“Last year…” I managed to utter, but was unable to say anything else because that was when I remembered the conversation I had with Bella. “He lost to your niece didn’t he?” I asked without meeting Dempsey’s eyes.
I could feel the man’s attention acutely focus upon me before nodding, “That’s right she did beat him last year. And she managed to do it in a similar way, though she lacked your flair for the dramatic.”
With trepidation I stated, “It’s hard to win a tournament like this year after year.”
With a shrug Dempsey countered, “True enough. But he had managed to do it for the previous three years. He had been hoping that last year was simply an anomaly, but you managed to knock him off yet again. Ever since he started coming to my tournaments he’s managed to make his way to the final table, and more often than not he has reached the final showdown.”
Silently Dempsey turned away from me and stared into the crowd where he instantly caught sight of Bella. She still had that look of shock on her face, only now it was focused on the two of us. I suddenly desired to use her fear as a gauge and leave, but before I could break away, Dempsey gripped my shoulder saying “Well we have to reward our victor, don’t we?” Gesturing to the man behind him, “If you would please follow my associate. He’ll make sure you get your reward.”
Before I turned my attention away from Bella I managed to see her mouth work a single word over and over again. And if I read her lips right, she was mouthing “no.” Her fear and confusion was beginning to rub off on me, so I began to work on the puzzle that Bella had introduced me to, piece by piece. As my mind was actively trying to work through everything my subconscious instructed me to follow Dempsey’s order.
I wordlessly turned around and followed the goon Dempsey had pointed out. As I trailed behind the slim man, I started to piece together the various things that had apparently put Bella on edge. First there was the fact that my table went three hours without getting a new player, while at the same time, we went through an extra dealer. Then there was the break that would never have normally been authorized. Not to mention the impression that, as a winner, I was being handled differently than Bella had been last year. Could there have been cameras in the tables? Was it possible that Dempsey knew what I had done with the last card? The goon opened a door and ushered me into the warehouse that I had expected to find in the first place. But before I could do anything more than register shock, the door closed and I felt two prongs pierce the back of my neck. The electricity slammed into me and forced me into unconsciousness.
Chapter 13
As I started to regain consciousness I began to take stock of myself and my surroundings as best I could. In the blackness I attempted to document any and all scrapes, bumps, bruises, or odd sensations, working down from my head all the way to my toes. I made a mental list of each thing I found, no matter how minor. I had been in some pretty sketchy situations before and I knew that lots of information would only help the situation. In fact, the more information I possessed, the more likely I would be to find some gems among the useless stones.
But I also needed to note any lacking sensations, for example, I didn’t feel anything wrapped around my head. And that lack of feeling frightened me. My memory was more than a little hazy at the moment, but I was fairly certain I had been shocked into unconsciousness. That being the case, then in all probability the shock was the reason for my current inability to see. I wasn’t blindfolded, so I hoped my sight would return as I pulled myself further out of unconsciousness.
Lack of vision explained away, I returned to the examination of my injuries. As I got to my waist, I sighed in relief as I began to distinguish the different shades of grey that were dancing in front of my eyes. It wasn’t much, but the promised return of my sight gave me a little hope. This was fortunate because I had little enough hope as it was. I didn’t wake up to a mass of bruises, in fact I couldn’t locate a single injury anywhere. While, normally, coming to and not feeling like you’ve been beaten might be considered a good thing, I feared it was nothing more than a promise of future violence. And the thought that Dempsey seemed to have arranged my current predicament simply terrified me.
I may not have been used as a punching bag, but there are other ways to subdue people. My chest felt so securely attached to the back of the chair that I thought it might have been welded onto it. I couldn’t tell much about the rope that had been lashed across my chest. Since my jacket had been removed my forearms were uncovered and also secured to the chair’s arms. I was able to get a look at the rope there, unfortunately all I could tell was it was course and about a half an inch thick. Whoever had secured me obviously thought rope alone wouldn’t be enough. In addition to the rope securing me to the chair, I could feel what felt like handcuffs around both of my wrists, and I could only assume that the other end was firmly attached to arms of the chair.