No Pit So Deep: The Cody Musket Story (10 page)

“Do you like baseball?”

She wrinkled her nose, eyes wide. “What? Do I like baseball?”

“It’s not a trick question, Brandi.”

She giggled and kicked her feet playfully. “Of course I like baseball.”

“Good answer. So come to the game tomorrow. I can get you and your parents seats behind the Astros dugout.”

“Do you know what
I’m
thinking?” Brandi asked, displaying the same grace with which she had charmed the
men in black
at CoGo’s.

“This ought to be good. Who can possibly know what a woman’s thinking?”

She reached up with both hands and grabbed the scrubby beard on the sides of his face. “I was thinking that…that I went to see the Superman movie and walked out with a new friend — a real man of steel.”

“Hmm.” He reasoned. “Good friends do kiss sometimes, right?”

She licked her lips, threw her arms around his neck, pulled herself toward him, and closed her eyes. At that moment, a loud bell startled them. They looked toward the kitchen counter where she had finally plugged in her phone.

She paddled the air with her feet again. “Cody, put me down. I need to get that. My parents must be downstairs.”

He set her down. She scrambled to the kitchen. “Hi, Daddy! Are you downstairs? Come on up.” She ended the call and tossed her phone onto the bed.

“You probably want some time alone with your parents after what’s happened,” Cody suggested. “Mind if I wait ‘til morning to meet ‘em? It’s been a long day.”

After he had left her, Brandi did a free fall backward onto the bed and gazed straight up at the ceiling fan — turning, turning, and turning. Was she dreaming? Three hours ago, there were no good men left in the world.

But could anyone know his thoughts? He was emotional and unpredictable — cold and stoic at one moment, tender and compassionate the next. She had read that some plants take a thousand years to bloom. Others take less than a day. Can love bloom in three hours?

His smell lingered. His lips still pressed against hers. Is it true that falling in love simply means having your heart break in a good way? The Astros would leave town in two days. She would miss him. Would she have been better off had they never met?

She opened her laptop, determined to learn everything she could about Cody Musket.

Ray and Whitney Barnes arrived a few moments after Cody had left the room. “Hey, who’s the security guy outside the door?” Ray wanted to know. “He asked for our IDs before he’d let us in.”

“The Astros team arranged it. Cody insists on keeping me safe.” Brandi’s calm smile took Ray and Whitney by surprise — not what they had expected after their only daughter had been treated so brutally.

Whitney jumped right in. “So where is he, this Musket guy?
Musket
sounds like a violent name to me. Some sort of gun, isn’t it?” No one could say whether she liked to fake ignorance or sarcasm more. In any case, it never fooled anyone.

“Oh, Mama, don’t be ridiculous. He stayed here with me until Daddy called. I asked him to be here. Didn’t want to be alone. He’s coming back tomorrow.”

Ray put his stout arms around his daughter. His eyes were red and glassy. “If I had only been there at the mall. The first thing I’m gonna do is shake this guy’s hand.”

“I think he wants to shake your hand too. You know, Daddy, he —”

“Second thing I’m gonna do is find out what his intentions are.”

Whitney with raised eyebrows, “You gonna interrogate him, Papa?” She was holding Knoxi, Brandi’s twenty-month-old daughter.

“
Interrogate?
Well, I just want to find out —”

“Find out what, Daddy?”

“Oh, baby, don’t let your father upset you. He’s just protective. You know how these military guys are.” Whitney gave her husband a token peck on the cheek. “The two of ‘em will work it out between them.”

Brandi took her toddler into the other room to put her in the bed and then returned. “I am so thankful Knoxi wasn’t here for the last couple of days, especially tonight.”

“I warned you about the serious nature of death threats,” Ray asserted. “That’s why I wanted you to come stay with us.”

“So what’s this guy like when he isn’t beatin’ up people?” Whitney crossed her arms. “Musket? Is that his real name? Seems like he could have come up with a gun name more modern, like Colt or Clock.”

“
Clock?
Ha-ha!
Mama, it’s
Glock
with a
G
. Beside that, baseball players don’t have stage names.”

Ray snickered. “I’ve never figured how your mother’s brain is wired.”

Whitney knew how to push Ray’s buttons. She loved to play the fool when it came to subjects she considered part of a man’s world — guns and military protocol high on her list. She had learned to be the heroic comic after he had returned from the Gulf with his Purple Heart, depressed and aimless. He had needed the laughter.

