Waves

Part 38

Eve spent the rest of the afternoon hunched over her computer, slightly uptight as she awaited the text from Joe confirming he'd arrived in Nevada. It would be the final communication she received from him for the week which was customary for Joe; he had made a habit of not speaking to his friends or family before a game anyway, but one this important meant he would not be reachable for the next 6 days.

It's why she was grateful when her phone eventually rang, bringing a smile to her face. "Why is it so cold here if we are in the desert?" Joe grumbled. "The desert gets cold, especially in the winter. You'll be fine, I promise," Eve teased, "what does your schedule look like the rest of the week? I want to picture what you're doing."

"Tonight we're on our own after check in. Gonna grab dinner and go to bed. Tomorrow we have our first team meeting and a walk-thru before the welcome rally. Then the rest of the week is practice and media stuff," Joe replied.

"Good. Please be careful this week. Don't do anything crazy in practice. Make sure you get treatment every day. No double lifts," Eve lectured, "but most importantly: put it all on 20 black."

"Taking gambling advice from you is like asking Ja'Marr for relationship coaching."

"I'm letting him know you said that," Eve snorted.

"I'll tell him myself. Listen, I've gotta get my room key. Everything you just told me? Ditto. Please be careful, take care of yourself, and get here in one piece. I love you so much," Joe whispered, the loud din of the Waldorf Astoria lobby nearly drowning him out.

"I love you too, baby. Have the best week. I'll see you after the game," Eve sniffed, emotion creeping in. Hanging up, Eve finished the report she was proofreading and pulled up her packing list for Vegas, scanning it for anything she needed to pick up. Just as she was checking under her sink for more shampoo, she heard Flossy loudly meowing from the living room.

She ignored it until the meowing turned into an uncharacteristic hiss; the distinctive sound of him clawing at the sliding glass door that went out to the fire escape causing her to stomp down the hallway.

"Hey buddy, no scratching the glass–," Eve didn't finish her admonishment of the cat because much to her surprise, there was a man on her fire escape; masked and clearly doing his best to pick the shoddy lock on her sliding door.

He almost seemed more surprised than she was as he froze, unsure of how to proceed. "Hey! What are you doing?" Eve screamed through the glass, boldly walking over to the door. That movement scared the would-be intruder and he quickly turned to climb back down the rickety fire escape ladder.

Swearing under her breath, Eve grabbed her purse that held the tiny gun Vicki had given her and pulled the sliding door open to crawl onto the landing. Peering over the wrought iron barrier, she saw that the intruder, while bold, was moving very slowly down the steps. This might be a bad idea Eve. Think about what you're doing before you do it, she thought to herself. "Fuck it," Eve hissed, saying a silent prayer as she too went down the rusted ladder to chase down whoever the masked man was.

"Stop right there! Who the fuck are you?" Eve shouted to the man, causing him to slip slightly on one of the narrow rungs of the escape. He finally made it to the bottom and Eve could tell even through his mask that he was panting, grabbing a dingy olive duffle bag that he'd left on the sidewalk and frantically running down the block.

Jumping off the last step, Eve sprinted after him; her own chest burning from the cold February air. He was moving surprisingly fast, and while Eve was doing her best to keep up, she was struggling to get within two arm lengths of him. Luckily, a patch of ice slowed him down as he took an extra second to regain his footing. That gave Eve just the beat she needed to get closer to him and she took a chance, jumping as hard as she could and tackling him to the ground.