Scar smiled as he reached in his pocket. When his hand came out, it was holding a hundred-dollar bill.
“My mom hit the number the other day and gave me some of the money. If we buy them mob guys drinks, they’ll let us stick around.”
“What number did your mom play?” Bruise asked.
“Um, I think it was 666,” Scar answered.
“That’s an unlucky number,” Abrasion said.
“Not for my mom,” Scar said, as he pointed at the flyer again. “But if you want a lucky number, look here, $1,000,000.00.”
The four fools grinned at each other. They had no idea who it was they were hunting.
CHAPTER 9 – He has his pride
The Chemzonic plant was a huge complex aptly located on Chemzonic Drive in Oklahoma City.
Tanner told the guard at the security gate that he was there to apply for a job, and after he received a visitor’s pass, he drove in and parked near the front office.
There was a fenced-in parking lot near the entrance to the office. It had a gate that slid aside when the right keycard was fed into the box that controlled it.
Inside that area were nearly twenty luxury automobiles, which must have belonged to the company’s corporate elite.
Tanner wondered if Jack Rockford’s car was parked in there, but then he realized that Rockford’s ride likely didn’t match his house, not if he was being compensated under the table.
Despite his title of Chief of Security, Rockford wasn’t a CEO or a Vice-president, and wouldn’t be given the same perks as the men or women in those positions.
Tanner confirmed this when he walked along a row of parking spaces that were outside the fenced-in area. The spaces had names stenciled at the rear of them, and Tanner came to one that indicated it was reserved for a, J. ROCKFORD.
The vehicle in the slot was a late-model Chevy. It was a nice car in a good shade of blue, but it didn’t match Rockford’s stately home.
Tanner left the car and went inside. The office looked like most other reception areas of large companies.
There were pictures behind the reception desk that displayed an aerial view of the Chemzonic plant, while on either side of that were photos of Chemzonic’s bigwigs, who apparently were all white, fiftyish, and balding, including the woman VP of Plant Operations, who had an odd hairline for a female. Tanner shrugged inwardly. Maybe it was something in the chemicals.
There was beige carpeting on the floor of the reception area, a glass coffee table with magazines, and chartreuse vinyl chairs that looked as if they would squeak when you sat in them.
The office also came with a middle-aged blonde. She had a face that said fifty, while her taut and tanned body said thirty. She was standing behind the reception desk as she looked through a tall filing cabinet.
The woman welcomed Tanner with a gleaming smile, and the nameplate on her desk proclaimed that she was Trisha.
“Hello, are you here to fill out an application for work?”
“Yes ma’am,” Tanner said, and saw the woman frown slightly. Tanner assumed that Trisha hadn’t liked his use of the word, ma’am.
“The only positions available at the moment are in the cafeteria, they need someone to bus tables, or to work as a dishwasher, will either of those do?”
“I’ll take anything,” Tanner said, while thinking that they’d soon have two positions open in security once the bodies of Derrick and Bobby were found.
Tanner perused the wall of photos near a side window. They were a collage of pictures taken at what looked like a recent company picnic. Some of them had captions, and in one, a large blond man with perfect teeth was smiling at the camera while holding up a trophy.
It was Jack Rockford, or at least it looked like the pictures of the man that Tanner had seen on the Internet.
The caption read—JACK WINS THE HORSESHOE TOSS FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW
Tanner turned from the photos and caught the receptionist looking at his ass.
Trisha blushed slightly.
“Um, I know what you mean about taking anything. A lot of people are out of work these days.”
Tanner pointed at the photo.
“This guy with the horseshoe trophy looks familiar. Is he Jack Rockford?”
“You know Jack?”
“Yes, but it was years ago. I didn’t know that he worked here.”
“Oh, yes, he’s been here about four years now, but where do you know him from, was it Mexico?”
“Jack was in Mexico?”
“Oh yes, we have another plant there in Mexico City, and we’ll soon be opening another there as well.”
Tanner glanced up at the ceiling as if he were trying to remember something.
“Ah man, try as I might, I can’t remember the name of Jack’s wife.”
“It’s Cindy. I see her every year at the picnic. She’s a sweetie.”
“Yes she is, but listen, nevermind the application. I’d feel weird working as a dishwasher in a place where Jack is such a big deal. I know it’s prideful, but it’s how I feel.”
Trisha smiled sympathetically.
“I understand honey, and I won’t even tell Jack that you were here, but listen, they say the post office is hiring.”
“Thanks, I’ll check it out.”
Tanner left Trisha, drove to the gate, and handed the guard back his visitor’s pass.
From there, he exited Chemzonic Drive and drove across the way to park in the lot of a 7-Eleven.
The parking space gave him a clear view of Chemzonic Drive, and when Jack Rockford left for the day in his blue Chevy, Tanner would follow him.
***
In Dallas, Alexa was also sitting in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven.
She had driven all morning and made the stop for a quick lunch. When she left the parking lot, she was all set to head back to I-20 West, but instead, by following her instincts, she wound up on I-35 North.
She was headed straight for Oklahoma, City.
