“Very well.” The senator places his fist to his mouth and exhales into it, as if trying to trap his ideas as they spring from his head. “Let me know the very instant you feel he may be ready to waver.”

A rare trace of affection creeps into Sarah’s voice. “He would be a great asset to us, Senator.”

“I have a strong hunch that someday soon he will be, Sarah.”

She hangs up smiling. She knows from long experience how rarely her employer is wrong.

10

KILLERBOWL XXI, THE GAME

Saturday, January 1, 2011, 6:00 A.M.

The promising glow of sunup breaks through the swirling snow like a match head come to ignite the gaseous cloud that is darkness. Shadows, the long shadows of morning, trail off the players like giant pointing fingers making it that much harder to elude pursuit, to escape or to hide. Fatigue seems to worsen at daybreak, to press down as if it were a tangible substance that can be carried about quite easily so long as its bearer can’t see it.

The two teams begin the second quarter at equal strength, both down two men. T.K. has spent the entire first quarter, not trying to kill Matision, but rather evaluating him, gauging his strengths, balancing them off against his weaknesses. Now, at last, he’s ready to put his findings to work. He assigns himself to the middle linebacker slot, the best position from which to get Matision. He watches Matision closely, keying his own actions to Matision’s. Matision’s a clever tactician. He calls audible after audible at the line, changing his plays to adjust for the Prospectors’ beefed-up defenses. It’s almost phenomenal how well he anticipates what he’s going to face. At least T.K. would have thought so had he not known about the receiver in the man’s skull. Now T.K. attributes Matision’s precognitive maneuvers to the wonders of wireless communications rather than to a supposedly instinctive football expertise.

One thing T.K. has noticed. Whenever Matision is going to throw long, he drops back, with his right arm, his throwing arm, cocked, and his right shoulder down. As T.K. knows from long hours of viewing game tapes, Matision has a very quick release, but has a hard time holding accuracy over distance. No amount of off-street coaching can help him with that. Apparently this style of throwing is his way of boosting precision without sacrificing rapid delivery. It’s also a sure tip off that he’ll be spending the slightest bit more time in possession of the ball while his receivers dash down street. That, by extension, makes him a good candidate for a rush. Hence, having uncovered this key indicator in Matision’s behavior, T.K. waits patiently for him to do it again.

On the third play of the series, after two short, ineffectual slant outs, Matision finally does.