Her act had grown old through the years, but they still played the game, and it sometimes amazed Ray how original and creative she could be with her ignorance.

Brandi shrugged it off. She was too hyped. “Do you wanna see who Cody Musket is? Take a look.”

She sat at the breakfast table, opened her laptop, and showed them stories with embedded videos of Cody entertaining children before ballgames. He gave away Cody Musket T-shirts to kids in parking lots and handed out Cody Musket model baseball gloves at children’s shelters. He performed several corny magic acts — the kind that only small kids would appreciate.

“Daddy, Cody told me about being held by Taliban warriors — something about children involved. He was not able to finish the story because he lost his composure.”

After a moment to consider, Ray spoke pointedly. “The Taliban abducts hundreds of children. Turns ‘em into killers and even sex slaves.” He sat down on the end of the sofa.

Brandi moved over and sat on the edge of the bed facing him. “He said something about children at the prison where they took him, but there are no reports of such a thing.”

“Baby girl, there are a lot of things in war that never get reported.”

“I wonder if that’s why he does so much for kids. He wouldn’t elaborate ‘cause it was too painful for him.”

“You know something, baby girl? He may
never
be ready to talk about it.”

“I just met him, but I think — I mean is it possible to love someone after just a few hours? What am I going to do when he leaves town in two days? I know I’m rushing things, but you know how I am.”

“How does he feel about you after just a few hours?”

“He didn’t say much, but he kissed me.”

Whitney leaned back against the kitchenette bar. “Yeah, baby, guys are good at that sort of thing — lots o’ kissin’ and not much talking.”

“Well, he complimented me at the mall.”

Mom and Dad waited.

“No man ever told me my face was softer than a steer’s butt before.” She giggled.

Ray gasped.

“That’s right. And he also said I was smarter than a bullwhip.”

Whitney stood up straight and placed hands on hips. “We came down here expecting you to be a basket case, and all you can talk about is a man who said your face looked like a steer’s butt and compared you to a bullwhip?” She glanced at Ray.

“Oh, Mama!” She jumped up, shuffled her feet over to the sofa, and plopped down next to her father. “That’s not exactly the way it was.”

“Get serious!” Whitney said. “Look, sweetie, if there are things he can’t talk about, that means he has issues.”

“I know, Mama. But he seems like a normal guy overall. I mean he never refuses to sign autographs for kids. Like tonight, I even got him to sign Rickey Casper’s autograph for a bunch of people at CoGo’s.”

“You did what?” Ray flattened his large palm against his forehead.

“No. I mean it’s okay.” She put her hand on her father’s knee. “He signed Rickey’s picture on the cover of
Sporting News
and — Wait, let me back up. See, we got chased by these men in black who had this big black car, and —”

Her parents’ eyes were as large as the saucers on the coffee bar, so Brandi retreated back to the bed again, sat on the edge, and offered a different approach.

“And he’s so resourceful,” she stepped it up. “He thought someone was spying on us in the Marriott parking garage, so he dressed up in some of my clothes and got my gun out of the glove compartment and —”

“Baby,
pleeese
tell us he’s not the guy we heard about who was wearin’ the red boots in the lobby.”

“No, no. Of course not, Mama.”

Ray leaned back on the couch and buried his head in the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“Um, actually . . . they were
pink
.” Brandi winced.

Ray slapped his knee and raised a smile, which did not escape Whitney’s eye. “Pink boots!” She frowned. “I thought you’d be all over this. You act like this is funny. This is your daughter!”

“Oh, Mama. I mean it wasn’t like that.”

Brandi finally settled down and explained everything.

“Did you get a plate number for the SUV?”

“No, Daddy, there was no plate on the front, and we never saw the back of the vehicle. I couldn’t reach Detective Dupree. I’ll try again in the morning.” She got up and walked back to the table and stared at Cody’s picture on her screen. “I believe Cody cares for me. I just don’t know how much.”

Ray responded, “Well, I knew a lot o’ Marines who’d say anything to get a woman to —”

She turned. “But you weren’t one of them, Daddy. Isn’t that true?” She retreated to the bed and sat on the edge, focused on his face.

“Of course. I wasn’t like that. I loved your mother too much.”

