Chapter 6

“Kovalev?” His hand curled into a fist and his teeth ground together. “Are you trying to tell me something? Is there something I don’t know? Am I done, is that it?” He looked across the wide mahogany desk at the man sitting behind it, feeling like he was in the Principal’s office being expelled for something he hadn’t done.

“With you and Geno out, we had to do something,” Shero begins but it isn’t to him that Sid is looking for confirmation of what he already knew. 

“It’s precautionary,” Mario was giving him that encouraging smile but his crystalline blue eyes lied. “No one can replace either of you. You know that. Bringing Kovy back...you know that without Gonchar here Geno’s been at sixes and sevens.” The big man was trying to deflect his concern but the lead weight in the pit of Sid’s stomach wouldn’t allow the lie to sit comfortably. 

“Am I done? If I am you should just tell me,” he told his mentor, trying to hold the gaze of his mentor who was acting like a shy girl on a first date, looking at everything and anything but his star player, the face of the franchise. What nails he hadn’t already bitten off were now digging into Sid’s palms. His head was beginning to throb. 

“You know this is a day to day thing. We’re not going to rush it and you’re not going to do what Savard did last year,” Mario said in that father knows best tone, finally levelling his gaze which meant he was finally saying something that he meant. “When you’re ready you’ll come back. That might be next week, but it might be next year and we all have to be okay with that.” Now Sid felt like the one that was being admonished and he slid down in the leather chair. Mario wasn’t saying anything that he didn’t already know. He just hated hearing it. 

“I could play,” he began but he could hear the lie in the whine of his own voice. 

“What do the doctor’s say?” Shero sounded like kid that had just been told Christmas had been moved up a month and when Sid looked over at the General Manager, hoping that he was on his side he almost laughed. The little man looked like he wanted to bounce and clap his hands together he was so happy. 

“They say he hasn’t passed the tests yet,” Mario said in a matter of fact tone of voice that said that the discussion was over before it had started. “They also say that he shouldn’t be hanging out at the rink, which, by the way, is something Dan is also saying.” Sid didn’t need to look over at Mario to know that his blue eyes would hold both mirth as well as criticism. He didn’t need to be told, again, that he was being a pain in the ass. He also didn’t need to tell Mario how much it was killing him not to be out on the ice. 

“I’m bored, okay? Being cooped up in the house...I need something to do,” he argued with a quick glance at the stacks of paper littering Mario’s desk. There had to be something he could be given to do. 

“I’d heard the swimming was going well.” Sid felt his entire face go up in flame and slid further down into his chair. There was no way he was going to tell them that Kate was the reason he’d been awake so early and at the rink doing the ‘light workout’ that he was allowed to do. Right now there were only two things on his mind and only one of them had anything to do with hockey. 

“I still need something else to do,” he muttered, knowing he sounded like a sulking child, because he felt like a sulking child. 

“You should get away. Take some time. Go home.” He knew when his mentor said ‘go home’ he didn’t meant to his new, big empty house. He meant Cole Harbour. He glanced up at Mario and he knew that the expression on his face would read ‘hurt’. He couldn’t believe he was being sent away, like he’d done something wrong. “If it helps you to get into a better head space, to relax, it’s worth a try. We want back on the ice as badly as you want to get back,” Mario said more quietly and Sid could do nothing more than nod. He’d do anything to get back on the ice. 

“I’ll think about it,” he agreed, because somehow it was important to him not to give in right away and besides, he’d have to tell Kate if he was going to go and if he really was going to go there wouldn’t be any more opportunities to put off asking her out. This would be it. 

“Let us know what you decide to do,” Shero told him as Sid got up out of the oversized leather chair. 

“I will,” he promised and then he turned his back on the conspirators and left the room. 

“So nothing? You can’t say one way or the other?” Cody’s hands hadn’t stopped shaking since they’d found the car sitting on all four of its rims. There had been only one upside to this ‘message’,  or so she’d thought, and that had been that there would be clues to who was sending it and now, Agent Roth was sitting in front of her telling her they didn’t know any more now than they had two days ago. “No prints? No DNA? No note in the glove box?” She looked at the two agents sitting in front of her and felt like screaming when they both looked back at her like she was some kind of ignorant, whining child. 

