The Royal Flush (Knights of the Darkness Chronicles(Book Three))

The Royal Flush

Knights of the Darkness

Chronicles

By

D.N. Simmons

Knights of the Darkness

Chronicles

Desires Unleashed

The Guilty Innocent

The Royal Flush

Hostile Territory

The Lion's Den

Unholy Alliance (2012)

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidences either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2010 by D.N. Simmons

Revised Edition Edited by H.I. Gantt

ISBN 13: 978-1461084990
ISBN-10: 1461084997

All Right Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author. Exceptions are in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Dedication and Acknowledgments

I would like to dedicate this novel to my absolutely wonderful, loyal, understanding and
truly
patient readership. Your unwavering support has meant the world to me. Writing these books for you has been one of my greatest pleasures and I am thrilled to have you all as readers.

I’d like to thank my mother for being the wonderful, supportive and loving person you are, honestly, I wouldn’t be here without you. I’d like to thank my father for his encouragement, sense of humor and advice given, that has guided me on my life’s journey. Last, but not least, I’d like to send a special “thank you” to all of you who have supported me in life and in my career.

Love Always

D.N.

Author’s Note

I wanted to re-edit all of my original books because I wanted all of my readers to be able to enjoy my novels without having to worry about grammatical errors. When I first wrote the Knights of the Darkness Chronicles, I knew I had a story I wanted to tell. A story that was unique and thrilling, and I wanted to share it with the world. In my excitement to share my story, I made mistakes along the way and had to learn some very hard lessons. I am grateful for all of my readers who purchased my novels and gave me honest reviews, both positive and negative. It is with the wonderful insight that you’ve all given me that I respectfully offer you these republished novels. I’ve worked very hard to make sure that I’m giving all of my readers the very best that I can give you.

I thank you all for the opportunity you’ve given me to entertain you. I hope you enjoy reading this novel as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Chapter One

Walter Bailey, the owner of the
Esquire Hotel
chain, entered the brightly lit den and began eyeing the other occupants. Standing six feet tall, with thinning salt and pepper hair, thick mustache and eyeglasses, he looked as powerful and self-assured as any man could. He tossed an unopened pack of playing cards on a round green-felted table.

“All right everyone, what game have we chosen to play this time?” he asked. His brown eyes panned over the faces of his eleven comrades who were standing around the table. The other occupants, nine men and two women began darting glances at each other. Finally their gazes settled on the pack of cards.

“I say we play gin

deuces wild,” suggested Miriam Foster, the twenty-nine-year old president of
Synblood
Corporation; also a graduate from one of the country’s most prestigious colleges in only three years, which was most impressive. Even more so was the fact that in less t
han eight years she had risen to become one of the most powerful and famous female entrepreneurs in the country and the first woman to grace the cover of
Parkers’ Business Magazine.

“Nonsense! Gin just isn’t appropriate. I’d say we settle this like gentlemen…” Richard Parker began. He paused, glancing at the two females and smiling slightly, he added. “... And ladies.” He settled into the chair in front of his gold name plate. “We’ll play poker this time around.”

As if on cue the others sat in their designated chairs, following Richard.

“What about the teams?” Walter Bailey asked.

Richard smiled. “We have two new members joining us for this hunt. So I suggest we separate into four teams of three. The team captains should decide who will be on each team.

“
Make no mistake, this will be an elimination round of poker. The winner of this game will have first choice for their hunt. Then the next team who wins the following game will choose out of the remaining prey and so on. Agreed?” He waited for a response from the others. The room was quiet as everyone considered the arrangement.

“Agreed,” they responded.

“Excellent, then it’s settled,” Richard said as he opened the box of cards, shuffling them evenly.

The seating arrangement was in representation of each person’s financial prestige. Richard Parker, the wealthiest man at the table and owner of the largest cigarette company in the world,
Old Ports,
sat in the upper center. In clockwise formation; to his immediate left was the second wealthiest person at the table, Miriam Foster, and so on, ending the circle with Andrew Houston, the vice president of
Caster Financial Bank
. The four longest standing members--Richard, Jesse, Amanda and Peter--were also the team captains who would decide which members would join their teams on the hunt. Richard dealt the cards and the game began.

The game was intense. Team captains Jesse Harthorn of
Harthorn Advertising Agency
and Amanda Patrick of
Amanda’s Fashions
folded in the first game which left the remaining team captains, Richard Parker and Peter Johnston in a head-to-head standoff. Peter was the owner of the
KOTD Radio station
, one of the top rated radio stations in the country. The station was well known for playing popular hits, both new and old. The members on Richard’s and Peter’s teams each hoped that their representing captains would win the game, thus gaining them the most coveted prey.

“Give it up, Peter, the vampire is mine,” Richard declared as he stared intensely at Peter in hopes that the other man would fold under the pressure.

“Enough talking. Lay down your cards... that is, if you’re not bluffing,” Peter challenged, a smirk spreading across his face as he glanced at his own set of cards.

“Not before you,” Richard’s round, blue eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at Peter. He toyed with his lucky half-dollar coin in his other hand, twirling the coin between each finger.

“Why? Are you feeling defeated already?” Peter teased.

Richard smiled slyly, shaking his head. “No, of course not, I just hate to see you torture yourself. You have no chance of winning this game.”

“If you say so,” Peter retorted. “But I think that you may be too confident, Dick.” He placed his cards on the table making sure to spread them out, face up so that everyone could see. He smiled triumphantly at Richard. “A Straight Flush. Don’t worry, the other prey should provide you and yours with plenty of fun.” He chuckled as his hand snaked out to retrieve the slip of paper with the species of their prey written on it.

“Not so fast, my friend,” Richard protested, smiling wickedly at Peter as he exposed his cards, laying them on the table. “A Royal Flush.”

Peter’s triumphant expression faded as he looked up to see his opponent laughing.

Richard snatched the slip of paper from between Peter’s fingers.

“My team shall hunt the vampire,” he announced, rising from the table.

“Bastard,” Peter whispered softly, but Richard overheard him which caused him to laugh even more boisterously.

Richard approached Peter from behind, clamping his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Well, you know what they say, Peter. ‘
Sometimes you win some, and sometimes you don’t
.’”

Peter snorted. “I think the saying goes:
‘Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose’
.”

Richard laughed. “You’d know, wouldn’t you. I’m sure you hear it a lot more than I do.”

“I could do without your belittling sarcasm, Dick,” Peter retorted.

“Now, now… none of that. Don’t be a sore loser, Peter. It doesn’t become you.” Richard looked at the others. “Please continue.”

With that, he left the room.

Amanda brushed her long blond bangs from her green eyes as she began dealing the second hand. The games continued until each team had chosen their prey. After winning the second game, Peter’s team chose the wolf. Amanda’s team chose the leopard and Jesse’s team would hunt and kill the tiger. Richard re-entered the room, eyes scanning over the others who were now casually chatting amongst themselves.

“I take it; every team has its mark?” Richard asked, bringing attention to himself.

“All we need are the weapons,” Peter said, he looked towards one of the men sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Richard nodded.

“George, how are the negotiations going with the contact? How much longer are we going to have to wait until we get our merchandise?” he asked. He was growing increasingly annoyed by the run-around they had been getting.

George sighed. “Well, it’s not as if we don’t have enough weapons to work with if we don’t get this ship

”

“That’s not what I asked you. I’m not concerned with the weapons we
have
. What I want to know is where are the weapons we’ve
paid
for?” Richard waited for his answer.