“Wait a minute,” Cody said. “Farnsworth must have been a part of this.”
Spenser smiled. “He’s an old friend of mine.”
“What about his granddaughters,” Romeo said. “Were they in on it too?”
“No, they were in the dark.”
The boys looked at each other and began laughing.
“Dude, we did it!” Romeo said.
Spenser reached in his pocket and took out a pair of key cards for a nearby hotel.
“We’ll be taking some down time. This place has a great pool, along with some beautiful girls.”
Spenser climbed into his truck. “I’ll be back later. Congrats again, guys. I’m proud of you.”
“This test,” Cody said. “This is the test Vince Ryker failed, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, only it wasn’t a test then. It had been real life. Ryker opened up with a shotgun on a target who was holding an innocent woman in front of him as a shield. All Ryker saw was the target. He didn’t give a damn about the woman.”
“That’s one cold dude,” Romeo said.
“And Ryker will never be a Tanner, despite how gifted he is at being an assassin,” Spenser said. He grinned at the boys, tooted his horn loudly, then took off.
89
Goodbye Again
LAGUARDIA AIRPORT, MARCH 2018
Tanner gave Andrea the money from the safe, however, he kept the bearer bonds for himself. The original fee that Herb Barker was offering for the contract had been twenty grand. Nearly half a million in bearer bonds was a considerable increase in pay, and yet it was a bargain compared to Tanner’s current rate.
They were outside the airport, where Andrea was catching a flight home to Las Vegas. The two of them had taken a cab there, and Tanner would be getting a ride back to the city. Andrea’s flight wasn’t due to take off for hours, but she had already checked out of her hotel, and Tanner had accompanied her to the airport for his own reasons.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with the money,” Andrea said.
“You don’t have to decide, but it’s nice to have.”
“It is that,” Andrea said. After staring at Tanner, she hugged him. “Thank you for helping me avenge my father, and for being a friend.”
Tanner hugged her back. When he released her, he gave her some advice.
“Forget all of this, me included.”
Andrea barked out a laugh.
“Tanner, I doubt anyone has ever forgotten you.”
“Goodbye, Andrea.”
Andrea rolled her suitcase through the doors and out of Tanner’s life. He walked to the curb where his ride waited for him.
Sara greeted him with a kiss.
“So that was Andrea. She’s beautiful, Tanner.”
“Not compared to you.”
“I looked into that picture you gave me,” Sara said. “An analysis of the photo says it was taken in London.”
“Not surprising, both Tang and Geary have English accents.”
“I’ll keep looking into a connection, but it appears to me like Dalton Geary might have been an alias. The earliest mention I could find of him only went back twenty-two years.”
“And what about Tang?”
“He is who he says he is as far as I can tell.”
“This might be nothing, but I don’t like that Tang was connected to Geary. There’s more to Mr. Tang than meets the eye.”
Sara grinned. “The same could be said for you, Mr. Myers.”
“True.”
“Let’s go home.”
“Good idea, and maybe I’ll see if Tang is up for a game of chess tonight.”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Not until I know what ‘this’ is.”
Sara drove away from the airport, unaware that she would be returning soon. In an inside pocket of his jacket, Tanner had two tickets for Paris, where he planned to propose to her.
“Being at the airport made me think of taking a vacation,” Sara said. “Why don’t we schedule some down time soon.”
“Count on it,” Tanner said.
90
Fancy Meeting You Here
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, APRIL 1999
Spenser entered a Mexican restaurant and saw that the man he’d come to see was sitting at the bar. They greeted each other with a warm hug, then asked to be moved to a table.
Farnsworth smiled at Spenser.
“Those boys of yours are something else.”
“That they are, and I want to thank you for helping out with this.”
“It was my pleasure,” Farnsworth said.
Spenser removed an envelope from an inside pocket and passed it to Farnsworth. Farnsworth reciprocated by slipping him the photos he’d taken of Roscoe’s corpse.
“The hardest part of this whole thing was keeping those granddaughters of mine in the dark. They’re sharp those two, especially Kayla.”
“And what about Cody and Romeo?”
Farnsworth, who at one time was known as Tanner Five, smiled sagely at his former protégé.
“They both passed the tests, so they’re both worthy, but don’t let them move too fast. They need more experience.”
Spenser absorbed that and filed it away.
“I’d like to tell Cody and Romeo about you. Let them know who you really are.”
“No, son. Like I’ve told you before, Tanner Five is dead. From now on I’ll just be Farnsworth the bounty hunter.”
“All right, then I’ll keep your secret, but don’t talk about dying, you already came damn close once.”
Farnsworth thumped his chest.
“My damn ticker nearly did me in, but the good Lord brought me back from my deathbed and I was given a second chance.”
“And you’re using it to raise your granddaughters after your son and his wife died in that fire. I hope those girls know how fortunate they are.”
“What about you, Spenser? Have you had any contact with your family?”
Spenser sighed. “None. Maybe it’s better that way.”
“Take it from me, son. Family matters, make contact with them someday soon.”
