Achilles had booked a hotel room in St. Julian’s for a week, and visited several bars that he had found to be LGBTQ+ friendly. He’d been in The Birdcage Lounge when he’d met Pierre. Pierre was French, and had flashes of silver running through his hair. God, he’s handsome. Pierre and Achilles had shared a few beers, then a drunken kiss as the night started to draw to a close. Pierre had been the perfect gentleman, swapping numbers with Achilles rather than trying to go home with him there and then. Not that I would have said no.

  He looked over at the man who’d insisted on taking him to see the most beautiful view in Malta. I’m not sure if it’s the view of the ocean, or the view of Pierre looking out at the ocean. They held hands as they looked out at the sea, and for the first time in years Achilles felt himself relax. I think I’m going to like it here.

  Twenty Years Later

  Chapter 47

  Steve felt nervous as he looked at himself in the mirror. That’s it, the last of my black hair has gone. Steve wore a white cotton shirt underneath a cerulean-blue jacket. He looked down at his shoes. “Tanya, do you think these shoes go with this outfit?”

  Tanya gave him the once-over, then laughed at him. “Trainers with a jacket and shirt aren’t a good combo. You have some nice blue brogues in the closet upstairs. Let me go and get them for you.”

  “Thanks, babe.” Steve sat down on the sofa and began untying his shoes. You used to have beers with him all the time. Hell, you used to play poker with him all the time. Steve slipped his shoes off and swapped them for the brogues in Tanya’s hand. Her sleeve partially covered her hand, and her hands were cold to the touch.

  “Put the heating on if you want, babe. It’s getting towards winter now, you know,” he said, smiling up at his wife. She smiled back at him, and they held each other’s gaze for a moment.

  “Are you ready, Dad?” Ellie shouted through the living-room door.

  “Just got to tie my shoelaces and I’ll be with you.” Steve put his shoes on, pushed himself up with his walking stick, and kissed Tanya.

  “Good luck, babe. You’ll be great.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Ugh, can you two lovebirds put each other down so that I can get Dad on the road?”

  Steve and Tanya both laughed before Steve walked towards his daughter. He looked back at Tanya smiling as he walked out of the front door. As he walked round to the passenger side of the car, Steve spotted a Range Rover with tinted black windows and froze. Steve, nobody is trying to kill you now, he thought, shrugging himself out of the moment. They got into the Renault, and Ellie set the satnav up. “Ready?”

  “Yeah. Let’s go.” Steve looked into the wing mirror, watching the Range Rover as they pulled away from the house. It stayed parked at the side of the road. After they had turned a few corners and he was sure nothing was tailing them, Steve relaxed.

  * * *

  Ellie parked in a car park outside a building called Studio 52. “Good luck, Dad. I’ll go and get a Starbucks and meet you back here in two hours or so.”

  “All right, love,” Steve replied. He walked towards the studio and caught sight of a half ginger half grey-haired man standing outside. “Hi, Grant. How’s it going?”

  The ginger-haired man smiled at him. “Steve, it’s so good to see you, mate. I’m doing well, how are you?” The two men hugged before walking through the entrance and into a café. “Do you want a coffee or anything?” Grant asked.

  “Yeah, shall we get a coffee?”

  The two men walked over to the counter, where Grant ordered a black coffee and Steve a cappuccino. They sat down at a table, each taking a slurp of coffee. “Thanks for coming today, Steve. I wasn’t sure if you’d say yes to doing this, or whether you even could say yes. Have you ever recorded a podcast before?”

  “We got out of witness protection seventeen years ago, but they advised me not to do anything in public for a while. This is the first time I’ve used my real name in public since then. I checked with the NCA, but they said the risk was low now and it’s fine to talk about what happened.”

  “Ah, OK, that’s great. Look, when you first get into the studio there are cameras and microphones everywhere, and some people find it a bit overwhelming. Just imagine that we’re having a coffee like this if you find it off-putting. If you need to go to the loo or stop, that’s no problem, the editing team will be able to fix all that in post-production.”

  “OK, no problem. Looking forward to it. Before we go though, how are you doing? The last time I saw you in person was in Vegas, but I’ve kept my eye on your poker streams for a long time.”

  “Well I still play, though not as much anymore. I made enough to be comfortable and have invested it in so much that I’m retired to all intents and purposes. I love making podcasts though, I get to talk to some really interesting people, and people seem to enjoy listening to them.”

  Steve smiled. “I saw your daughters are playing professionally now as well.”

  Grant laughed. “Mate I wouldn’t want to face them on the felt. They’re animals. They do their mother proud. They do their stepmother proud as well.”

  Steve’s face lit up. “Oh Grant I had no idea that you were remarried! Congratulations.”

  “Thanks mate. Mel likes to stay out of the public eye, so hardly anyone knows about her really—” Grant sighed. “—I miss Rebecca of course, and it took me a long time to come to terms with her death. I only met Mel four years ago. I think Rebecca would have liked her, but the thing that’s most important to me now is that the girls like her.”

