Chapter 15: Section Nine

Beck Rylander had never been called into Donald Dunning's office on a Thursday.

Thursdays were for video and lifting.

Today the locker room was empty when he walked through it, and every stall had been wiped down.

His nameplate was gone from the wall over his stall.

Someone had left a roll of tape where it had been.

He stood and looked at the bare spot.

His teammates had signed the same paper he had, and not one of them had come to say sorry.

Not one of them had come to say anything.

Donald's office was on the top floor, with a window that looked down on the ice.

Donald sat behind a desk the size of a car, with a glass of water, and he did not stand.

"Captain," he said.

"I'm not captain."

"Not today. Sit."

Beck stayed on his feet.

"You were at the radio station."

"I was in the parking lot."

"You drove her."

"I did."

"You slept with her, in front of the whole league's cameras, while she was still Stanton Telford's wife."

"Her husband was in a hotel with your daughter."

Donald's jaw moved.

"My daughter is a private person."

"She's the owner's daughter, and she's engaged. She said so herself. Live."

"That was a mistake."

"It was the first honest thing she's said in a year."

Donald opened a drawer and laid a thick paper on the desk.

It was a copy of the gag.

Beck knew it by sight, and by the blue ink.

"Section nine," Donald said. "The penalty clause. Five million dollars, payable to the Dunning Group, for any disclosure by a signatory."

"I haven't disclosed anything."

"You drove a woman to a radio station, and she told the city that her retainer bought a contract. I'd say you have."

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