Page 36 of A Touch of Treachery (Section 47 #3)
More gasps rang out. By this point, everyone was gathered around the table to watch this final hand.
Bryce was behind Henrika, while Niles, Steig, and Oriana were standing behind their previous chairs.
Desmond was hovering off to my right, watching the others the way he had been all evening.
Knowing he had my back was one reason I’d been able to focus on the game instead of worrying about the other paramortals.
“All in on both sides,” the dealer said. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”
She flipped over the turn card—the queen of spades.
My heart pounded, this time with excitement. At the very least, I had a queen-high full house. Maybe I could win after all.
Henrika’s grin widened. “It’s too bad you don’t have any money left, Charlotte. I would have been happy to raise the stakes again.”
My heart pounded a little harder and faster. This was the opening I’d been waiting for. I couldn’t force Henrika to hand over the undercover agent list, but maybe I could persuade her to gamble it away.
“Who says we can’t raise the stakes again? We both know exactly what I want from you.”
Henrika tilted her head to the side. “What are you proposing?”
“Add the list to your bet, along with every single copy you’ve made.”
Niles’s eyes narrowed behind his silver glasses. “What list?”
“Our business doesn’t concern you, Niles,” I snapped. “So stay out of it.”
He sucked in a breath and stabbed his finger at me, but Desmond stepped forward, putting himself between me and the other man.
Desmond crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes glittering like chips of silver-blue ice in his face.
Niles’s finger wilted down to his side, and he swallowed whatever nasty comment he’d been about to hurl my way.
Henrika studied me for several long seconds, trying to figure out if I was bluffing. “Very well. On the off chance you win, I will hand over the list and every single copy I’ve made. But what do I get when I win?”
“Oh, I’m sure I have something you want.” I snapped my fingers, as though a thought had just occurred to me, although the idea had been brewing in the back of my mind ever since my trip to the Section armory. “Actually, you’re in luck. I have just the thing to even the stakes.”
I picked up my purse, cracked open the top, and plucked out the white velvet bundle I’d stuffed inside the bag before Desmond and I had left Section headquarters.
“What’s that?” Steig asked in a snide voice. “A bag of snacks?”
I placed the bundle on the table where everyone could see it. “Something a little more valuable than snacks.”
I drew in a breath, then let it out and flipped open the white velvet, revealing the object inside.
The Grunglass Necklace.
A tense, heavy silence dropped over the table, and everyone blinked at the dazzling display of gleaming gold, sparkling emeralds, and winking diamonds.
Henrika laughed. “Nice try, Charlotte. Did you really think you could fool me with a fake?”
“Take a closer look.”
Henrika laughed again, but she leaned forward. The longer she looked at the jewels, the more her eyes widened, and her mouth gaped. “You . . . you brought the real necklace,” she whispered in an awed tone.
I’d been just as shocked when I’d realized Joan had given me the genuine necklace in the Section armory.
Desmond frowned at me, questions flickering across his face, but I shrugged back.
I still wasn’t sure why Joan had let me bring the real Grunglass Necklace to the resort, but I was going to use it to my advantage.
Henrika stared at the necklace a second longer, then jerked back, as if she’d just realized that the other paramortals were watching her with avid interest. Henrika quickly smoothed out her expression, although she couldn’t hide the hunger in her eyes whenever she glanced at the necklace.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “How did you manage to persuade your employer to part with such a lovely bauble?”
Desmond shifted on his feet. We both knew she was asking how I’d removed the necklace from Section headquarters, but I didn’t dare answer that question.
Niles, Steig, and Oriana looked back and forth between Henrika and me, as did Bryce and the guards, all clearly wondering what was going on.
“I came prepared,” I replied, sidestepping her question. “That’s my job.”
“And she does it beautifully,” Desmond chimed in.
I flashed him a smile, grateful for his support, then focused on Henrika again. “I’d say the stakes are more than even now. The list if I win, the necklace if you do.”
It was a huge gamble, and I could easily walk away with nothing except the collective anger and wrath of Gia, Evelyn, and especially General Percy for losing the necklace.
But Grandma Jane had taught me to tackle one problem at a time, and Desmond and I needed to recover the UC list before Henrika exposed the agents’ identities.
Everything else, including getting answers about my father’s death, finding where Henrika was storing the Redburn formula, and capturing—or killing—her could wait.
Henrika looked at the four cards on the table, calculating the odds in her mind the same way I was doing. Now, more than ever, I needed some serious luck.
Henrika raised her gaze to mine. “Agreed. The list for the necklace.”
A few more soft gasps sounded, although that tense, expectant silence quickly dropped over the table again. Henrika nodded to the dealer, who wet her lips and placed the final card on the table—the queen of hearts.