“Well, there you go.” She threw up her arms, fell backward, and laid her head in the center of the bed, her legs dangling off the side.

Whitney sat next to her. “I’ve heard of ballplayers who have a girlfriend in every city.”

“Oh, Mama.” Brandi raised back up, sending sharp pains through her rib cage.

Whitney wasn’t finished. “Hopefully, he isn’t just lookin’ for a quick conquest, and then you never see him again.” She folded her arms. “I can see you are in pain, baby. And look at those red places on your legs. Your feet look like they got caught in a…” She couldn’t locate the words.

“He let me doctor his feet with Blue Tech.” A tender smile softened Brandi’s tone. “He has bad scar tissue and didn’t want to let me see it at first. He was so humble about it.”

“Ahhh, I see,” Ray said. “And you just sweet-talked him into it of course?”

Whitney cut in. “Yep! Your daughter could always talk a wall mouse right into a trap.”

“He pretends he isn’t smart. I think it’s an act. I wouldn’t be surprised if he left my pink boots on just to hear me laugh. We saw Tommy Lee Jones in the lobby.” She shrugged. “He recognized Cody, but Cody pretended not to know who he was. You’d think the two of them planned the whole thing.”

“Tommy Lee Jones is here to address a film executive group,” Ray said. “I see it right here in the
Gazette
. He’s from Texas too you know.”

“I never had such a bad day that turned out so good. I haven’t had so much fun since, well, maybe ever.” She laughed so hard it was contagious, as if there were no men in black to worry about or hit men lurking in her future.

On Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. Brandi answered her phone. Cody was on his way.

“I awoke with a whiplash to go with the cuts and bruises,” she told him. “I have to warn you, I’m sore all over.”

“Roger that. I figured. You still want me to come up there?”

“Sure, but you sound tired.”             

“Just need some battery acid and I’m good to go.”

“Daddy brewed some already.”

“I heard you mention Tanner McNair last night.”

“That’s right. He was supposed to interview on my show tomorrow night but he’s leaving for Detroit after the game.”

“Yeah. I called him and gave him a hard time about that. He’s my best friend in baseball. We cooked up a way to get him back on your show.”

“You know him?”

“He and Julia want to take us to lunch today. They’ll meet us downstairs. Your mom and dad are invited.”

“What about security?”

“Got it covered.”

Brandi lowered her voice. “I tried to call Dupree this morning but still couldn’t reach him. I left voicemail again.”

“I’ve thought about those guys in the SUV,” Cody said. “They were about two biscuits shy of a picnic. I mean things don’t add up.”

“I know,” she said, with a heavy breath into the phone. “Do you think they’ve figured us out by now? Cody, how much danger are we in?”

“We’ve arranged a constant security detail, and, for your safety you should…I mean, we should — never mind. I’ll tell you later. This is gonna be a great day. I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

Moments later, Brandi heard a knock and opened the door. Cody walked in wearing an Astros pullover game shirt with elbow-length sleeves, khaki cargos, and orange-and-blue tennis shoes.

Brandi had on a white pullover top with the words “I Love Pink Chocolate” written across the front. Gray cutoff jeans, white tennis shoes, and white knee socks covered most of her bruises. Her left elbow and right forearm carried lacerations.

“Here, take this, compliments of the Astros.” He handed her a bag with Astros jerseys and hats for Brandi, her parents and Knoxi. “I had to guess at your daughter’s size, but it should fit.”

“Mama and Daddy will be pleased, even though my dad’s a big-time Pirates fan.”

“That’s a nasty neck bruise. Are you gonna wear those tennis shoes? Don’t you think —”

“I treated my feet again this morning with the Blue Tech. These tall socks should hide all the ugly places. Don’t want to draw attention. By the way, last night, you must have thought I was — I mean, I hope you don’t think that…”

Just then, her parents walked into the room.

“Oh, Cody. These are my parents, Ray and Whitney Barnes.” Whitney was holding the toddler. “And this is Knoxi,” Brandi said, “my miracle daughter.”

Ray extended his hand. He was in his middle forties, taller than Cody at six foot two, with large hands, the physique of a basketball player, and a firm grip. His skills as a communicator were evident immediately, but his soft and friendly tone caught Cody off guard. He sported a bushy, well-trimmed mustache in contrast to the rough-cut look that Cody exhibited. His sleepless eyes were bloodshot.

