The Finall Play novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Video

The video played on the big screen in the staff meeting room at nine sharp.

It was grainy, shot from the bleachers of the indoor field.

It showed a man in a gray T-shirt with no sling, cocking his arm and throwing a football into the dark.

Then it showed him falling to one knee.

Then it showed a second man running across the turf, and kneeling, and putting his hand on the first man's face.

Elliot stood at the back of the room with his arms folded and his heart in his throat.

Tanner sat in a chair at the long table, white and rigid.

Around them sat the assistant coaches, the trainers, the strength coach, and the team doctor with a coffee cup in his hand.

Shane Ostrow leaned in the doorway with a tight little smile.

"As you can see," Coach Kestner said, and paused the screen.

"My starting quarterback broke into a closed facility and threw a football on a torn labrum."

"It was one throw, Coach," Tanner said.

"It was a rule violation and a medical risk."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you are. And you, Erickson." Coach turned his head slowly. "You were there."

"I was," Elliot said.

"You let him."

"I stopped him."

"After he threw."

"After he threw," Elliot admitted.

Someone in the room whispered.

Coach Kestner put his hands behind his back.

"Thurmond is barred from the clinic until further notice," he said. "No rehab. No weight room. He sits in the stands with the managers."

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