Chapter 22

Here we are! With this post, I am now posting the last thing I have written. From now on, I will have to write more to be able to post anything else.
This chapter is a little over 3,200 words and, by my guesstimate, I only have about another 20-25,000 words until I finish the book.
For those who know the three act structure, this means that we are headed into the climax. Keep your arms and hands inside the car at all times.
My goal is now to finish the book by June 12th, the 1 year mark of my dad's death. So, posts may only happen every other day or so, so that I feel like I give a lengthy enough chunk of the story at each step. So, please stay with me and let me know what you think of it so far. Are you still interested? Did I lose you somewhere along the way? Please let me know!



CHAPTER 22

Jon’s ears felt like they were going to bleed from the heavy bass that was thumping through the dark hallway. The stale stench of smoke, alcohol, hairspray, and perfume stained the area. Neon lights glowed under the closed doorways.
Jon took small tentative steps through the hall as he had lost sight of Nicolas. From behind him, Jon heard a door open. As he turned, he thought he saw the naked back of a woman as she scurried across the hall to another doorway and closed that door.
“Where the hell…?” Jon asked the empty air but was stopped by slamming into a wall. He placed his hand against the wall and turned slowly as he peeled his face from the plaster.
The hallway had made a turn. He could see a large, heavy metal door leading to another room. The neon pink light shone down the hallway through the cracks in the door. The music was getting louder as he walked toward the door. He could hear the whoops and hollers of men wafting towards him.
“You are kidding me….,” Jon muttered as he reached the door and read the taped up, handwritten sign on the door which read- 2 rules- you can touch them, they can’t touch you, and no actual fornication- Thank You for working at Southern X-posure.
Jon opened the door and found himself in a dimly lit gentleman’s club that had been the answer to his Mom’s question of “Where are you, Stan, and Greg going tonight?” for at least the past five years.
“Nicolas, where are you?” Jon asked to the ghost of Nicolas who he knew was here somewhere.
Jon scanned the room and saw a raised stage with two scantily clad women on the two opposite ends of the stage who were taunting the basketball team members with their wares. By taking a quick head count and facial scan, Jon noticed there were only 4 people from the team not gathered by the stage- Nicolas, Stan, Coach, and himself. Coach, he realized, was actually sitting at the bar, hitting on the brunette bartender serving him. Nicolas and Stan were still MIA. A hand closed around Jon’s arm and he could tell trouble was waiting behind him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jon was spun around and was facing a large white guy who resembled Macho Man Randy Savage and whose name badge read Bret.
“Um, I’m part of the team. New guy. Jon- Neal page. I was following Nicolas Moss.” Bret was looking Jon straight in the eyes to try to determine if this was a lie or not.
Another hand closed around Jon’s arm, a much gentler hand. Jon turned and saw a very heavily makeupped blonde woman who, by Jon’s estimation, was five feet tall at the most. She had a drink tray under her arm and wore a very tight midriff top and Daisy Duke shorts.
“Bret,” she said in a mother disapproving of her young son’s behavior type of a tone, “I was told to take good care of this young man. Let him go and I will take care of him.”
The vise grip of Bret’s fist loosened and Jon felt himself shrink back ever so slightly. “Thank you,” he whispered to the waitress.
“Bret’s a good guy. He’s the size of a dinosaur with the brain of one as well. I’m Lorna. Nicolas did ask me to watch you and take care of you right off the bat.”
“Take care of me…?” Jon let the question trail off.
“Don’t worry about a thing, darling. Not like that.” Lorna was leading Jon to the farthest corner of the club. There was a booth away from the floor and the bar. The music was still too loud, but it got Jon out of the way of the uncomfortableness of the club. “This is where the boss can oversee the entire place but still be hidden away a bit. Tonight, he’s actually in the office, so this has been here for you.” She kept her hand lingering on Jon’s arm a little too much for his liking. “I’ll be back in a moment with a drink for you.’
“But, I don’t….” Jon let his thought die right there as Lorna was already out of hearing range. “This is the strangest day.”