Whitney was Brandi’s height with shoulder-length hair that had a distinguishing streak of gray on the right side. She wore ebony designer-frame glasses and matching circular earrings, which complemented soft hazel eyes. Her amazing resemblance to the late Whitney Houston immediately captured Cody’s attention, though she was a slightly more robust version.

Whitney gave Cody a proper introduction to Knoxi.

“You’re gorgeous,” Cody said to the child. “Uh-oh, baby girl, what do you have behind your ear?” He reached out and pretended to pull a quarter from behind her right ear. He did the same thing with her left ear. He gave both quarters to her and suggested that her grandmother could advise her on what to do with them.

The toddler’s delight did not go unnoticed by anyone, especially Brandi.

The smiling girl felt behind her ears, hoping to find additional shiny coins. She had a round face, blue eyes, and dark brown hair with a pink ribbon on one side. Two dimples made her a spitting image of Brandi. Her pink “Grampa’s Little Princess” pantsuit made it plain whose girl she was.

After Ray had mentioned that Knoxi was shy when meeting new people, she surprised everyone by reaching out for Cody.

That prompted Whitney. “You better hold this child, Mr. Ballplayer. She hasn’t taken her eyes off you since you pulled those quarters out of her head.”

Cody was hesitant, but he sat down on the sofa with her on his lap. She trained her wide blue eyes on his face and kept reaching for his nose.

Whitney folded her arms. “Well, that looks like a friendship in the making.”

“Sir, ma’am, it’s an honor to meet y’all.”

“The honor is ours, Cody. You can call us Ray and Whitney. Say, what time is the game tonight?” Ray sat down in the recliner next to the sofa.

“Game time 6:10. After lunch, I’d like to steal Brandi away for an hour or so if that is acceptable to everyone. We got a little catching up to do”

Brandi giggled.

She and Whitney vanished into the other room to get dressed for their date with the McNairs. Brandi had attempted to take Knoxi with her, but the child was alarmed when her mother tried to snatch her away from Cody. Cody assured both women that he would be okay holding Knoxi until they returned. It was obvious the women had retreated so Ray and Cody could get acquainted.

“Thank you for getting involved last night at the theater. We would be having a very bad day if you hadn’t come along.” Ray’s eyes fogged for a few seconds.

“I see the bruises and carpet burns.” Cody grimaced. “Last night I wanted to kill ‘em.”

“I hear you, son. The important thing is that you didn’t kill anybody. I’m fighting anger issues today as well. I keep thinking what might’ve happened if I had been there.” Ray’s voice never wavered, even as he reached up and wiped a tear from a corner of his eye.

Cody pretended not to notice. Instead, he attempted to place Knoxi’s head on his shoulder, but she was more interested in staring at his face.

“Sir, your daughter…what I mean is that Brandi…” He ran out of words.

“What you mean to say is that she is a very handsome woman. I don’t blame you if you’re attracted to her.”

A sheepish grin betrayed Cody’s poker face.
Handsome
wasn’t the word he had in mind.

“Of course, it’s clear that she’s recovering from —” Ray cleared his throat. “Well, let’s just say she’s a bit fragile now, if you catch my meaning.”

Cody shrugged. “Truth is I hate to think what would have happened to her last night if those storms hadn’t moved in. Didn’t know what to do with myself, so I went to that movie.”

Ray nodded. “Brandi told you how I met Whitney, but you don’t know the whole story. See, I fell asleep in the depot and missed my bus home. I panicked because the next bus didn’t leave for eight more hours. What was I going to do with myself in a Pittsburgh bus depot with nothing in my pocket but eight bucks and a ticket I couldn’t use until zero-five-hundred the next morning? Ten minutes later, I looked up and there she was — sitting, crying, praying. I’ll never forget the moment I saw her.”

“So meeting Whitney was an accident?”

“Oh, not any more than you meeting Brandi last night.”

Cody’s face relaxed. "You mean...?"

“Yep. Missed the bus and found my future. Sometimes life is what happens to us when we think we should be somewhere else.”

"Hmmm. Roger that."

“Daddy, Cody, how does this look on me?” Brandi was standing in the doorway, modeling the Astros jersey and hat.

“With you in it, that jersey couldn’t look any better unless it had the Pirates logo on the front,” Ray offered. Then he looked back at Cody. “I’m a lifelong Pittsburgh fan, Cody. No offense.”

