Connor shouted to Mark and Brett, “Pop it back up! Pop it back up!”
Mark and Brett fired and tried their best, but the ball fell well short of its original target and hit the ground with no one catching it. Sector 39’s fans cheered and both teams headed back to the line.
Matthew, still on the sideline with Que and Jant, yelled out to Connor, “Short and steady—we need some points!”
Connor popped back, “Plenty more chances—just need to get the ball higher, you wuss.”
Sector 37’s first offensive series lasted for seven plays, and they were able to accumulate fifty points. Rocky had not reached Connor, but there was plenty of game left. Matthew took the field as a defensive trailer and did not have a lot of luck. He dropped a ball that would have given his team twenty points and then fell down trying to catch up to a tracker.
Connor continued to give Matt a hard time “Half the girls in our class could have caught that ball. Maybe we should call April to see if she’ll fill in for you.”
Matthew took it in stride, but as the fourth and final round of the game approached, he started to worry about the outcome.
Coach Jenkins gave a final pep talk to the offense. “We’re just a few plays from putting this away, boys. Just keep it in the medium zone and they won’t be able to catch us.”
Connor confidently led the team to the field for the final time on offense knowing that if they could put together a few points, it would be over. The first six plays of the final round went well, with Sector 37 putting up 120 points. They now held a 480 to 310 lead over Sector 39. Coach Jenkins wanted to retain the lead and play it conservatively, so he called a time-out.
“All right, Connor, just throw it short. Our defense will hold the lead, and we don’t want them getting any cheap points.”
Connor grunted, “Sure thing, coach.”
Connor grew more confident with each stride to the home box and called his trackers over. “We’re not going short; we’re finishing with a bang. All four of you go deep down the right side.”
Jim spoke up. “Coach told us to go short.”
Connor grabbed Jim by the shirt, yanked him forward into his face, and barked, “Coach isn’t going to be the one that kicks your butt tomorrow in school if you don’t go long! Now break!”
Connor took the ball for the final offensive play, and the trackers took off deep down the right side. Coach Jenkins was jumping and yelling on the sidelines, “What are you doing?”
Connor, confidence boiling over, started to pull the ball back to heave it down the field. Just then, the extended right elbow of one Mr. Rocky 32451 crashed into Connor’s left temple and the ball went flying wildly into the air. Connor was flat on his back as blood started to stream from his head. All of the Sector 37 trackers ran back to try to catch the ball but Sector 39’s best marksman had already deflected the pass to his own trailers.
The official called out, “Trailer catch at forty yards; forty points to Sector 39.”
Connor picked himself up from the ground as Matthew ran out to check on him. Matthew whispered sarcastically to Connor as he helped him up, “Nice play.”
Connor realized that he was bleeding and took a straight line to Sector 39’s disruptor and promptly hit him in the back. “That was a cheap shot; you coulda broke my jaw!”
Rocky, unfazed, responded, “If I wanted to break your jaw, I would have, sweetheart. Go cry to somebody else.”
Connor’s temper got the best of him and he lunged at Rocky. Both boys were on the ground punching at each other as the officials and coaches moved in.
Coach Jenkins yelled, “Break it up!”
The officials blew their whistles and pulled Connor from the clutches of Rocky. The head official said, “The tosser for Sector 37 is ejected from the game for poor sportsmanship and the team is docked fifty points.”
Coach Jenkins, irate at the official, ran to him and pleaded, “They were both involved. We shouldn’t get punished if they don’t.”
The official responded, “If you don’t get your team to their side of the field in ten seconds, you will forfeit the game. Score is now 430 to 350.”
The majority of the members of Sector 37’s team began to berate their best player. “Damn, Connor, we’re screwed now! What the hell were you thinkin’? We had a chance this time. You blew it!”
Matthew jumped in to defend Connor. “Look, we wouldn’t have the lead if it wasn’t for Connor, so stop your cryin’ and let’s go play some defense. We can still win this thing.”
Matthew led his defense onto the field knowing that it would be difficult to hold Sector 39 to less than eighty points in the last round of the game.
Matthew shouted out, “Que, you get the right side. Jant, sprint to the middle at release. Tim, put some pressure on him, and keep your hands up.”
It seemed like the prospect of losing to Sector 39 again lit a fire under the defense as they played their best round of the day. The entire defense stepped it up, and with only one play remaining, the game was tied at 430 points. Not a great position to be in, but better than trailing.
Coach Jenkins called one final time-out to talk with his team. “Boys, we’ve played them to a tie, but I don’t want a tie. I want a win.”
Jim and Andy chimed in, “Come on, guys! Somebody make a play!”
Even Connor was trying to rally the team in his own way. “We got you 430 points; it’s your turn.”
Coach Jenkins continued, “They have been killing us on the twenty-yard out all game, so look for that.”
Matthew said, “I’ve been trying to cover it, coach, but I’m just too slow to get there in time.”
“Then run faster.”
“Great, wish I had thought of that,” grumbled Matthew.
