Chapter 5: The Big Table
Teana stared up at the ceiling of her house, blinking. She could see the sun coming up out the window out of the corner of her left eye.
Not a single moment of sleep. Nothing even remotely resembling sleep. How can I sleep after what just happened? How will I ever sleep again?
She rolled over onto her left side, closing her eyes, then flailing onto her stomach. She licked her lips, then sighed.
"Dammit," she said, pushing herself up off the floor and getting to her feet. "Dammit."
.
Even though I live in a craphole like section six, I still have resources. When you have a lot of friends, you can generally get the things you need so long as you know who to talk to. And since I'm about to embark on an impossible task, I figure I need all the resources I need. My first stop is Amon-Ra. Good kid, does a lot of reading.
Teana knocked on the front door, waiting several seconds. She looked around, early morning sun beating down on the sand, baking it to extreme temperatures, par for the course in this area.
Being in that garden sure makes this place look a hundred times worse.
The door opened, a small boy with thin brown hair poking his head out and immediately smiling.
"Hey Amon-Ra," Teana said quietly. "Parents already gone?"
"Yup!" Amon-Ra answered. "How was the party?"
"Uh, something else," Teana said, walking into the house. "You uh, you got a minute? I got a couple questions."
"Of course, anything, come in."
Teana looked around the blank, bare room, not at all unlike her own, a few chairs in the center the only things of note. She turned to Amon-Ra.
"So...you still read a lot? Ever read about...Egyptian history?" Teana glanced around awkwardly.
"Of course, all the time," Amon-Ra responded. "What's up?"
"Well...my question is...princes and Pharaohs in Egyptian history, who did they...get with?" Teana asked, glancing around nervously.
"Get with?" Amon-Ra repeated.
"Yeah! Like, you know, who did they...uh...meet and...who did they...uh...well, marry. Who did they marry?" Teana relented.
"Oh! Marry, why didn't you say so?" Amon-Ra asked.
"Well, not my favorite word right now, but...it's always Princesses and Queens, right?"
Amon-Ra shook his head. "No, not at all. There aren't enough Princesses and Queens to go around. Maybe in the old days, sure, but now you have inbreeding concerns. There aren't nearly enough royal members out there, it can't always be that good of a fit."
Teana nodded. "Okay, so...I mean, it has to be a person of nobility, right? A woman from a noble family?"
"Most of the time, yes," Amon-Ra agreed. "That's typically where a woman starts out if she's going to marry into the royal family. I mean that's the first place princes look, usually."
"Alright, well. That's probably the answer I needed to hear," Teana said, shrugging. "Thanks."
"Not that that means anything,"
Teana looked at Amon-Ra. "What do you mean?"
"Well, what's a noble family?" Amon-Ra held his hands out. "Think about it, what does it mean to be a noble anyway? A noble family is just a family with a lot of gold, and has had a lot of gold for an extended period of time. If a poor family were to suddenly come into a large amount of gold, they'd become nobles too. So really, it's just about being well-known."
"Well-known?" Teana repeated quizzically.
"Yeah. Someone known by the public. Like, there was this peasant girl, fifty or sixty years ago, nothing special in terms of social status, but she won a beauty contest and was awarded the title of the most beautiful girl in all Egypt. And the Prince at the time, he scooped her up and she went from peasant to Princess just like that."
"So...it's a matter of fame?" Teana said slowly.
"Yeah, I mean...ultimately, gold talks. If you have gold, there's no obstacle you can't just bribe out of your way. As long as you have enough of the shiny yellow stuff, royals will warm right up to you." Amon-Ra shrugged. "It's not as hard as some people think. Not anymore."
"Well, thank you," Teana nodded. "You've been very helpful."
"What's up?" Amon-Ra asked. "Something going on?"
"I'm gonna keep this one close to the chest for now," Teana responded, smiling. "But thank you, you've been a great help." She turned back towards the door.
.
