Blood Cruise: A Deep Sea Thriller

by Jake Bible

  “Everything cool, Tony?” Nick asked. “Your men comfortable? Finding what they need? I told them they could hang out in the upper lounge, watch some satellite TV, drink and eat whatever they want. Ashley is a great hostess, believe me.”

  “My men are fine,” Tony said. “Just received a text I’d been waiting on.”

  “Text, right, about that,” Nick said. He stood at the head of the poker table as everyone settled in and Manny walked over with a tray of drinks. “As much as I know this will annoy you, I’m going to have to ask that all cell phones be handed over to Manny. He’ll keep them safe behind the bar while we play. Once you are done completely for the night, you can have them back.”

  “What’s the deal, Nick?” Lane asked. “You think we’re going to cheat?”

  “What? Cheat? Never,” Nick chuckled. “You folks are such honest, fine, upstanding people. Your moral character is beyond reproach.” He pulled out his cell phone and set it on the table. “But I wouldn’t trust any of you further than I could throw you overboard.”

  Lane smiled and fished his cell phone from his pocket. He placed it on the tray in Manny’s hands, trading it for a gin martini. Each player did the same until Manny reached Ben.

  “Can I keep mine?” Ben asked. “Just in case my daughters need to get a hold of me. They’re at their mother’s house for the weekend and—”

  “Maggie can watch your phone,” Nick said, nodding to Manny. Manny took the phone and handed Ben his drink. “Thanks, Benny Boy. Can’t play favorites, now can I?”

  The last person Manny stepped up to was Tony. The man looked Manny up and down and smiled. He turned his attention to Nick and shook his head, that smile still in place.

  “I need my phone,” Tony said. “Business.”

  “Not tonight,” Nick said. “Didn’t you hear me just tell my oldest friend I can’t play favorites? Sorry, Tony, but house makes the rules and I have a strict rule against cell phones while a player is still in the game. Technology has really made cheating just too damn easy these days.”

  “I’ll keep my phone,” Tony said and started to reach for his drink on the tray. Manny stepped back out of reach. “You’re going to regret that in thirty seconds if you don’t give me my drink.”

  “I am sorry, Mr. Giraldi, but house rules are no cell phones,” Manny said.

  “Don’t you fucking talk to me, you piece of shit bartender!” Tony roared as he stood up, knocking his chair backwards. “You hand me my drink or I rip your fucking throat out!”

  Everyone else shot to their feet. Lane and Carlos started to move towards Tony. Before they could get there, one of Tony’s men came into the game room, his pistol in hand and pointed down at the floor. Lane and Carlos backed off.

  “Come on, Tony,” Nick said, walking over to the man. “I’ve let you bring your goons and I let them keep their guns. Are you really going to push things to the edge over a cell phone?”

  “I don’t push things,” Tony said. “I shove them.” Which is what he immediately did to Nick.

  Nick fell back, but reached out and caught himself on the table.

  “Tony, Tony, Tony,” Nick said.

  “I hated that band,” Ben said and received a sharp glare from Nick. “Sorry.”

  “Tony, if you don’t want to be here then just say so,” Nick said. “I’ll have Captain Staggs call for a helicopter and you can leave as soon as it gets here.”

  “I never said I didn’t want to be here, Sheeran,” Tony said. “I just ain’t gonna play by your rules. You think I’ve lived this long by doing as I’m told by Irish punkasses? The day I bow to a mick like you is the day I blow my own brains out.”

  “He’s hardly Irish,” Ben said.

  “Not helping,” Nick snapped.

  “Let him keep it, Nicky,” Ben said. “Who cares? I’m still going to take every last cent of his. He can cheat all he wants, won’t make a bit of difference.”

  “I don’t cheat,” Tony said.

  “Of course not,” Ben said. “You only need your phone to check Facebook, right? Don’t want to miss out on any new memes that might pop up.”

  “I don’t cheat,” Tony said.

  “I know,” Ben replied, his smile making it obvious to everyone in the room that he thought Tony was the biggest cheat in the world. “You’re a man of great moral fiber.”

  Ben held up a hand as Tony was about to respond then pointed at the guard standing by the door.

