Roscoe laughed. “They think they’re being slick by sneaking over the hill, but the dumb-asses are using flashlights.” Roscoe picked up his rifle. “This is going to be easy.”
Nate drained his beer before reaching for his shotgun, but when he looked out at the field, the lights were off.
“What happened?” Nate said.
“I don’t know. Maybe they turned them—”
Roscoe stopped speaking as the lights came on again. A breeze had activated the lights once more, but the gust was too strong, and the beams swung around wildly.
“What the hell?” Roscoe muttered.
“Look behind you,” said a whispered voice, which seemed to originate from the very air itself. It was Farnsworth warning Roscoe. If he had stayed silent, Cody and Romeo would have snuck up on Roscoe and Nate.
By issuing a warning, Farnsworth had increased the chances that Roscoe would flee and head off across the field. That was what Farnsworth needed to happen if his plan was to work. Pete Roscoe was more likely to blow up a target or ambush them. Farnsworth was betting that a man like Roscoe wouldn’t stick around to engage in a fair firefight.
“Who said that?” Nate asked. “Where’d that voice come from?”
Roscoe said nothing, but he was looking around, and he spotted Cody and Romeo headed toward them.
“They’re behind us, Nate, shoot them,” As Nate turned to look, Roscoe crouched low and moved off to the left.
Nate brought up his shotgun to fire, but he never got the chance as a round fired by Romeo hit him in the arm and made him drop his weapon. The boys were on him in an instant. As Romeo emptied Nate’s shotgun, Cody questioned him.
“Pete Roscoe, where is he?” Cody asked.
“He was just here,” Nate said through gritted teeth, as his wound made him wince in pain. It actually wasn’t much of a wound, as the round had sliced across Nate’s right biceps, and not entered the arm.
A breeze rose up, which caused the flashlights to come on again out in the field; visible on the edge of their glow was the fleeing figure of Pete Roscoe.
The boys were about to sprint off after Roscoe when Nate pointed at his trailer.
“Oh damn, that girl is gonna set off Pete’s bomb.”
Cody and Romeo looked toward the trailer and saw the silhouette of a female figure carrying a rifle. They were facing the side of the trailer and could tell that the girl was headed for the trailer’s door. As another figure came into view at the rear of the trailer, they could make out long red hair as she stepped into the glow coming from a window. While one girl took the front, the other was going to come in through a back window.
“That’s Kayla and Zoe,” Romeo said.
“They’re gonna blow up my trailer,” Nate said.
Cody and Romeo gave a momentary glance toward the fleeing Roscoe, cursed out loud, then sprinted toward the girls while yelling at them to stop. Romeo headed toward the rear to save Zoe, while Cody rushed to warn Kayla.
As he neared the trailer while still yelling, Cody wondered if he were going to get caught in the blast.
“Kayla don’t touch that door!”
Cody rounded the corner of the trailer and found Kayla and Zoe sitting on the front steps of the trailer. Both girls carried rifles, and they were smiling wide. Romeo appeared. When he saw Zoe, he grinned at her.
“Thank God, you’re safe; the trailer is rigged to blow.”
“No, it’s not,” said Kayla while pointing. “Granddad took care of it before we got here.”
Cody looked to where she had indicated and saw a homemade bomb with black and red wires coming out of it. Someone had placed it by the trailer’s door after snipping the wires that ran to a 9-volt battery.
The girls rose and began walking down the driveway and Cody got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He called to the girls.
“Where’s your grandfather?”
“Here he comes now,” Zoe said.
The white backup lights of Farnsworth’s blue van illuminated the driveway as he drove in reverse along the concrete surface. The girls ran to meet him. When they opened the rear doors to climb in, an overhead light came on. Lying on the floor of the van was Pete Roscoe. He was gagged and bound up tight inside a white sheet that fit him like a cocoon.
Kayla and Zoe laughed, then blew kisses at the boys, right before slamming the van doors shut.
“Damn it, no!” Cody said, he sprinted toward the van with Romeo beside him, but Farnsworth had the vehicle moving again. As Farnsworth turned left to drive onto the highway, he sent the boys a wink and a smile.
Cody and Romeo raced across the highway to where they’d left their car parked near a dumpster. After getting in, Cody turned the key. Nothing happened.
“No!”
He leapt from the car, opened the hood, and found that the battery was missing. Romeo saw it too, but he had an idea.
“The truck, Nate’s truck. We’ll take that.”
Back across the highway they went, and a glance told Cody that Farnsworth’s van wasn’t in sight anymore. Upon reaching the trailer, they found Nate standing by it. He was pouring beer over his arm wound.
“Give me your truck keys?” Cody said.
“They’re already in the truck,” Nate said. “Hey, are you gonna steal it?”
The truck had been moved and parked off to the side of the driveway, so it wouldn’t get caught in the blast when the trailer blew up.
Cody ripped open the door, prepared to hop inside, then saw that the seat was already occupied. The battery from their car was resting on it.
“That old son of a bitch,” Cody said.
Filled with fury, Cody snatched the battery off the seat and began running with it back toward the car.
“Yo, Cody, why don’t we use the truck?”
