A Windfall

Two sharp blasts of a car horn made Rachel jump.

She looked over and saw Ryan Leaf behind the wheel. His face was flushed, and there was something disturbing about his smile.

She stepped back, nodded a brief acknowledgment, and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Leaf leaned through the broken window, trying to look harmless.

"Rachel, sweetheart..." He hiccuped and stared at her.

"Can you help me find my keys? I think I've lost them."

She frowned. He was plainly drunk. She took her phone out of her bag.

"I think I'd better let the police help you." Keeping her distance, she dialed 911.

The mention of the police seemed to sober him at once. He pushed the door open.

"Put the phone down!"

"What are you doing? Stay away from me! Help!"

He closed the distance and grabbed her.

Rachel struggled with everything she had, the smell of liquor heavy on his breath, but he overpowered her and tried to force her into the car.

She braced her feet against the door and kept screaming.

"Bitch!" He struck her head against the metal door frame.

Three times.

Her thoughts went blank. He forced her into the back seat and kept mumbling about how much he wanted her. He was trying to sexually assault her.

"I've loved you since the first time I saw you."

"What does Callahan have that I don't?"

His drunken fumbling gave her an opening.

Rachel got the small spray out of her bag and sprayed his face.

He cried out and covered his eyes.

She opened the other rear door and scrambled out. She was crying, and her forehead was swollen where it had struck the frame.

Still screaming for help, she ran from the parking lot.

She spotted an older woman passing by. "Help me! Call 911!"

...

October 10. Arrowhead Stadium, Missouri.

"It's been a close first half between Kansas City and Los Angeles. Tony Richardson and former USC receiver Larry Parker each scored for the Chiefs in the first quarter."

"The Angels answered in the second with touchdowns from Edgerrin James and Donald Driver. We're tied at fourteen."

"Kansas City came in at 2-2, with wins over Denver and Detroit. Los Angeles opened by beating the defending champions, Nolan Callahan's old team, the Dallas Cowboys."

"We've seen real changes in the Angels over this first month. Mike Holmgren deserves credit for his work with the offense, and Andy Reid has impressed me in his first head-coaching job. His adjustments in that second quarter helped them get right back into this game."

"Now they're coming out for the second half, all even again. Let's see what they have for us." Steve Tasker spoke from the CBS booth.

At five-nine, Tasker had sometimes been mistaken for a ball boy. He had played receiver, but special teams had made his career.

He forced fumbles, beat coverage downfield, and reached returners before anyone else. His 1993 Pro Bowl MVP award had come from coverage work, not kicking or returning. Few players had demonstrated the value of that job as clearly as he had.

After retiring from Buffalo, he had moved into television and become an NFL analyst for CBS.

Below the booth, Arrowhead was a sea of red.

The Angels received to start the half. Kansas City's adjustments put more attention on their backs and receivers, and the offense slowed.

Nolan stayed patient, looking for a mistake he could punish. The Chiefs remained disciplined. They weren't giving him one.

Los Angeles had to punt.

As Nolan came off, Elvis Grbac led the Chiefs' offense onto the field.

Kansas City was consistently competitive, and its quarterback was no exception.

Grbac had come out of Michigan and spent his first NFL years backing up Steve Young. He signed with Kansas City in 1997, sharing quarterback duties with Rich Gannon during a 13-3 season that ended with a playoff loss to the eventual champion Broncos.

The following year brought a contest for the starting job and leadership of the offense. Grbac won; Gannon left for Oakland.

Now Grbac had to justify that decision. At 2-2, another loss would put more pressure on Gunther Cunningham, the new head coach who had backed him. The Angels looked more beatable than several teams still ahead on the schedule. He intended to take this one.

Cunningham stood near the sideline in a cap and glasses.

He had spent thirty years coaching, working his way through an assortment of position jobs without ever becoming an NFL head coach.

Marty Schottenheimer's resignation after the previous season had finally opened the way. Cunningham moved up from defensive coordinator. Like his quarterback, he badly wanted this win.

Grbac began with a convincing pump fake. Both inexperienced defensive ends bit, leaving him room to run for a first down.

"Stay with it. Eyes on the ball. Remember what Rhodes told you," Reid said into his headset.

The Angels' defense was learning to work together, but Kansas City's offense was still better.

A fifteen-play drive brought the Chiefs close to the goal line. Grbac finished it with a touchdown pass.

Kansas City had the lead again, with less than three minutes left in the third quarter.

Before Nolan went back out, Reid patted his back and gave him an encouraging look.

Nolan's expression barely changed. He had been like this all season: no visible despair when they fell behind, no celebration just because they went ahead.

