Three Moments of an Explosion by China Miéville Read Free Book Online Page B

unseen.
    Belinda’s in, and the captain’s in, of course, which I was banking on, and I don’t care what piece of shit he’s holding, he’s not going to beat my hand—my winning hand—now. I’m ready.
    The betting’s done and Sugarface deals the river, the fifth shared card. It skitters down. The lights flicker and everyone’s gasping and everything goes slow, because the last card out of the deck, the last card face up on the table, is a new color.
    It’s the Four of Chimneys.
    “Oh hell yes,” I hear Sugarface say, “Mon Dieu,” I hear, and “Oh my God.”
    That’s Belinda.
    I stare at the blue in the red and black. A shared hidden card. Everyone can have a hidden card in their hand.
    The boat pitches, and for a fraction of an instant I see the night beyond the windows and it’s as if I hear a drone, as if someone’s walking on the deck, someone tall and stiff and dignified in a deep coat, smoking, looking in at us with austere curiosity, with satisfaction.
    I can hear the captain saying, “What is this? What does this mean?” and Sugarface saying, “Just keep quiet and watch, and show some respect, this is your induction,” and Belinda is staring right at me, her mouth open, her eyes wide.
    My frantic little fingers are fumbling deeper in my sleeve than you’d think possible but I dropped that Three to nestle I don’t know where against my skin, there’s no retrieving it, and I can’t swap it back in or its replacement back out again, and everyone can see I have two hole cards in my hand, just as I should.
    And one of them’s my Four of Chimneys, like the one on the table, and there’s only ever one Four of Chimneys, if there’s ever a Four of Chimneys at all.
    Sugarface is looking at me and saying, “What’s the matter, Kid?” and he looks at Belinda and down at the table and at the back of my cards and up at me and his face falls and he says, “Oh no, Kid, oh no, no, oh Kid, oh no,” and there’s more sorrow and fear in his voice than I’ve ever heard.
    “What is this?” the captain blathers. “What is this card?”
    I go to fold but Sugarface takes hold of my wrist.
    “Kid, I don’t want to see what I think I’m going to see,” he says gently. “Judge,” he says. “Get the rule book.” He starts to pull my hand down. “I need you to look up ‘Hidden Suits,’ ” he says.
    Everyone is watching my descending cards but Belinda. She’s staring at her own hand.
    “I need you to look up ‘Cheating,’ ” Sugarface says. “I need you to look up ‘Sanctions.’ ”
    Belinda’s cards twitch with a tiny instant motion of her fingers as with her free hand she grabs my wrist too. She’s stronger than Sugarface. Pushes my cards back up.
    “I call,” she says.
    “We’re mid-play,” he says.
    She says, “Look up a ‘Link Evens,’ Judge.”
    Even the captain’s silent while the judge turns pages. “Two Four Six Eight Ten including a Chain,” she reads out. “She can preemptive call with that. Nothing can beat it. Wins … any single object in the room she chooses.” She looks up.
    “And everyone keep your paws off that prize,” Belinda says. She’s staring at the hand in my hand. “No looking, no touching, no turning. Just slide it to me face down.”
    The judge looks at the cards on the table. “If she has a Two and an Eight,” she says, “she wins. But there’s a winner’s forfeit …”
    “I have the Two of Hearts,” Belinda says. She sounds exhausted but she smiles at me. “And I’m holding the Eight of Chains.”
    Everyone sits up.
    “Wait,” I manage to whisper. “What’s the forfeit?”
    No one hears me. Belinda is lowering her cards to show them.
    “I win,” Belinda says.
    “What is it?” I try to say.
    “I win, and I choose a card as my pot,” Belinda announces.
    She looks at what I’m holding as her own cards go down. She meets my eye and smiles. She could always read me. I know she’ll choose the right one.

IN THE