TPG

by The Perfect Game (mobi)

  “We know about your niece.”

  “Good for you,” Liam said. “Now what are you going to do about her?”

  “There’s nothing that can be done.”

  “Bullshit,” Liam said, not only foregoing his policy of not cursing, but speaking with a rising confidence that refused to be ignored. “You’ve got more like Hillier. I know you do. And if you don’t, then the guy who discovered him and peddles him out must. And you owe us.”

  “Owe you?”

  “You’re goddamn right,” Liam said. “For taking care of the mess you guys didn’t have the balls to handle yourself.”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Yeah?” Liam shot back. “Well I’m giving you twenty-four hours. That’s it. If my niece isn’t out of her coma, your little secret is out. And trust me, I’ve got people who are instructed to retrieve letters about this if they don’t hear from me on a daily basis and then take those letters to the media. So I wouldn’t try me on this.”

  “That would be a very unwise decision, Mr. Murdock.”

  “Liam, I think he’s right. I think it’s—”

  “No, Kyle,” Liam cut in. “That’s the deal. I know they have others out there who can help Allie. And I know they can do it without killing. All she needs is a push. That’s it. They just have to get someone in there to give her a little of whatever Hillier was giving his son. I know that would do it.” He locked gazes with Fisher. “If you want to take me in now, go right ahead. You want to have me ‘silenced,’ go right ahead. Good luck stopping those letters from finding the press.”

  “Your niece’s situation is unfortunate. It is,” Fisher said. “But there’s nothing we can do about it and it’s in your best interest that those letters, if they exist, remain in their envelopes.” He narrowed his eyes. “And that’s a fact, Mr. Murdock, not a threat.”

  Liam didn’t say anything else, but Kyle was already preparing the speech he’d give Liam the next day, already planning to impress upon him that he should just drop it. Stay silent. That nothing good would come from taking things any further. Not for Liam, not for him, and not for Allie.

  “There’s a car in the driveway,” Fisher said, looking away and pointing out the window. “It will take the both of you home.”

  “What about Eddie?” Kyle asked.

  “We’ll speak to him as well.”

  “Same deal for him?”

  “Same deal,” Fisher confirmed.

  As they walked toward the front door, Kyle turned to ask one last question. “Was Hillier really a killer for you?”

  Fisher didn’t respond.

  “Is that what he did?” Kyle pressed.

  “Just go about living your life Mr. Vine,” Fisher said, “and forget any of this ever happened.”

  And then he walked away.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  Instead of having the driver take him home, Kyle went to see Bree at Sheila’s. As soon as he opened the door she came running over. He didn’t ask how she was, didn’t say much of anything at all. He couldn’t. He just needed to hold her, and needed to feel her hold him back.

  He didn’t leave Sheila’s until Bree fell asleep, exhausted by the day’s events. He stayed by the side of her bed, continuing to gaze at her until he heard her deep breaths of slumber. Sheila wanted to go over what had happened and how it might be connected to the video he received while Bree was at camp. But he didn’t want to talk about it, so he brushed it off and said he doubted the two were connected. He told her he’d be back early in the morning, before Bree woke.

  As he walked over to Broadway to catch the subway home he dialed Eddie, having already received a few texts from him saying the scans at the hospital indicated everything seemed normal with Celia. That led Kyle to believe Celia had been too far away for Hillier to have a strong enough connection to draw in all of her energy, which he realized was probably also why Hillier hadn’t started to connect with him until he was close to the utility room. He’d been too far away, a fact that might’ve saved Liam’s life as well.

  Eddie picked up after the first ring. “Bree okay?”

  “She is.”

  “I … don’t even know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t seem to cut it. I can say I didn’t mean to put you through that—to put her through that—but I’m the one who did it, so it’d be empty, right?”

  Kyle didn’t want to go there. Not yet. Yes, he was angry with Eddie. Very angry. Extremely angry. And he wasn’t quite sure how he could forgive him, how their friendship could endure. But that’s not why he called.

  “Did they speak to you?” he asked.

  “Who?” Eddie responded. “Tweedledum and Tweedledee?”

  Kyle wasn’t in the mood to banter. Not in the mood at all.

  “Yeah,” Eddie said, getting the hint. “They paid a visit. Said their names were Fisher and Harkin. Told me to stay quiet about everything that happened.”

  “And you’ll listen?”

  “I’m not big on threats,” Eddie said, “but I want to forget about this shit more than they want me to. So, yeah, keeping quiet won’t be a problem.” Eddie let a beat pass. “They also told me what happened after I left. They said Liam did it. How’s he holding up?”

  “I think he’ll be okay.”

  “Are we gonna be good, Ky?”

  “We’ll talk about it another time,” Kyle said.

  “Sure,” Eddie said. “Another time.”

  Kyle hung up and walked down the stairs at the Seventy-ninth Street Station, unable to distract himself from thinking about the events that had just happened, his mind remaining mired in a murky haze as he rode the subway then walked over to his building. Even the long, steaming hot shower he took did nothing to dissipate the cloud.