Stan showed up and slid into the booth with Jon. “Wanted to make sure you were doing okay. Are you doing okay?”
“I’m 17 and was taken away from a make out session with Aleisha Madsen and brought to a strip club! What do you think?”
“I know Nicolas needs to talk to you. I’ll be wandering around. Generally, when they do these things, I go over to the arcade machine- that thing has over 100 games in it!”
“Generally?”
“I’ll admit- I go up by the stage now and again. Why wouldn’t I?”
Jon shook his head. “Let me guess. Part of the group?”
Stan smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder. “Part of the group. Have a good time. Lorna’s great! She’ll take care of you!” Stan slid out of the booth and walked to another dark corner where Jon could see the crudely rendered depictions of dragons killing the arcade character.
Jon looked back over the leering group of teenagers. One of the dancers was down to a string bikini the size of dental floss. Jason Hobbs was grinning and placing a five dollar bill-
“Here you go, honey!” Lorna reappeared and slid a tall glass full of a dark liquid and a cherry in it toward Jon.
Jon yelled to be heard. “I’m sorry you went to all that trouble! I don’t drink!”
Lorna laughed and leaned closer so she could be heard. “Stan and Nicolas both told me that this is your favorite! Cherry Coke?”
Jon’s heart sunk a bit as he felt very embarrassed for a number of reasons. “I’m sorry. They were right. I love cherry Coke! Thank you!”
“Told you I’d take care of you. Trust me.” She smiled and walked away as Nicolas slid in the spot recently vacated by Stan.
“I’m going to kill you, you know!” Jon told Nicolas.
“For what? Not enjoying yourself?”
“Not really. I’ve always wondered what this place was like, now I know that it is actually just sad and depressing.”
“Strip clubs are for lonely men, or desperate men, who want the fantasy of a beautiful woman with no baggage attached to it. Never been a favorite hang out of mine.”
“How many have you been to?”
“Enough. Look, Jon, I don’t want to talk about strip clubs, like I said they’re not my thing, but we do need to talk. I called ahead and had Lorna set this booth aside for us.”
“Nice of her. Thanks for the Cherry Coke by the way.”
“No problem. I didn’t want you to get parched in here.”
Jon stirred the grenadine into his Coke and took a big swig. “So, what do have planned for this glorious evening?”
Moss brought out the backpack that he had brought in with him. “This. We are going to go through this.” He tossed it to Jon.
Jon opened the bag up cautiously, but was greeted by file folders. A backpack full of file folders “I never would have guessed that my first few minutes in a strip club would include me running into a wall, almost being beaten to a pulp by a dinosaur, drinking a Cherry Coke, and reading through file folders.”
“I’m telling you- being a spy can be glamorous at times.”
Jon started pulling folders out of the backpack. “What are these?”
“Player profiles and folders from Malone’s desk.”
Everything started connecting in Jon’s head. “You son of a bitch! That’s where you went this morning! That’s what the deal was! You weren’t really pissed at me! You just needed some time to yourself to steal these!”
Nicolas nodded a proud smile. “You may make it yet, Mills.”
“Why did you need these?”
“I figure that no matter what is going on, it’s in these. Whatever Spencer found out, it was about a player. Coach protects his players, so I assume that whatever it is must be in these files somewhere.”
“Malone is in no way innocent in this mess.”
“He may be an ass, Mills, but that doesn’t make him guilty of murder.”
“Can we just arrest him for being an ass?”
“If we could, Sean Penn would have no chance of getting out of prison.”
Jon opened the first file. “Artie Clark.” Jon had to squint to make out the type in the dimly lit room. “He’s a Junior, he comes from Idaho. Had a job at a convenience store last year, GPA is a 2.6….” Jon faded off as he flipped through the pages. “I don’t see anything major on Artie, but why do they even list girlfriends in the file?”
“Malone is very thorough.” Moss took the next one. “Donald Adams. Senior. Into the new rap music scene. Comes to us from Oregon. Moved here last year because of his dad’s military job. “ A few more pages flipped and Moss tossed the file on the table. “3 sisters. Mom died of cancer. Adams was arrested for shoplifting from a convenience store, but it was less than $100.00, so the convenience store let him go after paying restitution. Nothing else.” Moss nodded to Jon. “Go.”

