“You’re wrong about my hobbies. I know how to throw my money away very well, but you’re right! Gambling just isn’t my thing. You see, in my line of work, it is risky to ride it all. So, I prefer to create, how should I say, preliminary advantages.”
“A different game altogether. You’re talking about cheating.” Kimmy smiled.
Clint chuckled before putting his index finger to his lips. “Why, Stranger, the ‘C’ word?” Kimmy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Would you mind accompanying me for a drink, while we’re waiting?”
Kimmy raised a brow. He wasn’t too threatening to her, but she was more cautious than that. However, given their locale, nobody would try anything to raise an incident. Clint didn’t seem dim in any sense, and the clever type made her especially nervous.
“Come on, the two percent is on me.” Kimmy frowned, beyond suspicious now.
“How do you-?”
“Like I said, I observe.” She thought he must have been in the lounge earlier when she explained the theft of her card to McKenna and Dill. She followed him to the mini bar. “Your current lineup have you nervous at all?” Clint asked as he walked up to the mini bar, no bartender present.
“Who, me? Oh, my little bones are just shaking,” Kimmy said.
“I’ll take that as a no, then. That’s good, I like a fearless woman,” he said as he poured her a glass of milk. “Myself? I’m dreading the moment I have to sit down again. I’m good, but not nearly as good as the leading examples in this nuthouse. I suspect, though, you won’t have a problem with any of them.”
Clint handed Kimmy the glass. She took a swallow, knowing some pending question was about to come up.
“Humbling words,” Kimmy said. “What do you want, Clint?” Clint chuckled, seeing that Kimmy was just as sharp as he suspected. He took a swallow of his cranberry juice.
“I have a proposition for you. When I saw who your next opponent was, I saw opportunity winking me in the face. You didn’t lose a single round in any of your eight matches. Mysterious Stranger or not, you’re good, really good. Maybe the best.”
“Are you trying to propose to me or give me something worth listening to? I’m somewhat impatient. Fidgety, almost.” Kimmy fluttered her eyebrows, hoping Clint would speed things up.
“Tell me, what do you know about your next opponent, Mister Stenburg?”
Kimmy turned around to look at the man across the room. Stenburg was red in the face laughing with other players as he drank his beer. He was a big man, wide and tall and old enough to have enjoyed most of the finest things in life, gourmet food the most obvious. His clean three-piece suit looked high dollar, even more so than most undercity gang leaders could afford to wear.
“I don’t know… he’s fat?”
“Correct,” Clint said as he walked to stand beside Kimmy, close enough to not be overheard. “But even more so, he’s unlike any other fat man here. Take a look around. You got a Hasker Wordkeeper, a ringer from Shanghai’s undercity, a Wargame contractor, and a few colorful businessmen who deal in the Dark Market. Nothing in common between them other than the fact that they’re all affiliated with questionable professions. Then you have Arvid Stenberg, or I should say Arvid Bergstrom, possibly the wealthiest man here. Income about ninety-two billion credits a year, owns land and settlements all over the system. Import/export sees his connections grow by the day. Condescending nature. Real snake too.” Clint glared at Bergstrom while he downed the rest of his glass. “And he’s fat.”
“He doesn’t sound too different from the other weasels here.”
“Ah, but he is. You see, Bergstrom is the president of Cold Haven Trading, the most respectable and high standing import/export corporation in Sol. And I can tell you a little secret about him too. His company thinks he’s on a system cruise from Mars to Windfire City on Venus for a whole week. Not even his wife knows where he really is.”
“So, he enters in The Red Sector Games under a phony name…” “To protect his upstanding name in the civilized world. If his company caught wind of his insatiable habits of illegal Sol-Fate tournaments, he’d be smeared by his own people and lose any credibility Cold Haven once had. Now, it may not seem like it but Arvid stands the highest chance of winning down here and no one suspects a thing.
They only see an irresponsible man with a gambling addiction. Easy prey, they think.”
“Well shit, Clint. Don’t tell me what the hell he isn’t, tell me what the hell he is.”