“Try it. I’ll bet you it doesn’t work.”
Romeo turned the key. Sure enough, nothing happened.
Farnsworth had better than a five minute head start by the time the boys got moving. As the hours passed and the truth became ever clearer, the boys felt despair growing within. Farnsworth had outsmarted them, they had lost their chance at Roscoe. They had failed their test.
“We didn’t fuck up,” Romeo said.
“What do you mean?” Cody said.
“I wouldn’t do anything different back there, would you?”
Cody thought it over.
“No, I wouldn’t do anything different either, because we believed we were saving the girls, but we failed all the same.”
“I know,” Romeo said.
No Tanner had ever failed to complete a contract.
Would Spenser allow them to continue on in their training after this? The answer was a clear no. They had failed and failed miserably while being outclassed by an old man and his teenage granddaughters.
Had they been lesser men, they would have cried.
87
You Have My Word
MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK, MARCH 2018
After dropping the rifle, Tanner went for the gun on his hip.
While Dalton Geary dove for the rifle, Tanner placed a shot into Cynthia Geary’s left eye, as she peeked out at him from behind Andrea. Tanner then lowered the gun and pressed it to the back of Dalton Geary’s head. Geary’s hands were on the rifle, but it would do him no good. If he so much as twitched, Tanner would kill him.
Andrea had gone down to the floor with Cynthia, as the woman had kept a grip on her neck. However, she was fine, as Cynthia never fired the gun. Andrea rose from the floor while smiling.
“When you dropped that rifle, I thought you’d gone crazy. They would have killed us both for sure.”
“Exactly,” Tanner said to her, then he spoke to Geary. “On your feet.”
Geary stood and cried out in pain from the wound he’d received to his calf. Geary then moaned in agony after spotting Cynthia’s dead form. He hobbled over to where she lay and stared down at her. There were no tears in his eyes, but grief suffuse
d his features.
When Tanner looked at him, he was surprised by the lack of emotion in Geary’s brown eyes. He expected rage at the loss of a woman he loved, or fear for his own safety. Worry was there, yes, but not the terror Tanner had expected to see. A moment later and he understood why.
“We can make a deal, Tanner,” Geary said. “There’s always a deal that can be made between reasonable men.”
“Such as?”
Geary smiled. “I’ve made a study of you. You were impressive six years ago, and so I put the word out in certain circles that I was interested in you. I thought I might hear a rumor or two, but my, you’ve become a legend. Tell me, just how did you manage to kill that Mexican cartel leader?”
“What’s he talking about?” Andrea said.
“Your friend here, or is it lover? Anyway, Tanner is without doubt the greatest assassin who ever lived.”
“Shove the praise, Geary, and get to the point,” Tanner said.
“You’re a man of honor. I know that about you. If you give me your word you won’t kill me or harm me in any way. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“How?” Tanner said.
“Are you serious, Tanner,” Andrea said. “Just kill the man and let’s get out of here. Someone might have called the police.”
Geary shook his head.
“My guards practice their shooting here on a regular basis. The neighbors are accustomed to the sounds of gunfire. No one will report the shooting.”
“What’s your deal, Geary?” Tanner asked.
Andrea walked up to Tanner, then whispered.
“What’s going on? More playacting?”
“I want to see where this goes. Trust me.”
Andrea looked over at Geary. “It’s him I don’t trust.”
“If you both agree to let me live I’ll give you two-hundred and eighty thousand in cash.”
“You have it here?” Tanner asked.
“It’s in my safe, in my study.”
“Let’s see it.”
Geary’s study was the size of most living rooms and as well-appointed. The safe was behind the desk and concealed by a bookcase that rolled aside easily. Once Geary input the combination and opened it, Tanner issued a warning.
“If this is a trick you’re dead.”
“No tricks,” Geary said.
After swinging open the door on the safe, Geary removed a metal box. Inside were stacks of banded cash.
“That sheath of papers on the right, bring those out,” Tanner said.
Geary smiled. “That’s nothing, just some legal paperwork.”
“Take them out.”
Geary frowned bitterly as he reached inside the safe. The “legal paperwork” turned out to be bearer bonds.
“What are these worth?” Tanner asked.
“That’s nearly half a million dollars, Tanner, and they were not a part of our deal.”
“I never agreed to a deal.”
“You’re going to kill me?”
“No, I’ll take the deal, but the bearer bonds are included.”
Geary sighed.
“I normally drive a harder bargain in a negotiation, but then, I don’t hold any cards and I’m bleeding from a wound. Take the cash and bearer bonds and we have a deal.”
Andrea gaped at Tanner.
“You’re really not going to kill him?”
“I’ll keep my word,” Tanner said. Then, he smiled. “What about you, Andrea? Do you agree to this deal?”
Andrea smiled back. “I certainly do not.” She spun toward Geary, took aim, and shot him in the chest. Geary slid to the floor behind his desk with a look of astonishment on his face. Andrea walked over and stared down at him. “This is for my father.” Her second shot hit Geary in the center of his forehead.
Andrea was still staring at Geary’s body when Tanner placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We’re done here.”
