Call My Bluff: A Las Vegas Themed Anthology

by Elizabeth Knox

  Wait a minute.

  I looked back down at the table, the cards still there.

  Four of clubs, queen of spades, ten of spades, king of diamonds, and king of spades.

  The bastard had a royal flush. He won.

  “So, you going to be mad now?” Kaja said from behind me.

  I turned around to face him, “Why did you let me think I won? I know you know what this hand is. Why would you do that?”

  “Sabina, I don’t want some slave I have to force to be here. I want a partner, I had to be sure you wanted that too. It had to be your choice.”

  “And what if I would have chosen to leave? What would you have done then?”

  “I would have turned around and let you walk away.” He said matter of factly.

  I threw the cards on the table and slinked over toward him, “That was a pretty risky bet you know.”

  He smiled seeing that I wasn’t upset with him, “I only play big, and I play to win.” He reached out and pulled me the rest of the way toward him, Catching my lips in another bruising kiss.

  Chapter Ten

  Kaja

  I stayed in the bed with Sabina as long as I could but I knew I had more things to take care of. While it was great to win my prize in her, I had to figure out who the fuck had the balls to try and take me out. It wasn’t going to end well for them.

  I pulled out my computer and uploaded the SD card that I took out of my car. The great thing about technology was that you could do so much with so little. My car with just a few touches would record everything happening using a dash cam and rearview cam. I hoped that the rearview cam was able to pick up some information about the car that was chasing us. Most rookies always made one of two mistakes. Either they didn’t properly protect their identities physically or there were clues that pointed to their identities.

  I was able to pull the license plate number off one of the photos and gave it to one of my grease men to run it through the system. I got a name and photo within minutes.

  Alexis Nicol Jr.

  He was avenging his old man. It was time for him to die like him.

  I looked over for a brief second at Sabina who was sleeping peacefully in my bed, she snored. That would take some getting used to but I was sure that there were quite a few things that she did that would take some getting used to.

  I got up and walked into the main room, I had some calls to make. One in particular was to Sven. He was the person who ran pretty much everything on this side of the country. If the ask was major, he would put me in contact with Marko. Sven was who kept everything running smooth here, and he was damn good at his job.

  It was three a.m. but I was sure that he was awake, the one thing that Sven couldn’t shake was the time difference, he was still on Croatia time no matter how long he had been here.

  “Kaja.”

  He answered, knowing exactly who was calling. I never knew him to save a number in his phone he just remembered them. He knew where people were calling from as well as where each area code was to. He was just chock full of information.

  “Brother, how are things?”

  “Oh you know, living the best life for mother Croatia.”

  “Good, glad to hear it. I know it’s late but I have an ask. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t a direct mark on the family.” I wanted him to know that I wasn’t just killing people to kill people. Alexis Sr. was a cheat, and Alexis Jr. disrespected me. As long as neither one of them wasn’t a made man or affiliated with one of our allies there shouldn’t be a problem. I had to make sure though. Alexis knew that I was made, he knew that I was with the Juric family and still he came after me.

  “I am listening brother, I will say I am happy you called, I was about to make an unhappy visit to your area.”

  “Is that so?” I kept my voice steady but on the inside I was nervous, I watched Sven hug a man and put a bullet through his head in the same second. He never made unannounced visits unless it was to kill. If he was coming to see me it meant that the higher ups were unhappy with me. I couldn’t see why though, I had done nothing.

  “Yes, looks bad on the family for one of our own to be in a gun fight and car chase in the middle of downtown Las Vegas in full traffic, no? There were lots of calls made and plenty favors handed out to make sure that no heat came down on you for that. I am sure this ask has something to do with you handling Alexis Nicol Jr. Tell me was killing Alexis Sr. really the best course of action?” Sven had a thick accent but he was always proper when he spoke. English, Italian, Croatian, it didn’t matter he was always a gentleman when it came to his words, his actions were something completely different.

  I had to shake my head, of course Sven knew exactly what I was calling for before I called for it. The man had all the answers. Always.

  “Yes, that was in poor taste, I had no choice in the matter though. I had to protect my honor. He cheated me and then tried to make me out as a punk. This family is nothing if we don’t hold our respect.” I hoped that he agreed with me.

  “Da, this I know. Alexis Jr. is nothing to this family but a loose end. Do what you must but be quick about it.” He hung up before I could reply. I had everything I needed though. He gave me the ok to take Alexis Jr. out.

  * * *

  “We have to go back there?” Sabina asked one more time as I pulled up in front of the Chinese restaurant that was the front for Felix’s gambling ring.

