“Well, he did leave Flynner in all day,” Luis said slowly. “Even though the guy was dropping balls left and right.”
“Yeah …,” Ken agreed. “And Flynner injured me so I couldn’t play.”
“Flynner was in on it,” I told them.
“After Flynner was taken away, Coach just kind of checked out,” one of the tackles said. “Luis, you were calling the plays for the whole end of the second quarter.”
“That’s true.” Luis frowned. “But why would Coach do that? How could he do that to his own team?”
They all looked so confused and upset. It was no way to spend halftime.
“Hey!” I yelled, jumping up on the bench. “Who cares what Coach did? You all know the playbook by heart. Who cares what Flynner did? He’s out, and now we have Luis. Luis is on fire!”
A ragged cheer went up from the team.
“We still have a game to win,” I added. “Can we do it?”
“Yeah!” Luis yelled.
“Can we?” I said again.
“Yeah!” the whole team roared.
“Then let’s get back out there and show Miller State whose house this is!” I cried. “M-O-U-NT-A-I-N!”
“L-I-O-N-S!” my teammates bellowed.
“Mountain! Lions!”
“Rooooooaaaaarrrrr!”
19.
A Winning Season
“One score, baby!” Luis cackled the next day. “One beautiful touchdown. That’s all it took!”
“Well, one beautiful touchdown after two backbreaking quarters of clawing our way to a tie score and forcing Miller State into overtime,” Joe corrected.
I bit into my grilled cheese sandwich and looked around the dining hall. Pretty much the entire football team was here. But it was the first time we and our suitemates had eaten here. Ken had decided that all his superstitions were over now that Pinnacle had won the championship. “Where is our winning receiver?” I asked.
“Anthony? He said he had a meeting this morning,” Ken replied. “Why?”
I exchanged a glance with Joe. We hadn’t told the police about Anthony’s part in the conspiracy yesterday. But it was sure to come out. Roque and Coach might try to keep the cops from finding out that they were blackmailing somebody. But Flynner would definitely spill it. He was too dumb to realize that extortion made the charges against them even more serious.
“Uh-oh. I recognize that look. It’s a secret agent look,” Luis said. “What’s going on?”
“We’re not secret agents,” I told him. “We’re just undercover agents.”
“And don’t talk so loud,” Joe added. “You two are the only ones who know the truth about us.”
“What, that you have to go back to high school tomorrow?” Ken teased.
“Yeah,” I said, fake-sighing. “It’s not fair. You guys get to go on and have an amazing season next year as the starting quarterback and the starting kicker. And we just have to go back to our lives as agents on incredibly cool, high-octane secret missions.”
Luis threw a french fry at me.
“Check it out,” Ken said, nodding toward the door of the dining hall. Anthony Aloia had just walked in. And with him was Dr. Fred Roque.
“Anthony!” one of the linebackers yelled.
Everyone cheered and whistled for the receiver. Anthony motioned for them to stop, but they all just yelled louder.
Finally he smiled.
“It’s about time,” Joe said to me. “That guy needs to loosen up.”
Anthony spotted us and headed straight over. Dr. Roque trailed behind him.
“Hey, guys, mind if we sit?” Anthony asked.
Joe’s eyebrows shot up. “Both of you?”
“Yeah. That okay?” asked Dr. Roque.
“Sure.” I pushed my chair to the side to make room. “But I’m surprised to see you here, Dr. Roque. I thought you’d be down at the courthouse.”
“My son’s hearing isn’t until later this afternoon,” Dr. Roque said. “So I came by to help out Anthony here.”
“How?” asked Joe.
“Dr. Roque came with me to see the Ethics Board this morning,” Anthony explained. “I went in to tell them that I was part of the conspiracy to throw the game.”
“What?” cried Luis. “But you scored more points than anyone else yesterday!”
“I changed my mind halfway through,” Anthony said. “But for the first two quarters, I was mostly messing up on purpose. I had to admit that. I’m through with keeping secrets.”
He’s a good guy, I thought. “What happened?” I asked him.
“I told them what I did, and I told them why,” he responded. “That I was being blackmailed. I guess by Coach.”
“We don’t think so,” said Joe.
“I hate to say this, Dr. Roque, but I think it was John who did the blackmailing. At least, he did a lot of it,” I told him. “He had the voice modulator. And, well, he knew that you had given Anthony’s parents a bribe.”
Ken and Luis sat silently, eyes wide.
“It wasn’t a bribe,” Dr. Roque insisted. “Those things were gifts to Anthony’s parents. The car, the TV …”
“Inappropriate gifts,” Anthony said. “My family should never have accepted them.”
“And I should never have offered them,” agreed Dr. Roque. “That’s what I told the Ethics Board. I screwed up, and Anthony’s parents screwed up. And poor Anthony got blackmailed because of it. He’s a good kid and a great receiver and the team needs him. That’s what I said.”
“And what did the Ethics Board say?” Joe asked.
“That I can play next year.” Anthony couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice. “I’m on probation, but I can play!”
“Excellent!” Luis slapped him a high five.
“It was seriously cool of you to do that, Dr. Roque,” I said to the ex-player.
He shrugged. “I really do care about the team. I guess that was always John’s problem with me. Maybe I care a little too much. But I don’t want the Mountain Lions to suffer because of what I did. I never meant any harm.”
“My parents gave back all the stuff,” Anthony added.
“Yeah, and I’m forbidden to be a booster anymore,” Dr. Roque went on. “It’s just as well, since my son has been asked to leave Pinnacle. Obviously I need to spend more time with him, and less time cheering for the football team.” He stood up and clapped Anthony on the back. “I’m still on your side, though, guys. Good luck next season.”
He made his way out of the dining hall, but Anthony stayed with us.
“Is Marco in jail?” he asked me.
“His parents posted bail,” I said. “He’ll be charged with fraud and conspiracy, same as Flynner. But it’s less serious than what they’ll hit Roque and Coach with. They’ve got racketeering charges, extortion, all kinds of things.”
“Still, Flynner and Marco will never play football again,” Ken commented.
“I can’t believe it,” said Anthony. “All for money.”
“People do strange things,” I agreed. “But the important thing is that the Mountain Lions won.”
“And Frank and I accomplished our mission,” Joe said. “Again!”
Foul Play Page 11
