Best of the Best

by Tim Green

  “It hasn’t helped so far.”

  Jaden shook her head. “Don’t be that way. The truth always wins out. We just have to show him.”

  “I just don’t know how, Jaden.” Josh let his head drop. “Part of me doesn’t even want to think about it.”

  “You can’t just give up,” she said.

  “Okay,” Josh said, “let’s say I don’t give up. What are we going to do?”

  Jaden leaned even closer to him and said, “Just listen.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  “IF I’M RIGHT, ZAMBONI’S dad didn’t make this trip just to watch baseball,” Jaden said. “You haven’t seen him at any of the other games, right?”

  “This is the World Series,” Josh said.

  “Right,” she said, “but it’s also just down the road from Towanda.”

  “What’s Towanda?”

  “Remember that gas lease business that went bankrupt?”

  “Sure.”

  “Their partner was from Towanda,” she said. “I checked him out, too—Andre DuBois. He actually went to jail back in the mid-nineties. I bet they’re going to meet with him while they’re here. You said your dad was supposed to cough up some money for them, and I’m betting the deal goes down right over there.”

  Jaden pointed off away to the west.

  “They’re staying at the Quality Inn Motel,” she said.

  “How do you know that?” Josh asked.

  Jaden shrugged. “I called all over, pretending to be her and saying I wanted to confirm our reservation. Only took me five tries.”

  “What good does it do, though?” Josh asked.

  “Now we know where they’re staying,” Jaden said, “I’ve got a way we can listen in on what they’re saying.”

  “What who’s saying?” Zamboni asked, walking up on them suddenly.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  JADEN LOOKED PAST ZAMBONI and Josh turned as well to see Right and Diane walking away.

  “You’d like to see your parents back together, right?” Josh asked.

  Zamboni clamped his mouth shut and nodded.

  “Me too,” Josh said. “But neither of us is going to see that happen until my dad and your mom break up. Jaden has a plan.”

  “There’s a guy named Andre Dubois,” Jaden said. “Ever heard of him?”

  Zamboni shook his head.

  “Here’s his picture,” Jaden said, removing it from her shoulder bag along with a mini–tape recorder.

  “How’s a meeting with him gonna break up my mom and his dad?” Zamboni asked.

  Josh thought quick and said, “They’re doing a business deal together. My dad is getting the bank to loan them the money. This Dubois guy has been to jail more than once. If my dad knows they’re meeting with him or doing a deal with him, he’s going to go crazy.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with risky deals,” Zamboni said, scowling. “That’s how you make it big.”

  “That’s true. But my dad? Well, he wouldn’t buy a lottery ticket if it was half price. He hates gambling or anything risky at all. He’ll go ballistic, and that’s what we need, right?”

  “Ballistic over a business deal?” Zamboni said.

  “Trust me,” Josh said. “He’s putting everything on the line—his Nike coaching contract. He’s going to go nuts if he thinks there’s a chance of losing it.”

  Josh could almost see the wheels turning in Zamboni’s head.

  “Okay,” Zamboni finally said, “maybe it can work.”

  “So,” Jaden said, glancing in the direction Zamboni’s parents had gone, “you’ll help us?”

  “What do I have to do?” Zamboni asked.

  “Quick,” Jaden said, taking out her phone and punching some buttons before handing it to Zamboni, “catch up to your parents and see if you can slip this into that big purse your mom carries.”

  “What?” Zamboni said, taking the phone.

  Josh’s phone rang and he saw that Jaden had dialed him. He looked at her in wonder. She took his phone and answered the call; then, to Zamboni, she said, “You’ve got to hurry. Trust me, this will work. Just do it.”

  Zamboni gave her a doubtful look but turned and jogged off after his parents.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  LATER THAT NIGHT, OUTSIDE the dormitory, beneath a streetlight that held back the darkness, Josh stood with Jaden and Zamboni. Not only had Zamboni successfully planted Josh’s cell phone in his mother’s big red purse with the speaker phone on, he also learned that his parents were to meet Andre Dubois for a dinner in town. The red light on Jaden’s cell phone glowed, and they could clearly hear the sound of Diane and Right Cross along with Andre Dubois at that dinner.

