Battleship (Movie Tie-in Edition) by Peter David Read Free Book Online

shouting, everyone going berserk. Hopper, his heart pounding, managed to bring himself up alongside, and he tried to knock the ball away from the captain. Nagata didn’t slow, keeping the ball away even as the two men slammed into each other repeatedly, side against side. The referees apparently couldn’t overlook this and they started throwing around yellow cards. The two men ignored them.
    Hopper went for a full-body slam, banging into Nagata, almost causing him to stumble. He collided with him a second time and was about to go for a third when Nagata suddenly stopped, throwing his right arm straight to the side. The move clotheslined Hopper, knocking the wind out of him, and he tripped over his own feet and went down. With a clear shot at the goal, Nagata sped forward and slammed the ball with all his strength.
    It hurtled straight toward the goal … and a hole in Stone’s defense.
    Stone lunged for it and, an instant before it could roll across the white line, he smothered it like a hero landing atop a hand grenade.
    An approving roar went up from the crowd, but Stone had no time for accolades. He never stopped rolling as he came up with the ball, looking for someone in whose direction he could throw it.
    His brother, having regained his feet, ran up to him as Nagata retreated downfield, anticipating the throw. “Kick it deep. Hit me deep,” said Hopper.
    Stone saw that Nagata was already positioning himself. “He’s been owning you all day,” said Stone, and Hopper didn’t need to ask his brother which “he” was being referred to. “We need to tie this thing up quick.”
    “Deep, me, Stone.”
    Stone looked at Hopper. Hopper was only partly looking at him. His attention seemed more focused on Nagata, who was already halfway downfield.
    “This isn’t about you and him,” said Stone. “Don’t make this personal …”
    “It’s sure as hell personal. That doesn’t mean I can’t do it. Deep. Me.”
    Stone paused a second that felt like an hour. Then he nodded. “Be there.”
    The words were like the firing of a starter’s pistol. The instant he said them, Hopper was off. He sprinted downfield, his arms pumping. He saw that Nagata was watching him with that same arrogant confidence as before. Hopper dashed to the right and Nagata started after him—then, the moment Nagata committed to the move, Hopper quickly broke left.
You’re not the only one who can do fake-outs
, he thought smugly.
    There was one American player near Hopper, Tompkins, which was—as far as Alex was concerned—more than enough. From a distance he heard the thud of Stone’s foot coming into contact with the soccer ball and he turned, looked, panicked for half a second because the sun was in his eyes and he couldn’t pick up the ball’s location.
    Then he saw it, coming in fast, straight up the middle of the field. It was a beautiful shot, arcing through the sky, turning slowly and lazily in the air. Hopper took a few steps to the left to line himself up and didn’t even have to look to know that the opposing goal was directly behind him.
    They figure I’ll play it off my chest, bounce it to Tompkins, who’ll try to drive it in. No one would be insane enough to try and head it directly into the goal from this angle. At least that’s what they figure. I’m about to show ’em they figure wrong
.
    The ball descended toward him, and he braced himself,ready to propel the ball at the goal and himself into glory, or at the very least his team into overtime. Suddenly he heard a grunt, though, and a body hit the ground. He barely had time to register that it was Tompkins before Nagata was suddenly in front of him, facing him with a grim smile.
    With a roar, Hopper came at him, but Nagata didn’t wait. Instead he performed an astounding backflip with the intention of catching the ball in midair and kicking it downfield.
    Because of Hopper’s lunge, however, Nagata’s foot didn’t quite come into contact with the ball.