“I’m not her type, but that would be up to her, wouldn’t it?”
Despite being still in his teens, Javier was taller than Tanner, and bigger, two facts that gave him courage, despite knowing that Tanner had recently defeated two men who were each even larger than he was.
“I want you to stay away from my sister too. She doesn’t need a babysitter when she runs.”
Maria clapped her hands together to grab Javier’s attention, but the young man just kept staring into Tanner’s eyes in an attempt to intimidate him.
“Javier, leave Mr. Tanner alone. You should be thanking him for guarding Romina this morning, if he hadn’t been there, who knows what the Harvey brothers might have done.”
Javier broke eye contact and shrugged.
“Maybe you’re right, Mom.”
Javier turned away from Tanner, but then spun back to deliver a punch to Tanner’s face.
Tanner had seen it coming, ducked the punch and backhanded Javier with a swat at his nose, which caused it to bleed.
Javier scurried backwards in shock, touched his face and stared in surprise at the blood on his fingers.
“You broke my fucking nose!”
Doc came over and told Javier to tilt his head back. When he touched Javier’s nose, the boy let out a cry of pain.
“It’s not broken, but it is likely to swell up. Maybe that will teach you not to throw a sucker punch; not everyone is a sucker.”
Javier pushed Doc away.
“Fuck you, old man.”
“Javier!” Maria cried, but the boy kept walking towards the house.
When she turned to look at Tanner, she sent him a sad smile.
“Thank you for not hurting him worse, and he needed to be taught a lesson. He’s been getting out of hand since his father passed away.”
“He’s still young,” Tanner said, and let it go at that. What point would there be in telling the woman that her only son was a punk?
***
Tanner picked up Romina from school without incident, and was pleased, when later that afternoon, Tonya Jennings showed up at the ranch to tutor Romina.
Tanner had been seated on the porch with Doc, while teaching the old man how to clean a gun, when Tonya arrived, and after Tanner introduced her to Doc, she joined them around the folding card table they were using.
“I haven’t been shooting in months,” Tonya said. “And I’m better with a rifle than a handgun.”
Doc pointed at the rifle leaning on the wall near Tanner. It was an old Winchester Model 70, which had belonged to Maria’s late husband. Tanner had cleaned it earlier, after buying fresh ammo for it.
“You should see this dude shoot. I lined up a bunch of tin cans on a fence post earlier and damn if he didn’t hit every one of them.”
Tonya smiled, but then grew pensive.
“I used to visit this ranch often when the Parkers owned it, and Cody Parker was the best with a rifle I ever saw, but then, there was that one time when the Parkers had a man staying here, and he tied Cody when they were shooting soda—”
Tonya stopped talking in mid-sentence and stared at Tanner.
“Have you ever been to the Reyes Ranch before, Tanner?”
“No, this is my first time.”
Tonya cocked her head slightly as she studied his face.
“Did you have a beard when you were younger?”
“No.”
“And did you ever meet Cody Parker?”
“No,” Tanner said. “I never met the boy.”
Romina appeared, walked over, and kissed Tonya on the cheek.
“Hi, Ms. Jennings, are you and Tanner getting to know each other better?”
Tonya nodded.
“Yes, I think I do know him better than I thought, and as for you, young lady, it’s time to study.”
“Can’t we talk with Tanner for a little while first?”
“Don’t procrastinate, and say goodbye to Doc and Tanner.”
Romina said goodbye reluctantly, and she and Tonya entered the house.
Doc turned in his seat and watched them go.
“My teachers sure weren’t that pretty, and I think she’s got her eye on you.”
“She already has a boyfriend.”
“Have you ever let that stop you?”
“No.”
Doc laughed.
“I like you, boy, and how’s that wound coming along?”
“It’s healing and my ribs barely hurt.”
Doc looked around and sighed.
“I like it here, and I asked Maria if there was a chance I could stay on after the trouble passed.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she’d think about it, but I wouldn’t blame her if she said no. She probably figures my old ass isn’t good for much and will hire a younger man.”
The screen door opened and slammed shut, and Javier stood staring at them.
Doc called to him in a friendly voice.
“How’s it going there, Javier?”
Javier gave him the finger and then sent a second one Tanner’s way, before heading down the steps and straddling his motorcycle, an old Harley Davidson Road King that had seen better days.
“Being young doesn’t give a man worth,” Tanner said, and Doc flipped Javier the bird back as the boy rode off.
***
Romina made certain that Tanner and Tonya were seated beside each other during dinner, and Tanner noticed the teacher giving him sideways glances throughout the meal.
Maria made a point of thanking Doc for fixing several things around the property, such as leaky faucets and a cracked windowpane. Tanner thought it bode well for the old man and his desire to stay on the ranch.
After dinner, Tanner walked Tonya out to her car, a ruby red, Ford Fusion, and the teacher asked him a question.
“Have you ever been married, Tanner?”
“There’s no Mrs. Tanner, no, and by the way, I met Trey Broderick.”
“You’ve met Trey? What did you think of him?”
“Not much.”
