The last game (4 page)

Very slowly and without taking his eye off
the dog, Alvaro moved further away from the girl. The animal
watched him every inch of the w
ay, but its teeth retracted in harmony with Alvaro´s
retreat and the growl became less threatening. When he saw the
result of what he was doing Alvaro moved further away more quickly
and the dog relaxed completely.

“
Dear Mother of God.” Dante said breathing
out. “My heart was in my mouth.”

“
That makes two of us.” Alvaro said leaning
back in an armchair. “If it´s not obvious enough already, I´d
advise everybody here to keep away from this girl.”

“
Well, you don’t have to tell that to our
filthy friend over
there.” Dante said, pointing at Hector. He hasn´t taken his
eyes off the girl since this all started. "The bastard knows
something.”

“
Sure, I know something.” Hector replied
without turning his head. “Just the same as you. If you used your
heads you´d understand what´s happening. You’re forgetting who this
girl is and why we´re here.”

Alvaro could see that Hector was right but
there was still something strange that he didn´t understand. How
could the other man have stayed so calm when this fiend of a dog
appeared? It didn´t seem possible, and if he was capable of
controlling his emotions to such an extent then Alvaro would have
to treat him very carefully, even more than Dante. It was a case of
not judging a book by its cover. The dirty clothes and unwashed
hair were covering a more formidable opponent than any of them
there had thought. It was time to find out more about Hector, if he
was going to have any chance at all of getting the better of
him.

“
You’re right, Hector.” Alvaro said
condescendingly. “You’re a good observer.
Do you mind me asking you . . .”

“
Zeta!” The girl screamed out
enthusiastically.

The enormous black dog trotted happily
over to her.
Even on
four legs he was as tall as her. The girl hugged him as soon as he
was at her side even though she couldn´t put her arms right around
his neck. Zeta half- closed his eyes and put up with everything the
little girl did to him. She pulled his ears back and slapped him
all over the body, urging him to fight. Fortunately, Zeta didn´t
accept the challenge. Then the girl picked a cushion up and began
to push the dog with it. Alvaro stepped back instinctively when the
dog bit the cushion and began to struggle with his playing
companion. He growled again as he tugged the cushion playfully,
with the girl laughing loudly, hanging onto the other end. The
spectacle was extraordinary. Alvaro had been to the circus once as
a boy and when he saw a lion tamer put his head into a lion’s jaws
he thought he´d never see anything like it again. He was wrong.
This game between Zeta and the girl seemed a thousand times worse.
If the animal got mad, he could swallow the little girl in one
bite.

She dropped the cushion
after a few minutes. Then, Zeta went to
the chair, sat on the floor and rested his snout on the seat. The
girl followed him there, and climbed over his back onto the
seat.

“
Now we know who Zeta is.” Dante said
walking past the dog to his seat. “Nice boy.”

Zeta did nothing. Just lay down beside the
chair.

“
Now, I want to play.” The girl said,
smiling.

She was standing on the chair now leaning
on the table, grabbing a few pieces of plastic of different shapes
and sizes and beginning to arrange them in piles on top of each
other. There were cubes, pyramids, spheres and many other shapes
that she combined to together with ease.

“I think we should copy what she´s doing.”
Alvaro said. “It´s obvious that our little hostess isn´t going to
say anything to us directly.”

“I agree with you.” Judith said.

Alvaro nearly fell off his chair when he
saw Judith stand up. He hadn´t noticed her body sitting on the
chair behind Hector. But now that she was standing he noticed how
thin her arms were, how fragile she seemed. Her appearance made him
feel like protecting her. But then a feeling of panic seized him
when he realized that she was pregnant. How was that possible? How
could a pregnant woman be invited here?

“
I . . .
I don´t understand. You’re . . .”

“
Pregnant. Yes, I am.” Judith said walking
to the table. “But that´s got nothing to do with you.”

