Dead Man's Hand Read Online Free

use cameras on his tables
either?”  His rather loud scoff answered the question as clearly as
anything he might have said.  But I was getting impatient with the length
of this argument so I elaborated.  “When he first started this thing yes,
he used cameras, five years ago he stopped it when it became painfully obvious
that no one was cheating him.”
    Exasperated, Matt
automatically replied, “Just because he stopped doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t
bring them back.”
    “Matt, you just have to
trust me, I’ll be fine.  Besides I’ll fit the part of a spoiled rich
kid.”  Biting my lower lip I mentally hoped that his curiosity would latch
onto that crumb.  At least with that conversation I would be able to turn
some of my attention back to the video stream.
    “Yeah?  And just how
are you going to manage that?”  The resignation behind this question told
me that while he was still reluctant to change the topic, he knew that I would
never back down and withdraw from the tournament.  He didn’t like it, but
he was accepting that it was my decision. A decision that I would probably pay
for later.
    “You’d be surprised just how
far you can go with one million dollars, despite needing to keep half for my
fee.”
    “You managed to loot a
million dollars on your trek down there?” 
    I had been hoping that
the sheer amount of what I had been able to collect would bring him around, but
while a part of him was definitely impressed as a whole, he was still
distracted.  I felt like screaming at him to forget that Dempsey was
involved.  I mean collecting that money had been part of the reason I
decided to do this in the first place.  While we had more than enough
funds in our petty cash buckets to both pay the fee and deck me out for
tomorrow, I had wanted to test myself and figured that a cross-country trip
would allow me to do just that.  Of course, I had had to start relatively
small, but once I had managed to get the first quarter it was smooth sailing
the rest of the way.
    “Is any of what you’re
bringing one of your transformed goodies?”
    If I had not mentioned it
earlier, this would have been a fair question.  The only thing that
absolutely had to be real was my entrance fee, the rest I could have simply
made, but where would the fun be if I cheated even a little bit?  And
since everything I had, from the cash all the way down to my shiny new
accessories, was legitimate, I felt like boasting.  “I can’t speak for the
money that I used to buy it all, but everything I have now is nice and clean.”
    “Wait a minute!”  I
could hear the shock in his voice, it was so thick I had trouble recognizing
his voice.  “That would mean that your current car is nice and legal.”
    Chuckling, I tried to
comment but I was unable to get the words out past my genuine amusement. 
When I was finally able to speak my voice was still tinged with laugher. 
“That was an odd experience.  Did you know this is actually the first car
I’ve legally owned?”
    I could hear laughter
emanate from the other side of the call as Matt replied, “That’s a disturbing
little fact Marcus.”
    “Isn’t it?” 
Securing the phone with my shoulder I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket
and started fishing through it as I offered a quasi-explanation.  “But I
figured that I should get some practice at handing over that kind of money, so
in an effort to grow in character, I decided to buy the car.”
    “Is that it?”  Matt
asked in amusement as I thumbed through the contents of my wallet.
     “What’s so
funny?”  I asked as I finally found what I was looking for.
    “What was her name
Marcus?”
    Taken aback by his
question I managed to respond without a significant break in the
conversation.  “Matt, what are you talking about?”  I somehow managed
to keep my voice from cracking.
    “If you won’t tell me her
name, at least tell me you got her phone number.”  Matt said, all too
eager to pounce