He barely had time to wonder at Sara’s appearance on the farm, when he saw the woman headed for the porch. She carried a gun in her right hand and a money sack in her left.
Other than a pronounced frown, her face was indiscernible beneath the floppy rain hat she wore, but her shapely body and lithe movement spoke of her youth.
Tanner halted in his tracks, knowing he’d never make it to the pickup truck, and darted for the cover of the trees instead.
A man’s voice came from inside the house, which sounded as if it were calling someone’s name, but with the rain drumming in his ears, Tanner couldn’t make it out.
The same could not be said for the gunshot that followed, which could be heard clearly, and Tanner realized that the man and woman must not be working with Sara Blake, but that they were a separate thing altogether.
Whatever it was, it was dangerous, and with his gun ruined by Sara’s shot, he had only a knife for a weapon. That thought made him pause and he moved back towards the house until he could see it again.
The woman was gone and had likely went inside.
Tanner estimated that he could reach his pickup truck in less than ten seconds, and be armed again in fewer than twenty.
He was lurching forward to sprint towards the truck when the tall man came leaping off the side of the porch.
The man landed in a skid, because of the slickness of the grass, but righted himself quickly and headed towards Tanner’s position. There was a gun in the man’s hand, a huge revolver with a long barrel, and Tanner turned and ran deeper into the trees before the man could spot him.
The ground was soggy even beneath the canopy of leaves overhead, as the series of small streams running through the forest had all overflowed. Water was also flowing down from higher elevations, and although the hour was barely past noon, the sky was dark from the black clouds that filled it.
Tanner was moving well, and he hoped that he was gaining a safe distance between himself and the man who pursued him. That hope faded when a shot that sounded like the boom of a cannon, roared, and a sapling to his right was shredded at the middle of its trunk, and fell over.
“I see you motherfucker and I’m gonna kill you!”
Tanner glanced over his shoulder in time to see the man rising from the crouching position he had assumed to take aim and fire.
Taking the time to fire that shot had widened the gap between them and Tanner intended to widen it farther still.
He sprinted over the uneven ground, seeking to lose his pursuer, while wishing he had a weapon with which to stand his ground.
And as he ran, he damned Sara and knew that once he handled the crazed man at his back, he would have to find her and put her down, but not before he learned how she had found him.
It had something to do with the phone he had discovered behind the sofa, the one that had emitted the tone, but he had to know if others also knew he was alive. If so, that too would have to be addressed, and he was so close to leaving and starting over.
The gun boomed again, and the ground in front of him threw up dirt and leaves in his path.
Tanner grimaced, running about like a scared rabbit was not his way, but neither was dying because of a bruised ego. He would run from the man, or rather from the man’s gun, and he would live to make him regret the chase.
The trees ended where a swollen stream rushed along, and towards the right was a rise ahead that led to the abandoned building site.
Tanner climbed the hill, and when he reached the crest and was silhouetted against the sky, he could sense the man sighting the gun on his back.
He dropped to lay flat in the mud just as the third shot boomed overhead, and then he rolled down the hill, oblivious of the two pairs of young eyes watching his every move.
CHAPTER 4 - Help from above
On the top floor of the half-completed office building, two high school seniors, a boy and a girl, stared down at the drama taking place.
Amy Patton grabbed the arm of her boyfriend, Dean White, as they watched the man in the hoodie being chased by the tall skinny man with the gun.
Dean had a freckled face and dark red hair, while Amy was dressed all in black, and dyed her brown hair the same color. The young couple was hanging out on a rainy day after cutting school and sharing a six-pack of beer filched from Amy’s mom.
The woman would never miss it, as she spent her days so locked in a haze of pills and booze that she could never hope to keep track of her supply.
Despite the rain, the hood was lowered and hanging down the first man’s back, so as not to obstruct his vision. Dean caught a glimpse of the man’s face as the man looked about, and was shocked at the calm expression he saw.
The man showed no trace of fear, as if the man chasing him was wielding a water pistol instead of the hand cannon he carried.
The terrain below offered few places to hide, and Dean could tell that the skinny man would soon have an unobstructed view and a clear shot at his target, who had yet to realize that the skinny man hadn’t followed him up the hill, but was instead running parallel along its other side.
As the first man paused to take his bearings, the skinny man topped the rise behind him and took aim at his prey, who was unaware that he was in his sights.
“Look out!”
The man in the hoodie heeded Dean’s cry, dove to the right and rolled, just as the bullet ripped into the spot he’d been standing in.
Both men turned their faces up to stare at Dean, but the skinny man gazed at him with sheer malice.
Dean pulled Amy to the floor just as the man sent a double blast from the gun their way, which tore a hole in the concrete above their heads.
Dean’s hands flew over Amy’s body as he checked her for injuries.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, you?”
“I’m fine,” Dean said and took out his phone to call the cops. “Damn, there’s no signal. I forgot the rain was screwing things up.”
He moved back to the wall and peered over just in time to see the man in the hoodie charge at the skinny man, who seemed to be fumbling with his gun.