Now Alvaro understood the sad expression
that he´d seen on her face.
He wanted to ask her so many things, and the first would
be: what are you doing here in this state? But he didn´t do that.
She was right, it had nothing to do with him. He helped her sit
down. Judith accepted the favor without looking at him directly,
almost as if she was embarrassed.

“
I thought the same as you.” Dante said.
“But we need her here so all of this has a little style. Don´t try
and be a gentleman with her. Just concentrate on what we´ve come
here to do.”

Alvaro was losing his temper with Dante. He
would have liked to tell the bald old bastard what he could do with
his advice, but he kept it in check.

“
Of course.” He said forcing a smile, as he
sat down on the empty chair and put the packet that was in the
center of the table in his hands. “Well, let´s begin.”

He undid the wrapping, took the cards out of
their wooden box and began to shuffle. “Let´s play poker!”

* * * * *

“Why are you dealing?” Dante asked.
“Shouldn´t we draw for the highest card?”

Alvaro smiled, knowing why Dante was
complaining. He wanted to show how powerful he was, to stamp his
authority right from the beginning, to intimidate them. A lot of
gamblers did that. He´d met plenty of them.

“Of course.” Alvaro answered. “You´re right.
I´m a little nervous, that´s all. I´m glad you brought it up. All
of us want a fair game.”

He pushed the pack of cards across to Dante.
The old man cut the pack in two and Alvaro put it back together
again and slid it across to the centre of the table. He invited
them all to choose a card with an elegant wave of the hand.

Dante turned the king of hearts over. Judith
sat up straighter on the chair, her stomach resting on the edge of
the table, stretching her arm out. Alvaro pushed the cards towards
her. She looked so weak and defenseless. She pulled a seven of
diamonds out.

“Eh, you!” Dante shouted gruffly. “How about
paying attention to the game?”

It was almost as if Hector hadn´t heard him.
He was still looking at the girl.

“
Say something to that
stinkpot
” Dante told
Alvaro. “If he doesn´t want to play. . .”

Hector extended his arm without taking his
eyes off the little girl. He turned the top card over. He didn´t
even bother to look at the five of spades.

Alvaro turned another five over, then
collected the cards together and gave them to Dante.

“Your deal.”

Dante began to shuffle. Alvaro and Judith
studied the circular plastic chips in three colors that were piled
in front of them. Most were red, quite a lot green, and a few
yellow.

“I can see that red is worth less.” Judith
said, thinking aloud.

Alvaro ran his hand over his pile and looked
at Judith, intrigued. “Exactly, and the yellow chips are worth the
most.”

He didn´t know how she´d come to that
conclusion. But there was little doubt that she was right. He´d
been playing poker all his life. The value of the chips was clear.
It was impossible to confuse their respective value. And looking at
them piled in front of him he thought back to the operating
theatre, and remembered his urgent need to get to this table and
play this game. He knew the same thing had happened to the
rest.

“Let´s play the first hand.” Dante said
dealing the cards.

“Good luck.” Alvaro said, running his eye
around the table.

Nobody answered.

Dante finished dealing quickly as if he was
anxious to start.

Alvaro picked his cards up but didn´t pay
them the least attention. He pretended to study them while he took
discrete glances at his opponents. He knew almost straight away
that none of them were professional. The way they held their cards
was proof enough of that. He´d been playing poker for more than ten
years, had sat at more serious tables than this, competed twice in
international championships, seen his fair share of poker
faces.

Dante still looked tense, even though he was
trying to cover it up. Judith was obviously nervous, her long, thin
fingers trembling. Hector was harder to work out because he still
hadn´t touched his cards, which made Alvaro wonder about his
fascination with the girl. Everyone there knew who´d invited them
and who the little girl was, but Hector couldn´t take his eyes of
her. Maybe her shadow intrigued him more than her. Maybe he was
still trying to work out how that was possible?

“Pass.” Hector said when it was his turn to
call.

