The Odds - Jeff Strand Page 0,64

is your chance to say goodbye.”

“They know I love them. This video won’t bring them any kind of peace. I’m not going to let you twist the knife any more. Fuck you.”

The Claw Man didn’t lower his phone. “You still get the full sixty seconds. Is that really how you want to use it?”

It really wasn’t, but Ethan wasn’t going to offer up some sappy video message for The Claw Man and the other sadists to laugh at. If they did send the video to Jenny—which he doubted—they’d probably add a wacky filter to it to make him look like a cartoon dog or something. If he had to die, it was going to be a defiant death.

Also, he knew that if he tried to deliver a sincere message to Jenny, Patrick, and Tim, he’d become a blubbering mess of sorrow and terror. Being an asshole right now was the only thing keeping him from completely breaking down.

“You sure that’s how you want to go out?” The Claw Man asked. “I mean, you’re an adult, it’s your choice. I personally wouldn’t want to bid farewell to my family that way, but you do you.”

“Fuck you,” Ethan told him.

The Claw Man lowered his phone. “All right, then. Rick, turn that crank.”

Rick, looking physically ill, began to turn the crank. Ethan lifted his legs, trying to keep his feet out of the boiling oil.

No.

Screw this.

If Ethan could be defiant, then so could Rick. It was too late to save his player, but that didn’t mean Rick had to be the one to kill him. He was done playing along.

Rick was under no impression that this somehow made him noble. His plan to make a break for it was cowardly, and he probably wouldn’t even make it out of the shed, but at least he was taking charge of his own fate.

He stopped turning the crank and ran.

The Claw Man shot him in the knee.

Rick cried out in pain and fell to the ground. He didn’t even have to look at the wound to know that he would not be getting back up.

“Why would you go and do that?” The Claw Man asked. “Now it’s messy.”

“He could do this to you,” said Rick to the others, trying to speak instead of simply screaming. “There’s no loyalty! I’m an employee just like the rest of you, and look what he’s going to do to me! You could be next!”

“You broke the rules,” said The Claw Man.

“He had no choice!” Ethan shouted. “What’s going to happen to him could happen to any of you! That’s the kind of people you work for!”

The Claw Man chuckled. “Everybody else knows not to break the rules.”

“Like he said, I had no choice,” said Rick. He could not believe how much it hurt to get shot in the knee. Maybe the boiling oil would’ve been better. “Things got out of control. I did what I had to do, and now I’m going to die for it.”

The Claw Man chuckled again, though it was a bit forced, like he was trying to convey amusement and disdain that didn’t quite exist. He pointed the gun at Rick’s head.

Ethan watched as The Claw Man walked right up to Rick. He pressed the barrel of his gun right between Rick’s eyes.

“You’re babbling,” said The Claw Man. “Nobody’s interested in your nonsense. It’s time for you to shut the fuck up.”

He pulled the trigger.

Rick’s dead body flopped over.

Everybody was silent.

The handcuffs were digging into Ethan’s wrists and it was becoming more difficult to keep his knees bent and his feet out of the oil.

Rick lay on his side, blood seeping into the ground.

“What did he do?” Christine asked.

“You saw him,” said The Claw Man. “He made a run for it.”

“I mean, what did he do before that?”

“He fed inside information to his player. Tried to give him an unfair advantage. And, oh, yeah, he murdered Gavin and Butch when he thought they might tattle on him for violating the ‘never bluff’ rule. Instead of ending the game for Ethan here, we decided to make Rick’s penalty the same as his. He got off pretty easy.”

A trickle of blood ran down Ethan’s arm. He wasn’t sure if it came from his wrists, or one of the cuts that was already there. The pain was excruciating.

“He had a daughter,” said Christine.

“I’m sorry, is there a problem, Christine?” The Claw Man asked.

“No, sir.”

“Good. Let’s not forget that we’re still playing a game here. We all knew how