Page 63 of A Touch of Treachery
My heart pounded, this time with excitement.At the very least, I had a queen-high full house.Maybe I could win after all.
Henrika’s grin widened.“It’s too bad you don’t have any money left, Charlotte.I would have been happy to raise the stakes again.”
My heart pounded a little harder and faster.This was the opening I’d been waiting for.I couldn’t force Henrika to hand over the undercover agent list, but maybe I could persuade her to gamble it away.
“Who says we can’t raise the stakes again?We both knowexactlywhat I want from you.”
Henrika tilted her head to the side.“What are you proposing?”
“Add the list to your bet, along with every single copy you’ve made.”
Niles’s eyes narrowed behind his silver glasses.“What list?”
“Our business doesn’t concern you, Niles,” I snapped.“So stay out of it.”
He sucked in a breath and stabbed his finger at me, but Desmond stepped forward, putting himself between me and the other man.Desmond crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes glittering like chips of silver-blue ice in his face.Niles’s finger wilted down to his side, and he swallowed whatever nasty comment he’d been about to hurl my way.
Henrika studied me for several long seconds, trying to figure out if I was bluffing.“Very well.On the off chance you win, I will hand over the list and every single copy I’ve made.But what do I get whenIwin?”
“Oh, I’m sure I havesomethingyou want.”I snapped my fingers, as though a thought had just occurred to me, although the idea had been brewing in the back of my mind ever since my trip to the Section armory.“Actually, you’re in luck.I have just the thing to even the stakes.”
I picked up my purse, cracked open the top, and plucked out the white velvet bundle I’d stuffed inside the bag before Desmond and I had left Section headquarters.
“What’s that?”Steig asked in a snide voice.“A bag of snacks?”
I placed the bundle on the table where everyone could see it.“Something a little more valuable than snacks.”
I drew in a breath, then let it out and flipped open the white velvet, revealing the object inside.
The Grunglass Necklace.
A tense, heavy silence dropped over the table, and everyone blinked at the dazzling display of gleaming gold, sparkling emeralds, and winking diamonds.
Henrika laughed.“Nice try, Charlotte.Did you really think you could fool me with a fake?”
“Take a closer look.”
Henrika laughed again, but she leaned forward.The longer she looked at the jewels, the more her eyes widened, and her mouth gaped.“You ...you brought therealnecklace,” she whispered in an awed tone.
I’d been just as shocked when I’d realized Joan had given me the genuine necklace in the Section armory.Desmond frowned at me, questions flickering across his face, but I shrugged back.I still wasn’t sure why Joan had let me bring the real Grunglass Necklace to the resort, but I was going to use it to my advantage.
Henrika stared at the necklace a second longer, then jerked back, as if she’d just realized that the other paramortals were watching her with avid interest.Henrika quickly smoothed out her expression, although she couldn’t hide the hunger in her eyes whenever she glanced at the necklace.
She crossed her arms over her chest.“How did you manage to persuade your employer to part with such a lovely bauble?”
Desmond shifted on his feet.We both knew she was asking how I’d removed the necklace from Section headquarters, but I didn’t dare answer that question.
Niles, Steig, and Oriana looked back and forth between Henrika and me, as did Bryce and the guards, all clearly wondering what was going on.
“I came prepared,” I replied, sidestepping her question.“That’s my job.”
“And she does it beautifully,” Desmond chimed in.
I flashed him a smile, grateful for his support, then focused on Henrika again.“I’d say the stakes are more than even now.The list if I win, the necklace if you do.”
It was a huge gamble, and I could easily walk away with nothing except the collective anger and wrath of Gia, Evelyn, and especially General Percy for losing the necklace.But Grandma Jane had taught me to tackle one problem at a time, and Desmond and I needed to recover the UC list before Henrika exposed the agents’ identities.Everything else, including getting answers about my father’s death, finding where Henrika was storing the Redburn formula, and capturing—or killing—her could wait.
Henrika looked at the four cards on the table, calculating the odds in her mind the same way I was doing.Now, more than ever, I needed some serious luck.
