The TANNER Series - Books 4-6 (Tanner Box Set Book 2)

by Remington Kane

  Frank smiled.

  “De nada, boy.”

  Cody led Pablo upstairs to get clean and Tanner settled at the table beside Frank, who was still holding the baby.

  “It’s good of you to take care of that boy,” Tanner said.

  Frank shrugged.

  “I only pray that someone would return the favor if one of my children were left all alone in this world.”

  “We’ll never have to worry about that,” Claire said, as she prepared the coffeemaker, and for some reason, her words sent a chill down Tanner’s spine.

  CHAPTER 13 - Guilty or innocent?

  Willis Financial Services was located on the land that had once been the McKay Ranch, and so the trip there was a short one for Tanner and Maria.

  He had gone shopping first and was wearing a new black suit without a tie, along with a pair of new boots. He also picked up the fake ID that Tim Jackson sent him, and confirmed that the farm back in Ridge Creek was being attended to by an acquaintance.

  Tanner had to assume that Sara Blake had not only revealed that he was still alive, but also that he had been masquerading as Romeo all along.

  Once he settled things in Texas, he would have to head back to New York City and deal with the fallout. On the bright side, it would give him a chance to see Sophia Verona again, a thought that pleased him.

  However, the downside was that he would also be walking back into a city where he was a marked man, although, with the info he now had concerning The Conglomerate’s financial dealings, he should have no trouble forging a truce.

  He and Maria had arrived at Willis Financial without an appointment and Tanner expected to be kept waiting, but was surprised when they were ushered up to Willis’s office almost right away.

  The young security guard who escorted them was a large man in a spotless white shirt, black pants, and shoes that shined as if they were new.

  The man was courteous and respectful towards them, and Tanner began to think that Chuck Willis was either innocent of the campaign of harassment being waged against the Reyes Ranch, or too devious to make his intentions obvious.

  The guard escorted them to the top floor of the six-story building, where they were handed off to Trey Broderick, Willis’s executive assistant, and Tonya Jennings’ boyfriend.

  Trey was in his thirties, with golden hair coiffed in that way that only Ivy League School graduates seem to have perfected.

  He was about Tanner’s size, but there was a softness about him, and along with the pallor he wore, Tanner wondered if the man ever went outside during daylight hours.

  Still, Trey Broderick was very handsome, and Tanner guessed that it was his looks that drew Tonya to him.

  Chuck Willis was in his mid-forties, divorced, and turned out to be nearly as handsome as his assistant. Willis was tall and slim, and he greeted Maria with a smile that would have melted most female hearts, however, Maria answered it with a cold stare.

  “Mrs. Reyes, it’s good to see you again.”

  “Unfortunately, I cannot say the same, Mr. Willis, and as a matter of fact, I think you know why.”

  “There’s been more trouble at your ranch?”

  “Yes. Two of your employees have been parked outside the entrance to the ranch and intimidating anyone who attempted to seek employment with us, or I should say almost anyone, as Mr. Tanner here drove them off twice.”

  “My employees? What are their names?”

  “I’m speaking about the Harvey brothers. I was told by someone that they work on the loading dock here.”

  Willis’s demeanor changed and he sighed with disgust.

  “Those two men no longer work for me, not since one of my security personnel discovered that they were selling drugs on company property, marijuana. That was nearly a month ago, and I assure you, Mrs. Reyes, I wish you and your ranch no harm.”

  Maria’s gaze softened under Willis’s seeming sincerity, but the next words out of Willis’s mouth made her raise her guard again.

  “By the way, I have a new offer concerning your land; do you have time to discuss it?”

  Maria turned to Tanner with a look that said, “See what a sneaky weasel this man is?”

  She moved towards Willis until she was standing near enough to hug him, and then looked up into his eyes.

  “Listen to me, you bastard. I will never sell you that land. Send the Harvey brothers to harass us, send a damn army, and my answer will be the same. No! You will never have my land.”

  Willis appeared flustered, and as he opened his mouth to respond, Maria spun around and headed towards the door.

  “We’re leaving, Tanner.”

  “Please, wait,” Willis said, but Maria kept going, and her heels clacked loudly against the tile floor as she headed towards the elevators.

  Tanner gave Willis one last look, and was puzzled by the appearance of what seemed to be sincere angst on the man’s face. It was as if Maria’s words not only wounded him, but that he dreaded her disapproval.

  Trey Broderick’s face displayed nothing, and Tanner wondered what part he played, if any, in what was happening at the ranch.

  Tanner joined Maria by the elevators just as one opened, and the last sight they saw before the doors closed, was that of Willis, who walked over and gazed at Maria while once more proclaiming his innocence, but his words were cut short by the closing of the doors.

  “That man, did you see how devious he was? First, he says he’s as innocent as a lamb, but not two seconds passed before he was trying to get me to sell to him again. It makes me furious!”

  They returned to the parking lot and climbed back in the truck. As Tanner signaled to turn right towards the ranch, Maria pointed left.

  “Let’s go into town. It’s nearly lunch time and I need a drink.”

  “You’re the boss,” Tanner said, and drove towards the center of town.