“I’ll think about it. Now, as far as Cody and Romeo, any advice on going forward?”
“Hell, boy, you know what to do. You keep them training and getting better, then in a couple of years you let them fly the coop. You’re fortunate you know, it took me a long time to find a successor, and here you are with two.”
“You had two as well, although at different times.”
Farnsworth shook his head in a sad slow fashion.
“That damn Vince. You don’t know how much it broke my heart when he killed that girl without a moment’s thought. I knew he was ruthless. You have to be ruthless to do what we do, but I never would have thought him heartless. Thank God you came along, boy. I had begun to think I’d be the last Tanner.”
“Has Ryker ever contacted you since you… disowned him?”
“No, but I heard a disturbing rumor from an old friend in Indonesia.”
“Concerning Ryker?”
“Yeah, it looks like Vince is branching out into the mercenary business.”
“That’s not surprising. You once told me he would work for anyone who could pay.”
“He would, but he’s been recruiting and building his own private army for hire. It pains me to think I once thought of that man like a son.”
“I can’t imagine Cody or Romeo failing me. Those boys have been a dream come true.”
“Count your blessings, Spenser.”
“I do, but there’s a downside too. It means I’ll be forced to choose between them someday.”
Farnsworth took out his pipe. “That will work itself out. It will come down to who wants it more. They’re young enough to still look upon this whole thing as an adventure. Once they get a taste of the day-to-day grind of it, one of them may decide they want something else from life.”
Farnsworth lit his pipe, then blew a smoke ring int
o the air.
Spenser stared at his mentor.
“Despite what went down with Vince Ryker, you’re still the best judge of character I know. If you had to pick right now between Cody and Romeo, who would it be?”
Farnsworth smiled around his pipe.
“Son, that boy Cody is the future. You mark my words.”
Although having gotten little sleep recently, Cody and Romeo were still too pumped up to think about going to bed in the middle of the day. They had passed the final test and assured that they were in the running to become a Tanner someday. After shaving and showering in their hotel rooms, they went down to the pool for a swim.
Romeo pointed over at a set of lounge chairs. “I don’t believe it.”
“This can’t be a coincidence,” Cody said, as Kayla and Zoe left their seats and walked toward them. The girls were wearing red bikinis that displayed their shapely bodies, but they also wore tentative smiles.
“We didn’t follow you here; I swear it,” Kayla said.
Cody looked at Romeo.
“Spenser did say there were beautiful girls staying here.”
“He wasn’t lying,” Romeo said.
Kayla and Zoe placed their hands on their hips and voiced the same question.
“What are your real names?”
Cody and Romeo answered together.
“We’re Tanner.”
YOUNG GUNS 4 - RYKER’S RAIDERS
Prologue
BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO, SEPTEMBER 1989
Vince Ryker was prone atop a sand dune as he watched his former mentor drive off in a silver pickup truck. Although Farnsworth, known as Tanner Five, had been an older man when he’d trained Ryker, Ryker had never thought of the man as being old. That was no longer the case, as Farnsworth’s hair had gone stark white and his face had become lined and aged.
Nearly a decade earlier, Ryker had been Farnsworth’s star pupil. He was destined to follow in his footsteps as the next Tanner, Tanner Six. However, before Ryker could take up the mantle and become Tanner Six, Farnsworth ended their association and essentially disowned Ryker.
Ryker shook his head as he remembered that day. He had completed his training and was working side by side with Farnsworth as an assassin. Although he lacked the old man’s experience, Ryker knew he was every bit as good as Farnsworth, perhaps even better.
It was Ryker who had tracked down their target and cornered him at a construction site. As they chased their prey through a half-finished building on a Sunday afternoon, they came upon a group of high school seniors who were hanging out and drinking.
Ryker’s target, a man named Garber, grabbed onto one of the girls in the group and tried to use her as a shield. Ryker, who was holding a shotgun, closed in on the man as Garber backed up toward a red convertible that had the keys in it. The car must have belonged to one of the teens. The girl was crying and begging to be released, while her companions had fled after seeing the guns.
Farnsworth, who had been lagging behind, arrived just as the target was climbing into the car. The girl was shapely, but skinny, and the target pulled her onto his lap and started the engine.
“Easy, Vince,” Farnsworth said. “A blast from that shotgun will kill the girl too.”
Ryker and Farnsworth had been tracking Garber for weeks and he had eluded them twice before. The girl all but disappeared from Ryker’s vision. The only thing he cared about was killing the target. If Garber were allowed to get away again, he might evade them forever.
A Tanner never failed, and Ryker considered himself a Tanner. He fired his shotgun and steel pellets tore through the door of the sports car. Ryker had fired low, hoping to send the bulk of the pellets into Garber’s torso.
He succeeded, but the spread was wider than anticipated and several pellets struck the girl too, while one ricocheted off the door frame and buried itself in her throat. That was all right as far as Ryker was concerned. The only fear he had was failure.
The girl collapsed into the passenger seat while striking her head on the door. Ryker raised the shotgun and sent another blast into Garber. The second round of pellets hit the wounded man on the side of the head and neck, shredding the flesh there and ending his life.
