“Skeeve. SKEEVE! Have you got a moment?”
I glanced around to find the Geek standing at my elbow.
“Sure, Geek,” I shrugged. “What can I do for you?”
The Deveel seemed extremely nervous, his complexion several shades off its normal hue. “I … you can promise not to hold a grudge. I promise you that tonight was none of my doing. All I did was make the arrangements after the Kid issued the challenge. I didn’t give him your name… honest.”
To say the least, I found his attitude surprising.
“Sure, Geek. I never thought you …”
“If I had known it would lead to this, I never would have invited you to my game in the first place, much less…”
I was suddenly very alert.
“Wait a minute. Geek! What are you talking about? “
“You’re out-classed!” the Deveel explained, glancing around fearfully. “You don’t stand a chance against the Kid. I just want you to understand, if you lose all your money tonight, that I didn’t mean to set you up. I don’t want you or your crew looking for me with blood in your respective eyes.”
Now, as you know, I knew that I was out-classed. What intrigued me was that the Geek knew it, too. “Geek, I think we’d better…”
A loud burst of applause and cheers interrupted me.
By the time I got through craning my neck to see what was going on, the Geek had disappeared into the crowd.
With that discussion closed, I turned my attention again to the subject at hand.
“Who’s that?” I said, nodding toward the figure that had just entered the club.
Aahz slid a comforting arm around my shoulders.