Sapphire III: Chapter 5

5. "Unlucky at Cards..."

Alec did not consider himself a gambling man.  Only a long time ago did he participate in poker nights held by Andrew, and he quit those after a couple of sessions due to an unnatural losing streak.  Since then, he looked at himself with the old adage, "Unlucky at cards, lucky at love."  Considering the number of romantic attempts he and Ivanka made that were interrupted in some way by Boris's efforts, sometimes he felt unlucky in general.  Yet in spite of all his past misfortunes, he found himself ready for anything as he and Elodie followed his target throughout the casino.

"So," she asked, "What shall we be playing tonight?  Baccarat, perhaps?"

Alec hoped not.  He had never even heard of that game before.  But his luck may have taken a turn in a more positive direction, as the target stopped and sat down at the table for Blackjack, a game which Alec knew enough about.  Hurriedly, still sounding as if unsure, he asked, "How about Blackjack?"

"Aw, come on!  They're practically the same game!"

"Elodie, please.  If I'm going to win here, it's going to be at a game I know how to play.  And if it'll make it any better for you, I know how to play it in French!"

"Oh... fine."  Elodie grumbled as she sat down beside Alec at the table.  He began his first hand with a 25-franc bet.  His target, seated on his left side, was gutsier; he placed a 100-franc bet.  After the other players placed their bets, the dealer began dealing the cards.  The starting hands for Alec and the dealer were as follows:

Dealer: 4C
Alec: QD 4H

The two hands elicited a mixed reaction from Alec.  On the one hand, the dealer was only showing a 4, but on the other hand, his own sum of 14 was not a very promising one.  14 was a fairly low sum, but if he chose to hit, it was likely that he would draw a 10 or face card, bringing his total to 24 and causing him to bust.  Nonetheless, he chose to accept that next card, telling the dealer, "Carte."  The dealer then gave one to all the other players who had hit, including Alec.  It was another four of hearts, bringing his total to 18.  He chose to stand with his decent sum of 18, telling the dealer, "Reste."  After everyone had either stood or busted, the dealer revealed his other card, a three of diamonds, and took a card for himself.  The jack of diamonds he got brought him up to a total of 17.  By house rules, he stood at 17, but it was not enough to beat Alec.

Dealer: 4C 3D JD
Alec: QD 4H 4H

Alec accepted his 25-franc winnings with a smile.  It wasn't much, as the man beside him also won his hand but received 100 francs instead, but perhaps things would turn out well for him after all.  With the next hand, Alec increased his wager to 50 francs, and accepted his new hand from the dealer.

Dealer: QH
Alec: 10H 5D

This new hand was not nearly as promising as the previous one.  Not only was the dealer showing a face card, which implied that he could have a very high hand, but Alec's own hand was worth 15, which again was fairly low but could easily bust if the player decided to hit.  But Alec was willing to take that chance, exercising more advanced knowledge of the game by doing what is known as a 'double down'.  He added another bet of 50 francs to his existing wager, said "Double," and was dealt one more card face down.  With the double, his turn ended, so the dealer progressed to the other players, and then handled his own hand.  His face-down card was the king of hearts, bringing his total to an almost-unbeatable 20.  But as for Alec's new hand...

Dealer: QH KH
Player: 10H 5D 6D

The small crowd around Alec oohed and aahed when his last card was revealed.  With the six of diamonds, his hand was worth 21, the largest winning sum in Blackjack.  His gamble had paid off after all, earning him 100 francs.

Meanwhile, the mysterious player beside Alec had just lost his hand, and so he finally started to pay attention to him.  "That was a lucky move," he told Alec, in a soft voice that was almost inaudible given the hubbub of the casino.

"Thank you, sir," Alec said automatically.  When he looked up at who had given the compliment, he held out his hand and falsely introduced himself, "I'm Scott Larsen, editor for Archae--"

But Alec didn't have to bother thinking up a fake magazine for his cover, as the man interrupted, "You don't have to pull the wool over my eyes, comrade.  I know who you are...  Alec Langley, Delta Defense Alliance, licensed to kill."

