CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“You want me to do what?” said Coach, staring at Kurt and the men around him. He’d called him to ask him to meet them at the diner out on River Road. At first, he refused, but when Kurt said he was desperate and in trouble, Coach dropped everything and came.

“Coach, you and I both know this league is done after the championship game. She’s going to take her money, dump all of us, and try to do something else. We will all lose. I think we should give her something memorable as an exit plan.” Kurt grinned at the coach, turning to Trevon and the others, who were smiling as well.

“Alright, I’m listening.”

For an hour, they spoke about their plan, and the coach seemed reluctant, unable to comprehend how this could possibly work. These men weren’t professional football players. They looked like it. Hell, they looked better than some he’d seen, but given how old they said they were, he was seriously reluctant.

“I think we need to show you who we have in mind as your replacements,” said Nine. The coach heard the back door open and Jackie laughing, welcoming everyone. As men filtered into the room, the coach’s eyes grew wider and wider.

“What in the ever-loving, fucking hell are they?” he asked.

“See, that is what people see when we walk in the room,” smirked Tailor.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you, but where the hell have you all been hiding?”

“Coach, let me introduce you to our team,” smirked Gaspar. “My baby brother, Alec.”

“Baby? Baby what? Hippo?”

“Hey, that’s not nice,” frowned Alec. The coach threw his hands in the air, shaking his head.

“Alec, Tailor, Noah, Noa—former star player at the University of Hawaii, Rory, Cade, Bodhi, RJ—a former college star, Lars, Zulu, Skull…”

“Skull? You have a guy named Skull?” frowned the coach.

“It’s just a nickname,” smirked Skull.

“Anyway, as I was saying, Skull, King, Zeke—former star player at Florida State, Bron, and Ethan. All of these men played high school football but were Special Forces.”

“That doesn’t mean they can play semi-pro ball,” said the coach with a high-pitched shriek. “They need to learn the plays. They need to learn the players! How the hell am I going to get helmets and uniforms to fit them in just a couple of days.”

“We’re going to take care of all of that, including making your defensive line suddenly sick,” said Nine.

“Why? Why are you making my line sick?”

“Coach, we’ve found out that the defensive line has been paid by Glenda to allow touchdowns to occur. She’s taken out a bet. A bet against our team.”

“That fucking bitch!” he snapped.

“She is that,” nodded Trevon. “She’s responsible for all of this, Coach. There’s asbestos in the clubhouse and training rooms, she’s paid the refs, she’s paid other players to knock our players out, all of it.”

“Were you aware of the contracts?” asked Ian.

“No. I wasn’t allowed to look at the contracts. Ever. Players were told under no circumstances could they speak to me or other players about the conditions of their contracts.”

“The contracts don’t pay anything out if the players get injured. Nothing. Even if it’s in a game,” said Trevon. “Butch, me, all of us get nothing if we get injured and leave the team before the playoffs. She was knocking off players who could free up her money and not replacing us.”

“Damn,” he muttered. “She told me she was looking for available talent but that it was difficult at the end of the season like this. Shit. I just wanted to finish the season and get out. I’m too old for this bullshit any longer.”

“Then you’ll help us?” asked Gaspar.

“Oh, hell yes. I’ll help you. But how are we going to keep the defense off the field?”

“You let us worry about that,” smirked Ghost.

“Listen, no offense to any of these men, but you might be a bit old, I mean older than the average player. You’re going to go up against kids twenty-three, twenty-four years old. You guys could get hurt.”

A slow rumble of laughter started and rolled into full-blown belly laughs.

“I’m serious!” said the coach.

“We know you’re serious, and we appreciate your concern,” said Tailor. “No need to worry about us. We’re about to show those boys how real men play.”

“Are we certain the other side has been paid off by her as well?” asked the coach.

“Positive,” said Kurt.

He stood, pacing back and forth across the diner floor. There was a sign on the door saying it was closed for a private event. He stopped at his table, took another sip of coffee and a bite of the famous cinnamon rolls.

“You won’t kill anyone, will you?”

“We can’t promise that,” smirked Alec. Coach’s face dropped. “Kidding. Just kidding. We won’t kill anyone unless they try to kill us.”

“That doesn’t bring me a lot of comfort, but I appreciate your honesty.”

“Coach, we need access to the training facility today so that we can take care of some things. We want to gather the evidence of the asbestos being in the building, as well as see if we can find evidence of chemicals still below the building from the chemical plant.”

“Jesus, she really did a number on all of us, didn’t she?”

“Yes, sir, she did,” said Trevon. “I started out trying to find justice for Butch, but this is much more. This is about finding justice for all of us. Most of those boys don’t even know what’s happening to them. We want to stop this.”

“I want to stop it as well. What about my assistant coaches? I’ve suspected for a while some of them were against me.”

“They are, sir,” said Kurt. “We’ve taken care of that as well. They’ll be, uh, indisposed on game day.”

“And I’m guessing you have coaches to take their place?” he frowned.

“You’re looking at ‘em,” smirked Ghost. “Me, Gaspar, Nine, and Ian. Old enough to be coaches, big enough to have played, smart enough to know what to do.” The coach let out a loud bark of laughter, shaking his head.

“I can’t argue with that.”