by Tim Green
“That’s not winning me any scholarship,” she said. “But I’ve got something that might. . . .”
Josh already knew by her behavior that she had something big in the works, bigger than a tournament recap. Sometimes she disappeared for whole afternoons, evenings, or weekend days without any more explanation than that she was working on her Young Journalist project.
Curiosity was eating away at Josh.
“It’s better if I don’t reveal my sources, but don’t worry,” she’d say. “I’m not making any waves. I’m being careful. That’s why it’s taking so long. It’ll be great, though, if I get what I need. You’re getting the hits to win your house, and I’m getting the facts to win my scholarship.”
When Jaden appeared on the school bus Wednesday morning before the big tournament, she had a smug smile on her face and said, “Well, I just got the most important interview lined up. It’s exactly what I need. That ten grand for college is gonna be awfully nice.”
“Chump change,” thought Josh. But he liked Jaden so much, he would never challenge her about needing the money for college.
He insisted she tell him what the piece was about.
“It’s huge, but if I tell you, you have to swear on your life you won’t say anything to anyone, especially Benji. I want it to be a surprise, and I want to make sure I can get it all before my sources dry up.”
Josh held up an open hand, palm out. “Swear.”
“It took me all this time because he’s so secretive.” Jaden’s eyes glowed with excitement.
“Who?” Josh asked.
Jaden narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice. “Coach Swanson.”
“What?” Josh was shocked.
“When the Titans go to Pittsburgh this weekend, I’m staying here to wrap this up, and he won’t be able to keep it hidden anymore.”
“Keep what hidden?” Josh asked.
CHAPTER SIXTY
JADEN HELD UP HER phone and showed him the recording mode. “I’m going to interview Jack and Martin’s mom and get her on the record. Part of the contest is that you have to have all your sources on audio so they can verify it. They don’t want anyone making something crazy up and stealing the show.”
“You gotta just stop and tell me what it is,” Josh said. “What are you talking about?”
She nodded and looked around to make sure no one could hear before leaning close to him and whispering, “Coach Swanson? The reason he’s here? The reason he’s got Martin under his wing, and he’s grooming Jack to be a big-time baseball player? It’s a blood debt.”
“What?” Josh wiggled his ear because he thought he must have heard her wrong.
“I think Coach Swanson is paying back a life. There’s this village in Afghanistan in Helmand Province. I’m using pictures of the terrain from the internet so I can describe it: the rock outcrops and caves, everything.” Jaden looked around and lowered her voice. “Coach Swanson was out on a mission with a fellow officer to get intelligence from some of ‘the friendlies,’ but it was a trap. Six Taliban rushed in shooting, and the officer was badly wounded. Coach pulled him to cover and killed four Taliban before the others scattered. Coach Swanson hid them both until a marine evac helicopter arrived. By then his friend was dead.”
Jaden looked around again and lowered her voice even more. “They called Coach a hero.”
“If Coach was a hero, then why is this such a secret?” Josh kept his voice down too, even though it didn’t make sense.
Jaden shrugged. “I have no idea, but in every article or news clip I could find about him, it’s never covered. One clip I found was from a local news channel in Charlotte—where they tried to ask Coach Swanson about being a hero. He practically beat up the reporter. He wouldn’t say anything about it.”
“But then how do you know?” Josh thought of how hard-nosed Coach Swanson was, and it didn’t surprise him that he’d almost knocked over a reporter. “Did Coach tell you?” It seemed hard to believe.
“No, Martin did. We got to talking about his dad, and it all came out. Then he got all panicky and made me promise to never tell that he’d told me the story.”
Josh tried to keep up. “So the dead man was Jack and Martin’s father?”
“Yes! Think about this.” Jaden’s voice jumped with excitement. “I get Mrs. Sheridan to tell me what happened, and if it’s what I think happened, hello, scholarship!”
