Stu was on a lucky streak. He'd clap his hands in delight whenever he won – like it was the first time that he had ever played the game, which it was. Christy's staff saw him as a hick from a small town running a streak that would eventually end. Mac ended the streak when William told her that Stu had taken $100,000 of the house's money and the people upstairs were seriously unhappy about that. This was way more than they had hoped for.
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Like Stu, Momaka had little interest in the game. But after seeing the Annie's prostitution business in operation, she had a lot of interest in bringing down the judge and all of his sisters. If she had had a choice, she would have challenged the casino to a game of mahjong, which is what she and the other child prostitutes had played when they weren't working in their tiny bedrooms. Momaka had been transferred from the Child Palace to the Teenager Palace when she turned 13. By that time, she was very good at mahjong. Unfortunately, Momaka's owners wouldn't let her play mahjong when she was working the Teenager Palace. They expected her to work longer hours instead. Since mahjong had been the only thing keeping Momaka's fierce anger in check, that decision turned out to be unwise.
Momaka presented the image of the ideal schmuck. A flighty, irrational woman who made every decision based on what turned up when she rolled these weird looking dice that she kept in a soft cloth bag. She had even let the pro see one of her losing hands. This is a big mistake if you're facing a good player because it tells your opponent whether you had been bluffing or not. The pro now knew that she had bet thousands on a hand that had nothing other than a ten of spades as a top card. Meanwhile, the pro had been showing three of a kind. No poker player with any skill would have remained in the game that long, let alone bet additional money on a hand that had no chance of winning.
This crazy Asian didn't mind losing. She just shrugged, said something in her own language, and pulled out more money to bet. One hand proved to be very expensive. Her dice kept telling her to bet even though her face cards showed little promise. She seemed uncertain during the whole hand but still she bet. The pro's handlers couldn't tell him much; all of their sensors were showing a flat line. If their sensors had been able to see what Winnie could see in Momaka's head, it would have been a crane. Calm and peaceful in appearance; deadly for fishes who thought it was a tree. The pro decided to bet very aggressively. After all, the crazy Asian had a history of putting big amounts onto the table when she had nothing in her hand. On the last bet, Momaka muttered at her mahjong dice, "Really? The whole amount?" And she shook her head in bewilderment and put the briefcase on the table.
"We don't know how much is in the briefcase, Madam. We don't know what to put into the pot."
"Tell her that you'll match it then," the man with the Slavic face standing in the crowd around the table said. "Or give her the pot. That is how this game works, is it not?"
The pro paused to receive instruction. The crowd had been on Momaka's side during her turns at the game. She would shriek with laughter when she won, take her losses in stride, and all the time she was chattering away in a language that nobody understood. "Match it, match it," the crowd urged the pro. And he did.
Momaka walked away with $400,000. Indeed, her visible hand wasn't showing much. But the two cards that were face down were red jacks. She also had a black jack facing up. That gave her three of a kind. Thanks to Winnie, all of the Wilizy knew that the pro was betting on a losing hand of two aces and two fours.
When the casino offered to protect Momaka on her way to her hotel, she fluttered her fingers at them in a go away gesture. Then she muttered something incomprehensible into her pinky-ring and shortly five black clad figures wearing black motorcycle helmets came into the casino. Four husky figures placed a fancy chair on the casino floor and helped the Asian woman sit on it. They lifted her and the chair into the air and left the casino – each man holding one leg of the chair over his head. The fifth black clad figure, a giant in stature, limped her way out of the casino with the briefcase held in front of her as if it were on a velvet pillow. The procession received a lot of attention from the people in the casino.
The chair had been draped in red and purple tablecloths that had been found in a Toronto thrift shop. The chair itself had been found in the basement of a used furniture store, also in Toronto. The men carrying the chair had been found in a ship sailing in Toronto's air. Hidden behind the murk of the thick window on the helmets were Theo, Lucas, Wolf, and William. Granny had insisted that she'd be part of this gong show even if she had to be covered head to toe in black. She got to carry the loot.