  But after listening in on their conversation for nearly fifteen minutes, Josh began to think that Jaden had been wrong.

  Josh opened his mouth to ask, “What if—”

  “Shhh,” Jaden said, cutting him off. “Listen. They just said something about money.”

  “I told you the contract is signed and sealed. It’s all set,” Right said. “You just give me the money and that contract is all yours.”

  “Where’s the contract?” Dubois asked.

  “In my hotel room,” Right said. “Nice and safe.”

  After a minute of silence, Dubois said, “How’d you get him to sign that thing, anyway?”

  “Why wouldn’t he?” Diane asked.

  “Obviously he trusts you,” Dubois said.

  “That’s what Diane does best,” Right Cross said. “She earns people’s trust, shows them how everyone can win. Hey? What’s the matter, sweet cake?”

  “Nothing,” Diane said.

  A moment of silence followed, broken only when Dubois lowered his voice and said, “Not everyone’s going to win in this, you know, Right? What’s going to happen when this chump finds out his money is gone?”

  “What?” Right Cross said with sarcasm. “He’ll have all these leases, and who knows? He might discover some gas after all.”

  The two men had a laugh together.

  Dubois said, in a nasty voice, “There’ll be plenty of gas, all right…if he eats enough baked beans.”

  The two men laughed even harder.

  Then the waitress came and brought their check.

  After a moment of silence, Diane said, “I…I don’t feel very good. Excuse me a minute, will you? I’ll be right back.”

  Diane’s chair scraped and her heels clicked as she walked away.

  Josh couldn’t help looking at Zamboni. Even in the glow from the streetlights, Josh could see he had turned red. Zamboni hung his head so that his long hair shielded his face.

  “And you wonder why I’m a loser,” Zamboni said in a mutter. “She’s a chump and he’s crazy.”

  “You’re not a loser because of your parents,” Jaden said. “You’re a separate person, Z. You can be better.”

  “But I’m not,” Zamboni said, and when he raised his head, welled-up tears glistened in his eyes. “I’m the jerk.”

  “You’re a good baseball player,” Josh said, putting a hand on his back.

  “Not really,” Zamboni said. “Not compared to you.”

  “Think about those plays you made at the regionals,” Josh said. “You don’t catch that pop fly or make that underhand toss to me and we wouldn’t even be here.”

  “You can change anytime you want,” Jaden said. “It happens. Sometimes people just decide, and that’s it. They just start doing the right thing.”

  “It’s too late,” Zamboni said. “They already did what they did. They got his dad’s money.”

  “Not necessarily,” Jaden said. “It might not be too late.”

  “But he signed the deal,” Zamboni said. “You heard them.”

  “He signed it, but money from a bank doesn’t get transferred on a weekend.” Jaden waved her hands in the air. “We can stop them.”

  “My dad won’t listen,” Josh said. “She’ll tell him they’re talking about someone else. I can�
�t beat her at that game.”

  “You’re right,” Jaden said. “That wouldn’t be enough.”

  “What else is there?” Josh asked.

  “The contract,” Jaden said. “It’ll prove they signed the money over to a guy who’s already been in jail, a guy no one should trust. Your dad may have trusted Diane, but he’s not stupid. He’s not going to be okay giving all his money over to a criminal. The tape and the contract together? That’ll work. I know it will.”

  “But there’s no way to get that contract,” Josh said.

  “There’s always a way,” Jaden said, looking at Zamboni.

  Zamboni shook his head. “I can’t. There’s no way I can take something from my dad.”

  “You don’t have to take it,” Jaden said. “You just have to get the key to his motel room.”

  “Who’s going to take it then?” Zamboni asked.

  Jaden looked at Josh, then said, “We will.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  “WE WILL?” JOSH SAID.

