Bluff: Blind (Prologue)

A man in a dark suit was sprinting down the hall. The lights flickered briefly, and the windows glowed in the dark. The man quickly turned, panting, eyes focused on a door at the end of the hall. His feet quickly reached the threshold, and his hands desperately tore open the door.

“Sir…! Triple Seven is on the floor below us!” he began to shout, but as soon as he started ‘below’, the floor behind him exploded, knocking the man forward. He regained himself and scrambled backwards. From behind the desk, a second man stood up. A voice called out from the hole, “Going up!”

Out from the hole rose a third man, wearing blue goggles and a black and white outfit. Following him were two birds, fluttering about. Their eyes were piercing red lights, from some sort of devices on their heads. The goggled man dusted himself off, and sighed.

“Well. If I weren’t having such a good day, I almost might not have succeeded!” he said, laughing lightly. “It’s so good to see you, Mr. Dragovic. You took me a while to find. You’re so clever, hiding here. But PAINe is much more clever…”

“Triple Seven…” said the man at the desk, Dragovic, lowly. “…a man who brings nothing but hell.”

“I’m no reaper, sir. A messenger. An angel,” Triple Seven answered.

“A demon,” Dragovic insisted.

Triple Seven sighed in disappointment. He paced the room and then looked back to Dragovic.

“I think you know the deal.”

“What deal?” asked Dragovic, in mock ignorance.

“You know. I take you back alive, or I take you back dead.”

“I hear you haven’t killed a single bounty.”

“That could change,” Triple Seven said, pointing a gun in Dragovic’s direction.

“You’re bluffing.”

“You wanna test my luck?”

“Like I said, you’re bluffing.”

Triple Seven shook his head slowly and approached Dragovic.

“Do you have a coin?”

“What?”

“A coin; a single coin. With two different sides. Give it to me.”

Dragovic reached a hand into his pocket and withdrew a coin. Triple Seven took it from him.

“This coin is the norm, correct? Not special, modified in any way?”

“Yes… why would it be?”

“Just checking. Coins have a 50/50 chance on heads or tails, right? You’re going to flip this
coin seven times. The order will be Heads, Heads, Tails, Heads, Tails, Tails, Tails,” Triple Seven said, handing Dragovic the coin.

“Do it.”

Dragovic flipped the coin once. Heads. Again. Heads. A third time, tails. A fourth, heads.

“I forgot to mention…” Triple Seven interrupted, pressing the barrel of his gun to Dragovic's temple and cocking the hammer.

“If I’m right, you’re dead.”

Their eyes briefly met.

Fifth flip, tails. He paused. He flipped the coin for the sixth time. Tails again. Dragovic stared intently at the coin. He was silent.

“…you win.”

“Good choice.”