by J. T. Baier
Matt swallowed hard. That was the crux of the issue. His father had made his position on the matter clear--he’d be providing no assistance toward tuition. If Matt’s dream of wrestling at the University of Iowa was going to be a reality, he was going to have to pay his own way.
Coach nodded toward the clock hanging on the wall. Three o’clock exactly. “Now we wait.”
They didn’t have to wait long. The phone on Coach’s desk let out a trill less than a minute later. Coach scooped up the handset and held it to his ear.
“Hello.” He paused, listening. “Yes, sir. He’s right here sitting across from me. One moment.” He leaned forward, offering the handset to Matt. “Mr. Riker, Coach Zalesky would like a word.”
Matt tried to steady his hand as he took the receiver and held it to his ear. “Hello, Coach Collinsworth.”
“Mr. Riker! Pleasure to talk to you again.”
Matt was struck by the difference between the two coaches’ voices. Coach Kane was always calm, spoke softly but confidently, and there was always a hint of gruffness in his voice. Zalesky on the other hand was always enthusiastic and spoke as if he was addressing a large crowd even when he was talking to one person. The differences in their styles would take some getting used to if Riker did join the University of Iowa team.
“Same here, Coach. Thanks for taking the time to speak with me.”
Zalesky let out a laugh. “After your performance at State, how could I not? You really made your case. Trust me when I say you made a lot of people sit up and pay attention. The way you slipped out of that leg ride in the finals was truly impressive.”
Matt couldn’t help but smile. Any compliment from a man like Coach Zalesky would have been welcome, but that one in particular, felt well-earned. “Thank you, sir.”
“Mr. Riker, the reason I’m calling is that I’d officially like to invite you to join us on the mats at the University of Iowa this fall.”
“That’s great news.” Matt’s voice sounded distant in his own ears as he answered. His dream was so close, but it wasn’t in reach quite yet.
“Well, I’m sure it’s not the only invitation you’ve received. But I’m confident that our wrestling program is the best in the country, and you deserve to join the best. That’s why I am offering you full academic assistance. That’s what us non-bean counters call a full-ride. You come wrestle with me, and you won’t pay a cent for college.”
The conversation went on for five more minutes, but it passed in a haze for Matt. His mind kept drifting back to Collinsworth’s words. Full academic assistance.
He’d be able to go to college. He’d be able to wrestle with the best team in the country. All the hard work. All the blood, the sweat, and the tears. It had all been worth it.
Eventually, he said goodbye to Zalesky and set the phone down on its cradle.
Coach Kane raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t trying to listen in, but it was hard not to hear Zalesky’s loud voice. Did I hear the words full-ride?”
“Yes, sir,” Matt said. “You sure did.”
That was one of the few times he’d seen Coach Kane smile, and it was a wide, toothy grin. “I’m damn proud of you, Riker.”
Matt felt an unexpected wave of emotion wash over him. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t seen me sitting outside the principal’s office and invited me to join the team freshman year. You changed my life, Coach.”
Coach considered that a moment, then shook his head. “I disagree. All I did was offer you an opportunity, same as I have for a hundred kids over the years. You’re the one who worked your butt off. You earned this, and don’t you forget it.”
When Riker left Coach Kane’s office, he found Luke waiting for him outside, an anxious expression on his face.
“Well?” he asked.
Matt shrugged, his face blank. “No big deal. Just a full-ride scholarship to the University of Iowa.”
Luke’s eyes widened and a slow smile broke out on his face. “Holy shit, dude! That is incredible! Congratulations.”
He held up his hand and Matt slapped it in a high-five, a wide smile on his own face now.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Luke said. “We need to celebrate.”
“Actually, I think I’m going to head home. I want to tell my mom the good news.”
“Yeah, of course.” Luke thought for a moment. “And your dad! Come on, I’ll drive you home. I want to see the look on his face when you drop this on him.”
Matt didn’t bother arguing. He normally walked the two miles home after school, but riding in his best buddy’s truck felt much more appealing this afternoon. He wanted to share the good news with his parents as quickly as possible. If he hurried, he might even get there before Dad made it home from work. It would be nice to tell Mom first without Dad there to suck the joy out of the room.
Luke spent most of the drive to Matt’s house talking about all the chicks Matt was sure to get as a wrestling star at college. Luke wouldn’t be going to college--he’d be joining his dad’s construction company instead--but he quickly shifted the conversation to all the visits he intended to make to the university and how he expected Matt to provide him with plenty of alcohol and introductions to female students. Matt promised to do his best on both fronts.
When they pulled into the driveway of the Riker family’s small, single-story home, Matt let out a disappointed sigh. His dad’s beat-up old Bronco was there. That meant he’d either gotten fired again or just got sent home early due to lack of work. Either way, it would be a hit to his paycheck, and he would not be happy. Matt would have to be careful in his delivery of his news. His dad was volatile at the best of times, and he could interpret Matt’s news as bragging, which would mean a rough night indeed. But as long as he hadn’t been drinking, Matt felt as if he’d be able to navigate the situation. He had a lifetime of practice, after all.
