“More than likely.” His voice was hard. “But we have to be absolutely sure. We owe him that. We belong to a very special club, and I won’t let you walk away. I might need you.” His lips twisted. “Because Sandrino always said you were very lethal. He made sure of that when he made you join the army when all you wanted to do was trail around with him instead. He told me once that you were too good with the numbers, even better than him, and there would always be someone who would target you.”

“No one was better than him.” Tanner frowned. “And he didn’t tell me that.”

“Because he was jealous. What he felt for you was complicated. You were the closest thing to a son that he’d ever known, so he cared about you. But no one was more competitive than Sandrino. When he ran across you in that bar and found out how good you were, he had to make a few mental adjustments. You were lucky his generosity was stronger than his ego.” He paused. “And that you were so starstruck, you deliberately blinded yourself to the fact that you could have beaten him whenever you wished.”

“He was brilliant. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He was human. I was glad that you didn’t get it in your head to hurt his ego. I would have had to punish you. And though I would have enjoyed that quite a few times during those years, I couldn’t risk Sandrino losing whatever he had going with you. It made him happier. He deserved to be happy.”

“Because you cared about him, too. I suppose I always knew that, but I never understood how much. You weren’t about to let anyone close enough to see that deep.” He was silent for an instant and then added abruptly, “Okay, I knew after a month here that I could take him down. But I was never even tempted to show Sandrino that he was less than he thought himself to be.” He grimaced. “Though it was difficult as hell. It was too much like cheating, and it would have been easy to slip back. But it got easier after a while and I just kind of coasted when we were playing. I suppose I wasn’t as good as I thought I was.”