“Is it quiet? My husband likes his privacy.”
“Oh honey, it’s full of quiet, and you don’t have to worry about Bob and me, we’ll spend most of our time out on the lake fishing.”
Alexa said goodbye to the woman, and with all the preparations done, she locked up the cabin, climbed into her van, and headed back to Oklahoma City to meet up with Tanner.
As she drove along, she thought about her Papa Rodrigo and Emilio, and wondered how they were doing.
She never once realized that she was being followed by Spenser Hawke, or that her neighbor in the other cabin had actually been Amy.
Alexa drove on, unaware that she was leading Spenser straight to Tanner’s location.
CHAPTER 27 – Spilled blood
Tanner followed the two mercenaries and saw them pull into the parking lot of a donut shop.
The place was only about three miles away from the house he wanted to lure them to, and so he decided to make his move.
Goatee ran inside and came out a few minutes later with two cups of coffee, one of which he handed to Sunburn.
Tanner drove into the lot and parked near them, then got out of the car and went inside the donut shop.
He had replaced the green work shirt with a black sweatshirt, and had taken off the cap and sunglasses.
As Goatee began backing his pickup out of its parking space, Tanner thought he had been too subtle about things, but then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other man, Sunburn, spill coffee on himself and point his way.
Goatee had brought the car to a stop in such a manner that he was blocking the entrance to the lot, while he and the other man talked about Tanner. When the driver of a car trying to enter the lot blew her horn, Tanner saw Goatee send her an apologetic wave and drive over to park against a fence.
Here’s where things could get tricky, Tanner knew.
If the men were stupid, they would try to kill him right there in the parking lot. However, if they had any sense at all, they would call in the troops, the other six men that had been with them.
Tanner bought two donuts, and as he left the shop, he pretended to be reaching into the bag for one. He wasn’t reaching into the bag for a donut, but rather, he was using the bag to conceal the small gun he held.
If Goatee and Sunburn made a move, he would shoot at them right through the bag, but to his relief, he saw that Sunburn was on the phone and talking rapidly. That was good, and it got better when the men began following him back to the house.
Tanner drove calmly, and pretended not to know they were there until he was at the last traffic light before reaching the house. That was when he adjusted his rear view mirror and appeared to notice the men in the pickup, who were in the next lane behind a car.
Goatee and Sunburn immediately looked elsewhere, and when the light changed, Tanner made a left and sped off down the quiet road where the house was located.
As he approached the driveway just moments later, Tanner slowed, and then he made a hard right into the graveled driveway.
Goatee and his friend were feeling the adrenaline and were on the hunt, and as Tanner hoped they would, they threw caution to the wind and raced after him. As they did so, Sunburn was shouting into his phone and giving the other men their location.
As Tanner neared the parking area at the front of the home, he headed left towards the wide field, even as Goatee and Sunburn entered the graveled driveway.
When he had gone far enough to the left, Tanner made a sharp right while pulling up on the parking break. The car shuddered to a halt after having turned around 180 degrees.
Tanner leapt out and fired two rounds from a Mossberg tactical shotgun into the front grill of the pickup truck.
Goatee lost control, sideswiped Tanner’s stolen car, and plowed right into a large oak tree.
Tanner fired another shot. He wasn’t shooting to kill, and so he just flattened a rear tire. Goatee and Sunburn staggered out of the driver’s side and stood looking about for a second.
Tanner let out an exasperated breath. He was trying to let the two idiots live, but they were making it so easy to kill them.
Tanner fired a shot over their heads and the men ducked down. When they returned fire, the fools did so by standing up and steadying their arms on top of the pickup truck’s roof, and thus leaving their midsections exposed through the vehicle’s window glass.
Every shot they made was either wide or too high and the only thing they managed to hit was a tire and a branch on a small tree near the house.
Tanner wondered if they ever practiced their shooting.
He sighed again and fought the urge to shoot them both dead. Instead, he took aim at Goatee and placed a round on the outer part of his left shoulder, a shot that barely grazed him.
Goatee howled, more from fear than pain, and then finally, he and Sunburn headed into the trees to make their way back out to the road.
Tanner followed them until he was certain they were leaving, and then he ran back to the house, went to the refrigerator, and removed a jar.
The jar contained blood, his and Alexa’s which they had taken from each other that morning.
Tanner returned outside where he emptied nearly half the jar beside the stolen car, before using the other half to leave a trail of blood from the car, up the porch stairs, and into the house.
He had cut the side of his hand earlier, before leaving, and let it drip blood up the stairs. In the bathroom, there were bloodstained towels and an empty box of gauze that spoke of someone attempting to treat a serious wound.
Anyone finding the blood trail would think him wounded and hiding within the house, and with a two million dollar price tag on his head, they likely wouldn’t leave until they had torn the place apart.
That would take time and draw his pursuers in, and ultimately, the team hunting him for Alvarado would come to the house, and once revealed and identified, they could be eliminated.
