Overkill

by Dylan Rust

  The dealer dealt everyone their hole cards.

  Each player looked at their cards, save for Jack. He didn’t look at his. He already knew everything he needed to know. The dealer and every player at the table noticed.

  “Aren’t you going to look at your cards?” the dealer asked.

  “No.”

  The other players laughed.

  Jack heard Glasses call him a fucking idiot under his breath. The Fat Man gave Jack a dirty look. Squeal and Tattoo just rolled their eyes. They didn’t mind playing an idiot. Less competition was always a good thing.

  That was exactly what Jack wanted them to think. Each one of them was letting their ego get the better of themselves.

  Jack was left of Tattoo, which meant he was the big blind.

  Tattoo posted the small blind.

  Jack posted the big. He threw four hundred dollars into the center of the table.

  Squeal matched the big.

  The Fat Man raised fifteen hundred.

  Glasses folded.

  Tattoo smiled. “There’s a sucker born every minute,” he said. He matched the raise. “You sure you want to take me, Worley?”

  The Fat Man’s name was Worley.

  Worley smiled. “Fuck you.”

  Jack matched the raise.

  Squeal giggled then matched.

  Worley scoffed. “You’re going to run out of chips you idiots,” he said. He turned to Jack. “You should look at your cards. It’s bugging me.” He checked and the dealer proceeded to the flop.

  Three of clubs, king of hearts, and four of spades.

  Glasses raised five hundred. Squeal matched, then raised another five hundred.

  Jack matched the one thousand and then raised another one thousand.

  Glasses, Squeal and Worley all looked stunned. Jack hadn’t looked at his cards, yet he was betting aggressively.

  “Are you serious?” Worley said. “This is not how you play poker. Are you crazy? This is wrong.” He looked at the dealer. “He should be kicked from the game. This is absurd.”

  The dealer shook his head. There was nothing he could do. There was no rule saying you had to look at your cards.

  “I put money on the table, you either match it or you flop,” Jack said. “You scared?”

  “Fuck this,” Worley said. “It’s time to teach you a lesson. Are you trying to draw out my bluff? I’m not bluffing.” He put all his chips in. “You want to play with your balls, fine. Let’s see how big they are.”

  Glasses and Squeal folded immediately.

  Jack went all in. He matched Worley.

  The dealer flipped the turn and revealed the queen of hearts.

  “Are you scared?” Worley said. “You should be. It’s all up to the cards. The cards you haven’t seen. Idiot.”

  The dealer flipped the river and revealed the heart of spades.

  All the cards were on the table.

  Jack and Worley stared at each other. A small crowd formed around the game. Word travelled quick around the club that someone was making a scene.

  “Alright, gentleman,” the dealer said. “It’s time to reveal your hands.”

  “Enough fucking around,” Worley said.

  Worley flipped his hand.

  The dealer read out his cards.

  “King of spades, queen of diamonds. Two of a kind.”

  “Fuck you,” Worley said. “You pussy ass bitch.”

  “All in on two of a kind?” Jack said. “That’s a risky move. That’s not a very good hand.”

  “Shut up. Not looking at your cards is a risky move. You bet it all and you didn’t even look at your hands.”

  “I knew everything I needed to know,” Jack said. “You play the people, not the cards.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Jack flipped his cards. The dealer read them out.

  “Three of hearts, three of spades. That’s three of a kind.”

  The players gasped. The crowd watching the game went silent. Even the dealer was shocked.

  Worley’s face went white. The woman who was on his leg recognized he was about to flip out. She jumped off and disappeared. Squeal laughed. Glasses and Tattoo clapped. They’d been played.

  “Winner is…” the dealer said. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

  “Jack Spade.”

  Worley shot up from his seat. “You cheated,” he said. “Three of a kind? You cheated! Fuck you! That was impossible.” He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Jack. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with! I’m an important man in this city!”