“It’s not like those CSI shows. These things take time. If there had been any DNA, which there wasn’t any but yours and Reba’s, it would take weeks to get any kind of conclusive hits from it. And no, there were no identifiable prints. Whoever did this was wearing gloves, which is the reason we’re here. That means it wasn’t just kids. Whoever did this didn’t want to leave any evidence behind which means that we’re dealing with pro’s here.” The two agents looked at one another and then the Agent Roth continued. “We’re going to arrange another location. We just need a day or so and then....”

“A day or so?” She realized as soon as the words were out of her mouth that she’d shouted them. She glanced around at the college kids in the large cafeteria with its’ high ceilings and winced. No one was staring at them. In fact, most of the people at the tables closest to them didn’t so much as pause in their conversations. “We could be dead in a day or so,” she added in a lower voice, through clenched teeth.

“We have a car parked right across the street and if you’d like Agent Keith to continue staying in the house...,” he paused and looked at his partner who shrugged her shoulders. 

“That’s up to you Katie, you tell me what you want to do. There’s a safe house, it’s not much but we could get you there in an hour if you really feel threatened.” Cody felt her mouth drop open. ‘Threatened?’ She supposed to these agents having someone slash your tires was nothing but to her, it said ‘I have a knife and I can do this to your throat’. 

“I don’t know.... I mean, this is where you’re supposed to tell me what to do.” They seemed to think she was going to be fine. They were taking all of this lightly, like she was making a mountain out of a mole hill but.... “If you think we’re fine I don’t really want to uproot her.” Cody thought about the way that Becka had sung to herself last night in the tub and had splashed happily with the new tub toys that they’d bought, how the little girl was finally coming out of her shell. If they moved again, would she backtrack and fall silent once again?

“We really think if we were dealing with the Hells Angels, if they know where and you are, you’d be dead already,” Agent Keith said with what Cody knew was supposed to be a comforting smile. Funny thing was, she didn’t feel comforted by it at all. 

“If something else happens, say, an escalation to actual death threats by phone or mail...,” Agent Roth began but the look on Cody’s face silenced him. 

“How likely is that? Like you said, if they want to kill me or Becka or both of us they will,” she muttered, pushing away her untouched sprout and shrimp salad sandwich. She’d been looking forward to it. She wasn’t hungry now. 

“If they’re just trying to intimidate you, then they’ll probably continue to do stuff like leaving you with flat tires, or, like Agent Roth was saying, they’ll leave a note or maybe try to call you. The fact of the matter is, we’re not far and you’ve got round the clock surveillance and they’ll know that. We’re pretty sure you’re safe,” Cathy said, reaching across the table to put her hand over to of Cody’s. Cody stared down at the woman’s hand with her French manicure and her thin, tasteful gold band. It didn’t look like a hand that could do much to keep her safe. 

“Well...one more thing...one more and then I’m gonna want out of this city,” Cody grumbled, grabbing her bag and, rolling her eyes at the confident smiles the Agents turned up towards her, she headed towards the pool.

She was beating the water with her arms and legs like it had done something to her and she was trying to teach it a lesson. If he’d been allowed to, Sid knew he’d be on the ice doing the same thing with a bucket of pucks and an empty net, or maybe Flower. When he was in a mood like this, he could shoot pucks until he couldn’t raise his stick over his waist anymore. He wondered what had put her in the mood that had her tumbling at one end of the pool and going straight back to beating the water into submission. He wondered if he had the stones to ask her. 

‘And what would you do if she told you?’ he asked himself as he slid his feet into the water and slowly lowered himself into the cool embrace of the pool. He liked to think that he would put his arms around her and she would let him hold her while they talked it out. On the other hand, he was pretty sure she would probably tell him it was nothing and clam up. Just like she had done the other day at the zoo every time he’d tried to turn the tables and ask her anything about her life.

She was a master of changing the subject, he’d noticed; especially when it came to anything to do with Reba. Oh she’d talk about general things, like how the tiny little girl could happily eat her weight in ice cream or how she could throw a tantrum over going to bed on time, but ask about her parents and blam! The walls of steel came down, Kate’s eyes would go blank and before he knew it, they were talking about giraffes or brown bears. 

‘Not that it matters’, he reminded himself as he pushed off from the wall and started swimming slowly, the breast stroke that Kate had said she found relaxing. 

