Free Dead Man's Hand by Steven Meehan

weaknesses and bury them.  He just hadn’t
been quick enough. But now that he suspected I knew something, it was only
going to be harder to expose it later on.  It was unfortunate that I had
to sacrifice that kind of advantage so soon.  Though now he was sure to be
thinking about what I had collected.  And that should hopefully lead more
accessible avenues later on.
     “You’re right of
course, Marcus.  I have heard that half of the skill is the hardest to
master and without its mastery the skill is of course quite useless.  Now,
if you’ll kindly excuse me, I see someone that I must speak with.”  And
without another word Patrick stood up and left the table, beer in hand. 
With the calm I had come to expect from him, he casually walked to a small
group of people about twenty feet away and instantly embedded himself into
their conversation.
    “Did you have to provoke
him Marcus?”
    “Bella, do you think I
intentionally tried to provoke him?”
    “Absolutely.”  With
an insincere scowl on her face she said, “I enjoy spending time with him. 
Besides I need to get a better read on him.”
    “I would think he would
need to get a better read on you.”  I replied.
    Flashing a coy smile she
answered, “Of course he doesn’t understand how I tick and it just drives him
crazy.”  The smile widened as she added, “But I never intentionally tried
to aggravate him like you just did.  He won’t forget that.”
    Looking into her wondrous
grey eyes I agreed, “And neither will I.  Don’t forget he was slinging
insults my way as well.”
    Bella stared back at me
with a mischievous smile and nodded.  “Marcus you continue to impress
me.  I knew there was a reason I liked you.”
    “Let me guess.  It’s
my charming smile?”
    Laughing she shook her
head as she corrected me.  “It’s your confidence, the way you carry
yourself.  I know you didn’t see it but Patrick has a much more charming
smile than you.  But you carry yourself with a great deal more surety and,
unfortunately for you, Patrick saw that as well.”
    “Here are your
drinks.”  The waitress interrupted.
    Looking over my shoulder
I smiled as she handed me my glass.  I immediately handed it over to Bella
before accepting the second glass as well. 
    I quickly neutralized the
intoxicants before taking a sip of Simon’s handiwork.  It was even better
than before.  That or was I simply riding a high from successfully beating
one of the best players in this tournament at his own game?

Chapter
5
     
     
     
     
    I must have spent a good
hour and a half talking with Bella in the lounge.  Along with Patrick
Wallace’s intrusion there were a few others.  Nothing really important,
just players coming by to introduce themselves.  Normally I would have
just excused myself when one of those players broke our conversation.  I
had never wasted my prep time like this.  But this conversation just felt
right, natural, so I let it continue.  And by the time my mental count of
players reached one hundred, my confusion must have shown clearly on my face.
 Bella seemed to notice something was amiss so she asked, “Is something
troubling you, Marcus?”
    Flashing her my best
smile I kept trying to take in the entire room as I answered.  “By my
count the man who just entered makes one hundred.  Shouldn’t we be getting
ready to start the tournament?”
    With a slight chuckle,
that she tried to hide, Bella replied, “I’m so sorry Marcus; it’s just that I
forgot that you mentioned this was your first tournament.”
    “What does that have to
with anything?”
    “We may have all the
players but we are still missing the most important person.”
    She was baiting me to ask
the question, so in an effort to save time I bit the inside of my lip and did
so.  “And just who is this most important person?”
    Her face underwent quite
the transformation when a new bout of laughter died without warming.  Her
words where little more than a