“I understand you may be giving me what I want. Tell me how.”

“I’m going to lure Volkov into a poker game. It will take place in the mountains at that casino where Walker sent us that note. Volkov will almost certainly try to set up a trap, which I’ll counter. But as soon as Volkov gets angry enough, he’ll send in the big guns. At that point, we’ll have to turn the trap against him. You’ll have to take them out, either before or after that happens.”

“And he’ll get angry enough? Why?”

“It’s a poker game, Rennell. The reason he killed Sandrino was that he hated to lose.” He added bitterly, “And I guarantee to add considerable salt to the wound this time.”

“But you’re going to let me take him out.”

“No promises. You’ll have an opportunity.” He added grimly, “But I might get there first.”

“An opportunity is usually all I need. Who’s checking out the site?”

“Mallory. He’ll have a report today.”

“He’s good. But I might want to do an additional follow-up myself.”

“Go ahead. But don’t make the follow-up a sniper bullet into Volkov.”

“I won’t. You promised me extreme pain for him if I waited.” He added coldly, “For that, I can be patient.”

* * *

Volkov didn’t call Tanner until nearly eleven that night.

Lara tensed and then sat up straight on the couch. She looked across the room at Tanner. He nodded, waited for another ring, and then answered. “Hello, Volkov. Have you had a good day?”

“What are you trying to pull, Tanner?” Volkov broke out explosively. “Why didn’t you answer my call last night? You can’t play games with me. I made you an offer.”

“So you did. But I told you that it wasn’t going to be that easy. We have to deal with my loss before I consider your offer. I’ve been thinking for a long time about what I’ll need to make me happy.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Volkov said warily.

“Sandrino. You might have heard we had sort of a…relationship. Though it was definitely up and down, and we were both competitive as hell. No matter how I tried, I could never beat him. I was even a little relieved when he disappeared, and everyone knew that I was the best in the world.”

“I heard you were good,” Volkov said sarcastically. “No one told me you were the best. A little bloated ego, Tanner?”

“If you didn’t hear it, it must be because we travel in different circles. These days players beg me for a game, just as they once did Sandrino.” He paused. “Did you beg him to let you join that poker game when you were in Ukraine? Maybe you should have sat that one out. I heard it didn’t go well for you.”

Silence. “You know about Ukraine?”

“Of course. It was my duty to look for Sandrino when he suddenly disappeared. Everyone knew that he’d set himself up as my mentor. I had to at least pretend to show him homage. It surprised me a little that he even bothered with that unimportant game in Ukraine. But when I heard he left there for brighter horizons, I just dropped the search and went back to running my own life and building my portfolio. I thought he was through with you, too.” He paused. “Until I got a text a couple of years later from an old friend of yours, Lenny Walker, asking for money and telling me if I’d come to Las Vegas he’d tell me how you’d lured Sandrino here for a big game. I ignored it. I was having financial problems with a few of my own casinos at the time, and I wasn’t about to pour cash anywhere but into my own bank accounts. Besides, by that time I was very comfortable not having to share space at the top with Sandrino.”