After leaving the house, Tanner checked the location of the two men, and saw them out on the road. They were talking to two of their partners who had just arrived on the scene.
While they were planning their next move, Tanner bolted across the field at the home’s rear, crossed the other road, and climbed over the fence, to walk behind a bowling alley.
When he saw Alexa’s van, he realized that he was looking forward to seeing her. She greeted him with a smile as she opened the rear doors.
There was a card table in the back of the van with a trio of laptops on it. Alexa sat in front of the table in a folding chair, and Tanner took the one beside her, as she pointed at the laptops.
“Every camera is working perfectly except for two of them, and I saw how you handled those men at the house.”
“You mean the idiots? Neither one could shoot straight and the one with the goatee ran his truck into a tree and nearly killed them both.”
Alexa grinned.
“I saw that. You’re even deadly when you’re not trying to be. I rented the cabin, and that lake looks beautiful.”
“Any problems?”
“No, but we will have neighbors in a nearby cabin.”
“Neighbors? More than one?”
“Yes, a woman with dark hair, but I haven’t met her husband.”
“I’ve been told that a woman named Ariana O’Grady is hunting for me, and that she has dark hair. How old was the woman?”
Alexa recalled Amy and shrugged with one shoulder.
“Not old or young, maybe mid-thirties, and she was beautiful.”
“Hmm, she sounds too old and too good looking to fit the description I was given of Ariana, still, we’ll keep an eye out for her since we’ll soon have the people hunting me searching that house.”
Alexa pointed at the middle laptop.
“It’s already started.”
Tanner looked and saw that two of Goatee’s friends had found the blood trail that led into the house.
“That’s a start, and word will spread about the ho
use, human nature will see to that.”
Alexa hit several keys on the laptop and took still photos of the mercenaries, then, she sent them to the printer that was on the floor beneath the table.
Tanner looked at the photos.
“This is good work, but we don’t have to worry about most of these people. If I had to guess, I’d say we’re looking for a team of three or four men.”
“If they are as good as you say, they may show at the house very soon.”
Tanner shook his head.
“Actually, I would expect them to be last. They’ll let everyone else do all the searching and then come in at the end to verify I’m really not in there.”
“But wouldn’t they fear that someone would find you first?”
“No, because if that happened, they would just kill whoever had me and take me from them. These are men who will fear no one, because they’ve never met anyone better than they are.”
Alexa turned in her seat and studied him.
“But you’re better than they are, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Alexa leaned in and kissed him.
“I find confidence very sexy. I also missed you while I was off on my errand.”
“I assume there’s no one back in Mexico waiting for you, or is there?”
“No, my recent lifestyle doesn’t offer many dating opportunities.”
“Is this your first time in the US?”
“No, I went to college in Texas, but I dropped out after two years because I knew I could learn more on my own.”
“Have you ever been to Hawaii?”
“No.”
“When this is over and Alvarado is dead, you and I will go there. I need some serious down time, and I’m sure you do too.”
Alexa smiled.
“That sounds like a plan; it also sounds like you finally trust me.”
“I do trust you, Alexa, and together we’ll kill Alvarado.”
A flurry of movement on the right-hand laptop screen caught Tanner’s eye and he pointed at it.
“They look familiar.”
It was The Tin Horsemen. They had followed the last two mercenaries of the group to the house, and were being told to leave by the other mercs who were already there.
There was no sound, only video, but it looked like two of the mercenaries wanted to use The Horsemen as backup. The mercenaries’ leader, the bearded giant in the overalls, disagreed, and he was telling The Horsemen to go away.
***
Bruise sent the big man the finger as The Tin Horsemen parked their bikes across the road from the house, and next to the slope that led down to the stream.
The water was higher and moving faster than it had been before the heavy rain of the previous night, and Bruise cursed as his boot became covered in the slick mud at the side of the road.
Scar took out his phone, which hurt to grip with his injured hand, and after two rings, he heard the voice of Hexalcorp’s Strike Team Leader, Steve Bennett.
“Talk to me.”
“There’s some guys that say they have Tanner trapped in a house.”
“Give me the address.”
Scar gave it to him and then asked Bennett what he wanted them to do.
“Just keep watch. Once Tanner kills those men, try to follow him, we’re on our way.”
“Tanner might have run out of luck. There’s a whole bunch of guys here, and they say that Tanner lost a lot of blood when their friends shot him.”
“Really... interesting, but do like I said and keep watch.”
“How soon can you get here?”
“We’re not coming there, but we’ll be nearby, just keep watch and call me when something happens.”
“Okay,” Scar said.
***
Bennett put his phone away as he and his men were headed out the door.
“Our four boys say that Tanner is wounded and holed up in a house.”
Hakeem smiled.
“That sounds like one of Tanner’s traps.”
“Exactly, which is why we’ll be staying back and watching what happens.”
“You think the house is booby-trapped?”