"This is the weirdest thing you've ever asked me," Sap said tenatively, looking the small piece of parchment over. "I don't even know what to say."
"What, is it gonna be really hard or something?" Teana asked. "Is it dangerous?"
"No, it's just...I don't get it." Sap shook his head. "What in your mind? What's going on? Come on, this stuff is...what's the deal?"
"It's...it's nothing, right now." Teana looked around. "I don't want to talk about it, it's...just, please, help me out with this. I'll fill you in when the time is right, just...do this for me?"
"Alright." Sap shrugged. "Man, I...well, I'll take care of it."
"As soon as possible, please," Teana said. "I'm trying to put together something here, something big, and I need this information."
Sap is a guy who can find out anything. He has friends in town, and if he asks around enough, he can get any information you want. He's a guy who can find things out. Just the man I need right now.
.
Teana sat on the edge of her bed, holding a large piece of parchment supported by a stone slab in her right hand. She pursed her lips, staring at the writing on it.
I don't know what I'm doing. This is against everything I've ever done. I'm a grinder. Always have been. When you're in my position, you have to be, or you wind up dead real quick. My life has always been about making safe choices that will definitely pan out. Maybe I'll never be wealthy, but I'll get what I need. No risks. And now what am I doing?
I can calculate all the figures I want, think about things all I want, and rationalize everything over and over, but there's no getting around the fact that I'm basically playing the lottery. I'm putting all my gold into the pot when I'm holding a farmer and a soldier of different sets. If the me from yesterday afternoon talked to me right now, old me would slap current me.
She heard a knock at the front door, immediately followed by the door swinging open. She rolled her eyes and set the slab down next to her on the bed, standing up slowly. Seconds later, Akiiki strode into the room.
"So, how screwed are we?" he asked quickly, leaning up against the wall to the left of the door entrance.
"Not at all, why do you ask?" Teana replied innocently, putting her hands behind her back and stretching out.
"Don't play dumb!" Akiiki snapped. "Ramses told us everything."
"Of course he did. He's a big jerkoff, he does things like that," Teana said, walking towards Akiiki slowly.
"Well, correct me if I'm wrong. But according to Ramses's telling of the story, we have three moon cycles before the Prince unleashes every soldier in the Egyptian army to hunt you down!" Akiiki shouted. "Now, I'm not one to panic, you know that, but I really think we need to be packing so we can flee for Sudan or something. Maybe further."
"Ramses is just trying to stir stuff up. It's what he does. There's no problem." Teana waved him off. "Calm down."
"W-well, you're gonna have to explain that a little bit," Akiiki stuttered, scowling. "Because as near as I can tell, there's a big problem. Like, we're three moon cycles away from every single person in Egypt hunting you down kind of problem. Why did you have to say three months?"
"It doesn't matter. You guys assume the worst about everything." She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the chin. "It's so adorable, seriously." Akiiki went slightly red. "Everything is fine. He'll forget I exist in three months. He may have already forgotten. If he hasn't, he will as soon as he meets another woman."
"You don't know that!" Akiiki insisted. "What if he really is obsessed with you? Then what? What's your plan then?"
Teana sighed, pushing past him out into the main room of her house. "Then he will look for me, not find me, stop looking for me, and we will all go on with our life. At worst, he wastes some taxpayer gold on the search for me. So what?"
"You better have one hell of a hiding place," Akiiki said. "I mean, the greatest hiding place ever. You don't understand, normal rules and restrictions don't apply to royals! He can have a million people marching through every single city in Egypt, looking in every single nook and cranny for you. You could bury yourself a thousand feet underneath the sands, and he'd dig you up! He will find you."
Teana shook her head, sitting down on her cushioned chair in the center of the room. "No, he won't. In three months, should our dear Prince be insane enough to actually remember our encounter, he will issue a search order for Teana, daughter of a moderately successful real estate owner. And such a search won't find me."
"Well, it's easy to think that, but...wait, you told him your real name?" Akiiki shrieked. "You idiot!"
