Shark of Spades

Epilogue

The file concerning the individual named Misa Kusoe was published five years later by Evan, who had traveled out of the country and into a country that was willing to get involved in America's actions and stop the corruption that was taking place.

By this time, an individual named Card was slipping from town to town. He stuck mostly to playing cards for money, but it wasn't the money he needed. In fact, just showing his face was risky enough, as the murder of a tattoo artist had been connected to him. The government was trying to track him down, but all they would ever find would be a single card of the 54, a Joker, as his calling card. Police were pissed and the feds were perpetually tripping over each other.

Originally, the murder of a low-ranking tattoo artist hadn't been such a high-priority case, but more murders followed until the government couldn't ignore this figure any longer. There were lots of conspiracy theories about him since he was so hard to find. Some claimed that he was covering up his tracks, others suggested that he was killing off everyone who saw his face.

Only two men knew the truth, one of them being Card himself, and the other being the now-foreign millionaire, Evan Kusoe.

Neither man would ever admit it publicly, but both knew the objective of the string of murders, which some of the theories were surprisingly close to. Yes, he was killing off people who had seen his face, but not his face; Card's face. He had assumed the identity of the previous Card, but again, only these two men were aware of this, as Card's own calling card was simply nearly implausible skill for a perfectly preserved winning streak.

With one manning the public world, and one manning the domestic underworld, their plan, seven years in the making, came to pass.

The entire country was changed, all because of the life - and death - of a legacy, one that few had seen and far fewer had truly known.

Card - the real Card - had played the game of life, and she'd won.

But then again, was any other outcome possible?