Tonya fought back a smile.
“Are you always so honest?”
“I find it keeps things simple.”
Tonya stared into his eyes.
“Oh, I think you are anything but simple. You’re more like a mystery or a puzzle.”
“Do you like puzzles?”
She moved closer.
“I adore them.”
“Why don’t we go have a drink somewhere?” Tanner said.
Tonya took a step back and shook her head.
“I can’t; Trey is coming by and I have to get home.”
“I see.”
She opened her car door, gave him a look as if she were going to ask a question, but smiled instead.
“You have a good evening, Tanner.”
“You too,”
And as he watched Tonya drive away, Tanner wondered if she remembered him.
CHAPTER 18 - Hero
The Parker Ranch, September 1997
Tanner was certain that if Sheriff Emory McKay wasn’t wearing a badge, Frank Parker would have kicked the man’s ass clear down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Three employees from the ranch owned by the sheriff’s brother attacked Parker’s wife and son, and McKay had the nerve to handcuff Cody for defending himself and keeping his stepmother safe, not to mention the baby, who also could have come to harm.
“My brother said that he knows nothing about this attack. He also said that he doesn’t hold a grudge against Claire, or you either, Frank.”
“Your brother is lying,” Tanner said.
The sheriff narrowed his eyes, as he looked Tanner’s way.
There was just the four of them in the living room, Frank Parker, Cody, the sheriff, and Tanner. Cody sat in a chair biting his lip, as his father had told him to remain quiet.
“Let me see some ID, Tanner.”
Tanner handed over his driver’s license and the sheriff made a face.
“This says
your name is Tucker Coe, so why do you call yourself Tanner?”
“I don’t know. Your name is Emory McKay, so why do you call yourself sheriff?”
“Are you getting smart with me, boy?”
“No, but I can tell you for a fact that your brother wants Claire Parker dead, because he tried to hire me to kill her.”
The sheriff tossed the license back at Tanner.
“The hell you say!”
“It’s a fact, and since you’re his brother, I’m betting you already know what a sick bastard he is.”
The sheriff made a move towards Tanner, but stopped himself and took several deep breaths.
When he was under control again, the sheriff held up a finger.
“All right, my brother does harbor bad feelings towards Claire and who can blame him? But as near as I can tell, those three men acted alone. Now, I will go as far to say that they may have thought their actions would please my brother, but he did not order them to attack Claire.”
“Think what you want, Emory, but what about my son?” Frank said.
“The boy is in the clear. The evidence and several witnesses back up his story.”
Tanner smiled at Cody.
“The boy, excuse me, the man is a hero.”
The sheriff glared at Cody.
“The boy has a smart mouth.”
***
After the sheriff left, Frank headed upstairs to see to Claire and his other children. He stopped halfway up the stairs and looked back at Cody.
“Son?”
“Yeah, Dad?”
“Thank you, boy, I’d have died if anything happened to Claire.”
Cody smiled.
“She’s beginning to grow on me too.”
Frank laughed and then continued up.
Tanner walked over to Cody and shook his hand.
“You did what had to be done, but how do you feel about it?”
“Killing those three men didn’t bother me. They were trying to hurt Claire, and stepmother or not, she’s a Parker, and nobody messes with my family.”
Tanner tapped the gun he was wearing on his hip.
“I think I’ll keep this close, just in case.”
“You don’t think McKay is done, do you?”
“No.”
“I don’t know,” Cody said. “Maybe after what happened today, he’ll back off.”
And even to his young ears, the words sounded like false hope.
***
At the McKay Ranch, Jack Sheer was getting ready to tell McKay about his meeting with Martillo in Mexico, after having learned about Okie, Slim, and Pug’s misadventure.
“The boy?” Sheer asked.
“The boy,” McKay answered. “Cody, the kid killed all three of them and Emory says that the boy was as cool as ice about it.”
“I don’t know what Slim, Pug, and Okie, were thinking, but because of them, Parker will be on the alert, and you’re sure that Tanner is staying there too?”
“He is. These men you hired, are they going to be enough?”
Sheer smiled, as he tried to look more confident than he felt.
“Tanner might be a pro, but he’ll be going up against four men just like himself, and as far as the kid, Cody, he just got lucky today.”
“You best be right, and when it goes down you and I will be away from here, and we’ll make sure we have people who can verify that we weren’t anywhere near the trouble.”
“People will still suspect that you had it done.”
“Let them, my damn brother included, but I can’t go much longer without paying that bitch back.”
“People around here will be talking about what happens to the Parkers for years.”
McKay smiled.
“The Parkers should all thank me; I’m about to make them famous.”
The two men laughed, but if they knew how it all would end, they’d have cried.
CHAPTER 19 - Sorry hurts too much
Tanner walked out to the road to look around, but as he came back, he saw movement on the porch.
It was 1:13 a.m. and Maria and her brood should all be sound asleep.
He had taken to getting four hours of sleep after dinner and then keeping watch all night, in the belief that if anything happened, it would take place in the early hours before dawn.
