STACKING THE DECK

  THE KINGS: WILD CARDS BOOK 1

  CHARLIE COCHET

  CONTENTS

  Four Kings Security Universe

  Synopsis

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  A Note From the Author

  Also by Charlie Cochet

  About the Author

  Stacking the Deck

  Copyright © 2020 Charlie Cochet

  http://charliecochet.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of author imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  Cover Art Copyright © 2020 Reese Dante

  http://reesedante.com

  Edits by Deniz Durand

  Proofing by Brian Holliday

  ** Please note this novel contains scenes dealing with sensitive issues that may trigger some readers. While not graphic, scenes depict domestic violence, drugging, stalking, the trauma of military service and loss of brothers-in-arms.

  FOUR KINGS SECURITY UNIVERSE

  Welcome to the Four Kings Security Universe! The current reading order for the universe is as follows:

  FOUR KINGS SECURITY UNIVERSE

  STANDALONES

  Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts - Standalone

  (Spencer and Quinn. Quinn is Ace and Lucky’s cousin.) Can be read any time before In the Cards.

  FOUR KINGS SECURITY

  Love in Spades - Book 1 (Ace and Colton)

  Ante Up - Book 1.5 (Seth and Kit)

  Free short story

  Be Still My Heart - Book 2 (Red and Laz)

  Join the Club - Book 3 (Lucky and Mason)

  Diamond in the Rough - Book 4 (King and Leo)

  In the Cards - Book 4.5 (Spencer and Quinn’s wedding.)

  FOUR KINGS SECURITY BOXED SET

  Boxed Set includes all 4 main Four Kings Security novels: Love in Spades, Be Still My Heart, Join the Club, and Diamond in the Rough.

  BLACK OPS: OPERATION ORION’S BELT

  Kept in the Dark - Book 1 (Standalone series can be read anytime)

  THE KINGS: WILD CARDS

  Stacking the Deck - Book 1 (Jack and Fitz).

  Raising the Ante - Book 2 (Frank and Joshua)

  Sleight of Hand - Book 3 (Joker and Gio)

  THE KINGS: WILD CARDS BOXED SET

  Boxed Set includes all 3 main The Kings: Wild Cards books: Stacking the Deck, Raising the Ante, Sleight of Hand, and bonus story In the Cards.

  RUNAWAY GROOMS SERIES

  Aisle Be There

  SYNOPSIS

  Ex-Special Forces Communications Sergeant Jacopo “Jack” Constantino heads the cybersecurity department at Four Kings Security, working with his tech-savvy team to provide clients with state-of-the-art security systems. But life for Jack is pretty uneventful—despite the exploits with his brothers-in-arms—and he finds himself longing for a little more excitement.

  Be careful what you wish for.

  Two years ago, Fitz Harlow captured Jack’s heart and walked away with it. Now he’s back.

  Fitz spent the last two years picking up the pieces of his life after a disastrous relationship. After much therapy, and ice cream, Fitz leaves the fashion world behind and returns home to St. Augustine to open his own high-end salon, Hair Comes Trouble. Now Fitz finally has the quiet, peaceful life he’s wanted for so long. There’s only one thing missing, or rather, one man missing, but Fitz has his doubts. With Jack, he’s not just gaining a boyfriend—he’s gaining a boyfriend, his family of mischief-magnet ex-Green Berets, and one highly opinionated Belgian Malinois.

  Fitz and Jack discover their connection has only grown stronger over time, thanks in part to meddling friends, but just as they start to pick up where they left off, someone takes exception to their reunion. Danger hides in the shadows, a stalker determined to keep Fitz out of Jack’s life, no matter the cost. With the odds stacked against them, can Jack and Fitz win a battle against an unknown enemy, or will Jack lose Fitz forever?

  ONE

  “Watch out for the ceramic poodle!”

  Words Jack never thought he’d say during the course of his career, and yet they weren’t the strangest he’d uttered, not by a long shot. He braced for the sound of shattering poodle, but instead silently cheered when Ace took a last-minute leap over the life-size pink-and-blue ceramic canine positioned outside the eclectic shop’s door.

  “Sacha, ice cream shop on your left.”

  “What did I say about that?” Joker grumbled, swerving just as a couple emerged, ice cream cones bigger than their heads in each hand.

  “Sorry.”

  Old habits die hard. This one more than most. His best friend had been Sacha Wilder long before he’d become Joker. Having despised his given name, Joker had embraced the new moniker appointed to him by one of their brothers-in-arms. Jack hadn’t, and it took him a long time to get used to. Even now he slipped up.

  Joker shouted in German, and seconds later, a furry black blur whizzed past him. Jack’s team members jumped from their chairs and crowded him. As entertaining as it was to watch Ace and Joker chase a thief, nothing beat watching the seventy-five-pound black Belgian Malinois in action. Anytime Chip was on a job, Jack’s team fought over who would work the case with him just so they could spend time with Chip.