  CHAPTER 14 - Centavo-wise and Peso-foolish

  Matamoros, Mexico, September 1997

  Jack Sheer hobbled along on his crutches into a bar on Avenida Marte R. Gómez and weaved his way towards the rear, where there were several young Mexican men wearing shoulder holsters. One of the men stopped him and asked him his business, while speaking English without an accent.

  Sheer pointed to where four men sat in a booth with padded seats, which were covered in black and red leather squares.

  Three of the men weren’t known to Sheer, but the fourth man, the man with his back to the wall and a clear view of the entrance, he was the man that Jack had come to see. The man greeted Sheer with a nod of recognition, and signaled to the young man that it was acceptable to let him pass.

  The man’s name was Martillo, which was the Spanish word for hammer. It was a name he had carried since killing his first man with a claw hammer when he was only nine.

  He was a thick-bodied man with huge hands, and his squat head sat atop his shoulders with no discernable neck visible above his collar. Martillo’s dark shiny hair was worn down to his shoulders, and his eyebrows were like twin mustaches that had been placed over his dead eyes.

  Martillo was also an amateur chess player, and he liked to use the game’s terminology whenever he discussed business, on the off chance that he was being recorded or overheard.

  Martillo asked the other three men to leave the table and then gestured for Sheer to take a seat.

  Sheer wedged his ample gut into the booth and smiled.

  “Martillo, how are you?”

  “I am good, Jack, and I’ve risen in stature since our last dealings.”

  Martillo’s soft voice carried with it a strong accent, but he enunciated each English word carefully, and so was easily understood.

  “I’m glad, Martillo, because I have need of your expertise.”

  “I see, and how many pieces would you like to have removed from the board?”

  “Six, and four of those are too young to play.”

  Martillo raised a bushy eyebrow.

  “That is unusual, and it wi
ll of course cost extra.”

  “We’re prepared to pay.”

  “We?”

  “I’m here for my boss.”

  “Ah, your king and does your king know the rules of the game?”

  “Yes,” Sheer said.

  The rules were that if any of Martillo’s men were killed or injured, it would be up to McKay to make things right with a payment. If any of the men were captured, McKay had to see that they were given bail so that they could flee back across the border. McKay and Sheer, would also need to establish alibis for the time Martillo’s men were performing their acts of slaughter.

  “Are you certain, Jack? I will be sending four pawns to handle your problem, and I expect all four of them to return in good health, two of which will be my nephews. If anything unfortunate occurs, the penalty will be a harsh one.”

  Sheer tired of speaking in code and leaned across the table to whisper.

  “The man your men will be facing, he and his teenage son will be armed, but with nothing more than rifles, and those silent room brooms your men carry will clean his clock before he knows it.”

  The “silent room brooms” that Sheer spoke of were Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns with sound suppressors attached.

  Martillo whispered back, although his face displayed annoyance that Jack broke protocol.

  “I do not know this phrase concerning the clean clock, but yes, the “brooms” you speak of are vastly superior to most other cleaning tools.”

  The talk turned to details and money, which were written on a pad of paper and passed back and forth until the deal was set. Afterwards, Martillo once again issued a warning.

  “Remember, my pawns remain in good health or your king and I will have a problem. Are you certain that all they’ll be facing is this other king and his young knight? If not, we must renegotiate and I’ll send more pawns.”

  Sheer thought of Tanner and his warning to leave the Parker family in peace, but he was certain that the gun for hire had moved on and would not be a factor. And if Tanner was there, what could he do against four hardened killers with superior weapons.

  Also, Martillo had charged more for his services than Sheer expected, and the more money Martillo was paid, the less there would be left as payment for setting things up.

  Sheer smiled.

  “There won’t be any problems.”

  In the days ahead, he would have cause to regret uttering those words.

  CHAPTER 15 - Risky business

  Maria and Tanner had ordered lunch along with their drinks, inside a restaurant that Tanner remembered from the old days, although the decor and menu had improved over the years.

  Maria took a sip of her second drink and then smiled at Tanner.

  “My daughter has a crush on you.”

  “She might, but she also has her eyes on someone else at her school.”

  Maria sat her drink down.

  “Please tell me that means she’s breaking up with that boyfriend of hers.”

  “It does and I take it you don’t like him?”

  “Billy was a good boy, but that’s changed, and I had to send him away last week when he came to the house to pick up Romina. I smelled liquor on his breath. He wasn’t drunk mind you, but he wasn’t driving my daughter anywhere intoxicated. Romina and I argued about it, but I guess she’s come to realize that she can do better.”

  “The boy she’s interested in now is Willis’s son.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “Damn.”

  They finished their meal and Tanner leaned back and watched Maria.

  “I have a theory about Willis,” he said.

  “And what’s that?”

  “I think the man wants you, not your land.”

  Maria had been taking a sip of her drink as Tanner spoke, and nearly spit it out in surprise.

  “You think Chuck Willis wants to be with me?”

  “Yes, and I also believed him when he said he knew nothing about what the Harvey brothers were up to. If that’s true and he’s innocent, then there’s someone else pulling the strings. Who else besides Willis would want your land?”