“There is the connection of a convenience store. Was it the same convenience store? Jon asked.
Moss picked up Clark’s file from in front of Jon and compared it to the Adams file. “Nope. Adams was a Plaid Pantry and Clark was a 7-11.”
“Oh, well. Worth a shot.” Jon took another sip from his drink as he started yelling across the table. “Jason Bernard. Senior. Also from Idaho. Moved here seven years ago. Top rebounder on the team. Father in Prison,” Jon stifled a chuckle, “He could sure use a father figure. Maybe that’s what Malone is to him.”
“Malone is the team’s father. They all trust him implicitly. That is what a sports team is. The Coach is the dad nobody had.”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Jon flipped through the file more. “What’s his dad in prison for?
“If I remember correctly, he got into a bar fight and almost killed the guy.”
“Sounds about right.”
There was a loud ruckus over by the main stage. Jon glanced over. The lithe blonde on stage had just removed her top and was twirling it to see which of her gentleman friends was going to be the lucky one tonight. She flung it like a slingshot over to Coach Malone at the bar. It landed on Malone’s head. He reached up, while still flirting with the bartender, and nonchalantely tossed it back toward the stage.
Jon motioned to Nicolas and the pile. “Can you throw me Hobbs’ file?” Moss slid through several of them until he found the file Jon wanted and then slid it across the table. Jon opened it and started reading.
“Hobbs grew up here- my mom taught him in kindergarten.” Jon read silently for a few moments while blocking out the ruckus from the other side of the bar. “He was a firebug and set fire to his own house a few times on accident…”
“Jesus, wouldn’t you figure he learned his lesson the first two times?” Moss asked.
“When it comes to Hobbs, it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t learn his lesson after the first few thousand times.”
“Damn!” Jon heard Stan swear and kick the video game machine. Jon glanced over and saw Stan walking over to the table.
Nicolas started to panic, grabbed a bunch of the folders on the table and attempted to get them back in his backpack.
“What’s all this?” Stan asked.
“Nothing. It’s absolutely nothing,” Nicolas replied, still shoving folders in his bag.
“Possible evidence,” Jon told his friend.
“Mills!” Moss hissed.
“Why does Moss have them?” Stan asked.
“He’s yet another agent in this whole mess. Just like Spencer!”
“I warned you, Mills!” Nick was glowering in Jon’s direction.
“No way! Seriously? Both of you guys?”
“Yup. “ Jon confirmed. “Both of them. Never would have guessed it, would you?”
“I thought I told you-“ Nick started.
“Moss, come on! Get real. Stan knows about me and the Agency. Having him know about both you and Spencer will only give us another pair of eyes.”
“Shit, Jon, the more people who know about The Agency, the less secret it is.”
“Scooby Doo had the gang in the Mystery Machine to help out and they always got their man.”
Moss wrinkled his forehead. “Scooby Doo was a cartoon dog. Cartoon dogs are not real.”
Now it was Jon’s turn to smirk. “Thank you. I realize that, but I was making a point. I’m not letting the secret out to the team- just to Stan, who already knows about The Agency. He can help.”
Moss sighed and slumped back into the booth. He started pulling the files out again. “Stan, if you can find a link- go right ahead.”
Lorna wandered back by the table. “How are all of you gentlemen doing over here?”
“How much for the drinks?” Jon asked.
“The sodas are free. They’re picked up by the team. It’s only the alcohol that costs tonight.”
Nick raised a finger and pointed to Stan as well. “We’ll take 4 waters.”
Jon picked up his Cherry Coke and drank the rest of it in one gulp. “I’ll take 2 more Cherry Cokes, please.”
Lorna nodded. “You got it. I’ll make sure I keep it coming.”
Jon ate an ice cube from the cup. “How does Coach get away with having underage boys in here? Doesn’t that seem wrong?”
“Notice we came in through the back, ”Moss reminded him.
“And Malone pays off the local police to look the other way. Another perk of being part of a winning team.” Stan interjected.
