BRAINRUSH, a Thriller (27 page)

She had completely embraced her role as his luscious companion for tonight’s adventure at the casino. It was her job to keep all eyes on her while he threw the dice. No red-blooded man within a twenty-foot radius stood a chance.

Jake noticed an open-mouthed Marshall eyeing Lacey’s performance from the small desk in the corner. He looked like a desperate puppy locked in a cage while his littermates chewed on steak bones. Was there a spark of jealousy there?

Lacey followed Jake’s gaze. She glided over to the desk, placed a single finger under Marshall’s chin and urged him to stand up. She wrapped both arms around his neck and surprised him with a warm kiss on the mouth. It was a long kiss. And it was easy to see that Lacey was enjoying it every bit as much as Marshall. 

When they parted her voice was soft, breathless. “Marshall, I’m an actress. No matter what it looks like I’m doing with someone else, I want you to know it’s all just an act. But I promise, I will never, ever, act when I’m with you.” She glanced away, as if unsure of herself. She said, “If…if that’s what you want.”

Marshall’s face flushed. He put his bandaged hand around her waist, pulling her close, their faces just inches apart. He nodded and gave her a smile that must have told her everything she needed to know. She smiled back and buried her head against his shoulder.

Looking past her at Jake, Marshall said, “Take good care of her out there.” 

**

The crowd was two rows thick around the craps table, but a group of well-dressed Hispanic gentlemen parted like the Red Sea to make room for Lacey, offering begrudging smiles to Jake as she clung to his arm. Jake mumbled his thanks and placed his meager thousand-euro stack of chips in the curved grooves in front of him. He placed two hundred euros on the pass line, betting that the roller would win. 

The croupier opened a new box of dice. While he went through the ritual of examining them, Jake explained the rules to Lacey. 

She listened attentively, both arms wrapped lovingly around Jake’s left arm, her breasts pressing against his bicep so that they peeked out around the edges of her dress. She absently ran her fingers up and around the coils of her braided snake bracelet. She giggled at a couple of the men standing beside her. “Isn’t this exciting?”

Both of the men lifted their eyes from her breasts and nodded in unison. One of them stuttered, “
Si
,
senorita.
Very exciting.”

The croupier slid the new stack of dice in front of a large, red-faced American man in his late forties. He stood at Jake’s immediate right. The stout man wore a camel sport coat over a white shirt with a string tie. His boisterous attitude and diamond-studded horseshoe cufflinks announced his Texas origins. He was playing with thousand-euro chips and he had two long rows of them curling in the cupped trays in front of him. The man set his drink down carelessly on the ledge below his chips, ignorant of the splash of alcohol that soaked into the toe of one of his expensive-looking cowboy boots. 

Grabbing a couple inches of chips, the Texan fanned them carelessly on the pass line. He picked up two of the dice from the nine or ten offered by the croupier’s stick. He shook them a couple of times in his hand, and flung them down the table. “Gimme that seven!”

Jake focused on the spinning red dice as they tumbled across the felt surface. His brain shifted gears. Watching their roll in ultra-slow motion, he found it easy to predict how they would settle. The first one was going to finish as a five, the second as a three. He nudged the second die just before its final tumble. It twisted and landed as a two.

“Seven, winner seven,” announced the croupier.

The roller yelled, “Hot damn!”

Several other betters smiled.

Lacey said, “That’s good, right?”

“Sure is,” Jake said. “Let’s try again.”

The banker paid the bets on the pass line. Jake’s two hundred euros was now four hundred. He left it all on the table, and the roller let his winnings ride as well. He picked up the dice and tossed them again.

“Seven, winner seven.”

“Well, ain’t that a sommabitch!”

Lacey squeaked.

More happy voices joined in the cheer. Jake now had eight hundred on the line. The roller tossed a third time. 

“Seven, winner seven!”

Another cheer burst from the table. Lacey bounced up and down and gave Jake a happy kiss on the cheek. More patrons joined the crowd to see what all the excitement was about. Jake had one thousand six hundred on the table.

The roller downed the rest of his drink in one slug. His slurred Texas drawl was annoying. “Well, I’ll be hog-tied with barbed wire if this ain’t gonna be my night!” He flicked his eyebrows up at Lacey and gave her a nasty leer.

Jake gave the Texan a warning look, but the guy just sniffed. When he reached for the dice, he slid his bulk into Jake just enough that it would appear accidental. He threw the dice down the table, jostling Jake with his shoulder.

Jake didn’t have time for this asshole. The guy had over forty thousand on the pass line and Jake didn’t want to help him win any more. He ignored the dice this time, letting them fall naturally.

“Seven, winner seven!”

Damn.

The crowd erupted.

The croupier slid a large stack of chips in front of the Texan.

Jake didn’t like this dude, but at least his own pile had doubled to thirty-two hundred with the roll.

The Texan continued to press into Jake as his eyes gleamed at Lacey. “Hot damn, I’m on a roll. Honey, how’d you like to go home with a real man? I’ll bet you’re the kinda girl that knows how to grab the bull by the horn, am I right?”

The crowd quieted.

The croupier watched the interaction carefully, his hand slipping out of view beneath the table. Probably a security call, Jake thought. He noticed two burly guys with crew cuts, maroon blazers, and gold name tags step out of the shadows and move toward the table.

Jake turned sideways to stare into the face of the blustery Texan. The guy puffed his fifty-inch chest with a smirk and took Jake’s stare head on.

“You got something to say, pretty boy?” the guy said, a bit of spittle spraying onto Jake’s chin.

Jake casually pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped his face. He folded the cloth back into his pocket and said, “Yeah, I’ve got something to say. Three things, actually. First, you’ve got really bad breath.”

The noise level around the table dropped to a hush.