  Jack didn’t move. The security guards did their work. They jumped Worley as fast as he pulled the gun. No shots were fired. They dragged him away.

  “You’re good at poker,” Squeal said. “The name is Ryan.”

  Jack shook his hand.

  “How did you know you were going to win? You didn’t look at your hand and you went all in.”

  “I knew no one had a good hand,” Jack said. “He was bluffing the whole way.”

  “But you could have lost? You didn’t know.”

  “You don’t get it,” Jack said. “I did know. I knew that Worley didn’t have a good hand. I knew he was trying to intimidate with a bad hand. After the turn and river he started to sweat profusely. He was unsure of himself. I took advantage of that.”

  Jack pulled in his winnings and winked at the girl who was on the fat man’s lap. He now had $40,000 in chips.

  The dealer turned to Jack.

  “There is a special game in one hour. With those winnings you would be able to buy a seat. I suggest you play. That was quite the performance. Just go talk to those men over there.” He pointed to a group of guards who were standing in front of a staircase.

  Jack nodded. He walked to the guards.

  Ryan followed.

  19

  “The odds of Jack getting that hand were less than five percent,” Luka said. He was looking at the odds on his phone. He couldn’t believe it. “He didn’t even look at his hand?”

  “He said he knew Worley was bluffing,” Claire said. “He’s good at reading people.”

  “Are you sure those were the odds?” Tom said. “Asshole must’ve cheated.”

  “Or he was just insanely lucky,” Luka said.

  “He had a one in twenty chance,” Claire said. “In poker, I’d say those are pretty good odds. Especially, if you know the player you’re up against is bluffing.”

  “Who the fuck is this guy?” Tom said.

  “It doesn’t matter how he won,” Claire said. “The thing is, he won. We’re right back on track. He might finally get that meeting with Igor.”

  “He has to win again,” Tom said. “If he keeps playing like that his luck will eventually run out.”

  It’d been more than an hour since Jack entered the club. The three agents were still in the back of the van.

  “We should head back to the warehouse,” Claire said looking at her watch. “It’s late and there’s nothing we can do here now. We’ll listen to the rest of Jack’s communications from there. The only reason we parked this close was to offer him support if he needed it. And clearly, he doesn’t need our help.”

  “Right,” Tom said. “Because nothing else will go wrong.”

  “It’s working,” Claire said. “He got in. He won his first game. If he loses the next, he’ll just leave. We’ll regroup at the warehouse and get ready for the next tournament.”

  “He broke every rule in the book. There are three dead bodies on the ground because of him. You really think he’s going to just walk out of there. They have his sister. Jack’s hellbent and determined to rescue her.”

  “Well, then that’s good,” Claire said. “If he makes a scene, he’ll know that they’ll kill her. If he wants her to live, he’ll do things our way. He’s only one man. He can’t take on an entire gang.”

  “This investigation is off the rails,” Tom said. “I say we stay. I don’t feel good about anything.”

  “
We can’t stay,” Claire said. “It’s too risky. We’re too close to the club. Igor’s gang sends out vehicles to scan the streets regularly at night. They can’t find us out.”

  Luka hopped into the front seat of the van. “I agree with Agent Osgoode,” he said. He turned the engine, the van started.

  He began the process of pulling the van out of its parking spot.

  “This is a bad idea,” Tom said.

  The van pulled out, but then Luka slammed on the breaks. “Oh shit,” he said. His voice was an octave higher. He was tense. He pointed at something on the street.

  “What is it?” Claire said, jumping up to get a look.

  “An SUV? It’s behind us.”

  Tom looked out the back window. “Fuck,” he said. “Just keep driving.”

  “Damnit,” Claire said. “Is that one of Igor’s?”

  —

  Jack sat down at the head table. It was on the second floor of the club. After he had talked to the security guards standing beside the staircase and showed them his winnings he was escorted up. The head game was being in played in a private room.

  The guard escorted Jack into the room and showed him where to sit. Jack sat down. The guard left. Five minutes later, more players started to show up.