Josh’s mind was spinning, not quite understanding what Jaden was talking about, and he asked, “What do you think happened?”
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
“I’M BETTING THAT ALL the secrecy around Jack and Martin has nothing to do with Jack being older than thirteen. I don’t think that’s an issue at all. I think Mr. Sheridan saved Coach’s life. I’m betting that he does everything he does for Jack and Martin because he’s paying back their dad. How good of a story is that? People are already talking about Jack. Now you tie in this war hero thing, a story no one has ever been able to get to? After Mrs. Sheridan tells me, I’ll have a source I can bank on without getting Martin into hot water, then I can go to Coach and get the last details. It’s my home run.” Jaden sat back, grinning.
“But . . . Coach probably doesn’t want you to write it,” Josh said. “Maybe he’s just really private and doesn’t want to talk about the war.”
“But it’s a good thing. He’s just being modest,” Jaden said.
“Does the mom know what you’re doing?” Josh asked.
“Well, I told her I write for the sports page sometimes and that I wanted to do something on Jack without him really knowing, and I needed some information about their family background, which is all true,” Jaden said. “I . . . I couldn’t come right out and say it was about Coach Swanson, because I figured she might not even want to meet. But if I can get her when he’s not around, she just might tell me.”
Josh shook his head. “I don’t know. I mean . . . it seems sneaky.”
Jaden punched his shoulder. “Are you trying to make me feel guilty? Look, I put a ton of time into this story. I’m counting on it, Josh. I could win this thing. And it’d be nice to get your support.”
Jaden folded her arms, threw herself back in the seat, and looked out the window. Josh didn’t know what to say. He’d never seen her so mad. They rode in silence until the bus pulled up in front of the school. Josh tried to talk to Jaden when they got off, but she marched right past him.
“I can’t help it if you feel guilty!” Josh shouted after her, but she disappeared into the front of the school without looking back.
Josh felt a thump on his back and turned to see Benji looking sadly at the stream of kids entering the school. “Can’t live with them. Can’t live without them.”
“What are you talking about, Benji?” Josh asked.
“Women.” Benji shook his head, put an arm around Josh, and steered him up the steps toward the entrance. “What’s she feel guilty about?”
Now it was Josh’s turn to feel guilty. “Nothing.”
“Dude, we are a brotherhood. Feminine oaths of honor mean nothing to us.”
Josh shook his head. “Nothing. Forget it. Please.”
“You can run, but you can’t hide,” Benji said. “A famous guy—you might know him from the hundred-dollar bill—said, ‘Three can keep a secret if two are dead.’ You, my friend, are very much alive and have an appointment with destiny in Pittsburgh, so out with it.”
“I can’t, Benji. Stop it.” Josh broke free from Benji’s arm and hurried away.
Benji sulked through the rest of the day, and Josh felt suddenly alone. At practice that evening Jaden didn’t talk to him, either. He eyed Martin and Jack Sheridan and envied them being brothers. A brother could never walk away. He wondered about their father, though, and if Jaden was really right.
The best thing for him was to forget about it all anyway. He had to stay on point with his own mission. He still needed another home run to qualify. He didn’t think that would be hard, not the way he’
d been hitting, and from what he’d read online about the teams they’d be facing in Pittsburgh, the pitching was good, but nothing incredible or out of the ordinary. Still, the idea of needing that one more homer gave him the jitters.
At home that Thursday night, after texting with his dad, playing Candyland with Laurel and his mom, and finishing his homework, Josh lay awake in bed. After a soft knock, his mom opened the door and slipped inside. “Hey, honey. What’s the matter? You’ve been kinda quiet tonight.”
She put a hand on Josh’s forehead, and he let it stay there. Something about the dark and the quiet made it okay.
“I’m thinking.”
His mom’s hand paused for a moment. “This hasn’t been easy, has it?”
“No.”
“Want to tell me?” she asked.
“You don’t want to hear it.”
