CHAPTER FOUR
“Graham, these beautiful women are part of our medical team. Virginia, Kennedy, Layla, and Shep is part of our mental health team,” said Luke. Graham nodded at them.
“Graham, we’ve spoken to your wife and the medical team in Wisconsin. As of this moment, we have a chopper headed to pick up your son and wife. We think that we have something here that may save your son’s life,” said Virginia.
“B-but I thought he was on the transplant list,” he said.
“He is but it’s highly unlikely he’ll receive one in time and patients needing double transplants are even more difficult. I need for you to trust us in this. We’re certain we can help your son,” said Virginia.
“If my wife agreed, then I’m okay with it,” he said shaking his head. “But how do we get to this guy? How do we stop Butch Williams from doing this to someone else’s son or daughter? I want him to pay.”
“Is he still affiliated with the college in Wisconsin?” asked Eric.
“He was never affiliated with them. He ran his own business out of an old warehouse building in downtown. Julius said that he came in to speak with the athletes about building strength.”
“Who recommended and allowed that?” frowned Eric.
“I think it was the Athletic Director,” said Graham. “I have to be honest with you, I’m not sure. Julius could tell you more.”
“Alright,” nodded Luke. “Let’s get back to your son. Were you seeing big changes in his appearance or behavior?”
“Definitely,” he nodded. “My wife kept joking that she couldn’t let out his jeans anymore. His thighs and calves were huge, abnormally so in my opinion. He’s always had a bigger upper body and upper body strength but we were seeing even more changes in that.
“But it was his attitude that scared us. He’d lose his temper very quickly with us. He was demanding only certain things for meals.”
“Like what?” asked Eric.
“He ate a dozen egg whites every morning for breakfast with five pieces of grilled, boneless, skinless chicken. He’d have power bars and protein shakes throughout the day. He’d eat an entire jar of peanut butter by himself. I swear, we were going through four gallons of milk a week just for him.”
“Did you confront him about these changes?” asked Cam.
“I did and so did his mother. He got very upset, angry even. He said he was doing what was best for himself and the family and that we should support him. He even said that Coach Williams had a scout from the University of Wisconsin coming to see him but that never materialized.”
“Sounds like this Coach Williams was running a pretty heavy scam,” said Hex.
“It wasn’t a scam,” said Graham. “I mean, not the way you think. At least a dozen kids were moved on to Division I schools and are now making hundreds of thousands of dollars. He showed success but you had to follow his plan completely and it was expensive.”
“How expensive?” asked Luke.
“I’m almost embarrassed to say,” he frowned looking down. The others waited patiently for the man to tell them what he’d paid for his son to die. “We took money out of our 401k. Almost two-hundred thousand dollars.”
“Two-hundred thousand?” frowned Hex. “What was that money for?”
“He provided Julius with the ‘supplements’, protein powders, bars, all of it. The rest was for his time and expertise. Other than team workouts at the college, he wasn’t to work out anywhere else except Coach Williams’ gym.”
“This guy really had a scam going on, didn’t he?” frowned Cam.
“I’m afraid so and we fell for it,” frowned Graham. “I feel so stupid. We risked our son’s life because of what this man promised him. He’s a good kid. Smart, talented. We would have been thrilled with him staying at a junior college. We should have said no.”
“It’s hard to say no to your children when you can see the excitement in their eyes,” said Eric. “It will be a few hours before your wife and son arrive. Let’s have some lunch and talk about what our next steps will be.”
“I can’t thank you all enough,” said Graham shaking his head. “I came here fully expecting to return and no longer have a son alive. Now, you’re all telling me that my son may live.”
“Not ‘may’,” said Luke. “He will live. And we will take this case and hunt down this man. But there’s something you need to understand, Graham. Our methods are not conventional methods. We are all former Special Forces and we use whatever means are necessary when finding men like this.”
“I understand,” he nodded. “One of the reasons this all worked out is because there’s going to be a powerlifting championship tournament held in New Orleans next week. It’s for young men between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five. I know that he’ll be here. Even if he doesn’t have anyone competing, he’s the kind of man that will look for fresh blood.”
“Well,” frowned Eric, “if he’s not careful, he just might find it.”