Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
"I let him have them because I trusted him not to use them," Renee said. "I thought he understood what they were supposed to be: not weapons anymore but a symbol of what we've overcome. I didn't ask him for his reasons. I knew he would tell me if he wanted me to know."
The obvious answer was Drake, but it didn't add up quite right. Neil turned it over in his head, working his way through it, and thought about the scars on Andrew's forearms. Who had Andrew survived: Drake or himself?
Neil wasn't going to share that idea with Renee, so he said, "So those knives he brings everywhere are yours?"
"Were mine," Renee said. "He was right; I don't need them anymore. If you need them, he will give them to you, and I will teach you how to use them."
She wasn't smiling anymore. Neil studied her calm expression and knew she meant it. She'd put her faith in mankind and her Christian piety on hold and show him how to cut a man open throat to groin if he asked her to. Neil was starting to understand why Andrew liked her. She was crazy enough to be interesting.
"Thank you," Neil said, "but no. I don't want to be like—him."
He didn't say he'd used knives before; one couldn't grow up a Wesninski without having a blade pushed into his hand. Nathan didn't have the time or patience to teach his son but he'd put two of his people to the task. Luckily Neil left home before he progressed past cutting up hunks of dead animals.
"Of course," Renee agreed. She waited a moment to see if anything else was forthcoming, then got to her feet. "I shouldn't keep Allison waiting, but if you want to talk more later you know where to find me."
"Okay," Neil said. Renee made it as far as the door before Neil had to ask, "How is Andrew doing? Without his drugs, I mean."
Renee looked back at him and smiled. "Go see. I don't think Coach will mind."
Neil stayed where he was until the door closed behind her. He looked from his notepad to the paused game, then set his things aside and got to his feet. The sound of a ball popping off the wall greeted him as he stepped through the back door and he followed the path to the inner court. Wymack was standing near the home bench, watching his players scrimmage and taking notes. He had his back to Neil and the noise filtering through the court vents helped hide the soft pat of Neil's footsteps. Neil hung back a safe distance and watched his teammates.
They looked so small when they were down three players, but they played with the ferocity of a larger team. Dan and Kevin were paired up on offense against the three backliners, and despite being outnumbered they put up a tireless fight. Kevin even managed to out-step both Nicky and Aaron a couple times for shots on goal. Andrew deflected all of them, but it took a couple shots before Neil realized what he was doing. Instead of clearing the balls back down the court like usual, he was firing them back at Kevin. More specifically, right at Kevin's feet. Kevin had to execute some pretty nimble footwork to avoid tripping over the ball. Andrew did the same to Dan when she finally bulled past Matt for a shot of her own. She sidestepped it, but barely, and Matt had to catch her when she stumbled.
Wymack swore and turned to put his things down. As he twisted he spotted Neil, and he hesitated with his clipboard halfway to the bench. Neil expected a marching order back to the locker room. Instead Wymack snapped his fingers at Neil and jerked his thumb toward the court door.
"Tell your pet psycho to knock it off before he cripples someone."
"I don't think he'll listen to me," Neil said.
"You and I both know he will. Now get."
Wymack pounded on the wall, calling a pause to the scrimmage, as Neil headed for the door. Neil let himself onto the court and headed for the goal. Andrew slung his racquet across his shoulders at Neil's approach. Neil knew better than to call Andrew out with an audience, so he stopped as close to Andrew as he could and kept his voice down.
"Coach wants to know what you have against the offense line."
Andrew slid a look past Neil to the court wall. "He can ask me himself."
"Or you can answer me since I'm already here," Neil said. "There are only nine of us left. If we lose anyone else we're out of spring championships. You know that."
Neil waited a beat, but of course that wasn't enough to get a reaction. Andrew looked bored of this conversation already. Neil put a hand up in front of Andrew's face, neatly blocking his view of Wymack, and waited until Andrew looked at him again. "I want us to get to finals. I want us to be the ones who finally bring the Ravens down. After everything Riko's done to us, don't you want that, too?"
"You say 'want' so freely," Andrew said, "when I have told you a thousand times before I want nothing."
"Probably because you're spending all your energy on not wanting anything," Neil shot back. "But if you can't grasp that simple concept, I'll put this in terms you do understand: this is a game we can't afford to lose. This is how we get to Riko. This is the only thing we can take from him that will actually hurt. Let's rip his rank out of his fingers and show him he had a reason to fear us all along."
"Do your teammates still think you're the quiet one?" Andrew asked.
"Our teammates," Neil said, with emphasis, "want this as much as I do. Stop cutting them off at the knees before they have the chance to try."
"I don't believe in giving people chances."
"I didn't until I came here," Neil said. "I took a chance on you when I decided to stay. You took a chance on me when you trusted me with Kevin. Is it really that hard to support them when they've been with you every step of the way?"