Chapter 27

And here is Chapter 27. CHAPTER 27 Natalie was already set for Jon as he came out of the locker room. As she stood up to greet him, she made a rolling motion with her hand. “Mr. Page?” she had a nice smile and offered Jon a solid handshake. “Strong shake for such a little woman.” “When you’ve got three older brothers…” “While I don’t have older brothers, I do have some older male cousins who can be quite the handful. One of them is even the starting center for the Brigham Young University Cougars this year.” “Both football and basketball run in the family, does it?” she asked. “To be honest, I don’t really know what the starting center does other than hikes the ball and then tries to stop the big guy right in front of him from sacking the quarterback.” “That pretty much nails it,” Natalie nodded. “So, Mr. Page, how did you get into basketball?” “Women. Purely women. I mean, I get to talk to you because I’m on the team. Would you be talking to me otherwise?” he smiled at Natalie and the camera as he also glanced over at the stands and caught Aleisha sitting next to Greg. “Believe it or not, Mr. Page, I might. To bring the viewers up to speed, Mr. Page stuck up for me while I was being hounded by a particularly rude individual and he stood up for me. Let me just say that in many ways, personality plays a big part.” Jon could feel his face start to go red. “Seriously, Mr. Pa- actually, what is your first name? Neal? Is that right?” Jon nodded. “Joking aside, really, how did you get into basketball in the first place?” Jon took a deep breath and pursed his lips. “No joke? Friendship. That’s why I am here tonight- friendship. I had several friends on this team-“ “Had?” Natalie interrupted. “Had.” Jon let the word hang in the air. “One of them had an accident earlier this week and had to step down, one was the victim of a robbery at his after school job and his life was cut short, and one had a medical emergency last night and did not make it to the hospital and he died in my arms. I said that I would step in and help and play with the team right after the injury of the first friend and, as players kept falling out of being able to play, I stepped it up. Another one of my friends is still on the team and will be playing his heart out on the floor tonight- Stan Ingle. Have you interviewed him?” Natalie was caught up in listening to Jon and was surprised by his question. “Yes. Yes I did.” “I am willing to bet that he never hinted at the behind the scenes trouble of the week, did he?” Natalie shook her head. “No. No he didn’t.” “He never would. He just plays through it all. Stan needs me to be here and play with him tonight so I am here to show support for the team and for all of our players who cannot be on the court for one reason or another tonight.” “So, Neal, how does that factor into how you are going to play tonight?” “I honestly don’t know. It has been a very tough week for me, personally and emotionally and the best that I can do is to play as I have practiced, give it my all and we’ll see what the scoreboard says at the end.” Natalie, feeling she had her quote machine kept digging. “This is the first time that the Taylorsville Warriors have been in the spotlight. This is going to be a huge game on a national stage, with Jason Grissom Junior playing in his first game, is this your first game on the court ever?” “What makes you say that?” Natalie turned around and played with the camera. Jon saw the red light turn off. When Natalie turned back to him, her attitude had slightly changed. “What are you doing here, Mr. Page? You are not the kind of guy that is normally interviewed at these games, ready to go on the court. There is more to you. Why are you doing this?” “It seemed like the best thing to do?” “Cut the shit, Page. Why are you doing this? Friendship? Really? You might just embarrass yourself nationally just because of friendship?” “It’s what I do, okay? It’s what I do! I help! I am a helper. If I see something that needs to be fixed, I’ll fix it. Stan is a friend. I have other friends who care about this team. Honestly, I don’t. The team is not important for me- it’s the people. The group think is ridiculous to me! The fact that all of this importance is placed on a game is beyond ridiculous to me! People have come home from their jobs and all they want is a little entertainment by a bunch of high school kids and the main reason is because there is a teenage son of a sports star who is more known for his runins with the law than for his foul shot percentage? Let the kid be a kid and just let him enjoy the game and the fact that he is in high school! I want to go out and just play the game for the game’s sake and help my friends accomplish what they need to accomplish. All the other stuff is bullshit and doesn’t matter! Let the game be a game and enjoyable and nothing more beyond that!” Natalie smiled and Jon heard a click. It was only then that he looked down and noticed Natalie holding a handheld recorder. “Thank you, Mr. Mills.” “It’s, um, it’s Page,” Jon stumbled. “It’s Mr. Mills. Jonathan Mills. I’ll keep your name as Page in the news clips, but I know who you are. Thank you for the honesty. That is what I have wanted to say all week, but couldn’t, and I knew you