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

by Remington Kane

  “Laurel is Joe’s girl, but what are you saying, you think she and Tanner have a thing going behind Joe’s back?”

  “I think the potential is there. If Pullo were out of the picture, they wouldn’t even have to sneak around.”

  Johnny kissed her.

  “You have quite an imagination, but here’s what I think, I think that you’re not ready to let things be, but you’ll have to, you gave Tanner your word and you have to keep it. Let the past be, so that the two of us can move forward.”

  Sara wanted to argue the point, but knew it would be useless, and so she smiled at Johnny and gestured towards the bedroom.

  “Weren’t we in the middle of something before finding Duke?”

  Sara stood and took his hand to lead him towards the bedroom, but Johnny pulled her back onto the sofa and into his arms. After kissing her, he stared into her eyes.

  “I think I’m falling in love with you, Sara Blake. What do you think of that?”

  Sara’s breath caught in her throat. When she spoke, there was a touch of awe in her voice.

  “You’re not alone in feeling that way, and I thought that I would never love again.”

  They kissed once more, before rising as one and making their way back into the bedroom.

  CHAPTER 21 - Just one of the guys

  Tanner watched as another cab let out a passenger in front of the Rutherford Hotel.

  This man, like the rest of them, was big, looked fit, and carried a suitcase.

  For a hotel that was closed for renovation, the Rutherford was doing brisk business.

  The men were mercenaries that Heinz was bringing in to help take over. Not counting the man getting out of the taxi, Tanner had seen four men arrive in the time he’d been watching, and all of them had been greeted at the door by the same man, an old guy wearing an open bathrobe over a pair of faded blue boxer shorts.

  The late arrival of the men told Tanner that Heinz ordered them to come as soon as possible, otherwise, why not arrive at an earlier hour and let the old man at the door get his sleep?

  Tanner was watching from the roof of a small warehouse that sat across the way from the six-story hotel, and was able to hear snatches of conversation. All of the arriving men had spoken German to the man greeting them, all but one that is, and that man was able to speak some German, but conversed better in French, which the old man also spoke.

  The hotel was much older than the buildings surrounding it, which were warehouses, and judging by the ornate brickwork and Old-World styling, it was likely built over a hundred years ago.

  From his darkened perch across the way, Tanner had a murky view of the lobby, because there was beveled glass set above the entryway doors.

  As he watched, the men who had arrived earlier were leaving the hotel together. The new man said something that Tanner couldn’t make out, but when one of the other men answered while pointing down the block, Tanner guessed what they were discussing.

  It was food, and they were headed to the restaurant on the corner, which was still open.

  The new arrival went inside, where he received a keycard for a room from the old man. Then, he left his bag by the front desk and exited the hotel at a run to catch up with his new companions.

  Tanner nodded to himself.

  A late-night snack sounded like a good idea.

  ***

  Tanner arrived at the restaurant just a few minutes after the others had taken a table.

  He wore glasses, had combed his hair differently, wearing it slicked straight back, and had a pack of cigarettes displayed prominently in his shirt pocket. The cigarettes were a German brand named HB, which he had purchased earlier along with the eyeglasses.

  The place was quiet, with only a few couples around, other than the table where Heinz’s men sat.

  They stared at him with interest when he walked in. The men were all clean-shaven, save for one, who had a bushy red mustache.

  Tanner called to them in German that had not a trace of an American accent.

  “The man in the robe said that you would be here. I just arrived.”

  One of the men waved him over, and he gave them a name that sounded as phony as theirs did.

  Tanner had no doubt that their passports were all fakes, but of excellent quality. They had come to New York to slaughter other men for money and they would not be traveling under their true names.

  The men talked sports, admired the few women who were about, and drank. Tanner ingratiated himself with the others by buying a round of drinks and being agreeable.

  There was hushed talk about an elite hit squad that was set to arrive in the morning from Brussels.

  The other men made derisive comments and said that they could kill anyone as well as the men coming from Brussels, and that Heinz was just wasting money hiring the so-called elite team of assassins.

  Tanner asked who the men were coming to kill. The man at the table who did most of the talking, the one with the mustache, gave a shrug, and said, “Some American asshole who thinks he’s Rambo.”

  By the time they left the restaurant two hours later, the six of them were talking loud and laughing like old friends.

  The man in the bathrobe shushed them to be quiet as he let them in, after they’d awakened him again, and Tanner rode up in the only working elevator with the others to the third floor, after taking note that none of the lobby cameras seemed to be working, and that the monitors inside the security office were all dark.

  The old man who let them in never gave Tanner a second look, but was just eager to return to bed.

  Tanner pretended to swipe a keycard and waved goodnight as he grabbed the door handle, but after everyone else had entered their rooms, he went exploring by using the stairs.

  He came across Heinz’s suite on the top floor and figured that the rooms were also in use as the man’s office. There was an armed thug sitting at a small table outside the door, but he was leaning on an elbow, while reading a magazine.