“Some men of wealth spend it on fine Auroran wines, star yachts, trade entire colonies, screw high-class escorts. Arvid has much simpler tastes by keeping it to just women and exotic Sol-Fate cards. He’s competed in numerous professional matches, undefeated. Why? He’s spent billions on the rarest cards ever known to have existed and he isn’t afraid to flaunt them. So now he’s here, the one tournament he hasn’t bested.”
“Well, you’ve made him sound scary, but there’s more to a deck than fancy cards: there’s also the player. I can beat him.” Kimmy smirked as she looked at her next opponent.
“Can you, though? An absolute like that must mean you’re a millennia-old Auroran with foresight or you’re a big fat cheater, and I don’t see the cat eyes on you. You said yourself waltzing in here to throw away credits is a risky hobby. Everyone dreads losing and everyone has something to lose. What do you stand to lose, Hatter?”
Kimmy snapped at Clint. He cocked a brow and smiled.
“Not too many people saw your match with Pax Rn'yan. Quiet hotel, one bartender and you two, dueling. And there I was in the back corner by the free lemonade cooler. But you didn’t go by Mysterious Stranger, did you?”
Kimmy grabbed his jacket and pulled him close, a clear expression of anger on her face.
“Just when I was starting to like you, Clint!”
“Hey, take it easy! I didn’t think you would change aliases or something.”
“What hacker isn’t anonymous, egghead?”
Clint rolled his eyes. “Hey, I don’t really understand the whole techno alter-ego lifestyle, but whatever.”
She let go and shook her head, bringing her attention back to the room. While she had confidence, it didn’t come from her cards anymore. Her deck was built around the leader card she had lost, so using special Leader abilities would have limited effects. She knew what she agreed to do to help McKenna, but without her grand playing card she was crippled. She took a slow sip from her glass as she contemplated.
“He’s packing an Auroran deck, third edition, chock full of Hero cards and the Run’Va Revant,” Clint said as he readjusted his shirt.
“The Run’Va?!” Kimmy said, spitting out her milk, startled at the discovery. “A Level 20 Run’Va leader card? There’s only one left in existence!”
“Yup. And fats has it. All the novices got smashed by it, but they were too ignorant to even know what hit them. I assure you that he is unstoppable.”
“So what? You want to whack him? Or blackmail him?”
“A good whacking would make a lot of people happy, but sadly the system needs men like him, stable commerce and such. Killing isn’t really my thing when I have a choice. But blackmail? That does sound like a pot of fun.”
“And here I thought you were getting boring…”
Kimmy was actually a bit unimpressed as blackmail was such a common practice. She looked at a weathered and dirty patch on his jacket as he looked across the room. It was a faded image of the globe on a yellow triangle, a shovel and sword forming a cross behind it. She knew she had seen it before when she rummaged through information day and night under Hasker. Clint’s group was a secretive one, mostly in part to its size.
“And what’s your gain in all this? Who are you, Clint? A corporate rival? A good Samaritan?”
“Me?” Clint chuckled.
Kimmy looked at him, expecting an answer, but Clint almost didn’t answer. Almost as if he felt it didn’t matter in exchanging a motive for risky plans.
“New Haven Arch
eology,” he said. “Arvid has some information we need. A little blackmail and I get that info tonight.”
Kimmy saw straight through the fib as it triggered her memory from years ago. Although no one was ever what they seemed, no New Haven scholar would ever be caught in the undercity, much less engaging in illegal blackmail.
“New Haven is into blackmail now? How about the Old Earth Preservation League, Clint?” she said as she tapped the very faded patch on his jacket. “Looters and scavengers selling Old Earth relics for cash, right? And If I remember correctly, New Haven had a certain archeologist that was expelled some years back, is that right? Illegally researching black-listed Old Earth sites? Off-the-book operations, excavating classified digs all over Earth?” Kimmy smiled as Clint’s smile faded, but he was also impressed. “You’ve got a smooth tongue, Mister Clint, but women have a way of seeing the truth. Just about always.”