That was usually when violent death came, and as he patrolled, he thought of the Parkers.
Tanner could almost hear the echoes of history as he trod across the land that once bore their name, and where generations of their family had lived and died.
After staying to the shadows cast by the nearby trees, Tanner crossed over to the porch and saw the figure seated in a wicker chair.
It was Romina and she was crying softly, the sound like a whisper, when contrasted with the sonorous echo coming from the stable, as one of the horses snored in his sleep.
Tanner made a point of stepping on a section of the steps that he knew creaked, and Romina looked over at him with a start, before wiping her eyes with a tissue she took from a pocket of her robe.
“Oh, Tanner, you scared me. What are you doing up?”
“Standing watch, just in case,”
“All night?”
“Yeah, now tell me, what’s got you crying?”
“My boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, Billy, I broke up with him today and he’s been leaving me some really mean text messages since midnight. Well, some are mean, and then in others he begs me to give him another chance.”
“And will you give him a second chance?”
“No, and Chaz Willis already asked me out. I said yes.”
“Chaz, so he’s named after his father?”
“Um-hmm, and he’s so cute.”
Tanner sat across from Romina.
“Would you like some advice?”
“Yeah?”
“Stop reading the messages this Billy sends you. You broke up with him and that’s that, besides, don’t you have to take a math test in a few hours?”
Romina yawned.
“I do, trigonometry, and I better get some sleep. I’ll also turn off my phone.”
She rose from her seat and kissed Tanner on the cheek.
“Goodnight, and you should get some sleep too.”
“I caught a few hours earlier.”
Romina looked out at the darkness.
“Do you really think someone might try to hurt us?”
“I don’t know, but if they come I’ll be ready for them.”
“Better safe than sorry, hmm?”
“Yes, better safe than sorry.”
And Tanner knew from personal experience, that sorry never went away.
He watched Romina return inside and then continued his night of vigilance.
CHAPTER 20 - Sometimes a rock is all you need
The Parker Ranch, September 1997
They came just after three a.m. on a Saturday night.
All four men carried silenced Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and were dressed in black.
They had parked their stolen vehicle at the mouth of the Parker’s driveway, and then walked in.
The home was dark and everyone inside was asleep. There had been a time, in decades past, when men, ranch employees, would have been asleep in the old bunkhouse, but that dilapidated structure had sat vacant for many years, and the ranch hands all had homes of their own to go to when the day’s work was done.
However, the Parker’s did have at least one employee on site, and his name was Tanner.
Tanner, who had been awake, had heard the sound of the car doors opening and closing and had positioned himself behind a tree where the driveway began.
The four shapes gliding towards him looked like shadows, and whatever they wore on their feet made very little sound, as they moved across the gravel.
Tanner waited until they were ten yards away and opened fire with his .40 Smith & Wesson.
The two men on the left went down with head wounds, and then Tanner moved away just in ti
me to avoid the barrage of bullets that the other two men fired.
The pff! pff! pff! pff! pff! of their sound suppressed shots was nearly as unnerving as the bullets themselves. Tanner knew that these weren’t cowboys from McKay’s ranch, but professional killers like himself.
The remaining two men emerged from the driveway with each of them spraying bullets in a wide arc, three of which struck very close to Tanner, where he hid from sight behind the rear tire of Frank Parker’s pickup truck.
Tanner fired again, and although it took several shots, he killed a third man. The remaining man closed in on his position, but Tanner had already sprinted for a new place to take cover, as the man’s gun went dry.
He had been headed for a wide tree near the fence and away from the house, but the last man changed magazines so quickly that Tanner found himself forced to dive for cover behind a large wheelbarrow, which he tipped on its side.
It was damn poor cover, but the 9mm bullets did ping off the thick steel, with a sound that reminded Tanner of a bell ringing.
He returned fire without hitting the man and then had to change the magazine in his own gun, as he did so, he heard the man sprinting his way while still firing.
One of the man’s shots ricocheted off the lip of the wheelbarrow and just grazed Tanner’s gun, causing him to fumble it, and Tanner expected that at any moment the man would fire over the top of the wheelbarrow, and blow him away.
A voice cried out from the barn and the man with the gun grunted, as a rock slammed into the side of his head, halting him for just a moment.
It was Pablo, who had awakened from the sound of Tanner’s gun, and gave aid with the only weapon he could find. Frank Parker had offered the boy his guest room, but Pablo refused and returned to the barn.
Tanner was happy he had done so, as his sudden appearance and audacious attack gave him the time he needed to reload.
Tanner slammed the new magazine home and was ready to fire, when a shot boomed from the bedroom window of Cody Parker, and hit the last of Martillo’s men square in the back, severing his spine and killing him.
Tanner looked up in time to see Cody slide down the roof of the porch and drop to the ground in a crouch at the side of the steps. Cody was barefoot and wearing only a pair of blue boxer shorts, but his eyes were alert and his rifle ready.
“How many more?” Cody called to him.
The TANNER Series - Books 4-6 (Tanner Box Set Book 2) Page 18