  Tanner debated whether to kill Heinz or wait, and decided to wait and gain information, because he couldn’t be certain if the man was inside the suite.

  With that decided, he found an unlocked room on the fourth floor. It was a level of the building that the renovation had yet to touch. It still contained the old furnishings, although the room had a musty odor and the carpet showed stains.

  After stacking bottles from the mini fridge in front of the door to act as a makeshift alarm system, Tanner undressed and went to sleep in the belly of the beast.

  He was just another hired gun, and to the men he’d met and drank with, just one of the boys.

  CHAPTER 22 - Saint Brian

  The following morning, after Johnny left to go home and change, Sara agreed to meet her sister for breakfast.

  They met in a coffee shop near Sara’s apartment. Jennifer had arrived first, and when Sara appeared, Jennifer hugged her.

  “I’m sorry about the other day, but I wanted you to know how I feel.”

  “I think we both spoke our minds,” Sara said, as she took a seat.

  The two talked about the rest of their family as they ate, with Jennifer filling Sara in on what’s been happening.

  Jennifer reached across the table and gave her sister’s hand a squeeze.

  “I’m so glad that we’ve made up before I left on my trip. I have to fly down to Guambi tonight and I may not be back for weeks. The charity is setting up an aide center to help the victims of the typhoon they had.”

  Sara looked concerned.

  “Couldn’t you send someone else? It’s dangerous there.”

  “I run the charity and the danger is minimal. I learned yesterday that President Urray, the new leader, has firmly taken control of the government and there are elections planned for later this year.”

  “What about Jake?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you really trust him enough to be separated for weeks? And don’t give me that look, I know the man and it’s as
king a lot for him to be celibate while you’re gone.”

  Jennifer’s mouth opened in shock.

  “That, that is so rude. I trust Jake, and unlike Johnny Rossetti, he doesn’t work in an environment where naked women are the norm. God only knows what goes on inside that club.”

  “Those women are dancers, performers, not hookers. Maybe you shouldn’t judge them without knowing them.”

  Jennifer took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and let it out slowly.

  “You’re right, I shouldn’t judge or jump to conclusions, but you shouldn’t be so quick to judge Jake either, he’s changed, Sara. He nearly died thanks to you and it changed him.”

  Sara narrowed her eyes.

  “He’s holding a grudge against me, isn’t he?”

  “Jake? No, he likes you.”

  “Maybe not, and maybe he’s with you as a way to pay me back.”

  “Sara, Jake and I being together has nothing to do with you, and I find it insulting that you would think so.”

  “Oh, honey no, I know he’s attracted to you, any man would be, but he knew that I didn’t want him to date you and he went after you anyway. That makes me even more afraid that he’s planning on breaking your heart, as a way of getting back at me.”

  Jennifer grabbed a napkin from the table and wiped at her eyes.

  “I’m going to leave before I say something I’ll regret.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Jenny, and someday you’ll see that I’m right about Jake.”

  “Because I couldn’t possibly be enough for him, right?”

  “Oh, Jenny, no, it’s not about you, I just think that—”

  Jennifer stood, rummaged in her purse, and when her hand came out, it was holding money. She tossed the bills atop the table and stared at her sister.

  “I’ll call you when I get back from my trip.”

  “Jenny? Don’t be mad. I just know Jake better than you do.”

  Jennifer shook her head slightly, started to walk away, but then turned back.

  “You’ve built your life around this insane quest to get revenge for Brian’s death, but let me tell you something, the man was no saint.”

  Sara jerked in her seat, shocked by the vehemence in her sister’s voice.

  “What are you saying?”

  “The Fourth of July party, remember? Brian gave me a lift home.”

  “Yes, so?”

  “After I opened the door of my apartment, he made a pass at me.”

  “That’s a lie!”

  “No, it’s the God’s honest truth. He kissed me, and after I pushed him away, he apologized. When I told him that I thought he’d had too much to drink, he agreed to take a cab to your place and left his car.”

  “I remember him taking a cab, but he said he had car trouble.”

  “No, he had trouble keeping his hands to himself.”

  “You must have misunderstood. He was... he was just being friendly.”

  “Of course, Saint Brian would never do anything wrong.”

  Sara’s face reddened with anger.

  “Don’t talk about him like that, and what is this? Are you saying that I don’t have a right to seek justice?”

  “You would have had justice in Las Vegas if you had simply done your job. That man Tanner would be rotting away in a prison right this minute, but no, your bloodlust had to be satisfied and it nearly cost Jake his life.”

  “You don’t understand, Jenny, but that’s no reason to make up lies about Brian.”

  “I’m not lying. The man practically stuck his tongue down my throat.”

  Sara stood, and the chair she was in made a scraping sound that caused the coffee shop’s other patrons to look their way.

  “Brian loved me. I know he did.”

  Jennifer nodded.

  “I think so too, it’s why I accepted his apology for kissing me and chalked it up to too much alcohol. It’s also why I never said anything to you.”

  Sara stared down at the floor.

