The Mark

By: Peter Green

Narrated by: Thomas Block

And there you have it, sports fans. The game plan in a nutshell. Get The Mark, the very rich Shelby Coleman, to a poker game where, over time, they can take all his money. Get Shelby to the point where he begs them for credit to get even. And let him play a little longer, so he can wipe the smiles off the faces of those he thinks have milked him dry.

And each time he begs them for more credit, he’ll be getting in deeper with them. And deeper still. That’s the plan. That’s what they’re getting so very close to pulling off. When Shelby is in a completely untenable position, that’s when they’ll have a friendly little sit-down with him and discuss how he sees his relationship with his stepmother—the one his late father left all his billions to—because those billions go to Shelby upon her death and not a minute before. And maybe they can help him with that since he’s broke and owes them so much money.

That’s the plan anyway. And that’s what they’re sticking with. But is it just possible, and I’m only asking here, that somehow the crew might have made a mistake about Shelby and read the signs wrong? And their Mark has led them on a merry chase to get them to the place they’re planning to get him to. And might this Mark—that malleable piece of putty they’ve molded for their very own nefarious purposes—of theirs have an agenda for a similarly evil purpose?

Similar, but not the same. Similar in that the agenda is the same, only it’s the other way round and the outcome will not be so much in the crew’s interests, but in Shelby’s, is that possible? I’m just asking here? Nah. Certainly not the Shelby Coleman Trevor’s crew has come to know and love, who is beginning to look like the ripest peach that ever came their way.

©2022 Peter Green (P)2022 Peter Green