“What the hell have you done?”
Those words were spoken by Farnsworth in a quiet voice filled with shock and disappointment. Farnsworth pushed past Ryker and went around to the passenger side of the sports car. Ryker followed, looked inside, and saw the girl’s dead eyes staring up at them. A shotgun pellet had severed an artery in the young woman’s throat; she was lying in a pool of her own blood.
“Oh, God no,” Farnsworth moaned.
“It’s a damn shame, I know,” Ryker said, “but we got Garber and the contract is done. That’s all that matters.”
Before Ryker could act to avoid it, Farnsworth had grabbed onto his collar and was shaking him.
“You killed an innocent girl, Vince. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Ryker shook free of his mentor’s grip and stared back at him in dismay.
“We’re assassins. Killing is what we do.”
Farnsworth gasped in shock. “I didn’t train you to be a mindless butcher. I was grooming you to be a Tanner.”
“I am a Tanner.”
“You’ll never be a Tanner, boy. Not after this. I… I don’t ever want to see you again, Vince.”
“You’re serious?”
“Look at this girl! She’s not much more than a child, and whatever her age, she was an innocent. A Tanner never kills the innocent!”
“I wasn’t trying to kill her… she just got in the way.”
Farnsworth straightened his back, and when he spoke, there was menace in his voice.
“Get away from me. Do it now.”
Ryker was about to speak again, but then he noticed that Farnsworth was holding his shotgun at waist level, with the barrel pointed toward him. He walked off the way they had come but turned back to look at Farnsworth.
“I’m still a Tanner. I’ve completed the training and when you die I’ll take on the title.”
“No! You’ll never be a Tanner. I’ll… I’ll find someone else to train.”
Ryker shook his head. “I’m Tanner Six. Nothing changes that.” He continued walking and never looked back again.
A faint twanging sound broke Ryker from his memories. The noise was coming from an area beyond the two trailers that baked in the sun. Ryker recognized the sound and knew his prey was making it.
He came across him two-hundred yards north, in the area where he had once learned to shoot rifles and handguns. The boy was young, still in his teens, but he looked every bit a man as he practiced with a crossbow. The kid appeared confident, was lean, muscular, and burnt brown from the sun.
Given how late in the year it was, Ryker knew the boy must have already traversed the hundred-mile ordeal through the desert. The fact that he was still being trained meant that he’d passed the test.
My replacement, Ryker thought. As he studied the boy, he wondered if he should talk to him first, or just kill him outright.
Spenser Hawke grunted in frustration as the arrow he fired missed the bulls-eye. Despite having hit the mark nine out of eleven attempts, Spenser wouldn’t be satisfied until his aim was perfect. He had mastered shooting with a rifle and had always been good with a handgun, but a high-proficiency with the crossbow still eluded him.
After taking three more shots, in which, he struck the bulls-eye twice more, Spenser moved in to reclaim the arrows, so he could start over.
One of the arrowheads proved stubborn to remove. Spenser had to put down the crossbow, so he could use both hands. After freeing the arrow and placing it in his quiver, he went to grab up the crossbow. As he bent over, he swiveled his head and saw movement behind him.
Spenser dropped onto the sand while reaching for an arrow as he rolled behind the wooden base that supported the target. An instant later, he had a shaft ready to fly and was pointing it at a man
who stood on the spot where he’d been firing from.
The man was approaching thirty, was good looking, and muscular. His beard was two shades darker than his honey-colored hair and a bright smile was set in the center of it. He was dressed in jeans, a gray polo shirt, and wore a black bandana around his neck.
“I see Farnsworth has trained you well,” the man said.
Spenser looked the stranger over as he rose from the sand and saw that the man appeared to be unarmed.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled as he walked closer. “I’m Vince, and you are?”
“How do you know Farnsworth?”
“You mean Tanner Five, don’t you, kid?”
“I’m not a kid, and I don’t know anyone named Tanner.”
“It’s cool. I was like you once. Farnsworth trained me, only I didn’t complete that hundred-mile trek through the desert.”
Spenser cocked his head. “You trained here?”
“Yup, but I crapped out in the desert after only making eighty miles. How did you do?”
Spenser smiled. He couldn’t help it.
“I beat the old record.”
Ryker’s surprise showed on his face and he looked Spenser over again.
“You beat Tanner Three’s record? That’s impressive.”
“If I’m going to be Tanner Six, I should be breaking records. The whole point of the Tanner legacy is for each of us to be better than the ones who came before us.”
“You think of yourself as Tanner Six?”
Spenser looked abashed, but then he nodded.
“I will be the next Tanner. There’s nothing I want more.”
Hearing the young punk refer to himself as Tanner Six made Ryker’s face redden. There could only be one successor and the kid that stood before him was a pretender. He silently damned Farnsworth for training the boy. Did the old man really think he would just slink off and not claim what was his? He had passed the test and learned the skills needed to be a Tanner. He would not be cheated out of what he had earned.
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