"Yes, because it doesn't matter. Even if he himself sees me, he won't know I'm the girl he met last night." Teana looked up at the ceiling. "Him having my name is not relevant. It won't help him."
Akiiki collapsed onto one of the stools around the cushioned chair. "You're not considering all the angles, Teana! He'll be looking for a girl with your name who looks just like you. You think that coincidence will be lost on him?"
"Whoa, the girl at that party last night looks nothing like me. That's a ridiculous statement. He won't look twice at me, I look nothing like her. She may as well be a different person." Teana shook her head. "Not even close."
"You're underestimating the Prince!" Akiiki retorted. "He's going to find you, identify you, and when he finds out that you lied about who you were...he might burn this entire section to the ground out of anger! I really think we should at least move out of the country."
"We are not moving," Teana said with finality in her voice. "He probably wouldn't even...look in the sections, I mean why would the girl he met last night be here?"
Akiiki shook his head and sank down into the stool. "If he doesn't find you, he's going to declare war on Israel. You do realize that, right?"
Teana shrugged. "Oh well." She cleared her throat. "Besides. It doesn't necessarily have to come to that."
She sat there, looking away from Akiiki, almost sensing his glare.
"I'm listening," Akiiki said slowly. Almost on cue, the tension was broken, as the front door slammed shut. Teana spun around in a whirl and looked up to see Kafele, standing just inside the threshold.
"You should close your door," he said casually. "So, when do we make a run for it?"
"We're not going anywhere." Akiiki didn't turn to acknowledge Kafele, eyes on Teana. "Now be quiet, Teana's about to wow us all with a master plan to turn this situation around."
"I don't know what he's talking about, he's gone nuts," Teana said dismissively. "However, I do have an idea. An absurd, far-fetched one. One that I have half a mind to just dump right now, and one that I have no expectation to be assisted in, even by my trusted assistants. But, if you want to hear it...I suppose you've earned that much over the years."
Kafele quickly moved to sit down on the stool next to Akiiki. "I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't assist in any endeavor you engaged in."
"Well, wait until you hear this," Teana said, standing up. "I've put a lot of thought into it, and whatever reservations I may have about Atem's behavior last night...on some level, he really, really liked me. And, while there are a thousand reasons why it could never happen, I should at least make...some sort of effort to make it happen. After all, the reward should I succeed is large beyond my wildest dreams."
"So, long story short, you're hot for the Prince and you want him to bang you into the next moon cycle, got it," Akiiki said. Teana glared at him, narrowing her eyes.
"It's a business decision!" she insisted, nevertheless letting her cheeks go red. "I'd be foolish to pass up an opportunity to marry into the royal family! That's all. I have an opportunity, and I've decided to at least make an effort to take it!"
"Right, right, sure. Go on." Akiiki smirked to himself.
"So. As it stands right now, we could never be together, I think that much is obvious. Not only does our social class prevent such a union, I brazenly lied to him about everything." Teana cleared her throat. "So, in order to circumvent these obstacles, I need a lot of gold."
"Brilliant plan," Kafele deadpanned. "Eliminate problems with gold. How does this help us?"
"The way I see it, I need to be able to pass myself off as the daughter of someone moderately wealthy. I had Sap go into town today and fetch some prices." She started pacing around the room. "I need a nice place in the good part of town, a proper wardrobe, appropriate accessories...a lot of stuff. And I need enough after that to either make meaty investments in merchant ships or real estate."
"You better be getting one hell of a discount rate on all that," Akiiki said. "I mean, what are you thinking? What do we need?"
"If Sap's numbers are correct, and my estimations are right...two hundred and fifty thousand." Teana nodded. "If we get there, I'll be close enough to the lies I told Atem, I can make some stuff up to get around the rest."
"Oh," Kafele said. "And here I thought it was going to be difficult."
"I have like four hundred saved up," Akiiki added. "So...two hundred fourty nine thousand six hundred to go."
