Chapter 4
The Sunday night poker game usually lasted until almost midnight. Five members of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team got together in the break room, brought one dollar in pennies to the table, and played until someone had them all. Usually Chris won, but sometimes Barry or Joe did.
Jill Valentine, in two years of trying, had never won a single game. A dollar a week didn’t seem like so much, but one dollar every week for two years equaled one-hundred-and-four dollars she had lost playing poker. And to her, that was a lot of money in the long run.
“I call,” Barry said, tossing two pennies into the pot.
Chris smiled slyly and looked at Jill. She hated when he smiled like that, because she could never tell if he was bluffing or not. The smile told her, “That guy is such a fool for calling, because my cards are way better than his.” But no matter what Jill did, she always lost. If she called his bluff, he always had a good hand. If she folded, he never had anything.
“I’ll take a chance,” she sighed, tossing pennies into the pot. “Call.”
Jill was the Alpha team’s only female member. She moved to Raccoon City and joined the RCPD six years ago and was promoted to the Alpha team four years after that, upon the recommendation of Barry Burton. She sported straight hair that hung below her shoulders when it wasn’t in a ponytail, and was either light brown or dirty blonde depending on how often she dyed it. Naturally, her hair was dark brown, but her teammates didn’t need to know that.
Jill grew up in a neighborhood full of boys, and spent most of her childhood playing baseball and exploring the woods behind her parents’ house. As she got older, she suspected that her father had perhaps wanted a son instead of a daughter, and had gently pushed her interests in that direction. In any case, she spent her formative years trying to fit into a male-dominated environment, which proved good preparation for a career in law enforcement. Ever since she graduated high school and joined the Police Academy, she had been surrounded by men, and had to work twice as hard to prove her worth as a police officer. Sometimes her fellow officers ignored her, sometimes they harassed her, and sometimes they openly disliked her for no other reason than because she was a woman.
Her acceptance into the S.T.A.R.S. team proved a turning point in her life. She had not intended to even apply for the position until Barry suggested it. And now that she was part of the team, she could not imagine going back to being a regular cop. Some of the other officers in the RCPD believed she was nothing but the token woman in the S.T.A.R.S. unit, but Jill believed that she fit into the team in a way she had never really done before. Her teammates truly treated her like an equal, and she loved them for it.
“What about you, Joe?” Chris asked, holding his cards close to his chest.
Joseph Frost tossed his cards onto the table. He tapped his cigarette against the edge of the ashtray and returned it to his mouth, shaking his head. “No thanks, man. Can’t afford to spend my retirement money.” His arms were a bright mosaic of colorful tattoos and elaborate scars, all of which had a story behind them.
“Me neither,” Brad Vickers said, setting his cards down. Brad only had eight pennies left in front of him, and he looked at them mournfully.
Each member of Alpha team had a particular specialty, but in practice they all worked together when they were on assignment. Jill was technically their surveillance and infiltration officer, but she rarely acted out that specific role. Joe was their negotiator and first-aid specialist, and Brad was their helicopter pilot.
Barry set his cards down, revealing three sevens. “What do you got, Chris?”
“Two pair. Sixes and nines,” Chris said, shaking his head.
Barry chuckled and reached for the pennies, but Jill stopped him. “Oh no, you don’t,” she said, setting her cards down to show her hand. “I got three Jacks, baby. This one is mine.”
Barry smiled and pushed the pennies toward her, and she greedily scooped them into a neat pile. “Don’t spend it all in one place,” he snickered.
Joseph blew out smoke rings and set his cigarette down in the ash tray once more. “Don’t listen to that guy. You should always spend all your money in one place.” He gathered up the cards and shuffled them expertly before dealing them out. “Everybody in?”
The game went on for three more hands before Brad made his last call, losing to Chris with a full house. Barry didn’t last much longer, bluffing with a pair of twos when Joseph called with two pair. Brad said goodnight and left, disappointed by yet another loss. Barry stayed, however, standing over them like a poker referee, his thick arms crossed over his broad chest.
