Alvaro´s heart was beating wildly. This dog could rip an arm off in one bite. He´d never been so scared in his life. The dog was still growling, although the intensity of the growl hadn´t changed.
“Don´t move.” Judith whispered.
He had no intention of doing that. But after interminable seconds without the dog taking his fearsome red eyes off him, he began to calm down. It was obvious the dog wanted something from him, otherwise he would have changed his posture. Alvaro stayed perfectly still as he tried to work out what it was that this frightening animal wanted. Then he noted that the dog´s shadow went towards the light just like the little girl´s. And that gave him an idea of what to do next.
Very slowly and without taking his eye off the dog, Alvaro moved further away from the girl. The animal watched him every inch of the way, but its teeth retracted in harmony with Alvaro´s retreat and the growl became less threatening. When he saw the result of what he was doing Alvaro moved further away more quickly and the dog relaxed completely.
“Dear Mother of God.” Dante said breathing out. “My heart was in my mouth.”
“That makes two of us.” Alvaro said leaning back in an armchair. “If it´s not obvious enough already, I´d advise everybody here to keep away from this girl.”
“Well, you don’t have to tell that to our filthy friend over there.” Dante said, pointing at Hector. He hasn´t taken his eyes off the girl since this all started. "The bastard knows something.”
“Sure, I know something.” Hector replied without turning his head. “Just the same as you. If you used your heads you´d understand what´s happening. You’re forgetting who this girl is and why we´re here.”
Alvaro could see that Hector was right but there was still something strange that he didn´t understand. How could the other man have stayed so calm when this fiend of a dog appeared? It didn´t seem possible, and if he was capable of controlling his emotions to such an extent then Alvaro would have to treat him very carefully, even more than Dante. It was a case of not judging a book by its cover. The dirty clothes and unwashed hair were covering a more formidable opponent than any of them there had thought. It was time to find out more about Hector, if he was going to have any chance at all of getting the better of him.
“You’re right, Hector.” Alvaro said condescendingly. “You’re a good observer. Do you mind me asking you . . .”
“Zeta!” The girl screamed out enthusiastically.
The enormous black dog trotted happily over to her. Even on four legs he was as tall as her. The girl hugged him as soon as he was at her side even though she couldn´t put her arms right around his neck. Zeta half- closed his eyes and put up with everything the little girl did to him. She pulled his ears back and slapped him all over the body, urging him to fight. Fortunately, Zeta didn´t accept the challenge. Then the girl picked a cushion up and began to push the dog with it. Alvaro stepped back instinctively when the dog bit the cushion and began to struggle with his playing companion. He growled again as he tugged the cushion playfully, with the girl laughing loudly, hanging onto the other end. The spectacle was extraordinary. Alvaro had been to the circus once as a boy and when he saw a lion tamer put his head into a lion’s jaws he thought he´d never see anything like it again. He was wrong. This game between Zeta and the girl seemed a thousand times worse. If the animal got mad, he could swallow the little girl in one bite.
She dropped the cushion after a few minutes. Then, Zeta went to the chair, sat on the floor and rested his snout on the seat. The girl followed him there, and climbed over his back onto the seat.
“Now we know who Zeta is.” Dante said walking past the dog to his seat. “Nice boy.”
Zeta did nothing. Just lay down beside the chair.
“Now, I want to play.” The girl said, smiling.
She was standing on the chair now leaning on the table, grabbing a few pieces of plastic of different shapes and sizes and beginning to arrange them in piles on top of each other. There were cubes, pyramids, spheres and many other shapes that she combined to together with ease.
“I think we should copy what she´s doing.” Alvaro said. “It´s obvious that our little hostess isn´t going to say anything to us directly.”
“I agree with you.” Judith said.
Alvaro nearly fell off his chair when he saw Judith stand up. He hadn´t noticed her body sitting on the chair behind Hector. But now that she was standing he noticed how thin her arms were, how fragile she seemed. Her appearance made him feel like protecting her. But then a feeling of panic seized him when he realized that she was pregnant. How was that possible? How could a pregnant woman be invited here?
“I . . . I don´t understand. You’re . . .”
“Pregnant. Yes, I am.” Judith said walking to the table. “But that´s got nothing to do with you.”
Now Alvaro understood the sad expression that he´d seen on her face. He wanted to ask her so many things, and the first would be: what are you doing here in this state? But he didn´t do that. She was right, it had nothing to do with him. He helped her sit down. Judith accepted the favor without looking at him directly, almost as if she was embarrassed.
“I thought the same as you.” Dante said. “But we need her here so all of this has a little style. Don´t try and be a gentleman with her. Just concentrate on what we´ve come here to do.”
Alvaro was losing his temper with Dante. He would have liked to tell the bald old bastard what he could do with his advice, but he kept it in check.
“Of course.” He said forcing a smile, as he sat down on the empty chair and put the packet that was in the center of the table in his hands. “Well, let´s begin.”
He undid the wrapping, took the cards out of their wooden box and began to shuffle. “Let´s play poker!”
* * * * *
CHAPTER THREE
“Why are you dealing?” Dante asked. “Shouldn´t we draw for the highest card?”