could and would. There’s more to you than the little persona you put on, Mr. Mills, but it would be nice to see it and let that out every once in a while.” Natalie took the tape out of the player and handed it to a gentleman standing near the camera. “Whatever the scoreboard says at the end, you and Stan are winners.” Natalie offered her hand again. Jon took it and shook it tightly and strong. “Yes, ma’am. And how did you know about me?” Without letting go, Natalie looked him straight in the eyes. “You think I’m not going to do some research on the first person I see stand up to asshole Coach Malone? And who defends me on top of that? I’m not kidding, Jonathan, you have a future ahead of you. I can see it already.” She pulled him close and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Give ‘em hell.” “You got it!” The handshake pumped one last time before Natalie let Jon go and join the team. Natalie locked eyes across the gym with Coach Malone, smiled, and raised her eyebrows. Jon passed the player’s bench and slid his duffel bag underneath, walked close to Coach Malone, nudging him with his shoulder as we walked by, and made his way to Greg and Aleisha. “You looked like you were going off over there! I’ll bet you become a star after this!” Aleisha enthused. “I honestly hope not. That’s exactly what I was going off about.” Jon turned to Greg. “Have you seen Kate yet?” “No, I’m keeping my eyes peeled, though.” “When she gets here, I need you 3,” he turned to Aleisha, “3- that includes you,” he smiled and she beamed back, “I need you 3 to go back over the files. There is something there. Moss saw it and he said it was there, but he died before he could tell me.” Aleisha gulped. “Died?” “Yes. I’ll tell you everything later, like I said. It’s okay. Everything is okay. Now you are getting a glimpse at the shithill that has been my week. You will be okay, just please dig through the files and find me what I need.” “You got it.” Greg nodded and touched Aleisha’s leg to bring her back to the conversation.”We’ll do it as soon as Kate gets here.” Jon looked at them both straight. “Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed Aleisha. “And thank you.” Jon walked back to the floor into the team huddle. Coach Malone followed Jon with his eyes as Mills made his way to the huddle. Jon couldn’t tell if Coach was trying to hide his contempt or not. Either way, it was clear that after tonight, Jon was not going to be invited to the strip club anymore. “Give us some good quotes?” Coach asked, sarcasm dripping from every word. “I gave my opinion about the game tonight.” “I can hardly wait to see the replay.” Malone clapped his hands. “Here we go, we are in this for the long haul. Mills, er, uh, Page, how are you feeling? You still going to play?” “You couldn’t stop me with a bulldozer, Coach.” “Don’t know what the hell that means, but okay. We are going man to man defense right off and Mills- you get Junior first go round.” All eyes fell to Jon. He nodded. “Well, someone has to, right?” “With Mr. Mills guarding him,” Coach continued, “we’ll be able to truly see how Junior plays unimpeded. Then, we can change up our defense based on what we’re seeing.” Jon noticed Kate come into the gym, look around, and see him in the huddle. She nodded slightly to him. Jon nodded back. He watched as she went up to sit with Greg and Aleisha. Aleisha stood up, shook Kate’s hand, they exchanged a few pleasantries and they sat down. Jon could hear Malone droning about which players of theirs were being assigned to Cottonwood’s players, but he watched as Kate and Greg talked for a minute in front of Aleisha, and then Kate pulled out the copied papers that Nick gave his life for and split them between herself, Greg, and Aleisha, speaking directly to Aleisha for a moment, and then giving her a stack. Coach made his way to the middle of the team area and Jon came back to courtside. “You ready for this?” Malone asked the team. “Yes, sir!” they all shouted in unison. “We have a national TV audience tonight, as you all know. Keep your heads in the game and let’s play this as we have discussed! Go out there, play well, and let’s show them what we’ve got! Who are we?” “Warriors!” the team yelled. “Who are we?” he asked again. “Warriors!” the yell got louder. “Who are we?” “Warriors!” “Go get ‘em!” Coach yelled and started clapping. Now it was Coach’s turn for his eyes to wander through the crowd. As he found Mustache, there was another exchange of nodding that took place. “And pray to God we do what we need to.” Coach muttered as he watched his players settle into the benches or take the court. Kate was glad to see Jon as she came into the gym. He was in the middle of the player huddle and it looked like he had just been sucker punched- his face was drained of all color and his eyes were darting through the gym, probably looking for her. She nodded and he returned her nod. He is at least responding, Kate thought, I’ll wait to intervene, if necessary. She noticed that Stan was right behind him, so nothing too disastrous could have happened, could it? Kate’s eyes now sorted through the mass of people and she found Greg sitting on the fourth row of the bleachers with Aleisha Madsen right by him. She started briskly walking