"I get the sense you guys aren't taking me seriously," Teana said, walking towards her bedroom. "I expected nothing less."
"Well, excuse us!" Akiiki retorted. "I don't have two hundred and fifty thousand gold debens laying around! If I did, I wouldn't be here. Oh, come on." Teana disappeared into her bedroom. "Look, I'm sorry if we hurt your feelings, but it's a completely ridiculous plan! It's not even a plan, it's a..." he got up, shook his head, and walked into the room after her. Kafele followed.
"Men. Always thinking small," Teana said quietly, taking a seat on the edge of her bed.
"Alright, I'll play along," Kafele said. "If we work really hard, save all our gold, and can actually find profitable games...two hundred and fifty thousand...I guess it would take ten years. Five if you stop giving gold out to the kids whenever they hold their palms out."
"Well, that'll never happen, so ten. Great way to spend ten years," Akiiki said loudly. "In ten years Prince Atem will probably be dead. He'll get killed by an assassin from Israel after he declares war on them." At that moment, Akiiki noticed three small sacks next to Teana on the bed. "What are those?"
"They're bags," Teana said dryly. "What, your eyes don't work?"
Akiiki rolled his eyes, walked over to the bed, and grabbed one of the sacks. "You know, I am trying to he-holy Ra!" He went bug-eyed as he looked down into the open sack. "Who did you kill?"
"What's up?" Kafele asked, stepping next to him and trying to peek down into the bag.
"Are these real?" Akiiki gasped, setting the sack down on the bed and feeling the other two with his hands. "They're real?"
"Every last one of them." Teana spread herself back out on the bed, closing her eyes and smiling.
Kafele picked up one of the bags, loosened the string keeping it closed, and then slowly dumped a stream of small diamonds out into his palm. The two young men looked the pile in Kafele's hand over, giving off strangled laughs.
"You boys done?" Teana asked.
"Where...how?" Akiiki demanded. "How?"
"Inspite of the best efforts of section six, the families I support have never been able to ask for gold faster than I made it. I've been playing cards for years, there's always been gold left over." Teana sighed. "When it got too much, I swapped it out for diamonds and hid it away. That's all of it."
"T-this is insane!" Kafele exclaimed. "This must be...at least ten thousand gold debens worth!" He carefully put the diamonds back in the sack, shut it, and gently put it back on the bed.
"Fifteen thousand." Teana sat back up, getting up on the edge of the bed. "Fifteen thousand gold debens."
"Teana...I...I don't-" Akiiki stuttered, but was cut off.
"I didn't want it to become public knowledge that I was keeping a large amount of diamonds in my hut, for obvious reasons," Teana said sternly. "It's nothing against you two. I didn't want anyone to know."
"No, I get that, but...what the hell are you doing here?" Akiiki asked. "You're sitting on fifteen thousand debens in diamonds and you're living in section six?"
"What would you guys do without me?" Teana said wryly. "Come on, if I left, all of you guys would be scooped within a year."
"You have fifteen thousand saved up and you're staying here to protect a bunch of losers like us?" Kafele asked. "Teana..."
"Yeah." Teana's smiled faded slightly. "I just wanted a big safety cushion to support you guys, but...you know, maybe it's time. Maybe it's like you guys say. I need to do something for myself. I need to...take a shot at something bigger and better. So, I'm gonna take a shot at this."
"Well, this certainly changes things," Kafele admitted. "I mean, fifteen thousand...getting to that point is the hard part, really! I mean, two fifty's the target, it'll be hard, we'll have to work, but I'd say...two years, we'll have it."
"I don't have two years," Teana said. "I don't need two years."
"Well, okay, what's life without a little risk...we'll have to find some bigger games, take some leaps of faith, but I'll say a year-"
"I don't have a year," Teana insisted. "You don't get it, Kafele. I'm done playing small games with amateurs. Those days are gone, it's time for real games. Serious games."
