The Gambler

by Silver, Jordan

  Gramps had a bead on the jet, and that was about all they had when they landed in the Havana heat hours later. It was already morning; the sun was high in the sky. The only thing that kept him calm was the hope that maybe, whatever she had planned was for the cover of night. He was already making plans in his head to put some kind of tracking device on her ass as soon as they got back home

  “Okay, we ask questions, someone had to see this shit land. We’ll go from there. No matter what it costs, get me the information.” Gramps was already on the horn trying to find her. There was the obvious language barrier that caused even more delays and added to his frustration, but throughout it all he kept a cool head.

  He believed now more than ever, that she hadn’t come into his life just to leave. When Alice had told him about her all those years ago, moments before she took her last breath, he’d had no interest in this unknown girl whoever she might be. He wanted his sister to live.

  When she’d gone, the hate and venom had taken over. He’d put her words out of his mind, and on the rare occasions that they’d popped up over the years, he’d shoved them to the back of his mind. As time went by, he’d put it aside as his sister just trying to comfort him. It would be just like her to try, even as she lay dying in his arms.

  Now to know that his Jenna was real, very real; to have had her, smelt her sweet scent; watch her beautiful face as she laid sleeping. He couldn’t imagine going on without her.

  “If anything happens to her here, I’ll finish what the fucking spooks started.” He checked the glock that gramps’ crooked ass contacts had let them slip through customs in Canada. He wasn’t sure how things had been squared away here in Cuba, and not for the first time he was glad the old man had insisted on coming. He would’ve found a way no doubt about that, but it would’ve taken him much longer.

  “Nothing’s gonna happen to our girl stay cool son. There’s been only one sighting of a foreigner fitting Jenna’s description. She was seen half an hour ago heading into a cantina in the town square.”

  Andros was moving before the old man was through speaking. He didn’t want to ring the alarm so to speak, so their search was being done very hush-hush, just in case the one she was here to kill was on the lookout as well.

  From what he’d learned from her mother, she was expected to show up and find a code or some fuck for this person, but that was before Bonata had been taken out. If this guy, whoever he is, knew that Bonata was gone, he might get antsy.

  Everything they did had to be done inconspicuously and under the radar, which wasn’t the easiest thing for five American men in Cuba. They were bound to stick the fuck out in their suits in this hot as fuck place. Not to mention he was sure the shades he’d put on to cover the kill lights in his eyes couldn’t do anything to hide the predatory gait to his stride.

  “Where the fuck did all these people come from?” The streets were crowded for such an early hour and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere.

  “It’s tourist season boy, just because we’re not allowed to come here legally doesn’t mean other peoples aren’t. It’s a hot spot for the young and adventurous. Maybe one day we can come back under better circumstances, haven’t been here in a while myself but it used to be the place back in my day.”

  He gave gramps a glare from behind his shades and slid down in his seat. He was tied in knots with worry and the old man was talking about vacations and shit.

  The place was a dump to put it nicely. There were broken windows and chairs, the bar was drooping and the floors hadn’t seen a mop in decades. The sign outside said they were rooms for rent. Andros headed for the backstairs while the others played tourist.

  They took up seats in the far corner with the door in their view. He wasn’t sure how the fuck he was going to find her, knock on everyone’s door maybe? But he didn’t want to ask for the American woman who’d checked in an hour ago.

  It was true that more and more Americans were travelling here these days, but still, it might sound the alarm if so many of them were suddenly descending on this place. He needed to get in and out as soon as possible, hopefully with his little assassin in tow.

  He did what he did best as soon as he reached the landing upstairs. He became smoke, keeping close to the walls with his ears pricked for any sound that might carry. The first two out of the ten rooms were an easy nix. The accents coming through the walls were all native. One seemed empty after two minutes of listening.

  He studied the layout as he went, just in case they had to make their escape. Who knows what the fuck was gonna happen here today?

  He found her behind door number four. It was her scent that gave her away. Looking around the hallway to make sure no one was watching him, he jimmied the hundred-year old lock and eased the door open.

  “Jenna what the fuck?” She’d been waiting for him, or someone. The glock she had pointed at his head was testament to that. Apparently it wasn’t him she’d been expecting because her face went through a gamut of emotions as she lowered the gun.

  Joy, fear, weariness, were just a few that he caught as he made his way across the room to stand in front of her. He had this all worked out in his head. He was going to yell at her and maybe spank her ass for running off like this. But all he could do was pull her in hard and hold her while his heart was finally free to freak the fuck out.

  “Angel okay.” She ran her hands up and down his back soothingly. What the hell was he going to do with this girl? The questions would have to wait for later, right now, having her safe in his arms was all he cared about. He lifted her and covered her mouth with his, holding her as close as was possible, before taking her down to the little bed behind them. She was just as hungry for him as they tore at each other’s clothes, both refusing to leave the other’s mouth.

  “Wait baby.” He tried to calm things down a bit, but she wasn’t having it. She pulled his mouth back to hers and wrapped her legs around him as he entered her swiftly. Then and only then did he feel like he could take a real breath. Lifting his body away from hers, he looked down at her, smoothing the hair back from her face even as he stroked in and out of her.

