Wolf Trap (Casey Reddick Book 1)

by Charles DeMaris

  Wolf Trap

  Charles DeMaris

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  About the Author

  1

  New Year’s Eve

  Casey Reddick tried to contain his nerves as he listened to the National Anthem. Two more wins. That’s all it would take to finish his senior year with a National Championship and a Heisman Trophy. He was a lock to be drafted in the first round. He would have gone in the first round after his junior year, but he chose to return for a chance at a title after a late season loss cost his Buckeyes a berth in the playoff the previous season. His senior year was a dream season. His team was undefeated and he had won the Heisman running away.

  He had come a long way and he owed everything to two people-his mother and Jim Peterson, his football coach at Walnut Hills. Coach Peterson knew immediately that Casey had a special talent and was determined not to let him become another statistic. He had seen it too many times over the years with young black boys who grew up fatherless. Too many ended up on the streets, or worse, in the morgue. His own brother was gunned down years before right before his eyes. Casey was more than just the best quarterback he had ever seen; he was like a son.

  Wilma Reddick sat in the stands and wiped a tear from her eye as she watched her son fidgeting on the sidelines. The last twenty years had been difficult. She worked two jobs since her husband left her alone with two kids to feed, Casey and his younger sister Keisha, and she had done as well as any woman could have done in her situation. Keisha was also in college on an academic scholarship and would be graduating in a year. Now they were saying Casey would be the first pick in the upcoming NFL draft and would likely sign for millions. “I’m gonna buy you a big fancy house when I get to the NFL,” Casey had told her a few months ago, “in one of those nice neighborhoods.”

  “Come on Clyde, game’s about to start,” Earl Grant said.

  “You can’t rush perfection,” Clyde Jackson said.

  “It’s just burgers and dogs. How perfect does it have to be?” Marlene Jackson asked.

  “Burgers and dogs are done. It’s Jenny’s lamb chops I’m perfectin’.”

  “Thanks, Clyde. I appreciate you, even if nobody else does,” Jenny said.

  “Man, ‘Bama doesn’t stand a chance. Reddick’s gonna pick ‘em apart,” Earl said.

  “Tide’s gonna beat your Luckeyes. You just watch,” Thad said.

  “You mean like your Wolverines did? Hey, at least you got within 20 points. Better than anyone else in the conference did.”

  “Reddick’s overrated.”

  “Overrated my…”

  “Easy big guy, just kiddin’ with you. You guys probably gonna win it all. Don’t see anyone can stop him.”

  “Couldn’t stop him in high school either. I saw him play a few games down in Cincy. Gonna have a hell of a career in the NFL.”

  “Earl…”

  “Sorry. Marlene. You used to talk like a sailor. Now you don’t like folks sayin’ hell.”

  “Our illustrious wedding guest said it wasn’t genteel.”

  “Well, if he said so.”

  “Okay guys, food’s ready. They kickoff yet?” Clyde asked as he came in from the grill.

  “Just gettin’ ready to. Hurry up,” Earl said.

  Casey jogged out onto the field after the opening kickoff, glancing in the stands and spotting his mother before going into the huddle. As he got under center, the butterflies disappeared and he became calm as he looked over the defense. Cover 2. He audibled away from the running play, took the snap, and rifled a pass down the seam to his tight end for a gain of eighteen yards. Now the butterflies were really gone. He was in the zone. Six plays later he capped off the drive with a five- yard touchdown run on a naked bootleg, completely fooling the defense.

  “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Earl said.

  “O H…” Clyde said.

  “I O,” replied Earl and Marlene in unison.

  “I don’t understand this game one bit,” Jenny said, “You keep calling it football, but the players are using their hands. It doesn’t look much like a ball either.”

  “Give it time. You’ll understand it eventually. Can’t be married to a redneck and not watch football,” Earl said.

  “I’ve been watching football my whole life. There is a ball, and the players use their feet. Simple.”

  “You’d like my friend from Cincinnati,” Thad said, “He likes your kind of football.”

  “Your friend, the writer? He was at the wedding, wasn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he was there, spent half the reception talking to our famous guest.”

  “I like his wife. Classy lady. At least she has an appreciation for a proper cup of tea.”

  “So, Thad, you gonna keep the shop? Not like you need the money now,” Earl asked.

  “Yeah, that’s an understatement,” Clyde said, “Who wins the Powerball twice?”

  “Just lucky, I guess,” Thad said, “I’m gonna keep the shop. Granddad started it. Feel I owe it to him. Hired some guys to run it. My job is testing the fishing boats now.”