He turned to Luke, who was already unbuckling his seatbelt. “Hey man, would you mind doing me a favor? Wait out here while I scope out the situation?”
Luke raised an eyebrow. “And miss the look on Gary Riker’s face when you give him the proof that he was wrong about your wrestling skills taking you to college?”
“Just for a minute. Let me make sure he’s not in a mood. Then you can come in.”
Luke shrugged. “Yeah, okay. But you owe me an introduction to a hot redhead at U of I, understand?”
“Deal.” Matt opened the truck’s door, stepped out, and walked up to the house.
He paused on the stoop and tried to see what he could decipher about the situation inside the house. It was quiet. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. He pushed the door open and slowly stepped inside.
He was greeted by the faint sound of a Johnny Cash record, his father’s preferred music when he was feeling melancholy. Matt knew from experience that melancholy could turn to anger with little warning in this house. His eyes immediately went to the end table next to his dad’s favorite chair. What he saw made his heart sink. A half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels and an empty glass. It was not even four o’clock, and already his dad had put away enough whiskey to make most men pass out. But not Gary Riker. Gary was just getting started on his evening.
Matt’s mind was already running through possibilities. Should he still go out and celebrate with Luke as he’d planned? That would let him avoid his father, but it would also leave his mother alone with the old drunk. Would it be better to endure a hellish night at home for her sake?
He was still considering that when he heard a loud crash from the kitchen. It was quickly followed by a slurred voice shouting in anger.
“Look at what you did, you stupid bitch!”
Matt didn’t stop to think. He sprinted toward the kitchen. The first thing he saw as he stepped through the doorway was the broken pieces of a plate on the floor. The second thing he saw was his father’s fist slamming into his mom’s face.
24
Riker stumbled out of the woods in the dead
of night. The sky behind him had a soft glow from the fire at the barn. He could hear a babble of a stream flowing to his right. It guided him to an embankment. He climbed up it and reached a paved country road. Once he stood on the side of the road, a car’s headlights flipped on.
Megan drove over to Riker, and he was in the car almost before it stopped. She hit the gas and they sped away into the night.
“Holy shit! What did you do?” Donnie asked from the backseat.
“For the moment, I shut down production of a rather large heroin operation.”
Donnie let out a laugh. “You make it sound like you flipped off the power. That place exploded. I mean, we could feel the shockwave in the car.”
“Are you hurt?” Megan asked.
“No more than I was before the evening's festivities. My leg is throbbing like a son of a bitch, but I’ll be fine.”
Donnie leaned forward, putting his head between Riker and Megan. His eyes were wide and looked clearer than Riker had seen them since he had been back.
“That was the best thing I have ever done. When those guys came out with rifles I was sure that I was going to die. It was so intense.”
“You did great Donnie. Thanks for taking such a big risk.”
“All I did was stand outside of the gate and acted drunk for a few minutes and it was intense. You just infiltrated a drug facility and blew it up. You did it by yourself. You’re like Commando.”
Megan had a shocked look on her face. “I’m shaking and all I did was drive.”
“You both did great.” Riker’s tone was serious.
“How did you get past the guys with the assault rifles?” Donnie asked.
“Men with guns always think they have the power. They don’t think that anyone will challenge them, and they let their guard down. I just took advantage.”
Donnie was smiling. “You need to teach me how to ‘take advantage’. We just shut down a drug operation. I want to do this all the time.”
“First, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it took me fifteen years of hard training with some of the world's best warriors to acquire my skills. I can’t really just teach you some tricks. Second, we didn’t shut down their operation. We just threw a wrench in the works.”
Megan looked concerned. “You don’t think this is enough to stop them for good?”
“There were seven men in the barn, along with twenty women. I didn’t get a chance to check the house, but I would guess that it held at least that many people.”
Megan's head snapped towards Riker. “Twenty women? What were they doing there?”
“They were producing and packing the heroin. I’m sure they were the night shift.”
“The night shift?”
“An operation like that doesn't shut down for half the day. They work the facility in two twelve-hour shifts. That’s why I’m sure there were another twenty workers in the house. One shift sleeps while the other works.”
Megan paused for a minute to process what Riker had just said. “A twenty-four-hour operation that requires twenty workers at a time has to produce way more drugs than this town can use, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. In fact I just destroyed enough to supply New York for about a week.”
Donnie turned to Riker. “That’s impossible. I thought that they were just selling locally. Why would they have such a large operation here?”
Riker stayed silent and let Megan work the problem. She spoke up quickly. “This is the perfect place to produce a huge operation. No one would ever suspect this town as a drug center. The police force is small and can be bought. They can work almost in plain sight with very little risk.”
“That’s right. I expected to find a local operation at the farmhouse, but this is so much more.”
“Who is in charge of all this?” Donnie asked.
“I’m not sure yet, but we are going to find out soon.”
“How?” Megan asked.