  Her eyes welled up with tears as she smiled up at him, her body moving sensually beneath his. He tried to go slow, to give her the same loving tender care he did at home, but maybe because of the long search, the fear of what might’ve happened to her. He had no idea what it was, but he couldn’t hold back.

  The old bed banged into the wall behind it as he fucked harder and harder into her, releasing the pent up fear that had been his companion for the last few hours. When he thought that maybe he should take it easy, that he might be hurting or scaring her with his wildness, she was with him all the way. Her nails dug into his back pulling him closer, her heels made dents in his ass; but it was her soft murmurs of Angel more that spurred him on to madness.

  His girl took everything he had to give and then some. By the time he spilled inside her, she had screamed into his mouth not once, but twice. He stayed in and on her as his breathing finally calmed down. Kissing her face lovingly, he started to pull out, but she tightened around him until he looked down at her.

  “Angel stay.”

  “Angel’s going to beat your ass. What are you doing in Cuba baby?” She wasn’t looking too sure of herself now; in fact her face was set in some kind of frown that he hadn’t seen before. “Angel nice, don’t hit.” Shit he’d forgotten how literal she took things. Of course like the sap he had become, he rushed to reassure her that he would never do such a thing.

  “No my little Jenna, Angel will never hit his baby.” She seemed happy enough to have got her way and he was finally able to pull out of her and sit up. He pulled her into his lap for one last kiss before standing her on her feet. He finally got a good look at the hovel she was staying in and turned up his nose. He couldn’t believe he’d just taken her in a place like this. They needed to get the fuck out of there; no way was he letting her stay here.

  He told her
to get her shit together and follow him. Downstairs, they met up with the others and after a quick exchange with the bartender they left the dump. The day was really getting off now and it probably wasn’t too safe for them to be seen. He still didn’t know who she was here to see, where they were, nothing. In the back of the car he questioned her using the phone. He let her know that he knew what she was up to.

  She tried arguing with him at first, until he told her that he’d put her little ass on the plane and take her home. She gave him a look and folded her arms, fuming. Who the fuck is this girl? She seemed to have a million different personas, she was the innocent, the lover that outshone all others, the computer wiz, the gambler and apparently a pilot, a fighter and who the fuck knew what else.

  ‘I know what I’m doing.’ He read the latest words on his phone.

  ‘I don’t care, you’re not going off anywhere by yourself, now tell me what I want to know, or I’ll hogtie you and take you back to the States. If you want to save your dad you’ll start talking. NOW.’

  She decided to go with the silent, mouth zipped and arms folded approach. “Take us back to the airfield.” She actually reached for the door handle when he gave that order. He grabbed her around the middle and dragged her into his lap to keep her in the car. They were on their way to a villa that grandpa supposedly owned, while he’d been upstairs reacquainting himself with his little dynamo. He didn’t know where the fuck he was, and had no interest in trying to hunt her down again.

  He had to keep a hold of her all the way there, as she struggled and kicked up a fuss. He guessed he was finally getting a taste of what life with her was going to be like. He was wondering how long this side of her would manifest itself. Too bad for her, he was an expert at dealing with the temper tantrums of the truly gifted. Though hers seemed to be the mother of all tantrums.

  She was so cute, not a word was said, she just stiffened up her body and used her strength to hold him off. It was almost like watching an action movie with the sound on mute. She made not a sound as she pulled his arms from around her each time he replaced them, or when she tried to stomp a hole in his foot.

  Not even when she reached up and around his neck, and tried to put him out with her finger over his pulse, did she utter a word. It was hot as fuck in Havana and their little struggle was making him even hotter. Gramps the ass was watching and laughing, that’s why he couldn’t calm her ass down in the way he would’ve preferred. Instead he bit into her neck gently, which got her attention.

  “Angel loves his Jenna.” The words seemed to deflate her and knock the fight out of her. She switched off like he’d turned a key or something in her back, like a wind up toy. He kept his arms around her, as she sat mutely on his lap. She hadn’t said a word about why she was here, and he was waiting until they were alone and behind closed doors to broach the subject.

  Chapter 29

  The place looked like a throwback to an earlier time, something you’d see in an old black and white Hollywood flick with Bogart or Grant. There were palm trees lining the driveway to the two story wooden structure, with its peeling white paint and pale pink shutters. “She use to be a grand old lady back in the day.”

  That was Gramps’ first words as they left the car. There were men and women in uniform, who came out to meet them, and who seemed a little confused by the fact that no one had any luggage. In fact Jenna was the only one with a satchel, which he was dying to get his hands on.

  He had to figure out a way to get the information out of her, and then convince her to stay behind while he went after her dad. Her mother had explained why she thought Jenna wouldn’t get him involved, but she had to know that now that he was here, there was no way he was going to let her take such risks.