  “And you like her as well!” Steve laughed.

  Grant laughed too. “Yes, important that I like her as well.”

  Steve smiled at his old friend. “I’m sorry that we had to lose touch for such a long time. It wasn’t my choice; I’d have liked to have been there for you mate. But you seem happy now.”

  “That’s ok Steve. You had to look after your own family. You did take down an enormous criminal enterprise.”

  “Yeah, that’s true.”

  “Well, shall we take our drinks to the studio and get started?”

  “Sure.” They stood up and walked towards the studios, which were arranged like small offices around the outside of the café. Grant entered a code into a keypad, then slid a glass door open. Steve followed him in, and sat down where Grant indicated.

  Grant did some typing on his laptop, then looked at Steve. “All right, mate, we’re going to start recording in five, four, three, two, one.”

  A light changed from green to red as Grant started to speak. “Hi guys, welcome to another episode of Grant Johnson’s World Poker Stories. We have got an absolute treat for you today, one which I’ve been hoping to present for some time. Today I am joined by Steve Ash, who was the key witness in the downfall of the Jacques mob organised crime group. Those of you of a certain age might remember a chain of casinos called Jacques. For those of you who don’t, let me fill you in. Jacques Casinos used to be the luxury casinos in the UK. But what we didn’t know was that they were part of a much wider network of illegal businesses, including drug dealing, people trafficking and assassination. Our guest helped bring down those businesses, and we’re going to ask him about that today. So, a big warm welcome to Steve Ash.”

  He pointed to Steve, who smiled awkwardly. “Hi, Grant, what an introduction.”

  Grant grinned at Steve. “Listen mate, when we start getting into the nitty gritty of your story, I don’t think that’s an over-exaggeration of your role. But before we get into all that, can you explain how you got involved with the Jacques mob?”

  Steve smiled as he turned his wedding ring round and round on his finger. “The start of this story doesn’t cover me in glory, Grant, but it’s been well documented since the takedown of the Jacques mob, so I don’t think I’ll shock anyone. When I was in my mid-thirties, I made a series of mistakes which meant that I had a young family to support, a house with a mortgage I couldn’t pay, and an enormous amount of debt on top of that. I’d started a business with a friend: we designed cameras for the poker room which built profiles of the players, and casinos could use this information to group certain types of players together.”

  “They did that so they could take a greater rake from the players, right?”

  “Exactly. At the time nobody except Jacques Casinos, the chain we’d sold the product to, knew about it, and they wanted to keep it that way. But I was desperate to fix the mess I was in, and I realised that I could use the camera feeds to see what cards the other players had.”

  Grant leant back in his office chair, gently swinging from side to side. “So you used the glasses to see what other players had, then beat them.”

  “That’s correct. My plan had only ever been to make enough money to pay off the debt, then stop. The first time I used them was at a small thirty-pound tournament. That was when I met you for the first time.”

  Grant’s eyes widened. “Really? So the first time you used the glasses was when we first met?”

  “Yeah, it was.” Steve chuckled to himself.

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “I was actually very grateful to you for being there. I was absolutely cacking it, and when we got chatting it really helped my nerves.”

  Steve and Grant reminisced about the tournaments they had played together, and how Steve had played against certain players. Twenty minutes had passed when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Grant shouted.

  A waitress put two beers in front of them and some shots of tequila. “Thank you,” Grant said as she left the studio. “I got these for old times’ sake, mate.”

  They lifted their glasses and toasted, and Steve shuddered as the liquid hit the back of his throat. “These are still horrible!” He picked up his beer and washed the taste out of his mouth. Grant did the same, and then they picked their conversation back up.

  “So, we’ve established why you started cheating. How did the Jacques mob come into it?”

  Steve smiled a sad smile. “They worked out that I was cheating, and they threatened to kill me and my family unless I worked for them. I had no choice. I was pissed off because I’d just made enough to stop, and now I had to carry on.”

  “So you played for them for a while.”

  “Yeah, exactly. They let me keep some of the winnings, but took the lion’s share for themselves.”

  “So you were cheating and not even profiting from it?”

  “Well, I still made a decent amount of money from it. I wasn’t exactly poor.”

  Grant nodded. “Got you. Do you still have the winnings in the bank?”

  Steve shook his head. “I was allowed to keep the winnings as part of the deal I made with the NCA, but after the trial had finished and Alexander was sentenced…” Steve sighed. “Keeping the money felt like a constant reminder of what had happened, and I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I had someone else’s money in my account. Tanya and I thought about tracking down the people I’d played, but we thought people might claim they had lost more money than they had, or people I had never played would try to grab some of the money. Anyway, none of that could be considered until we’d got out of witness protection. So we gave it all to a charity called Reg. They distributed the money to a number of different charities who utilised the money the most effectively. We even sold the house and moved to a smaller property, and we gave the sixty thousand pounds we released to charity as well. Some people will think I’m crazy, that I even deserved the money for bringing down this enormous criminal organisation, but I didn’t see it that way. I felt a horrible weight crushing me. When we gave the money away, it was like a huge release.”

