The last game Read Online Free PDF Page B

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. Her 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