Chapter 11 - The Coach’s Confession
Coach Mercer contacted Willa before she could contact him.
A message appeared on her phone shortly after midnight.
COME TO THE OLD STADIUM ALONE.
I WILL GIVE YOU THE ORIGINAL FILE.
Willa did not go alone.
Noah followed at a distance, carrying his camera. Lena waited in a car nearby with Caleb.
The old stadium had been abandoned after Westbridge built the Vale Athletics Center. Weeds pushed through the track, and sections of the bleachers had collapsed.
Coach Mercer stood beneath the broken scoreboard.
“You brought people,” he said.
“They are staying back.”
“That will not protect them.”
“Why did you change my result?”
The coach looked toward the dark stands.
“Because Victoria’s victory had already been sold.”
“To sponsors?”
“To universities, advertisers, donors, political partners. The Vale Foundation built a campaign around her. She was supposed to become the face of their national youth initiative.”
“And I ruined the plan.”
“You ran faster than expected.”
Willa almost laughed.
“So you stole my victory because I surprised you.”
“I changed the scoreboard because Eleanor Vale told me that if I refused, twenty-three athletic scholarships would be canceled.”
“Was that true?”
“I believed it was.”
“You still did it.”
“Yes.”
The single word carried no excuse.
Coach Mercer reached inside his jacket and handed Willa a flash drive.
“This contains five years of edited results.”
“Why give it to me now?”
“Because the fire changed everything.”
“You think Sloan started it.”
“I know she did.”
“How?”
“She used my cloned card. She has done it before.”
“Why would she help create the system and then destroy the evidence?”
“Because someone is removing everyone connected to the original program.”
Willa thought of Caleb’s missing records, the fire, Claire’s dismissal, and the legal hold on the storage box.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“My father?”
Mercer’s head lifted.
“So he returned.”
“You know him.”
“He recruited me.”
The answer hit her harder than she expected.
Samuel Hart had not merely created the system years earlier.
He had brought Coach Mercer into it.
“He claims he tried to destroy it.”
“Samuel claims whatever keeps him alive.”
A sound came from the stands.
Metal scraping concrete.
Coach Mercer turned.
A red light appeared on his chest.
A laser.
“Get down!” he shouted.
Willa dropped.
A gunshot shattered the old scoreboard.
Noah ran from behind the barrier.
Another shot struck the track.
Coach Mercer pushed Willa behind a concrete wall.
“Who is shooting?” she cried.
“I don’t know.”
He pressed the flash drive into her hand.
“If I do not leave this field, look inside the folder named ORIGIN.”
Footsteps moved above them.
The shooter was entering the stands.
Coach Mercer grabbed a metal pole.
“Run toward the south gate.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“This is not courage, Willa. It is stupidity.”
He stood and moved away from her, drawing the shooter’s attention.
A third shot echoed.
Mercer fell.
Willa screamed.
Noah pulled her toward the gate.
They escaped through a broken fence as police sirens approached.
By the time officers searched the stadium, the shooter was gone.
Coach Mercer was alive, but unconscious.
The flash drive had disappeared from Willa’s hand.
Someone had taken it while she climbed through the fence.
Only four people knew she possessed it.
Noah.
Lena.
May you like
Caleb.
And Coach Mercer.
