When one of the men shouted, Amy feared that they were ordering them to exit the garage, but no, the man was shouting for someone to get away from his car, and a moment later, Amy heard the men move back towards Rodrigo’s house.
***
The Tin Horsemen were playing with their Frisbee around the cars belonging to the Federales and the thugs, and one of the Federales shouted for them to go away.
None of the Horsemen spoke a word of Spanish, but they had been hassled by cops before, and they knew how to piss them off without saying a word.
Scar threw a thumb towards the Federale who was shouting at him, as if to say, “Do you believe this guy? He thinks he owns the whole street.”
Bruise and Wound laughed loudly at the man, and while that was going on, Abrasion was beneath the vehicle and puncturing the rear tires with a knife.
The other Tin Horsemen kept playing around the cars and laughing while Abrasion skittered on his belly and went beneath the Escalade that belonged to Alvarado’s thugs.
He punctured their tires as well, by jamming the blade into the inner wall of the rear wheels, as his friends’ raucous laughter masked the sounds of the initial hissing of air.
When he was done, Abrasion crawled out from beneath the vehicle, but kept low. When Scar saw that he had finished with the tires, he pretended to make a wild throw with the Frisbee.
The plastic disc flew over the Federales, but since they were closer, they were able to pick up the toy first, and while they were doing that, Abrasion stood and began walking down the hill, with the other Horsemen following him.
The Federale who had been yelling at Scar turned towards them with a smug look on his face after picking up the Frisbee. He was looking forward to taunting the boys now that he had their toy.
The smug look turned to one of surprise when he saw that they were just walking away, and he turned and gave his partner a puzzled look.
***
Amy nearly screamed when her phone rang, and she answered it before it could ring again.
“Yes?” she whispered.
“It’s Scar, Amy, get out of there now. Abrasion fucked with their tires, and it won’t be long before they notice.”
“What?”
“Open that garage door and get out of there. You can pick us up at the bottom of the hill, hurry!”
Amy tossed the phone onto the seat beside her and got out of the car. She flung the garage door open, and when Rodrigo asked her what was going on, she told him that he and Emilio needed to duck down low in their seats.
Rodrigo placed a hand on blind Emilio’s back and nudged him to lean over, and as he did that, Amy started the engine.
She sped up the sharp incline of the short driveway and out onto the street, and was taken aback when she saw that the Federales were standing nearby.
The men were too close, and they spotted the hunched over forms of Rodrigo and Emilio in the rear seat, and then began shouting to the thugs who were still inside the house.
***
When Amy brought the car to a halt at the bottom of the hill, she stopped so suddenly that Emilio’s dark glasses flew off and fell into his lap.
The Tin Horsemen piled into the vehicle as the Federales’ car appeared at the top of the hill. Amy took off, leaving rubber behind while glancing nervously in the rear view mirror.
The Feds were coming on, but their car seemed to shimmy, and behind it, a larger vehicle appeared, and it also rode along with a shimmying motion, as if the driver of the vehicle was fighting for control of the steering wheel.
Scar had said that Abrasion had done something to the men’s tires, and whatever he had done was having an effect.
Amy slowed for safety, but ran a red light, and within seconds, she was merging onto the highway. Behind her, her pursuers had fallen back farther as they also navigated the moving cross traffic at the red light.
When the men chasing them tried to accelerate to match the flow of traffic on the highway, the shimmying of their vehicles graduated to a wild swaying.
The car driven by the Federales then crossed into the next lane, bounced off another vehicle, overcompensated, and wound up running off the road and into a ditch.
The Escalade kept coming. It had a superior engine and would have normally caught up to Amy with ease, but before long, it was throwing off sparks as it rode on its rear rims, and once that happened, Amy’s rental grew far out of reach, and with several cars between it and the Escalade.
The thug driving the Escalade faced reality and pulled over, and Scar let out a cheer.
“We did it! We got away!”
Rodrigo was smiling at the four boys and asked them who they were.
“They’re the Tin Horsemen,” Amy said. “And danger is their business.”
CHAPTER 27 - Reunion
When Alexa arrived at the rendezvous point, she let out a cry of joy as she saw Rodrigo and Emilio.
After exchanging hugs and kisses, Alexa called over Tanner and Spenser.
Spenser clasped Rodrigo’s hand in both of his and told him that it was good to meet him in person.
After shaking Tanner’s hand, Rodrigo glanced over at Alexa, and saw how she was looking at Tanner.
“My daughter cares for you, is it mutual?”
“Yes sir,” Tanner said. He rarely met the fathers of the women he slept with, and felt the less said the better.
He liked Alexa, and yes, he had come to care for her, but he wasn’t fool enough to make promises about a future together, and for her part, Alexa seemed content to take things as they came.
By noon of the following day, they would be inside Alvarado’s compound, inside the belly of the beast, and there was no future beyond that in Tanner’s mind, not when he was so close to finally achieving payback on the man who had killed his family.
With Alvarado dead, then he would make solid plans, plans that included doing what he did best, taking contracts and fulfilling hits.
***
They were staying the night at a small motel that Sandoval had recently bought and had yet to renovate.
From his connections in government, Sandoval had discovered that the roadway outside the motel would soon be part of a new highway, and he had plans to build on to the existing motel while upgrading it.