  “It didn’t happen, you must have misunderstood.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “Liar,” Sara said, but there was no force behind the word.

  Jennifer sighed.

  “Goodbye, Sara.”

  After Jennifer walked out, Sara sank back down into her chair, took out her phone, and gazed at a photo of Brian Ames.

  CHAPTER 23 - Dead men driving

  Tanner wiped down the room he had slept in, obliterating his prints, and went downstairs to the hotel’s dining room, where several of the men from the night before were gathered at one end of a long table.

  It was mid-morning and the word was going around that the hit team from Brussels would be arriving soon.

  There were no servants in the hotel, but Heinz had given some of his people the tasks of working as such, and Tanner watched as one man rolled a cart of coffee and pastries onto the elevator.

  The food was going up to the top floor. Heinz’s suite was up there, but there was a second suite of rooms and also a conference room for meetings.

  When the four-man hit team arrived with Heinz, Tanner realized that he had glimpsed the bald German before. It was the day he had killed Frank Richards. Heinz was one of the men trapped in the room with the automatic gun.

  Now, Heinz was looking to take Richards’ place and the four men with him were hired to help make that wish a reality.

  All four men looked fit, were Caucasian, and were already armed, judging by the bulge of holsters beneath the jackets they each wore.

  The jackets were made of black leather and had a distinct design on their backs in white. There was also a smaller version of the same illustration over the front breast pocket in red. It took Tanner a few moments to realize what the design was, and when he did, he nearly rolled his eyes.

  It was the Chinese symbol for death.

  The biggest of the men was well over six feet tall and had a shaved head, while the smallest was two or three inches shorter than Tanner was, and wore his long dark hair tied back in a ponytail.

  The other two men were Tanner’s height and sported buzz cuts, one blond, one dark, although the blond one also wore a black baseball cap with the words, Deutscher Fussball Bund, which translated to, German Football Association. Apparently, the man was a soccer fan.

  Heinz looked over the assembled crowd, which Tanner had counted as being twenty-five men. The bald German showed no glint of recognition as his eyes passed over Tanner in his glasses and slicked back hair. This, despite the fact that Heinz was holding a picture of Tanner aloft for all to see,

  It was the mugshot of Tanner taken earlier in the year by Mexican authorities, and the only thing exceptional about the face in the photo were the eyes, which burned with rage at having been betrayed and captured.

  Heinz spoke while moving the photo from side to side, so that everyone in the room could get a look.

  “This is a photo of an American assassin named Tanner. These four men are here to see that today is his last. Once they succeed, we will move forward with our plans.”

  Tanner looked around without being obvious about it and saw that no one was staring at him. The last place they expected the man in the photo to be was standing in their midst.

  Heinz continued.

  “The Americans, these Mafia toughs, they are afraid of this man and he has killed them with ease, but these four men here will show them what real killers are, and together we will take this city right out of their hands.”

  There were nods and grunts of agreement, and one man even clapped, but stopped as Heinz glared at him. Heinz then removed a stack of the same photo from an envelope and instructed one of his people to pass them around.

  When Tanner received his, he made a sound of derision after reading the height and weight listed.

  “This man is no bigger than me; I thought he would be a giant.”

  The Frenchman who spoke little German agreed. He was a large man and declared that he could kill Tanner with one
hand.

  Tanner slipped away before the hit team boarded the elevator with Heinz, and made his way to the stairwell, where he ran up the six flights without stopping until he reached the top.

  The conference room was across from the stairway door, and Tanner could see through the mesh glass set in the metal door that the men hadn’t entered the room yet. However, when he eased the door open, he heard the elevator chime its arrival.

  Tanner slipped into the hall and entered the men’s room near the end of the corridor, which sat across and to the right of the conference room.

  Heinz stepped off the elevator while talking to the hit team. He was informing them that he had a call to make, but that he would be joining them shortly in the conference room.

  After putting down the toilet seat inside one of the stalls, Tanner sat atop the toilet tank and waited for his prey to come to him, like a spider waiting inside a web.

  ***

  At the rear of the Cabaret Strip Club, Merle and Earl stayed busy by polishing the limo with rags, while they waited for Joe Pullo to appear.

  They had gotten a call earlier to meet Pullo at the club. Both brothers were anxious and wondered about the purpose of the meeting.

  However, of the two of them, Earl was by far the most nervous.

  “I’m tellin’ you, he’s comin’ to kill us.”

  Merle shook his head in disagreement.

  “No he ain’t. Why would he kill us now? If they were gonna kill us, they’d have done it already.”

  “Okay, then why does he want to see us?”

  “I don’t know, maybe he wants us to do somethin’ and that’s good. If we run a few errands and do things for him, then maybe Pullo will start to like us.”

  Earl frowned.

  “I don’t care if he ever likes me; I just don’t want him to kill me.”

  The sound of an engine came from the front of the building, where the other gate was. The alley curved out of sight, but they could tell it was a large engine, and when they heard the sound of the other gate being unlocked, they knew that Pullo had arrived in his Hummer.