He seemed quieter, more contained. What had changed was the way he understood the position.

"Let's see how Callahan handles this. Do they go up-tempo and try to answer before the quarter ends, or save something for the fourth? Wait, he's throwing!"

While Tasker was still talking, the Angels had lined up. Nolan released the ball before anyone expected it.

There was almost no windup, no retreat to survey the field. The ball shot over the newly engaged lines and past a corner caught in the middle of his adjustment, carrying deep into Kansas City's half.

Driver caught it in stride. Most of the defense, including the deepest safety, had barely reacted before he was running into the end zone.

The play had only just begun. How was it already over?

Both announcers needed a moment. Tasker found his voice first.

"Eighty yards! Callahan saw Kansas City taking too long to get set, and he went right after them! From the release to the catch, less than five seconds. The whole play took less than ten!"

Even some of Nolan's teammates looked stunned.

"I was just getting warmed up."

That was James, coming up behind him.

'Then you can keep warming up.' Nolan headed for the sideline.

Kansas City's defenders followed more slowly, still trying to understand what had happened.

Richie Cunningham's extra point tied it at 21-21.

"Smart play," Holmgren said when Nolan reached him. He meant it.

He had still been planning the next few calls when the ball left Nolan's hand. Instead, the drive was over.

Throwing and reading coverage were basic quarterback skills. An eighty-yard touchdown like that required more than the basics, though: the attention to recognize the opening and the nerve to take it immediately.

Most of all, it required a clear head under pressure.

Since arriving, the coaches had spent more time on Nolan's teammates than on Nolan. His unusual standing in the club was part of it; so was his ability. Club business also kept him away from some practices.

Yet the player receiving the least instruction seemed to have improved the most.

Holmgren had coached Joe Montana and Steve Young in San Francisco. He knew what he was looking at.

Nolan was beginning to command an offense with the assurance of a much older quarterback. In a few years, Holmgren thought, he could become one of the position's true masters.

And he was only a year out of college. Montana and Young hadn't been doing this at his age.

The fourth quarter became a shootout. Kansas City opened with a field goal; Los Angeles answered with a touchdown. Nolan was attacking now, completing five quick throws before finding a gap and running the ball in himself.

Grbac and Cunningham refused to give up. They played as well as Nolan had seen them play, but every attempt to get back in front met another response from the Angels.

The harder they pushed, the more clearly they felt the difference. Nolan still seemed to have something left.

"It's over. I don't think anyone can question whether Callahan's found his form now. As his teammates improve, he's getting more freedom to show what he can do. That was a fierce second-half response."

"Both offenses kept coming in the fourth, but Los Angeles leaves Arrowhead with a 34-30 win!"

"Callahan scored twice himself in that final quarter and finished with 481 yards, including that eighty-yard touchdown pass late in the third. What an afternoon for the Angels' quarterback!"

As the game's obvious standout, Nolan went straight into an interview with CBS field reporter Bonnie Bernstein.

"The Angels had lost three straight. Today you showed you can still decide a game, wherever you're playing." She looked up at him with open admiration.

She had traded her usual conservative outfit for a low-cut dress. With the difference in their height, Nolan couldn't help noticing.

She noticed his glance too, and straightened rather than looking away.

"What did you make of the news out of Dallas overnight?"

"What news?" He had been preparing for this game with the rest of the team. He genuinely didn't know.

"Ryan Leaf attacked a DCC member in a parking lot last night."

"She's been examined. A mild concussion and other injuries, but nothing more serious was reported. Leaf was taken to the Irving station. He'd been drinking, and police found illegal substances in his car." Bonnie gave him the outline.

Nolan remembered Michael Irvin's earlier drug case. Possession by an active player was not new to Dallas, nor was it necessarily a major charge.

Attacking a cheerleader was another matter.

The Cowboys had carried ugly headlines before Nolan joined them. During his season there, photographs from a players' outing had caused another scandal. Now there was this.

Even loyal fans had limits.

"Who was she?"

Bonnie shook her head. Victims' names were usually withheld to protect them from further harm.

"What's Dallas saying?"

"Before kickoff, Jerry Jones said they would consider releasing Leaf."

"So he's finally stopped covering for his players." Nolan shook his head.

"That sounds as if you know something." Bonnie seized on it.

He didn't elaborate. "You asked what I thought. I spent a season working for Jerry, and I made friends at the DCC. Those women deserved to be protected. Dallas didn't do that."

He let some sorrow show, as if he were grieving an injustice done to a friend.

"I'd tell her this: she doesn't have to stay with the Cowboys. The Angels' door is open whenever she's ready. She can get the respect she deserves here."

