The Accomplice by Marcus Galloway Read Free Book Online

another five just to make it interesting.” Both he and Doc looked over to the cowboy.
    The cowboy pulled in a breath and took a look at his cards. Although the first one met with his satisfaction, the final one caused his face to drop almost to the floor. “Aw hell. I fold.”
    Mike’s expression was smug, and his grin was about as convincing as a wooden nickel. “I’ll see the bet . . . and raise it twenty.”
    Doc made a show out of studying the pile of chips at the center of the table. Every so often, he would check the cards in his hand and then lay them facedown in front of him before taking another pull from his whiskey.
    “Come on, Holliday,” Mike said impatiently. “You in or out?”
    Finally, after fretting a little while longer, Doc asked, “So that’s sixty to me?”
    Mike looked confused and added the numbers in his head one more time.
    Before Mike’s arithmetic was complete, Virgil laughed and said, “Not quite, Doc.”
    “Oh,” Holliday replied. “Then that’ll be sixty to you,” he said to the miner while shoving in the proper amount of chips.
    The old man sifted through his cards, weighed the options in his mind and then let out a pained grunt. “The missus will kill me, but I can’t lay these beauties down just yet.” He matched the bet and looked over to Virgil. “Besides,” he said while tapping some papers folded in his shirt pocket, “I got enough collateral to have some fun tonight.”
    The gambler leaned back in his chair and studied his opponents one at a time. His left hand lay on the table, rolling the silver dollar across his knuckles while he took his time deliberating. All around him, the air was filled with voices, smoke, and some music that was being played by a man with a banjo over in one corner.
    Caleb watched the scene as well. While he wasn’t involved with the game, he was ready to step in if the need arose. So far, it seemed as though it was the gambler’s show, and he was handling it like a professional.
    “Sixty?” Virgil asked.
    Mike slapped the table to let out some of the frustration that had been building inside of him like steam in a piston. “You know it is! Get on with it!”
    Without reacting in the least to Mike’s outburst, Virgil fixed his eyes upon the man currently acting as dealer and held them there. He watched as Mike started to shift and twitch as if a campfire had been built under his chair. “Tell you what,” Virgil finally said. “Make it a hundred.”
    Even though the cowboy was no longer in the hand, he slapped his hands together and snapped around to see what Mike would do. By the look on his face, the cowboy thought that whatever money he may have lost was more than enough to pay for the show he was getting.
    Mike nodded slowly and let out the breath he’d been holding. “You think I’m stupid? I’ve played with you before, and I know you’re full of shit.”
    “One way to find out,” the gambler said.
    “Yeah. There is. I raise it to one fifty. You want to bluff me? You’d best be willing to do it with more than what you got.” He threw in his money as though the pot was already his and then leaned back to throw a sideways glance toward Doc. “You still in this, Holliday? Or do you need to go lay down for a while?”
    Doc didn’t touch his cards. Leaving them where they lay on the table, he took a slow pull from his whiskey and let it trickle down his throat. Thankfully, the breath he let out was nowhere near an open flame. “Tell you the truth, I’m amazed the rest of you are still in this. Especially since I’d bet my practice that Orville here has at least two pair, which should be more’n enough to beat the pair each of us wound up with.”
    “You think you know so much, Holliday?” Mike asked in a steady tone. “Then make yer move.”
    Although Doc kept his eyes on Mike, there was no threat in his gaze. Instead, there was a bit of amusement as he shrugged and went for his chips. “I bet another two fifty.