Andrea had gone down to the floor with Cynthia, as the woman had kept a grip on her neck. However, she was fine, as Cynthia never fired the gun. Andrea rose from the floor while smiling.
“When you dropped that rifle, I thought you’d gone crazy. They would have killed us both for sure.”
“Exactly,” Tanner said to her, then he spoke to Geary. “On your feet.”
Geary stood and cried out in pain from the wound he’d received to his calf. Geary then moaned in agony after spotting Cynthia’s dead form. He hobbled over to where she lay and stared down at her. There were no tears in his eyes, but grief suffused his features.
When Tanner looked at him, he was surprised by the lack of emotion in Geary’s brown eyes. He expected rage at the loss of a woman he loved, or fear for his own safety. Worry was there, yes, but not the terror Tanner had expected to see. A moment later and he understood why.
“We can make a deal, Tanner,” Geary said. “There’s always a deal that can be made between reasonable men.”
“Such as?”
Geary smiled. “I’ve made a study of you. You were impressive six years ago, and so I put the word out in certain circles that I was interested in you. I thought I might hear a rumor or two, but my, you’ve become a legend. Tell me, just how did you manage to kill that Mexican cartel leader?”
“What’s he talking about?” Andrea said.
“Your friend here, or is it lover? Anyway, Tanner is without doubt the greatest assassin who ever lived.”
“Shove the praise, Geary, and get to the point,” Tanner said.
“You’re a man of honor. I know that about you. If you give me your word you won’t kill me or harm me in any way. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“How?” Tanner said.
“Are you serious, Tanner,” Andrea said. “Just kill the man and let’s get out of here. Someone might have called the police.”
Geary shook his head.
“My guards practice their shooting here on a regular basis. The neighbors are accustomed to the sounds of gunfire. No one will report the shooting.”
“What’s your deal, Geary?” Tanner asked.
Andrea walked up to Tanner, then whispered.
“What’s going on? More playacting?”
“I want to see where this goes. Trust me.”
Andrea looked over at Geary. “It’s him I don’t trust.”
“If you both agree to let me live I’ll give you two-hundred and eighty thousand in cash.”
“You have it here?” Tanner asked.
“It’s in my safe, in my study.”
“Let’s see it.”
Geary’s study was the size of most living rooms and as well-appointed. The safe was behind the desk and concealed by a bookcase that rolled aside easily. Once Geary input the combination and opened it, Tanner issued a warning.
“If this is a trick you’re dead.”
“No tricks,” Geary said.
After swinging open the door on the safe, Geary removed a metal box. Inside were stacks of banded cash.
“That sheath of papers on the right, bring those out,” Tanner said.
Geary smiled. “That’s nothing, just some legal paperwork.”
“Take them out.”
Geary frowned bitterly as he reached inside the safe. The “legal paperwork” turned out to be bearer bonds.
“What are these worth?” Tanner asked.
“That’s nearly half a million dollars, Tanner, and they were not a part of our deal.”
“I never agreed to a deal.”
“You’re going to kill me?”
“No, I’ll take the deal, but the bearer bonds are included.”
Geary sighed.
“I normally drive a harder bargain in a negotiation, but then, I don’t hold any cards and I’m bleeding from a wound. Take the cash and bearer bonds and we have a deal.”
Andrea gaped at Tanner.
“You’re really not going to kill him?”
“I’ll keep my word,” Tanner said. Then, he smiled. “What about you, Andrea? Do you agree to this deal?”
Andrea smiled back. “I certainly do not.” She spun toward Geary, took aim, and shot him in the chest. Geary slid to the floor behind his desk with a look of astonishment on his face. Andrea walked over and stared down at him. “This is for my father.” Her second shot hit Geary in the center of his forehead.
Andrea was still staring at Geary’s body when Tanner placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We’re done here.”
Before going, Tanner looked inside the safe. There were legal documents there, along with something else. It was a small black notebook with some sort of code written inside it. Tanner pocketed it in case it was valuable.
As they were leaving the room, Tanner was startled by a photo he saw hanging on a wall. The photo showed Geary looking perhaps twenty years younger. Standing beside him was an equally young Eric Tang, Tanner’s neighbor.
“What is it, Tanner?”
“A coincidence… maybe,” Tanner said. He plucked the photo from the wall and left the room.
38
Failure Is Not An Option
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, APRIL 1999
Farnsworth drove through the night on back roads in an effort to keep Cody and Romeo from tracking them down and attempting to take Roscoe away. Kayla and Zoe had dozed off to sleep after a while. They awoke when Farnsworth brought the van to a stop outside a hotel just before daybreak.