"If you're aiming for three moon cycles, that's just not gonna happen." Kafele shook his head. "Even if you could find the games, there's an absurd amount of risk involved. You'd have to play so aggressively in order to make that sort of gold, there's a better chance you lose everything. Besides, you'd never get a chance to play in those games."
"Three. I need one." Teana bit her lower lip. "One moon cycle, I'll have it."
"Teana, I love the boldness," Akiiki said. "You know me, I love bravery, but you're talking crazy right now. You can't get in those kinds of games. And even if you could, the risk...I mean, we'd be looking for a game with three hundred deben pre-card bets and raises of three thousand and six thousand. One string of bad cards and you lose everything."
Teana took in a deep breath. "Five hundred pre-card. No limit."
"Oh, Ra." Akiiki shook his head. "No limit is suicide, you know that. I can't believe you even said that."
"It doesn't matter anyway," Kafele pointed out. "She'll never get in a game like that."
"No. I can get in that game," Teana retorted, standing up and pointing at Akiiki and Kafele. "There's one game with those rules that I can get in. I'm sure of it. All I need is the one."
"You've gone mad," Akiiki muttered, looking up at the ceiling pleadingly. "Pray tell, which game?"
"There's a game that runs every three days not too far from here. They play five hundred pre-card bets, no limits on raising. I can get in, they meet tonight. The game mostly attracts wealthy people who get excited watching the cards come out. Sometimes it's hard for them to get enough people in the game. They'll bite."
"What game?" Akiiki repeated frantically.
Teana glanced around. "Aknekh's den."
"NO!" Kafele shouted, grabbing his hair. "How many millions of times have you told all of us, you know better than any of us, you never deal with Akhekh!"
She pointed at Kafele. "I said never borrow from Akhekh. I'm not borrowing from Akhekh, I'm taking from Akhekh. Big difference."
"Teana, I'm begging you, think about what you're saying," Akiiki pleaded. "You've spent a lifetime building yourself up piece by piece, and now you want to put everything in?"
"It's a calculated risk," Teana insisted. "I've been mastering this game over the past several years. I'm as good as anyone at it. I could beat most players without even looking at any of the cards at this point. I want to sit at the big table."
"Teana, this isn't about pride!" Kafele shouted. "This isn't about social status or being famous or sitting at the big table! You've always said it was about gold!"
"There's gold. Plenty of it," Teana responded. "Tonight, I walk in there with fifteen thousand gold debens. Akhekh might have to think about it, but I know that man. He cares for nothing but gold, everything else is secondary. Doesn't matter that I'm a woman, he's not going to pass up the chance to have fifteen thousand gold debens in his den. He'll let me in the game. I'll take him and whatever other rich suckers he's attracted. I come back in the morning, fifty-five or sixty thousand in my pocket. Then, we hit the casinos."
"Now I know you're nuts." Akiiki walked up to Teana and grabbed the front of her robes. "Look, maybe that Akhekh stuff you said is at least feasible, but you will never, ever play in the casinos. No woman will play cards in a casino in our lifetime."
"Women never ask to play in a casino," Teana said, pushing Akiiki away from her and crossing her arms over her chest. "Women not being allowed to play cards is not a law. It's an unwritten, unspoken understanding that can easily be overturned in the right situation."
"Yes, easily overturned in small, private games. But in a casino, it will never happen. It's worthless to even try!" Kafele sat down heavily at the foot of the bed. "Come on, you can't honestly think-"
"Maybe they won't go for it the first time we try, or the second. It might not be an immediate thing, but casinos are all about profit. And while they might turn away they average woman player, who are extremely rare and typically low on gold since cards is considered an improper hobby for a wealthy woman to have, eventually they will buckle to me. They won't be able to pass on having a sixty thousand deben player playing in their house! No one can pass that up. Casinos are about gold too." Teana pounded her left fist into her right hand. "I will get into a casino, and I'll play the high-stakes games. Mostly rich amateurs and middling players, I can clean them out. A couple of visits later, I have my quarter million debens."
