Tanner finally nodded. “Then I’ll raise you…thirty thousand more.” He placed another stack of chips into the middle of the table.

Anton, who was acting as croupier now, inhaled sharply.

Volkov’s gaze narrowed on Tanner. Lara remembered that she’d once overheard him tell Anton that he could always tell more from a man’s hands than from his face. She wished she’d mentioned that to Tanner, but it was too late now.

No matter, she realized. Tanner’s hands were rock-steady, and his face was totally relaxed.

Volkov smiled. “I fold.” He tossed his cards down faceup to reveal he was holding a pair of fours with his two-card hand and pairs of Jacks and Kings in the other. Far better than what Tanner had. “Perhaps my sixty thousand dollars earns me the right to see what you were holding.”

“It’s now my sixty thousand.” Tanner pulled the chips over to his side of the table. “If you wanted to see my cards, you knew the price, Volkov. Deal, please.”

Volkov was clearly annoyed, but he dealt again. In the games that followed, Volkov continued losing. Badly. Tanner’s controlled, steely strategies in the early rounds had given Volkov a false sense of his opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, Lara thought. Which, she realized, was Tanner’s plan.

Volkov realized it, too, but any adjustments he tried to make only added to his woes. Tanner was always one step ahead, anticipating Volkov’s moves and countermoves with almost uncanny ability.

After an hour, Tanner leaned back in his chair. “The fates haven’t been good to you tonight. Perhaps I should let you off the hook.”

“Stay where you are,” Volkov snarled. “It can all change on a dime, as you know.”

“Yes, as we’ve seen tonight. But the stakes are still too low to hold my interest. I’m getting bored, Volkov.”

“I can promise that things will soon get much more exciting for you.” Volkov spoke it as a threat.

Tanner tilted his head. “Is that right?”

“I guarantee it.”

“I see.” He looked down at his chips. “By my reckoning, I have almost one point two million dollars of your money here.”

“Almost.”

“But these are just chips. I’d feel more comfortable if I had cash, rather than these pieces of wood.”

“You don’t think I’m good for it?”

“We both know men who claim to be billionaires but can’t afford to pay their gardening bill. Let’s just say I’d feel more comfortable with a bit more evidence.”

“You insult me, Tanner.”

“I wouldn’t want to do that. But you don’t have the most ethical reputation, and I told you that I have to recoup my finances. I need you to show me proof.” He paused. “Maybe we play for something other than money.”

“What do you propose?”

“Freedom.”

Volkov frowned.

“Whose freedom?”

Tanner glanced at Lara. “The original prize that cost me a great deal of time and trouble to obtain. I believe we were going to use her anyway, but I seem to have gained an advantage and I might as well throw her in with the pot.”