The guy’s eyes widened in anger but before he could say anything, Jake continued, this time in a mocking version of the man’s drawl. “Second, y’all got worse manners than a hog at supper time.”

The Texan’s fists clenched and his shoulders bunched. He leaned forward like a huge oak tree threatening to topple over.

Jake didn’t waver under the man’s looming bulk. He just smiled. “And third, if you ever expect to find yourself in the company of a lady as classy as this, you’re going to have to learn to be a much better gambler.”

The Texan hesitated, confused. “Huh? What are you talking about?” He pointed at the stack of chips in front of him. “I’m up over a hundred grand.”

“Actually, you haven’t won anything until you count what’s left when you go home. And you’re going home flat broke tonight,
partner
.”

“Fuck you, asshole. I’m hotter than a Texas summer.” He pointed to Jake’s small stack of chips. “What the hell do you know?”

“I’ll tell you what I know.” He pointed to the Texan’s big stack of chips on the pass line. “All that money sitting in front of you is about to be sitting in front of me.” He then gestured to Lacey. “This gorgeous young lady will still be on my arm, and you’re going to be escorted out of here with absolutely nothing.”

Everyone around the table listened in rapt attention. In silent answer to the two security men waiting nearby, the croupier shook his head. He appeared as intrigued as everyone else as to where this was going.

More confused than ever, the Texan looked from side to side, as if wondering whether he was being punked on hidden camera.

“You’re going to crap out on your next roll,” Jake said. “In fact, I’m so sure you’re going to crap out that I’m going to place all my money on it.”

Jake combined his thirty-two hundred from the pass line and the eight hundred in front of him and placed it all on the
2 or 12
betting square. If either number was rolled, the payout was thirty to one.

“Big deal. So you’re betting against me with chump change. Am I supposed to be impressed?”

Jake reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his hotel key. He placed it on the table between him and the Texan. Motioning toward Lacey behind him, he slid the key forward another inch. “I’m all in. What about you?”

The Texan’s eyes widened in understanding. A lascivious grin spread across his face. He reached for the dice.

“Not so fast,” Jake said, pointing at the row of chips still sitting in the Texan’s tray. “You’ve either got the balls to go all in or you don’t.”

Jake moved to the side so the Texan could get a good look at Lacey. 

The Texan immediately grabbed the rest of his chips and placed them on the pass line with his previous winnings. His total bet was over one hundred ten thousand euros.

Jake lifted his hand from the hotel key and nodded toward the croupier.

“
Mesdames et messieurs
, please place your bets. The roller is coming out.”

The pent-up tension around the table snapped and players around the table exploded with bets, all but a few betting against the roller. The Texan picked up the dice, gave Lacey a nasty wink, and flung them across the table. “Read ’em and weep, sucker!”

Jake embraced the dice in his mind, adjusting their final tumbles just so...

“Two, craps. The shooter loses.”

A thunderous cheer and applause erupted around the table. Several people clapped Jake on the back. Lacey giggled and hugged him.

Jake gave her a wink as he picked up the key and slid it back into his pocket. 

Several people laughed at the astonished Texan. His face flushed crimson. His clenched fists trembled as he watched his entire bet being whisked away by the banker, and an equally large stack was slid in front of Jake. 

Jake turned to face the man. People nearby backed away.

Even without his enhanced reaction speed, Jake would have seen the punch coming. The Texan’s right shoulder twitched backward, telegraphing his swing. 

Instinct took over.

Jake sidestepped the meaty fist and brought his own right hand up and out, striking the forearm with his wrist to redirect the blow. In the same movement he double-gripped the Texan’s raised wrist, twisted under and around the Texan’s levered arm, and snapped it down with a force that spun the man into an agonizing forward somersault. He landed flat on his back with a sickening thud. Jake towered over him with his foot crammed into the Texan’s thick neck, the man’s wrist still grasped in Jake’s hands.

It was over in two seconds. 

The crowd was stunned, but no more so than Jake. Sure, he remembered the moves from his training, but he’d never even been close to this good at it. His enhanced speed made all the difference. The two security guards rushed over, hesitating as they waited for Jake to release the big man.

Jake wasn’t ready to let go, but he also didn’t want to seriously hurt the guy. He hoped to use this situation to ingratiate himself with the casino, not get thrown out. He looked down at the shaking, helpless man under his foot. The sudden flip must have cut through the alcohol and knocked some sense into him. His blustering façade was replaced with genuine fear.

Jake stepped off his neck, bent over, and helped the man up. “You’re going to be okay, pal. Isn’t there something you’d like to say to the lady before you leave?” The two security guards moved in from behind and grabbed the man’s arms.

The man cowed his head. “I’m real damn sorry, miss. I was way outta line.”

Lacey gave him a slight nod and sidled back up to Jake.

As soon as the Texan and his hulking escorts left the pit area, a round of applause erupted around Jake. He smiled at the crowd, adjusted the cuffs of his shirt, and stepped back to the table. Lacey gave him a shy kiss on the cheek and clung to his arm. The croupier offered an admiring smile. Jake now had a stack of chips worth one hundred twenty thousand euros next to his original bet. 

A distinguished-looking man in a tailored black suit and thin black mustache stood behind the croupier. From his bearing, Jake guessed he was upper management. The man tilted his head in a gesture of appreciation toward Jake. Jake nodded back.

The croupier slid the dice in front of Jake and announced, “We have a new roller.
Mesdames et messieurs
, please place your bets.”

Jake took in the crowd. All eyes were on him now. Too many eyes. He needed to switch tables, maybe switch games.

He announced, “Well, I’m not much of a roller. But I’ll try it just once.” He slid all his money over to the pass line and an electric murmur spread through the crowd. Every better on the table rushed to join in the betting. There wasn’t a single bet against the roller.