The two men collided, fell to the ground, and rolled down a series of small hills, where they disappeared from sight beneath the branches of a tree.
However, Dean could hear their struggle even above the rain, and he wondered who was winning.
“The house,” Amy said. “I bet the farmhouse has a landline. We can call the chief from there.”
Dean nodded in agreement, took her hand, and the two of them rushed down three flights of stairs and out into the wet day.
***
When Sara ran out the rear of the farmhouse, it was just in time to see Tyler bolt into the trees.
She had barely entered the dripping foliage that bordered the pines when the loud shot rang out. Sara cursed, thinking that Tyler had killed Tanner before she could. She then slowed an instant later, as she thought about the likelihood of such an event.
Armed or not, Tanner was deadly and had survived tougher odds in the past. She didn’t know who Tyler and his companions were, but she doubted that they were a match for the bastard.
However, Sara considered herself a match for Tanner, if only by the iron will of her desire to see him dead, and she would not let him slip from her grasp again.
Let the man ahead have his chance at Tanner. Hopefully, he would wear the hit man down and make him more manageable.
Sara tensed, as a sound came from behind and to her right, and after ducking down beside a bush, she saw the woman with the floppy hat move past with a gun in her hand.
That meant that there were two armed people closing in on Tanner.
So much the better,
Let them face him, and when he was distracted, she would move in for the kill.
Three more shots, spaced apart, followed by a pair back to back and although she couldn’t be certain, Sara thought she had heard a voice in between the first two shots.
The woman in
front of her quickened her pace and Sara followed, but then slowed as she came to a hill.
Once atop the hill, a confused look crossed Sara’s face as she took in the unfinished office building sitting in the middle of nowhere.
Movement to her left caused her to point her gun that way, and she found two frightened kids looking at her, their eyes wide in their sockets as they stared at her gun.
Sara jerked her head towards the farmhouse.
“Run!”
The freckled-faced boy nodded at her, grabbed his girlfriend’s hand, and did as ordered. Sara watched them go, but had her attention grabbed once more, as three shots rang out from just past the other end of the building.
She ran down the hill while blinking at the drops of rain falling into her eyes, and hoped that Tanner had not yet met his death.
Sending the man to hell was a pleasure she wished only for herself.
***
After Tanner realized that Tyler had fired six shots from the revolver, he charged at him and caught the man just as he was attempting to reload.
Their struggle carried them down a series of small hills, where they lay beside the bank of a stream, amid a stand of trees. In normal times, the trees would be several yards above the waterline, but on this day, the stream was lapping at their roots.
Tyler’s gun, as well as the bullets he sought to fill it with, were scattered in their struggle, and so Tyler reached up and tried to strangle Tanner, who was on top of him, but Tyler received an elbow to the chin that weakened his grip.
Sensing his advantage, Tanner jammed a knee into Tyler’s stomach and saw the tall man wince in pain, but as he was about to smash Tyler’s nose with his forehead, three shots rang out, and one of them actually struck the hood hanging limply down Tanner’s back.
It was Sherry, and this time Tanner was able to get a good look at her. Beneath the dark eyes sat a fierce scowl set in an incongruously pretty face.
Tanner knew that if she hadn’t feared hitting the tall man, she would have fired lower and shot him for certain.
Tanner got his feet braced and propelled himself to the right, where he hoped the tree limbs would shield his location. He landed on his side in a patch of mud and heard the woman call to the man, whose name he learned was Tyler.
As Tyler gathered his wits and the woman helped him to stand, Tanner took off across an open field.
It was a risky move, but profitable if he could make it to the other side, because just beyond the field was a forest that stretched on for several miles. Past that, there was a road at the edge of town with storefronts and people, and once he reached it, Tanner could get lost among the buildings and find a car to steal.
Shots rang out when he was only halfway across, and Tanner braced for the pain they would bring, but when those shots were answered by others, he reasoned that Sara Blake had joined the fray.
He wished her good hunting and doubled his well-wishing for those she fought against.
With any luck, they would all kill each other.
CHAPTER 5 - Finders keepers
Dean and Amy entered the farmhouse after calling inside through the open front door and getting no answer.
Dean went in first and as he did so, he pushed back the hood on the yellow slicker he wore. Amy wore only a denim jacket to ward off the rain, and as a result, she was drenched to the skin.
Her stylish black sneakers made a high-pitched squeak with every step, and so Dean motioned for her to stay put, while he ventured deeper inside. Within a few steps, he came upon the body of Tyler’s brother, Randall.
“Oh man, this is not good.”
“What is it?”
Dean opened his mouth to answer when he spotted something else. He stood like that, with his mouth agape, until Amy joined him, and when she followed his gaze, she saw the bundles of cash that had spilled from the canvas bag.
“Holy crap!”
A moment later, she spotted Randall’s corpse, and a choked cry escaped her lips.
Dean gripped her hand in an effort to comfort her, even as he swiveled his head around.
