"Trying to."

"Bless your heart! That eye looks horrible." She placed her finger on his chin and raised his face to get a better look at his black eye. "What happened to your eye? There's a teacher's pool on trying to guess what happened," she giggled.

"Well, I wouldn't want to give you an unfair advantage. All will be revealed when enough time for speculation to run rampant has pa.s.sed and when everyone has placed their bets," he laughed.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll come back later." Cade snapped his head from Stephanie's grasp and right into the clearly p.i.s.sed off face of the woman he couldn't stop thinking of.

"You're not interrupting. I'll let you all talk. Cade, we'll talk more later. Have a good practice." Annie watched as Stephanie straightened up from leaning over the desk and thrusting her cleavage into Cade's dazed face. "Bye now!"

Cade watched as Stephanie strutted out of the room. When he turned to look at Annie, he knew he was in trouble. She stood with her arms crossed, which resulted in her b.r.e.a.s.t.s being presented to him. He heard her clear her throat. Uh-oh. She'd caught him staring at her chest. He just couldn't stop digging himself deeper into the hole he was in.

"It's not what it looks like." Dig. "I mean, nothing was happening." Dig. "I mean, she doesn't mean anything to me. She was just looking at the nice s.h.i.+ner you gave me."

"Yeah, sure. Look, I just wanted you to give me a list of the players who were the closest to the three players who were using S2. I want to call them in first for a counseling thing I'm going to do with the players on peer pressure and drug use."

Cade glanced at the clock and saw he was already late for practice. "Can you walk with me to practice and we can talk more about it? Please." Annie gave a quick nod of her head and headed out the door without him.

Annie was so p.i.s.sed off she would swear her red hair had turned into flames. She was all ready to come forgive him when she spotted his face in the chemistry teacher's b.r.e.a.s.t.s and her hands all over him. If only he had not spoken a word to her last night and kissed her, then she'd finally get laid. She didn't even want to think about how long it had been. But she couldn't fool herself. She wouldn't have gone through with it. It just wasn't her style.

They walked down the empty hallways winding toward the football field. Blue lockers lined the walls heading toward the double doors at the end of the hall. They pushed through the doors and into the hot summer heat. Humidity engulfed her and held her tight as they made their way across the parking lot to the practice field.

"What the h.e.l.l?" Annie didn't quite know what to think of the picture in front of her. The players were in a circle, and inside the circle were two people dressed in large padded sumo wrestler outfits.

"The guys were really down after our last loss so we thought it would be a good idea to have a fun practice. We're still teaching tackling and blocking, just as sumo wrestlers." Cade grinned and watched his a.s.sistant coach belly bounce Ryan Hall across the circle.

"Who is that?" Annie asked, pointing to the giant bouncing kids around with his sumo belly.

"That's Coach Parks. He's the offensive coordinator." They stood and watched as Trey Everett tried to block the belly but got flattened. Coach Parks held up his hands in victory. Austin Colby nodded to the group, and on a yell the whole team leapt onto Coach Parks. Parks fell dramatically to the ground with the kids as he tried to throw them off of him.

"Okay then. You might need to rescue him. I'll write down the names of the kids you recommended I start with and call my boss. I will let him know about the deadline you have tonight with Gaylen and see what he wants you to do and also run my plan by him. I'll give you a call later to let you know what to do,"

"Okay. Look, Annie, we need to talk. About last night."

"You got practice, Coach. We can talk later." She cut him off and turned back to the building. She didn't want to hear that last night was a mistake, and she'd bet her job that what he was going to say.

Annie closed the door to her office and took a few minutes to stand in front of the desk fan she had bought to cool off. Her office was small and windowless. Her gray metal desk was covered with papers and student files. She had no pictures on the walls, only generic college and university posters that were sent to her in the mail. She had no plants, not even fake ones, and no personal items except for a pair of sneakers in case she needed to run after a kid someday.

She sat down on her cheap desk chair and picked up the phone to call Special Agent Romero. As she was patched through, she picked up the files of the students Cade had told her about. First up was the quarterback, Austin Colby. He was best friends with Bonner and the most likely to give her information.

"Romero," she heard her boss snap as he picked up.

"It's Blake."

"What do you have for me?"

"Last night the head football coach was s.n.a.t.c.hed from the parking lot by a team of idiots." A little laugh escaped as she remembered Cade retelling the story.

"You're laughing? Is he hurt?"

"No, far from it. He went along with it to get us information."

"He knows about the investigation? How in the h.e.l.l does he know about an undercover investigation?"

"Ah. About that. You have your database up?"

"Yes. But I don't see how that has anything to do with how a high school football coach could discover our investigation. Are you sure he isn't the boss?"

