The Wire Oracle

...for In a Wicked Age

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1,Hearts - Ace: A coalition of drug dealers, at peace with each other, but willing to kill to defend their turf. 1,Hearts - 2: A corrupt state official, flush with ill-gotten gains, reaches his hand out for more. 1,Hearts - 3: A machine politician, bitter that her loyalty has not been rewarded with power. 1,Hearts - 4: A frustrated police commander's plan to reduce crime, that would end careers if discovered. 1,Hearts - 5: A young sociopath, who does not respect the established order of the streets. 1,Hearts - 6: "Those jobs are never comin' back to this neighborhood. No matter how hard you fight." 1,Hearts - 7: Block after block of crumbling brick townhouses, built in better days, abandoned and boarded up. 1,Hearts - 8: The kid would do anything to protect his brother from their abusive father. 1,Hearts - 9: An old street soldier, weary of The Game. 1,Hearts - 10: A successful drug kingpin still naive about the ways of business and politics in the "straight" world. 1,Hearts - Jack: A zealous cop with no respect for the chain of command. 1,Hearts - Queen: The money leads places that those in power would prefer nobody go. 1,Hearts - King: A good police promised her lover she'd never take on a dangerous case again. 1,Spades - Ace: A police is shot down in an undercover bust gone wrong. 1,Spades - 2: A race against the clock, before a crime syndicate realizes their communications have been intercepted. 1,Spades - 3: A stick-up man with a twisted code of honor. 1,Spades - 4: A key witness face down in a pool of blood. 1,Spades - 5: A drunken binge ends badly, and not just for the drunk. 1,Spades - 6: A wake for a fallen comrade, at which ugly truths are revealed. 1,Spades - 7: A dead body, missing its hands and face, found at the border of two jurisdictions. 1,Spades - 8: An assassin from out of town, feared by all, but kept in the dark by his employers. 1,Spades - 9: A corrupt developer who does not care where his backer's money comes from. 1,Spades - 10: An idealistic but arrogant politician who feels he is entitled to win. 1,Spades - Jack: A corrupt police official desperate to hold on to his job. 1,Spades - Queen: A junkie who can never quite break his addiction, but is desperate to do so. 1,Spades - King: A thuggish police, who only understands one way to deal with criminals. 1,Clubs - Ace: A prisoner, questioning his loyalty and his silence. 1,Clubs - 2: A union official, desperate to protect his workers and his family, with dirty hands. 1,Clubs - 3: The long stretch of road to Washington, DC, and not enough time to drive it. 1,Clubs - 4: A rowdy classroom full of middle-school students, some of whom are dangerous players in the drug war. 1,Clubs - 5: A teen-aged murderer, with no remorse. 1,Clubs - 6: A pawn shop where questionable deals are made. 1,Clubs - 7: A politically-connected minister with a difficult choice. 1,Clubs - 8: A criminal from out of town, who acts with shocking brutality. 1,Clubs - 9: A womanizing cop with a good heart but no self-control. 1,Clubs - 10: A group of police sharing crude camraderie. 1,Clubs - Jack: A beaten-down prosecutor looking for a win. 1,Clubs - Queen: A conversation between enemies in a cheap Lake Trout restaurant. 1,Clubs - King: A late night walk along the edge of the harbor. 1,Diamonds - Ace: A run-down strip club with a dangerous clientele. 1,Diamonds - 2: An innocuous business where violent plans are laid. 1,Diamonds - 3: Steadily rising crime statistics, with plenty of blame to go around. 1,Diamonds - 4: A federal agent with his own agenda. 1,Diamonds - 5: Boxes of paperwork that contain a hidden pattern, and the cop who has just sussed it out. 1,Diamonds - 6: A group home for children, where violence is a way of life. 1,Diamonds - 7: A sharp police, relegated to an obscure job for pushing things too far. 1,Diamonds - 8: The specter of racial politics that stalks an important political decision. 1,Diamonds - 9: A harried teacher with connections to a more violent world. 1,Diamonds - 10: A child pressured to live up to his family's criminal success. 1,Diamonds - Jack: A snitch in fear for his life. 1,Diamonds - Queen: A dangerously adulterated package of heroin, distributed for obscure purposes. 1,Diamonds - King: A special investigative unit, set up to fail.
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