“Yes, I do. I want to help. Whatever it is, Josh.”
He took a deep breath and let it out. “I want to win that home, Mom. There are a couple of lots off Eighth North Street for sale for like twelve thousand dollars. Jaden says with a house on it you could get a mortgage. We’d probably pay about what we pay for this crummy place, only we’d be in a house.”
It was her turn to sigh. “Well, I can’t say I blame you for dreaming, and I’m proud of you for trying.”
“I want you to say you’re happy that I’m trying.”
“It’s not your job to win us a house, Josh. These things are one in a million.”
“Not that much,” he said.
“They’re not easy.”
“Nothing worth having is easy. Don’t you always say that?”
“I don’t want to argue,” she said.
“Then just root for me, Mom. I need all the help I can get.”
“Well, I know you’re going to hit at least one home run this weekend. That even I’d bet money on.”
Josh grinned up at her.
“I see that smile, even in the dark.” She stroked his hair. “You’re a good boy, Josh. I love you lots.”
“I love you too, Mom,” he said. “That’s why I gotta do this thing.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
WHEN JADEN GOT ON the bus the next day, she sat down next to Josh.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
“We good?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Are we?” Jaden looked at him with fire in her eyes and just a touch of sadness.
Josh gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Always.”
She gave him a faulty smile. “I’m nervous.”
“Me too,” Josh said. “It’s showtime for both of us. I gotta get a home run this weekend to qualify for that derby. I can’t even think about not getting it. You, on the other hand, seem to have everything pretty much locked down.”
“That’s only if I can get their mom to talk,” Jaden said. “She might clam up totally when I start asking questions. I have no idea.”
“Then what will you do?” Josh asked.
She shrugged. “Maybe next year, right?”
“I know you put a lot into this.”
“You can’t even imagine,” she said.
Josh was happy to have things back to normal with Jaden. She gave him a hug before she got off at her bus stop. “Good luck. I’ll be thinking of you. Text me when you get number twenty.”
“You got it,” he said. “And you text me when you get what you need from your interview.”
Jaden looked at the time on her phone. “You guys leave in an hour, right?”
“Yeah, we’re meeting at Mount Olympus.”
“Well, I’m on my way over to the Sheridans’ in about a half hour. There’s a bus that changes downtown.”
“Let’s go, young lady,” the bus driver bellowed back at them in the big rearview mirror.
“Go get ’em, killer,” Josh said.
They bumped fists, and Josh watched Jaden get off and head up the sidewalk toward her house.
When he got home, Josh threw some last-minute things into his bag. He kissed his mom and sister and hustled outside when he heard Mrs. Lido’s horn from the street. Benji was in high spirits because his dad—a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan—was driving down the next day to watch Benji play in the tournament, then see the Steelers on Sunday night. After the tournament, Benji would stay with his dad, and they’d go to the NFL game together.
Josh couldn’t help feeling a little jealous, but he was happy for Benji and also for the bubbly attitude that would make the long bus ride to Pittsburgh more entertaining.
When they got onto the bus at Mount Olympus, Josh couldn’t help looking at Martin and Jack Sheridan sitting together across the aisle from where Coach Swanson sat. He looked back and forth between them, thinking of the relationship they all had with each other and imagining there was a pretty incredible story to tell.
“You got a question, LeBlanc?” Coach Swanson startled Josh with his gruff voice and scowl.
“All set, Coach,” Josh said. “Ready to knock a few over the fence.”
“Let’s get a big win in the process, right?” Coach Swanson grinned. “We win this, and it’s a clean sweep for fall ball. Think about that going into the spring. The Nike rep told me they’re making up special sweat suits for the team if we win this weekend.”
“Right, Coach. Four more wins would be big.” Josh felt Benji nudging him from behind, and he made his way to the back of the bus.