  He was exhausted, physically and mentally, and he finally collapsed on his bed and fell asleep. It was six in the morning when he woke to the ringing of his BlackBerry. The ID said it was Liam.

  “They did it!”

  Kyle was confused at the upbeat shout. “Did what? What are you talking about?”

  “Allie!” Liam shouted. “She’s up!”

  “She’s out of the coma? Are you sure?”

  “Am I sure?” Liam laughed. “Here. Maybe you’ll believe her.”

  “Kyle?”

  It was Nicki.

  “Is Allie really awake?” he asked.

  “She is,” she said, her voice so much softer than when they last spoke, the shackles of pain having been removed. “She is. And she’s speaking. It happened about an hour ago. I was home. The nurse called. She’d shown some twitching the last few days, some small signs of waking, but she’s fully up now. Completely awake.”

  Kyle couldn’t believe it. He told Nicki how wonderful the news was and how happy he was for her and Allie, and Liam, the entire family. Nicki thanked him, the combined exhaustion and elation in her voice clearly evident.

  “Can you effing believe it?” Liam shouted after grabbing the phone back. “I knew it. I knew it.”

  “Did she say anything about that night? About seeing Hillier?”

  “She’s still a little bit out of it, but she says she doesn’t remember anything about it. Last she remembers is leaving the bar.”

  “So you think it was them?” Kyle asked. “You think they did something to snap her out of it?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Liam continued in a whisper. “Of course it was them. They didn’t want to risk me leaking their secrets. Someone probably snuck in here last night and got Allie right.”

  Kyle had some doubts about that but, at the same time, after all that had happened knew better than to so quickly discount what Liam had to say, regardless of how farfetched the theory might be. The man had been amazingly spot-on with everything else. So why not just relish in the good news? Which is exactly what he did.

  Something he found to be a very welcome and refreshing change.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  For the next few
weeks Kyle stayed away from Eddie, and Eddie didn’t press him. He’d sent a text here and there, left a few messages, but for the most part he kept his distance. He knew Kyle needed time. What had happened had pushed their friendship not just to the limit, but well over it. And no matter how understanding Kyle was, no matter how strong of a friendship they had, Kyle simply couldn’t justify Eddie’s actions, no matter how noble of a place they came from. Not yet, anyway.

  Kyle wondered if he should have realized the connection earlier, had the foresight to realize Eddie might try to use Hillier to help Celia. And perhaps he should have. But not to that extreme. There was simply no accounting for behavior he never knew existed in the man. But the events had taught him a lot about the lengths a father would go to for their child. He only needed to look at his own choices with Bree, and Terry Hillier’s with Evan.

  It made him dwell on the strength of the paternal bond. It was something that was usually thought of as a chemical and biological component reserved for women. Where stories of mothers acting on maternal instinct in the wild protecting their young were common, fathers were often portrayed as the predator and, in some instances, the predator the mother feared most.

  But there was a paternal bond. Whether it was more learned than innate, or unique to humans and higher species Kyle didn’t really know. But his and Eddie’s struggles with balancing their children’s well being against what they knew was so wrong had proven it. They were both objectively good people driven to the verge of committing horrible acts, making deadly decisions. Selfish decisions, no matter how noble it may seem from a familial perspective. The scales of equity and morality did not side in their favor, which they both came to realize even if it had taken awhile. But were they doing it because of an internal, innate paternal instinct? Or because of a paternal nobility ingrained through teachings and societal life lessons taught since birth? The man of the house. The protector of the family. Which weighed in their decision more?

  Whatever it was, it seemed to also be the source behind Terry Hillier’s warped and deranged “gift” to his son, a gift that started out because of the guilt he felt for the years he hadn’t been there. He wondered about Hillier often. He wondered about the morality of the man. Wondered if the man was as sick and evil as the acts he committed or, just like so many others, simply an addict who couldn’t stop something he never intended to start.

  Kyle didn’t know.

  But he continued to follow Evan Hillier’s starts and, surprisingly, even without his father’s assistance the man had continued his dominance at home. Which of course led Liam to continue to theorize about a variety of possibilities: that KnightWare had someone else feeding him with energy to quell any suspicion, or that Terry Hillier’s energy continued to linger in him because there had been so many transfers, or even that Terry was somehow still alive. Kyle didn’t buy any of it and, from what they both could tell, there hadn’t been any more victims since Terry Hillier had died. So Kyle had a different theory. He thought that perhaps Terry wasn’t the only reason why Evan was pitching so well in the first place. Perhaps the two events—Terry Hillier’s attempts to transfer the energy to his son and Evan’s string of great home starts—were just a coincidence. Maybe the transfer really wasn’t much more than what one would experience with something like Deeksha and just happened to coincide with Evan’s amazing hot streak. It wasn’t unprecedented. Players with no previous success had excelled throughout history. It happened.

  Kyle also found insight in a recent interview with Evan Hillier. In it, Evan was asked about the earlier interview his father had given, the one that had gotten Liam thinking it might be Terry who was behind the strokes. The interviewer noted how proud his father had been during the interview. Evan said he and his father were never close before and that their recent time in New York together was an amazing experience he would forever treasure, and it just showed that, even at this late stage in their lives, it was still possible to mend relationships. He said it was just what he needed to feel comfortable in a city as big and intimidating as New York and to deal with the tremendous opportunity of starting for the Yankees, as just speaking to his father, and getting to spend some time with him, had helped quell his nerves and made him realize it was never too late to recapture something before it was lost forever.