Once again, everyone leaned forward, staring at the river card, then at Henrika and me, wondering which one of us had won—and lost.
A triumphant smile spread across Henrika’s face, and she flipped over her cards and tossed them forward. “King of diamonds, king of spades.”
The dealer pulled Henrika’s cards a little closer, then lifted the king of hearts, the queen of spades, and the queen of hearts out of the row of community cards. “Full house, kings and queens.”
More gasps rang out, along with a smattering of applause, although the sounds swiftly faded away. Henrika’s smile widened. She knew the odds as well as I did and just how hard it was to beat a king-high full house.
I dropped my head and studied my pocket cards again, as if I was hoping they were different from what they were. Then I raised my head, flipped my cards over, and tossed them forward. “The queen of diamonds and the queen of clubs.”
It took a few seconds for people to do the math, but another round of gasps rang out, and the smile cracked off Henrika’s face.
The dealer pulled my cards closer, then drew the queen of spades and the queen of hearts out of the row of community cards. “Four queens,” the dealer said in a soft, apologetic voice. “Four queens wins the hand.”
Once again, that tense, heavy silence dropped over the table, and everyone stared at Henrika, wondering how she would react to losing.
Magic flared in her green eyes, and my synesthesia surged in response, outlining her body in that familiar bloodred haze. Henrika dug her short dark red nails into the tabletop. A shower of golden sparks exploded around her fingers, and the green felt began to smoke, bubble, and burn.
My breath froze in my throat, even as my heart hammered in a quick, painful rhythm that matched the voice muttering in my mind.
Danger-danger-danger .
I knew that Henrika was a combusto, and I’d seen her use her magic at the Halstead Hotel a few months ago to melt a sheet of thick plastic like she was ripping through a paper towel.
That had been a calm, controlled display, but right now Henrika was teetering on the edge of unleashing the full destructive force of her paramortal ability, and she was much more powerful than I’d realized.
Desmond slipped his silver watch out of his vest pocket and shifted closer to me. Niles, Steig, and Oriana sidled away from the table, as did the dealer, and even Bryce and the guards stepped back. Nobody wanted to get between Henrika and me if she decided to hurl her sparking combusto magic at me.
Several seconds ticked by. Down on the ballroom floor, the guests kept gambling, drinking, laughing, and talking, oblivious to the danger and drama playing out above their heads.
Henrika’s nostrils flared, and her nails sank even deeper into the oozing felt.
I tensed, as did Desmond, whose fingers curled a little tighter around his watch.
Henrika sucked in a breath, and I dug my toes into the carpet, ready to throw myself out of my chair to get out of her line of magical fire.
Henrika exhaled, released her death grip on the table, and sat back.
Her magic vanished in a shower of golden sparks, and the red haze of my synesthesia slowly dimmed around her body.
The green felt kept smoking, filling the air with an acrid stench, but right now it smelled like the sweetest perfume. Better the felt than my face.
I reached out, snagged the edge of the Grunglass Necklace, and slowly drew it over to my side of the table. I lifted the necklace up, and Desmond stepped forward, took the ends from me, and fastened them at the back of my neck.
The array of gold, emeralds, and diamonds settled against my skin like a cold, heavy anvil. I might have won the game and gotten to keep the necklace, but Henrika clearly wanted to murder me with just the force of her hot, furious gaze.
I pushed my chair back from the table and got to my feet. “I’ll come to your penthouse shortly. Make sure you have the list ready to hand over.”
Henrika kept glaring at me, but she couldn’t renege on our deal. At least, not in front of the other paramortals. She had started the game, and I’d just been lucky enough to win this round.
I looked at the pit boss and gestured at the red chips still strewn across the table. “I trust you will transfer my winnings into the appropriate account?”
The other woman looked at Henrika, who gave a barely perceptible nod.
“Yes, ma’am,” the pit boss replied. “It will be done within the hour.”
“Excellent.” I picked up several chips and handed a couple of them to the dealer, then distributed the others to the pit boss, the bartender, and the waitress.
Everyone was still looking at me, including Henrika. I plastered a smile on my face and picked up my purse so the other paramortals wouldn’t notice my trembling hands.
“Thank you for such a lovely evening,” I drawled. “You’re right, Henrika. Luck does make the game so much more exciting.”
Henrika’s eyes narrowed at my flippant tone, but I turned away and took Desmond’s arm. The two of us walked past the weapons maker and headed toward the stairs.
I didn’t glance back over my shoulder, but I could feel Henrika’s glower stabbing into my back like a red-hot knife, and my synesthesia kept muttering of danger.
I just hoped I hadn’t used up all my luck tonight.