  No question, Chip was the most popular employee at Four Kings Security. Jack shook his head in amusement as the three cybersecurity team members huddled around him, their eyes glued to Jack’s screen as Chip darted through the narrow brick streets of St. Augustine’s Historic District.

  Chip didn’t miss a beat as he leaped, scaled, or swerved around whatever obstacle was in his way, including people. With summer tourists flocking to the old city, Chip had plenty of hurdles to maneuver around. His tactical vest, with the Four Kings Security and Special Forces patches, caught everyone’s attention. Pedestrians stopped to watch him bound like a rabbit, his huge pointy ears facing forward and on high alert.

  “I swear that dog is part kangaroo,” Sil muttered, his fascinated gaze focused on Chip, who cleared a four-foot-wide hedge as if stepping over a branch. Silvano was the youngest member of Jack’s team, having been recruited straight out of high school. The young man was a talented hacker. He’d also been taking stupid risks, hacking into systems out of boredom. Jack stumbled across him while installing a new security system for a local college Sil kept breaking into. The kid was desperate to learn and be challenged, but his parents couldn’t afford the tuition. Jack offered him a full scholarship and a position on his team if he promised to stop doing what he was doing. Sil had jumped at the chance, and in just a few years he had become one of their top cybersecurity employees.

  Megan let out a snort. “You ever see a kangaroo run up an eight-foot wall?”

  “He’s part kangaroo, part bird,” Maury said with a laugh.

  Megan and Maury had been with Jack the longest, and they’d taken Sil under their wing like a baby bird. The three of them worked every case together because of how in sync they were. From the day they met on the job, they clicked. They weren’t related, but they could have been, with how much they bickered. Yet somehow, they got the job done quicker and with more skill than Jack had seen in a long time. Maury, Sil, and Megan were his go team. Around the office they were often referred to as Jack’s Justice League.

  “Okay, everyone back to your stations.” If Jack allowed it, they’d stay glued to the monitors, watching Chip all day. Not that he blamed them. On a good day, Chip saw more action than Jack did. Cybersecurity was hardly glamorous or adventurous, but Jack loved his job. He might not be parkouring on rooftops along with his Green Beret buddies, but that didn’t mean his role wasn’t without risk.

  “He just turned onto Charlotte Street,” Jack informed his friends. Although he and his team were in the surveillance truck parked on King Street just a couple of blocks away from Four Kings Security headquarters, they had eyes on their thief, thanks to Jack’s toys. The state-of-the-art drones were equipped with top-of-the-line surveillance features, something he was more than familiar with after years of being a Special Forces communications sergeant.

  “Shit, he just turned at the Casablanca Inn.” Jack sat forward, following their guy on his screen, his right hand on the small joystick controlling the drone. Their thief was young, fast, agile, and clearly knew the Historic District as well as they did, which made catching him a challenge. The Historic District wasn’t just full of tourists, but also countless side streets, narrow alleys, walls, hedges, and fences. Buildings were clustered together, trees and shrubbery obstructing their view. Most of the buildings were low, a large number of
which sported wood balconies, like the one their thief had just vaulted himself onto.

  “I’m on him,” Joker shouted before whistling. Chip emerged from an alley on the other side of the brick road Joker had just turned off of.

  “Joker’s not going to make it,” Maury said from Jack’s right.

  “He’ll make it,” Jack assured him.

  “That balcony is way out of his reach,” Sil added, concerned.

  “Everything is way out of his reach,” Megan offered. “My grandmother is out of his reach.”

  “You wanna say that to his face?” Maury teased.

  Megan paled at the thought. “Oh hell no.”

  Jack’s team was all too familiar with Joker and the many chips on his shoulder, none of which were the cute furry variety. Despite his height, or lack thereof, Joker was a natural gymnast, had even won trophies in school when he was younger. There wasn’t a sport his best friend hadn’t mastered, everything from baseball to golf.

  As the smallest kid in their school, Joker had decided he wasn’t going to be bullied. Years of foster care in environments no kid should ever experience had taught him to fight like a lion. He had something to prove to himself and the world. Jack had always admired that about him. No one told Sacha Wilder what he could and could not do, and heaven help the poor bastard who tried.

  Joker picked up speed, and Jack’s team leaned forward, gaping in awe as he jumped onto the steel railing of the ramp with his right foot and used the high white fence to his left to launch himself toward the green wooden balcony on the far right, grabbing the bottom of one of the beams before vaulting himself up and over.

  “Holy shit!” Sil shook his head in disbelief. “He’s like a tiny ninja.”

  That was a pretty apt description. Unlike Joker, athletics had never come easy for Jack. He’d been the science nerd, the kid fascinated by technology who’d avoided PE at all costs. He’d done a great deal of running as a kid. Not for sports, but to get away from the bigger kids looking to shove him into a locker or beat him up. When he and Joker joined the Army, Jack had feared he’d never make it through basic training, much less what came after, but Jack and Joker shared a stubborn streak.

