Later that evening, Jean and I enter back into the tournament room with new perspectives. He told me he will do what he thinks is best, and I told him that my uncle will keep me safe, and by extension, him as well. I have been trying to sway him on the idea of assisting MI6 in return for protection, though; he seems to be warming up to the idea slowly.
The players take their places around the table. Kratt and I sit by the bar, along with Vesper and my uncle's other friend who accompanied him. As I'm chatting with Vesper, a new hand is dealt; Jean looks unsure of himself, while uncle Jim is watching him like a hawk.
Jean looks at his card again and places his index finger by his eye to keep it from twitching. I see Jim's eyes brighten, assuming he's witnessed a tell.
One of the players, Mr. Wolpert, pushes a large pile of chips on the table.
"Three hundred thousand."
Jean calls, and Jim follows suit. The room is silent as everyone waits for the next card to be flipped up. A king. Jim looks pleased with himself, while Jean looks implacable.
"A million," Jean says as he pushes nearly all of his chips forward.
Jim pushes every chip he has in.
"Six and a half."
Jean looks shocked, while Wolpert folds. The time has come to see if Jim made a smart move. He fans out his cards on the table; a full house. Jean lays down his cards, two Jacks; four of a kind. Jim sits there, frozen and defeated. Jean merely smiles and gets up from the table. He grabs my hand as he walks by, pulling along to the casino. I look back at Uncle Jim, to see him following us with a determined look in his eyes.
We pass through the high rollers tables, Jean saying hello to the people he knows as I nod and smile. He puts his hand on my hip and keeps me close to him. We make our way down the stairs to the lobby, uncle Jim hot on our tracks.
We briefly make eye contact; a look of 'Sorry, Evie' is on his face. I look down to his hands and see he's wielding a knife. My eyes widen as I go into panic mode. He's intercepted by Wolpert before he can even begin his descent down the stairs after Jean. I let out a deep sigh of relief.
They begin talking into each other's ears, uncle Jim throwing us a strange look.
'Not out of the woods yet, apparently.'
I try to put my worries at the back of my mind as I notice we're coming into the restaurant attached to the hotel.
"Ваш најбољи сто, молим," Jean says in perfect Serbian, a pleased look on his face.
("Your best table, please.")
The host nods and seats us in front of the French windows looking out into the street. The buildings are lit up for the early evening and the misty summer air makes everything look incredibly lush. It's pretty enough to almost make me forget the crisis we're all in.
Jean reaches across the table and takes my hands in his.
"You seem stressed."
"Aren't you?"
"Not overly. The last hand we played put the odds in my favor, and your uncle is out of the game."
"Maybe. I saw him and that Wolpert man talking; I think he's going to stake him a rebuy in."
"No matter. If I win one or two more hands, we're safe."
"And if you don't?"
"... I will."
The rest of the meal goes by quietly with occasional small talk. We go to join the game again, and sure enough, uncle Jim is back in. I take a seat at the bar between Kratt and Vesper and try to not talk to either of them, not letting on that I'm on either side.
I notice Kratt turn around and order something from the bar after the server places uncle Jim's order of his usual martini. I turn my attention back to the table and quietly observe the game. The server takes his cocktail to him, and something feels… off. Uncle Jim suddenly looks distressed and quickly excuses himself.
'He wouldn't…'
I turn to Kratt.
"Did you just drug my uncle?," I whisper in his ear harshly.
He looks down, but says nothing.
"Did he order you to?"
Once again, silence.
I look at Jean, then at Vesper. I lean in towards her.
"Go check on him. I'm positive he was just poisoned," I tell her.
Her eyes widen and she scurries off in his direction. I feel Jean's eyes on me, and turn to catch his gaze. I feel a scowl overtake my face. He gives me a regretful look. He sends me a text.
'It had to be done, darling. I'm very sorry. It was him or us.'
I feel my tears spring to my eyes, my body going rigid. He begins to look worried. He nods to Kratt, and I feel him place a hand on my shoulder.
"Come, let's go get some fresh air."
My body feels numb as he leads me outside.
"Are you okay?"
"I… I don't know. My boyfriend just had my uncle poisoned; how would you be?"
He looks down in shame. I can't help but let out a sob, the stress and anxiety getting to me.
"I don't know what to do… My uncle is the good guy, but Jean… he's my world. I can't be loyal to one without betraying the other."