  “What do you think was the biggest challenge you faced whilst you were working for the Jacques mob?”

  “Ooh, that’s a really good question. I made a lot of friends whilst I was there, that ended up getting caught in the crossfire. Some of them, like Lee Brooker, ended up doing time behind bars. He’s just been released. There are other people who I came across as well. Dylan Broadmoor ended up going into witness protection for a few years as well. I’m not sure if he knows this, but I was the person who let the police know he was going to be in danger.”

  “Dylan has a lot to thank you for by the sounds of things then. He says he used that time to really study the game, and he went on to become the all-time money list top player, knocking Shirley Cole off first place, who you played against as well.”

  “Yeah, I played some big pros in my time y’know. Shirley was a class act, she made me feel really welcome to the table. I played against Andy Watson, who went on the win the WCOP in the year when the Jacques mob were caught. He was probably the most formidable opponent I ever played, and even when I could see his cards, he seemed to find a way of outplaying me. He beat Benedict Gardner and Jack Lofthouse who made up part of the team I ended up having work for me.”

  “Ah yes, what happened to Benedict and Jack?”

  “Both of them were let off from cheating at the game because they gave evidence in the trial. Benedict was older when we were playing for the Jacques mob. I think he’s in an old peoples home now, but he’s still with us and even plays the odd tournament from time to time. Jack owns three or four nightclubs in London. I haven’t seen either of them for a while, but they both have Facebook and we catch up from time to time.”

  “So what do you do now?”

  “I’m an analyst for a financial business. Boring, isn’t it, but after that period, boring makes me indescribably happy.”

  Grant laughed. “It’s amazing to think of all the things that could have created a different outcome. I’ve never told anyone else this before, Steve, but I worked out that you were cheating. I tried to get proof together, but you played it very cool when you were on TV. You made it very hard for anyone to be sure you weren’t just a good player. If I’d released it to the world… Well, who knows what might have happened?”

  “I probably wouldn’t be here, Grant.”

  Grant nodded, taking the statement in. “I think my biggest learning from the experience was that sometimes people do things that seem strange, or even immoral and wrong. But unless you speak to that person and find out why they’re doing it, you can never be sure there isn’t a good reason. What’s more, your own emotions can skew your perception of reality, either positively or negatively. The only way to overcome that is to find out all the facts, then form your opinion.”

  The two of them sat in silence for a moment, taking in what Grant had said. Then Steve looked at Grant. “There are two things that I learnt from this experience. The first is that money isn’t the key to happiness. It can make things easier or harder, but in the end having people and things around you that you love, whether that’s family, friends, hobbies, passions, or even just a good podcast or book, can be the difference between being miserable and being happy.”

  Grant nodded his head in agreement. “What’s the second thing?”

  “The second thing?” Steve smiled cheekily. “Poker is a bloody hard game.”

  THE END

  Thanks For Reading

  Thankyou for reading This is Where You Call, I hope you enjoyed the story. As a growing independent author I am limited by budget in ways that big publishers aren’t, and one of the best ways I can grow is for people who have already read my book to leave a review, so if you enjoyed the story, I’d love it if you’d do this.

  If you haven’t read it already, you can get the prequel to the Steve Ash Trilogy, Sharkbait, for free from my author website. Just go to robertneedhambooks.com to download your copy.

  When a maths nerd goes to prison, does he have the ability to adapt and survive, or will the brutal environment swallow him up?

  One exam away from completing his maths degree, Grant Johnson goes on a boozy night out with classmates and is peer-pressured into buying drugs. With a pocket full of Cocaine, he is refused entry by the bouncers, and then caught by the police, and finds himself facing a sentence of possession with intent to supply.

  Upon conviction, Grant finds himself thrown into a completely new world where the stakes can be life or death. However, an opportunity to make the best of his predicament appears when he happens upon the prison poker game.

  Will he be able to play his way out of trouble, or find himself at the mercy of the other inmates?

  Sharkbait is the prequel to the highly anticipated poker crime thriller ‘The Steve Ash Trilogy’. If you like fast paced action, gritty storylines and a hero to root for, then you’ll love Robert Needham’s prequel Novella.

  get your free E-book, today by tapping here.

  Authors Notes

  Writing This is Where You Bluff was probably my biggest challenge as an author so far in my career. It certainly took a lot longer than the other books! I wanted to make sure I gave the series a fitting conclusion, and very specifically wanted to make sure I didn’t leave any open loops. I hate it when a series doesn’t have a definitive ending!

  I started writing the book in January 2021, and had originally had April pencilled in with my editor to have a finished manuscript over to her. But it was a particularly tough time for everyone in the world. In the UK, we were deep into the the middle of our second lockdown, and with it being the winter, I often found I’d go days without seeing any sunlight whilst I worked from home. Ultimately that led me to have a lack of motivation to do just about anything outside of working and looking after our newborn baby Evie.

 

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