  “We have to,” Jaden said. “It’s either that or your dad loses everything. You heard that Dubois guy.”

  Josh felt anger boiling up inside him.

  “You’re right,” he said.

  “It’s not like you’ll be breaking and entering,” Zamboni said. “Here, I’ve got the key. Take it.”

  “But wouldn’t it be safer just to have you there before they get back?” Jaden said. “I mean, that way, if anything happened…They’re your parents.”

  “No way,” Zamboni said, shaking his head. “I’m done. I’m going back to the dorm. If something happens and my dad asks me, I have to be able to look him in the eye and tell him I didn’t take any contract.”

  Josh put his hand on Jaden’s arm. “Z gave us the key. I’m the one who should go.”

  Zamboni flipped open his phone to check the time and said, “You better hurry.”

  “Why?” Josh asked.

  “They already got the check,” Zamboni said. “Their dinner is over. They could be back any minute. But maybe you shouldn’t try it now. It’s nine twenty-seven. We’ve got curfew at ten.”

  “I have to,” Josh said.

  “This is the World Series,” Zamboni said. “You miss curfew, you don’t play. That’s the rule. You can do this tomorrow, or Jaden can do it when we play. You know they won’t be in the room then.”

  “What if your dad gives Dubois that contract?” Josh said. “I’m not leaving until I have it, even if it means I don’t play. Nothing’s more important to me than this.”

  Zamboni looked at him for a minute, swatting a mosquito from his face before he said, “Why do you want this so bad? I thought you said you were scared of your dad.”

  “A little,” Josh said, “but this is different. I want him back more than I want the World Series. I don’t care. I want him back more than baseball.”

  Zamboni sighed and looked again at the time. “Okay, but I’m gonna go to the dorm. That’s okay, right?”

  “I said it was, Z,” Josh said. “You did a lot. Thanks.”

  Zamboni started back up the hill toward the dorm. He stopped and gave Jaden an awkward look before he disappeared into a clump of trees, the glow of his cell phone drifting along like a ghost. Soon the trees swallowed up the soft glow.

  “Come on,” Josh said.

  Jaden followed him past the museum, across the road, through a parking lot, and into the woods. They followed the path, using Jaden’s cell phone to help light the way. When they could see the Crosses’ motel room, they came to a stop.

  They stared at it for a moment before Jaden said, “You should go back, Josh. Don’t miss curfew. I can do this.”

  “No, you can’t,” Josh said. “I have to. I could never let you.”

  “It’ll be fine,” she said. “They’re still at dinner.”

  “I know, but they could be here any second. You should go back to your dad.”

  “I’m staying with you,” she said. “You can’t make me go.”

  “You can stay, Jaden,” Josh said, “but you can’t go in. I have to do that, and if anyone gets in trouble over this, it will be me, not you.”

  Jaden didn’t move and they stood beside each other, watching together, surrounded by the sound of crickets. Finally Josh stepped out of the woods.

  “Okay,” he said, “let’s do this.”

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  THEY CAME UP THE walkway and Josh clicked the card key into the lock.

  Josh pushed the door open and said, “Don’t come in, Jaden. I mean it.”

  The lamp between the two beds had been left on. Josh put his hand on the table beside the window and knocked over a can of hair spray. It clattered into some cologne, shaving cream, and deodorant bottles, spilling them to the floor. Josh picked them up hurriedly and scanned the room, quickly locating Right Cross’s computer and briefcase on the desk. Breathless, and with quavering hands, Josh sprang the latch and popped open the briefcase.

  Atop a pile of papers was a manila envelope. Josh quickly examined the top most papers before opening the envelope and drawing free its contents. It was a contract—he knew because it said so—but he didn’t know if it was the contract he needed. He flipped to the back page and there it was. In big, bold script, his father’s signature.

  Josh heard Jaden step into the room and flashed an angry look at her.

  “Jaden,” he said, his voice hushed but urgent, “I told you not to come in here.”

