One False Move - By Harlan Coben Page 0,21

I'm going to wipe you off the face of the earth." Norm looked at Myron. "Are they, you know, connected?" He bent his nose with his index fingers in case Myron did not get the drift.

"Oh, yeah," Myron said again. Then he added, "Very."

"Great. Just great."

"So what do you want to do, Norm?"

"I don't know. I don't run and hide - I had enough of that in my life - but if I'm putting these girls in danger-"

"Forget they're women."

"What?"

"Pretend it's a men's league."

"What, you think this is about sex? I wouldn't want men in danger either, okay?"

"Okay," Myron said. "Has TruPro said anything else to you?"

"No."

"No threats, nothing?"

"Just this kid and his wipeout stuff. But don't you think they're probably the ones making the threats?"

It made sense, Myron guessed. Old gangsters had indeed moved into more legitimate enterprises - why limit yourself to prostitution and drugs and loan sharking when there were so many other ways to turn a buck? - but even with the best of intentions, it never worked out. Guys like the Aches couldn't help themselves really. They'd start out legit, but once things got the slightest bit tough, once they lost out on a contract or a sale or something, they reverted back to their old ways. Couldn't help it. Corruption too was a terrible addiction, but where were the support groups?

In this case TruPro would quickly realize that it needed to get Brenda away from its competition. So it started applying pressure. It put the screws to her manager - her father - and then moved on to Brenda herself. It was a classic scare tactic. But that scenario was not without problems. The phone call that mentioned Brenda's mother, for example - how did that fit in?

The coach blew the whistle ending practice. She gathered her players around, reminded them that they needed to be back in two hours for the second session, thanked them for their hustle, dismissed them with a clap.

Myron waited for Brenda to shower and get dressed. It didn't take her long. She came out in a long red T-shirt and black jeans, her hair still wet.

"Did Mabel know anything?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Has she heard from Dad?"

Myron nodded. "She says he's on the run. Two men came to her house looking for him. They roughed her up a bit."

"My God, is she okay?"

"Yes."

She shook her head. "What's he on the run from?"

"Mabel doesn't know."

Brenda looked at him, waited a beat. "What else?" she said.

Myron cleared his throat. "Nothing that can't wait."

She kept looking at him. Myron turned and headed for his car. Brenda followed.

"So where we going?" she asked.

"I thought we'd stop by St. Barnabas and talk to your father's supervisor."

She caught up to him. "You think he knows something?"

"Highly doubtful. But this is what I do. I go poking around and hope something stirs."

They reached the car. Myron unlocked the doors, and they both got in.

"I should be paying you for your time," she said.

"I'm not a private investigator, Brenda. I don't work by the hour."

"Still. I should be paying you."

"Part of client recruitment," Myron said.

"You want to represent me?"

"Yes."

"You haven't made much of a sales pitch or applied any pressure."

"If I had," he said, "would it have worked?"

"No."

Myron nodded and started up the car.

"Okay," she said. "We've got a few minutes. Tell me why I should choose you and not one of the big boys. Personal service?"

"Depends on your definition of personal services. If you mean someone always following you around with lips firmly planted on your buttocks, then no, the big boys are better at puckering. They have the staff for it."

"So what does Myron Bolitar offer? A little tongue with those lips?"

He smiled. "A total package designed to maximize your assets while allowing room for integrity and a personal life."

She nodded. "What a crock."

"Yeah, but it sounds good. In truth, MB SportsReps is a three-prong system. Prong one is earning money. I'm in charge of negotiating all contracts. I will continually seek out new endorsement deals for you and whenever possible get a bidding war going for your services. You'll make decent money playing for the WPBA, but you'll make a hell of a lot more on endorsements. You got a lot of pluses in that department."

"Such as?"

"Three things off the top of my head. One, you're the best female player in the country. Two, you're studying to be a doctor