Page 18 of Texas Hold Em’ (The Devil’s Luck MC #3)

CARRIE

T he cigar left me a little nauseated, but I played it off because I had no other choice.

Bates watched me with fierce calculation in his one good eye. His lips folded around his cigar, exposing a row of crooked bottom teeth, and he took rapid puffs one after the other, sending little plumes of smoke up around his bald head.

Eventually, one of us would have to start talking.

I’d done a great deal of study on interviews and how to maintain the upper hand and an edge.

Being a woman in a law enforcement role wasn’t easy.

Whenever I came face to face with men who thought they were smarter than me, stronger than me, and deserving of a get-out-of-jail-free card, I referenced back to all the things I’d learned about interviews and interrogations.

Sometimes it was best to lean back and let him do the talking.

Other times, I had to seize the opportunity when it presented itself and make sure he knew I could play his little charade, too.

Bates was the latter type of man.

“So are we going to do this, or did I just waste all my time trying to get here?” I asked.

Bates’s eyes narrowed and more smoke passed between his lips .

Behind me, Caroline stood with her arms crossed and shifted her weight to her right side. She sighed heavily, as if this was the most boring conversation she’d ever been privy to.

Her father ignored her. “I want them all. Each and every Devil dead. You hear me, Hart? This isn’t a train ticket out of here you can punch out without getting your hands dirty. I have bullets reserved for each one of those bastards.”

I lifted my chin. “I understand completely.”

The calculations continued in his bright blue eye.

Caroline strode forward. “May I propose we pick a place that this will all go down? Those Devils are always hanging around the construction site of The Well.” She cracked a wicked smile. “We could blow holes through their skulls and burn the bitch down again.”

Bates chuckled. “That’s my girl.”

Caroline puffed up like a proud peacock.

“No,” I said, careful not to speak too quickly and give away my anxiety.

“We should lure them somewhere secluded outside of Reno. It has to be somewhere off the radar. The last thing we need so deep into this mess is interference. We can’t afford any variables that aren’t under our control.

The Well is too exposed. Besides, you could never get the drop on them there.

They’d have higher ground and they’d see you coming half a mile away. ”

Bates stroked his chin. “I like the way you think, Hart.”

I could feel the energy shifting as the fountain continued bubbling behind us. He was beginning to believe me.

“I have to think like this,” I said. “Like I said, I want my life back. I can’t risk getting any deeper into all this bullshit than I already am. I’ve always been good at mitigating risk.”

Bates finally tossed his cigar on the cobblestones. “Fair enough. What location do you propose?”

I already had one in mind, but I feigned thoughtfulness and turned to the fountain.

I gazed into the bubbling surface where water poured from the open beak of the eagle.

It was a peculiar fountain and unlike one I’d ever seen before.

Usually, fountains like this had sculptures of beautiful women or peaceful Buddhas.

The stone eagle looked terribly un peaceful with sharp talons poised above the water, as if it were diving toward the surface to catch a fish.

The bird reminded me of Bates.

I turned to Bates. “What about the old landfill? It’s what, five or six miles out of the city limits? That should do. Not too far away for a quick getaway if necessary, but not close enough for someone to wander where they’re not supposed to.”

Caroline piped up. “Plenty of good places to wait in hiding, too.”

I nodded. “It’s perfect.”

“And how do we get all the Devils there?” Bates asked.

Caroline grinned. “Hart can handle that, can’t you, baby?”

I winced. “How am I supposed to do that? They don’t exactly trust me… especially Jackson. He thinks I’m a loose cannon.”

Bates chuckled. “Well, at least the man has some sense. It takes all the fun out of the kill when the prey is a dimwit without a fighting chance.”

My insides squirmed. Bates relished the kill more than he looked forward to running Reno without opposition.

If someone had told me two years ago that I’d be standing on a patio with a man like him sharing a cigar and scheming to destroy eight men I was beginning to like, I’d have told them they were an out and out liar.

Bates pointed a finger at me. “You’ll bring all the Devils to the landfill on Friday at midnight.”

“This Friday?” I asked, perhaps a little too sharply.

He nodded. “Yes.”

“They’re going to think the landfill is suspicious,” I said. “How do I throw them off the scent?”

“That’s your problem Hart, not mine. Tell them whatever the fuck you want.

You wanted a remote location? You got it.

I don’t give a damn what you tell those fuckers so long as they believe you and are there at midnight.

You can tell them you’re luring me there.

I don’t give a damn. Just make it happen. ”

Caroline shifted her weight and smirked. “Think you can handle it, Ranger?”