He still hadn´t touched his cards. Alvaro
didn´t know what he was up to. This was a game in which you had to
pay attention to everything. But there was Hector without the least
interest in what was going on. That very fact started to worry
Alvaro. His rival´s filthy, ragged appearance was one thing,
perhaps part of a strategy to confuse his opponents. But Alvaro was
already looking deeper than that, looking for the personality
within which decided each action in game of poker. If he couldn´t
unveil the mystery that surrounded Hector he wouldn´t be able to
work his emotions out, or anticipate his game. And Alvaro needed to
do that.

“We still haven´t talked about why we´re
here.” Alvaro said casually. “I´m a surgeon and I still haven´t
been informed about why I received this invitation. Our little
friend still hasn´t said anything.”

Judith was curious. “Seriously? How strange!
It must be a mistake then.”

Alvaro thought the same. But judging by the
way Judith had spoken it seemed that she had all the information
she needed. Maybe that applied to the rest of them.

“
Very interesting.” Dante said, irritated.
“How about playing?”

“
Of course.” Alvaro agreed, throwing a
couple of chips onto the table. “I´ll bet two. And you, Hector, can
you tell us something to make the night a little more
interesting?”

Hector looked away from the little girl for
the first time since they´d sat down. “I can´t tell you anything.
Your chit-chat doesn´t interest me.”

“We just want to be entertained a little,
that´s all.” Alvaro informed him.

“You can see how this rag and bone man
answers a stupid question. You´ve got to be more direct.” Dante
suggested. “Like, when was the last time you changed your
clothes?”

“
Leave him alone.” Judith said, her voice
way too soft to transmit authority. It was difficult to imagine
such a sweet looking face getting angry. At least that´s what
Alvaro thought. “If he doesn´t want to tell us anything, that´s his
business. Why don´t you tell us something instead? ” She challenged
Dante.

“
Let´s cool it a bit.” Alvaro said. “We can
start by telling the others what we do. I´ve already told you I´m a
surgeon. And you Dante?”

Dante didn´t answer straight away. He dealt
the cards according to the discards. Only Hector who´d passed
didn’t get one.

”
I´m a businessman,
an investor.” Dante finally
said.

“That´s all I need to hear. Don´t you know
who this rogue is?” Hector scoffed, directing his comment to
Alvaro. The surgeon looked at Dante again. His face was familiar.
“He´s a corrupt speculator who . . .”

Dante was already off his seat. “What did you
say, gutter snipe?”

Although Dante was at least twenty years
older than Hector, he had a wiry build and in a scrap Alvaro would
have put his money on the older man. But all of that didn´t bother
Hector, still sitting on his chair without having bat an
eyelash.

Dante took one step towards Hector but
froze with one foot in the air. A growl echoed through the room as
Zeta stood in his way, his enormous legs tensed, ready to spring,
his fangs bared.

“
Play!” The girl said, smiling. She was
building a house with her chips. “I want to play some more. Isn´t
it pretty?” She asked, slapping the table both sides of her
castle.

“
Ve . . . very pretty.” Judith said to
placate her.

“
I´d sit down again if I were you.” Alvaro
advised Dante. “Do what the girl says.”

Dante´s eyes were fixed on the dog, who at
that moment looked more like a black lion. The beast would rip the
businessman to bits in a matter a seconds if he was given the
command.

“
We aren´t playing!” The girl said glumly,
even sobbing for effect. “I want to play some more.” She demanded,
the sobbing coming to an end, as she swiped the house of chips with
the back of her hand, scattering them across the table.

Dante scurried back to his chair as quickly
as he could.

“
Just in case you haven´t realized it yet,
she´s not going to let you fight.” Judith informed them. "She´s
made it more than clear that she wants to play. I think it would be
better to do what she wants and not put this dog to the
test.”

Dante sat down at an odd angle on his chair.
Alvaro looked at him again, a memory activated somewhere in his
mind. Where had he seen him before? And then he suddenly
remembered, on television, on a news program. Yes, that was it!
Some sort of property scandal.