# # # # # # # #
TG was up next. By this time in the evening, rumblings were coming up from the vault. They had lost more money today than ever before. Cash reserves were alarmingly low. It was 9 p.m. and certain faces in the upstairs offices were looking nervous. They called in their best pro to close out the day.
TG told Melissa that he wanted to try playing poker on his own for one hour, just to see what he could do. He'd use the statistical odds of certain cards being dealt as a guide to his betting. TG knew his stats but that method of betting assumed that his opponent would not go on a streak of luck. Sadly for TG and the rest of the Wilizy, the pro did get lucky. TG was down about $30,000 by the end of his hour. A good professional poker player will know the game inside out; he'll also be lucky. In this case, the professional "he" was a professional "she" and, on this night, the casino's woman pro was lucky. The same lucky woman pro was set to go against Mac. Watching half-clad bimbos rolling around in mud and wrestling with each other can't reach this level of excitement.
# # # # # # # #
Mac was content to let TG play his hands on his own because she had been feeling increasingly uncomfortable throughout the evening. At 8 p.m., in the middle of Momaka's shift, she told Doc that she thought her baby was getting close to arriving. At 9:05, just as TG was looking at his first hand, she reported a contraction – a contraction being the sign that the baby had pushed the down button on the elevator. Doc checked and shook his head negatively. At 9:20, she had another contraction. Doc asked everybody in the birthing party to come to the ship. Melissa was prepared to cancel the casino operation at that point, but Doc said that labour pains this far before the due date were often a sign of false labour. The key would be to look for a regular pattern of contractions. There'd be another more visible sign as well.
At 9:50, Mac insisted on slinging to the casino. It took her five seconds to pass through the casino doors – four seconds for her belly to go by and one second for the rest of her body. Mac was seriously pregnant. By 9:59, Mac was waiting in the line to take a seat at the game. A very nice man noticed her condition and offered her his chair. She sat down with a thump and a groan at 10:00. Somehow, military people always find a way to be punctual.
As the game began, Mac was very uncomfortable. The chair had a soft seat but no back support. She had a few hands that showed promise, but the pro wasn't interested in betting big, so Mac held off and won some small pots. When she wasn't playing, she was stretching her back and twisting around to find a comfortable position. She was also keeping her legs closed tightly together. Every woman in the crowd who had ever been pregnant saw what she was doing and began experiencing the same reaction. The feminine spectators would have to pee soon, but they were hoping that this pregnant blonde could beat the pro and they didn't want to miss a second.
Mac, the pro has to pee, Winnie sent.
So do I. Should I call a time out?
Time-outs were allowed if both people in the game agreed.
No. She really has to go. That's all she can think about. She might make a mistake.
But Mac started to have difficulty containing her discomfort. She was two hands away from her turn.
"Mmmmmph," she groaned.
"Unnnhhhhh," she added.
Mac put her head down on the table, closed her eyes, and went "Arunnnhhhhhh!"
The crowd thought s
he was in pee-distress and the women responded in kind. It wasn't an urge to pee that was causing Mac that distress. It was another false contraction.
When it became Mac's turn to play, the table dealer dealt the first two cards to each player and everyone paused. The pro's handlers sent light signals that the pregnant woman had a bad hand. Her fear emotions had sky rocketed when she had looked at her cards.
Mac's fear had indeed risen precipitously. Another false contraction twinge had brought an image to her head. She saw herself giving birth to her baby on a poker table with hordes of men crowded around the table looking on and chanting "Push, push, push." For a woman who hadn't even wanted her doctor to be in the birthing room on her first pregnancy, such a scene would cause fear emotions to rise. Mac was not easily scared. Giving birth in front of dozens of men watching her and cheering her on was one of the few exceptions.
"Bet or fold," the dealer said. The casino imposed a maximum ten-minute mulling period.
"Bet $500," Mac grunted.
"I'll see you," the pro said.
