She’s got a queen showing. Justin looked at his cards: a ten and an eight. Oh, what the heck. “Hit me.”
“I’ll stay,” Feldstein said after she’d turned over her cards. She had a queen and a seven.
“What about you, Adeoye?”
“I’ll hit as well.”
Mateus set another card down on Justin’s and Adeoye’s blocks. “Twenty-one for Spencer, and you’re busted, Adeoye.” She swept up the cards and set them in a separate pile while scooping up most of the money chits except Justin’s. His bank doubled instantly. “I thought you said you’d only played a few hands.”
“I said some, not a few,” Justin replied, grinning.
“You sly dog,” Feldstein said as she elbowed him in the ribs.
The rest of them laughed.
Justin sat back with a smug smile and took a sip of the ice-cold beer. “Deal the cards.”
They played several more hands, and Justin won most of them, as his old strategies came back to him.
After her third bust in a row, Mateus rolled her eyes. “I think we need to take him to a casino. Maybe the ones on Gilead. They allow high-credit betting. With his luck, we could all retire.”
“I hope it holds for tomorrow,” Justin said, absentmindedly.
Feldstein cocked her head. “What do you mean?”
“I volunteered to fly the League fighter. In place of the CAG.”
“What?” Feldstein practically screamed. “Are you insane? That’s the highest-risk op in the history of high-risk ops. You’ve got a family at home, Justin!”
Justin’s jaw dropped. “I’m the logical choice. I flew the thing back to the Greengold.”
“You barely made it back. You ought to find an altar to thank God in front of, and now you want to tempt fate again?”
“Hey, Spencer’s high-speed, low drag. If he’s got the stones to fly that League piece of crap into a stealth raider, I say we let him.” Mateus shrugged. “If anyone can pull it off, he can.”
“Don’t feed the hero complex,” Feldstein shot back. “He gets enough of it from everyone else on this ship.”
“Guys, come on. I’m the best man for the job. How many times do I have to say I’m not a hero, and all I’m doing here is my duty?” Justin crossed his arms and sighed. “Why don’t we focus on having some fun instead?”
Silence followed for a few moments.
Feldstein finally spoke. “Look, you have nothing to prove.” She made eye contact with him. “Not to this squadron, not to Whatley, or to anyone else. Don’t waste your life out there.”
“I won’t.” Justin took another sip from the beer bottle. “Mateus, deal the cards.”
After another couple of hands in which Justin ran the table, Adeoye got hot. His cards came up with a blackjack—an ace and a face card—twice in a row. The pile of credit chips in front of him grew considerably, while Justin’s diminished. Even though it wasn’t really a player-against-player game, Justin’s competitive spirit still made him want to come out on top.
The next hand had two tens for him. “I’ll split,” he announced while placing sizable bets against each. If I’ve got the count right, I ought to see some face cards come up soon.
Mateus deftly dealt two more cards to him. One was an ace, the other a nine. “Blackjack,” she announced. “Dealer hits.” She flipped up her facedown card, revealing a queen, and tossed another card right side up next to it. The new card was a nine. Combined with the queen and the three of hearts she’d already revealed, that brought her total to twenty-two.
“Oooh. So close.” Justin grinned.
“You’re counting cards,” Mateus said, her eyes boring into him.
“Only mentally.”
“I don’t understand,” Adeoye interjected. “How does counting the number of cards help Spencer?”
Justin grinned. “I keep track of how many face cards and tens have been played. If the count is above plus five, I start making bigger bets. It just so happened that the split came at a perfect time. I don’t believe in luck either. I make my own.”
“Some people consider that cheating,” Feldstein said darkly.
“Only if you use an electronic or neural device. I can only do it on single or double decks. Anything else is too much for me.”
“You can’t cheat against the League.”
“Au contraire, Dvora.” Justin leaned back. “I’m cheating right out of the gate by flying a ship they’ll think is theirs. Those commies won’t know what hit them.”
Despite his bluster, Justin had severe misgivings about the battle plan. For one, it was rushed, and for another, it seemed a bit half-baked. Still, something in the back of his head insisted it was his job to fly the fighter and not Whatley’s.
“I’ve never flown escort for Marines before,” Mateus interjected. “Did any of you train for such an evolution?”
Blank stares met her statement.
“No. That was never on the simulated mission list or in actual combat exercises,” Adeoye replied.
“We should get up early then and run some sims. I can program in a basic shuttle-escort mission with opposing force provided by a few elements of those League Shrike fighters,” Justin said while trying to suppress a yawn. “Whatcha think?”
“Sounds good, boss,” Feldstein replied. “Getting tired?”
“Honestly, yeah. Maybe we should get some rack time.”
The rest of them nodded.
“Okay. This was fun.” Justin grinned. “How often do you put this on, Mateus?”
“Every other night.” She smirked at him. “But next time, we’re playing poker. And I’m going to kick your butt from here to Earth.”
“Challenge accepted.” Kicking back and relaxing with the rest of Alpha brought out a type of camaraderie he hadn’t had since his time as an active-duty pilot right out of college. “One hand for the road?”
Mateus shuffled the deck. “Why not?”
Laughter echoed in the small cabin as they continued to play.
Halfway across the ship, in the senior officer’s mess, Tehrani wrapped her fingers around a mug of hot tea. Steam curled off the top, and she took a sip after blowing on it. The liquid felt good going down her throat as she stared through the window. With a sigh, Tehrani set the