He delivered the invitation straight to the camera.

In his judgment, Leaf wasn't good enough to carry Dallas through the season anyway. Whatever happened in this case, the Cowboys were going to struggle. Some of the fans who weren't bound to them for life might finally lose patience.

Nolan could feel an enormous opportunity opening in front of him.

He meant to act that day.

When the interview ended, he headed for the tunnel. The camera was off, and Bonnie walked with him, her work finished for the moment.

"You must be getting plenty of practice with that cannon of yours at night," she said, smiling.

"Every night."

"How many hours?" She moved a strand of blond hair out of her way.

"That's getting personal." He laughed.

"It sounds exhausting. I used to be a gymnast. I've had the same problem. Maybe I could help with the recovery."

"A gymnast?" He looked at her again.

"Maryland. Four-time Academic All-American. Don't underestimate me." She flexed an arm for him.

She had worked in campus sports media during college, then spent three years working her way through local broadcasting. ESPN hired her as its Chicago bureau chief in 1995, and she had covered the Bulls' championship run.

Early the previous year, she had moved to CBS and begun covering the NFL.

"Call if you need a house visit for those sore muscles. We could talk about an exclusive interview while I'm there. Your media director has my private number."

The invitation was clear enough, but her timing was poor. Nolan was already thinking about Dallas.

Back in the locker room, he immediately asked Kelsey to find out what had happened.

"I heard two hours ago. It was Rachel Browning. Leaf attacked Rachel."

'Rachel?'

He had wanted her badly for the squad. She had been determined to stay in Dallas, but after this, staying with the DCC would be a different proposition.

He decided to send Kelsey back to Dallas.

As he had expected, the story faded quickly from the public pages, like earlier Cowboys scandals. The club tried to reach a private settlement with Rachel. She refused.

Two days later, her photograph and a recording appeared on the Angels' website.

She wore street clothes instead of her Dallas uniform. A white dressing covered her forehead. She looked exhausted but tried to smile.

"The last few days have been a nightmare. My friends have given me so much encouragement and support. They've helped me face what happened. I'm also grateful for the Angels' invitation. After thinking it over, I've decided to continue my career with their cheer squad. I'm looking forward to meeting the fans in Los Angeles."

The recording drew so much attention that the website briefly crashed. People finally knew who the victim was.

First Kelsey, now Rachel: two successive DCC captains had gone to Los Angeles. The discussion spread across the message boards.

"Now it makes sense. Kelsey went through the same thing, and Callahan got her out. He took her away from Jerry, and that's why the Angels exist. How else do you explain that transfer?"

"I didn't believe it before. Who knows what's been going on inside the DCC?"

"I'm done. I just want to watch the cheerleaders. I'm an Angels fan now."

Then Stephen Jones gave an interview that made everything worse.

"Of course I've seen the video. It's a publicity stunt. Ryan Leaf isn't a troublemaker. He had too much to drink, a blonde threw herself at him, and he's a young man. He responded. This whole thing was staged."

"Otherwise, how do you explain her turning up with the Angels so quickly? Leave football out of it: Nolan Callahan is a thief. He's copying everything the DCC does. He's the one behind this."

Stephen called it a setup.

The Fox reporter challenged him. "Callahan didn't even know who the victim was. And you say Leaf isn't a troublemaker, but he abused Chargers fans last year, threatened them, and now police have found drugs in his car. Are you sure that's the description you want to use?"

Stephen faltered. "Leave him aside. Let's talk about the cheerleaders. Women on other teams sleep with players all the time. We've tried to stop that, but we can't prevent everything. Look at Kelsey. She's a whore. She should never have been DCC captain."

"You're calling one of your former cheerleaders a whore?"

He realized what he had said. "I mean the way they perform on the sideline. How is that different from women in an eighteenth-century red-light district attracting customers? It looks much the same, doesn't it?"

Every attempt to repair the damage made it worse.

The feed cut to black, then returned to the studio.

"That was the interview with the Cowboys' representative. Jerry Jones's daughter stopped it shortly afterward," the anchor said.

Nolan switched off the television and looked at Katherine and Grace in his office.

"One of the great disasters in public relations," Katherine said, shaking her head.

Grace smiled. "Jerry must be ready to burst a blood vessel."

The Angels and Cowboys were rivals, but it didn't have to be a fight to the death.

"He can blame his own people," Nolan said.

Other teams would be happy to see Dallas in trouble. Even if he had done nothing, someone else might have found Rachel. Her first appearance in an Angels uniform would draw a considerable audience.

And with Leaf gone, the Cowboys would be weaker on the field. Where would their disappointed fans look next? Nolan thought the answer was obvious.