  “Give it to him,” Ben suggested. “That’s fair. My girlfriend has my phone, so your girlfriend should have yours.”

  The room went still. No one breathed as Tony’s guard took a couple of steps forward, his gun hand lifting slowly.

  “No,” Tony said without looking back at the man. “Blogger Boy here is right. I’ll give you my phone. If there is anything important I need to know then you’ll come tell me.”

  “And you’ll drop out of the game,” Ben said.

  “Excuse me?” Tony asked.

  “Really? Are we having the Medici moment again?” Ben chuckled. “I said you’ll drop out of the game. Can’t have you accessing the hidden cameras your men put in here while we were eating dinner, right? Wouldn’t want you to know if I was bluffing or not when I take you down for a big pot. You get up to check your phone and you are out of the game. Same goes for me. If Maggie can’t handle whatever texts my girls send then I’ll drop out as well.”

  “You have some balls, Blogger Boy,” Tony laughed.

  “It’s Ben,” Ben replied. “Blogger Boy is a guy that lives in Cincinnati and I’m pretty sure he’s trademarked the name. Call me Ben or Mr. Clow.”

  “Fine,” Tony replied. “Ben. Since you are the pro at this, I’ll defer to you. I need to use my phone and I’m out of the game. That I can live with.”

  “You don’t need to be out of the game,” Nick said. “I’m sure we can make that call when the time comes. Put it to a vote.”

  “The house is now a democracy?” Tony sneered. “You break too easy, Sheeran.”

  “I’ve had an ex-girlfriend tell me that once,” Nick said. “But she was wearing a strap-on at the time, so I think she had a different meaning in mind. Couldn’t sit comfortably for two weeks, man.”

  The room was quiet then filled with laughter as everyone let Nick’s self-deprecation cut the tension. Tony handed his cell phone to his man and nodded at Ben. Ben raised his glass of faux bourbon and nodded back.

  “Can we play cards now, please?” Niya asked. “As much as I love this ship of Mr. Sheeran’s, I did come here to put my skills up against the world famous Benjamin Clow.”

  “I thought you were here to flirt with me,” Lane said.

  “I don’t flirt,” Niya said. “I am flirted with.”

  “Consider my strategy changed, love,” Lane said.

  “Change it all you want,” Niya said and grinned. “It will have the same result. You losing.”

  “Gotcha loud and clear,” Lane said.

  Nick took a seat and showed everyone an unopened deck of cards.

  “I have decided to join the game, after all,” Nick said. “Might be the last time I get to use this table since one of you will be buying this incredible yacht off me by morning.”

  He pulled a flip blade knife from his pocket, cut the plastic, tore it off, and tossed it aside. A quick squeeze of his thumb and he folded the blade up then stuffed it in his pocket.

  “We take turns dealing,” Nick said. “You’ve each bought in for two hundred grand. Feel free to count the chips in front of you.”

  Maggie snorted and coughed from the bar, reminding everyone that she was still in the game room. Her eyes looked blurry and her focus was delayed as she swiveled about to look at them all.

  “Did you say two hundred grand?” she asked. “As in two-hundred thousand? Dollars? To play poker?”

  All eyes shifted to her, even Ben’s, and she blushed quickly. But whether the blush was from the attention or the fact she had eight empty glass
es in front of her was debatable.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I just haven’t ever seen that much money. I mean, two-hundred thousand is…a…lot…” She frowned then burped. “Yeah… I’ll be quiet now.”

  She took a sip of her latest drink and spun about on her bar stool to face Manny. He gave her a sympathetic smile and placed a gentle hand on her forearm to keep her from slipping off her seat.

  “High card deals,” Nick said as he shuffled quickly then splayed the deck out in a chaotic mess across the table.

  Each player took a card and flipped it over. Tony had the ace of spades and nodded as the cards were shoved towards him. He pushed them around with his hands for a couple of seconds then gathered them up in a pile, set the deck to his right, and waited as Lane cut the cards. Tony completed the cut, squared the deck then began to deal.

  He tossed out two cards to each player, set the deck to his right and looked to his left at Jessica and the two white chips in front of her.

  “Big blind,” Tony said as he looked past her to Carlos and his single white chip. “Small blind bets.”

