Bluegrass Undercover (9 page)

“
I’m sure they appreciate you coming and supporting their sons. Some of them have talked about you, you know?”

“
The parents are talking about me?” Annie stopped looking at the old cracked pavement and looked up into his eyes. They seemed browner tonight.

“
No, my kids are talking about you. They really appreciate someone taking such an interest in their extracurricular activities. They said you’ve been trying to get to know each of them. That’s real nice of you. Our last guidance counselor never sought out kids just to get to know them and to find out how they are doing in class and on the field.”

Annie left her face blank. She wasn’t expecting the kids to talk to Cade about her interrogations. She called them conferences. She had the boys come in and go over their classes, their goals and then tried to get them to talk about football as much as she could.

“
They’re great kids. I’m sorry about the loss tonight. It was a tough game.” She kept her eyes on his and tried to keep her thoughts focused.

“
Thanks. It was sloppy and some players need more work, but I saw promise.” Cade watched her closely. She was really good. She didn’t give anything away. He had known what she was doing the past couple of weeks. She was bringing in players and questioning them. The added benefit was his players thought she really was interested in them and came out with a little more confidence. She was actually a really good guidance counselor.

“
Thanks for coming to the game. It really means a lot to me.” He gave her a smile and watched as she blushed again. It was really cute when she did that. It made him want to know more about what was underneath her tough DEA cover.

“
To you?” she stuttered.

“
Yeah. You’re supporting the team and that’s really great of you.” Cade was enjoying himself. He liked making her feel as discombobulated as she had made him feel.

“
Oh! Yes, the team. Anything for the team,” she mumbled. Cade smiled. Something about this woman made him feel as if he could do anything. He looked up and saw that most of the parents had picked up their kids and headed out. The parking lot was quickly becoming empty.

“
Can I walk you back to your car?”

Before she could say no, which he knew she would, he put his hand on her back and gently pushed her forward. He stopped in front of her dark green convertible. He had to focus on keeping his hand still. He desperately wanted to run it up and down her back to feel every inch of such an intriguing woman.

“
Thank you, Cade.”

They stopped and he watched her dig around her purse for her keys. Well, it was now or never, and if he didn’t do this, Miss Lily would be mad at him and tell Miss Daisy not to feed him the next time he went to the Café.

“
I was wondering if you’d like to go out to dinner with me?” Cade could swear his heart stopped beating. Was it a good sign or bad that she wasn’t answering right away?

“
Cade! Look out!” she screamed and tried to grab him, but it was too late.

A van skidded to a halt next to him, almost running him over. The van door was open and two men with shiny shaved heads looked out. He shoved Annie hard against her shoulder. She fell backwards against her car and out of reach of the hands grabbing him from the van. In a split second, Cade had assessed the situation. These guys were idiots.

They had fumbled when they grabbed him. They had blindfolded him, but they did such a bad job that he could still see everything. They had tied his wrists, but he could easily get out of them. It was then that he decided instead of escaping, he’d see what they wanted. He looked around and took in the guy with a broken nose and a guy in the passenger’s seat with a cast on his leg. Ah, these were the same geniuses that had tried to rough him up. He had to admit, he was curious to see what they wanted.

The van was a standard utility van. There was industrial carpet on the floor. No seats except the front two. There were three men in the back of the van with him. They were all burly guys who looked like they had been using S2 themselves. So many men thought the bigger the muscles the better the fighter, but that just wasn’t true. Sure they may be able to lift more weight than he could, but being a good fighter meant that you had strength, speed and precision. These guys were so bulky they’d never be able to keep up in a fight. He had a feeling though that this wasn’t about fighting. This was about drugs, and he had was pretty sure he was about to meet one of the key players in the drug trade. Annie would be very happy with this news.

He watched the scenery change as they drove into Lexington. Horse farms with rolling bluegrass gave way to commercial shipping centers, subdivisions and shopping malls. They drove round and round, trying to confuse him. They thought he couldn’t see, and the length of the trip would make it impossible for him to tell where they were. Well, except for the fact he had just seen that they had gone past Rupp Arena and were driving downtown. They circled around Rupp and headed back towards Keeneston. They pulled into one of the strip malls closest to the small country road that led back home and parked.

He saw the neon lights of Iron Club and Spa, one of the national chain gym franchises. There was one in Keeneston too. The lights were on, but it was after ten o’clock at night and there was no one working out. They pushed and shoved at him to get him moving. He pretended to stumble and smashed the foot of one of the goons next to him.

Even if he couldn’t see, he would know it was a gym. There was a distinct smell that belonged to gyms. It was a mix of sweat, metal, rubber, and disinfectant cleaner. He was pushed through a small door camouflaged into the wall near the racquetball courts and led up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs was a small lobby and bathroom. To the right was an open door to a large office that overlooked the gym from behind the two-way mirrors that covered the walls of the gym.

“
Take it off,” a gruff voice with a slight Scottish brogue said.

