Curveball (35 page)

Junior looked around the hallway, squinting through the downpour. “Back to the storage
room, quick!”

They filed through the double doors. The storage room was soaked, too. Junior grabbed
the Louisville slugger off the floor from the earlier struggle and jammed it through
the double-door handles. He wiped the water off his face but more rained down from
the overhead sprinklers.

“Paige, is there any other way out of this place besides the field door and the gym
door?”

She shook her head, her wet hair clinging to her cheeks. “I don’t ... I don’t know.
This is the first time I’ve ever been here, I swear.”

Cat cradled her bloody elbow and glared at her. “How did you even know about this
place?”

She hesitated. “Chance told me about the cigars, or at least what I
thought
was cigars, the day we cleared everything up with the agency. He said it was just
an easy way to make money when he didn’t have any good clients and that it was harmless.”

“Except for the unsuspecting kid who thinks he’s actually got a shot at a spot on
a team. Paige, how could you—”

“Cat.” Junior shook his head. “Not now.”

She crossed her arms. The sprinklers kept washing the blood from her elbow onto the
sagging orange dress. Junior came over and joined her.

Paige paced from wall to wall of the tiny room, her phone still beeping periodically
to remind them of their situation. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

The sprinklers shut off and all three of their heads looked up to the ceiling.

A solid thud from the hallway puckered the middle crease between the two doors and
they began to rattle.

Paige shrieked and ran over to the two of them. “He’s back.”

Another thump cracked against the door.

In vain Cat cast about the windowless room in search of escape. One last bang echoed
from the doors and with it, the bat cracked into flying shards.

The doors whooshed open.

Junior threw his body atop hers, shielding her view. She cringed, awaiting a threatening
shout or a spray of bullets.

“Police!”

Cat’s body relaxed, as did Junior’s. She peeked her head out from under his heavy
torso. He craned his neck around.

Three officers busted into the room, guns pointed. After a quick survey of the room,
they holstered their guns. Boots pounded against the hallway floor as more officers
passed their door.

Cat crawled out from underneath Junior. “Chance ... he’s ... There’s a guy out there
and he’s got a gun.”

One of the female officers leaned her head over to her shoulder, pressing her ear
against the murmuring radio. She shook her head at her partners. “Suspect has been
apprehended.”

Cat pointed behind the officers at the white bricks spilling out of the equipment
bags. “Those are his drugs.”

The officers’ eyes widened at the stash.

Paige charged the male officer and threw her arms around him. He smiled and slipped
out of her clutches. “You’re all right now, miss.”

Her cell phone beeped again.

Cat shot her an annoyed glare. “Paige, shut that thing off. It almost got us killed.”

The female officer cleared her throat and pressed a button on her radio. “Dispatch,
this is Unit Seven. You can clear out that emergency response signal, witnesses have
been found and secured.” She raised a judgmental brow at Cat. “Actually, we were able
to locate you three in half the time. Pretty smart smartphone—might’ve saved your
lives.”

Paige whirled around to Cat with her hands on her hips. Her triumphant grin said it
all.

Cat sat on the trunk of the Miami Police car with a wool blanket wrapped around her
wet body. The sun hid behind the late afternoon clouds. Junior stood with Paige on
the other side of the parking lot, giving a statement to two officers. He nodded at
them both and left Paige behind to stroll over. Despite his exhaustion—puffy bags
had begun to form beneath each heavy-lidded eye—he still managed to look handsome.

“How’s your elbow?”

She pulled her arm out from under the blanket and showed him the bandage. “Paramedic
said it’s only minor cuts. Apparently the glass is designed to break easily.” She
frowned. “Still hurts. Who puts glass on a fire alarm?”

“I guess to prevent kids from pulling it willy-nilly.”

“So I have to have a bloody elbow on the off chance that a Dennis the Menace will
happen by?”

He shrugged. “Looks like. Either that, or carry a tire iron with you at all times.”

She smiled at him. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you. That was pretty gallant, shielding
me from the carnage and all.”

He smiled sheepishly. “I guess I lose a few chivalry points since it turns out I was
protecting you from the police.”

