was tighter. He could feel himself losing consciousness.
“Please! Please! I’ll do anything. Don’t kill me.”
“Shut up,” the voice said. It was deep and threatening. He knew there was a big, powerful man behind that voice although he still couldn’t see a thing. “I hear you like to use that word yourself when you’re making threats. That right?”
“No, no. No threats. I’m a businessman.”
The arm let him down but the hand stayed at his throat. He could at least breathe a little better.
“You threatened Jack Tobin.”
“Who?”
“Don’t fuck with me, boy. You wanna die?”
“No, no. I didn’t threaten anybody though.”
The hand squeezed his throat harder, cutting off the flow of air.
“Okay, okay!” he croaked. “Yeah, I threatened him.”
The hand let up a little.
“It wasn’t my decision. I have investors. They’re pissed at Tobin.”
“Here’s the deal,” the voice said. “Something happens to Jack Tobin, you die. Understand?”
“But I don’t control that.”
“You’d better.”
“Somebody has already been hired.”
“Then I might as well kill you now.”
“No. No, wait. I’ll call off the dogs. I promise. I don’t know if I can stop what’s already been done but I’ll try.”
“You better succeed,” the voice said. “Your life depends on it.”
Suddenly he felt weightless as the man kicked his feet out from under him. He landed on the hard concrete floor; his shoulder hit first and then his head.
Everything went black after that.
Henry called Jack the next morning.
“I think that your situation has been taken care of but I’m not one hundred percent sure.”
“What does that mean?” Jack asked.
“Mr. Collins has other investors who he does not control. I convinced him, I believe, that it would be in his best interests to get them to follow his recommendation in this one situation.”
“This is crazy, Henry. We’re talking about a college football player and an agent.”
“No, Jack. We’re talking about millions of dollars and we’re talking about people who want to send a message to others that messing with their business can cost you your life.”
“So what do I do, wait and see what happens?”
“Do you still have that Sig Sauer you bought a few years back?”
“Yes, I’ve got it but not with me. Why?”
“I think you should start carrying it and maybe go to the range once in a while.”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Henry.”
“Maybe not, Jack. Maybe this is just smoke. But I would prefer that you at least have the gun in your house.”
“I’ll think about it. By the way, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
“I’m spending it with you. Why?”
“Wanda didn’t invite you over for all the fixings?”
“As a matter of fact, she did. I’m just not ready to be the man of the house carving the turkey if you know what I mean.”
“Gotcha. Danni invited us to come to Thanksgiving dinner. Whaddya think?”
“Speaking of calling the police.”
“Yeah, right. I probably don’t want to tell her about Collins’s threat. So are you coming?”
“Sure. I’ll bring your gun with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Thanksgiving Day was cold and blustery, but Jack still got up early and went for a run in the woods. He’d found the running path just a few days after he arrived in town. It was literally two blocks from the condo and there was nobody around in the early morning but him, the birds, the trees, and a host of other small creatures. An armadillo had startled him just last week. They both jumped at the same time, the armadillo running about five paces or so in the opposite direction before stopping. So far as he could remember, it was the first time Jack had ever seen a live armadillo in motion.
He ran five miles at an easy pace, breathing in the fresh air and taking the time to enjoy the beautiful morning.
Part of his run took him down a giant sinkhole, a break in the limestone foundation that had formed over thousands of years. It was his favorite place. Looking up from the very bottom, he could see the tall trees clustered around the rim at the top, their branches rustling in the breeze causing the leaves to unhinge. A small stream snaked along from top to bottom, the sound so steady, so unchanging, yet altering forever the surrounding landscape. The sun filtering through the woods served as the spotlight for the leaves as they cascaded end over end.
Jack always stopped for a few minutes to take it all in. It was here in places like this that he could make sense out of the world.