Mac, use the whole ten minutes before making a bet. Drag it out. Use sound effects. The pro is not as strong as you are. Strategist Winnie was at work. Strategist Winnie hadn't experienced birth before. She didn't realize how strong the urge to pee could get when a woman was pregnant.
Rarely are women measured against each other on the strength of their kidney control, but there's a first for everything. Winnie was correct on the strategy. Was Mac up to the challenge?
The third card was dealt. Face up. Mac had nothing going for her other than a king of spades as a hole card.
Tell me again what she has, Mac messaged Winnie.
Three of spades, four of hearts, and five of diamonds. Possible straight. Are you all right now? You look better.
I can stall. And stall Mac did for another nine minutes. She still had to pee, but another false contraction was over. In comparison to a contraction, an urge to pee was nothing.
"Bet $25,000," Mac grunted when the dealer prompted. She took a full two minutes to pull her briefcase up onto her knees, open it a smidge, feel around inside and pull out cash. "I don't have any chips left, but I have this. I'll go to the cashier's booth and change it."
"We'll take the cash," the pro said urgently. Her legs were now clamped so tightly together that the bone from one knee was grafting itself onto the bone of the other knee.
A casino floor manager held up his hand as the pro was ready to speak, listened to a bug in his ear, ran around to the pro's side of the table, and whispered into her ear. The pro spoke immediately. "I'll see your $25,000 and raise it $50,000." The floor manager had told her that the under-table camera hadn't seen much cash in her briefcase.
Mac took the full ten minutes to respond to the raise in her bet. "I'll see your raise." Again, two minutes had passed before she had the money in her hand. She had seen the floor manager run around the table and knew why he had done that. The pot was now up to $101,000.
The dealer gave each player one more card face up. Four cards had been dealt, one card remained.
Mac had started with her king of spades down. She also had a queen of clubs and a ten of hearts showing. This gave her a possible straight, but the card that had just been dealt was a three of clubs. With that card, the pro knew that there'd be no straight. The pro didn't know Mac's hole card. It could be another queen in which case Mac held a winning hand right now. To beat a pair of queens, the pro had to get a very good last card. But Mac didn't have two queens. She had one king and that was it. Based on these four cards, it wouldn't be good enough.
Winnie gave the family her report on the pro's hand after the fourth card had been dealt. Three of spades in the hole, four of diamonds, five of clubs, and ace of clubs showing. Possible straight.
By now, all the Wilizy in Toronto were in the casino. It was becoming rather crowded in the rafters. Few of them knew anything about poker. TG messaged them that the pro would definitely win if she were dealt a two of any suit. She'd also probably win if she were able to pair up any of her other cards. She'd also win with her ace if Mac couldn't get a pair somehow. The final card would be the key.
Mac took five of her ten minutes thinking, drumming on the table with her fingers, groaning and otherwise sending extreme distress signals. Every woman in the room, as well as the dealer across from her, felt the pressure building in their bladders. The pro wasn't going to let her off the hook with a time out. Luck had been with the dealer this evening. She had four chances of seeing a two appear on her side of the table.
Mac lifted the briefcase to her lap. Perhaps it was her belly sticking out too far; perhaps she had forgotten that a camera was under the table. Whatever the reason, Mac lifted the lid of her briefcase too far. She rummaged around in the insides for a bit, formed the remaining bills into a sheaf, pulled them out carefully, put the closed briefcase on the top of the table, and announced her bet.
"I'll bet the following. Hang on while I count it." She did so carefully and slowly. "$75,000 is my bet."
By this time, the floor manager had told the pro that this was the last of the money in the briefcase. The blonde was trying to buy the pot. He told the pro how much to bet.
"The casino sees the $75,000 and raises $500,000."