“Still, thanks. I owe you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“I’ll take you up on that ... owing me.”

She blushed. “Junior ... I’m flattered, really, and if things were different ... well,
things would be different. But I told you I have a boyfriend.”

“Yeah.” Junior looked sheepish. “I got the memo. Actually, I was talking about Paige.”

“Oh.” Cat swallowed her embarrassment and her piercing eyes met his. “What about her?”

“You can repay me by not ratting her out.”

“You want me to lie to the police?”

“Not
lie
, omit.”

Cat gaped at him. Anger swelled inside of her, warming her up enough to shake the
blanket off of her shoulders. “You’ve got to be kidding me. After all this, you want
me to lie for her?”

“Just leave her part out of it. It’s not like you knew anything about it anyway.”

“Why? Junior, she willingly screwed over these young kids.”

“Shh! Keep your voice down.”

He checked the officers swarming the scene. They weren’t paying any attention to the
two of them on the trunk. He lowered his voice. “Chance never even approached any
of the boys whose names she gave him.”

Cat whispered despite her anger. “Okay, fine. She tried to screw over these young
kids. Young impoverished kids with only a dream. Kids like your dad was once. She
was moving coke, how can you defend that?”

Junior shrugged. “She didn’t know what Chance was really up to.”

“Right. She thought the boys were being used as tobacco mules instead of cocaine mules.
She’s a saint.”

“That’s not fair; she was being used, too.”

“Ha!”

A policeman came over and interrupted. “Ms. McDaniel, if you don’t mind, we’d like
to get your statement now.”

Junior gave her one last plea with his big brown eyes. She broke it off with a cool
blink and followed the policeman.

Cat pounded on the bathroom door so hard her knuckles turned red. “We’re gonna be
late!”

The door swung open.

“No, we aren’t.” Paige stepped out, fully dressed in a skintight silver Herve Leger
bandage dress with a V-neck that plunged nearly to her belly button and the only accessory
she ever needed—a big smile painted with her signature shade, Scarlet Surprise.

“Where did you get that?”

“It’s new.”

“You went shopping? Paige, I didn’t rat you out on the condition that you spend every
last waking minute of your internship trying to understand why these kids shouldn’t
be taken advantage of.” She sighed and gestured toward her outfit. “And stupid me,
I thought maybe you were actually beginning to get it.”

“I had to have something special.” The grin hadn’t left her face. “We’re not playing
in the dirt today.”

“Paige—”

“McDee … just trust me.” She grabbed the keys off the hotel table. “I’ll drive.”

Paige took all the same roads to the village thirty minutes outside of Santo Domingo
where they’d gone every day for the last two weeks. They’d brought local children
used gloves and old baseballs and played pickup games with them. The convertible rolled
to a stop at their final turn.

Paige turned to her. “Okay, close your eyes.”

Cat tilted her head. She was trying so hard not to let Paige’s contagious smile soften
her suspicions.

“Just do it.”

“Fine.” She snapped her eyes shut.

“Put your hands over them.”

Cat followed her orders and felt the convertible lurch forward and take the turn.
She heard a lot of commotion over the loose gravel as the car stopped. Laughter and
excited shouts welcomed the vehicle.

It wasn’t too surprising, given as how the kids had treated the duo like they were
Papá Noel for bringing the sports equipment. These were kids who used palm leaves
as bases, rocks as balls, milk cartons as gloves and sticks as bats. Some didn’t even
have shoes and shirts, let alone baseball cleats and jerseys.

Paige giggled with them. “Keep them closed, Cat.”

Cat heard a door slam and the shuffling of stilettos hurrying around the gravel. Her
door opened and Paige grabbed a hand off her eye.

“Okay, keep your eyes shut but step out.”

Cat gingerly stepped out of the car. “This better not be a trick.”

“Trust me.” Paige’s skinny hand wrapped around hers.

“What’s all that noise?” The normally serene dirt lot sounded like a demolition derby.

Paige walked her forward and stopped after a few steps. “Okay. Open ’em.”