Before going, Tanner looked inside the safe. There were legal documents there, along with something else. It was a small black notebook with some sort of code written inside it. Tanner pocketed it in case it was valuable.
As they were leaving the room, Tanner was startled by a photo he saw hanging on a wall. The photo showed Geary looking perhaps twenty years younger. Standing beside him was an equally young Eric Tang, Tanner’s neighbor.
“What is it, Tanner?”
“A coincidence… maybe,” Tanner said. He plucked the photo from the wall and left the room.
88
Failure Is Not An Option
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, APRIL 1999
Farnsworth drove through the night on back roads in an effort to keep Cody and Romeo from tracking them down and attempting to take Roscoe away. Kayla and Zoe had dozed off to sleep after a while. They awoke when Farnsworth brought the van to a stop outside a hotel just before daybreak.
Kayla rubbed the sleep from her eyes, then she and Zoe turned to look at Roscoe. Roscoe had stayed awake. His eyes were full of hate as he stared at Farnsworth.
“Why are we stopping here, Granddad? We still have to turn him in,” Zoe said.
“I’ll handle that, honey. You and your sister go inside and get some sleep. Your rooms are on the third floor and overlook the pool.”
“When did you have time to get rooms for us?” Kayla asked.
Farnsworth winked at her. “I have my ways.”
Zoe gestured at Roscoe. “How much is he worth again?”
“Three grand, that’s a grand apiece, and we earned it. Maybe next time this guy will pay his child support and do right by his kids.”
“I feel bad for Brett, or whatever his name is,” Zoe said. “I wish I knew where to find them.”
“Yeah,” Kayla said. “And I liked his friend too.”
“Put those boys out of your minds, girls. Besides, I bet they’re not fond of you right now.”
“That’s an understatement,” Zoe said.
“I want to go after bigger game next time, Granddad. I think Zoe and I can handle it. You know, some sort of real criminal, like a bank robber.”
Farnsworth smiled at Kayla. “We’ll make a point of it.”
After the girls had gone inside the hotel with their backpacks, Farnsworth drove away with Roscoe. Nearly an hour later he arrived at a spot out in the desert. He had been there days earlier and prepared things.
Farnsworth dragged Roscoe out of the van by pulling on the sheet he had him wrapped up inside. The bank robber let out a muffled groan as he hit the dirt.
After evading Cody and Romeo, Roscoe had run up to Farnsworth while brandishing his rifle. The old man had been standing at the open rear doors of the van and looked like a godsend to Roscoe, who needed to flee as fast as possible.
In actuality, it had been a trap. Farnsworth had wrest the gun away from Roscoe with ease, then stunned him with a blow to the side of the head.
Before Roscoe realized what was happening, Farnsworth had tossed him into the van atop the sheet. The sheet had been prepared earlier. After a simple matter of securing strips of tape and shoving in a gag, Farnsworth climbed into the driver’s seat and went to pick up Kayla and Zoe.
Reaching down, Farnsworth removed the tape covering Roscoe’s mouth. Roscoe spat out the gag Farnsworth had stuffed in there, then discharged more spit as he tried to rid himself of the taste of the gag.
“What the hell was that in my mouth?”
“An old pair of my socks, a used pair.”
“You’re a bounty hunter, did I hear that right?”
“You heard right.”
“And what was all that crap you told them girls about me owing back child support? I don’t have any kids.”
“I know,” Farnsworth said. He drew a gun and shot Roscoe four times in the chest.
After taking several photos of the corpse, Farnsworth buried the body by rolling it into a hole he’d dug days earlier. The ten-thousand-dollar contract was all his.
The deadline to kill Pete Roscoe had come a
nd gone and the boys had to admit to themselves that they had failed. If not for the deadline, they could have found out where Farnsworth turned Roscoe in and waited for the cops to release him. However, there had been a deadline and they had missed it.
They were supposed to meet with Spenser at a restaurant in Phoenix. When they arrived, they found him in the parking lot. Spenser was standing outside his black pickup truck.
The boys walked up to him while feeling as if they’d let him down. It was one of the worst feelings either of them had ever experienced.
Spenser took one look at their faces and knew the truth.
“You didn’t kill Pete Roscoe,” Spenser said. It was a statement, not a question. “Tell me what happened.”
They told the whole story, and while they talked, Spenser said nothing. When they got to the end, they waited for the ax to fall.
Spenser’s smile was brighter than the Arizona sun.
“Congratulations! You passed the second test.”
“What?” Cody and Romeo exclaimed incredulously.
“You weren’t being tested on your skills as trackers and killers; it was your character that was being evaluated. You tracked Pete Roscoe down and would have killed him. I never doubted you could do that, either of you, alone or together. But I had to know who you are deep down, and you both proved that you’re worthy of being a Tanner.”
“Because we chose to save the girls instead of going after Roscoe?” Romeo asked.
“Yes. The moment you made that decision, knowing what it might cost you, you proved your worth as human beings. A Tanner isn’t simply a killer. A Tanner is a man first, and, modesty aside, he needs to be a damn good man. Congratulations, boys. You passed the final test.”
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