The boys were about to move back to the field when Matthew noticed a man walking up behind Coach Jenkins. He was partially blocked by the rest of the team, but Matthew could tell that he was bald. He was wearing dark black pants held up with blue suspenders and an old gray T-shirt. There was writing on the T-shirt, but it was faded out. The man walked past the coach and straight toward Matthew. Matthew tried to move back but ran into Que.
The man came closer to Matthew, patted him on the shoulder as he passed, and said, “Good luck.”
Matthew looked back at Connor as the man walked away. Connor shouted, “What’s wrong with you? Get out there and win this game for me. I mean us.”
Matthew tried to focus on the game, but wondered if this was the mysterious man from the warehouse. He had never seen the man before, so why would he wish him luck or pat him on the shoulder? He determined that he was just being paranoid and cleared his mind of the questions.
Matthew returned to the home line for the last play of the game. Sector 39 lined up its team and the play began. The trackers took off down the field, and Matthew saw their best catcher break at about twenty yards. The tosser released the ball and Matthew was off toward that twenty-yard mark as fast as he could go. Sector 37’s marksmen fired multiple shots at the beamball but came up empty; the ball was on its original trajectory to the tracker.
As Matthew ran toward the twenty-yard mark, he felt different—stronger, lighter, faster—and he was making up ground on the tracker. The ball was in the air, headed into the tracker’s hands. The crowd was screaming. Both teams were jumping up and down. Matthew left his feet and dove toward the ball. There was a crash of bones and skin.
Both boys were lying on the field and as they started to get up, the entire crowd grew quiet. Coach Jenkins yelled to the field, “Where’s the ball?”
Connor wanted to run onto the field, but he didn’t want his team to get disqualified. The officials huddled over the two boys and blocked the crowd’s view.
Suddenly, Matthew jumped into the air with the ball safely in his hands, and the head official called out, “Twenty points to
Sector 37. Game over!”
The crowds went into a frenzy, and all of Matthew’s teammates rushed the field and began to hug and pat Matthew on the back. Coach Jenkins grabbed the ball from Matthew’s hand and said, “This is going in our trophy room at the school. How in the world did you get to that ball?”
“I don’t know, coach, I just had a rush of energy, I guess.”
Connor gave Matthew a hug and whispered in his ear, “Thanks for covering for me. I owe you one.”
Matthew couldn’t believe what he had done, but he responded as any good brother would. With exaggerated confidence, he said, “I told you I would kick some butt today.”
But something wasn’t quite right to Matthew. How did he catch up to that ball and what did that old man have to do with it—if anything? Matthew looked around to see if he could find the man who had patted him on the shoulder, but he couldn’t see him.
“Come on, Matt!” yelled Connor as he began to make his way with the team to the park’s snack benches. “The team’s gonna to get some cold cream and the coach is using his credits.”
Matthew shouted back, “I’ll be there in a minute! I’m just looking for something!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Matthew spotted the slow walk of a man wearing blue suspenders and heading out the front exit of the park. Matthew sprinted toward the exit and yelled at the man, “Hey, wait, mister! Wait a minute!” The man in the blue suspenders continued to walk, either ignoring or not hearing Matthew’s calls.
Connor saw Matthew sprinting toward the exit and left the rest of the team at the snack tables. Coach Jenkins asked him, “Where you going, captain? We don’t even have our cream yet.”
“Sorry, coach. I’ve gotta go. You can get me some cold cream next week when we beat Sector 42.”
Matthew was at the transport station and continued to look for the mysterious man in the blue suspenders. Connor ran up and asked, “Have you lost your mind? What are you doing?”
“He was here, the man from last night, the man from the warehouse window.”
Connor shook his head and wondered why he gave up cold cream for Matthew. “There is no way the guy from the warehouse was at our game! Why would he be?”
Both boys heard a knock coming from behind them. The boys turned and saw the bald man in the blue suspenders sitting in the transport. He tapped on the window and waved at them, like he was playing with them. The transport took off and the boys watched as it vanished from sight.
Matthew looked back at Connor and said, “Now you believe me?”
“Yeah, I believe you. Now what do we do?”
Matthew looked at the large outgoing board at the transport terminal and said, “We go home and we figure out how to get into that warehouse. I think we need to talk to this guy.”
Connor dug in his pockets to pull out his credits for the ride. “I have a feeling that if we get in trouble for this, I’m going to kick your butt! So let’s go.”
Chapter 4
meet mr. kellington
“What in the world’s goin’ on here?” asked Matthew as he and Connor walked up to the end of their street. The euphoria from their victory was still fresh in their minds, but a rush of adrenaline filled their bodies as they got closer to the old warehouse next to their apartment. They approached their building and noticed a different kind of flashing light bouncing off the walls and pavement around their home. These were the lights of a dozen security vehicles staked around the perimeter of the neighborhood.
Connor said, “Have you ever seen so many security teams in one place?”
“Not even when we locked Ms. Carlson in the broom closet in second grade.”
Connor laughed and said, “Yeah, that was great. Let’s see if we can hear what they’re sayin’.”
