The Man Who Walked in the Dark by Anthony W. Eichenlaub

Author:Anthony W. Eichenlaub
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Anthony W. Eichenlaub

Chapter 28

“You know, these places are all the same,” I said as I tossed my last chip onto a truly staggering stack an hour later. The game was a form of poker where more cards were revealed after every round. “They drain your pockets but drown your sorrows. I’d almost call it worth it.”

“Speak for yourself,” said Donovan. It was the first he’d spoken since I sat down. Most of my chips sat in front of him. “I’m looking to pick up a few coins.”

“Maybe a few sorrows too.” All the other players had dropped out at this point. The table’s dealer watched us across a battlefield of green velvet.

Donovan eyed me, no doubt trying to figure out my bluff. I wasn’t bluffing, though. Not this time.

“A man like you knows a bit about sorrow, don’t you?” I said.

Skin went pale under his copper beard, but his eyes stayed steely and hard. “Call.”

I lay down my cards. Aces. He had kings. The dealer pushed a pile of chips to me and shuffled.

“I’m retired,” said Donovan, not taking his eyes off my newly gained chips. “No time for sorrow.”

“What did you do?”

“Pilot.”

“I used to want to be a pilot.” I stacked the chips into five stacks and lined them in a perfect row. “Then the Benevolent happened.”

The muscles of his jaw clenched.

“Lot of folks died that day,” I said after his ante was in.

Donovan gripped my arm and fixed me with his pale green eyes. “I’m here for the cards.”

“No touching, please,” said the dealer.

“Nothing wrong with a little friendly conversation,” I said.

The dealer dealt. I didn’t touch my cards, and Donovan did a fine job pretending not to notice.

“The way I see it,” I said, sliding a bet into the center of the table, “a copilot’s just as guilty as the pilot. I wouldn’t want that kind of pressure.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched. If I hadn’t just picked up half his winnings in the last hand, he might have walked away. He knew exactly what my strategy was. That made one of us.

“Unless there was a technical problem or sabotage. Then it’s the engineer’s fault. You think the Benevolent was an engineering issue? Seems like I might have heard about that.”

He scowled. He might have hit me if I didn’t have most of his money. I probably would have deserved it.

“But you know all that, don’t you, Jacob?”

Donovan raised the bet. I raised it right back. The dealer dealt us each another card. I still didn’t look. My cards lay face down in front of me like a flock of dead birds.

“I’m just wondering,” I said. “What really happened? Wouldn’t it feel good to get that off your chest?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“That’s the truth.”

He raised the bet again, pushing a stack of ten chips into the center. I matched his bet.

“The thing is,” I said, “I don’t think you’re guilty. I think you took a buyout for your silence, and I think that same silence is eating away at you.

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