  “Lucky my…”

  “Earl…”

  “Sorry, Marlene. I was gonna say foot.”

  “My foot.”

  “I’m thinkin’ he borrowed a certain fashion accessory from the Prof.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Thad said.

  “Come on man, Avi told me one was missing.”

  “Well, I don’t have it.”

  Thad’s phone buzzed and he looked down at it and chuckled.

  “What’s funny?”

  “My friend’s texting me. He’s enjoying the game.”

  Clyde snatched the phone from his hands and looked at the messages.

  “He’s enjoying the game, and takin’ selfies with Thomas Jefferson apparently.”

  “He likes to go where they do those reenactments.”

  “My foot.”

  Casey was in the zone the entire game, but so was the Alabama offense, and as the game entered the fourth quarter, the score was tied at 28. He drove the offense down the field, eating up the clock, but the drive stalled when he had to check down to the running back to avoid pressure and the play came a yard short of a first down. The field goal was good, but the lead was short- lived as Alabama drove down for a touchdown to take the lead with only two minutes remaining.

  Casey did what he had done all year. Six plays later he stood in the shotgun, 40 yards from pay dirt with 20 seconds remaining. This was it. Time for a couple more plays. He looked over the defense and saw the double coverage on Jefferson, his normal go to target in clutch situations. He called an audible and took
the snap. Yep, Jefferson had double coverage, but he pump- faked that way anyway. Bingo. The free safety bit on the fake and there was the tight end running all alone up the seam behind the defense. He cocked his arm to throw the pass. Smith was wide open. There was no way he could miss.

  He released the ball, a perfectly thrown spiral, but he never saw Smith make the catch in stride and step into the end zone. The defensive end had beaten the tackle and came in on his blind side. The tackle recovered and tried to take out the end, but only managed to trip him up. One minute, Casey was preparing to celebrate the game winning touchdown throw and the next second the defensive end’s helmet was crashing into his knee. He heard a loud pop and fell like a rag doll. He instantly knew something was wrong because his whole knee was on fire and he could do nothing but writhe in pain on the field.

  “Yes! Touchdown! O H…” Earl said.

  “I O,”replied Clyde, then as the camera panned back to show Casey Reddick rolling in pain on the field, his jubilation turned to concern.

  “Oh man, that don’t look good,” Earl said.

  Casey was taken off the field on a cart and the game ended, but there was little celebration on the part of the players or the fans. They were going to the National Championship game, but their Heisman winning quarterback had just gone down and the prognosis did not look good.

  “Don’t turn off the TV until they get some news,” Clyde said.

  “Probably not gonna be good news,” Thad said.

  “Yeah, helmet to the knee. That never ends well. Looks like the Palmer injury all over again,” said Earl.

  “Just turn it off,” Jenny said, “I don’t need to see another replay. It’ll take them a while to do the MRI. Won’t see results for an hour or two.”

  Earl turned the channel to the New Year’s Eve coverage.

  “So, Jenny, Earl tells me you guys are starting a new company,” Marlene said.

  “Yes, going to do cyber security consulting.”

  “Cyber what?”

  “We’ll go into companies and look at their networks to see how vulnerable they are and show them how to make things more secure.”

  “I hear about companies doin’ that sort of thing.”

  “But not quite like I plan on doing it. I’ll start out by hacking their systems, with their permission, and then I can show them how I got in and what they can do to prevent different types of hacks. Everything is catered to the size of the company and what kind of budget they have to work with. Of course, I’ll offer other services too, help people set up networks and train their IT people better.”

  “Sounds like you know computers.”

  “You could say that,” Clyde said.

  “Oh, look, the ball’s about to drop.”

  All eyes were on the TV for the countdown and the ball drop, toasts were proposed, kisses were heartily given and received, and Marlene said, “You folks can sit up if you want, but I’m hittin’ the hay. See y’all in the mornin’.”

  “How much does she know?” Earl asked.

  “Just about everythin’,” Clyde said, “except for the changes. I didn’t tell her what was different the second time around.”

  “That’s probably for the best,” Jenny said, “So she knows my background.”

  “I told her everythin’ from when we first met Avi to when we got back, but not about the changes. I had to tell her somethin’ after she eavesdropped at the weddin’ and heard you and George talkin’.”

  “Does she know about the other part of our business?” Earl asked.

  “The spy stuff?”

  “Intelligence gathering,” Jenny said.

  “Same thing.”

  “Not quite the same thing.”

  “Why you want to do that anyway?”

