Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,33

a certain extent, the rules meant what you wanted them to mean. You just needed to say so with style and attitude. And come across like enough of a badass that it wasn’t worth it for anyone else to disagree.

Right then, I didn’t feel like much of a badass. But at least I was in control of my own head again, and the head was Leticia’s specialty. So maybe it would make her think twice.

She gave me a pleading look, and those bright green eyes sucked me in. “Please. You don’t understand. I need to be the one to do it. To regain my dignity, and the status I’ve lost in my eyes of my peers.”

Damn, but I wanted to say yes! I didn’t forget what she’d done to me, but it was almost like it didn’t matter. But not quite. I pictured the Thunderbird hanging between us, blocking out her beauty, and then I was okay.

“No,” I said. “I gave you my answer. You can either accept it, or we can show everyone some blood.”

“What an odd way of putting it,” the Pharaoh murmured.

But it wasn’t really, because I was actually letting Leticia know that if she kept pushing, I’d tell everyone she’d been cheating. I was tempted to do it anyway, except that I didn’t really know how things would go if I gave the others an excuse to turn the game into a brawl. Leticia and Gimble had partnered up, at least for the purpose of eliminating me. Wotan didn’t like me, and the Pharaoh had already messed with me once. Queen didn’t owe me any favors, and was busy with her eggs. I could see myself getting ripped apart by three or four monsters at once, while the others just sat and watched.

So I hoped Leticia would back down.

And, after looking into my eyes for another moment, she did. She gave me a sultry no-hard-feelings smile and purred, “We could always punish her together. It could be all sorts of fun, even for her. Think it over, and let me know.”

“No doubt he will,” the Pharaoh said. “But for now, if your little dispute is resolved, Queen and I still need to settle ours.” Taking a fresh cheroot from the gold case in front of him, he turned back to her. “I believe you were proposing to spill some of my blood—figuratively speaking, of course—and I was trying to convince you it would be unwise.”

Queen glared. Then she said, “I withdraw. And I hope you rot away to nothing, as you should have a thousand years ago.”

The Pharaoh smiled. “It’s actually more like four thousand, if we accept the validity of your premise.”

Queen struggled up out of her chair, which gave me a better look than I wanted at the bottom half of her. The two maids helped her gimp away from the table, leaving her chips and snack jar of groggy roaches and centipedes behind.

“And then there were five,” the Pharaoh said. “And if the fellow who claims to represent their host could prevail on the servants to wipe off the table and fetch some dry cards, they could resume their game.”

“Right.” I looked around for A’marie, but at some point, she’d cleared out of the room. I raised my hand, and other members of the Tuxedo Team came running.

CHAPTER SIX

It turned out that losing my mind and then getting it back was a motivator. I’d been pumped to do some damage even before Leticia started yanking my chain. When the game started up again, I was even more focused than before.

Although I didn’t hate her the way I did Wotan and Gimble. Maybe that was her gift working. If you liked girls, you couldn’t really hate her no matter how you tried. But I sure did want to knock her out of the game.

I didn’t. Nobody else went out that night. But, not long after the grandfather clock struck four, I flopped the nut straight, made the kind of big bet you often make when you don’t want a call, and got one from Gimble. He figured I was bluffing, which was what I wanted him to think. He had brains enough to fold when I put him all in on Fifth Street, but the hand still left him short-stacked. So that was progress, anyway.

When the session ended, I stood up, stretched, and looked for A’marie. She still wasn’t in the room. Then Timon grabbed me for some Monday morning quarterbacking. He mainly wanted