"This is nuts," Kafele uttered, putting his head in his hands. "You are talking about putting everything you have, and I mean everything, at risk in a high-stakes game of cards! One string of cold cards and you're done for! One bad beat, and you're cleaned out! And not just once, no, you're talking about multiple high-stakes games in a row. You get unlucky once, just once, and it's all over!"
"It's not luck." Teana pursed her lips. "Maybe the high-stakes games attract expert players here and there, but they're mostly average-at-best. I can always beat those guys. The cards don't matter. I can do this. I can get enough gold to tend to the situation with the Prince, and I'll be able to help everyone in section six once and for all. We can leave this place."
"Teana, I...I don't even know what to tell you." Akiiki puffed out his cheeks as he exhaled deeply. "You shouldn't be messing with Akhekh, under any circumstance. He's not just a loan shark, he's considered to be one of the premiere card players in all of Egypt. It's how he built up most of his fortune! This is a real risk!"
"I know he's good." Teana nodded. "He's really good. But I can take him. I know I can take him."
"We got a good thing going here, Teana," Kafele reminded her. "A real good thing. We'll never live in a palace, but we'll never go hungry. Think about what you're doing."
"I have thought about it, all of last night. It's a solid plan, and I can handle it. Now, I need to take a nap so I'm well-rested for tonight." Teana shooed them towards the door.
Kafele opened his mouth, then closed it, shook his head, and walked out of the room. Akiiki watched Kafele disappear, then turned towards Teana.
"Teana. I...well, anything I can do to help, I'm yours," Akiiki choked out, resignation in his voice.
"Thank you for your support. Your tone fills me with confidence," Teana deadpanned.
"No, I'm serious. Maybe it's...maybe it's not what I would do, but it's your life and I respect your decision. And I'm sorry about...flipping out on you just now, it's just shocking and...I do worry about you. I want to protect you."
Teana stepped forward and gave him a quick hug, then grabbed him and spun him around towards the door. "It's appreciated. But I'm a big girl."
"Yeah, you know, it's not our place, it's your gold." He slowly walked towards the door. "I mean, if I was in that...but no, it's your call. Good luck."
He departed the room, and Teana stared at the empty doorway for a few seconds, heaving a sigh.
.
Akhekh got his start with the Werens, a criminal organization that terrorized Egypt for a few decades awhile back. They had their hand in everything. Robbery, murder, extortion, bribery...whatever else you care to name. Finally, Pharaoh Aknamkanon decided he had enough and focused his efforts on ending their reign. By the time he was done, there was nothing left of the Werens but the handful of high ranking members smart enough to surrender.
Akhekh was one of them. He also had enough gold saved up to bribe everyone involved in the legal process, and ended up serving six moon cycles in prison before getting released. Now, he settles for doing work on the shady side of life, instead of the outright illegal. He hosts a high-stakes card game and dishes out gold loans to those in need with high interest rates.
He's certainly not a good guy, but by all accounts, his illegal activities are a thing of the past. I don't need him to be a nice guy to take his gold. He's just a stepping stone on my way to the Prince and the palace.
Teana adjusted the bag hanging from her shoulder, then went down the steps towards the door that was sunk below ground level in the side of the building. Her sandals clopped along the stone steps, and then she knocked on the door.
She waited a few seconds, then a thin panel of wood at eye-level on the door slid open and a pair of eyes peeked out at her.
"Main entrance is on the other side," a man's voice said quickly, then the slat shut back up.
"I'm not going through the main entrance!" Teana called out. "I'm here to see Akhekh."
A long pause. Then the slat slid back open. "What's your business?"
"I'm here to play. At the big table," Teana said. "Open the door."
The man on the other side sighed. "I'm not opening the door. Scram."
"If you don't open the door, I'll go in through the main entrance, find the stairs, and come in that way. Either deal with me now or deal with me later." Teana leaned up against the wall next to the door, looking down at her fingernails.