"Honestly, is one side better than the other? Your uncle's people use violence and killing to try to keep peace, whereas our people use it to let the bad people destroy each other. Your uncle would let not only his life be taken, but yours too, if it meant him fulfilling his duty. Le Chiffre, though… he would tear apart anyone who would try to do you harm."
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Jim's first allegiance is to MI6 and the government, not his own family; if he had to, I would be a necessary sacrifice.
"I suppose you're right. And either way, innocent people get hurt with them doing their jobs."
He simply nods.
I see Jim and Vesper walking back into the building; he had obviously survived.
"I'm still not exactly happy you two tried to kill my uncle, though."
"Fair."
Once I've calmed down, we go back and take our seats at the bar. Jean does not look pleased when Jim sits down in front of him. Another hand is dealt. Infante, Jim, and Fukutu all put a million in.
"Five," Jean raises, and the others match.
"... Ten," Jean says confidently.
He and uncle Jim stare each other down.
"... All in," Jim says confidently, shocking the entire room into silence.
"Very well," and Jean pushes his huge mountain of chips forward.
"Gentlemen, please show your cards."
Infante and Fukutu both have low full houses; Jean lays down his hand with a wolfish grin, showing a superior full house. Then, Jim lays down his cards… Aflush.
"It appears your flush is the low hand," Jean gloats.
"Yes, but my straight flush isn't," Jim announces with pride.
The crowd is in awe as the color drains from Jean's face and he stares in defeat at the table. A globule of bright red blood gathers in the corner of his eye. He stands abruptly and comes around the table, grabbing my wrist and taking me with him out of sight. We march up to the room. He swings the door open and we rush inside.
"Jean…?"
"I need to think, Evie."
"You know we can go and take him up on his offer. We could both be sa-"
"NO, Evie, we won't be."
"Then… Then we'll run…"
"That won't work either. We have only one choice; we have to get his password out of him."
"... How?"
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it. Leave it to me."
"Just, please, don't hurt him."
Based on the fact he didn't acknowledge the last part, I assume he's not too keen on agreeing to the condition.
We see Jim and Vesper go outside. Seconds later, Vesper is shoved into a car, and they drive off. Jim hops into his car and floors it to follow then. We all hop into an envoy of cars to follow him. We drive about half an hour and come up to his car, wrecked off the road, and Vesper lying in the road. Kratt and the security team get out first, dragging him out of the wreckage and laying them out, both still alive.
Jean and I both approach him cautiously. Once his eyes flutter open, I begin to dive for him to see if he's okay, but Jean stops me.
Kratt bends down and cuts his tracking device out of his arm.
Jean takes out his inhaler and removes a tracer from the shell. He takes out his phone and makes a call.
"Mathis? We got him."
He hangs up and turns to Jim with a smug look.
"I'm afraid your friend Mathis was my friend Mathis."
Kratt knocks him unconscious and shoves him into the back of the car with Vesper.
We get back into our car. We drive on another hour, and pull up to a seemingly abandoned cottage in the middle of nowhere. Once the cars come to a stop, the security team hauls Jim and Vesper into the house. Jean and I follow behind them. They take them to the basement, and I get a nauseated feeling.
"Jean, are you going to kill them?"
He sighs and cups my cheek.
"I hope I don't have to. It's completely up to them though. If he wants to cooperate, then no; if he wants to be stubborn, then it might have to come to that."
"Jean…"
"Remember, this is to keep us both safe. If your uncle wants you to not have to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life, he won't put up a fight."
And with that, he disappears behind the doors. There's a few minutes of tense silence, then I start to hear screaming, which I assume is coming from Jim and Vesper. The longer the yelling and groaning goes on, the less I can stand it.
'There has to be a way to end this, whether he gives the code or not… but how? Maybe if I can figure the password out, it will just be done with.'
I begin to think back to when I watched him enter the code on the laptop at the beginning of the game.
'It looked to be about six numbers; first his hand looked like it was close to "7", then the second being "2" as well as the fifth… He was spelling something out; so it would be V-E-_-_-E-_….'
I go through a list of things that might be important to him, but the only thing I can think of that even has those letters is…
"Vesper… VESPER!"
I run down the stairs with lightning speed, and start banging on the door.
"JEAN! JEAN! I KNOW THE PASSCODE!"