“And a criminal info network at your back has no bearing on that at all, I’m sure.” Clint half-smirked as he took another sip. “I’m too small game for anyone to know that by word of ear.” He sighed as he looked deep into his glass. “It’s true. Old Earth history not relating to the virus is illegal to teach. Or discover. The government post-Dark Age thought it’d all crash again if we were polluted by the teachings and art of old. Luckily, it’s just a misdemeanor in most cases. But the League isn’t made of scavengers and scoundrels like you put it. We simply ask the things other people don’t. Two civilizations are separated by the Dark Age. Us and the people who saw it all end. We want to know their story when others don’t.”
He was sincere by what she could see. If what Clint said about Arvid was true, he was a threat. Although she still didn’t understand his angle.
“Nice sympathy story, Clint, but you still haven’t said what you’re really doing here other than wanting to fuck over the fat man.”
“I wasn’t lying. In our line of work, Arvid has similar interests as us. He took a friend away from me. Captured in hopes of siphoning information from us to get access to certain digs and locations. I want my friend back.” Clint pulled a special tinfoil Sol-Fate Leader card from his belt pouch, handing it to Kimmy. “This is what we’ll use as leverage.” Kimmy’s eyes widened.
“The Run’Va?! How did you—!”
“Relax, it’s a fake,” Clint smiled. “The best cards in the world are copied, just like anything else of worth.” Kimmy looked at every little detail on the card; it was perfect in every way. “Indistinguishable from the real thing, I don’t even think Arvid himself would notice it. Unfortunately, it lacks the key-coded chip unique to the original. It won’t pass the scanners. Only way to do that is get the code from the original, destroying it in the process. Not exactly something a serious collector would do.”
“So, what do you plan on doing with it then?”
“Me? I’m not gonna do anything. But you? Pretty girl waltzes over to Arvid, gets real friendly, makes the ol’ switcheroo? We’re smooth sailing. The scanners will run over his deck but it’ll catch his phony card. The beauty of all this is his ego. It’s the size of Liberty Statue. He won’t stand being called a cheater but, if there’s evidence against him, he’d be much more likely to forfeit than make a scene. He can’t afford to be caught dead down here either. Once I see he’s done for, I’ll take care of the rest. I trust you can make him feel as guilty as a man like him deserves?”
“My profession was information, Clint. Twisting it was a hobby. And what of his card? The Run’Va?”
“Plant it. I’ll be watching where you put it, don’t worry. When the time comes, give him a little message from me.”
“Okay… And what message is that?”
“Just tell him if he wants it back, talk to Clint. Pretty simple, yeah? I get what I want and you get a nasty opponent eliminated. Although, once he gives the League what’s due, I can’t say where that card ends up. Best I keep it safe once you’ve got your hands on it.”
“You’re a pure savage, Clint. Does your mother know what a scoundrel you are?”
“My mother taught me everything I know, Miss Hatter.” Clint put down his glass and sent his information to Kimmy’s OPIaA. “In case you have questions, or when you want another glass of two percent, give me a ring.”
Kimmy looked at her OPIaA with Clint’s info and then looked at the card as Clint stood up. He already saw that she was game, seeing that the certain task wasn’t beneath her. She didn’t have much respect for high-class individuals like Arvid anyway.
“Yeah, okay,” Kimmy said until Clint put his hands on Kimmy’s shoulders, jerking her slightly, confusing her.
“I’m married, you she-devil!” Clint said loudly for all to hear. “This is a card game, not a bordello!”
Clint walked off to another part of the room, shrugging and shaking his head past many spectators and then out of sight. She looked around the room at the many players eyeing her, curious at the commotion with some players taking a liking to her appearance. Kimmy smiled nervously, realizing the role she had been handed by Clint. That being a man-eating young woman.
Arvid was easy prey as he looked over to her with a creepy smile of lust. She quickly hid the card in her pocket and reluctantly unzipped her jacket lower and pulled down her tank top, revealing her cleavage. After that, she poured herself a shot of bourbon and swallowed it quickly, putting the smell of alcohol in her breath. Pouring yet another glass, she held the two glasses up at Arvid as she smiled.
“Damn you, Clint…” she muttered through her fake smile.
She made her way across the room, strutting in a way that would make any man turn, but she walked straight to the man of the night. He was surrounded by a few other players, none of them noteworthy, but all seemed to enjoy his company. She made her way into the small group, drink in hand as Arvid kept his smile, looking over her body.
