“Now here, I’m thinking that there is no way that they’re going to be blitzing. See how the linebacker is backing up. We’d been tearing them up to the outside all day.”
“Play action pass,” giggled Heather. Mike shrugged. “We thought it would be a good play.”
Obviously it wasn’t as the defense flattened Mike with his back tuned from the line. Third and fifteen.
“Ouch!”
“I think it was more shock than pain at that instant. Pain comes later.”
Heather was curious. “You’re up by fifteen with less than five minutes to go, and you’re passing? Mike nodded. “Coach has a lot of confidence in our defense, besides he said he wanted me to get some throws in.”
The confidence was well warranted as Mike completed a medium pass to the tight end who was able to squeeze forward another ten yards being pulled down on the opponents thirty-two yard line. First and ten with 3:48 remaining. Mike handed off to Adam Peters who took the ball six yards off the left tackle.
“Play action again?” asked Heather. Mike took the snap, backpedaled, checked off his primary receiver, pumped twice and delivered the ball to the flanker, who brought it down at the fourteen yard line. “Regular pass, seven step drop…and we’re running the same play without the huddle.” This time the primary receiver was open and Mike completed the pass into the end zone. “And that is the end of the scoring portion of the game.” It was indeed as the extra point rebounded off the left goalpost. “Freshman kicker,” muttered Mike. “Glad we went for two on that first touchdown.”
Mike completed the game by sitting on the football as the opposition was unable to make a first down on its final series.
Shortly afterwards, Mike and Heather talked on the sofa joined by Mike’s twin cats Puss and Dusty, though Heather noted wistfully they didn’t seem all that enthralled by her. She loved cats, and it hurt that these two weren’t reciprocating.
“Mike, I don’t want you to think I’m pushing you away or anything, cause I really do like you. Something’s come up and I along with a few others need to go to Ireland for a couple of weeks.”
“Ireland? What’s going on?” Heather winced. “Mike, I can’t go into much detail, but I’ll be leaving in a couple of days. “I PROMISE you that I’ll email you, OK?”
Mike nodded. “Wish I could go with you.” “I think I wish you could come with me too.”
Heather looked at her watch. “We’d better go if we’re going to catch the movie.”
“Agent Wendy Patel?”
Wendy looked up groggily. A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties stood beside her, looking on her with concern.
“Wendy, I’m Jennifer Grogan with the Evansville Resident Agency,” Vix introduced herself flashing her badge. She closed the door. “Blackhorn wanted you to know that you are on recuperative leave for the next month. He’s also writing you up for a commendation.”
“What about Ramer?” Vix’s face hardened.
“He’s currently the subject of a state-wide manhunt. He almost killed you; he DID kill a deputy named Juan Enriquez who had a wife and child, and he may have started a war with the local covens.”
Wendy felt her insides churn. “Why would MY being shot start a war?” Vix grinned and shook her head. “Wendy, it’s all right, we know your secret, there was no way you would have survived with your heart being stopped as long as it had. We managed to convince the doctors that you’d been specially trained in Zen Buddhism and that your body is exceptionally resilient.”
“You mean that they didn’t come right OUT and say you were full of shit?” Wendy asked wryly.
“Well, that excuse will do for now. Agent Patel, you still have a career with the FBI, but Blackhorn will probably reassign you to a different investigation. Frankly, I hope you stay here in Indiana. Did you have any questions?”
“Have we contacted the group? I’d much rather concentrate on catching Ramer than worrying that my sisters are about to do something on their own.”
Vix was quiet. “Wendy, you DO understand that CATCHING Ramer creates a whole lot of problems. If he is caught, he goes to court. If he goes to court, he’s afforded all the rights he has coming to them, including the right to an attorney, the right to testify on his own behalf in court, and the right to a jury trial.”
Wendy had considerably more perspicacity than most people who had been clinically dead less than twenty-four hours beforehand. “In other words, if he’s caught…we get a lot more attention than we want.”
“Exactly, Agent Patel, you must realize that your actions have put us in a hell of a situation, we either kill Dan without a trial or he blabs in open court or he gets away scot-free. Why didn’t you just come forward with the information you’d been compromised?”
Wendy sighed. She couldn’t very well say that she was going to work as an intermediary between the FBI and their happy band of werewolves. “Well, Dan was a bit of a psychopath, wasn’t he? Surely the FBI realizes that they missed that important detail during his initial psychological profiling?”
“You could have gone over his head. Look, I’m not going to hassle you about it, just understand that, while you DID do us a great favor by showing us how unstable Ramer was, you’ve also created a hole for Dan to run through. I highly doubt that he’s going to stop with his attempted killing of you.” Vix paused to let that sink in. “That’s all I have for you now, I understand that you parents will be along shortly. Take care now.” Vix exited the room, frustrated. Killing Wendy now would do nothing to improve things.
Ten in the Evening, September 23, 2006, District Attorney’s Office
“Ladies, I’d like to thank you for coming in again, and for bringing your daughters with you.” Heather addressed the group; her Dita, Debra and Heather, Sharon and Katie, Solange and Gabby, Ebony and Lucy, Brenda and Rachel, and Anaya and Maria. “We’ve all been through a traumatic experience, as you know our newest member of our group, Wendy Patel was very nearly killed last night. Happily she’s now on her way back to Pittsburgh with her parents, but the fact remains that as a group, we remain threatened. The killer remains at large, and if the FBI does catch him, there is a very high probability that our people will be exposed.”
Gabby, Lucy, Maria, and Rachel exchanged confused glances. Katie looked at her mother questionably. Lisa softened her tone. “Besides Brenda and myself, how many of you have made your children aware of your condition?”
No hands were raised. Lisa smiled proudly at her sisters. “Thanks girls. But the time has come for full disclosure, I’m not going to try to shock your children with any bizarre displays, but I am going to ask you to tell them everything so they are aware of what if going on. “Gabby, Maria, Lucy, Katie and Rachel…your parents will have something to tell you after this meeting, but for now bear with me. Parents you’ll be happy to know that I will NOT ask you to bestow the gift on the girls if they don’t want it…but if they volunteer make sure that they get it.”
The parents squirmed uncomfortably. So did Dita and Heather.
Lisa continued. “What I want to do now is find out who is going where. Brenda and Sharon, are you sending Katie and Rachel to Ireland with our girls?”
Debra answered, “Rachel is going, but Katie shall be going to my parents’ home in Vancouver, along with Maria and Lucy. Lisa grinned. “Great! So that leaves Gabrielle. Solange, you’re sending her to France, I take it?” Solange nodded.
“Good. Wendy is going to go to Pittsburgh, but she is going to try to coordinate with us in a few days to make it easier for us to catch Ramer. For now, just get your kids ready to go.
Rachel raced over to Dita and Heather, embracing her friends. “Ireland! Have you girls been there before?”
“Never!” they both said. “You two are in for a treat, Mom and I go there every two years or so, I’ll show you all the good parts. So what is this all about, d’you know?”
Dita and Heather exchanged glances. “Trust us, when we tell you that you’ll want to hear it from your mom. Our situation might be a bit more, uh…shall we say involved."