Alvaro smiled, knowing why Dante was complaining. He wanted to show how powerful he was, to stamp his authority right from the beginning, to intimidate them. A lot of gamblers did that. He´d met plenty of them.
“Of course.” Alvaro answered. “You´re right. I´m a little nervous, that´s all. I´m glad you brought it up. All of us want a fair game.”
He pushed the pack of cards across to Dante. The old man cut the pack in two and Alvaro put it back together again and slid it across to the centre of the table. He invited them all to choose a card with an elegant wave of the hand.
Dante turned the king of hearts over. Judith sat up straighter on the chair, her stomach resting on the edge of the table, stretching her arm out. Alvaro pushed the cards towards her. She looked so weak and defenseless. She pulled a seven of diamonds out.
“Eh, you!” Dante shouted gruffly. “How about paying attention to the game?”
It was almost as if Hector hadn´t heard him. He was still looking at the girl.
“Say something to that stinkpot” Dante told Alvaro. “If he doesn´t want to play. . .”
Hector extended his arm without taking his eyes off the little girl. He turned the top card over. He didn´t even bother to look at the five of spades.
Alvaro turned another five over, then collected the cards together and gave them to Dante.
“Your deal.”
Dante began to shuffle. Alvaro and Judith studied the circular plastic chips in three colors that were piled in front of them. Most were red, quite a lot green, and a few yellow.
“I can see that red is worth less.” Judith said, thinking aloud.
Alvaro ran his hand over his pile and looked at Judith, intrigued. “Exactly, and the yellow chips are worth the most.”
He didn´t know how she´d come to that conclusion. But there was little doubt that she was right. He´d been playing poker all his life. The value of the chips was clear. It was impossible to confuse their respective value. And looking at them piled in front of him he thought back to the operating theatre, and re
membered his urgent need to get to this table and play this game. He knew the same thing had happened to the rest.
“Let´s play the first hand.” Dante said dealing the cards.
“Good luck.” Alvaro said, running his eye around the table.
Nobody answered.
Dante finished dealing quickly as if he was anxious to start.
Alvaro picked his cards up but didn´t pay them the least attention. He pretended to study them while he took discrete glances at his opponents. He knew almost straight away that none of them were professional. The way they held their cards was proof enough of that. He´d been playing poker for more than ten years, had sat at more serious tables than this, competed twice in international championships, seen his fair share of poker faces.
Dante still looked tense, even though he was trying to cover it up. Judith was obviously nervous, her long, thin fingers trembling. Hector was harder to work out because he still hadn´t touched his cards, which made Alvaro wonder about his fascination with the girl. Everyone there knew who´d invited them and who the little girl was, but Hector couldn´t take his eyes of her. Maybe her shadow intrigued him more than her. Maybe he was still trying to work out how that was possible?
“Pass.” Hector said when it was his turn to call.
He still hadn´t touched his cards. Alvaro didn´t know what he was up to. This was a game in which you had to pay attention to everything. But there was Hector without the least interest in what was going on. That very fact started to worry Alvaro. His rival´s filthy, ragged appearance was one thing, perhaps part of a strategy to confuse his opponents. But Alvaro was already looking deeper than that, looking for the personality within which decided each action in game of poker. If he couldn´t unveil the mystery that surrounded Hector he wouldn´t be able to work his emotions out, or anticipate his game. And Alvaro needed to do that.
“We still haven´t talked about why we´re here.” Alvaro said casually. “I´m a surgeon and I still haven´t been informed about why I received this invitation. Our little friend still hasn´t said anything.”
Judith was curious. “Seriously? How strange! It must be a mistake then.”
Alvaro thought the same. But judging by the way Judith had spoken it seemed that she had all the information she needed. Maybe that applied to the rest of them.
“Very interesting.” Dante said, irritated. “How about playing?”
“Of course.” Alvaro agreed, throwing a couple of chips onto the table. “I´ll bet two. And you, Hector, can you tell us something to make the night a little more interesting?”
Hector looked away from the little girl for the first time since they´d sat down. “I can´t tell you anything. Your chit-chat doesn´t interest me.”
“We just want to be entertained a little, that´s all.” Alvaro informed him.
“You can see how this rag and bone man answers a stupid question. You´ve got to be more direct.” Dante suggested. “Like, when was the last time you changed your clothes?”
“Leave him alone.” Judith said, her voice way too soft to transmit authority. It was difficult to imagine such a sweet looking face getting angry. At least that´s what Alvaro thought. “If he doesn´t want to tell us anything, that´s his business. Why don´t you tell us something instead? ” She challenged Dante.
“Let´s cool it a bit.” Alvaro said. “We can start by telling the others what we do. I´ve already told you I´m a surgeon. And you Dante?”
Dante didn´t answer straight away. He dealt the cards according to the discards. Only Hector who´d passed didn’t get one.
”I´m a businessman, an investor.” Dante finally said.
“That´s all I need to hear. Don´t you know who this rogue is?” Hector scoffed, directing his comment to Alvaro. The surgeon looked at Dante again. His face was familiar. “He´s a corrupt speculator who . . .”