“Hard to find someone to share a drink with these days…” Kimmy said as she took a sip from one of the glasses, smiling at the men in the group.
“Not having luck with the other sex, ma’am?” one of the players said.
“Guy didn’t know a good opportunity, I’d say…” another player said but then smelt the liquor in Kimmy’s breath. “Or he saw the opportunity came and went.” He looked over Kimmy again but she looked at him smugly, uninterested.
“You don’t seem much my type, darling,” Kimmy said to the patron. “My tastes lend to more experienced men.” Kimmy looked at Arvid, her eyes locking with his.
“Pfft, I guess she’s already chosen her man of action for the night,” another patron said. “Watch out, Arvid, she’s just a hood rat. Pretty common around here.”
“Hey, watch how you talk to women, sir!” Arvid said. His presence was much larger than the others, his words quite serious. Kimmy knew she already had him.
“And that’s why I prefer the wiser men, honey,” Kimmy said to the other patron. “They know opportunity when they see it, unlike the little boys.” She handed her extra drink to Arvid.
“So, you can play?” Arvid said.
“It’s all luck, right?” Kimmy said. “It seems like blackjack to me. I really don’t have any idea what I’m doing, but my cards seem to hold up.”
“Well, in blackjack, you have to know when to take risks,” the other player said. “Luck only takes you so far.”
“Oh, it’s all for fun though. I just love collecting them, that’s the best part. I got this really pretty one last week that had a big battle cruiser on it. It’s so cool!” Kimmy pulled one of her lower-level unit cards and showed it off to the group. They nodded slightly, not wanting to be rude.
“So, you field the ENF faction?” Arvid said.
“Did you balance the deck or just pick the cards with pretty pictures?” another patron said while the rest laughed with him. Kimmy put the card away, trying her best to look embarrassed.
“That’s half the game, fellas,” Arvid said before turning back to Kim. “Say, you like ships?”
; “I do,” Kimmy said. “The bigger the better, right?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. How’d you like to see the biggest?”
“Yeah, okay.”
Kimmy smiled as she moved closer to Arvid. She put her arm around his as he indulged her. She was anxious to see the card he was about to pull out as he reached into his pouch underneath his expensive black overcoat. The other patrons were curious as well. And in his hand was perhaps the rarest Sol-Fate card in existence, a Level 20 Run’Va Revant, the card modeled after the pride of the Revente 1st Legion Fleet. The other patrons’ jaws dropped as they looked at his card, practically glowing in their eyes. Kimmy found it somewhat hard to breathe as
she knew the true majesty of the card. Seeing it in the flesh was the Holy Grail.
“The Run’Va…” one of the patrons said. Arvid smirked, loving the fact that he had what people wanted. The feeling was fuel to his ego. Kimmy couldn’t show much excitement from a professional level, unfortunately. Keeping her character was more important than ever now.
“It’s so pretty!” Kimmy chuckled nervously as she looked up at Arvid. The other patrons looked at Kimmy, baffled at her ignorance. She was in the presence of the card that Sol-Fate players had only heard of. “Can I…?” Kimmy said to Arvid as she lightly fluttered her eyes, pressing herself closer to him.
He was hesitant, which worried Kimmy, but his smile only got bigger. He handed her the card slowly while putting his hand on her shoulder. Kimmy cringed a little as Arvid hovered over her as she stared at the card, her only chance at switching the card in front of her but blocked.
“No way, it’s a goddamn fake!” another patron said. Kimmy smiled as Arvid took his hand off her and turned to face him.
“What the hell did you just say?!” Arvid said as he walked up to the patron. His eyes turned to fire when he heard the comment. Clint was right on the psych-eval on Arvid.
“I said that card is a damn fake! No one has that card and that makes you a damn cheater!” Arvid grabbed the man by his collar and raised his arm before being held back by several others. Kimmy watched carefully as the final set of eyes gazed elsewhere in the commotion. Half a second was all it took for the sleight of hand to take place, Kimmy just barely hovering the real card over her pouch to exchange it. She held the phony in her hand and walked over to the patron.
The Bloodlust: (Volume Three of the Virion Series) Page 6