Headed for Trouble - By Suzanne Brockmann Page 0,30
the Honda, and with the extra weight we don’t skid once on our way home.
“It was a great Christmas,” Jenk told them as Chick came out of the bathroom and rejoined them at the table. “Mom loved the bracelet, and we had our own personal cabaret show. And maybe I was wrong—I was only eleven—but it sure seemed like Rhonda and Marcia had a thing for each other. Thus, my most interesting lesbian encounter.”
“Can we please finish this hand?” Young Vlachic had definitely just had a Dear John phone call. He looked at Jenk. “Will you fucking do something besides talk?”
Ouch. Jenk let the harsh words roll off his back, considering the circumstances, as, across the table, Gillman picked up his cards and …
He scratched his chin with the back of his hand.
Yes! He was bluffing. Or … was he? Gillman also sent Jenk what could only be described as a furtive look. It was over almost before it started, but Jenk saw it.
Except it was clearly intended for Jenk to see, which meant …
“I’m in,” Jenk decided, tossing his money into the pile in the center of the table. Gillman was back to not looking anywhere but at his cards.
“How much to call?” Chickie grimly asked.
“Twenty-six dollars,” Lopez said in a voice that recommended Chick fold.
“No, it’s only sixteen to him,” Izzy said. “Vlachic was the genius who raised the bet ten fricking bucks in the first place.”
Chickie put in the cash. And sure enough, Gillman revealed that he was holding a whole lotta nothing. Total train wreck. The highest card was, appropriately, a jack.
“Nice attempt to bluff,” Jenk told him, revealing his three aces. “But you know, you tried just a little too hard. You were too obvious with your eyes and—” He was already reaching for the pot when Izzy stopped him.
“Dude.” Izzy pointed at the cards Chickie was lovingly placing on the table. Holy crap.
It wasn’t just a winning hand. It was a kickass, once-in-a-lifetime, mother-of-God miracle of a winning hand. A straight flush; spades, Queen high. Even Lopez sat forward and stared.
“No fucking way.” Gillman was the first to overcome the shock and put voice to their disbelief. “Dude. You took three cards.”
“I guess I’m just lucky,” Chick said in that same grim voice. But then he looked up and smiled, and Jenk knew they’d all been conned. By the twelve-year-old new guy. Who’d gone through BUD/S and was probably closer to twenty-three—and completely capable of conning the unconnable. Yeah, Chick was lucky as hell, but he’d totally fooled them into thinking he still held a crappy hand.
“Who was on the phone?” Jenk asked, suddenly suspicious.
“No one,” Chick admitted, starting to put the huge pile of bills and coins into neatly organized stacks. “You just seemed as if you needed a little more time to decide to stay in.”
“Brilliantly done,” Jenk said.
“What I said before,” Vlachic started to explain. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know,” Jenk reassured him. “It was a nice touch. Very authentic.”
“Thanks,” Chick said. “That means a lot, coming from you.”
Jenk was the team’s best liar, which meant that he also had the most accurate bullshit meter. Although it was entirely possible that he was now the team’s second best liar.
“Hey, Iz.” Jenk turned to Zanella. He didn’t need to say anything more, since Izzy was on the same wavelength.
As Lopez shuffled the deck, Izzy took a beer from the fridge. He opened it. “Welcome to the team,” he said.
And handed it to Chickie.
INTERVIEW WITH TOM AND KELLY
December 2005
This story takes place around the same time as Into the Storm.
“I got the word just before noon,” Tom said, laughter dancing in his eyes as he held his seven-month-old son, Charlie, on his shoulder. “I was no longer needed, so I managed to get a seat on a commercial flight home that left at two fifteen.”
“The assignment was really just saber-rattling,” Kelly interjected, reaching out to wipe their baby’s chin as we sat in Tom’s home office in San Diego.
Well, actually, they sat in San Diego. I was in front of my computer, in my office, writing this scene. But, shhh. Don’t tell them that. I’m not sure they know they’re fictional characters. Tom Paoletti is the former CO of SEAL Team Sixteen and the current owner of Troubleshooters Incorporated, a private security firm. Dr. Kelly Ashton Paoletti is his wife.
Kelly continued. “He was brought in to stand there and look important and, I don’t know, scary, I guess.”