  Her face had lost its color, and at first her lips moved without sound.

  “Josh,” she said, but that was all.

  The large, dark shadow of a man appeared in the doorway and growled, “What the heck is going on?”

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  RAGE TWISTED RIGHT CROSS’S face.

  “Give me that,” he shouted, “before I crush you!”

  Josh stood hypnotized by the wrinkled red scowl and Right Cross’s glittering blue eyes. The contract remained clutched in Josh’s hand the way a dog’s jaws lock on a bone.

  “Hey, Right Cross!” Jaden shouted.

  Right Cross turned instinctively.

  Jaden snatched up the hair spray from the table, pointed it at Right’s face, and sprayed.

  Right screamed bloody murder and pawed at his face.

  “Josh!” Jaden screamed. “Come on!”

  Josh went into action, dodging around Right and taking Jaden’s hand as she yanked him out the door and off the walkway, through the bushes, and then across the parking lot for the woods. Josh’s lungs burned. His head swam in little stars.

  Right bellowed with rage. Josh turned his head to see the crazy ex-hockey player charging toward them, his hands still groping at his own face.

  Jaden let out a short scream when she saw him coming. They turned together and sprinted down the path. In an instant it was pitch-black.

  Josh felt Jaden’s hand snatched away from his own and he heard her scream again.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

  JOSH’S FEET TOOK HIM twenty more paces before his brain got him to stop and turn around. Right Cross’s angry bellowing echoed through the woods, but even with it, Josh heard a slight whimper. He moved toward it, crouching to find Jaden lying in a tangle.

  “My ankle,” she said. “I think I broke it.”

  “Ahhhhhh!” Right Cross screamed, moving closer and closer. “I’ll get you! I’ll smash you!”

  “Put your arm around my neck,” Josh whispered.

  She did, and he dragged her off the path and into the underbrush behind the thick trunk of a nearby tree.

  “Here.” Josh eased her into a spot.

  Right was almost on top of them now, and Josh and Jaden cowered in their hiding place. They could hear him breathing and the snap of sticks as he approached. Josh put his head down, resting his forehead in the nest of Jaden’s wild hair and feeling the rapid thumping of her heart. Right Cross moved up until he was even with them on the path, then he stopped. Josh could hear heavy breathi
ng, groaning, and growling and imagined Right was still pawing at his eyes.

  Then Right began to move again, off down the path in the direction of the dorms, snapping sticks and cursing under his breath, much quieter now, until Josh couldn’t hear him anymore above the crickets. They waited, listening, for one minute, then two. Finally, five. It seemed like forever.

  “I think he’s gone,” Josh whispered.

  “Do you have it?” Jaden asked.

  Josh remembered the contract, clamped in his hand.

  “Yes, I do,” he said. “Come on.”

  He helped Jaden up and, with her arm around his neck, they struggled down the path toward the parking lot and the dorms beyond. Soon Josh could see the lights from the street and from the parking lot of the museum, then the dorms up on the hill. Josh felt a laugh bubble up from his throat.

  “We made it,” he said. “We’re out.”

  “Where do you think he went?” Jaden asked in a whisper.

  “Back,” Josh said. “Probably took the road.”

  “He’ll be waiting at the dorm,” Jaden said. “He’s not going to just let you take it.”

  “No,” said Right Cross in a nasty snarl from immediately behind them in the dark, “he’s not.”

  Josh felt Right’s hand grip him by the collar and yank hard, throwing him to the ground. Right bent over Josh even as Jaden attacked his back with flying fists. From Josh’s hand, Right Cross removed the contract, then straightened to go, shoving Jaden away from him so that she fell beside Josh. Right held the contract up so that the white sheets of paper flapped in the night.

  “This is mine!”

  Josh looked up at the enraged man as he waved the contract in the air.

  A shadow larger than Right grew behind him until even Right sensed it and froze. A massive hand shot out, grabbing Right’s wrist and turning it so that he cried out in pain. The pages of the contract fluttered to the ground.