"Yes. I have searched his desk at school and his whole house. Type in the name Cade Davies. You have a higher clearance level than I do. Maybe you can learn more than I could." She heard Romero type in the name and waited while he was silent.

"Jesus Christ. A Distinguished Service Cross? Is he for real?"

"Sure is. He also hacked the DEA database and discovered my ident.i.ty and more within the first week I was here."

"Then I guess I don't need to be worried about him being involved. He'll make one h.e.l.l of a witness if it ever goes to trial. So, what did he find out?"

"He was taken to see Trevor Gaylen at the Lexington Iron Club and Spa. He thinks Trevor is hired upper management from Scotland. Trevor gave him a choice. No more S2 testing, turn a blind eye to any locker room dealing, and get his top players into the Keeneston Iron Club and Spa for personal training with Devon Ross. If he chooses to do this, he gets a champions.h.i.+p team. If not, then his dog and the women in his life, including his mother and sister, are killed."

"Okay. What else is there?" Romero asked.

"I have a plan. Cade gave me a list of kids who were close to the guys that tested positive for S2. I want to call them in for counseling on handling the pressure of sports and cla.s.ses and bring in drugs and peer pressure."

"Tell Coach to accept the deal this Gaylen guy is offering. Tell him to pretend to turn a blind eye but doc.u.ment everything. I want intel that will lead us to the boss. Also, have him keep an eye out, and if anything gets too serious, and it looks like the kids are in danger, we'll put a stop to it. We don't want anything to happen to these kids. I want you all to watch, listen, learn. Talk to the kids, but don't talk to them about S2 specifically. Get to be their friend or at least not the teacher everyone hates. I want to learn the major players in the drug trade. I want to know the dealers, the supplier, middle management, upper management, and the boss. I want all that information and all that evidence before we take down the ring. Because when we take it down, I want everyone in jail. I don't want anyone left to try to take over the business and continue to endanger these kids."

"Yes, sir."

"How is the boy doing with the heart problem?"

"Better. He still isn't back at school yet and may not be able to for a while."

"Okay. I will send someone from the office to the rehabilitation center to talk to him. I will let you know what we get from him. You're doing well Blake. Call in next week at the scheduled time."

"Yes, sir. Good-bye."

Annie hung up the phone and put her feet up on the desk. c.r.a.p. She had really wanted to act more aggressively, and she had a feeling Cade would not be happy with doing nothing to protect his kids. She picked up the files on her desk and started reading them. She wanted to know all about these boys before she began calling them in to talk to them.

Annie put the file she was reading down and looked at her silver watch. It was past six o'clock. She had probably missed football practice, and there was a good chance Cade was already gone for the day. She stuffed some more files into her bag and ran out the door. She raced across the parking lot and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Cade's SUV was still parked by the field house. She pushed open the door to the locker room and wrinkled her nose. It smelled like sweat, dirt and gra.s.s. The smell was overpowering.

"Cade?" She peeked around one of the lockers but didn't see anyone. She went off in search for him, pa.s.sing rows of lockers and benches. There was a large meeting room with plastic chairs and a chalkboard covered with X's and O's that took up most of the wall.

It looked like she turned the wrong way so she headed back for the door and then kept going past it. She looked down more rows of lockers until she saw a light coming out of a door at the end of one of the rows. She headed toward the light and noise reached her ears. As she neared the light, she heard singing, very bad singing. Was that Taylor Swift? No, couldn't be.

Annie paused to smile to herself as he continued to sing. She walked through the door and froze in her tracks. Cade was singing alright, singing b.u.t.t naked in the middle of a huge room with shower heads lining the three walls.

"Oh my G.o.d!" She felt her cheeks go bright red at the sight of him. He was even better without his clothes on. His muscled arms, his chest sprinkled with dark blonde hair that came together in a tiny trail that led past his well-defined abs straight to his...

"Annie, can I help you?" he laughed. He turned to her fully so she got an eyeful and then some. She covered her eyes with her hands, more to hide the fierce blush than to prevent her from looking. It had been a long time after all, and this was, well, this was art and it deserved to be appreciated.

"I'm sorry. I was just going to tell you about the conversation with my boss." She s.h.i.+fted her ring fingers slightly so she could peek out and study the artwork.

"Okay, so what did he say?" She heard him chuckle, but she was really busy appreciating the artwork to look up and see his face.

"Oh, um, he wants you to take the deal with Trevor. He wants us to gather intel and evidence so we can bring the whole ring down at once. I know you won't like it, but he does have a good point."

"If there's one thing I know how to do, it's keeping my head down and gathering intel, even though all my instincts tell me to do something to protect the people." d.a.m.n. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. She dropped her hands and realized why it was so hard for some guys to keep their eyes on her face, 'cause his muscled chest was not allowing her eyes to go any further upward.