(We'll take a little break in the action here in case you've been having trouble following the game. The pro bet that huge amount because the casino had decided to buy the pot themselves. Yes, the pro might fill the straight. If not, her ace might still be the winner. But the blonde could have a pair somewhere or a pair might turn up on the last card. Why take a chance when they would have a sure thing by raising the bet way beyond what the pregnant woman could match. That's why they increased the stakes by $500,000. If the blonde couldn't match it, no fifth card would have to be dealt. The floor manager was sure that she was bluffing. Not only had the camera reported an empty briefcase, but the table sensors had reported that the blonde's fear levels had spiked just before she entered the bid.)
This time Mac did not wait ten minutes. "I see your $500,000 and raise you another $500,000." The total pot had been over $1 million. With Mac's raise, the pot would be over $2 million. The casino had to come up with $500,000.
"What are you raising with?" the casino floor manager asked her. "You have to have the money here."
Mac opened her briefcase and pulled a gold bar from the storage folders in the lid. "With this. This bar will more than cover the amount I bet. You have ten minutes to match my bet and come up with the money. My father-in-law will act on my behalf. Hank, please?"
Hank walked into the crowd from the back of the building.
"I have to leave," Mac announced to the crowd. The spike in her fear levels had been for a reason. Meet me at the ship, Doc! This is not false labour. Trust me on this.
Fifteen minutes later, Mac owned a casino. On her behalf, Hank told everybody to leave. But, women were given a few additional minutes before they had to leave the premises.
Yollie heard what had happened and named the battle Operation Flush because of the sounds that had echoed throughout the casino soon after Mac had won.
Two hours later, Mac delivered a baby girl. She and TG had been planning to call the baby Emily Wilizy if it were a girl. They changed their mind. They decided to call her Emily Poker Wilizy instead.
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Chapter 33
Two days later, Tuesday April 23, Melissa was in full stall mode. She was waiting for one or more of the sisters to react.
Reports of some pregnant blonde girl winning Christy's casino in a poker game were still cannonading through Toronto's upper circles. Who was she? Where did she go? What's going to happen to the casino? One question had been answered, but only partially. A large sign on the casino's beautifully emblazoned front door provided the hint. Re-opening soon under new management.
Also pinballing through the same circles were pictures of
the Asian woman being paraded through the casino on a chair carried by four men all dressed in black. Several Torontonians of Japanese ancestry corrected the rumour that she was Chinese. "Definitely Japanese," they said. They also revealed that it was common back in historic times for Japanese nobility to be carried through busy streets by servants. However the chairs the nobility used were different than the one in the picture.
Back in Christy's mansion, Christy and her underbosses were asking, "What are we going to do now?" They had lost their most important asset. Although they couldn't prove it, they were convinced that the pregnant blonde had been cheating, as were the two others who had won big pots at the high stakes poker table that night. They couldn't prove that they had cheated, but they did know who had hired them. The gold bar was a dead give-away. Only two people in Toronto had the kind of cash money that would allow them to buy a gold bar – Foster and Annie Lewis. Annie had lost her business, but she hadn't lost her wealth like Christy had. The new management that would appear soon in the casino? It would be Annie's management.
For Christy, continuing with only the small time gambling revenue was not possible. Plus she had lost her small prostitution business when her employees had decided to leave town. Christy had a small amount of revenue from liquor and an equally unimpressive income from insurance. Expanding either of these businesses was unlikely to be successful since neither Betsy (liquor) nor Doreen (insurance) had offered her condolences for the loss of her casino. They'd do everything they could to freeze her out. Annie wasn't talking to anybody in the family either. Why should she? She had successfully taken over the city's gambling business two days ago.
The judge had ignored text messages asking for help. But Christy did have an army of goons with nothing to do. It wouldn't be much of a stretch for Christy to train them to go from strong-arming gamblers to pay their debts to strong-arming storekeepers to buy insurance. Plus the goons gave her enough personnel to supply liquor to the entire city. Betsy never had the staff to run her liquor business the way it could be run. For their own safety, Christy told her goons to disappear for a while. Whatever her three other sisters were planning to do to her, they'd have to strip Christy of her goons first.
Maddy's a Baddy Page 17