Bennett climbed behind the wheel of a large black Chevy pickup. The vehicle came from Hexalcorp’s Oklahoma office. It had been delivered to them at the airport, complete with weapons and other equipment.
“I don’t know if Tanner booby-trapped the house, but I do know one thing about Tanner.”
“What’s that?” Wilson said.
“He never runs out of ways to kill you.”
CHAPTER 28 – Chess moves
Like Bennett, Spenser didn’t believe that Tanner was inside the house in Oklahoma City, and he stayed at the lake with Amy.
They were together outside the cabin that Alexa had rented, as Spenser worked on picking the lock on the rear door.
Amy was looking down at the drawing of Alexa that declared she was wanted dead or alive. Spenser had printed out a copy of it before leaving his house.
“So they’re both wanted?”
“Yes, and Tanner is now worth two million.”
Amy’s mouth formed into an O.
“That’s a lot of money, Spenser.”
“Tell me about it,” he said, and then he laughed.
“What’s funny?”
“This stupid lock; it’s broken. We could have just walked right in. I’ll be sure to check the lock on our own door when we get back.”
Spenser opened the door and they entered. They went about the cabin looking over the things that Alexa had bought at the market.
Amy called from the bedroom as Spenser checked out the kitchen.
“There’s a duffle bag on the closet floor. Should I look through it?”
“Yes, but be careful to put things back as you found them,” Spenser said, “We don’t want to tip her off that someone’s been here.”
When they were through with their search, Spenser and Amy left the way they had entered and returned to their own cabin.
“What now?” Amy asked.
“Now we wait for them to come here.”
Amy shook herself.
“I’m nervous. This isn’t like one of your cases.”
“No, it’s not, and you can still leave. I’d feel better if I knew you were somewhere safe and completely out of the line of fire.”
Amy hugged him.
“No, I’m with you no matter what, remember?”
“I do, and when this is over, we’ll take that trip to New Orleans, count on it.”
Amy hugged Spenser tighter. She didn’t want to say it aloud, but she was getting a bad feeling.
***
At the house in Oklahoma City, The Tin Horsemen watched as five of the mercenaries who had been inside the house came out and talked to the men who were guarding the entrance to the driveway.
Three other groups of bounty hunters had shown up. It was Bennett’s doing. He wanted as many people as possible searching that house before he and his team stepped a foot inside it. If there were traps, he preferred to let someone else get caught in them.
One of the new arrivals called over to the mercenaries who had been inside the house.
“Did you get him, did you get Tanner?”
The big man who led the mercenaries held up several receipts.
“We searched the whole damn house and couldn’t find Tanner, but these receipts make me think that the place might be booby-trapped. There’s enough supplies on these slips to build a dozen pipe bombs, and we spotted wire scraps and cut pieces of pipe on a table in the basement. If Tanner is hiding in there somewhere, I think that he’ll blow up the first man that finds him.”
Two of the men were professional bounty hunters from Texas. The two stalked over and spoke to the mercenaries.
“We’re going in; if you don’t want trouble, don’t try to stop us.”
“Go on in, but if you get an arm blown off don’t come crying to me.”
The two men pushed by
them, and the others who had been standing around followed them down the driveway.
***
Bennett had parked on the side of the road not very far from the house, and Scar had just called to tell him what was happening. When the call ended, Bennett told his men what Scar had relayed to him.
“It looks like a bunch of losers are tearing that house apart looking for Tanner.”
“What if he’s really in there, could he hide from them?” Hakeem said.
“If I gave you a day to build a hiding place inside a house do you think you could do it?”
Hakeem considered Bennett’s question and then nodded.
“Yeah, all I would really need to do is build a false wall with a hidden latch.”
“Or you could hide under the floorboards, or above the basement ceiling, or even inside a large piece of furniture,” Bennett said.
Simms chuckled.
“If we can think of that, so will those yahoos inside the house who are looking for Tanner. I bet they tear that place apart.”
“Yeah,” Bennett said. “And that’s why I don’t think Tanner is in that house. I think this is all a trick to flush us out.”
“What’s that mean?” Wilson said.
Bennett’s phone rang. He grabbed it from its charger on the dashboard and looked at the caller ID.
“It’s Martinez.”
As soon as Bennett answered the phone, Martinez spoke.
“Give me some good news that I can tell the client.”
“Take this with a grain of salt, but it looks like Tanner might be injured and holed up in a house here.”
“If that’s the case, why aren’t you going in there after him?”
“Because I’m not convinced he’s in there. I think he’s somewhere doing just what we’re doing, he’s sitting back and watching the show.”
“What would be the point of that?”
“I think he’s trying to draw us out.”
“What? How would he even know that you’re after him?”
“He doesn’t know our names, but he knows that Alvarado will send someone, and I think that this is his way of smoking us out.”
“Ah, but that would mean that he’d have to be watching from somewhere close, no?”
The TANNER Series - Books 10 -12 (Tanner Box Set Book 4) Page 11