  The more anyone tried to beat Jack into submission, the harder he fought. He’d been determined to prove he wasn’t the loser the bullies claimed him to be. It might not have been the best motivation to become a soldier, but at eighteen years old and desperate to be more than what he was, it seemed like the right decision. To this day, Jack wondered if he’d have made it without Sacha by his side, or the men he now called family. Life might have presented Jack with a regret or two, but serving alongside his brothers-in-arms wasn’t one of them.

  Just as Joker made a dive for their guy, the thief flew off the balcony onto the balcony of the martini bar.

  Megan opened a packet of Skittles and popped a couple into her mouth. “Shit. If he makes it to A1A, he’s either going to get hit by a car or catch a ride on one of the trollies.”

  “Forget the trollies,” Jack said, frowning at his screen as he carefully steered the drone between two buildings, crowded palm trees, and screeching seagulls looking for scraps of food left behind by messy humans. “He can’t keep this up. The heat’s going to take him down long before the guys do. Heatstroke is real, my friend.”

  Ace, Joker, Jack, and the rest of the Kings had been trained to endure adverse weather conditions through the roughest terrain while carrying loads of heavy equipment, and in Joker’s case the addition of a furry soldier. Early June in Florida meant the temperature outside was still in the eighties, but the stifling humidity and scorching summer sun could do some real damage.

  Jack held out his hand, and Meg poured Skittles into his palm. “Emmett?”

  “You know it.”

  “Why does he only give you candy?” Maury asked, sounding affronted by the very notion that Meg had candy and he didn’t.

  “Because Emmett loves me best,” Meg replied, popping some more into her mouth. “Mm, ‘taste the rainbow.’”

  Emmett often worked with Meg, Maury, and Sil, but from HQ as backup. He’d graduated from MIT and joined Jack’s team six years ago. Emmett desperately wanted to be part of Jack’s Justice League, but as talented as he was, Sil surpassed him. Since joining the team, Sil asked questions, soaked up every bit of information he came across, adapted, evolved. If he didn’t know something, he didn’t just learn, he excelled at it. Emmett was always eager to learn, but in his quest for knowledge, he sometimes took on more than he could chew. It drove Maury nuts, mostly because he was the one who had to fix whatever mess Emmett got himself into. Though Jack wondered if Maury’s griping about Emmett had more to do with Emmett showering Megan with candy all the time.

  Their thief had just reached the bottom landing and turned toward the alley that would lead him out onto A1A when something emerged from the guy’s left and tackled him to the ground. Chip’s front paws pressed down on the young man’s shoulders, his back legs on the ground between the guy’s sprawled legs, his menacing growl filling the air, teeth bared, gums showing.

  “Fuck.” The thief whimpered, hands up and at his sides as he trembled in fear. With good reason. Chip was adorable, but when he was in “work mode,” he was terrifying—a black demon dog with razor-sharp teeth and raised hackles. When the light caught his brown eyes a certain way, they almost seemed to glow like amber.

  The guy tried giving Chip all kinds of commands, but Chip didn’t so much as blink. He’d been trained to take German commands for a reason, and he only took those commands from Joker. Speak of the little devil… Joker appeared with Ace on his heels. He stopped beside Chip, giving him a quiet but firm command that had Chip hopping off the guy and dutifully sitting at attention to one side, his intense gaze on the man on the ground.

  “Hand it over,” Ace demanded.

  The guy glanced at Ace, then Chip. “Is he going to bite me if I move?”

  “Only if it’s a stupid move,” Joker replied.

  With a heavy sigh, the guy slowly lowered a hand. “I’m reaching into my pocket.” He pulled out a small coin purse and handed it to Ace, who shook his head in shame at him.

  “Stealing from your own grandfather. That’s low, man.”

  The guy glared at Ace. “He said they were mine.”

  “Yeah, when he passed away, dumbass, and considering he’s alive and pissed, my guess is you won’t be getting them anytime soon.”

  “Police incoming. Mr. Stevenson is with them,” Jack informed his friends as a couple of police officers arrived on the scene with a tiny eighty-year-old man, who despite using a cane moved faster than any of them expected. He darted over to his grandson and whacked him with his cane.

  “Ow! Pop, what the hell?”

  “You ungrateful little shit!”

  Ace and Joker stood to one side, trying to hide their laughter, no doubt out of fear Mr. Stevenson might whack them as well. The Kings had been hired by the spritely old man to provide security while he displayed his extremely valuable collection of Spanish gold coins during the coin and currency show. The collection had been in the family for generations, and Mr. Stevenson had planned on passing them down to his grandson, who’d been working as his assistant.

  The twenty-five-year-old had appeared every inch the doting grandson, bringing his grandfather refreshments, making sure he wasn’t overheated… And then he’d stolen a bagful of coins from right under the poor old man’s nose.

  “I’m sorry,” the young man wailed as his grandfather whapped him in the back of the head.

  “Oh, you’re going to be sorry all right. We’ll see how you like jail.”

  The young man’s eyes went comically wide, his mouth dropping open as the two officers helped him to his feet and started escorting him away.