  “I am not here to leave you.” I was focused on my itinerary. I was there to kill Alexis Jr. That was it.

  “Do you think that Felix is just going to let me walk back out of there? I am just a slave to him, after you do all this he is going to want compensation.”

  I turned to look at her, I wish he would try and strong arm me but she was right. She was still just a debt to him. It was time to wipe that out.

  “How much do you owe him?”

  “What?” She asked confused, first we were talking about killing now we were talking about debt.

  “How much is left on your tab?”

  “I don’t know Kaja, it was seventy-five thousand for five years work. We have done two years between the both of us.”

  I shook my head and did a few calculations if Felix wasn’t being a dick that should mean that she was down to about forty-five thousand on her tab. I pulled up my phone and had fifty thousand transferred into my account. If he acted right, I would wire that over to him tonight.

  “Let’s go.” I opened my door and walked over to open hers. I could see that she was worried, the clothing that I had bought her that day doing nothing to strengthen her confidence. She stepped out and tried to walk around me. I stood in her way. “Hey.”

  She looked up at me, fear still evident in her eyes. She thought I was going to leave her. That I was bringing her back to Felix. It was so far from the truth, I was so far from done with her. In fact, I was pretty sure that I would never be done with her, only time would tell.

  “You are my woman, either you are by my side or I’m leaving you behind. You with me?” I asked gripping her by the back of her neck. The spark in her eyes, the mischievous little twinkle coming back. I didn’t need a coy soft woman. I was living in a kill or be killed world, my woman needed to be ruthless. I knew she could be, but now was the time for her to show me.

  “I guess it’s time to put my game face on.” She smiled and steadied herself as she snaked an arm through mine.

  We walked into the dirty underground club, smoke booze and body odor permeated in the air. One of the bouncers tried to stop me as I made my way in, Felix was trying to make it an invite only club. I had my invitation it was tucked away in the back of my jeans. My gun was the only invitation that I needed. I watched as the man put a hand up as if he were going to physically stop me. He pulled up before he made contact.

  “Fine, you can go in but she can’t, she has to go to the back with the rest of the help.” He grabbed Sabina’s forearm and she quickly ripped her arm out of his grasp.

 
; “Oh, Madd Dogg, in case you missed the memo, I am with Kaja now. So, I am an extension of him, next time you put one of your filthy hands on me, I’ll make sure to tell him to chop it the fuck off. Understand?”

  The man she called Madd Dogg blinked a few times, he looked from her back to me.

  “I’d take care to listen to the lady.”

  He backed up and let both of us in the door. She walked in her head held high, back into the den of miscreants and gamblers that she once served. Except now she was a queen.

  “Ah, you have had your fill! She was worth it, wasn’t she?” Felix spoke from behind me. He reached to grab Sabina’s hand and she pulled away, tucking herself into my side.

  “She’s mine, and I want her brother free from his debts as well.”

  I spoke matter of factly, I felt her stiffen next to me but that was the extent of her outward change of expression.

  “Kaja, of course I would do anything to stay in your good favor but that is a heavy price, she does good work for me and she and her brother still have three years left on their debt. I couldn’t just give her to you.”

  “I will wire you the remainder of her debt, they have already given you two years of service. So, fifty thousand should cover it.”

  Felix’s eyes bulged, he was probably sure that she would never be able to make it through. “Ahh, what about her room and board, her clothing.”

  I stepped closer in his face; he was trying to play me. Trying to run me for more money. He had no idea how close he was from being a dead man, “Felix, I’m trying to do right by you, trying to cover your losses, but don’t think for a second that I won’t just put a bullet between your eyes and take both her and her brother. I say fifty thousand is a fair price, don’t you agree?”

  Felix swallowed loudly before stepping back, “Yeah, I think that will work.”

  “Good man.” I picked up my phone and e-wired the money to Felix. “Have her brother put up in a hotel until I can come collect him.”

  I walked past him, my business with Felix complete. I turned to Sabina. “You are officially a free woman; you want to leave or is this still your place?” I asked indicating my side.

  “I’m with you Kaja.”

  I walked further into the room; every table was full.

  “Kaja, if I would have known that you were coming, I would have saved you a seat, right now we are all full.” Felix said from behind me. I ignored him.

  “This bastard!” A voice said from behind me, Alexis Nicol Jr. Dumb man, that was his only shot. “You let this scum in here. You will know what it feels like to have your brain splatt-” His words cut off as the bullet from my silenced weapon sliced through his head. He fell straight back, just like his father.

  “Kaja!” Felix yelled out.

  I stood still and looked around the large room, some people had stood up in shock that I had just shot him. Others already had their hands on their weapons.

