Bluegrass Undercover (Bluegrass Brothers)

looked around. It was spotless but sparse. There was a kitchen table for two, the kitchen smaller than the one in Miami, a living room with a TV that was so old it wasn’t flat screen, and there was no chance of watching sports in high-def. She made her way to the small bathroom complete with one shower and a tiny pedestal sink. Connected to the bathroom was her bedroom. A twin bed with a homemade quilt filled the room. There were only two other pieces of furniture in the room: a small night table and a chest.
    First things first. As soon as her car arrived tomorrow, she would be driving to Lexington for a high-def TV and some microwaveable meals. The groceries were great, but she didn’t cook. No one had ever taught her so she never bothered to learn. She walked outside and sat down on the cushioned chair while looking out over the church parking lot. So, this was to be her life now.

Chapter Three
     
    Cade thought the steam coming from his ears was visible. He had never been met with such indifference before. Yes, it was hotter than a billy goat in a pepper patch, but it was August in Kentucky and it’s always hot and humid. You just say, “Damn, it’s hot,” and move on. But his players were lagging. They weren’t even trying to run the drills at full speed. Shoot they weren’t even running them at half speed. Some of the freshmen were trying and Trey Everett was trying, but that was it.
    “Okay. Players with the last names E-H go with Coach Parks for drug testing. First strings get on the field. We’re going to try to run a play at full speed.” Cade blew his whistle and watched as the starters meandered onto the field.
    Center Lee Faust snapped the ball to Austin Colby, the junior quarterback, who handed it off to Trey for a run. Trey blew through the defense and scored. Cade blew his whistle and tried to remember they were just kids.
    “Bonner, get over here!” He watched as Corey Bonner sauntered over with a bad attitude written all over his face. “What is the matter with you? This is a simple play and you blew it. You didn’t even try to tackle Everett.”
    Cade watched as all two hundred and twenty-five pounds of Bonner went from cocky teenager to pissed-off teenager.
    “What do you know about it? You’ve never coached before. You can’t tell me what to do. I’m the only all-state player you got on this team, and I’ll do whatever the hell I feel like doing. Now step off.” Bonner turned to go back onto the field and Cade snapped.
    “Bonner, get your ass back here. You leave when I tell you to. Now, you will stand here, listen to me, fix your attitude or ride the bench all year.”
    Cade knew when someone was itching for a fight. After four years in special ops you could tell the second someone decided to fight, and by the set of Bonner’s shoulders, he had decided in favor of it. Cade watched as Bonner spun around and shoved Cade with all his might. Bonner may outweigh him by fifty pounds, but Cade had stayed in special ops condition. He took the hit but didn’t budge.
    “See, if you hit lower like you were supposed to, you could have moved me.” Cade wasn’t given the chance to continue with his lecture. He saw Bonner’s hand close in a fist and stood still, waiting for the punch to come so he could deflect it.
    “What do you think you are doing?” Cade took his eyes off of Bonner as a red headed woman jumped in between them. Bonner didn’t react fast enough and let go with the punch intended for Cade. Cade lunged forward, but the woman had already handled it. She easily blocked the punch with her forearm and grabbed Bonner by the front of his football jersey.
    “You want to try that again, kid?” Annie asked him as she got up in his face.
     
    Here Annie was just coming out to get a group of kids for their orientation and she walks in on a fight. Clearly this coach couldn’t take care of the matter, so it had been up to her. She looked into the boy’s eyes and wasn’t surprised to see them dilated and crazed. He was much taller than she was, so it was easy to look at his pulse in his carotid artery. It was pumping feverishly and slightly erratically. His face was beet red and his body clearly agitated. She had just found her first lead. This kid was definitely on S2. Bonner slapped her hands away and took a step back, staring down his coach.
    “Yo, this bitch just saved you. Next time you try to chew me out she won’t be around to save you.”
    He turned and headed