  “No one; or at least no one else has shown interest.”

  “It’s just a theory, but I’m good at reading people and Willis doesn’t strike me as devious.”

  Maria held up a finger.

  “Or, he’s very good at fooling people, even you.”

  “That’s a possibility,” Tanner admitted.

  Maria finished her drink and refused a third, and soon they were back on the road.

  “What about you Tanner, is there anyone in your life?”

  “No, I guess you’d say I’m a loner.”

  “Have you always been like that?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re afraid of commitment?”

  “I don’t trust the emotion of love, not romantic love.”

  “Love doesn’t always end badly.”

  “Maybe not, but why take the chance?”

  Maria laughed.

  “What else in life is worth the risk?”

  Tanner thought about that and found that he didn’t have an answer.

  CHAPTER 16 - Red sauce

  Stark, Texas, September 1997

  Okie, Pug, and Slim, made their move on Claire in the supermarket parking lot.

  While Cody was securing the food into the bed of the pickup truck, Claire was fastening the baby into his car seat.

  Cody had just enough time to see the masked figures of Pug and Slim grab Claire, before sensing Okie rushing up on him from the rear.

  Okie had been aiming his blackjack at a spot behind Cody’s right ear, but the boy moved at the last second and the sap only caught him a glancing blow on the shoulder.

  Okie raised the blackjack high in preparation to deliver another blow, and Cody smashed a large jar of spaghetti sauce against his forehead.

  Okie cried out in agony, as shards of glass penetrated the stocking he wore over his head and a sliver entered his left eye, while Cody looked back to see Claire struggling to get free.

  Pug kept one hand clamped over Claire’s mouth, as he lifted her and prepared to toss her into the back of the van they’d stolen. Slim followed along, as he tried to keep his hold on Claire’s kicking legs.

  Cody fought the urge to run towards them and fight, and instead, he headed for the cab of the pickup, where his rifle was secured in its rack.

  Pug noticed him first, as Cody sighted over the roof of the truck, and he cried out a warning to Slim.

  “The boy’s got a rifle!”

  Both men dropped Claire unceremoniously to the parking lot pavement as they reached for the guns stuck in their belts.

  Pug kept his weapon secured behind his back. He barely managed to clear it before Cody’s first shot removed the top of his head and sent it landing inside the van.

  Slim did a bit better and was an instant away from pulling the trigger, when Cody sent two into his chest and shredded his lungs and heart.

  A shot pinged off the doorframe and ricocheted into the pickup’s windshield, shattering it.

  It was Okie, with the stocking removed, and he was firing at Cody with his one good eye, which was set in a face covered with spaghetti sauce and blood, the two were distinguishable only by their texture, as the color of the fluids matched.

  Cody swung the rifle around and fired a shot that entered Okie’s remaining eye. It sent the big man crumbling to the ground with the back of his head blown away.

  “My baby!” Claire shouted, as she scrambled to her feet, while her shoes slipped amid the blood of her would-be captors.

  Baby James was wailing in the aftermath of the chaos, but he had been uninjured by gunfire, or the shattered glass of the windshield.

  Cody walked over and kicked the gun from Okie’s hand, despite knowing that his shot must have killed the man. Slim and Pug had dropped their weapons as they fell, and so Cody let them be, and walked back over to Claire, who was t
rying to calm the baby cradled in her arms.

  Claire had scraped her left elbow after being dropped and the wound was bleeding, but she seemed not to notice, as she gazed about and took in the scenes of death surrounding her, while the other shoppers in the parking lot began converging to gawk.

  “Are you all right, Claire?” Cody asked, as he laid the rifle atop the truck’s front seat.

  “You... you killed them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh my God!”

  “It was them or us. How is James doing?”

  “He’ll be all right, but I want to go home.”

  Cody pointed towards the street, where a police car was rushing towards the supermarket entrance.

  “I think we have to deal with him first.”

  Seconds later, the car skidded to a stop near the truck and County Sheriff Emory McKay stepped out with a gun in his hand.

  He was Andy McKay’s older brother, and resembled him, but was shorter and had gray hair. He was also Claire’s former brother-in-law, and the first words out of his mouth were directed at her.

  “What kind of shit have you caused now, Claire?”

  Cody raised his empty hands in the air where everyone could see them.

  “You people see that I’m unarmed, right?”

  The sheriff walked over and got in Cody’s face.

  “What are you trying to say, boy? You think that I would shoot you without cause?”

  “If you’re anything like your brother you would.”

  Three seconds later, Cody was slammed atop the hood of his truck and having his hands cuffed behind his back.

  CHAPTER 17 - Punk ass

  Javier rushed towards the truck with Doc following behind him, as Maria and Tanner arrived back at the ranch house.

  “I tried calling you, Mom, where were you for so long?”

  Maria checked her phone and saw that she had forgotten to turn it on.

  “Oh, sorry, I had it turned off, and Tanner and I stopped for lunch.”

  “And drinks,” Javier said, and then he walked over to stand in front of Tanner. “What are you up to, Tanner, are you trying to get in my mother’s pants?”