“You would think that there might be a vice cop who wouldn’t want to look the other way.”
“Again, as long as the team wins and the cops are having their palms greased, I don’t think it matters to them.” Moss said.
Stan picked up another folder. “Sam Ford.” He started flipping through the file.


It was three hours later as Jon unlocked the door and walked up the stairs, he noticed that a Kate-sized and shaped lump stirred on the couch.
“How was it?” she asked.
“You were just so excited for that to happen, you just couldn’t wait, could you?”
“I knew it was coming because that’s what the team always does. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.” Kate sat up and rubbed her eyes.
Jon walked over to her and pointed non-threateningly in her general direction. “You, Ms. Thompson, were complicit in their plot. Since I was in a place where 17 yr olds should not be, even though alcohol was not served to me personally, you were a co-conspirator.”
“Come on, Jon, was it really that bad? Nick checked in with me and told me that you were being treated well and kept away from any real trouble. We wouldn’t have let anything happen to you.”
“Tell that to the huge bouncer guarding the back door!”
Kate tipped her head slightly to the side. “I forgot about him. He can be a little rough, but Nick had your back.”
Jon attempted to speak, but caught himself before he said something that he would regret. His hand, which he had brought up to chin level, was lowered in defeat.
Kate perked up on noticing the defeat in his look. “Told ya you enjoyed it.” Then, changing the subject, “What did you and Nick find out?”
“Oh, you mean, Nick Moss? That Nick? Nick Moss, the other Agency Agent who has been available to back me up this whole time? Is that the Nick to whom you are referring?” Jon’s voice had raised ever so slightly.
Kate was still in her waking up stages, but also used silence as a stall tactic to get Jon to calm down. “Yes.”
“Not much, to tell you the truth. Most of the guys have either moved into the area recently, most of them have minor criminal records, but there is nothing that matches on any of them, other than convenience stores, and there’s no connection there, either.”
“I still can’t believe it’s not against the law to mess with a kid’s primary education and upbringing just to get him to a specific school to play sports. It’s shady enough to me in college ball, but at least by then, most of them are over 18 and legal adults to make their own decision. This way, they may still be in the angsty teenage years anyway.”
“Nothing illegal in that on the books. There probably should be, but nothing yet.”
“Great. Another dead end. We are running out of time to find something, Jon.” Kate stood up, stretched, and walked into the kitchen. She turned on the light, opened the refrigerator door, glanced around, and closed it again. “You’re out of milk. Bread, too.”
Jon came around the corner into the kitchen. “While I was at the bar, why didn’t you run and pick up some random and various sundries?”
Kate turned and looked at him matter-of-factly. “If I would have done that, I would have done the same thing 3 times and wouldn’t have had any idea if I could have picked up milk as it wasn’t random, or various, or a miscellaneous item. Random, various, and sundry all mean the same thing.”
“I thought sundry meant grocery.”
“Your vocabulary is definitely better than most of the basketball team, Jon, but you still have a few word choices that are slightly off, like a normal teenager.”
“But, sometimes the little stop and robs are called sundry stores. Since they carry groceries, I assumed that’s what it meant. And, I thought that’s why I was picked for The Agency because I am a normal teenager.”
“It is, but sometimes you still act very much like one. And they are called Sundry stores because they carry a random array of convenient miscellaneous grocery items.”
“What do I act like at other times?”
Kate walked back into the living room.
“Kate, what do I act like at other times?”
Kate was back on the couch by the time Jon caught up to her again in the living room. “It’s late. Tomorrow will be a big day.” Kate’s gun was tucked neatly between the back couch cushions. She was doing a quick check that the gun was still locked and loaded and ready for anything. “You have practice in the morning and Jake’s funeral in the afternoon, and more practice afterwards. You should really get to bed.” She pulled the blanket around her again as she nestled into the couch.
Jon sat and watched her, waiting for her to say anything else, or even to look and see if he was still standing there. She didn’t so he went and turned off the kitchen light to let her sleep in the dark again. “Sleep well, Kate,” he mumbled as he walked down the hall to his room.