Page 7 of Atlas and the Traitor

Halfway through his second sweep, Atlas spotted his mark: Lucy Aguin, né Marin. According to the excavator he’d hired, Lucy was a recent transplant from the Huimen Enclave. She was also the dealer here with the newest license. Multiple angles he could work. He sidled up to the blackjack table she stood closest to.

“Good afternoon, sir,” the young woman greeted, as she stepped behind the table. “You know the rules?”

He placed two chips in the box at his position. “Hit me.”

A barely-there smile turned up one corner of her mouth before she righted her professional mask, perfectly neutral as she shuffled, then dealt two cards for him and two for herself. His two of hearts and three of diamonds gave him time to work. He tapped the table for another hit.

Seven of hearts, up to eleven, and Lucy wasn’t over yet either.

He doubled down, another chip in the box, and tapped the table again, flashing her a smile. “You’re new here.”

A blush warmed her tan cheeks, but she otherwise kept her tone as neutral as her expression. “My second month.”

Jack of diamonds; he was over.

Lucy wasn’t, hitting twenty with the last card.

“Well played,” he acknowledged, as she swept the table of cards and chips. He put another two in the box. “Are you from around here?” he asked, as she dealt another hand. He already knew she wasn’t, but it was the question a stranger would ask on the way to the answer he needed.

“Talahalusi,” she replied. “My husband’s family is here, though. I moved down after the wedding.”

“How’s the tribe treating you?”

She cocked a brow. “What do you know about tribes?”

Very little, anyone would guess on first glance. He was a pale white man with blond hair and green eyes, dressed in an expensive designer suit. But looks, Atlas knew, could be deceiving. He flicked two fingers just above his chips and turned them over with a tendril of green magic. “I know we’re on the same side.”

She gasped, then hastily flipped over the next card, a queen that pushed them both over twenty-one. She cleared their cards in a single sweep, knocking his hand aside in the process. “Don’t let them see you do that,” she whispered with a flick of her gaze toward the nearest eye in the sky. “They’ll throw you out if they think you’re cheating.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” he said with a wink, tapping the table for another round.

She dipped her chin, hiding her smile. “Areyoufrom around here?”

“Santa Maria, originally, but I’m in Yerba Buena now.”

“Ah!” she said, brightening. “I’m technically from the Huimen Enclave, but it’s easier to tell folks down here that I’m from Talahalusi.”

“I know the actual place,” Atlas said with a smile he hoped didn’t look too forced. He’d helped his former boss purchase cold-storage properties along the enclave’s borders in order to hide hostages in them.

“What brings you back this way?” Lucy asked.

“My brother passed.”

She paused mid-flip. “I’m sorry for your loss.” Then laid down the card, pushing him over twenty-one again. She apologized again before clearing the table.

“Thank you,” he said, chin lowered and swallowing hard, playing on her sympathy. He kept his gaze downcast as he put two more chips in the box. “I hear one of your elders here—Dyami, I think?—is particularly good at helping people with their grief.”

“White people don’t usually come to us seeking peace. You have churches and saints for that.”

He lifted his gaze, meeting her dark one. “You mean big buildings built to false idols?”

“Some say that about Dyami too.”

Her tone implied she was among thesome. “You’re not a fan?”

“I preferred our Miwok elders.”

“How are they?” he asked, feigning curiosity. “I heard about the sinkhole and what happened to Pati Miwra.” He’d engineered it in fact, kidnapping Pati for a giant Vincent had wanted to curry favor with. But as soon as Atlas had realized who she was—the tribe leader’s daughter—and what she carried—a child that could end the war between Nature and Chaos, that could spare him from his role in it, eventually—he’d made sure Pati was stashed at one of those cold storage properties with her protector. Quinn had ultimately sacrificed himself for her, and in so doing, had bought Mary, Paris, and their team enough time to rescue Pati and kill the giant.

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