Cade’s blindfold was taken off, and he pretended to blink his eyes as if adjusting to the sudden light. When he brought his eyes up, he came face to face with a thug in a suit. This must be upper management.

“
Good evening, Mr. Davies.” The man stood from behind his desk and walked around his desk and placed a hip on the edge of it.

Unlike the goons who had a hold of him, this man earned his muscles from the streets, not the gym. That was obvious from his thickness, but lack of bulging muscles like the steroid triplets behind him. His guess would be that he was imported from Edinburgh or Glasgow to run this little drug ring. It was common to import someone with a reputation, but not well known. That way they could start a lie about how many people they had killed and the horrible acts they had committed just to gain respect. It worked because there was no way to check it out.

“
By the name on your desk, I assume you are Trevor Gaylen. If there was something you needed, there is this little invention called a phone.” Cade watched the red-headed Scott crack a small smile. A flash of a gold tooth caught his eye before Trevor pushed himself off the desk and came towards Cade with his arms crossed over his barreled chest.

“
That I am, Mr. Davies. I’m glad you catch on so fast. I was afraid this would be a rather long, painful meeting if you were just another dumb academic.” Cade stood with his arms loose, even in the face of veiled threat. “It seems that you are off to a rough start with your football team this year.” Trevor stopped a couple of feet in front of him and took his measure.

“
We’ll turn it around. We’re a young, inexperienced team.”

“
I thought we could enter a partnership of sorts.”

“
What kind of partnership? You’ll let my boys use these facilities for free?” Cade watched as Trevor tossed back his head and laughed.

“
Aye, you are funny, Mr. Davies. But, no. That is not the kind of partnership I was wanting. See, I have something that will help your players grow stronger, run faster, and increase their reaction time.”

“
And what would that miracle be? Some new vitamin supplement your gym is pushing?”

“
Not exactly. It’s an injectable supplement.”

“
Injectable, huh? As in steroid based?” Trevor grinned again, but it was calculated. He was in full sales mode.

“
It’s a derivative of steroids, yes, one that doesn’t show up in any standard test. It will improve your players tenfold by mid-season. Guaranteed.”

“
And would this be called S2?”

“
So, you’ve heard about it. Well, of course you have. You specifically tested for it during training camp. Strange that you’ve heard about it, considering that it has just now been submitted to the FDA for the animal testing phase. Also it’s strange that you knew you had to test specifically for S2.” Cade watched as Trevor transformed from the buddy-buddy salesman to the cold blooded dealer that he hid underneath a nice suit.

“
I’m the kids’ coach. I hear them talk in the locker room. See what they do when they think no one is around. I see and hear everything that goes on with my team. That’s what being a good coach is all about.”

“
A good coach, yes, but not a great coach. I can make you a great coach.”

“
How?” Cade was interested in seeing how much he could learn for Annie. Would bringing her this information get her to say yes to a date? She hadn’t, after all, been able to give him an answer to his question about a date.

“
I can make you a great coach by you accepting my proposition, Mr. Davies. My very profitable proposition.”

“
I’m listening, but I can tell you now the mostly likely answer will be no.” Cade heard the steroid triplets suck in their breath. At the sight of Trevor’s eyes narrowing into cold flints of blue ice, he guessed not too many people told Trevor no, and of those, not many lived.

“
No one says no to the Gaylen and lives to tell about it. What do you want me to do about it boss?” one of the steroid triplets asked.

“
Isn’t that a little cliché?” Cade suppressed the chuckle. It was all straight out of a bad movie.

“
Nothing…for now. Let’s see what Mr. Davies says after I have pitched him my proposition.” Trevor took a step forward and jabbed him in the stomach.

Cade sucked in a breath from the punch he was not expecting. He had gotten caught up in laughing at the goons and didn’t take Gaylen seriously, a mistake he wouldn’t make again. It wasn’t the strongest punch Cade had ever taken, but it was enough to make his stomach knot. Okay, time for playing games was over.

“
Now, be a good boy and listen to what I have to say before you answer. As a teacher, you should know better than to make a judgment before hearing all the facts.” He watched as Gaylen stepped back to lean against his desk. “This is what you are going to do. You are never going to test for S2 again. You are going to strongly recommend to all your top players that they come in for a free, six month promotional pass to the Keeneston Iron Club and Spa. They will receive free personal training from retired NFL player Devon Ross as a nice perk and enticement to join. It should also give you peace of mind to know they’re being trained by one of the best.”

“
Didn’t Ross only play for one season with the Cincinnati Bengals?”

“
It’s more than you played. I believe your coaching bio states you only played high school ball,” Gaylen scoffed.

“
You got me there. Go on. What else do you want?” Cade tried not to roll his eyes. Fighting terrorism got in his way of college ball. Apparently Trevor hadn’t dug that far in his history. Not too smart on his part.

“
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 championship 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 memberships.”

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.”