  As soon as the door closed behind them in the room they’d been shown to, he backed her up against the wall, crowding her. She gave him one of her disarming smiles, the little sneak. “Oh no you don’t little flower; what’s in the bag?” He took it off her shoulder even as she tried to hold onto it. “Jenna, you’re not going anywhere, try to get that through your head. I will go after your dad and bring him back. Now tell me who has him and what it is they want from you?”

  She shook her head in the negative and folded her lips. How could she be so innocent one minute and so…whatever the fuck she is, the next. Not more than an hour ago she’d been a wanton beneath him, now she was an innocent, who thought that by folding her lips she could keep him at bay.

  “Fine then, if you won’t tell me, then we’re going home, but you’re not putting yourself in any more danger.” He didn’t look at her when she stomped her foot, or when she tried turning his chin so that he had to look at her. “No Jenna, and you’re in enough trouble as it is so I’d quit while I was ahead if I were you.” He finally got the bag open and was amazed at what he found.

  It was a kill kit. There was a broken down weapon with a silencer, rope, something that looked like a grenade and clothes that looked familiar. He wondered where she’d got the specialized Kevlar suit from, but now wasn’t the time to ask. He shook his head as he looked at her. Everything he’d thought they were going to be had changed. How the fuck was he going to deprogram her ass?

  Here he was looking forward to a life of peace and quiet, and his wife to be was damn near a lethal weapon. “Come here.” He pulled her down next to him on the bed and looked into her eyes so she could gauge the seriousness of what he was about to say.

  “Baby, I know you’re trying to protect me, but you’ve got it wrong, I’m supposed to protect you. I can’t let you go after these people whoever they are. If you just tell me who and where, I’ll take care of it for you. If you insist on being stubborn, I will knock your ass out and take you home; then your dad will probably die. I know you don’t want that, so please just tell me what I need to know.

  She studied him for the longest time before she got out her phone to do her bionic typing shit. He was patient and let her get the words out, before reading what she’d sent him. Her words shook him to the core. ‘Alice said Jenna take care of Angel. Angel seen too much death, and sorrow, no more; Jenna brave girl.’

  He felt the words in his heart. His two favorite people were trying to protect him; the fact that one of them was no longer here was neither here nor there. Somehow, when Jenna was around, he felt his sister wasn’t too far behind. Maybe now was as good a time as any to find out just how that relationship had come about. She had to be no more than a child when Alice died and he would’ve known of her if they’d met in life. He knew everyone his sister had known.

  “Jenna I know you said that you speak to Alice in your head, but where did you meet her?” He held his breath as he waited for her answer. Maybe her explanation would be something simple, like maybe one day they met in the doctor’s office or something stupid like that.

  She was typing for a long time, and he could see that she was concentrating really hard, trying to take her time to explain, by the furrow of her brow. When she was finished and he was finally able to read what she’d sent him, her explanation blew him away. As far as he could tell, she had met Alice for the first time, the day she died. Jenna didn’t know this, but from the scene she described, he knew that that’s what it was.

  Alice had shown her a glimpse of him while he’d held her in is arms that day. She didn’t know how they’d been able to connect, because she’d never been able to do it with anyone else before or since. She was ten years old when it happened. After that, she’d seen her a handful of times but then the visits had stopped until the other day.

  Alice sometimes told her things throughout the years, but she hadn’t appeared to her again since her childhood. It was more of the hocus pocus shit that he couldn’t wrap his mind around, but she was living proof, so he had no choice but to accept.

  He took a moment to digest what she’d shared with him, maybe later he’d take it out and look at it again and see if he could make sense of the whole thing; but he wasn’t holding out much hope
for that. Instead of answering his questions it just left him with more, one of them being, why his sister had never tried to connect with him. Okay Andros you ass, you can’t be jealous of a ghost.

  “Thanks for telling me sweetheart, I’m glad I know. Now tell me why you’re here.” She didn’t seem to want to tell him at first, so he waited her out. She was stubborn as fuck, that’s for sure, and he had to keep reminding himself that he’d only known her for a few short days and maybe some day, he’d figure this shit out.

  He was having a hard time keeping up though, as he sat there with her on his lap, trying to piece together everything he’d learned thus far. Since she wasn’t talking, and he was beginning to realize that he probably wouldn’t get shit out of her, he tried a different tack.

  “Your mother said that you set up our meeting that night, why?”

  She was back to her phone again. ‘It was time.’

  “Time for what?”

  ‘Angel and Jenna.’

  “I don’t understand.”

  She seemed a little flustered by his admission, but he gave her time.

  She went on to tell him that Bonata didn’t know that she knew what he was up to, that he was planning to kill her grandmother. He didn’t know that she’d stolen the codes to his accounts, or that she had been secretly feeding her grandmother information for months. She told him that the job she was here to do had nothing to do with the expose`. She’d told Bonata that she wouldn’t do this job, whatever it was, and when threatening her didn’t work, they’d taken her father to make her comply.

  She had no idea in the beginning that what she was doing was wrong. It was all a game to her. Then she’d heard the men talking and bit by bit she started to understand. Maybe because of her isolation her whole life, she didn’t know the ins and outs of men like Bonata and their dealings. She still didn’t seem to.