Chapter 258
It wasnt going well. In the sense that it wasnt going quickly. The Steward was an extremely cautious player who rarely bet on the first round. And while I did my best to affect the shuffles, there was a limit to how specific I could be. After the shuffle ended and the first three cards flopped, Id find mixed results in my favor, and be more or less confident in how the rest of the round would go. Even if he only bet the minimum, the results were inevitable.
If it was just a question of winning, it was already in the bag.
The problem was I was pretty sure it wasnt about who won. The Steward had hinted that gambling was a method of getting a gauge on a person. It made sense. You could gauge a far more authentic picture of what someone was like when they had money on the line. Caution, greed, ability to evaluate risk, performance under pressure. He was looking for something, and I wasnt sure what.
That hed not-so-casually presented the information that he had a patronor at least something that functioned as a patronbegged more questions than it answered. Possibly a bluff, to dissuade his opponent from cheating or a distraction from something else. I decided early to not use Azure to cheatbetween Probability Cascade and the low-action happening early in the rounds, it was better not to risk it. Especially with a potential patron in play. Instead, he was lurking in the shadows of The Stewards surrounding men, making sure none of them were paying disproportionate attention to anything problematic.
He wasnt running squelch, so there was a real possibility of cross-talk and outside interference.
Of course, Occams razor said he simply wasnt aware. Squelch was a feat that was more beneficial the less well known it was. Miles told me about it during the transposition, and Id told a handful of others. Considering how often I ran into it passing through other regions, it was safe to assume it was a known factor in most leadership circles around the city. But it was rarely discussed openly, and well-hidden in a proverbial mountain of perks. If these people were as isolated as they seemed, it was entirely possible that no one had stumbled across it.
Which meant theyd gotten to this pointholding a sizable chunk of territoryentirely without it. More than impressive. Even if it was hard to picture. And it presented an irresistible opportunity.
He folded, and I collected the pot, netting a measly two-hundred selve. At this rate, Sunny could leisurely walk out of the settlement and be long gone by the time we finished.
After the reset, I bent back the corner of my cards. Two-of-Diamonds, Five-of-Spades. No existing pair or possibility of a strait or flush.
Dogwater hand.
Found the spotter. Azure communicated excitedly, voice unusually high. Guys directly behind you, staying out of the others peripheral.
I tilted my head, trying to get a look at the guy without giving it away. Dreadlocks framed a craggy face masked in focus. His thumbs were hooked into his belt. And he was all but openly ogling my side of the table.
I bet well over the minimum before the flop, testing Azures theory.
And The Steward raised, all but confirming it.
How are they communicating? I asked my summon, keeping my expression neutral.
Hand signals.
Old school.
That The Steward was cheating was disappointing, but not surprising. After all, we were both cheating. It made sense. Only a fool would wager giving a stranger access to his region over a mere card game.
However, this revelation complicated the way forward with his so-called judgment of character. With the spotter, he could see my cards even when he folded. Winning would take forever and out me as a cheater, the sort of hands I was regularly pulling with Probability Cascade being statistically unlikely, if not borderline impossible.
I needed to incentivize keeping his word. And I had a good idea how.
Leave The Steward alone. Otherwise, gloves are off. Surface scans on everyone in the room. Go invasive if theres something worthwhile. Dont get detected.
What am I looking for?
There was only one reliable method for stabilizing the forge fire at a perfect temperature. Kolbor. A substance which, to the knowledge of everyone present, only existed within region twenty.
Cue the ensuing clusterfuck. Which was, coincidentally, the only thing allowing the Galleria to remain untouched. They were an entrenched, otherwise unaffiliated third party. Neither region nineteen or twenty could afford to commit to an extended engagement with them, for fear of creating an opening for the opposing region to swoop in. Not that they hadnt tried. Both regions had sent envoys to the Galleria, all of which were politely but firmly turned away. An utterly prudent decision, if you didnt have a manner of controlling the flow of information.
The steward and his people existed in a perilous balance.
Of course, none of this was my problem. But in a vacuum, I was more inclined to help these people than either of the surrounding regions. Both nineteen and twenty had turned their regions into wastelands out of little more than short-sighted greed.
The Galleria folk, by contrast, just wanted to exist.
I increased the tempo of play, slowly, but surely draining Stuart of his chips through the blinds. He maintained stoicism better than most, but after a while, his irritation shone through.
I have a proposition. I said, finally sensing the desperation I was looking for.
What sort of proposition? There was a growl in his throat.
I lowered my voice. I have no desire to embarrass you in front of your men. But its obvious where this is going. In less than an hour, the game will be over. And you will have nothing to show for it.
The money is not the point.
Sure, I leaned forward. Its about evaluation. So, evaluate. Im in a hurry, so next hand, after the flop, Im going to raise my bet. If you win, it will be enough for you to break even and then some. If you lose, you keep the remaining chips. We never agreed to play until one of us was out, correct?
He nodded slowly. So. That would be the last hand?
Exactly.
This proposal is slanted. The onus of time is on you. I have no such constraints, and if I wait, the cards may turn.
Fair enough. Then I propose we make a side-bet. One that will be invalidated if you dont call. I smiled. Win or lose, Ill give you a key piece of information that will make your current situation far easier to manage. If you dont find that information useful, then you may consider this agreement invalidated.
Interest sparked in his eyes. That is a lot of power to leave in my hands.
Lets just call it a demonstration of trust.
The Steward didnt seem to like that framing, but it wasnt an offer he could realistically ignore. A completely unscrupulous person could simply absorb the information, deem it unworthy, and call the game off on a technicality. With the terms Id set, a more scrupulous person could still evaluate the cards they were holding after the flop and back out if they had nothing. And a person in-between, with a spotter, held almost no risk at all.
He held a stack in his hand, flipping a chip from the bottom to top mindlessly. The longer we sit across from each other, the more I am inclined to believe you are the devil my angel suspects you to be.
Damn patrons.
I leaned back, feigning disinterest. Maybe. Purely geographically, youre surrounded by devils. How many of them offer unconditional aid?
As he reshuffled the cards and dealt, he didnt respond. But the doubt in his eyes spoke for him. If I did this right, when the time came, hed make the bet.
It was already over.