The boys made their way around the apartment complex and sneaked up behind a short brick wall that separated their building from the warehouse. The wall was only three feet tall, so the boys crawled their way to a point where they couldn’t be seen by any security personnel but could hear what was being discussed. They were able to distinguish one of the voices as that of Sam, their own building’s security lead. Even with the throngs of security team members moving about, they were well hidden.
“Where’s your supervisor, boy?” asked a man in a gray suit with very short trouser legs. You could see his white socks between his brown boots and the bottom of his pants leg. He was in his mid to late thirties, wore a gold ring with a centered diamond stud, and had a small scar on his left cheek. He didn’t look like the other security personnel. In earlier times, one might say he looked goofy.
Sam turned around and replied, “He’s right over here, sir, but can I help you with something?”
“You one of the security leads from here?”
Sam replied, “Yes sir, I am lead over the housing complex behind us.”
The man looked Sam over from shoes to head and said, “Well, I’ll have to talk to you then. Call your supervisor over here.”
Sam called out to his supervisor, Mr. Hugo Jackson, and he proceeded to Sam’s location. Both Connor and Matthew noticed that the man in the gray suit had a strange slow accent to his speech. It was something that they had never heard before. All citizens were taught a specific way to speak and pronounce while in school. It had been a top priority of Minister Hathmec in the early 2100s. This man spoke with what would have once been described as a Southern twang.
As Hugo Jackson made his way over, Sam told him, “This gentleman wants to speak with you, sir.”
Mr. Jackson looked at the man, grinned, and said, “This is no gentleman, Sam; this is Keith Kellington. What brings you down here?”
Mr. Kellington stretched his hand out and shook Mr. Jackson’s hand, “Oh, I think y’all know why I’m here, Hugo. It’s not every day we hear one of our security leads has been murdered on the job. In fact we don’t ever hear of that happening, so Mr. Elliott thought it would be a good idea for me to come and find out what’s goin’ on.”
The boys heard the word “murdered” and almost jumped out of their crouch behind the wall. A murder in Sector 37 was unheard of. Not only was someone murdered, but it was one of the security team members. They wondered if this had something to do with the strange man from the warehouse last night or the man who had found them at their game earlier in the day.
The boys wanted to talk to each other, but the fear of being caught eavesdropping was enough to keep their mouths shut.
“It looks like you’ve done a good job clearing the area, Hugo. Do y’all have clearers posted around the building?”
“Of course,” said Hugo. “If anyone gets too close to the building, our security directs them away, per regulation.”
Mr. Kellington continued, “So, was the young man who was murdered your partner?”
Mr. Jackson stepped in. “Now wait a minute, Keith. We don’t know for sure he was murdered; it could have been an accident.”
“That’s why I’m here. We just wanna make sure we don’t have any problems growin’ here in Sector 37 that may require our helpful hands.”
Hugo Jackson responded, “We have the best-trained security personnel in the world here, Keith. How could someone purposely take down one of them? The only people who could have murdered him would be one of his superiors or someone like you from Sector 1.”
“I don’t think that’s the case, my friend.”
Hugo Jackson walked up close to Mr. Kellington and whispered in his ear, “It couldn’t be the old resistance movement again, could it? We haven’t had problems with them for more than thirty years.”
Mr. Kellington simply gave a quick glance to Hugo Jackson and prodded Sam to answer his question.
“Yes, sir, we have worked at this building together for the last year and a half.”
Mr. Kellington pulled out a piece of paper. “This incomin’ l
og report from last night says you called in for backup around eleven.”
Sam responded, “Yes, sir.”
“So, were you part of the team that entered the warehouse last night?”
Sam responded, “No, sir. I was going to be, but someone has to stay at post at all times, and Brett wanted to go with the search team, so I let him.”
Mr. Kellington dropped the papers to his side. “I see. You didn’t have the nerve to go lurkin’ ‘round in an abandoned warehouse.”
Sam, appalled that his courage was being questioned, responded, “I was not afraid, sir! It was just that Brett can be very persuasive.”
“He’s just messing with you, Sam. Keith knows what it’s like out here for you guys.”
“That’s true, Sam; I’m just messin’ with you, tryin’ to ease the tension a bit.” Keith Kellington put his arm around Sam and quietly asked, “Was he persuasive enough to talk you into a trip back to the warehouse this morning?”
Sam was disturbed at the tone of Keith’s question and confused by the sudden change in his accent. He dropped his head and shook it up and down to signal that he had allowed Brett to reenter the warehouse earlier in the morning.
“Well, I don’t wanna discuss this around all these other security teams, so you and Hugo come with me and we’ll discuss this at Sector Headquarters. We’ve got plenty of surveillance video to go through to tell us if anyone was ‘round the area to see anythin’ else.”
Mr. Kellington led Sam and his supervisor, Hugo Jackson, to a four-wheeled transport and left the area. Both Connor and Matthew peeked from behind the wall to see them driving away and crawled back to the safety of the rear of the building.
“Can you believe what we just heard?” asked Connor. Matthew, concerned, turned his back to Connor and began to breathe heavily. Connor put his hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “You OK? What’s the matter?”
Last Chance Page 5