They played cards for a bit, with Benji shouting “War!” and laughing his head off to the annoyance of those around them. Josh laughed with him awhile but begged off to read. With all the reading assignments they had for school, he still hadn’t finished The Return of the King, the last of the Lord of the Rings books Jaden had given him. Benji complained but took out his phone and started playing Candy Crush. Josh settled in, using his sweatshirt as a pillow against the window.
He hadn’t gotten very far at all before his phone buzzed. He checked the text. It was Jaden saying that she’d got everything she needed from Jack’s mom. Jaden had a recording of her telling the whole story about Coach’s heroism in Afghanistan and how he’d taken care of the three of them ever since. Josh congratulated her, and she sent a reply.
This story is gonna b HUGE!
I got my home run
now u go get urs!!!
☺
Josh grinned and stuffed the phone back into his pocket.
“What’s so funny?” Benji had been watching him.
“Nothing. Good stuff for Jaden. Good stuff for you. Now, hopefully, good stuff for me.”
“Heavy hitters.” Benji held up a fist.
Josh bumped him and tried to read, but the image of the twentieth home run kept crowding his mind. Josh’s stomach fluttered with excitement, but he finally got back into his book.
They checked into the hotel and had dinner next door at Chili’s. It was ten o’clock by the time they got back to their rooms. Josh had just closed his eyes when someone pounded on the door three times.
Benji jumped up out of bed and whispered in terror. “Dude, what the heck is that?”
Whoever it was, they pounded again and rattled the door knob.
“LeBlanc!” The voice could only belong to one person. “Open this door before I break it down!”
Trembling, Josh undid the chain and opened the door. Coach Swanson burst into the room and grabbed Josh by the arm.
“You!” Coach Swanson pointed at Benji. “Get to bed. And you!” He yanked Josh out into the hallway and slammed the door shut behind them. “You come with me.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
PANIC EXPLODED IN JOSH’S brain.
Coach Swanson dragged him down the hall. Esch opened the door to his room, peeked out, and closed it quickly at the sight of them. Josh looked back. No sign of Benji.
For some reason, Josh could only think of his father. If his father were close by . . . but he couldn’t even call his father. Josh’s phone was on the night table. Josh thought about Coa
ch Moose. He might help. Coach Moose might call his father.
Before Josh could even cry out, he was inside Coach Swanson’s suite with the door shut behind them.
“Sit.” Coach Swanson pointed to an armchair in the corner of the living room beneath a reading lamp.
Josh thought about shouting for help, but he was too scared. He sat down. Wind blew against the window, and the glass shook. Martin was sitting at the desk with a laptop computer casting an eerie blue glow across his face. He gave Josh a hate-filled look.
“What do you want?” Josh looked at the coach, and his voice broke.
“What are you doing?” Coach Swanson said. “You don’t talk. Just listen. You get Jaden Neidermeyer down here with her phone. I don’t care how she does it: her family, your family. I want that phone and the pass code, and you tell her if she shares that audio file with a single soul, your game is over. You want to play tomorrow? You want that home run? That house? You get her down here, and you keep this whole thing quiet.”
Josh opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Martin said, “I told Jaden about the coach, and I told her it was private, but then she goes and talks to my mom and tricked her, and she recorded it!”
Josh could hardly take it all in. They were mad about Jaden’s article that would show Coach Swanson was a hero? And why did they want her phone? How could they know if she sent that audio file to anyone? It made no sense. Josh’s head was spinning. “Coach, it’s a good article. You were a hero.”
Coach Swanson trembled, and his face reddened even more. “No. I know what Jaden was looking for—to see if Jack was older than thirteen. And I told you he isn’t. And now she’s digging into my private life. It’s none of anyone’s business what happened in the war. You have no idea, LeBlanc. You have no right. . . .”
Josh opened his mouth to explain that it was Jaden’s story, not his, but he realized how it looked.
“You are hereby suspended from play for conduct detrimental to the team. I don’t need to say anything more than that.” Coach Swanson’s lip curled back from his teeth.