  “Give a man a chance to look at his cards,” Carlos replied as he set his drink down and picked up the two cards in front of him. He grabbed a second white chip from his tray and set it on the first. “Call.”

  Nick was to Carlos’s left and he set two whites in front of him. “Call.”

  “Raise,” Niya announced, next up to bet. “Four thousand.” She tossed in six white chips, calling the initial two thousand bet and adding her four thousand raise.

  “Okay,” Ben said as he looked down at his two cards. He held a six of clubs and an eight of hearts. Crap cards even if Niya’s bet wasn’t very big. But that was probably a trap she was setting. A small bet like that usually meant she wanted players to stay in the hand. He threw his cards face down in front of him. “Fold.”

  Lane looked at his cards, looked up at Niya, looked back at his cards, fingered his chips for a second, then tossed his cards on top of Ben’s. “Fold.”

  The bet was to Tony and he quickly grabbed up three red chips. “I raise it nine grand.”

  “Nope,” Jessica said, throwing in her cards with Ben and Lane’s as well as pushing her blind bet into the center of the table. “Not on the first hand.”

  Carlos rubbed at his chin then followed Jessica’s lead and folded, adding cards and chips to the growing piles of both on the table. Nick was right behind him, mucking his hand almost before Carlos was done moving.

  That left Niya. She stared at Tony for a second, but the man wasn’t giving her anything. Ben studied him, watching his every move, breath, tick, twitch, shake, shudder. But the man was like a statue, his eyes locked onto Niya’s.

  “Raise,” Niya said. “Ten thousand.”

  She threw in enough chips to call Tony’s raise and increase her own. Tony smiled and called immediately. He burned three cards, tucking them face down in with the folded pile, then flipped three cards over in the center of the table, one after the other.

  “Ace of diamonds, queen of hearts, and seven of hearts,” Tony announced. “Your bet, madame.”

  Niya bristled at the term, but kept her mouth shut as she picked up three reds and threw them in the pot.

  “Fifteen?” Tony asked. “I raise twenty.”

  “Jesus, kids,” Nick said. “Save some for the rest of the night.”

  Tony gave him a look that could kill and Nick shrugged his shoulders.

  “Call,” Niya said, tossing in four reds.

  Tony burned one card then flipped over another, making it four cards in the center of the table. Ace of spades.

  “Check,” Niya said.

  “Fifty thousand,” Tony responded, tossing in five blue chips.

  “All in,” Niya said, her hands resting on her entire set of chips.

  Tony’s eyes narrowed and his upper lip curled at the corner.

  Ben watched him closely, studying the way the man stared Niya down. He knew instantly that the man didn’t have an ace in his hand. He would have called and burned and flipped the last card immediately. That meant he was either full on bluffing, had a low-to-mid pair, or had matched up something on the board.

  Tony’s hand hovered over his chips. He tapped at the row of blues then sighed and tossed his cards on the table. “It’s yours.”

  Niya gave him a short nod and reached out to scoop her chips in. She quickly separated them by color and placed them in their respective rows.

  While she did that, Jessica took the cards, shuffled them, and dealt out two to each player.

  Ben watched everyone lift their cards and look at them. Except for Tony, who was busy looking at him. Ben smiled. Tony did not.

  “At the same time?” Ben joked.

  “Be my guest,” Tony said.

  Ben nodded and lifted his cards, careful to shield them from the other players’ view. Jack of diamonds, queen of diamonds. That was a playable hand.

  Nick tossed his cards in and pushed his small blind into the center of the table without saying a word. Niya threw her cards in as well and then it was up to Ben. He looked at his cards once more then grabbed four reds and two whites.

  “Call and raise,” Ben said. “Twenty thousand.”

  He threw in the chips and looked at Lane. Lane shook his head and threw his cards away. Tony did as well and Ben was actually surprised. Jessica watched Ben for a second then shook her head and added her cards to the muck. Carlos did as well, pushing his big blind in with his cards.

  “Hope you didn’t waste a high pair on that move,” Jessica said.

  “I don’t know,” Ben said. “Are aces high or low?”

  “Cute,” Jessica said.