Kayla rubbed the sleep from her eyes, then she and Zoe turned to look at Roscoe. Roscoe had stayed awake. His eyes were full of hate as he stared at Farnsworth.
“Why are we stopping here, Granddad? We still have to turn him in,” Zoe said.
“I’ll handle that, honey. You and your sister go inside and get some sleep. Your rooms are on the third floor and overlook the pool.”
“When did you have time to get rooms for us?” Kayla asked.
Farnsworth winked at her. “I have my ways.”
Zoe gestured at Roscoe. “How much is he worth again?”
“Three grand, that’s a grand apiece, and we earned it. Maybe next time this guy will pay his child support and do right by his kids.”
“I feel bad for Brett, or whatever his name is,” Zoe said. “I wish I knew where to find them.”
“Yeah,” Kayla said. “And I liked his friend too.”
“Put those boys out of your minds, girls. Besides, I bet they’re not fond of you right now.”
“That’s an understatement,” Zoe said.
“I want to go after bigger game next time, Granddad. I think Zoe and I can handle it. You know, some sort of real criminal, like a bank robber.”
Farnsworth smiled at Kayla. “We’ll make a point of it.”
After the girls had gone inside the hotel with their backpacks, Farnsworth drove away with Roscoe. Nearly an hour later he arrived at a spot out in the desert. He had been there days earlier and prepared things.
Farnsworth dragged Roscoe out of the van by pulling on the sheet he had him wrapped up inside. The bank robber let out a muffled groan as he hit the dirt.
After evading Cody and Romeo, Roscoe had run up to Farnsworth while brandishing his rifle. The old man had been standing at the open rear doors of the van and looked like a godsend to Roscoe, who needed to flee as fast as possible.
In actuality, it had been a trap. Farnsworth had wrest the gun away from Roscoe with ease, then stunned him with a blow to the side of the head.
Before Roscoe realized what was happening, Farnsworth had tossed him into the van atop the sheet. The sheet had been prepared earlier. After a simple matter of securing strips of tape and shoving in a gag, Farnsworth climbed into the driver’s seat and went to pick up Kayla and Zoe.
Reaching down, Farnsworth removed the tape covering Roscoe’s mouth. Roscoe spat out the gag Farnsworth had stuffed in there, then discharged more spit as he tried to rid himself of the taste of the gag.
“What
the hell was that in my mouth?”
“An old pair of my socks, a used pair.”
“You’re a bounty hunter, did I hear that right?”
“You heard right.”
“And what was all that crap you told them girls about me owing back child support? I don’t have any kids.”
“I know,” Farnsworth said. He drew a gun and shot Roscoe four times in the chest.
After taking several photos of the corpse, Farnsworth buried the body by rolling it into a hole he’d dug days earlier. The ten-thousand-dollar contract was all his.
The deadline to kill Pete Roscoe had come and gone and the boys had to admit to themselves that they had failed. If not for the deadline, they could have found out where Farnsworth turned Roscoe in and waited for the cops to release him. However, there had been a deadline and they had missed it.
They were supposed to meet with Spenser at a restaurant in Phoenix. When they arrived, they found him in the parking lot. Spenser was standing outside his black pickup truck.
The boys walked up to him while feeling as if they’d let him down. It was one of the worst feelings either of them had ever experienced.
Spenser took one look at their faces and knew the truth.
“You didn’t kill Pete Roscoe,” Spenser said. It was a statement, not a question. “Tell me what happened.”
They told the whole story, and while they talked, Spenser said nothing. When they got to the end, they waited for the ax to fall.
Spenser’s smile was brighter than the Arizona sun.
“Congratulations! You passed the second test.”
“What?” Cody and Romeo exclaimed incredulously.
“You weren’t being tested on your skills as trackers and killers; it was your character that was being evaluated. You tracked Pete Roscoe down and would have killed him. I never doubted you could do that, either of you, alone or together. But I had to know who you are deep down, and you both proved that you’re worthy of being a Tanner.”
“Because we chose to save the girls instead of going after Roscoe?” Romeo asked.
“Yes. The moment you made that decision, knowing what it might cost you, you proved your worth as human beings. A Tanner isn’t simply a killer. A Tanner is a man first, and, modesty aside, he needs to be a damn good man. Congratulations, boys. You passed the final test.”
“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.
39
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.
40
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.”
Young Guns 3: Beyond Limits Page 14