toward him, holding her side bag containing the player files tightly by her side. How was she supposed to explain the player files to Aleisha? This case has definitely gotten a lot harder than anyone expected. As Kate reached the duo, Aleisha stood up and presented her hand. Kate shook it. “I need to apologize to you, Ms. Thompson. I have acted poorly this week towards you and I have no reason to have done so. You kept trying to apologize and I wouldn’t let you…now it is my turn. I’m sorry.” Kate was almost shocked by the maturity and professionalism. Although she had come to really like Aleisha while listening to her and Jon chat all night on the date, this still came as a bit of a surprise. “That’s quite all right, Ms. Mad- may I call you Aleisha?” “Of course.” “That’s all right, Aleisha. I probably would have done the same thing.” They sat down together. “I couldn’t make out all of what Jon said to Natalie when he was interviewed, but it sure sounded juicy. He raised his voice, they stared each other down, she kissed him, it will definitely be interesting.” Greg informed Kate. “She kissed him?” Kate asked. “Yes, but only in a thank you-friendshippy kind of way. You know? Like the French?” “Got it.” Kate reached into her bag and pulled out all of the player files and placed them on her lap. “Aleisha, do you mind trading seats? I should have thought of it sooner, but Greg and I-“ “Jon asked me to help you two.” Aleisha interjected. Again, Kate was momentarily tongue tied. “Excuse me?” “Jon asked if I could help you. He said that Moss had told him something before he died- I meant Moss, not himself, because Jon sure seems alive still.” Kate leaned over Aleisha to Greg. “Is there anybody that Jon doesn’t tell?” Greg leaned toward Kate so they were both in front of Aleisha. “Don’t worry, Jon just asked for her help in looking through the files. He didn’t mention anything about being an agent.” As soon as those words came out of his mouth, Greg paused and waited for the fallout. Aleisha’s eyes widened as she put the pieces of the puzzle together. “Agent? As in secret agent? If he were a cop or something he would’ve been called Detective or Lieutenant or something, but agent….” Kate’s eyes closed ever so slightly. “Thank you, Greg.” “So then, you are an agent, too? His trainer, right Ms. Thompson?” “Looks like we have our own Scooby gang, “Kate muttered before turning to get closer to Aleisha. “Yes, he is a secret agent, the important word being secret. I am his trainer, that’s why this week has been so strange and he couldn’t tell you anything and why he joined the basketball team. Something very big is going down here and we don’t have any idea what it is. We would greatly appreciate your help, but, please, keep it down and keep it quiet, okay?” Aleisha nodded. “Mum’s the word. What good would a reporter be who gave up her sources?” “Thank you.” Kate started to split up the files. “Nick Moss was with us too, Aleisha, as was Jake Spencer. Jon jumped in to help out. Nick and Jon looked through these files the other night and could not come up with anything while they were together. Nick must have seen something else and he put two and two together but unfortunately got killed before he could tell Jon. Now, we get to find it before whatever it is that is planned to happen here, happens. Nothing is too small. Let’s keep our eyes, ears, and minds open, okay?” She gave approximately a third of the stack to Greg and a third to Aleisha. Greg opened his stack and started perusing the information. Aleisha looked at the stack, then turned and asked Kate, “How much of our date the other night did you spy on?” The team started walking onto the court and Jon watched as Junior took his place on the northeast side of the court. Jon strode up to the young player. “How are you doing tonight?” Jon asked. “Nervous as hell,” Junior answered. “Same here. I’m Neal Page. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Junior.” Jon offered his hand. Junior looked at it for a second, smiled, and shook it. “Pleasure is mine, Mr. Page. I overheard you talking to Natalie over there earlier and I just want to thank you.” “For?” “Treating me like a human.” “Aren’t you? Are you a human or are you some kind of alien or cannibalistic humanoid underground dweller?” Junior laughed. “No, I am human. Although sometimes I wish I was one of those cannibalistic underground thing-a-ma-bobs you talked about. My life would sure be a lot easier sometimes.” He laughed and the two players watched as the team captains spoke to the referee to prepare to start the game. The Warriors had Stan as their captain for the evening “Neal, can I ask you for three favors tonight?” Jon was taken aback at how normal Junior seemed. “As long as none of the requests are illegal, sure.” “Play as well as you can, and as hard as you can against me.” “And the third?” Jon asked as he saw Stan look around and find Jon on the court as Stan took the ball in his hands and handed it back to the referee. “Please don’t call me Junior. It’s Jason” Jon grinned. “I understand. I am sorry for calling you that earlier. I just assumed-“ “Most people do,” Grissom answered. “Then, let’s play ball!” Jon said, as the referee threw the ball in the air to begin the game.