He was probably going to leave for Cole Harbour in a day or two. Go sit on the edge of his wharf stare at the ice or something brain numbing like that. He couldn’t let himself think about a girl, no matter how pretty and mysterious she was or how much of every single night since he’d met her he’d spent thinking about pressing his mouth to hers’ or stripping her out of the racing suit she was wearing now, kissing every single solitary inch of bared skin until she was shuddering and calling out his name. 

Maybe that was why he had to go back home. Maybe he needed to get away from her too. Away from everything and anything that was stressing him out. He just needed to clear his head, he told himself as his hands reached the wall and he stood, his feet on the bottom of the pool. He shook his hair out, like a dog coming in out of the rain and looked over to find her hanging onto the floating lane dividers and grinning at him. 

‘Or’, he thought as he grinned back at her ‘I can try and find out more about her.’

“Hey,” she called, pulling her goggles up over her swim cap. “How’s the noggin?”

‘Better for seeing you’ was what sprang to his lips but instead he said, “about the same. Where’s the squirt?” 

“Day care. She’s stopped hitting boys with bricks. I told her it’s easier to get ants with honey,” she grinned and then suddenly disappeared beneath the water. He waited, wondering where she was going to reappear and then he felt her hands on his ankles and shuddered. If she had any idea what she was doing to him.... “Race you?” she gasped, breathless as she bobbed to the surface. 

“Get ready to lose,” he laughed, launching himself into the water like a torpedo. 

He thought he could hear her laughing somewhere behind him as he slid beneath the surface of the water. He was regretting not coming up with some end game to the race, some sort of prize as he began to reach hand over hand, kicking his legs hard as he pushed himself through the water. What would it be, dinner? A Club? Letting him make mad, passionate love to her all night long?

Sid nearly choked on the mouthful of water he inhaled as he started to laugh. Like there was a chance in hell that he would ever be as forward as, oh, say Max would. Yeah, Max would make that bet and not blink an eye. That shit would never come out of his mouth. Not in a million years. 

His hands hit the wall and he surfaced, still coughing only to find her not only finished, but out of the water and squatting at the edge of the pool over top of him.

“Shit,” he gasped shaking his head. 

“Well, it’s a good thing you already have a gold medal in hockey because if you let a girl beat you in the pool...agh!” He had a hold of her ankle and sent her sailing over his head and into the pool with one tug. 

Her internal dialogue felt like it was coming from a parent, except she’d never had much of an example when it came to that. Maybe it was more like a teacher, no, a swim coach. It was definitely like one of her swim coaches, only this time it had nothing to do with breathing or the arc of her stroke, it had to do with amazingly sexy and handsome hockey player in the changing room next door. 

As she ran her fingers through the tangles of her hair, she was admonishing herself for flirting with him. Not that it was really possible not to. ‘How could I not?’ she asked herself as her imagination formed a vision of his thickly muscled, solid body under the spray of the shower, his skin glistening under the water, his hands making suds go....

‘Stop!’ she commanded herself and winced as her fingers got caught in a particularly snarled mass of hair. ‘You can’t drag him into this’ she reminded herself. Her life was fucked up enough without having to think about his safety on top of everything else. 

“Oh yeah, imagine telling him the truth about why your tires got slashed,” she mumbled sarcastically under her breath. One of the girls who was just getting into her race suit glanced up worriedly at her. Cody shot her a ‘mind your own business’ look and grabbed her brush from her bag and began to tug at the knot. 

There was no doubt in her mind that Sidney, the Greek God Adonis, Crosby could snap his fingers and any woman in this entire city, hell, for that matter most of the women in all of North America, would immediately get naked and spread the pink. Why in the hell would he want to get involved with a woman on the run from the Hells Angels with a kid in tow?

‘Better just forget about it before you make a fool of yourself’, she told herself as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

“Besides, we’re probably not staying here,” she added out loud and then, catching a puzzled look reflected in the mirror from one of the girls behind her, she giggled and tossed her hairbrush back into her purse and then grabbed her bag and headed out the door. 

 Sid glanced at all of the faces of the students around him as he waited outside the changing room, looking for Kate. He was determined to at least get her to go for coffee with him. That would be a start and then maybe next time there was a new Italian restaurant that Tanger had told him about. Maybe they could try that together. 

