Double Fake by Rich Wallace Read Free Book Online Page B

beat us, we drop into second place. And whoever ends up second in our division is going to get Bauer Electric in the first round of the playoffs.”
    “We’ll beat them,” Calvin said, meaning Bauer Electric.
    “They don’t think so,” said Coach, gesturing toward the Grotto players, who were warming up on the field. “They’ve been playing well the past few weeks. They want this rematch bad.”
    The Grotto was clearly fired up, and it showed in the opening minutes of the game. Mary Pineda was playing goalie for Little Italy and she made a couple of nice saves, but the third shot was unreachable and the Grotto had a quick 1-0 lead.
    Calvin glanced over at the sideline and noticed that Zero had not yet arrived. “Let’s suck it up,” he called to his teammates. “Let’s get it back.”
    The Grotto’s three subs came running onto the field and took their spots on the front line. This could be a problem, Calvin thought. The opponents had the advantage of rotating their players frequently, getting fresh legs out there while the Little Italy players wilted in the heat.
    And the pressure continued. Little Italy barely crossed midfield more than a couple of times, while the Grotto kept up a steady game of quick, short passes and runs at the goal. Calvin was ineffective from his position at sweeper, unable to help generate the offense. By halftime, the Grotto had a 2-0 lead.
    Zero was standing near the bench as the players walked slowly off the field, needing drinks and rest. All seven players had been out there for the entire half.
    “Where you been?” Calvin said sharply as he caught Zero’s eye.
    “Bad traffic at the tunnel,” Zero said with a shrug.
    “We’re getting our butts kicked.”
    “We’ll be all right.”
    Calvin moved closer to Zero and lowered his voice. “You better be ready to run with me, man. The rest of these people are out of gas.”
    Coach came over to them and said they’d be at the midfield positions in the second half. “You two have to control the game,” he said. “We’ll put Angel, Orlando, and Mary in the front line, but that’ll leave our defense very vulnerable. We need to tie this game up, at least.”
    Calvin nodded. He went to the bench and grabbed his jug of water. His shirt was soaked with sweat. He shut his eyes and poured a bit of the water over his head.
    “Different game this half,” Coach said as the players huddled up around him. “We put the pressure on now. We control the field.”
    It wasn’t easy, but the mix of speedier players did make a difference for Little Italy. Calvin felt the frustration of having a long, sustained attack thwarted by an excellent save by the goalie, and he shook his head in resignation as the three rested Grotto players trotted onto the field soon after to give some teammates a breather.
    The first break came when Orlando made a steal at midfield and found Mary looping over from the sideline with a world of space in front of her. She quickly covered twenty yards with the ball, then crossed it cleanly to Angel, who fielded it without breaking stride and hammered it high and hard into the net. Angel had become a consistently dangerous scorer.
    “There we go!” Coach Diaz called, clapping his hands. “Plenty of time left. Keep it going.”
    Calvin crunched up the lower part of his shirt and wrung out a few drops of sweat. He looked over at Zero, who was staring intently toward the goal.
    “Our turn,” Calvin said. “The ice is broken.”
    Zero nodded. “I’m ready.”
    When Calvin intercepted a pass a few minutes later, he dribbled two steps, then passed crisply to Zero. Mary was open on the wing again, and she darted across the center line and gave a quick juke, racing past a defender. She passed back to Angel who was trailing the play, and he chipped the ball ahead to Orlando.
    Calvin was running nearly full-speed down the middle of the field, closing in on the goal box. Orlando’s pass was shin-high and caromed off