  “It seems like the last time I erased a nuisance from this world I didn’t stay around long enough to see if there was anyone else that had anything to say. Anyone feeling like they would like to avenge poor Alexis Jr. here?” I waited for someone to be bold enough to say something, but no one did.

  “Isn’t that wonderful.” I put the safety on my gun and put it back in my waistband.

  I walked over to the table that Alexis was just sitting at and grabbed his chair. “Looks like your short.”

  There was another chair empty next to me and Sabina made a move to sit but another man stepped in front of her and tried to sit down. I pulled the weapon out of its place on my back and placed it on the table the barrel facing straight toward him. Before his ass hit the seat, he stood back up and moved away. Sabina smiled knowingly at me and took her seat.

  I waited for the dealer to reset the table and deal the cards.

  I plucked the corner of my hand, making sure that Sabina or anyone else couldn’t see.

  “I hope you don’t think that just because you are a made man, I am going to take it easy on you.” Sabina spoke as she flitted one of her chips across her knuckles.

  I laughed, “Just play the game baby, play the game.”

  Epilogue

  Sven

  Pristine.

  That was the condition of everything I owned. I made sure of it. My reputation included. Marko Juric was my leader, the father to us all, he trusted me with his life as he should.

  The phone rang.

  First three numbers 589. It was Marko. I answered immediately.

  “Marko, you need me?” I asked ready for any directive the man gave me. My loyalty was absolute.

  “I am hearing whispers. Something happening with Kaja that I should know about ?”

  If he was asking, he already knew.

  “Kaja had a bit of a problem with one Alexis Nicol Jr. The problem has been resolved.”

  There was a sigh on the phone, “Good man. That means of course that his enterprises are up for grabs. No?”

  “Yes, I am already sending a few of our people to go and gather the intel.”

  Alexis Nicol Jr. and his father were small fish, but they were diving into deeper waters before they ran into Kaja. Nuclear and chemical black market deals, they had been facilitating them and they were really starting to make a name for themselves. Now there was an opening, people still needed their needs met and Marko Juric had his eyes on that prize.

  It looked like we were about to be black market dealers. I was more than prepared for the task.

  “Wonderful. I expect news within the next day. Stay blessed son.” Marko hung up.

  I put the phone back on the table and walked over to the floor to ceiling windows, the plan on how we were about to take over the market already clear in my mind, by the end of the year everyone, be it the underground, the dark web, the government, everyone would know that the Croatian Mafia was here to stay.

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  Reading List

  By: Rae B. Lake

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  Chapter One

  Spencer

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached your destination. Please exit when the bus has come to a complete stop.” I jolt awake and look around, clearing the fog from my head. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but I’ve been going non-stop for three days. Three days of cleaning up in dirty bathrooms, eating fast food and not sleeping. This trip has taken a toll on my body and mind but I’ve finally made it and am eager to get back into the gym.

  I’ve been fighting my way up the MMA circuit for the past three years and when my trainer called giving me the news, I hopped on the first bus out of Michigan and headed to Las Vegas. Not my first choice of transportation, but it’s all I can afford. If I win these next couple of fights, I will make it into the championship. Something I’ve been dreaming about my whole life.

  The bus comes to a complete stop and I grab my black duffle bag from under my seat. I make my way down the aisle, not making eye contact or conversation with any passengers. I
learned the hard way they’re not like the people in my small city. Some are lost, some are running away and others will try to rob you blind if you give them a chance.

  I step off the bus and breathe in a deep lungful of fresh Las Vegas air. The stench of body odor lingered heavily on the bus and it was making my already anxious stomach roll. The night air engulfs me and a light desert breeze blows across my skin. I walk down Fremont Street toward the Vegas strip.

  “Hey, baby. Looking for a good time?” A woman’s voice floats from the darkness and I ignore her. At least I hope it was a female. I hurry my pace along the walkway, trying to avoid the homeless and hookers milling about. All I want to do is reach my hotel, take a hot shower and get something decent to eat. I sidestep a group of people huddled around a burning trash can and step out onto the Strip. The sight before me takes my breath away. Even late at night, cars are flying up and down the roadway, the hotels and casinos are lit up with warm and welcoming neon lights. A place that feels like home.

  I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the address of where I’m staying. Somehow my trainer, Jeff, got me into a hotel called The Jade Hotel and Casino. It’s been around for a while, but from what Jeff told me, it’s trying to break into the MMA world. He was able to get all my matches at their new ring and my room for less than cost because I’m a fighter.

  I step up to the hotel and look at it with tired eyes. The lights are soft, giving me a warm, welcomed feeling.