  Buy-in was twenty-five grand. To his left was Lyle Cunningworth, who smiled like an idiot. To his right was one of the men Claire had posted up on the white board: Aleksander Putzky, Igor’s right hand man. There were four other players at the table: Terek, Lenny, Sasha, a woman, and the guy from the first game, Ryan. The idiot wasn’t good at poker and he obviously had too much money for his own good. He just wanted to be around Jack.

  The game was about to start.

  Jack looked around the table.

  He studied the habits, nuances of the other players. He watched them carefully. Aside from Ryan, the crowd was harder to read than the one in the previous game. None of the players, save for Lyle were loud or abrasive. The new players were quiet, patient. They were subtle.

  There were four security guards in the room. They surrounded the table. They whispered things to each other. Jack heard his name a few times. From the corner of his eye, he read the lips of one of the guards; it was one of the many talents he’d developed at the NYPD.

  “Jack Spade… The bouncers…. Worley… Yes.”

  His name was getting around. He’d expected that. But even if his name was floating around the club, he’d still have to win the final game to meet with Igor. It didn’t matter if a bunch of low tier goons knew who he was.

  Sasha looked at Jack and gave him a smile. She was wearing a bright red dress that exposed her breasts, one of her tactics. She was beautiful.

  “You’re a good looking man,” she said to Jack.

  “You’re a good looking woman,” he said.

  “You’re not like the regular players we get at The Dacha House,” she said.

  “And you’re the only one at a table with out a dick,” he said. “We can keep stating the obvious, or you can get to the point.”

  Sasha’s eyes widened. “Do you want to know what’s under my skirt?”

  “I want to play poker,” he said.

  Sasha laughed.

  “If you play your cards right, you might get a chance to get a peek,” she said. She winked at him.

  “Lucky me.”

  The dealer walked into the room and sat at the table. Sasha raised her hand. The dealer stopped the shuffling his cards. She had influence in the club. She must be someone connected to Igor. Jack watched her carefully.

  “Who are you?” she said to Jack. “What do you do for a living? Before we play, I like to know a little bit about the competition.”

  Jack smirked. “Well, I just got out of prison,” he said.

  “Why were you in prison?”

  “I killed a man.”

  “You killed a man?”

  “In cold blood. Or, at least, that’s what the cops said.”

  Sasha laughed. “I like you, Mr. Spade. You’re funny.”

  Suddenly, Lyle screamed. “Ow, bitch!” He stood up. The underage girl on his lap fell to the floor. “You bite too hard.”

  The girl looked like a squirrel caught in headlights. Her eyes were wide, her body motionless. She didn’t know what to do. Lyle went to kick her. Jack stood up and stopped him. He blocked Lyle’s kick with his shin.

  Lyle looked at him, outraged.

  “Don’t kick her.”

  “She hasn’t learned her lesson.”

  “Sit down.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or I’ll make you sit down. You have a choice. Choose wisely.”

  Lyle, the billionaire who’d never worked an honest day in his life, who had everything given to him, looked at Jack with disgust. He wasn’t used to this. Club security walked up to Lyle and whispered something in his ear. Lyle composed himself, straightened his jacket. He smiled. “Fine,” he said. “Igor will take care of her.” He laughed. “You shouldn’t have stopped me. She’s in for a far worse punishment now.”

  A guard picked up the young girl.

  She didn’t scream. She shouldn’t have bit that hard, but Lyle shouldn’t have put his hands there. It hurt. It didn’t matter. If she fought, she knew what would happen. She had to close her eyes and take it. If she was lucky, she’d be able to walk in a week.

  Jack wanted to help her, but knew if he did, he’d never be invited up to Igor’s office. He sat back down.

  “Are you some kind of hero?” Sasha said. “Saving poor innocent girls.”

  “No,” Jack said. He looked at Lyle. “I just didn’t want the greedy asshole to postpone the game.”

