Michael Balkind - Sudden Death

I don’t think so.” “Look, just let me up and we’ll get out of here.” After Joel let him up, Stu gave the camera back and they left in a huff. “Sorry, guys, I guess I’m a little uptight too,” Joel apologized. “ Sorry? ” Reid said. “Don’t be ridiculous. You have to blow off steam sometimes too, and like I said, I enjoyed watching it. Maybe when this is over you can show me some of your moves.”

“I’ll make you a deal,” Stu said. “You teach us how to play golf and we’ll teach you some maneuvers.” “You’re on.” He took out a club and stretched for a while. He actually felt pretty good. After hitting a few balls with each club, he was ready to play. He thought it was kind of funny that every time there was some sort of action around him, instead of affecting his game negatively, it actually helped him play better. “Who knows?” he mumbled to himself. He couldn’t forget the reality of the threat, or the fact that his troubled mind could shift gears at any time and put him in a funk. But , he thought, I might as well take advantage of the moment and go for the gusto.

He had a 2:15 tee time with Kenny Goodman. Kenny played consis tent golf and over the years had won his share of tournaments. Reid liked Kenny and felt his last name fit him well, but he wondered why Kenny had volunteered to play with him.

“Come on, guys,” Reid said. “Let’s head over to the locker room. I need to use the bathroom so I can pee off before I tee off.” “Oy vay,” Stu said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Joel added, “Better stick to golf, Reid, because your jokes are way below par.” “Below par? I always thought that was good,” Reid said. “Oh shut up. You know what I mean.”

Inside the locker room, Kuplicki was shooting his mouth off, telling a group about his run-in with Reid’s bodyguards.

Appalled, Stu walked over and glared at him. “Didn’t learn your les son, did you? I highly recommend that you don’t mention our little bit of fun for the rest of the day. If you had listened to Joel in the first place, there would be nothing to tell. Do yourself a favor and get the wax out of your ears. If I hear you’ve been talking about it, I’ll come looking for you, and take my word for it, you don’t want that! Consider this a warning. Smarten up.” Stu walked back to Joel. “That guy is going to be a problem.” “Forget him. Worst thing that happens is we end up in court. It’s not important right now.” “You’re right,” Stu agreed. They followed Reid out to the first tee. There was one group in front of Kenny and him. He saw Kenny and walked over. “Hey, Kenny, how are you?”

“Great, thanks. I guess I should know better than to ask you the same.”

“No, I’m okay. Sure, it’s been a little stressful, but to tell you the truth, I feel like I’m playing better because of it. I can’t explain it, but it’s true.” “Maybe some of that will rub off on me,” Kenny said. “You don’t need it. You’re playing great golf.” “Well there’s a big difference between my great golf and yours,” Kenny said. Just then, Kenny’s name was announced. “Go for it,” Reid said. Kenny hit an excellent shot, long and down the middle. He turned and winked at Reid. Reid nodded back as the announcer called his name. Once again, the applause was tremendous. Reid looked at Buddy, who gave him the thumbs up. He looked back to see Shane, Joan, Hunter and Betsy along with her family. Good, they made it , he thought as he winked at Betsy’s kids. He teed up his ball, looked out and focused directly on the pin. After two practice swings, he stepped up to the ball. One more look at the pin, then one last time down at the ball. He inhaled, exhaled slowly and swung. He hit one of the best shots of his career and started to walk. Applause, hoots and hollers followed him down the fairway.

“Hey, if that’s what a little action brings out in you,” Buddy said, “I’m gonna line up reporters and cameramen along the entire 18. That was the best drive I’ve ever seen you hit.”

“I was just thinking the same thing. Hey, guys,” he said to the sur rounding protection team, “stay sharp because I’m going to win this tournament.” “We’re ready, pal,” Joel said. “Do it.” He played a spectacular round. Ten pars, six birdies, one eagle and one bogie tied him for the lead with Brock at the end of the day, once again. After golf, Jay wanted Reid back in the suite for the evening. That was fine with Reid. He called the spa and had a masseuse come to his room. She brought her portable table and worked on him for over an hour. Shane, Joan and the rest of the group joined him for dinner.

After dinner and a cigar, he was ready for sleep. It was only 9 o’clock, but last night’s interruptions were taking their toll on him. He said, “Please stay if you wish, but I’ve got to turn in. I’m exhausted.” He hugged and kissed all the women, then asked Shane to come to his room for a minute. They went into the room and closed the door. He turned to her and they embraced. While he held her, he said, “I can’t wait till this is over so we can spend some time together, just the two of us. I want to take you away somewhere special. Where should we go?” “You decide,” she said. “How about the French Riviera?” he said without hesitation. “That was a quick decision.” “It’s the most romantic place I can think of. It should be fun.” “Sounds good to me. I love you Reid.” “I love you, too.” They kissed long and hard. “You need to get out of here before we get into trouble,” Reid said, “but how about a rain check for tomorrow night?”

“You’ve got it, babe,” she answered as she reluctantly pulled away and said goodnight to him.

The girls left at 10 o’clock. Jay asked the entire protection detail to gather round for a strategy meeting. He positioned specialists on every floor and at every entrance to the hotel. He even put two on the roof. Between his staff and the police, he had a small army. It was enough manpower to cover the entire hotel and still let tomorrow’s scheduled teams get some sleep. There was nothing worse than tired security specialists, Jay thought. They tended to make mistakes. There was no room for error from this point on.

They all expected the lunatic to call in the middle of the night. Jay had the switchboard shut off Reid’s phone and reroute any incoming calls to him. He was spending the night on the suite’s pullout couch. The night passed without any problems.

The phone rang at 8 a.m.; Jay had been awake and waiting. Picking up the receiver, he heard the computerized voice announcing the time and dropped the receiver back on the cradle. He had been hoping the perp would call again. He went in and woke Reid, whose eyes sprang wide open as Jay lightly tapped on his arm. “Easy does it, Reid, everything’s fine. It’s time to get up.”

With a faint sigh of relief, Reid got out of bed. Still half asleep, on his way to the bathroom, he walked right into the portable massage table that had been left after yesterday’s massage. When he came out of the bathroom, another masseuse was waiting for him. Reid found it hard to completely relax while Jay was in the room, but he knew better than to ask him to leave. When the masseuse was done, she and Jay left the room so Reid could shower. Jay came back in as Reid was getting dressed. “Might as well put this on now, so you can get used to it,” Jay said, handing Reid a bulletproof vest.

“Oh shit, I can’t play with that on,” Reid said with a long face. He took the vest and weighed it in his hand. “It doesn’t feel as heavy as I expected.”

“It’s Zylon. It’s much lighter than Kevlar. I didn’t think you could play in a Kevlar vest. There is some controversy over Zylon’s safety level, but I figured you’d put up a fight if I wanted you to wear heavy body armor. I’ve been wearing Zylon since its introduction.” “I guess if you’re here talking about it, it must work.” “The fact is I haven’t been shot at while wearing Zylon, but I know people who have and are alive to talk about it. Of course, the biggest and most obvious shortfall of any vest is that it won’t stop a shot to the head or any other body part it doesn’t cover. The potential for lead poisoning, while decreased, is still a possibility.”