CHAPTER 10 – Spenser Hawke
BILLINGS, MONTANA
Spenser Hawke liked to think of himself as a security professional.
The word, “bodyguard” seemed too soft and brought to mind the image of a man bravely taking a bullet for whoever was paying him to protect them.
Spenser wasn’t jumping in front of a bullet for a client. He thought it made much more sense to keep the client out of the line of fire.
He was doing that now, as he watched the home of Simone Owens.
***
Simone Owens was thirty-one and the single mom of two young girls. She was being stalked by a dirtbag named Darrell Haney.
Haney, a pot dealer, became fixated on Simone when he came upon her in a Casper, Wyoming supermarket a year ago.
Simone admitted that at first she was interested in Haney, who was a good-looking guy in his twenties. He drove a nice car and took her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, but it was over dinner that the crazy came out.
Haney began talking about marriage on that first date, and told Simone that they were destined to be together.
That was bad enough, but when Haney assured her that she would forget her kids in time, once she gave them up for adoption, of course, she knew that she was talking to a true looney tunes.
Simone had been wise enough not to have Haney pick her up from her home, but rather from her place of business. However, when she arrived for work the next day, she found dozens of red roses covering her desk.
When Haney showed up a short time later, Simone had to ask building security to escort him outside.
She saw no sign of him when she left for the day, but the next morning he was outside her home and leaning on her car.
Simone had spent months and a fair amount of money going through the courts and dealing with the cops to get Haney to leave her alone. It did no good, and she eventually fled from her home in the middle of the night like a thief, with her two children in tow.
That was how she wound up in Billings, Montana, where s
he found work within a matter of weeks and was starting over. The kids liked their school and she enjoyed her new job and friends.
But ten days ago, Simone came out of her rented house and discovered red roses scattered across the hood of her car.
Haney himself appeared shortly thereafter and Simone was about to lose her mind. That was when an old friend named Carrie mentioned Spenser to her.
They had been on the phone at the time, and Simone thought it strange that her friend insisted on telling her about Spenser in person. The friend had business near Billings a few days later and met Simone for lunch.
After searching every face in the restaurant to make certain that Haney hadn’t followed her, Simone sat down across from her friend, while keeping an eye on the entrance.
“So what’s the deal with this Spenser Hawke?”
“He’s sort of a bodyguard.”
Simone’s shoulders drooped.
She had tried bodyguards in the past. Haney wasn’t intimidated by them, and he had even paid some guys to beat up one of the men she had hired.
“A bodyguard won’t help, Carrie; Darrell Haney doesn’t scare and I don’t have the kind of money where I can pay someone to watch me night and day.”
“Spenser isn’t your average bodyguard,” Carrie said, and then she lowered her voice. “He’ll make Haney disappear.”
Simone’s hand flew to her mouth.
“You mean he’ll... he’ll kill him?”
“Yes. When there’s nowhere else to turn—call Spenser.”
Simone broke eye contact just as the waitress brought their salads and drinks. After the woman left, Simone nodded her head.
“I’ll do it. I’ll hire him, but Carrie, how much does he charge? After everything Haney has put me through, the lawyers, the move, starting over, I’m practically broke until I sell my old house.”
“We used him when George was having that trouble with his business partner, remember?”
Simone searched her memory and came up with a name.
“Carl Brown, right? The bastard that embezzled from the business and ran off?”
“That’s him, and Simone, he took everything, borrowed more, and left us holding the bag. You want to talk about being in debt; we owed nearly a million. We were about to sell our home and drain the kids’ college funds to pay back our creditors. That’s when George heard about Spenser from a friend. After we hired him, Spenser tracked down Carl in a week and got back all of our money.”
“What did that cost you?”
Carrie grinned.
“Not one penny, Spenser took his payment from what Carl had when he tracked him down and gave us back the money we lost. Carl had embezzled from his other partners as well, so I suspect that Spenser made out all right.”
Simone looked thoughtful for a moment, and then she whispered to Carrie.
“Darrell Haney is a drug dealer; I bet he has money hidden somewhere.”
Carrie nodded in agreement, reached into her purse, and handed Simone a business card.
Simone read the card.
SPENSER HAWKE: WHEN THERE’S NOWHERE ELSE TO TURN—CALL ME!
“Yes, just call the number written on the back and leave a message stating my name. After Spenser calls me and checks that you’re legit, he’ll contact you.”
“What’s he look like? He’s not scary is he?”
Carrie laughed.
“Oh honey, he’s gorgeous, but... there is one thing.”
***
Spenser adjusted his eye patch as he waited for Darrell Haney to show.
The forty-three-year-old Spenser had lost his left eye years ago, but was still deadlier than most men were with two eyes.
Still, he found that he had to compensate for his missing eye, and had developed different tricks to do so. One of those tricks was about to come in handy, because unbeknown to Spenser, Darrell Haney was sneaking up on his blind side.
***
Darrell Haney moved as quietly as he could through the trees at the rear of Simone Owens’ home.
Darrell had seen Simone enter the house earlier without her kids and assumed that she was alone. He was hopeful that she had finally come to her senses and gotten rid of the brats, so that the two of them could be together.