Alec sighed in frustration as he placed down another 50-franc bet.  "Fine...  So you know who I really am.  But I also know about you...  Nikolai Kitano, KGB, similarly licensed.  Tell me, what's your involvement with Aeolus?"

Nikolai tried to dodge the question.  "...Would you consider yourself a gambling man, comrade?"

"What about it?"  Alec asked defensively.

"Well...  How much money did you start off with?"

"A thousand francs, why?"

"I'll make this interesting for you.  Let's say you win... ten thousand Francs, tonight, at this casino, and I'll tell you anything you need to know."

Alec did not ponder over this offer for very long.  "Alright.  But what's in it for you?"

"I guess I'm just trying to challenge you.  Besides, I might want a little tip in exchange for some of my own."

"Sure, we'll discuss that later.  In the meantime, I'll play your game."

By now, their discussion had piqued Elodie's interest.  Even though she had missed out on the other man's name, she asked him, "Say, I think I've seen you before..."   The man's heart fluttered.  "Aren't you in Poison or something?"

Nikolai sighed in relief at the unexpected turn her question took.  "No," he laughed.  "You're thinking of someone with more makeup on."  Elodie shared another giggle with him.  Alec laughed as well, but he thought it best not to tell her who Nikolai really was.  He didn't like having the KGB involved in the whole mess as well.

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Alec dwelled on this development off and on throughout his game, until he eventually earned over five thousand francs.  For his next hand, he wagered 2,500 francs, almost half of his winnings.  The cards were dealt as thus:

Dealer: JD
Alec: 8H 8S

With this new hand, Alec's sum was 16, not a very safe position to hit on.  But the two cards making up that 16 were of the same value, so Alec took advantage of another rule of Blackjack.  He slid his two cards apart and placed another bet equal to his existing 2,500-Franc wager, doing what is known in Blackjack as a 'split'.  The dealer dealt one more card to both of his existing eights, and with the second bet in place, Alec was now in control of two separate hands.  The crowd gasped at his action; if he lost on both hands, he would lose almost all of his winnings.

Dealer: JD
Alec 1: 8H 3D
Alec 2: 8S QS

Alec first dealt with the hand with the eight of hearts, valued at 11.  If he hit and was dealt a ten or face card, he would have an unbeatable 21.  Tapping that hand, he told the dealer, "Carte," only to be dealt a two of clubs.  He hit once more, was dealt a five of spades, and stood with 18.  As for his other hand, which was already worth 18, he stood again without hitting.  Tensions were high now, since both hands would either win or lose.  He tried to breathe easy as he waited for the dealer to turn over his second card, which was a five of clubs.  The dealer hit, in an action that seemed to take forever, but gave himself a ten of spades, thus busting with 25.

Dealer: JD 5C 10S
Player 1: 8H 3D 2C 5S
Player 2: 8S QS

Alec's gutsy move elicited applause from his little crowd, but more importantly, it won him the ten thousand francs needed to fulfill Nikolai's challenge.  He left a 100-franc tip for the dealer, and then gave a quick nod in Nikolai's direction, just to check if he was still in the deal, which he was.

But Alec was not about to let someone else call the shots if he wanted to get information.  He dropped one of his chips on the floor, and as he picked it up, pulled his gun out from his jacket and pressed it against Nikolai's hip.  "It's nice to hear you're still with me.  Let's discuss our terms in the men's room, shall we?"  Then re-holstering his gun, he let Nikolai lead him to the restroom.

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The public restrooms at the Hôtel de Paris were impressively lavish and well-kept.  The relative cleanliness made Alec smile for a bit as he led Nikolai into a double-wide handicapped stall.  Swiftly, he closed and locked the stall door behind them and pulled out his gun again.  "Sit," he ordered, "and keep your hands on the rails."  Nikolai slowly sat on the toilet behind him while planting his hands on the railings, originally designed to help wheelchair-bound people get on and off the seat, to either side of him.