  Evan was then asked if they continued to spend time together.

  Evan smiled and said his father had to leave New York on business recently and would probably be away for a while. He was asked if he was upset about that, and if it would impact his amazing string of success. Evan’s smile widened as he said no. He said it was expected and he was just glad he had the opportunity that he did, and that he was certain his father would be watching his games and keeping tabs on him. The interchange supported Kyle’s theory that Evan’s success was due to his father’s guidance and love more so than any energy transfers. Or, he considered, perhaps the two notions were not so mutually exclusive.

  As Kyle walked and turned off Broadway, the past month’s events swimming around in his mind, he looked down at his ringing BlackBerry and saw his attorney’s number pop up.

  “I’ve got some good news.”

  “Case settled?” Kyle asked, almost having forgotten that they hadn’t wrapped things up yet.

  “It did indeed,” Paula said. “We paid nada.”

  Kyle stopped in his tracks. “Nothing? They didn’t take anything?”

  “Not a cent.”

  “But we had already offered them something in the six figures, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “Did the carrier pull it back for some reason?”

  “Nope.”

  “Then I don’t get it,” Kyle said.

  “If you don’t then I certainly don’t, because Ricker, who was not happy about it, said you’d understand. That it had to do with the talk Henry’s dad had with you.”

  Kyle recalled the chat, remembered it had meant the world to him to hear Jim Trotter, in a sense, clear him of any wrongdoing in Henry’s death. But Kyle still thought they’d take something, at least enough to cover Ricker’s fees. But the more he thought about it, and the more he thought about the man Jim Trotter was, the more he realized the principles he lived by, and the more it made sense. Trotter was a man who lived by values and honored and cherished doing the right thing above all else. His moral compass couldn’t have been more opposite than Terry Hillier’s.

  “I think I do understand,” Kyle answered. Then he switched gears. “So, it’s over then? We’re done? I’m not going to lose every last cent I own?”

  “We’re done,” she said.

  Kyle thanked her for all her efforts, then playfully ended the conversation by wishing her well and saying he hoped he never had to speak to her again.

  He turned onto Amsterdam and saw the outdoor seating for Fred’s, his hangout with Bree. But it wasn’t Bree he saw sitting there, and it wasn’t Bree he was meeting. She was already back at camp. After all that had happened, he thought it would be best for her to end the summer with friends in her little oasis. And since there was no longer any threat to her, nor had there really ever been, he didn’t have to worry.

  No, the person sitting at the table was someone who had become his friend and gained his trust. And saved his life.

  The chubby man waved as Kyle approached. His T-shirt du jour was a faded blue one with the Captain America shield stretched across his flabby chest.

  Kyle was meeting Liam for lunch, their relationship having grown closer since the incident. Kyle owed the man his life, as did so many others who would never know it. Maybe even his niece, even though Kyle still wasn’t certain if the folks from KnightWare had played a role in Allie’s sudden emergence from the coma. Liam, of course, was still convinced they had, and his arguments did make some sense as, even putting the timing aside, Allie had made a remarkable recovery. Other than sporadic headaches from time to time and some memory loss, she had no other real lingering after effects from the str
oke. It was truly amazing, but it was a long stretch from a miracle. The doctors had always said that such a recovery remained a possibility, especially if the coma didn’t span more than four or five weeks. And it hadn’t.

  But even Liam didn’t dwell too much on the cause of Allie’s recovery. He was too busy embracing it.

  As for Allie’s contact with Kyle, it remained minimal and, par for their course, was restricted to texting.

  The day after Liam had called letting Kyle know Allie had woken from the coma Kyle received a text from her: My uncle told me what u did. Thank you.

  Kyle wasn’t sure exactly what Liam had told her, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. So he just texted back, It’s your uncle you should be thanking.

  Sorry about getting u involved in the first place, she wrote back, the texts nothing near the salacious tone of the ones that had previously gotten his heart racing.

  Just glad ur okay, he responded, using “ur” instead of “you’re” not to make himself feel or seem young this time, but looking to add some levity to the exchange, trying to let her know all was okay.

  I won’t be coming back to class. :(

  Figured that. Take care. And stay away from the old guys!

  :)

  At the time, Kyle hadn’t known how profound the playful admonishment was. He found out about a week later while discussing the prior texts with Liam. He had felt the need to apologize and explain his actions, so the two met for a beer at the same bar they had the night of the stakeout. Hillier was pitching again. Liam ordered the same thing he had the last time—Michelob Ultra. Kyle started apologizing for the transgression, saying he didn’t have an excuse and that he recognized it was wrong even while he was doing it.

  “It’s not your fault,” Liam said.

  “It is,” Kyle countered. “There’s a trust factor there, a relationship that shouldn’t be taken advantage of.”

  Liam smiled. “Allie ever tell you about her high school AP English teacher?”