The Gambler(27)

Chapter 24





He went to find her and stood in the doorway, just watching her as she  sat singing to the butterflies. She never ceased to amaze him. She sung  like an angel, was a card shark and he was pretty sure a thief and who  knows what else; and she made love like she was born to it. Perfect.

She must've sensed his presence because she reached out her hand for him  without even looking in his direction. She was too busy staring up at  the butterflies as they swarmed around the cocoons the men had hung in  the room. He couldn't wait to take her down to visit his place. She  would be good for the others, and maybe they her, he was sure she'd love  that. Having her, finding her, made him want to do so much more than he  had been in the past. Some might say he'd done enough, but there was  always more. He'd just been going through the motions; he knew that now.

It had become an obligation when he'd never intended it to be; it was  meant to be a joy. Seeing her, her potential, he was reminded once more  of just how amazing she and others like her really were. He'd gained  much over the years from his association. He could probably credit them  for keeping him from going completely insane; or for saving the world  from a vigilante, because for a time there, he thought he'd spend the  rest of his life shedding blood.         

     



 

Now in just the blink of an eye she'd changed all that. And she called him Angel.

He sat next to her silently, content just to sit and hold her hand as  she sang her lullabies, her voice lulling him into a state of peace.  "Jenna?" She turned to look at him.

"Alice, how did she … was she happy?" He felt the burn in his gut that was  always there whenever he thought of his sister. She got a look of  sadness and he was sorry he brought it up. She'd been sitting here so  peacefully in her little paradise and he'd fucked it up.

She took his face in her hands and stared into his eyes. "Alice fine  Angel." He kissed her hand and took it back in his holding it against  his thigh. He gazed off at nothing in particular; there were so many  things he wanted to ask her about the dream, or vision, or whatever it  was that she'd had, but he didn't know where to begin. She didn't seem  any worse for wear because of the experience, but he didn't want to push  her too hard. She took out her phone and started that speed shit again  and he wondered how the hell she could get her fingers to move that  fast.





He picked up his phone when it chimed. "She does does she?" She told him  that his sister loves him and worries about him. Weirdest fucking  conversation he'd ever had, and with the fuckwits he sometimes had to  deal with, he'd had some doozies.

She nodded her head and went back to typing. This time it was to inform  him that he had to be happy because it's what Alice wanted and she Jenna  was going to take care of him. "You've got that wrong little flower,  I'm going to take care of you."

"Jenna do it, Alice said." He decided not to argue with her since she had her mutinous face on.

"Okay we'll do it together okay?" They went back to sitting in silence  for another few minutes, but he couldn't seem to leave it alone. After  shutting it away for so long he suddenly wanted to know everything there  was.

"Jenna, how did you know me?" He wasn't sure that she would understand  the question and when she took too long to answer he was about to tell  her not to worry about it, but she went back to typing again.

‘Alice told me, a long time ago in a dream. She said one day my Angel would come for me."

"You're pretty smart aren't you pumpkin?" He rubbed her head playfully.

"Jenna very smart." He bet; he was pretty sure she was smarter than him.  It's something he'd learned from spending time with his other  treasures, how smart they were. It was only dimwitted assholes who never  took the time to be with them that missed that. The little cons were  smart as fuck though he'd learned over the years, some of them  exceptionally so. Maybe it was a good thing that the world didn't know  that.

"But how did you recognize me?" Her mother had said she'd seen his  picture and called him her angel. She couldn't have known what he looked  like, he was pretty sure Alice didn't take a picture of him wherever  she went, and she'd told him of Jenna with her dying breath, so the  whole thing was confusing. She shrugged her shoulders.

‘I knew.' That's all she wrote and he decided to drop it for now,  because he was never going to make sense of it. He let her sit and enjoy  her new hiding place until it was lunchtime. "Come on baby time to  eat."





For all of the next day he spent his time formulating a plan to get to  the senator. He had no idea if these people had guards on them  twenty-four seven, had never had any need to get that close to politics.  Gramps assured him that unless she hired her own shadow there wouldn't  be any at her home. That was good enough; he didn't need the added  headache.

Jenna was still pouting because he refused to fuck her the night before,  he hated that she felt rejected, but there was no way he was going to  hurt her and he knew it would if he took her again. In the end she was  satisfied with the hour or so he'd spent with his head between her  thighs; that's the only way he could get her to go to sleep.

Gramps had left to go back to his place but promised her, after she made  such a fuss, that he'd be back later. She finally asked for her momma  and he let her call the other woman who was in a room one floor down,  monitoring the conversation the whole time. He'd already decided what  was to be done with her, he just needed more time and space between them  to be sure that it wouldn't affect Jenna too much in the future.         

     



 

By nightfall it was time to go and he wasn't sure what to do with Jenna.  They had about a five-hour flight to the senator's place in the  mountains. She'd watched him get dressed while she sat on the bed  chattering away at him. He made the mistake of telling her where he was  going and she decided she was getting dressed too.

"No Jenna you stay here." She shook her head and continued rummaging  through the closet for something to wear. Shit, he knew he would have a  fight on his hands, but there was no way he was taking her into unknown  territory.

He tried one last time to reason with her, even if it meant releasing  her mother from that room he'd rather do that than take her along. "Baby  you can't go with me, not this time. Why don't you watch your show  until I get back?" He had no idea when that might be but she should be  asleep soon anyway. She seemed to accept his orders because she pouted  and sat quietly while he finished getting dressed. He breathed a sigh of  relief when there was no more forthcoming from her end. That was easy.





In the end he had a hard time saying goodbye, but he figured the sooner  he got this shit over with the sooner he could get back to her. He  kissed her goodbye after she followed him down the stairs. He had to  have a meet with his boys to get their shit together before they head  out. The plane was on standby and all was in readiness, all that was  needed was an in to the place. He didn't know what kind of security the  senator had on the place, or what they might be walking into.

He hadn't had time to get someone out to the area in time to do recon,  so now he was going in blind. "This is gonna be a quick in and out. We  just go warn her and convince her somehow that we're not talking out our  asses and leave it up to her what she wants to do."

The only reason he was even going through this shit is because it seemed  to mean something to Jenna. She'd never said why she'd brought it to  his attention and he hadn't even thought to ask. Now it was too late for  second-guessing, if this woman was who she appeared to be on paper,  then he couldn't sit back and watch her be eliminated.

He missed her all the way to the tarmac. Twice he started to text her  but both times changed his mind. He'd just go do what he had to do and  get back to her. They boarded and started working out the last of the  details. He'd already been assured by the pilot that there were places  to land in the woods around the senator's place, some sort of clearing  that was far enough away from the house that its occupants wouldn't be  alerted, but not too far that they couldn't walk in. He wasn't really  looking forward to trekking through the fucking woods in the dark but  you had to do what you had to do. He hoped she was worth it. They lifted  off and he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to think.

He heard the door to the cockpit open and was ready to chew his pilot's ass out when he got the shock of his life. "Jenna?"





Chapter 25





She grinned and walked over and sat down next to him. He looked around  at his men who all seemed just as surprised as he. What the fuck? "Jenna  how did you get here?" Was he in the fucking Twilight Zone? Hadn't he  just kissed her goodbye at the door? She just buckled her seatbelt and  acted like nothing happened.