  Carlos shuffled and dealt as Ben took his meager winnings of the big and small blinds. He looked down as the cards landed in front of him, picked them up, and did everything in his power not to smile. Not that it was hard since he’d been playing poker for most of his life. A pair of aces weren’t going to make him whoop and holler like a rookie.

  Spades and clubs. That was what he had. Two aces. A pair of bullets.

  Niya called, Ben called, Lane folded, Tony raised it ten thousand, Jessica called, Carlos folded, and Nick raised it another ten thousand. Niya folded, Ben called, Tony called, Jessica folded, and Carlos burned three cards then showed everyone the flop.

  King of spades, queen of spades, king of diamonds.

  Not a good flop for Ben. He kicked himself for not pushing hard with a pair of aces in his pocket. Having two kings show up on the flop meant that anyone that stayed in with a king was doing better than he was. He only had three to a royal flush, so it wasn’t like he had great options.

  Niya checked and Ben threw in thirty thousand before her cards settled on the felt. Tony called immediately and Ben’s gut twisted. Tony had a king. No one would look at that flop and call a twenty thousand bet without having the king. Either you fold or you raise. Calling meant Tony wanted Ben in the game.

  Everyone else was out. Cards were shoved into the muck and Carlos burned a card then dealt another. Jack of spades.

  Ben had four to a royal flush with two aces in the hole. Or a rock and a hard place since he couldn’t beat three kings, if Tony had a third, and he didn’t actually have a flush, royal or not. With only one card left to see, the odds were not favoring Ben and he knew it.

  He almost checked to see what Tony would do, but then Tony sniffled. It wasn’t anything special, just a normal sniffle if you had a slightly runny nose. Except Ben knew for a fact Tony hadn’t been sniffling at all the whole evening. He would have caught something like that.

  “Fifty thousand,” Ben said, tossing his chips in.

  “Raise fifty,” Tony said right off the bat.

  “Call,” Ben said just as quickly.

  Tony gave him a sharp look and Ben knew what Tony’s tell was. A sniffle. He wasn’t sure what the man had in his hand, but it wasn’t another king. Every instinct in his body told him Tony didn’t have the
third king.

  Carlos turned over the last card, the river, and it was the king of hearts. The odds of Tony having a king hidden in his hand dropped exponentially with that reveal.

  “Check,” Ben said.

  “Fifty,” Tony said.

  It was a small enough bet to instantly make Ben think it was a trap, which he knew was exactly what Tony wanted him to think. It would draw Ben in or make him fold. But why? Ben thought about it, actually putting some effort into figuring out the bet instead of just pretending to. Then it hit him.

  “I raise fifty,” Ben said.

  “Call,” Tony said and tossed in his chips. “Let’s see what you got.”

  “Aces,” Ben said. “For a full house, kings over.”

  Tony looked at Ben’s cards and his face flushed, but not in a way that would allow him to beat the hand before him. He started to turn his cards over then stopped himself and tucked the unseen cards into the muck.

  The look on Tony’s face was close to pure rage. Ben knew that the man had something good. He replayed the hand over in his head and grinned as Nick started to shuffle and deal.

  “What the hell are you grinning at?” Tony snapped. “You got my money, no need to gloat.”

  “Sorry,” Ben said. “I wasn’t gloating. Honestly.”

  “Then answer my question,” Tony said. “What the hell are you smiling at?”

  “Your two queens,” Ben said.

  “My what?” Tony growled and started to stand up.

  “Need to pee, Tony?” Nick asked, his hand in mid-deal, hovering over the table with a card about to be tossed. “If not then sit your butt down. This is a friendly game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That time you lost. Let it go.”

  “Was I right?” Ben asked as Tony settled back into his chair.

  “Benny Boy, leave it be,” Nick said.

  “Why?” Ben replied. “Everyone came to see me play, to meet the poker blogger and legendary screw up. It’d be false advertising if I didn’t flex my muscles a little.”

  He looked Tony square in the eyes.

  “Am I right?”

  Tony only smiled in response, his lips pulling back to show a couple of gold caps spaced between blindingly white chompers. It was like a shark raised in Jersey had decided to sit down and play some cards.