  “Fuck off,” Lyle said.

  The dealer picked up his decks and began to shuffle.

  “Looks like the round is about to begin,” Sasha said to Jack. “Let’s see how you play. I saw your antics down there. I want to see how good you are. I want to know what I’m up against.”

  Jack nodded to Sasha.

  She blew him a kiss.

  —

  The black SUV continued to follow them. It stayed close, but not too close. Its windows were tinted black.

  “What should we do?” Luka said. His hands were moist and were slipping on the steering wheel.

  “We should confront them,” Tom said. “Let them know that they are bothering federal agents.”

  Luka looked at Claire. She shook her head. She knew Tom was an idiot, but was he really that dumb?

  “That’d be suicide,” she said.

  “We’ll show them our badges,” Tom said. “They won’t shoot us.”

  “They will,” Claire said. “Keep driving.”

  Luka slowly put pressure on the gas pedal. The van crossed another intersection. The black SUV followed them.

  “We can’t take them to the warehouse,” Tom said. “We should try to lose them.”

  “You’re right,” Claire said. “We’ll leave the neighborhood. Hopefully they lose interest. Once they do, we’ll head back.”

  Luke drove the van north. Little Odessa was small. It didn’t take them long to get out of the neighborhood. But the black SUV didn’t let up. It continued its pursuit.

  Luka grew nervous. He slammed his foot on the breaks at each stop sign.

  “Gentle, gentle,” Claire said. “We don’t want them to get suspicious.”

  “They’re already suspicious,” Luka said. “Why won’t they just leave us?”

  “I don’t know,” Claire said. “Just hang in there.”

  Luka pressed on the gas. The van moved, but then came to a stop again. Tom and Claire braced themselves for Luka’s heavy foot.

  “Shit,” Luka said.

  “What?” Tom said.

  The van was stopped in the middle of an intersection on a quiet street. Another black SUV appeared. It was blocking the intersection ahead.

  “Oh no,” Claire said.

  “We’re fucked,” Tom said. “I’m getting out. I’m putting an
end to this.”

  —

  The dealer dropped each players’s hole cards.

  Sasha decided to spark up another conversation with Jack. At the end of each sentence she licked her lips. She wanted them moist. She wanted Jack to notice.

  He did.

  “You didn’t even look at your hand in that other game. How’d you know you were going to win?”

  “The guy is wicked good at reading people,” Ryan chimed in.

  “What he said,” Jack said.

  “Can you read me?” Sasha asked.

  “No,” Jack said. “You’re a beautiful young woman in a club full gangsters and hitmen. If I were you, I’d get the fuck out of here. But you seem at ease. I don’t get you at all.”

  Sasha laughed. “Sounds like you have a pretty good read?”

  “I’m still digging,” Jack said. “I’ll figure it out.”

  “You’re confident,” she said.

  “I’m observant.”

  “We will see just how observant you are,” she said.

  The players with the small and big blind played.

  Jack threw his chips into the center of the table. “Do you want to chat or do you want to play?”

  Sasha laughed. “Oh,” she said. “I am playing.”

  The round continued. It went back and forth for a bit but eventually settled.

  The dealer flopped the first three cards: Ace of hearts, ace of clubs, and four of clubs.

  Jack sighed. When it was his turn, he folded.

  The remaining players played and the round ended.

  Sasha won.

  She looked at Jack and winked.

  “Any new observations?” she said, condescendingly. She blew Jack a kiss.

  Ryan let out a big laugh. “Look’s like you’ve met your match, old buddy” he said. He slapped Jack on the back. Jack didn’t like that. He gave Ryan a look that said if you touch me again, I’ll break your hand.

  Ryan leaned toward Jack and whispered, “Don’t fall into her trap. She’s a lesbian. She’s just playing with you.”

  Jack ignored Ryan. He knew Sasha was playing with him. He also knew she was a lesbian. He could tell by the way she licked her lips. It was masculine.