“I don’t see a landline, but there’s a cell phone lying over there on the floor.”
Amy saw something else by the phone and the wonder of it eclipsed her fear at seeing the body.
“Another bag, Dean, there’s another bag over there.”
After taking a moment to gather their courage, the teens moved past the body and deeper into the room, where Dean pulled open the canvas sack and found it full of bundled cash.
“There’s a fortune here. They must have robbed a bank and then had a falling out.”
Amy walked back into the hallway and shoved the spilled cash back into the first bag.
“C’mon, we have to leave before they come back.”
Dean tore his gaze away from the contents of the bag.
“What? We can’t take this, it’s stolen.”
“And we’re stealing it again. Dean, baby, don’t you see how lucky we are? We’ll never have to work a day in our lives now.”
Dean gazed back at her for six seconds before he gathered up the second bag.
As he walked by it on his way out of the room, on impulse, he grabbed the phone from the floor and stuck it in his pocket. When he looked up, he found Amy lifting the shotgun by its barrel.
“This thing is heavier than it looks.”
“Leave it.”
“No, you grab it... just in case.”
Dean took it, but picked it up by its stock and set the safety switch with his thumb.
“What was that you just did?”
“I engaged the safety.”
“Shotguns have safety switches?”
“This one does.”
“How did you know to do that?”
“My dad, we used to hunt some... you know... before he got sick.”
“I wish I had known him better, but c’mon, we have to go.”
Dean tucked the shotgun beneath his rain slicker and then he and Amy crept from the house, where they walked past Tanner’s pickup, Sara’s car, and the stolen vehicle that Tyler and Sherry were using.
Once on the road, they stayed to the shoulder and headed away from the farm.
Every once in a while, they would giggle with glee at their good fortune, little knowing what lied ahead.
CHAPTER 6 - Hunted
A groundhog skittered in front of Sara’s position, and when the movement caught Sherry’s eye, Sara knew that the woman had spotted her.
Three shots slammed into the tree Sara leapt behind, followed by two more, and then Tyler could be heard shouting for Sherry to stop firing.
Sara sent two shots their way, but saw that they had already headed back up the hill. She let loose a vehement curse over the fact that the couple was now behind her, and after taking a deep breath, she went in pursuit of Tanner.
***
Sherry followed Tyler back up the first of the short hills he’d earlier rolled down while struggling with Tanner, and questioned him about why they were leaving.
“We’re not leaving. Do you think I’d let that bastard go after he killed my brother? But I can’t do shit without my gun. I have to find it.”
“I have a gun, we’ll just use mine.”
“How many rounds you got left?”
Sherry’s shoulders sagged.
“Just two,”
“That’s what I thought; now help me find my gun and keep an eye out for that bitch too.”
***
Tanner made it to the other side of the field just as Sara called out his name.
He had entered a second wooded area, but then remembered that there was a clearing up ahead. The clearing was in an area where another farmhouse once stood, but that building had burned down in a fire that occurred back in the 1960s.
He would have to stay clear of that open area or risk becoming easy prey.
Tanner looked over his shoulder and saw Sara coming fast across the field. He was certain that she coul
d no longer see him now that he was among the trees, and the sound of the thunder and the constant patter of rain would mask any sounds his footfalls made.
Still, she was armed, he wasn’t, and if she caught even a glimpse of him, he was a dead man.
Deeper into the trees, the branches overhead grew so thick that the rain making its way through became more like a steady drizzle, and not the unending barrage of water that had been pouring upon him. While the decades of fallen leaves had created a soft ground covering that gave each of Tanner’s steps a springy sensation.
Having only visited the site of the old farmhouse once, Tanner was unsure of exactly where the broad clearing began, and so he traveled east to give it a wide berth, and afterwards, he would move northward again towards the town.
He had just made the move towards the north when he saw movement up ahead, just a flicker of something, or someone, moving low between the trees. He wondered if Sara had somehow circled in front of him, but no, she couldn’t have moved that fast, and so it was the man and the woman whose friend he’d killed.
They must have traveled back to their vehicle and driven around, to come at him from the town side of the forest.
Tanner stopped moving and gazed about, while looking for a place to hide. The trees offered shelter, but the movement up ahead had grown close enough to make sounds, and he knew that he would be facing someone before he could ever make it behind one of the wide trees.
He unfolded his only weapon, a knife with a six-inch long blade, and readied himself for what was coming. Whoever it was, Sara Blake, Tyler, or the scowling woman, whichever, they were about to die, or he was.
No middle ground existed when the stakes were life and death.
Tanner moved towards the approaching figure, but when he saw who it was, he dropped the hand holding the knife to his side.
“Oh, it’s you.”
***
Sara made it to the clearing where a home had once stood.
The area wasn’t a true clearing since there were a few trees, but they were so scattered and small compared to their ancient cousins that it was easy to see past them, while the thick covering of the overhead branches had ended, making the rain inside the clearing as unrelenting as ever.
The TANNER Series - Books 4-6 (Tanner Box Set Book 2) Page 2
