Hooper, Kay - [Hagen 09] by It Takes A Thief (V1.0)[Htm] Page A

beat me. There are no wild cards in
the game, so you can't have five of a kind. And although it may be
remotely possible that you're holding a royal flush yourself, it
would be a first for me in twenty years. So you'd better decide if my
hole card is a ten of diamonds."
    The other three men leaned forward, their eyes moving
from Dane's imperturbable face to Kelly's strained one. This, they
all felt, was poker at its best, a game of strategy. Was Dane
bluffing in a carefully calculated show of confidence, his hole card
worthless, or did he Indeed hold a hand Kelly wouldn't be able to
beat?
    A long moment passed, and then Kelly nodded jerkily at
the bid he had already placed into the pot. "Call."
    Smiling faintly, Dane tossed another ten thousand into
the pot. "Raise," he said.
    Kelly hesitated, but then his nerve broke. Swearing, he
slapped his cards facedown. "I'm out," he said heavily.
Then, as if he couldn't help himself, he said, "Were you
bluffing?"
    Dane didn't have to answer that, but he quite
deliberately flipped over his hole card. It was a three of
diamonds.
    Kelly closed his eyes briefly, then reached for the hand
he'd abandoned and showed it to the others. He had been holding a
straight, king high, in hearts and clubs. He would have won if he had
called Dane's bluff.
    The tension in the room eased, and a murmur of
discussion broke out. While Dane was collecting his winnings, as
tranquil as he'd been all along, Kelly glanced at his watch and then
rose.
    "I think we could all use a break, gentlemen.
Stretch your legs if you like, while I get some sandwiches for us."
A bit stiff from having sat for so long, he walked slowly from the
room.
    The other men rose as well, stretching and wandering
around. Someone turned on a few other lamps, so that the room looked
more like a parlor and less like a gambling den. They left cards and
money on the table, Just as Dane did when he rose with his usual
grace and strolled casually out of the room.
    "He's not human," one of the men muttered to
another.
    Out in the hallway, Dane grimaced faintly as he heard
the comment, but didn't pause or turn around. And it wasn't until he
reached the portrait gallery that he flexed his shoulders to ease the
ache between them. Wandering down the long hallway, he looked
absently at the paintings. The only illumination In the corridor came
from the portraits' individual lights, which were always on at night.
Dane had made it obvious that the paintings fascinated him, to the
point that Kelly was no longer surprised to find him wandering along
the corridor at odd times staring Intently at the portraits.
    The real reason Dane came here was that it was a central
location in the house, and a perfect place to make contact with Skye.
This was the most dangerous time for them, both inside the house,
with Kelly's remaining security man roaming about. Dane wasn't
even sure Skye would be here yet. He had planned to use at least the
first few hours of the poker games for sleep, while Dane could watch
their quarry.
    But Dane wasn't surprised to hear his partner's low
voice just as he reached the end of the hallway, because Skye
required little sleep, especially when they were working.
    "Kelly still hasn't replaced Seton; has he
mentioned his lost security guard?"
    "Interestingly, yes," Dane replied in an
identical soft tone that couldn't have been heard from three feet
away. "One of the other men commented that there seemed to be
one less security man. Kelly said something about it being
unwise to hire relatives."
    "Relatives? Damn, we missed that."
    "Something else. Kelly's openly scornful that his
relative flunked out with quote, some federal outfit up north,
end quote. So when Seton told you he was carrying a badge during his
clumsy feint at Josh Long, he may well have been telling the truth."
    After a moment, Skye said, "Hagen."
    "That's my bet. We'll find out for sure once we
have Kelly wrapped up nicety."
    "Let me be the one to tell Raven if that's