“Getting late,” Joseph said, crushing his cigarette in the ashes. “Might as well throw in my whole savings.” He pushed his remaining pennies into the pile and tapped his cards anxiously on the table.
Jill examined her cards and hesitantly called. Chris folded right away and leaned back in his chair to watch the showdown. Barry, standing over Chris’ shoulder, laughed softly at his cards.
Joseph grinned at Jill and tapped his cards a little faster. “So what you got, baby?”
Jill took a deep breath and revealed her cards. She had a pair of threes.
Joseph laughed out loud and smacked the table. “Oh, you got me there! Looks like you beat my big fat pair of nothing,” he said, tossing his cards into the pile. He pushed his chair back and stood up. “Been nice gambling with you, but my old lady awaits.”
“What are you talking about?” Barry asked. “You aren’t married.”
“Didn’t say I was,” Joseph said, putting on his camouflage jacket. “I was referring to my dog.”
“Give her a big kiss for me,” Jill laughed, piling up her winnings.
Chris waved as Joseph went out the door. “Catch you later, Joe.”
Joseph waved back. “Later, amigos.”
Chris took a drink and slowly gathered the cards. “Looks like it’s just you and me, darling,” he said, grinning at her. “Think you’re gonna make history?”
“I don’t know,” Jill said, looking at the two piles of pennies. Chris’ was more than twice the size of hers. “I might have a chance.”
Barry sat down and set his elbows on the table. “Don’t let that guy scare you, Jill. He’s not as good as he thinks he is. Most of the time I let him win.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Chris said, dealing the cards between the two of them. “You’re the one that brought me here.”
“And look how you repay me. By stealing all my pennies each week.”
Of all the Alpha team members, Chris and Barry had known each other the longest. Jill knew that Barry had actually been the one who recruited Chris into the team several years before, after Chris was kicked out of the Air Force. Jill wanted to know why, but did not want to appear nosy.
Barry, in his gruff way, was the father figure of the team, being the oldest and most experienced member. Everyone looked up to him, except for Wesker, their captain, who treated everyone with the same cold, impersonal approach. Why Wesker was their commander and not Barry was something Jill never understood. Wesker wasn’t the worst boss she had ever known, since he wasn’t rude or patronizing like so many others, and he was certainly qualified for his job, but he was distant and completely non-social. He treated the other members of the team like employees instead of friends or comrades.
Chris, on the other hand, was everybody’s best friend. He was smart, handsome, charming, and excelled at everything he put his mind to. He was the type of person who always a mischievous smile on his face. He was the Alpha team’s strategic coordinator and acted as the unofficial second-in-command under Wesker. When Jill had first joined S.T.A.R.S., she briefly considered asking him out on a date, but it never came to anything. Chris was one of her best friends, but she knew that friends was all they would ever be.
“I bet two cents,” Chris said after he had dealt them both a new hand.
“I call.”
Chris went on to win six hands in a row, seriously depleting Jill’s bank account. After another twenty minutes, she only had about fifty cents remaining. Barry watched the competition, remaining interested but impassive as Jill lost hand after hand.
“How about one last hand?” Chris suggested. “It’s almost one in the morning. One last hand for the whole pot.”
“All right,” Jill said, pushing her few remaining pennies into the center of the table. “One last hand.”
Chris dealt the cards silently, watching Jill like a hawk. He discarded two and Jill discarded three, and he dealt replacement cards. Jill felt like she was at the last hand of the World Series of Poker, and the five dollars in pennies was actually one million dollars in cash. She viewed her cards and held her breath. She had a full house, two nines and three Queens. Trying to repress a smile, she set them one at a time on the table. Barry whistled in surprise.
“Not bad,” Chris said, nodding appreciatively. He looked disappointed for a moment, and then smiled that frustrating smile of his. One at a time, like Jill had done, he set his cards on the table. He had four fives.
“Sorry, better luck next time,” he said, pulling the pennies towards him.