I lifted my chin. “Yes. ”

Bates cracked his knuckles. “Whatever you do, make sure Jackson is in the lead when they roll in.”

Caroline chuckled.

“Consider it done,” I said. “And once the job is done and they’re all dead? How do I get out of there?”

“I’ll be waiting close by in my Rover,” Caroline said. “So long as you keep up your end of the bargain, I’ll pick you up and get you out of there when the slaughter is done. I can take you back here or straight to the airport. I suggest you get the hell out of this city as soon as possible.”

“Airport,” I said.

She nodded.

These fools actually believed me.

A small voice in the back of my head muttered over and over that they were playing me, but my heart knew that wasn’t true.

They were in on this. They really thought I was going to betray Jackson and his men.

I could tell by how hungry for the kill they both were. They were showing me their whole hand.

This might actually work.

“Walk with me.” Bates turned and made for the house.

I fell into step behind him and Caroline walked languidly behind me, her heels clicking on the cobblestones and the marble floors of the hallway when we moved inside. We passed several rooms before Bates ducked into a study, where he opened a desk drawer and pulled out an old flip phone.

He tossed it to me. “Keep this on. It’s how we’ll communicate.”

I put the phone in my purse. “Is that all?”

Bates walked to the corner of the study, where a liquor cart glittered with crystal carafes full of assortments of liquors.

He poured himself something with a dark amber color and swirled it around in his glass.

The liquid kissed the edges as it continued to swirl even as he lifted it to his lips.

He took a slow sip and let it linger on his tongue while he watched me.

I tried not to let his one-eyed gaze ruffle my feathers .

“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you, Hart?” Bates purred.

My stomach hardened into a heavy rock in my belly.

Shit.

I forced myself to smile as naturally as possible. “What about any of this makes you think I expected it to be easy?”

Bates leaned against the window frame beside the liquor cart.

The moon had inched out of sight, and the lightening sky concealed most of the stars, save for a handful that winked over his left shoulder against a backdrop of the orange and blue pre-dawn sky.

“I’m going to need more than just words from you to believe you’re on our side, Hart.

A man of my position can’t afford to take risks, even if he is intrigued by the little package from which the risks come.

” His blue eye slid up and down the length of my body and he let out a primal grunt before licking his lips. “A tight little package indeed.”

Caroline huffed and rolled her eyes. “Let’s not get distracted.”

Her father shot her a menacing glare. “Who said anyone was distracted?”

She didn’t say another word.

The question I needed to ask lingered at the tip of my tongue. “What do you need me to do?”

Bates pushed off the window frame. “Clever girl. All I need is some assurance that you’re as good as your word. Surely you can understand why I need to exercise caution, Hart. I want a gesture of good faith from you.”

A gesture of good faith.

I wished I had something to do with my hands. My palms had begun to sweat and I felt fidgety. I wanted to play with my purse straps or pick at the split ends in my hair.

I settled for gnawing so hard on the inside of my cheek that I tasted blood. “Just spit it out. What do you need me to do?”

Bates continued toward me, his shoulders swaying with every step, and stopped when we were only a foot apart.

He was a tall man, so he had to lean down so that we were eye level.

His lips peeled off his crooked teeth in a sadistic smile that made my skin crawl and the hair on the nape of my neck stand on end.

What have I gotten myself into?

“Miss Hart,” he purred, “I need you to kill the one you’re sleeping with.

You do that for me? And I will take you at your word.

I will bring my force to that landfill and I will put down every single one of those fucking dogs like the mutts they are.

You will be free to get on an airplane, and I will be free to run this city as I fucking see fit. And there is one more condition.”

My heart hammered wildly in my chest.

One more thing? On top of murdering Tex?

“What is it?” I whispered.

Bates straightened. “Never set foot in Reno again.”

My head spun.

Caroline grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the study door while Bates turned away and looked out the window.

“Wait,” I said, pulling free of Caroline. Bates looked over his shoulder at me. “If I kill Tex, how am I supposed to convince the others to trust me?”

“You’re a smart woman,” Bates said. “I trust you’ll figure it out.”

Caroline pulled me back toward the door.

“Oh, and Miss Hart?” Bates grinned and ran his tongue over his teeth. “If you fail, I’ll save a bullet for you.”

Caroline clicked her tongue and dragged me back out into the hall.

I stumbled across the marble floors as her much longer legs covered more ground than mine.

“I wish I could be there to see the look on that dumb bastard’s face when you stab him in the back.

” She grinned. “He’s never going to see it coming. ”