Chapter 45: Receive the First Mission
William and Prince Wilson got up and walked toward the card table. William said with a smile, "You guys go ahead. I don't want to win all your money and have you all get angry with me. Haven't you seen me on TV? I can memorize a deck of cards in seconds."
"Hey, William, you'd die if you couldn't brag, wouldn't you?" Gary retorted good-naturedly. "How do you know you'll win before you've even played? Besides, what does memory have to do with Texas Hold'em? It's about patience, psychology, and skill."
"Well, I shouldn't have tried to act smart in front of you guys. You saw right through me, Gary. Since no one else is taking this spot, I'll take it," he said, gesturing to an empty seat next to the dealer.
It was his first time at a gathering like this, so when someone invited him to play, William didn't overthink it and sat down directly.
Everyone laughed at William's words. But only Arthur nodded in agreement with William's initial boast. "Maybe," he said. "William is truly amazing. You all should be careful not to be deceived by him."
They were all part of the same circle, and everyone knew who Arthur was and what he did. Hearing Arthur's warning, they all understood that William wasn't just playing cards; he was playing mind games.
The game had a buy-in of £2,000 per person, with no re-buys allowed. The blinds were £10-£20.
In his previous life, William had often played Texas Hold'em with his friends, though just for small stakes. After playing for a long time, he had some experience and was certainly no rookie. Plus, in this life, he had a cheat: he knew what cards his opponents were holding.
Therefore, he could easily avoid traps during a showdown. Opponents with bad hands were often bluffed by him. Today, these gentlemen were playing too conservatively and were repeatedly bluffed by William.
And whenever an opponent did have a good hand, William would shrewdly fold.
Sure enough, after just two hours of playing, only William and Arthur were left. The game ended when William's full house beat Arthur's.
No one could believe it. Just as he'd boasted, William had really won. A group of seven or eight veterans had been taken down by a rookie.
In the past, their games would last for several hours. Today, William had shut them down in just two.
Wilson had been standing behind William, watching the whole time. He knew there were several hands where William had folded despite having the better cards, correctly sensing his opponent had a strong hand.
Prince Wilson's upbringing was excellent; he never disturbed William while he was playing or asked questions during a hand. But now that the game was over, he eagerly asked, "How could you avoid your opponent's traps every time, William? Just now, when you had double Kings and my father had a Queen and a Jack, the flop came 4, 7, Queen. Why did you act like you knew my father had a Queen in his hand? And you didn't even check the river card. What if the last card was a King?"
"Haha, Your Highness, Texas Hold'em isn't just about the cards you have; it's about reading your opponents. While their facial expressions might not give anything away, their eyes and muscles can't lie. When the fourth card was dealt, I noticed Prince Charles's pupils contract slightly, and his body tensed up almost imperceptibly."
He wouldn't tell Wilson that with the other two Kings already out of the deck, it was impossible for Charles to have a King as a hole card.
William paused, then tapped his temple. "The probability calculations are a bit complicated. Let's not get into that right now. The key is to listen to your intuition."
"Okay," Wilson said, immediately losing interest at the mention of mathematical formulas.
The others overheard William's explanation and were shocked. They realized that they needed to control not only their expressions but also their muscle reactions and even the dilation of their pupils. They might as well be puppets.
"Yeah, I really can't believe you notice things like pupils and body twitches. I've never heard of that technique," Johnny English said. "William, you must have other tricks you didn't mention. Teach me! I've never won at cards. You have to teach me your secrets so I can win just once."
William shook his head. "If it's a secret, how can I teach it to you? What would I use next time I play? This is a unique cheat; I'm not telling."
William wouldn't tell them that when an opponent looked at their cards, he could use his mental power to see them as well. Although he couldn't see the card faces directly, he could perceive which cards they were. That was his real secret.
In fact, his ability was even more advantageous when playing Stud poker. Anyone who played against him would be cleaned out.
It was almost 6 o'clock, and Prince Charles got up to take Wilson home for dinner. Princess Diana was still very strict with Prince Wilson's schedule.
William and the others saw the two princes off. Afterwards, Gary, Commander Richard Bromhead, and William moved to a quiet corner of the bar.
After a waiter brought them a bottle of whiskey, Gary asked William, "William, is the recruitment for your Group W complete?"
William glanced at Commander Richard Bromhead.
"Rest assured, Richard is one of us," Gary said. "Your identity is known among our inner circle. Everyone knows the Devinshire family has begun to take over Group W. As for the Commander, he needs some help, which is why I brought him to you."
William looked at Commander Richard Bromhead. *Wait, isn't he the commander from that Jackie Chan movie, 'The Foreigner'? So characters from movies really exist in this world. I wonder if Jackie Chan has been recruited too?*
"Recruitment is complete. As for how many people and who they are, I can't tell you. You know the rules," William said with a nod.
Gary and Commander Richard Bromhead nodded in understanding.
Richard Bromhead said, "I need your help, William. I need some people who have no connection to our department to help me find someone."
"Find who?" William asked.
"A mercenary named Carlos. We suspect he's planning to blow up the Sky-Star S570 prototype. We've been investigating for a while and have caught many of his men, but they are all just hired guns. We haven't been able to find the mastermind behind it. Every lead we get goes cold, and our informants have been dying inexplicably."
"So we suspect there's a mole within the English police system. I need a group like yours, Group W, to secretly investigate Carlos and find the mastermind behind this plot."
Hearing about the Sky-Star S570, William's memory stirred. He had heard of this incident in his previous life.
"Do you have any intel?" William asked.
Gary took out a file and handed it to William.
William opened the file. The first thing that caught his eye was a photo of a large aircraft. It looked bigger than any plane he'd seen in his previous life, though the layout of its four engines was a bit ugly.
Commander Richard Bromhead explained, "This is a new four-engine large passenger aircraft developed by the Sky-Star company. It can carry over 600 passengers, 200 more than a Boeing 747. The company is in a critical period right now. Our country's airlines have invested 30% into the R&D of the Sky-Star 570, so we absolutely cannot let anything happen to it. The losses would exceed billions of pounds."
After hearing this, William looked at Gary, his expression clearly asking why MI6 wasn't handling this if the police had a mole.
Gary hesitated before saying, "William, we suspect there's a traitor inside MI6 as well."
"You're kidding me," William said in disbelief.
"In recent years, the Security Council has long suspected a traitor in MI6," Gary said hastily. "Our operations in Europe and Africa are often leaked, but we haven't been able to find the source for years. That's one of the main reasons your group was formed. We need a team completely independent of all other departments to secretly investigate these internal problems."
William now understood. The job he'd been given, along with its special operational rights, was not going to be easy.
"Alright. When do you need me to start?" William nodded.
"The sooner, the better. The Sky-Star 570's test flight is in just a few days," Richard Bromhead said anxiously.
"Okay. I'll issue the mission to my team today. Tomorrow, they can head to Madagascar to capture this Carlos," William said, tapping his finger on Carlos's photo in the file.
He took photos of the information and mission requirements with his phone and sent them to Barney Ross of the Expendables.
William looked at Gary. *Now, it's time to talk about my payment.*
---
$5 Tier – Early Access!
Read 30 chapters ahead of public platforms like RoyalRoad and Scribble Hub — with plans to increase to 40 chapters ahead once I reach 10 members!
Chapters are posted as soon as they're completed, so you'll always stay ahead of the curve.
Support the story and unlock early access:
Patreon is linked in My Profile or About.
Please select your membership carefully, as I have multiple novels ongoing. If you're on Apple, consider subscribing through your browser instead — it will be cheaper for you, and I won't have to wait 2 months for payments. Thank you!