But no, Simone was simply playing hard to get again, and after scouting out the area, Darrell had spotted the bearded guy with the eye patch. He was smaller than the brutes she had hired in the past, not much bigger than Darrell was really, and once he got by him, Darrell had plans for Simone.
No more foreplay.
Today was the day that Darrell planned to enter the house and take Simone off with him. He had a nice spot all set for her in the basement of a private home two miles away, and between the steel cage and the chain he would place around her ankle, he’d never have to worry about being separated from Simone ever again.
Darrell ducked down as the bearded man glanced his way, and when the guy turned his head again, Darrell crept closer.
Darrell smiled. Simone couldn’t have been serious about staying separated, because if she was, she never would have hired a guy with one eye to guard her. She must have known that all Darrell would have to do is sneak up on the guy’s blind side, and then she’d be his.
When Darrell was ten feet away from the man, he stood, and began easing his gun from his waistband. Eye patch was looking the wrong way with his good eye, and soon that one would close forever.
***
Spenser was looking in the opposite direction of Darrell’s approach, but he watched the deranged drug dealer creep ever closer.
He was looking into one of the small round mirrors he had fastened in strategic spots, along the trunks of different trees.
Darrell’s movements were observed in two of the mirrors, and when Spenser saw the dirtbag reach for the gun in his waistband, he spun around and fired.
The weapon was a Taser, and its prongs sank into Darrell’s skinny chest and sent a shock through him. The gun slipped from Darrell’s hand even as he fell to the ground, and Spenser walked towards him while removing zip ties from his pocket.
When he had Darrell handled, Spenser took out his phone and dialed.
Amy answered on the first ring.
“You got him?”
“We got him. He wouldn’t have come close enough if you hadn’t fooled him.”
“I’ll be right there,” Amy said.
When she emerged from the home, she was removing the brown wig she wore to make herself look like Simone.
Amy was thirty-eight, had grown-up in Hollywood, and early in her career she had worked as a makeup artist and wardrobe person. The skills ran in the family, as Amy was the fourth generation to work in the film business. Her great-grandmother had slapped pancake makeup on Charlie Chaplin and other silent film stars.
The good looking Amy had gone on to be a screenwriter, and showed much promise, but that ended when she became the target of a madman.
That was when she was introduced to Spenser. He made the madman vanish from Amy’s life while he stayed in it. The two of them became lovers, and on occasion, Amy helped Spenser set his traps, as she did by pretending to be Simone.
With the wig removed, Amy’s own raven hair shined in the sun, and she walked over and stared down at Darrell.
“You’ll never bother Simone again, do you hear that you lunatic?”
Darrell opened his mouth to reply, and Spenser stuck a rag in it, before smiling at Amy.
“You were great, honey. When I saw you leave Simone’s car and walk inside the house I thought you were her. Had I not known better, I would have been fooled like Darrell was, you really mimicked her mannerisms well.”
Amy kissed Spenser on the lips and then stared down at Darrell.
“Do you need help with him?”
“No, you just go see Simone and tell her that everything is all right.”
“She’ll be relieved.”
“They always are, and if they could handle peopl
e like Darrell on their own I’d be out of work.”
“No you wouldn’t; you’d find something to do, and you can always help out at the store.”
“Speaking of the store, how soon do you have to get back?”
“There’s no rush with Deedee and my brother there, why?”
“I thought we’d take a—”
Darrell kicked out with his feet suddenly.
Spenser leapt out of the way easily and shook a finger at him.
“That’s a no-no.”
Spenser took a small leather case from an inside pocket of his jacket and removed a syringe from it. The syringe held a powerful sedative.
Spenser obtained it from a friend, an anesthesiologist who was also a former client. Spenser jabbed the needle into Darrell’s neck, and after mumbling for a moment behind the gag, Darrell’s eyes closed.
“As I was saying, I thought that we could take a little vacation, anywhere you want to go.”
Amy smiled brightly.
“Aren’t you romantic, and hey, why don’t we go south?”
Spenser grinned.
“I know what that means, New Orleans, and yeah, I could go for some gumbo.”
Amy kissed Spenser again, but this time it was longer and more soulful.
“I’ll see you back at the hotel, and be careful with that one there; he’s a snake.”
“I’ll be careful, and thanks again for the help.”
“It’s my pleasure, and I don’t know where people like Simone and I would be if you didn’t do what you do. Goodbye baby, I’ll be waiting for you.”
Spenser watched Amy until she drove off in Simone’s car. Afterwards, he went in search of Darrell’s vehicle.
He found the van parked on the street behind Simone’s house and drove it back to park it in the driveway. After dragging Darrell by his collar, he picked him up and dropped him into the back of the van.
Twenty minutes later, he was at the rundown home Darrell had bought. He had followed him there on a previous occasion. This time he went inside, and he found the cell that Darrell had fashioned for Simone in the basement.
It was a welded wire dog kennel. The type normally used outdoors to keep large dogs in. It stood six-feet high, was four-feet wide and eight-feet deep.
The TANNER Series - Books 10 -12 (Tanner Box Set Book 4) Page 4
