Heaven Painted as a Poker Chip Read online

  “Glad to hear that,” Tommy said. For the first time since his death, he let himself relax a little.

  “What about the other two Brigade soldiers?” Jewel asked a fraction of a second before Tommy could get the question out.

  “They just went out to the airport,” K.J. said, “loaded up their two men, and headed back to LA.”

  “So this area is clear of Brigade for now?” Tommy asked, relieved.

  “Totally clear,” K.J. said. “And now, if you two will excuse me, I have a party tonight I want to throw. A black tie hot tub party. I love those. You can only get into the hot tub if you are wearing only a black tie and nothing else. Delicious fun.”

  Tommy just shook his head and then a fraction of an instant before K.J. vanished, he asked, “Wait! What’s next for us?”

  K.J. shook his head. “I would imagine, from the look in Jewel’s eyes there, that it will be some of those really gross things you heterosexuals do without clothes on.”

  “There will be a lot of that,” Jewel said, laughing as Tommy sort of stammered. “But I think Tommy was asking about our next mission.”

  “Darned if I know,” K.J. said. “You’ll know when I know.”

  “Normally, how long between missions,” Tommy asked.

  “Might be tomorrow, might be in three months,” K.J. said. “You two just keep figuring out what you can do, keep practicing, and I’ll be in touch when the time comes.”

  He vanished.

  Tommy took Jewel’s hand and they headed out of the school, strolling comfortably toward the nearby road where there was a stoplight and they could jump into a car for a ride back into the heart of town. The day was growing hot and it was just barely noon.

  “So what are we going to do now,” Tommy asked.

  “Besides sex?” Jewel asked, laughing.

  “I expect lots of that,” he said, smiling. “But yes, any ideas about what we should do while waiting around?”

  “I do,” she said. “We need to think about finding a permanent place to live. We both like to cook and I have a hunch we’re going to get tired of buffet and restaurant food for every meal.”

  “Really good point,” he said. “That’s going to take some thought on how to go about doing that.”

  “You have any desire to go back to Montana?” she asked.

  The question surprised him and he took a few steps to think about it before saying, “Not now. Maybe going back to visit down the road. But I like it here, to be honest.”

  “So do I,” Jewel said, squeezing his hand.

  “So you want to stay tonight on the strip or downtown?” Tommy asked.

  “I’m kind of fond of that nifty Golden Nugget buffet,” she said. “And I want to explore that downtown and Fremont Street area.”

  “Sounds like a start until we figure out how to get a more permanent place of our own,” Tommy said. “And next time we see K.J. we need to ask him if we can communicate directly with live people and let them see us.”

  Jewel again squeezed his hand. “Good thinking. But I have one more thought for today.”

  “Oh, oh,” Tommy said. “I’ve only known you for five days and I already know that means trouble.”

  She laughed. “I think we should go visit the senator in the hospital.”

  That surprised Tommy. Of all the things she might have suggested, that wasn’t one he expected.

  “Why’s that?” he asked.

  “I’m just thinking that we don’t let him recover at all,” she said. “Connie was a very sweet girl and he would have destroyed her completely. Especially if she had stabbed and killed him as one future showed.”

  Tommy remembered the other young girls that man had destroyed from the senator’s memory and nodded. “K.J. did say we should practice.”

  Jewel laughed. “He did, didn’t he?”

  “I’m a cop, you’re a doctor. Aren’t we supposed to be saving lives instead of torturing monsters?”

  Jewel squeezed his hand. “We stop this monster, make sure he never has another sexual thought, saving lives is exactly what we are doing.”

  Tommy had to completely agree with that.

  Thirty minutes later, Tommy watched as a young nurse with a perfect figure walked into the senator’s room. He knew Jewel was inside of her.

  The nurse bent over to check something attached to the senator, letting the top button on her blouse fall open just a little to show some white lace on her bra.

  The senator had his eyes closed.

  “Anything I can do for you, senator?” the young nurse asked in a very sultry voice.

  The senator shook his head and opened his eyes and looked at her and at her slightly open blouse.

  The scream of agony as the senator grabbed his crotch and rolled out of the bed could be heard two floors away.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith published more than a hundred novels in thirty years and hundreds of short stories across many genres.

  He wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, they wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.

  He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.

  He now writes his own original fiction under just the one name, Dean Wesley Smith. In addition to his upcoming novel releases, his monthly magazine called Smith’s Monthly premiered October 1, 2013, filled entirely with his original novels and stories.

  Dean also worked as an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. He now plays a role as an executive editor for the original anthology series Fiction River.

  For more information go to www.deanwesleysmith.com, www.smithsmonthly.com or www.fictionriver.com.

  Look for These Other Titles from Dean Wesley Smith

  The Poker Boy Universe:

  The Slots of Saturn

  The Heaven Painted Series:

  Heaven Painted as a Poker Chip

  Heaven Painted as a Christmas Gift

  The Thunder Mountain Series:

  Thunder Mountain

  Monumental Summit

  Avalanche Creek

  Sign up for the WMG Publishing newsletter to receive updates about new releases, bonus content and more at wmgpublishing.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Section One

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Section Two

  Twenty-one

  Twenty-two

  Twenty-three

  Twenty-four

  Twenty-five

  Twenty-six

  Twenty-seven

  Twenty-eight

  Twenty-nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-one

  Thirty-two

  Thirty-three

  Thirty-four

  Thirty-five

  Thirty-six

  Thirty-seven

  Thirty-eight

  Thirty-nine

  Forty

  Forty-one

  Forty-two

  Forty-three

  Forty-four

  About the Author

  Other Titles from Dean Wesley Smith

  Copyright Information

  Chip