Page 43 of The Gambler

Jenna took up her usual position in his lap and leaned back against his chest. He knew she was tired and he wanted to get her upstairs as soon as possible before it turned into a thing.

“Okay senator, start talking.”

“I wouldn’t know where to begin, I still don’t quite understand what’s going on.”

“Start at the beginning, why did you start the expose`?”

“Well, that should be obvious, it was because of my granddaughter of course.”

“Explain.” She seemed to be taking her time getting her thoughts together.

“When Jenna was little, she was the sweetest little thing; sweet and innocent. That all changed when she was about sixteen. My husband and I started noticing the change. She’d be gone for hours, sometimes days…”

“Days?”

“Yes days, which was strange, because up until then I don’t think she’d ever been out of her mother’s sight for more than a few hours; she’d been homeschooled you see. Then suddenly I’d call the house and she’d be gone, and Sonia would give me all these vague excuses as to her whereabouts. You have to understand; my daughter and I had been estranged for many years. In fact not many people even know I have another daughter. You see she got involved with Paulie, that’s my son in law, when she was a teenager. I didn’t approve of him and she ran away.

She was gone for years, no matter how many people I hired I couldn’t find her. Then we decided that if she wanted to be gone that badly that she’d essentially disappeared, that we’d give her her space. For years I kept waiting for the phone to ring with news that they’d found her body in a ditch somewhere.

Then one day we found them; by then she’d had the two kids and was married to him. I didn’t want to lose her or my grandkids again, so I kept the peace. Jenna and I became very close. It was like having my own little girl again. If you’ve spent any time around Jenna, you know by now that she’s very innocent in some ways, almost childlike, but very smart in others.

The summer she turned sixteen, everything seemed to change at once. For one, her father started hanging around that Bonata character. I’m not sure what he was into before that unholy alliance, but I know they had a good life. Then he and Alec became very hush-hush whenever I was around. Jenna would be gone and nobody was saying anything. When I’d ask Sonia she’d brush me off and make up some story. I started getting suspicious and put out some inquiries of my own.

Now I knew that Jenna had an affinity for computers and any and everything that has to do with technology. All you need do is put her in front of one of those contraptions and it’s like a new child is born. I also knew from the snippets that were getting back to me, that some unsavory people might use that to their advantage and not in a good way.

We found out essentially that Bonata was not only using her, but also farming her out to others for a price. When I confronted Sonia, she accused me of lying and trying to make trouble. Then she threatened to cut me off from seeing Jenna. I tell you I don’t know what happened to my daughter. Up until then I would’ve said she was the best mother. She never let Jenna out of her sight, was always over her, making sure she was safe and happy. But something happened and she changed.

It’s not that she didn’t still love her daughter mind you, but whatever they had her doing, was more important than Jenna’s happiness and wellbeing. At least that’s what it looked like to me. I didn’t like the idea of her being gone for days on end with strangers, and when one of the investigators I hired asked for more money to follow her to Monte Carlo, I didn’t know what to think.

Instead, Hal and I decided to get on a plane ourselves and go see what was really going on. That’s when it all started, when we realized what those animals were doing. What started out as a grandmother’s curiosity became an international affair.

“What exactly did you find?”

“A ring; I guess that’s what you would call it. They set up a ring of these innocents, girls and boys alike, that they exploited. Some of the girls were sold into prostitution; I give thanks everyday that at least she was spared that. She had other more lucrative talents I suppose. She’s aces at the computer but there’s one other place where she excels.”

He had a feeling he knew what was going to come out of her mouth next.

“And what’s that?”

“Did you never hear her ‘code name’?” He braced himself and waited.

“She’s The Gambler.”

“Now young man, how did you say you came to know our Jenna?”

“She’s mine.” That’s all he’d say even as her eyes widened and she looked perplexed.

“So they used her to do what? Cheat people at cards?”

He should’ve broken every bone in Alphonso Bonata’s body. It was too late for that now, the fuck was gone; but there might still be others out there and he wanted their names. Since her lying fuck mother wasn’t talking, he figured this might be the only way to get the answers he needed. He couldn’t say that he was surprised by her little bombshell. But he had the added worry of who else knew her as The Gambler and who might have it out for her because she’d skinned them at the tables. No wonder he’d never heard of her, that they’d taken her out of town.

He had thought this shit through and knew he wouldn’t rest easy until everyone who knew about her talentswas done. The gambling thing was new, he thought he only had to deal with the hacking and shit, but whatever.

“Oh she doesn’t cheat, far as I can tell she just knows what to do, some call it card counting. But Hal has tested her a few times and he says that it’s a little more than that. It’s like she knows what’s been played, but she also estimates what each player is holding in their hand according to what they hold and what they throw away. I really don’t understand any of that; it’s all very confusing for me. But I do know she’s made these men millions if not more.”

“Okay so she was gambling, she wasn’t cheating, it’s not illegal. Why the expose`?” There had to be more to it than that. For him it would be the fact that out of all these millions she was being paid with chocolate, not to mention the fact that she was being used in a way that she wouldn’t have been able to understand. That more than anything else made his blood burn beneath his skin. He squeezed her as she sat there quietly, not interjecting, but following every word.

“I think there was more going on, like I said before, they were using some of the others as call girls, if you can believe that. Some of them were even being sold from what I discovered. Jenna was their meal ticket. Do you know that she’s been financing the Bonatas for the better part of five years? We’re not talking small change here. She was playing in the highest stakes games all around the world. Some of those games went on for days.

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