Page 49 of Texas Hold Em'
“Hey look, it’s the dynamic duo.” Abel flashed us a white smile and hooked his thumbs in his jeans. His pants were covered in grime and oil, and he had a dark smear across his nose, most likely from scratching an itch with a grease-covered finger.
Tex met Abel with a clasping of hands and a shoulder bump. When they broke apart, Tex looked around at them all. “Boys, we need to talk.”
Suzie stood and wiped her hands on her coveralls. “Does that mean I have to leave?”
I wanted her to stay. There was something comforting about another woman’s presence in the testosterone-filled shop.
Jackson shrugged. “You can stay, Suzie. What’s this about, Tex?”
Tex and I shared a look before he cleared his throat. “Maybe we should move up onto the deck and sit down. We’ve got a lot to tell you.”
The next half hour was a special kind of torture for me. I wasn’t good at sitting quiet and still like a good girl while a group of men shot me mistrusting glances and muttered behind their hands about the quality of my character. Jackson didn’t bother hiding his irritationwith me. He shook his head at me often, massaged his brow with two fingertips, and rolled his eyes half a dozen times before Tex wrapped up the story shortly after telling them Bates demanded Tex’s death in order to secure the deal on Friday night.
“It’s Tuesday,” Suzie said. “All of this is supposed to go down in the next three days?”
“Pretty much,” Tex said.
Suzie surprised me by shooting me a scornful look. “Have you learned your lesson yet? You’re fucking with our lives, Carrie. Do you get that?”
I looked at my hands in my lap and nodded.Yes, I get it.
“We’re not going through with this,” Jackson said almost dismissively. He waved a hand in his sister’s direction, dismissing her concern with nonchalance. “It’s too messy. And what, we’re supposed to sacrifice one of our own to get our hands around Bates’s throat? No. I don’t think so. We need a new plan.”
“We’re not going to get a better opportunity, Jackson.” Tex turned to Brody, who sat on his other side. “Chips, how long can a person’s heart be stopped for?”
“No,” I blurted out.Shit.I was supposed to keep quiet. Buthellno. “Nobody is stopping anyone’s heart. That’s batshit.”
Brody nodded. “What she said.”
“Indulge me,” Tex said.
Brody ran a hand over his head with a sigh. “Four to six minutes, tops.”
Tex’s gaze slid slowly toward Jackson. “That’s just enough time to convince Bates I’m a goner.”
Suzie’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy?”
“Of course he’s crazy,” Gabriel muttered.
“You can’t go through with it, brother,” Mason said, shaking his head. “There are too many variables we can’t control. Yes, we want Bates dead, but putting one of our own down in order to achieve that end? That’s not who we are.”
“Chips can bring me back,” Tex said matter-of-factly.
My stomach churned.No, no, no.This wasnotwhat I’d signed up for.
“It’s not always that simple,” Brody said. “There’s a very high chance I couldn’t bring you back.”
“I’m willing to risk it,” Tex said. “Jackson, think of your brother. Think of Tracy. They didn’t deserve what they got, and they won’t be the last souls Bates crushes if he’s given more days on this fucking planet. We have to finish him, and Carrie, although somewhat misguidedly, has created a controlled situation out of town where we can get this done. If we don’t take this chance we may never get another one like it. When Bates is gone you won’t have to worry about leaving Samantha home alone, or the bar, or your sister. Everyone will be able to breathe again.”
Jackson stroked his chin thoughtfully, but his eyes burned with frustration.
Knox, who sat on Mason’s other side, spoke for the first time since we’d all sat down. “Theoretically, let’s say we do this. How would it work, Chips?”
Brody looked around at the group with dismay.
Jackson nodded. “Go ahead.”
The doctor shifted uncomfortably before he spoke, and it made me almost relieved to see that the thought of temporarily killing one of his friends bothered him so much. “Theoretically, I could stop his heart with an electric shock. Six minutes is the maximum amount of time he could stay down, and even that is pushing it. I wouldn’t want to go past four if we could help it. I’d restart his heart. But none of this is an exact science. There’s no guarantee how your heart and your body will respond. There are variables I’d want to know. Blood pressure, for example. Heart condition. You smoke like a fucking chimney, Tex. There’s no way your insides are healthy.”
