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Lane’s knowledge of the intricacies of football was practically non-existent. She knew who had the ball, and that the purpose was to move the ball toward the goal; but how the downs worked and how many attempts a team could have was something she never quite understood. However, with Gabe doing a ru
On the fourth play, Lucas threw the ball to Tyler Scott who ran into the end zone for the touchdown. The kicker came out and the Hawkettes were ahead seven to nothing. The Hawkette fans went wild.
The opposing team answered with a failed attempt toward the goal. Braden Johnson intercepted the ball and ran all the way into the end zone for another Hawkette touchdown.
The game continued, and it seemed each time the Hawkettes scored, the opposing team answered with a score of their own. Late in the fourth quarter, with fewer than three minutes left, the Hawkettes were ahead by ten points and had the ball. Lucas Evans leaned back to pass, and an opposing team player pushed past Jamie to tackle Lucas. Even above the noise of the crowd, Jamie heard the crack as Lucas hit the ground. Lucas didn’t move and Coach Cooper and the team doctor went to the field. The game was delayed, as the Emergency Medical Technicians took the field and moved Lucas onto a stretcher. They loaded the stretcher onto a golf cart and then transferred Lucas into a waiting ambulance.
Jamie was on the sidelines now. Not only had the opposing player pushed past him to get to Lucas, the other team had managed to intercept the ball that Lucas was in the process of throwing when he was tackled.
Jamie watched as the clock ticked down. Even if the other team managed a touchdown, there was no way they could win. They couldn’t even tie, even if they went for a two-point conversion. But, this was the state championship and they weren’t going down without a fight. They managed the touchdown but missed the field goal and the clock ticked down as the coaches met in the middle of the field to shake hands before being escorted from the field.
The members of each team shook hands with the members of the opposing team as each side made its way toward the locker rooms. Jamie couldn’t help but wonder about Lucas Evans, there had been no a
*****
Once inside the locker room, Coach Cooper told the team that he’d gotten word about Lucas. His leg was broken, but he was going to be all right. Jamie couldn’t help but feel at least partially responsible. If only he’d stopped that guy, maybe Lucas wouldn’t be in the hospital now.
After showering and dressing, Jamie pulled out his cell phone, hit speed dial to call Ben, and walked out of the locker room.
“Bambino, where can we meet you?” Ben said as he swiped the screen to talk mode.
“I’m just leaving the locker rooms on the east side of the parking lot.”
“We’ll meet you there. By the way, it was a good game.”
“Thanks, Dad. Coach told us Lucas has a broken leg. I feel like it’s my fault, I should have done a better job blocking the guy to keep him away.”
A man, who seemed to come out of nowhere, suddenly pushed Jamie into the wall.
“Damn right it was your fault. Lucas could lose his scholarship if his leg doesn’t heal right.”
Jamie was stu
Mr. Evans had pi
There was nothing Jamie could do; there was nowhere to move as he felt the man’s fist co
“Mr. Evans, Please don’t hit me again. Coach Cooper said Lucas was going to be okay.”
“He’d better be; I didn’t go through all of this hassle to have you ruin things.”
*****
Ben put his phone on mute. If he could hear them, Evans might be able to hear him. He needed to keep the line with Jamie open and he needed to call Ta
He looked at his brothers. Again, what to say? He didn’t have time to waste worrying about what Gabe Greer might be able to translate and tell Jess. In Italian, he spoke to his brothers.
“Abbiamo bisogno di arrivare al parcheggio est. il killer è il mio figlio”
As soon as the words were out of Ben’s mouth, Gabe jumped over the seats, sprinted down the stairs at break neck speed, and headed toward the parking area on a dead out run with Joey close on his heels.
Even though she didn’t understand a word that Ben had said, Lane knew the difference between the conversational tones of Italian she usually heard and the urgent tone Ben had just used. The way Gabe and Joey had taken off, left no doubt in her mind. Something was definitely wrong.
She looked at Ben as Ta
He knew he had to tell her, for her sake, he needed to stay as calm as he could. He took her cell phone and to Ta
“I’m on my way, tell me where I’m going,” Ta
“Jamie told me he was on his way out of the locker room and heading toward the east parking lot. Can you get the cops there?”
Lane held out her hand as she started walking toward the exit, “Give me your phone or put it on speaker. I need to know what that man is doing to my son.”
Now that the situation had been communicated in English, Jess who was making her way out of the seats when she’d heard it in Italian, climbed over the seat in front of her, and was ru
Ben took the hand Lane had extended, but he hesitated to give her the phone, “Red, I’ll put it on speaker. I’ll even leave it here with you, but you have to promise me you’ll stay here until you hear from me.”
Great, once again, Lane was about to be on the phone helplessly listening to some nut case threaten someone she loved. But, she was pregnant, and half the family was already ru
She exhaled a rather large sigh, “Fine, I’ll stay put.” She handed her cell phone to her husband. “You take my phone and go.” Lane leaned in and kissed him, “Kill the bastard if you have to. Just rescue our son.” She whispered into his ear.
Chapter 30
Sure, Evans had taken him by surprise, but Jamie had at least six inches and at least 50 pounds on him, not to mention that Jamie was 25 years younger. Jamie had also been taking martial arts for the last three years and had black bets in two different disciplines. Once he caught his breath, all of those facts surfaced.
Evans was still leaning all of his weight into the forearm that held Jamie against the wall, but he wasn’t paying attention as Jamie dropped his cell phone into his gym bag and let the bag slip from his right shoulder onto the floor. With his left hand, Jamie reached up to rub his jaw; when he brought it down, he grabbed Evans behind the head and brought his own forehead to co