest as and her breathing falter as he lowered his head to hers. He captured her lips with a rough kiss. He ran his tongue along her teeth until she opened to him. His tongue surged into her mouth as he tasted her. God, nothing was sweeter than his little agent.

Annie pulled her head back and looked at his eyes flashing with desire. Damn. Her head was still spinning from that kiss. He may be a patronizing jerk, but he was a patronizing jerk who could kiss. She had to pry her hands from where they were clutching his shirt. She balled her hand into a fist and planted it right into his desire-filled face.

She spun on the ball of her foot and headed towards her car, but not before hearing him laugh, “It was a good right cross, but I can do better.” Arg! She didn’t know whether to go back and show him her hook or to leap on him and explore what she had felt pressing against her stomach. But sometimes a strategic retreat was necessary to win the war.

Chapter Nine

Cade glanced at the clock. He had ten minutes until he had to get to practice. His assistant coach was warming the team up so he could finish grading the tests his freshman biology class took the other day. He heard heels clicking on the floor and looked up, hoping to see Annie, but it was just Stephanie from across the hall.

“
Hiya, Coach. Getting ready for practice?” She was a nice enough girl. Nice enough that they went on a date about six months ago but nothing came from it. She may be a chemistry teacher, but they had no chemistry. She also always dressed spectacularly for school, which made Cade feel like a slouch wearing his black athletic pants for practice and a royal blue t-shirt with KHS across the front in white.

“
Trying to.”

“
Bless your heart! That eye looks horrible.” She placed her finger on his chin and raised his face to get a better look at his black eye. “What happened to your eye? There’s a teacher’s pool on trying to guess what happened,” she giggled.

“
Well, I wouldn’t want to give you an unfair advantage. All will be revealed when enough time for speculation to run rampant has passed and when everyone has placed their bets,” he laughed.

“
Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll come back later.” Cade snapped his head from Stephanie’s grasp and right into the clearly pissed off face of the woman he couldn’t stop thinking of.

“
You’re not interrupting. I’ll let you all talk. Cade, we’ll talk more later. Have a good practice.” Annie watched as Stephanie straightened up from leaning over the desk and thrusting her cleavage into Cade’s dazed face. “Bye now!”

Cade watched as Stephanie strutted out of the room. When he turned to look at Annie, he knew he was in trouble. She stood with her arms crossed, which resulted in her breasts being presented to him. He heard her clear her throat. Uh-oh. She’d caught him staring at her chest. He just couldn’t stop digging himself deeper into the hole he was in.

“
It’s not what it looks like.” Dig. “I mean, nothing was happening.” Dig. “I mean, she doesn’t mean anything to me. She was just looking at the nice shiner you gave me.”

“
Yeah, sure. Look, I just wanted you to give me a list of the players who were the closest to the three players who were using S2. I want to call them in first for a counseling thing I’m going to do with the players on peer pressure and drug use.”

Cade glanced at the clock and saw he was already late for practice. “Can you walk with me to practice and we can talk more about it? Please.” Annie gave a quick nod of her head and headed out the door without him.

Annie was so pissed off she would swear her red hair had turned into flames. She was all ready to come forgive him when she spotted his face in the chemistry teacher’s breasts and her hands all over him. If only he had not spoken a word to her last night and kissed her, then she’d finally get laid. She didn’t even want to think about how long it had been. But she couldn’t fool herself. She wouldn’t have gone through with it. It just wasn’t her style.

They walked down the empty hallways winding toward the football field. Blue lockers lined the walls heading toward the double doors at the end of the hall. They pushed through the doors and into the hot summer heat. Humidity engulfed her and held her tight as they made their way across the parking lot to the practice field.

“
What the hell?” Annie didn’t quite know what to think of the picture in front of her. The players were in a circle, and inside the circle were two people dressed in large padded sumo wrestler outfits.

“
The guys were really down after our last loss so we thought it would be a good idea to have a fun practice. We’re still teaching tackling and blocking, just as sumo wrestlers.” Cade grinned and watched his assistant coach belly bounce Ryan Hall across the circle.