“You don’t mess up a multi-million dollar operation without getting the attention of the man in charge. And whoever is in charge of this will be a serious and ruthless man.” Riker shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I have endangered this entire town.”
“I think that’s a little dramatic,” Megan replied.
“No, it’s not. The men in charge of this scale of production cannot be seen as weak. They will need to make a swift and harsh retribution. You are both in serious danger and so is anyone related to the business. That includes family and friends of anyone involved.”
Donnie shook his head. “You didn’t endanger anyone. My brother was set on fire before you ever arrived. Coach Kane is dead. Kids are sticking needles in their arms. These guys were already killing all of us. They were just doing it slowly. I’d rather have them come at us full force. At least everyone will know that they are under attack.”
“He’s right, Matt,” Megan agreed. “We were already in danger. At least we are fighting back now.”
Donnie smiled. “Hell yeah. We are kicking their asses.” He paused for a moment. “What do we do next?”
“I’m glad that you are both willing to fight back. I’ll be with you till the end, no matter how things turn out. Just know that it will be even more dangerous from here on out.”
Megan put one hand on Riker’s shoulder. “We get it. We can get hurt. I believe that the question is what do we do next?”
Riker knew that Donnie and Megan didn’t really understand the danger that they faced, but he admired their spirit. “We prepare for an attack. These people will retaliate quickly. Their number one mission will be to kill me.”
“Do they even know it was you?” Donnie asked. “I mean, it was night. They might not have seen your face.”
Megan glanced at Donnie in the rearview mirror. “He’s the x-factor in town. He has already messed with them, and they wanted to kill him even before tonight. I’m pretty sure they will figure out that it was Matt. Even if it wasn’t, they need someone to make an example of.”
“Well said, Megan. They will come for me tonight. The good news is that they will not prepare. They will strike hard and fast, relying on numbers and firepower.”
“Striking hard and fast with lots of firepower doesn’t sound like good news at all,” Megan said.
“We know where the enemy will strike, we know the approximate time, and we know that they will underestimate us again.”
Megan and Donnie gave each other a confused look. “Okay, so how do we use our advantages?”
“First, we go shopping.”
Twenty minutes later Riker, Megan and Donnie were going through the aisles of a hardware store. Riker had given everyone a list of materials to load into a cart. Both Megan and Donnie were confused by the list, but they filled their carts with the requested materials.
After the materials were loaded into Megan’s trunk, they raced back to her house.
“Shouldn’t we have gone to a gun shop or army surplus store?” Donnie asked.
“Guns have waiting periods, and I don’t like leaving records of where I’ve been. Besides, I don’t want to kill all of the men coming for us tonight. That’s why we got the supplies we did instead of lethal weapons.”
“You don’t want to kill the guys coming for us tonight? Aren’t they going to be trying to kill you?”
“I’m guessing that they will send the guys from Luke’s crew. They may be working for a drug dealer, but most of them aren’t murderers and I doubt any of them are soldiers. They are just a bunch of local guys who have taken the wrong path. I’d rather not kill them, but I will if I have to.”
“You’re a better man than me. I’d say anyone working for those scumbags deserves to die.”
“How about a little less psycho?” Megan said. “You know a lot of guys that work for Luke. Would you really kill them?”
Donnie shook his head. “I would if they were coming to kill me.” He turned to Riker. “At least tell me that you’ll give them a beating.”
“If I’m alive in th
e morning, I promise that all of the guys who come for me will be regretting their current life decisions.”
Donnie smiled. “I can live with that.”
The three pulled up to Megan’s house. They grabbed all of the supplies from the hardware store. They included roofing starter shingle roll, nails, copper wire, work lights, adhesives and nylon rope. Riker directed them as they set up the perimeter of the house.
The three worked quickly knowing that time was short. Riker could see that Donnie was having trouble focusing as the alcohol left his body. He still worked as hard as he could. Megan was exhausted as well but she did as Riker directed.
“You weren’t kidding, these guys are going to regret making a move on this house,” Donnie said.
“Just because I don’t want to kill them doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t learn a lesson. What happened to all the tough talk in the car about killing everyone?”
“It’s just that I remember laughing when I watched Home Alone. I don’t think this version will be quite as funny.”
“I always wondered why people liked that movie. That kid was a total psychopath, and most of his traps were poorly constructed. I guess he was just a kid, but you should still take pride in your work.”
Megan looked at the two men. “You know you have a very different take on that movie than most people.”
Riker shrugged. “Sorry, I guess I have a slightly different background than most people.”
Donnie laughed. “I saw you walk into a drug dealer’s compound tonight unarmed and escape while the place burned to the ground. I’d say you have a much different background than most people.”
Forty-five minutes later the three finished the makeshift defenses. Riker knew that it was a rush job, but he thought it would do the trick.
“Will this be the end of it? I mean if we stop the men who come tonight will that finish off what’s left of the drug element?” Megan asked.
Riker shook his head. “No this is just the first step.”
