Fast Break (Brooklyn Monarchs 1)

She set down her pen and gave them her full attention. “What’s wrong?”

Troy stepped aside to allow Andrea to precede him. He pulled Jaclyn’s office door shut and approached her desk. The media executive was coatless. His pale gold shirt was tucked into navy blue pants, but the sleeves were rolled to his elbows. His copper-colored tie was loosened. Troy didn’t usually achieve this level of disarray until late in the afternoon.

He pressed his fists into the top of one of Jaclyn’s black visitor’s chairs. “Andy got a call from a drug dealer claiming to be Marc’s supplier.”

Jaclyn wasn’t following. “Marc who?”

Troy held her gaze. “DeMarcus Guinn. Our head coach.”

Jaclyn’s eyes widened. Her thoughts scattered and everything flashed white. “What?”

Troy shoved his hands into the front pockets of his slacks. “I take it you haven’t spoken to him yet.”

Jaclyn’s gaze bounced from Troy to Andrea before dropping to her Rolex. It was just after eight o’clock in the morning. She and DeMarcus hadn’t seen each other after work last night, but she knew he’d been in his office for at least an hour. He always arrived between six-thirty and seven o’clock in the morning.

Get it together, Jones. This isn’t the time or the place to freak out.

Jaclyn looked up at Andrea, then Troy. “No, he hasn’t stopped by.” She gestured toward the chairs. “Please sit down, both of you, and tell me exactly what happened.”

Troy waited for Andrea to sit before taking the chair to her left. “Tell Jackie what you told me.”

Andrea crossed her legs and laid her hands on the beige material of her pantsuit. “I got a call yesterday from someone claiming to be Marc Guinn’s cocaine supplier and offering me an exclusive interview. I didn’t believe the guy. It’s obvious someone put him up to posing as a drug dealer to the stars. But when I asked Marc about it, he said he didn’t know who would have planted the story.”

Jaclyn stared at Andrea. In the reporter’s entire recount, Jaclyn was stuck on one point. “You spoke to Marc yesterday?”

Andrea nodded. “Around four o’clock. I told him the supposed dealer said if he didn’t hear back from me by the end of the day, he was going to call around to other papers. Well, he must have started calling because there was a message on my machine from a reporter at another paper asking what I knew about Guinn and drugs.”

Jaclyn bit back a stream of vocabulary words more suited to an assassin than a lady. She sat forward and looked the reporter in the eye. “Thank you, Andrea. You’ve always been very fair to the Monarchs organization, and we’ve really appreciated it. But what you’ve done now is tremendous. I don’t know of another reporter who would have taken the steps you’ve taken to ensure a fair and accurate story. I’m glad you’re where you are today.”

Andrea blushed. “I didn’t do this for the Monarchs, Ms. Jones. I did it for myself. I don’t deal in rumors and innuendos. Not anymore. I deal in facts. I’m not going to cover the drug story. I know it’s based on a lie. I’d rather do a story on the reason someone wants to destroy the Mighty Guinn’s reputation.”

Jaclyn smiled. “I think I can accommodate you, if I can ask for one more favor.”

Troy looked at Jaclyn. “You know who’s behind this?”

Jaclyn folded her hands on her desk. She looked from Troy to Andrea, then back to her media executive. “I’m ninety-nine percent certain.”

Andrea shook her head. “Marc said he didn’t know who was responsible for this story. How could you know if he doesn’t?”

Jaclyn arched a brow. “Marc lied.” She leaned back in her chair and held up her hands, palms out. “Maybe ‘lied’ is too strong of a term. He believes conflicts shouldn’t be aired outside of the team. I agree with him—to an extent. But when someone is threatening my team, the code goes out the window.”

Andrea leaned forward. “So who is it? Who’s behind the story?”

“Let me talk to Marc first. Then I’ll give you the exclusive you were hoping for.” Jaclyn checked her watch. It was edging toward eight-twenty. She wouldn’t have much time to talk with DeMarcus. Practice started at eleven o’clock. She turned to her media executive. “Troy, set up a press conference for ten A.M. Tell them I want to discuss rumors of the Monarchs’ head coach’s drug addiction. We need to get in front of this story before our alleged drug dealer lets his fingers do the walking to every news media in Kings County. For once, I’m not going to play catch up.”

Andrea sat back. “What about the favor you mentioned?”

Jaclyn contemplated the reporter. “I think this could be a nice addition to your exclusive.”

Andrea tilted her head. “What could?”

Jaclyn pursed her lips. She had to think this through. “A meeting between your drug dealer source and a couple of New York’s finest.”

Troy’s eyebrows shot up. “The police? You can arrange that?”

Jaclyn nodded toward Andrea. “With a little help. I know a prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office who might be able to interest a couple of police officers in having lunch with an alleged drug dealer.”

Troy grinned. “You’re going to have him arrested?”