Dante was already off his seat. “What did you say, gutter snipe?”
Although Dante was at least twenty years older than Hector, he had a wiry build and in a scrap Alvaro would have put his money on the older man. But all of that didn´t bother Hector, still sitting on his chair without having bat an eyelash.
Dante took one step towards Hector but froze with one foot in the air. A growl echoed through the room as Zeta stood in his way, his enormous legs tensed, ready to spring, his fangs bared.
“Play!” The girl said, smiling. She was building a house with her chips. “I want to play some more. Isn´t it pretty?” She asked, slapping the table both sides of her castle.
“Ve . . . very pretty.” Judith said to placate her.
“I´d sit down again if I were you.” Alvaro advised Dante. “Do what the girl says.”
Dante´s eyes were fixed on the dog, who at that moment looked more like a black lion. The beast would rip the businessman to bits in a matter a seconds if he was given the command.
“We aren´t playing!” The girl said glumly, even sobbing for effect. “I want to play some more.” She demanded, the sobbing coming to an end, as she swiped the house of chips with the back of her hand, scattering them across the table.
Dante scurried back to his chair as quickly as he could.
“Just in case you haven´t realized it yet, she´s not going to let you fight.” Judith informed them. "She´s made it more than clear that she wants to play. I think it would be better to do what she wants and not put this dog to the test.”
Dante sat down at an odd angle on his chair. Alvaro looked at him again, a memory activated somewhere in his mind. Where had he seen him before? And then he suddenly remembered, on television, on a news program. Yes, that was it! Some sort of property scandal.
“Now I know who you are.” Alvaro said. “You were accused of robbing millions . . .”
Dante cut him short. “They couldn´t prove anything.”
“But everyone knew you were guilty.“ Hector said. “And that was only one of the thousands of swindles you were involved in.”
Despite the measured tone of Hector´s voice Alvaro detected an inner anger in his words. If the rumors were true, Dante had made an empire out of all sorts of illegal activities: bribery, extortion . . . the list was endless. He´d been accused of everything, but had always wormed his way out of trouble. They´d never been able to put him in jail. It had only ever gone as far as paying huge fines, but given Dante´s fortune that was of little consequence.
Alvaro felt better. Now he had a better idea of who he was up against. He couldn´t buy friends at this table.
“Well, I don´t think we´re here to judge anyone´s past.” Alvaro said, trying to water the mood down. “We´ve come here to play, after all.”
They began to play poker again. Judith won the first hand. She collected her chips and began to shuffle the pack. Alvaro noted her hands trembling. She was obviously nervous and this became more obvious when the cards fell out of her hands.
“Don´t worry.” Alvaro said, helping her pick them up. “It can happen to anybody.”
Except to Alvaro of course. But he didn´t say that. He was a professional and was doing his best to make sure the others didn´t find that out.
Judith was becoming a big problem for Alvaro. Her shy smiles made him feel like protecting her. She looked so vulnerable, so defenseless and yes, very, very attractive. A little thin perhaps but she was just right for him. Everything about her attracted him but he had to get those thoughts out of his mind as soon as possible .They were playing cards, weren´t they? She was an opponent. No more or no less than anyone else around the table. He needed to keep his mind on the job.
Hector didn´t look at his second hand either. He threw one chip onto the table and when someone upped him he dropped out. Dante looked on disapprovingly, but won the hand and seemed pleased with himself dragging his winning chips across the table.
The girl had started building again, a new plastic wall sat on the table. She seemed happy, laughing to herself, almost as if someone had told her a joke that had pleased her. He
r ponytails bounced as she moved excitedly on the chair. She gave the impression of being inexhaustible while Zeta lay with his head on the floor at her side, his eyes closed. But the dog wasn´t fooling Alvaro, he knew he wasn´t asleep. If anything caused the little girl on the chair to be irritated, he would bare his fangs again soon enough.
It was Alvaro´s turn to deal. He took the pack and started shuffling, being careful not to show his normal flourish. He offered his rivals a blank smile, but none of them was paying him any attention.
“Are you going to spend the whole night shuffling?” Dante grumbled. “Deal the cards!”
“Right now.” Alvaro said.
There was no point waiting for another hand. The time had arrived to find out who he was up against, and more importantly to see if the girl was going to interfere with his plans. If that was going to be the case, the sooner he found out, the better.
He began dealing the cards, deciding as he did, that he would cheat for the first time. Everything would go well, he´d been preparing for this for a long while, and his technique was perfect.
* * * * *
CHAPTER FOUR
It worked perfectly. Alvaro had arranged the cards when he shuffled them and knew what was in each of their hands. Now he wanted to see what they were going to do with what they had.
Just as he thought, the girl hadn´t interfered. He wouldn´t have to worry about the dog.
The only problem continued to be Hector who really didn´t seem part of the game. Alvaro couldn´t understand what he was doing and had no idea at all about what was behind his filthy exterior. He didn´t touch his cards again. Simply threw a chip into the middle of the table and then passed.
“I´ll up that.” Alvaro said looking at Dante as he threw five red chips into the pot. “Let´s see if I´ve got some luck this time.”
The last game Page 3