Cat opened her eyes and saw chaos. A sod truck was pulled onto the vacant lot. Behind
him, a couple of construction guys worked on a dugout. A fencing company unrolled
a chain link around the ballpark. Directly beside them, a makeshift sign read
¡Próximamente! El Parque de Béisbol Aiken.

“What?”

“It says ‘Coming Soon: The Aiken Baseball Park.’ ”

Cat raised her eyebrows. “I know what it says. What does it mean by Aiken?”

Paige beamed and clapped her hands together. “I bought this.”

“The land?”

“The land. We’re going to put a field for the kids in here and batting cages over
here. Dad’s going to help me start a donation program in Buffalo so we can ship old
mitts and bats down. And over here,” she took a few steps and pointed, “we’re going
to put a classroom building. Junior’s going to round up some of his baseball contacts
to come and volunteer. They can speak to the kids about the industry and how to stay
safe from scams and drugs and all sorts of nasties they might not know about.” She
bounced on her heels. “Isn’t it great?”

Cat’s mouth dropped. “It is.”

Eager kids sat a safe distance away from the construction.

She pulled her jaw up and smiled. “It really is.”

Paige pressed her lips together thoughtfully. “You know, when I first saw you I thought
you were just this like weird, nervous, twitchy, freak show who only liked baseball
because you didn’t know anything about normal stuff like friends or shoes.”

Cat stared blankly at Paige’s innocent smile. “Um … thanks?”

“No, no. I just mean I didn’t get it. But I think I do now.”

Cat smiled, taking what compliment she could out of that.

“So are you going to go back to Fillmore and straighten up?”

“No.”

“No?”

A dropout. This should be fun to explain to Roger Aiken
.

“I’m going to stay here. Joe says he could use an assistant full-time and it’ll also
help me get the ballpark off and running. What do you think?”

Cat considered for just a second before giving her a hug. “I think I’m proud of you.”

She beamed. “There’s more.”

“How could there possibly be more?”

Paige looked around the ballpark. “He’s supposed to be here somewhere.” Her eyes lit
up when she looked across the ballpark. She waved her arms in the air.

Cat started to turn around and Paige grabbed her shoulders. “No, no. I want this to
be a surprise too.”

She played along and faced Paige’s anticipating smile.

Paige giggled. “Okay, okay. He’s coming.”

He?

For a moment, her heart leapt in her throat as she pictured turning around to see
Benji standing in the soon-to-be baseball field. She could almost picture his dimples
now.

“Okay, okay, here he comes. Close your eyes.”

Shoes scuffled around her.

“You ready?”

“I’m ready.”

Open them.

Cat flipped her eyes open. Her heart sank when she realized the young man standing
as her surprise wasn’t Benji after all.

“Oh.” Recognition hit. “Oh!”

She looked back and forth from his smile to Paige’s.

“Cristian! You’re okay?” She put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently to verify
his legitimacy.

He nodded. “I am now.” His smile faded. “I am sorry I never met you at the Cathedral.”

“I thought you ... I was so worried. What happened?”

“After I got home that night, my grandmother saw my wounds and feared for my safety.
She sent me to live here with my
tio’s
family.”

Paige butted in, “And I found him, how cool is that?”

“Very cool.” Cat’s ego took a hit. She turned to her. “How did you?”

Paige winked. “Magician’s secret.”

“Paige told me what you did to Chance and I had to say thank you.”

Cristian’s smile was just as contagious. Cat grinned.

Paige bounced again. “There’s more. Cristian’s going to come work here as a coach
for the kids.”

Cat widened her eyes at Cristian. “This is true?”

He smiled and nodded.

She turned to Paige. “What other surprises do you have up your sleeve?”

She shrugged happily. “That’s it for now.”

“Pretty good for a day’s work. I’m glad you’re using your powers for good now.”

She bopped on her toes. “I never knew what I wanted to do with my future but I’m thinking
baseball is my calling.”

“I highly recommend it.”

“Just think, maybe in a few years, we could be working together again, like, coworking
besties!”

Cat hid a smile. “I won’t be able to stop thinking about that.”