Triple Threat by Eric Walters Page A

“You know, the way you can’t drive to your left-hand side if your life depended on it.”
    There was more laughter and applause. Not thathe’d driven much—mostly he just set up down on low post and powered through his coverage—but we’d noticed his difficulties when we were watching them play. Right or wrong, though, it wasn’t the smartest thing to say to somebody as big and mean as him.
    He walked right over to us. As he got closer I got more anxious. I had to fight the urge to simply grab Kia, turn and run away as fast as my legs would carry me. I stood still. He stopped when he was right in front of us—actually he was towering above us. His shirt was stuck against his body, held in place by the same sweat that dripped off his face.
    He bent down so that his face was practically level with mine.
    â€œWhether I drive with my left hand or not, it isn’t my life that’s in danger here,” he said softly.
    I swallowed hard.
    â€œYou scared?” he asked.
    â€œYeah,” I admitted honestly.
    â€œI’m not!” Kia snapped.
    â€œMaybe you should be,” he said.
    â€œWhat are you going to do, kick this ball over the fence too?” Kia asked, holding the ball out.
    I couldn’t believe her nerve. She had to be the guts-iest person I’d ever met. She probably really
wasn’t
afraid of him.
    He shook his head. “Nope. Shouldn’t have done that to your ball,” he said, pointing at me. “Tell you what. You two amuse me. A couple of gutsy little dudes.”
    â€œDo I look like a dude to you?” Kia demanded.
    â€œOkay, okay, don’t get mad!” he said, holding his hands up like he was surrendering. “You want to stand around and watch, you can, and nobody will bother you.”
    â€œWe don’t want to stand around and watch,” Kia said.
    â€œWe want to play … against you and your buddies. That is unless you lose the game you’re playing and then we’ll play the other team instead. It doesn’t matter to us who we beat as long as we get a chance to beat somebody.”
    He turned to his two buddies. “She’s got guts, don’t she?” He turned back to us. “Again, little girl, no matter how much you want to play us in three-on-three, you’re still short a player.”
    â€œHe’ll be here … soon.”
    The big guy shook his head, but he smiled.
    â€œCome on, Ben, let’s play ball!” one of his partners yelled out.
    â€œComing … coming!” he called out. “Your third man comes, we’ll play you. I figure that’s the only way I’m ever going to get you to shut up.”
    That probably wouldn’t get Kia to shut up either.
    â€œJust one more thing,” Kia said. “I want to make sure you remember what you said. If we beat you, you’ll go away and leave the court, right?”
    â€œIf you beat us, I’m not just leaving the court. I’m leaving the planet!” one of the others said to a whole chorus of laughter.
    â€œSo you’ll go away?” Kia asked.
    â€œWe’ll go … Of course, that means when we win, we’ll never see you two again … right?”
    â€œIf you win, then we’ll go,” Kia said. “Deal?”
    â€œDeal.”
    Kia held out her hand and the big guy shook it.
    â€œNow if you don’t mind, how about letting us get back to this game … you know, so we can figure out who gets the honor of playing against you next game.”
    â€œNo problem,” Kia said.
    We walked off the court and stood over by the fence.
    â€œWhat time is it?” Kia asked.
    I looked at my watch. “He was supposed to be here two minutes ago.”
    â€œNick,” Kia said quietly. “Is that him?”
    â€œWhere?”
    She pointed to a black Escalade that was pulling into the parking lot. It had fancy rims and was big and shiny. I couldn’t see