  “I haven’t been in this country that long and I’m not even a citizen, but I like it here and I’m scared how vulnerable America is. If everything I read is true, there have been big cuts in intelligence funding and the different government agencies are so worried about protecting their turf that the quality of the intelligence gathering and analysis suffers. I want to serve my country like anyone else does, and this seems to be the best way to use my talents.”

  “So, you just snoop around and if you find that some bad dude is up to no good, then what?”

  “We offer the information to the people who can act on it. I’m not into having agents running around out there.”

  “Not to interrupt,” Thad said, “but it’s now my friend’s birthday.”

  Thad held up his phone so everyone could see another man on Facetime and panned the phone back and forth so his friend could see everyone in the room. They all said, “Happy birthday” in unison and then Thad talked with him a minute longer before disconnecting the call.

  “Uh…how long was he on the phone and how much does he know?” Jenny asked.

  “Oh, he knows all of it, or all you’ve told me, but he can keep a secret.”

  “What if he writes a book about it?”

  “It would be fiction, and nobody would believe it was true anyway.”

  “You’re gonna need more than a laptop, you want to do all that spyin’ stuff,” Clyde said.

  “That’s why I’m gonna take her shopping,” Thad said, “That is if Earl don’t mind.”

  2

  The lobby at St. Joseph’s Westgate Medical Center was standing room only. The entire football team and coaching staff were there waiting to see Casey and hear the prognosis on his injury. When Dr. Pradeep Rashid walked into the lobby, he was immediately surrounded. The coach walked through the throng and straight up to Dr. Rashid.

  “Can you tell us anything yet? When can I talk to him?”

  “We have him sedated for the pain and he’s sleeping a lot, but when he wakes up you can come in, a couple at a time.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “I’m not going to sugar coat it. It doesn’t look good. His knee was dislocated and he tore the ACL and the MCL.”

  A murmur went through the room as the word was passed to those too far away to hear the doctor.

  “What does that mean for his future?”

  “He will have to have surgery sure, but with rehab he will be walking again in a few months.”

  “How about football?”

  “There have been other athletes that came back from injuries like this. Only time will tell. Most of the time you will have one ligament tear or a dislocation, and many players come back from that, but Mr. Reddick’s injury is one of the worst I have ever seen. A lot depends on how his body heals after the surgery and how the rehab goes. In my professional opinion, I could not see him being ready for the start of the season.”

  “He’s graduating anyway, but he had hopes of being drafted.”

  “Well, you would know better than I in matters of football. So, he did get his degree?”

  “Yes, he came back for his senior year, hoping to win a title.”

  “That’s good then. He has something to fall back on.”

  “Dr. Rashid, he’s awake now, if you’d like to talk to him,” said a nurse coming out of Casey’s room.

  “Let me have a moment, and then you guys can come in, but you heard the doctor, just a couple at a time.”

  The coach walked into the room and to the side of Casey’s bed.

  “Ma’am,” he said to Casey’s mother, tipping his cap, and to Casey, “How you feeling, champ?”

  “Not good, coach. Not hurting so much now. Can’t feel much really, but I hear them talkin’. Don’t sound good.”

  “No Casey, it doesn’t sound good. I just spoke with Dr. Rashid.”

  “Give it to me, what did he say? Nobody’s told me anything yet.”

  “You dislocated your knee and tore your ACL and MCL.”

  “Man…what about…oh man…”

  “I don’t know son, I really don’t know. You’ll need surgery and the rehab is long for an injury like that. You could be walking in a few months.”

 
“A few months. People come back from things like this, right?”

  “Players come back all the time from ligament tears, but yours is little more than that.”

  “What you saying, coach? Can I play football again?”

  Casey looked at his mother, sitting silently wiping tears from her face with a handkerchief, and then back at his coach. The look he saw there did not fill him with confidence and he felt the tears welling up.

  “Casey…I don’t honestly know what to say. You might make a full recovery and there might be a team out there willing to take a chance, but not in the early rounds. You understand. The way you play the game…the kind of quarterback I’ve always loved…you might never be able to play that way again. You’ll have to become a pocket passer. Even then, teams aren’t going to draft you early. You’ll go in the late rounds or get a camp invite as an undrafted free agent.”

  “Other guys have come back from things like this. What about Adrian Peterson?”

  “He was the exception, and he was already in the league. You can’t rule anything out, but teams are going to want to see how you turn out before they take the chance. You could still make it, but you might want to at least consider other options. You have a degree, you’re a smart kid, and you’re a natural leader. I know you’ll succeed whatever you decide to do.”

  “You sayin’ I might not play football again?”

  “Don’t hold me to that, but it’s a possibility you might want to be willing to consider.”