"What did you do for the Rangers? Both my boss and I tried to access your whole file and we couldn't. Everything is sealed."

"It's not sealed. It's just not written down. The things I did were off the books. Surveillance, rescue, and well, things that may make the paper, but you'd never be able to connect it to the United States." Cade shrugged and pulled on a t-s.h.i.+rt.

"Well, I guess this isn't as important as what you did, but you are saving an untold amount of children's lives."

"I know. That's the only reason I'm going along with it." Annie watched as he walked out of the showers and felt an odd sort of panic as she realized she didn't ever want him to walk out on her. And she certainly didn't want Miss Perky, the chemistry teacher, seeing what she just saw.

Chapter Ten.

Annie pulled on her KHS sweats.h.i.+rt and clapped her hands together as Trey Everett ran for eight yards. The crisp mid-October air mixed with the scent of leaves covering the ground, the noise of the band playing, and the crowd cheering was warming. It filled her with the feeling of being a part of something and she loved it.

She wasn't so much in love with the fact that over the past six weeks she hadn't gotten any closer to learning who the boss of the drug organization was. It had been quiet. No other contact with Trevor, no thugs stopping by, nothing. She had tried poking around at the Cafe for the local gossip. She did hear an interesting story of some drunken horse groomers riding a horse down Main Street, and teenagers tipping cows, but there was no talk of any drug use.

The big talk recently had been about the Homecoming Parade and game. And, what a parade it had been! Each cla.s.s built a float that carried its Homecoming Court, and the football team had three floats. A lot of the area businesses built floats as well. Ashton Farm had a float pulled by horses. Henry Rooney s.h.i.+ned in one of his suits on top a gavel-shaped float. Paige Davies put together a Derby hat float for her store, Southern Charms, and Pam Gilbert was dressed up as a referee on a soccer field float for the Parks and Recreation Department.

People lined Main Street decked out in blue and white. They cheered the floats, waved to the people on them, and talked to all their neighbors. The Rose sisters had set up an outdoor food booth and showed the Homecoming Court what it really meant to hold court. Everyone in town made sure to stop by to pay their respects before heading home.

The town was excited for Homecoming. The team had gotten off to a rocky start but had won the last five in a row. They had squeaked by in a couple of them, and it still looked like they were trying to find their groove, but a win was a win. Cade had told her that he didn't know whether to be thrilled or horrified, thrilled they were winning, horrified that they still didn't seem like a team after all this time.

She enjoyed their talks at night when he walked her home from their standing Wednesday night dinner at the Cafe. They would have dinner, and he would walk her home. They'd sit on the porch and talk about the team and her guidance counselor job. It seemed like that was the only time they could talk. It seemed like every time she tried to talk to him at school, Stephanie would come and sit down and start chatting with them. Every now and then she'd see that flash of desire shoot across his face, but then it was gone before she could decide what to do about it. It really was better this way, though. She had a job to do and romantic entanglements would just hinder her.

Annie had been interviewing the team over the past months and had found a few kids that had more information than they were sharing. Teenagers. They always thought they were so smart. In reality, they were so easy to read. She knew they were lying to her the second they started spinning their tales. They were so c.o.c.ky that they hadn't even noticed when she tricked them up on their story. No reason to lie about what you did over the weekend or what you do at the gym, but they did.

Right now it looked like Cade was going to kill one of those kids. Cade had his hand in Austin Colby's facemask and was forcibly trying to get him to pay attention while he explained something. But even from the stands she could tell Austin was having none of it. His body language shouted defiance.

"Hey. What did I miss?" Paige Davies slid into the seat next to her.

"Well, Cade seems to be struggling to get Austin to do what he wants. We were down by ten, but Trey just ran it thirty yards for a touchdown. The fourth quarter is about to start. What were you doing? You hardly ever miss a game."

"Cole and I were in Tennessee visiting his mother. I made him turn on the siren so I could catch the end of the game." She grinned and Annie instantly saw the family connection. She had gotten to know Paige over the past couple of months. They sat together every game and sometimes McKenna joined them. It was strange to have girlfriends. She had never had any before.

"Colby! Jesus, are you trying to kill me? I called a running play! Are you blind?" Cade screamed. He could feel his blood pressure rising more than it did when he was under enemy fire in Afghanistan when he rescued an ally prime minister who should have known better than to enter a war zone without having the area secured.

"I thought I was open for the run, so, it was still a running play." Austin refused to look at him. Instead he kept his eyes on the cheerleaders. He had refused to take any criticism and instead blamed every other player on the team.