The wooden slat slid back closed, then the door slowly creeked open. "Alright. Maybe you're new to this town, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt once. But I'm only gonna say this once. In this city, women don't play cards. Akhekh doesn't want you in his card game, and in here, his word is law. Now beat it."
Teana simply stuck her foot past the threshold, folding her arms over her chest. "These are matters beyond the understanding of a doorman. I want to talk to your boss."
"I think you've forgotten your place," the man hissed. "You should leave before I get really mad."
"You're in charge of baby-sitting a door. I wouldn't talk about 'place'," Teana retorted.
"PRIDEFUL BITCH!" he roared, grabbing her by the collar and yanking her into the hallway. "You have NO idea the responsibility I have in this place. NO IDEA!"
"Hey."
Both the doorman and Teana turned their heads to look down the hall. Standing at the end of the stone path was a middle aged bald man in a blood red robe with a long, thick black beard.
"We can hear you in the card room. Keep it down. I have a bar upstairs, you know, you might scare the guests."
"S-sorry, sir," the doorman stuttered. "I'm just handling a situation."
"You can't even handle your emotions," Teana spat. "Now put me down."
Reluctantly, with a long pause, the man set Teana down, allowing her to stand inside the hall now.
"You're Akhekh, right?" Teana asked, looking the man over. He was tall and thin, a full head taller than her, his robe clinging tightly to his body. "Just the man I wanted to see."
"You can talk to my accountants upstairs about loans, now buzz off," Aknekh said, waving towards the door behind Teana.
"I don't want a loan," Teana said loudly, taking one step down the hall before being grabbed by the doorman. She roughly pushed him away, glaring at him before turning back to Akhekh. "I'm here to play cards. At the big table."
Aknekh furrowed his brow, then put his hands on his hips and looked up at the ceiling of the hall. "No women at the table," he said gruffly.
"Scared? I understand," Teana said as he tried to turn away and leave the hallway. He froze, then turned back to her, scowling.
"Minimum buy-in of ten thousand gold debens to play at my table," he grunted.
"That's fine," Teana said, smirking. "I got fifteen thousand reasons why I belong at your table." She took a few more steps towards him, then tossed the bag over her shoulder to him.
He caught it, then pulled the drawstring open and peeked inside. He reached inside and pulled out a smaller, brown sack, then pulled that one open. He looked over at her, a suspicious glare at her.
"Count it if you want to." She raised an eyebrow.
Aknekh closed the sack, dropped it back into the bag, then tossed it back to her. He bit his cheek, glancing at the hallway wall, eyes darting around. "You want to play cards?"
"That's what I said." Teana nodded, putting the sack back over her back. "But, if those are the rules..." she spun around and slowly ambled back towards the door.
"Wait," Anhekh grunted, holding his hand out towards her. "Come on." He jerked his head towards the doorway in the side of the hallway next to him.
"You're joking," the doorman said, shoulders drooping. "Come on, boss, don't tell me-"
"Hey, you!" Akhekh pointed at the doorman. "You worry about watching the door...whatever your name is."
Teana turned around and shot a nasty smile at the doorman, then turned and followed Akhekh into the next room.
"Five hundred pre-card bets. No limit," Akhekh said in his deep, gutteral voice. "Double spot rotates around. And in my building, we play with chips."
The two entered a dark, seedy-looking room with a single stone table and four men sitting around it. Each man had a pile of wooden pieces in front of them. A few barrels were across the room against the far wall, and there was a counter on the right side. Behind the counter was a man, standing there and watching the table with unblinking eyes.
"Go," Akhekh instructed, pointing at the counter. "Get chips."
Teana sauntered over to the counter, slamming her bag onto the counter top and looking up at the man. "Fifteen thousand."
The man eyed the bag for a section, then bent down to grab something. He came up with a large box filled to the brim with an assorted collection of perfectly cut wooden circles with numbers written on them.
"Fifteen thousand coming up."