Chapter 1

February 2025

Curtis Whitham sat at his desk and drummed his fingers on it. He couldn’t believe his good fortune in hiring Dr. John Delamont to his staff two and a half years ago. The athletic program was finally starting to see some rewards from all their hard work. They were recruiting the top athletes from every field and earning scholarship money from sponsors as he had never seen before. He had been the athletic director of the university for almost a decade. Three years ago, the administration had hinted that if he didn’t start landing some better coaches and athletes, they were going to find a replacement for him. He stroked his blonde mustache, remembering the most recent news article lauding his excellent recruitment of coaches and athletes to the university. The writer had called him handsome and a miracle worker. He couldn’t argue, his thick blonde hair was still free of greys, and his physique was virtually identical to his days as a college athlete. He was handsome! Maybe he’d keep this job after all. A light knock on his door tore him from his thoughts.

“Dr. Delamont, thanks for stopping by. Have a seat.” He motioned to the empty chair on the other side of his desk. “How are all the athletes doing?”

“They seem to be doing phenomenally, from my perspective anyway. No complaints at all.” John lowered himself into the hard, wooden chair, wondering if Coach Whitham would ever upgrade his office furniture. The chair couldn’t have been newer than 1970, not to mention the so-called cushion of the seat being avocado green. He tried to adjust his long legs to get more comfortable, but it was no use. He stopped himself from rolling his eyes at his own mental conversation. Whitham was technically his boss.

“Wonderful. What about the new guy, um, Stephen? The hurdler?”

“I just saw him yesterday. Everything looked great.”

“Okay, good. I know he was a little hesitant about joining the program. Glad he made up his mind. How many athletes are in the program now?”

“Stephen is the ninth athlete to join.”

“Fantastic. Should we look into expanding some more at some point?”

“I would be hesitant to do that. I only have a limited quantity, though I might be able to get more at some point. We don’t want to start rationing it to our original members.”

“That makes sense. You’ve reiterated that they shouldn’t talk about it, right? None of them know who the others are?”

“This is starting to sound like Fight Club.” John joked, then cleared his throat when Whitham glared. “Um no, sir. As far as I know, it’s completely anonymous to all the members, and they all understand to keep it to themselves.”

“I know it seems like I’m being extra fastidious about asking them to keep silent. Like we told them, it’s not a steroid; it’s a dietary supplement. It won’t show up on a drug screen because it’s not a drug. It’s not illegal, right? It’s just our little edge.” He grinned knowingly at John.

“Exactly.” John stood up to shake Whitham’s hand. He needed to get back to his office.

 

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John walked quickly down the hallway back to his own office. Occasionally, the medical trainers would bring someone by his office for a more thorough examination. Each sport had its own trained medical team, but he oversaw the department. He had been in private practice after finishing his residency when the opportunity to work for the university arose. It had been the chance he had been waiting for, ever since his childhood friend, Dr. Bryan Hartfeld, introduced him to those hamsters. Even though his friend didn’t realize the full potential of his work, John could help him. After all, didn’t he deserve some payment for taking care of those rodents every spring semester for five years? It was too easy to skim a little from the container of powder each time. He tucked it away for a rainy day and that rainy day had finally arrived with his new position at the university. He knew right away that Whitham would be on board with using the powder. The man was so afraid of losing his job, he’d do anything.

John checked his calendar and saw that Andrew Niles was supposed to be coming in for an appointment any minute. Andrew was usually late, so John took his time getting his desk organized for the day. He wondered what sort of issue Andrew was having. All of the athletes in the program were allowed to make appointments with John without going through their team’s medical training staff. They just bypassed the system through the messaging app.

“Dr. D. Sorry, I’m late. It’s a long walk over here from my business development class.”

“Have a seat, Andrew. What can I do for you today?”

Andrew was the starting left fielder on the baseball team and led the team in home runs and RBIs. He broke the school record for most home runs in a season as a true freshman. Whitham had recruited him heavily when he was a high school senior. They finally won him over when he saw how much success their starting pitcher had with the team in his first season. Andrew was stocky, with medium brown hair and dark brown eyes.

“I was wondering how come the deal with this program is so hush-hush all the time. If it isn’t illegal, why can’t everyone know about it?”

John paused before answering. He didn’t want to give the young man the wrong idea. “If everyone knew about it, everyone would want to use it. You’d lose your edge, right? Have you been having any issues?”

“No, Dr. D. None at all. I wouldn’t even know I was taking it, except that I can swing the bat so much harder now. It just seems like our whole team could benefit from it, you know?”

“I understand what you’re saying, Andrew. I do. It’s still a new program, so we’re trying to keep it small. Maybe one day, we can expand it.”

Andrew shrugged. “I know you’ve got Wiley in this program. I saw the little packet in his bag the other day. Don’t worry. No one else saw it. I figured he was one of us. He throws the ball faster than anyone else in our league. It’s incredible. He’ll go pro for sure.”

John grimaced. No one was supposed to know about anyone else. This was another reason why they kept the program small. He hoped that Andrew didn’t try to figure out who the others were too.

“You know I can’t discuss another athlete’s medical background with you.”

“I know. I know. I hear you, Dr. D. I guess that’s all I needed. You have a good day.” He got up and left the office. John tried to push his fears about Andrew’s curiosity out of his mind. He needed to get some work done before heading over to the track later today. Their star hurdler was going to be competing in the meet—the first outdoor meet of the season! He was excited to see how much his time would improve on the larger track. He’d made some good marks during indoor, but this would be the true test.