Cade looked at the clock. There were two minutes left in this game and they were down by three. "Okay, now listen. I want you to call a slant rout to Hall. Got it?" Austin didn't bother to acknowledge him as he ran onto the field after practically tripping over his ego. Cade took a deep breath. They hadn't been covering Hall very closely, and if Colby would actually pa.s.s the ball, Hall would make good yardage.

The ball was snapped. Austin stepped back to throw to a wide open Hall and tucked the ball and ran instead. He barely made it back to the line of scrimmage before he was taken down.

"Time!" Cade yelled to the referee. The whistle was blown and the team made their way toward the sideline. Cade took a deep breath and counted to ten. He would not kill Austin... he would not kill Austin, he chanted in his mind.

"You're busting my rhythm, Coach. Let me do my own d.a.m.n thing." Austin yanked off his helmet and glared.

"I'm going to say this once Austin. Once. So help me, if you do not do what I tell you, I will run you to the ground at practice and then make you run more."

"Yeah, right. I am the best player on this team. I don't have to do nuttin'."

"Try me," Cade barely whispered as he hardened his gaze. Austin rolled his eyes and put his helmet back on. "Slant route to Hall. Got it?"

The team lined up and the ball was placed on the line. Cade heard no noise but the whistle of the referee starting the clock. The ball was snapped. Hall took off. With a quick stutter step he lost his guard and was headed for the end zone. Austin raised his arm back and threw the ball. It spiraled through the air and bounced off the ground on the opposite end of the end zone from a wide open Ryan Hall.

The crowd groaned as the band picked up. A loss that should have been a win. Cade was livid. The team gathered around him for the post game prayer, all except Austin who headed straight for the tall Devon Ross in his Cincinnati Bengals warm-ups and gold chains. Cade looked into the emptying stands and immediately focused in on Annie. She saw it too.

"Amen," Parks said. The team broke and headed for the locker room.

Cade watched as Trey Everett headed straight for Austin. Devon nodded at him, and Trey sent him a look that could freeze h.e.l.l. Austin turned to Trey, and Trey grabbed his jersey at the neck and dragged him by his pads away from Devon. Cade watched as Trey yelled at Austin until something hit home, and Austin reached out and shoved Trey. Trey took a step back and then shoved Austin hard. Austin went flying and landed on his b.u.t.t on the field.

A couple of people in the stands clapped, and Austin hurried to stand up and stormed off the field in a huff. Devon came over to Trey and Cade figured it was time he got involved. He headed over toward them, but before he got there, Trey shot Devon the finger and walked to the locker room.

Cade looked back to Annie and their eyes locked. They both understood what had happened. Austin was on S2 and Trey knew about it and didn't like it. She had found her weak link, and he would bet Trey would be in her office first thing Monday morning.

"Tough loss Coach." Stephanie saddled up next to him and slipped her hand through his arm. "It'll be okay though."

"No, no it won't. I'm watching my team implode."

"But they were great! It was just one bad play."

"I wish. They're aggressive and not listening to us. Instead they are fighting with each other and not using their heads. They have talent, but they just need to get out of their own way."

Forty-five minutes later Cade hurried out of the locker room. Tonight settled it. He needed to see Annie and tell her they needed to work on this together. He was hopeful they could work together closely. They had been talking and getting to know each other more over the last couple of months, and what he discovered was that he liked her. They worked well together and he knew it. He looked out over the parking lot to where kids were getting in their cars, parents were chatting and tires were squealing. Squealing? Cade watched as a black Escalade turned down a row of cars and headed straight for him.

They slammed on the brakes, and the steroidasaurus triplets from his last visit to the gym jumped out with bats. Great, just what he needed. At least it wasn't Larry, Moe and Curly. "Our boss said you were wavering on the deal we have. You better get out of the way of your boys. Boss is turning them into champs," one of them said. Honestly, with their tight white t-s.h.i.+rts and shaved heads they all looked the same.

"No, your boss is turning them into aggressive, egotistical teenagers who think they know everything. Look what it got us. A loss. Tell your boss he's making the team implode." Cade was so angry he had to talk himself out of beating them up then and there, staring parents be d.a.m.ned.

"This is just to remind you to keep your mouth shut." Bats were swung, headlights were smashed, windows were shattered, and the hood was dented as they busted the SUV up. Cade rocked back on his heels and tried not to laugh. They had done it again.

"Hey! What are you doing to my car?!" Coach Parks yelled as he sprinted towards them from the field house. The triples froze and looked from Parks to the car they were currently destroying. One of the men, the one with the tattoo of himself on his forearm, at least Cade hoped it was of himself and not one of his buddies, pulled out a piece of paper.

"Says he drives a year old Black SUV. Toyota." One the three men leaned forward to look at the front of the car.

"Ford. Oops."