But then he started to think about Reba and how it might be hard for Kate to get a sitter. He thought about Vero or Heather and wondered if Kate would be open to him arranging a sitter and..., ‘and you’re getting ahead of yourself buddy’ he laughed to himself as he shuffled his feet nervously and glanced out from beneath the brim of the ball cap he had pulled down low over his eyes. 

She was taking forever to get changed. Flower was always complaining about how long it took Vero to get ready, even just to go to a game. For himself, Sid had often wished he had that problem. He’s also wished for someone, besides Mario’s wife, to make him his pre-game meal, to lay out his suit and to wear his jersey while covering her eyes during the shootout. 

With a glance down at his watch, he started getting the sinking feeling that, rather her being late it was he that had missed her. His shoulders rounding with disappointment, he started to head towards the double glass doors that would take him out to the parking lot. If he hadn’t still been keeping a hopeful eye out for her, he would have missed the guy in the black hoodie with the flames up the arms. It was the same guy that had been waiting outside last time, the one that had made Kate so nervous. 

Sid glanced sideways at him, the way he would watch an opposition defenseman out of the corner of his eye. He saw the bearded man glance in his direction, but Sid kept his head down and continued towards the parking lot, scanning the cars for any sign of Kate’s Volvo. It was always possible that the guy was stalking him and not her, although his stalkers were usually a lot younger and female Sid thought as he stopped and knelt down, feigning tying his shoe. 

Keeping one eye on the tall, dark scruffy stranger, Sid noted that the man stopped almost as soon as he had and was now studiously looking at the ticket machine for the parking lot, but was not reaching for a wallet or change. 

“Shit,” Sid cursed under his breath as he got up again and scanned the parking lot, finding her swinging pony tail a couple of rows ahead of him. He tried to slip in between two SUV’s, hoping that he could lose the biker type and catch up with Kate in time to warn her but as he emerged in the next row, he saw her getting into her car and her stalker sliding behind the wheel of a rusty, banged up old Trans-Am. “Fuck!” he cursed as he sprinted towards his own vehicle and threw himself in behind the wheel. 

A million scenarios played out in his head. The guy could run her off the road, or just pull up beside her, pull out a gun and blow a hole in her head. Of course he could also follow her all the way to the house and then....

The Trans Am changed lanes in front of him and he was forced to slam on his brakes. He cursed a blue streak and reached for his phone. Should he call 911 or some of the guys and have them bring some baseball bats? 

Did the guy know he was following him? He had to, Sid thought as he slammed his hand against the steering wheel. His Land Rover wasn’t exactly unobtrusive. And what did he think that he was going to do anyway? Sure he could hold his own in a fight on the ice with guys who didn’t really want to hurt him but this guy? This guy could make his concussion look like child’s play. 

He was about to hit Max’s speed dial when Kate’s Volvo dove off the highway, heading towards a mall parking lot. ‘Good girl’ he thought with a feral grin as he watched her slow down to a crawl, with her blinker on. The Trans Am roared, sending a plume of blue smoke out its twin tail pipes and then left two streaks of rubber as it headed further down the highway. 

Sid slowed the Land Rover and took the same turn off. He kept far enough back that she wouldn’t see him, although he could see here innocently bopping her head to what had to be some energetic music, her pony tail swinging. He turned into the parking lot but headed for an empty spot a few rows away from the spot into she nosed the Volvo. He scanned the parking lot, watching the mothers and their kids getting out of minivans and working moms in their suits rushing into the grocery store for that one item they’d forgotten. He watched her get out of her car, slipping her keys into purse and pulling out her iPod. As soon as her ear buds were in, her pony tail started to sway as she walked towards the front doors of the department store.

He waited until Kate was safely inside and then scanned the parking lot again. The Trans Am was nowhere in sight. He waited a few minutes, expecting to see the brown and gold late seventies muscle car roar into the parking lot, but it didn’t. Not for all of the twenty minutes it took her to come back out and make her way back to the Volvo and drop her bag on the passenger seat. 

Satisfied that he’d done his good deed for the day and that she wasn’t in any immediate danger, while also making a mental note to drive by her place later on his way to Halo night at Max’s, Sid backed the Land Rover up and headed back out of the parking lot.