“
Who is that?” Annie asked, pointing to the giant bouncing kids around with his sumo belly.

“
That’s Coach Parks. He’s the offensive coordinator.” They stood and watched as Trey Everett tried to block the belly but got flattened. Coach Parks held up his hands in victory. Austin Colby nodded to the group, and on a yell the whole team leapt onto Coach Parks. Parks fell dramatically to the ground with the kids as he tried to throw them off of him.

“
Okay then. You might need to rescue him. I’ll write down the names of the kids you recommended I start with and call my boss. I will let him know about the deadline you have tonight with Gaylen and see what he wants you to do and also run my plan by him. I’ll give you a call later to let you know what to do,”

“
Okay. Look, Annie, we need to talk. About last night.”

“
You got practice, Coach. We can talk later.” She cut him off and turned back to the building. She didn’t want to hear that last night was a mistake, and she’d bet her job that what he was going to say.

* * *

Annie closed the door to her office and took a few minutes to stand in front of the desk fan she had bought to cool off. Her office was small and windowless. Her gray metal desk was covered with papers and student files. She had no pictures on the walls, only generic college and university posters that were sent to her in the mail. She had no plants, not even fake ones, and no personal items except for a pair of sneakers in case she needed to run after a kid someday.

She sat down on her cheap desk chair and picked up the phone to call Special Agent Romero. As she was patched through, she picked up the files of the students Cade had told her about. First up was the quarterback, Austin Colby. He was best friends with Bonner and the most likely to give her information.

“
Romero,” she heard her boss snap as he picked up.

“
It’s Blake.”

“
What do you have for me?”

“
Last night the head football coach was snatched from the parking lot by a team of idiots.” A little laugh escaped as she remembered Cade retelling the story.

“
You’re laughing? Is he hurt?”

“
No, far from it. He went along with it to get us information.”

“
He knows about the investigation? How in the hell does he know about an undercover investigation?”

“
Ah. About that. You have your database up?”

“
Yes. But I don’t see how that has anything to do with how a high school football coach could discover our investigation. Are you sure he isn’t the boss?”

“
Yes. I have searched his desk at school and his whole house. Type in the name Cade Davies. You have a higher clearance level than I do. Maybe you can learn more than I could.” She heard Romero type in the name and waited while he was silent.

“
Jesus Christ. A Distinguished Service Cross? Is he for real?”

“
Sure is. He also hacked the DEA database and discovered my identity and more within the first week I was here.”

“
Then I guess I don’t need to be worried about him being involved. He’ll make one hell of a witness if it ever goes to trial. So, what did he find out?”

“
He was taken to see Trevor Gaylen at the Lexington Iron Club and Spa. He thinks Trevor is hired upper management from Scotland. Trevor gave him a choice. No more S2 testing, turn a blind eye to any locker room dealing, and get his top players into the Keeneston Iron Club and Spa for personal training with Devon Ross. If he chooses to do this, he gets a championship team. If not, then his dog and the women in his life, including his mother and sister, are killed.”

“
Okay. What else is there?” Romero asked.

“
I have a plan. Cade gave me a list of kids who were close to the guys that tested positive for S2. I want to call them in for counseling on handling the pressure of sports and classes and bring in drugs and peer pressure.”

“
Tell Coach to accept the deal this Gaylen guy is offering. Tell him to pretend to turn a blind eye but document everything. I want intel that will lead us to the boss. Also, have him keep an eye out, and if anything gets too serious, and it looks like the kids are in danger, we’ll put a stop to it. We don’t want anything to happen to these kids. I want you all to watch, listen, learn. Talk to the kids, but don’t talk to them about S2 specifically. Get to be their friend or at least not the teacher everyone hates. I want to learn the major players in the drug trade. I want to know the dealers, the supplier, middle management, upper management, and the boss. I want all that information and all that evidence before we take down the ring. Because when we take it down, I want everyone in jail. I don’t want anyone left to try to take over the business and continue to endanger these kids.”