Now Alec was in a position to interrogate Nikolai.  "Sorry if I don't get to giving you the money, but I can't risk it leaking out to the Omega Order, nothing personal."

"But why would I do that?" Nikolai protested.  "You said it yourself, I work for the KGB!"

"That's the official story, but I want to hear the truth.  What's your involvement with Aeolus?"

"...The KGB planted me in Aeolus.  They thought it had some link to Omega, so they sent me to investigate them!"

"Oh, that's right."  Alec had forgotten now the Soviet government considered the Omega Order a liability, after his first major encounter with them over a decade ago, which revealed their traitorous intentions against their Russian benefactors.  "What have you learned?"

"Omega's head man plans to sell the artifacts that Aeolus found over to the Hermitage Museum, the famous museum in Leningrad, and he'll use the money to buy arms from the Russian Mafia."

"Did you know those artifacts are fake?"

"What are you talking about?"

"They were stolen from a site in Crete just a little while ago, and then retouched to make them look Atlantean."

"I didn't know that!  Why would they do such a thing?"

"Your guess is as good as mine.  Now, what else do you know about this arms deal?"

"It's in three days... at this estate in Greece."

"Tell me more.  Where exactly in Greece?"

"I don't know exactly...  It's supposed to be right by the excavation site."

"Which one?  Are you talking about the Atlantis site?"

"I guess so; I don't know where that is anyway!  I've never been to Greece!"

Alec would've shown what site he was talking about, but he had burned the maps and other information long ago.  He simply pressed Nikolai some more.  "Santorini.  You know where that is?"

"Oh, yes!  That's the place."

"Okay, one more thing, who's the head man of Omega?"

"Oh, it's... ah, Boris.  Boris Rubanenko."

Alec was startled.  "It can't be...  I killed him...  I killed Boris over two years ago."

"What?  ...I didn't know!"

"You're lying!  Boris is dead!  Who are you really working for?"

By now the stress of the interrogation was too much for Nikolai to handle.  In a series of movements much too fast for Alec to counter, he kicked him in the chin, and pushing off of the railings to help propel himself, rolled through the two-foot gap underneath the stall door.  Once Alec recovered from the shock he suffered from the kick, he threw the bolt aside and tore open the door.  He just barely caught a glimpse of Nikolai's white tuxedo flashing out the restroom, and ran after him, his gun drawn.

The chase led Alec through the casino.  Alec tried to keep his gun hidden, but the mere sight of him running around caused a stir.  Most of the bystanders cleared the way for him, but by the time he reached the casino's entrance, Nikolai was nowhere to be seen.  Disappointed as he was, Alec re-holstered his gun and took a moment to cool down.

Just to his left, Gardet was standing guard.  Alec told his situation to Gardet, but he told him, "I didn't see anybody like that."

"Believe me, if he was here, you would've.  He's that... noticeable."

"Well, I'm not calling you a liar.  He must've gone out somewhere other than the front door."  Taking Alec off to the side, he asked him, "So, what did you learn from him?"

"Not much, before he ran off on me.  But he did say that the Omega Order is involved with Aeolus.  Apparently they're going to sell these artifacts to a museum, and use the money to buy weapons from the Russian Mafia.  Whole bunch of wasted money right there.  Ah, it's supposed to take place in three days, at a villa in Greece.  Although..."

"What is it?"

"He also said that Boris Rubanenko was still in charge of Omega.  But I killed him over two years ago.  At a terrible cost, too...  At any rate, that's when escaped."

"So are you saying he was lying about the whole thing?"

"That's what I thought, too.  But you might want to investigate that place in Greece just to be safe.  I didn't get an exact location, Nikolai said he didn't know, but I'm guessing it's around the Atlantis site off Santorini."

"That would make sense.  I'll go back to Interpol and investigate some more.  In the meantime, would you care to stay over with Madame?"

"Why, yes, sir.  Nothing would please me more than catching up on lost time.  You know, I've done a lot of that with my late wife.  I guess it's becoming a habit of mine."