Free Red Queen by Christopher Pike Page A

most people never use. That gives them special abilities.”
    â€œAre you one of them?” I asked.
    He smiled. “Do I seem retarded to you?”
    â€œNo. But not all savants are.”
    â€œThe vast majority are.”
    â€œYou still haven’t answered my question,” I said.
    â€œI told you, this is only our first date.”
    I persisted. “I remember at the casino, every time the dealer prepared a fresh shoe, he spread the cards out on the table for everyone to see. You would study them right then. Also, when he shuffled the cards, you would watch him closely. It was like you were memorizing their sequence. I don’t know how you did it. I would assume it would take a special ability, like a savant would have. But if you were a savant, then it would explain how you were able to predict whether your next hand would be strong or weak. It would also explain how you knew when the dealer was going to bust.”
    Russ nodded as we continued to play twenty-two. “It’s true I did well at the table. But if I could remember everything you’re saying I could, then I should never have lost.”
    â€œThat’s not true. It was inevitable you’d be dealt weak hands from time to time. Not only that, you’re smart enough not to win every hand that was strong. I think you occasionally put a big bet on a bad hand just to throw off the casino employees.”
    â€œSo you have me all figured out?” he asked.
    â€œI can’t help but notice you’re not denying any of it.”
    â€œThere’s no point. You believe what you want to believe.”
    I thought I had figured out his secret but his quiet mystery disarmed me. My theory was all talk. I could feel him laughing at me inside.
    No, not laughing, but smiling. Yes, I knew he liked me.
    Russ looked down at the last cards he had dealt. I was showing a queen of diamonds and a king of jacks—twenty-one, another strong hand. Even against the queen of hearts he was showing. I told him that I’d stand. He turned his hole card over. He had a queen of diamonds, which gave him twenty-two, or what he called a red queen.
    He went to take my money. I had grown careless, winning the last few hands in a row, and had let my cash pile up on the table. I had just lost a grand, or so I thought. Then he explained that in red queen, when the dealer got a natural, the player had to fork over an additional 100 percent.
    â€œYou didn’t explain that rule before,” I complained.
    â€œI figured you’d learn it as we played.” He had already taken the grand.
    â€œSo I have to give you another thousand dollars?” I asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œBut we’re just playing for fun, right?”
    â€œNo. I told you, red queen is a serious game. What you win or lose here is for real.”
    I snorted. “You have got to be joking!”
    He didn’t blink. “No.”
    I reluctantly peeled off ten hundreds and threw them at him. “Any other rules I should know about?”
    â€œYes. This one is important. After the dealer gets a natural, the player must immediately try to win his or her money back.”
    â€œYou’re saying on my next hand I have to bet two thousand dollars?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThat’s a crazy rule. What if I didn’t have it?”
    â€œThen you shouldn’t be playing red queen. The game’s older than blackjack. It has a rich tradition. It’s never played just for fun and no one is ever supposed to break the rules.”
    â€œThat’s silly.”
    â€œIt’s a fact. You have to bet me two thousand dollars right now.”
    I yawned loudly in his face. “Forget it, I’m tired. Let’s call it a night.”
    He nodded. “Fine. As soon as we complete this hand.”
    â€œForget the hand. Let’s just quit.”
    â€œWe can’t quit in the middle of this kind of situation. I’m the dealer, I just