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Duke Thomas didn’t particularly consider himself a skilled card player.
Don’t get him wrong, he liked playing cards. Unlike the rest of the kids that Bruce Wayne had taken in, Duke had hobbies that weren’t criminal. Like stalking (cough, Tim) stabbing (cough, Damian) being an assassin (cough, Cass) or cutting off traffickers’ heads (cough, Jason).
Okay, that last part Duke didn’t have a huge problem with. He didn’t want to see the heads, though.
And after all that, someone would think that Steph and Dick were the normal ones in the family.
A bead of sweat rolled down Duke’s back.
No. Dick could bend himself like a slinky and Steph refused to wear an outfit that didn’t incorporate the color purple. They weren’t normal.
He kept a poker face as he stared at the cards in his hand. Two, three, ten, and king of clubs; three, six, and nine of spades; three, four, and queen of diamonds; and two, five, and king of hearts.
At least he didn’t have the Queen of Spades. Duke hated playing with the Queen of Spades. Dad always said it was better to keep it close, but Duke was pretty sure he said that because he liked to bully it out of Duke as they played each round until he had no choice but to put down the card and collect thirteen points.
He usually liked playing Hearts. Dad taught him how to play when he was much younger with Mom and Cousin Jay. Sometimes they took it seriously. Sometimes Mom and Dad had glasses of wine in their hands and Duke and Jay were hopped up on too much sugar and they threw the cards down and fell over, clutching their sides in laughter when someone made a mistake.
Duke had never played for someone’s life before.
He didn’t enjoy the stress.
“All right,” said the man directly across from him. “Let’s get started. Everyone ready to pass?”
Duke passed the King of Clubs, Six of Spades, and Queen of Diamonds across the table.
He received the Ace of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, and the fucking Queen of Spades.
He hated the Queen of Spades.
Why couldn’t they have chosen a game of poker to gamble on?
Because Duke had the Two of Clubs, he put that card down first. The table proceeded in clockwise order: the woman to Duke’s left put down the Queen of Clubs. The man across from Duke put down the Nine of Clubs. Steph, who was gagged and strapped into the chair on Duke’s right, put down the Ace of Clubs.
She collected the trick and placed down the King of Diamonds. Duke put down the Ace of Diamonds and, once the man and woman set down lower diamonds, he took the trick.
Nine of Spades. That was safe, right? He had the queen and ace, but someone had the ten, king, and jack. Even if they didn’t, he probably wouldn’t take any points. It was rare for someone to break hearts on the third trick of the game.
All spades: ten, Jack, and Steph threw down the King. She collected the trick, then put down the Five of Spades.
Not a big deal, Duke reminded himself. He had the Ace and Three of Spades before he had to play the Queen. Except Steph had just thrown down the King, so Duke now had the highest Spades in the deck in his hand.
It was exactly how Dad used to bully him into throwing down the Queen.
Duke threw down the Ace. The woman and man responded with the Six and Eight of Spades, respectively, and Duke took the trick. He’d still taken no points—no one had broken hearts yet.
Four of Diamonds.
Steph took the trick and put down the Eight of Clubs. Duke realized, another bead of sweat trickling down his back, that he didn’t know if Steph actually knew how to play Hearts.
He responded with the Ten of Clubs and took the trick.
“Not looking so good for you, is it, Signal?” the woman taunted. “Six tricks in and we haven’t taken a single one.”
“I didn’t think you’d resort to distracting me to win,” Duke replied through a dry throat, extremely aware of the gun that was pointed at the back of Steph’s head.
She scoffed. “I don’t need to distract you to win.”
“So why are you?”
He put down the Three of Diamonds. Steph took the trick. Still no Hearts played. What the hell?
Steph took the next trick, too, which wiped out all the clubs from Duke’s hand. Then she played the Four of Hearts, even though hearts hadn’t been broken yet.
Which meant she only had hearts left in her hand.
Duke only had hearts and two spades. He played the Five of Hearts.
The man finally took a trick. It was worth four points. His face went red and he scowled, then put down the Four of Spades.
He knew someone had the Queen of Spades, and he wanted to force their hand.
Duke’s back felt damp. He played the Three of Spades after Steph played a heart. The woman played the Two of Spades and the man took the trick.
He played the Seven of Spades.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Duke had to follow the leading suit. He kept his face impassive as he laid down the Queen of Spades.
The woman, just his luck, didn’t have any more Spades. She put down a heart and Duke took the trick worth fifteen points.
Duke only had the two and King of Hearts left. He played the two. He didn’t want to lead the last round. He was terrible at counting cards, but someone had to have a card that wasn’t a Heart, right?
The man threw down the Six of Clubs and everyone else laid down their hands. Steph and Duke put down their hearts, and the woman put down a Diamond.
Fuck.
Duke had had one job, and he’d messed it up. All he had to do was not lose a card game. How hard was it? For him, apparently, pretty damn hard. He’d collected fifteen points in the round, and the man had collected eleven. Steph and the woman had gotten out scot-free.
Duke had collected the most points; he had lost.
Why hadn’t anyone tracked them down yet?
“You’re out,” the man said, grinning evilly. The woman smirked.
“Told you I didn’t need to distract you,” she gloated.
Duke set his jaw and said nothing. He leaned back in the chair and pretended to be relaxed.
The rules had been clear: as long as a Bat was in the game, Steph would keep her brains inside her body. Duke had flubbed out the first round, so she had to win the next to stay alive.
The game started out okay. The woman led with the Two of Clubs and took the first two tricks. Steph took the third and hearts broke on the fourth, which went to the man. The points were distributed more evenly this round, at least until the last two tricks when every player had exhausted all their suits except for their hearts.
Steph collected both the tricks.
Duke’s stomach dropped. That was nine points for her in total. The man had also collected nine, and the woman had collected eight.
Sweat shone on Steph’s forehead as she glanced at Duke. He tried to give her a reassuring nod, but was pretty sure it wasn’t comforting.
They played the round again.
Steph lost.