“None taken, sir.”

Neither Ray nor Cody asked why she was wearing a blouse underneath. They knew the answer. The collar of the blouse, which extended upward through the neck of the jersey, partially covered the bruises on her throat.

Brandi disappeared again.

“You’re very good at putting on a show for kids,” Ray said. “And you have certainly taken to my granddaughter. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No, sir, I’m an only child. My parents died in a plane crash in the Bahamas during my senior year in high school. I have always suspected sabotage, but I have no way to prove it.”

“Sabotage? What did your parents do?”

“My father was a DEA agent. He directed the raid on Juanita Capistrano in Brazil in 2002. Do you remember that case?”

“Your father was the agent who brought her down? I remember reading about the operation. The hard part was putting together the coalition with local authorities since DEA is limited in foreign countries.”

“He was in charge,” Cody replied. “You know, sir, Capistrano was into human trafficking as well as narcotics.”

“Well, you have been handed quite a legacy by your father. I guess you figured out my daughter is making things hot around here for human traffickers.”

“Absolutely. And what I started to say earlier is that she’s a fighter. The bad guys are afraid of her.”

“So why didn’t you say that when you started to say it earlier?”

“Didn’t want you to think that was my
only
interest in her.”

“Straight enough. I like that. Would it be assuming too much to ask if we will see you again after this weekend?”

“The answer would be
yes
, sir.”

“And would that be ‘yes, it is assuming too much’ or ‘yes, we might be seeing you again?’”

Cody chuckled. “I hope that you will see me again. By the way, I told Brandi that her place at the Mayfield Tower isn’t safe due to poor security.”

“I’ve been trying to tell her that,” he ranted. “I don’t believe those three guys acted independently. Whoever sent them will send someone else, and that’s what petrifies Whitney and me.”

“Sir, I want to ask Brandi to go to Detroit with me. She’s not safe in this town.  She should leave for a few days, at least. The Astros are arranging a security team.”

“Have you asked her yet?”

“Uh, no, sir. I…I haven’t mentioned it to her yet.”

“So after Detroit, what then?”

Cody was silent. It was a question he had not expected. Knoxi finally rested her head on his shoulder, but his facial muscles tightened when Ray looked him in the eye.

“I’ve seen you play baseball on TV, Cody, but I don’t know you. Brandi tells me you beat the crap out of those three guys last night." He dropped his eyes for a moment. His face twitched. “There are some things I’d like to say to you, and I hope you don’t mind my being direct.”

Cody leaned back. Knoxi was now asleep. “Direct is exactly what I would expect, sir.”

Ray stood, walked to the window, hands in pockets, head down. “I believe you care for my daughter, but I can read your face, son. It says you carry a lot of pain.”

Cody looked straight ahead and nodded. The silence was awkward but short-lived. The sweet sound of innocence — steady breathing of the sleeping toddler on Cody’s shoulder — filled the void.

“Brandi has been wounded too,” Ray added. “She still carries . . .”

Cody waited a moment. “I can see that, Captain.”

Ray turned. “Yes, I suppose you can. For what it’s worth, you used restraint last night that I might not have had. That’s a sign that you’re a strong man. My girls — I just don’t want…” He stopped and squared his shoulders.

“Understood, sir. If she decides to go with me, I will guard her safety
and her honor
with my life.”

A question arose in Cody’s mind: did Ray love his daughter so much because she was amazing, or was she amazing because Ray loved her so much?

The women hustled back into the room. Whitney recognized that expression on Ray’s face. “Sorry. Did we interrupt?”

Ray switched gears. “Well, looks like our baby girl is fast asleep.” He took a deep breath. “She feels comfortable with you, Cody. Did you know that kids sense anxiety? If they detect that you are tense, they often won’t fall asleep.”

“I didn’t know that. I feel pretty calm today, maybe more than usual.”

Ray looked toward Brandi who had just reentered the room. “Maybe you are at ease because of the company you’re keeping today, Cody.”

Cody’s eyes met Brandi’s. “I see your point, Captain.”

Whitney could not hide her tense smile when Brandi scooted to Cody’s side and held his sleeve as they all departed for their lunch date with the McNairs. Knoxi had waked up. Cody delicately carried her with his other arm.