The place was closed for business, and Dante had left men to guard Tanner and his companions, as he went to finalize the plans that concerned hijacking the delivery truck they would use the next day.
Tanner, Spenser, and Alexa welcomed the reprieve, although thoughts of the danger they would soon face was never far from their minds.
As they all ate dinner together outside around a picnic table, Amy and Scar told of their escape from Alvarado’s men.
Alexa rose from her seat and kissed each of the Tin Horsemen on the cheek, and then she hugged Amy where she sat at the table.
“Thank you all for saving my Papa Rodrigo and Papa Emilio, I think I would die if anything happened to them.”
Emilio rubbed a hand over his white beard as he asked Alexa a question.
“Will we ever be able to go home, Alexa?”
Alexa smiled, even though Emilio couldn’t see it.
“Yes. Once we kill that bastard Alvarado we will all be free to live in peace.”
Rodrigo let out a moan.
“I’m so worried for you, Alexa.”
She went back to her seat beside him and placed an arm over his shoulders.
“Look across the table and tell me what you see, Papa,” Alexa said.
Rodrigo did so, and saw Tanner and Spenser looking back at him.
“I see two men.”
“No, Papa, you see two Tanners, and they are every bit as capable as the Tanner you once knew.”
Rodrigo stared at Tanner and Spenser.
“If that is true, Alonso Alvarado is already dead and just doesn’t know it.”
“We’ll make him aware of that fact tomorrow,” Tanner said, and Rodrigo smiled.
***
After dinner, they talked for a while, but then Rodrigo and Emilio decided to go to sleep early, because they had to rise at daybreak to say goodbye to Alexa.
The Tin Horsemen drifted from the table after that, while taking a six-pack of beer with them, and that left Amy, Tanner, Spenser, and Alexa to go over the details of their plan once more.
As they were talking, Spenser noticed that Abrasion was staring over at Amy.
After Tanner and Alexa retired to their room, Spenser told Amy that he would join her shortly. He then drifted over to where the Tin Horsemen were drinking beer and listening to a radio station that played American music.
“Lionel, can I see you for a second?”
Abrasion walked over to him, and Spenser stared into his eyes.
“You and I need to talk.”
***
At his compound, Alonso Alvarado stood on crutches atop his porch, and looked up at the night sky.
Tanner was coming, and would be there tomorrow at noon, when the delivery truck pulled up to the gate.
It was a bold plan Tanner had, and it might have worked if he hadn’t been betrayed by Dan Matthews, although the odds were against it.
Still, when he gave it some thought, Alvarado saw no other way for Tanner to have made it inside. He had over two-hundred men camped outside the walls of his fortress, and anyone attempting to scale them would be easily detected by sight or camera, and to reach the walls, one had to get past the men patrolling the desert.
“Cody Parker,” Alvarado whispered, and then he remembered the boy who had slain eight of his men, and two of them while gravely wounded.
That boy was a man now, and that man was a killing machine who had never been stopped no matter what force was arrayed against him.
A devil, that was what Rico Nazario had called Tanner and Alvarado thought it was an apt comparison.
The devil was coming for him, and he had to be ready.
He saw the man who was in charge of the guards’ schedule, and he called him over.
The man, who was ex-military, stood at attention before him.
“Yes sir?”
“When the truck arrives tomorrow, send three more men out to greet it.”
Confusion flashed over the man’s features. There were already two dozen men picked to meet the truck, but as he had done his whole life, he would follow orders.
“Yes sir, I’ll tell the men who normally clean the barracks to be at the truck. Is there anything else, sir?”
“No,” Alvarado said, and watched the man march off.
Tanner was coming, and although he would never admit it, not even to himself, Alonso Alvarado was afraid.
***
There was someone else fearful inside the compound, and it was Martinez.
If things didn’t work out the next day, Alvarado would kill him. Everything would have been so much better had Alvarado’s people grabbed Alexa Lucia’s father to hold as a hostage, but the old man had managed to escape and go into hiding.
When the phone in his pocket vibrated, it startled Martinez, and when he saw who was calling him, he wondered if the news would be good or bad.
“Scar, where the hell have you been?”
“It’s not Scar, Martinez, this is Abrasion.”
“What, Abrasion? Listen kid, put your friend on the phone.”
“Scar doesn’t know anything about this call, and he can’t, but listen, I can give you Alexa Lucia’s father.”
“What? How?”
“Didn’t Alvarado tell you how the old man got away?”
“Yeah, he said a woman and some kids helped him.”
“I’m not a damn kid, but yeah, that was us, and the woman is with the guy who crippled Alvarado. I’ll give you her and the old guys, but it won’t come cheap.”
“How much?”
Abrasion named a figure and heard Martinez gasp.
“You’re crazy.”
“Talk to Alvarado and see if he thinks I’m crazy; I bet the fucker pays right up.”
“Maybe, but tell me something. Why are you doing this, just for the money?”
“I have other reasons,” Abrasion said.
“All right, call me back in fifteen minutes.”
***
When Abrasion called back, Martinez, on speakerphone, told him that they had a deal.
Martinez was in Alvarado’s office, and seated across the desk from the drug lord.
“The money will be in your account when the banks open tomorrow,” Martinez said. “Now, tell us where we can find the woman and the old men.”
Abrasion’s laugh was loud over the phone.
“Yeah, right, and then the money never shows up. I’ll call when I see the cash in the bank, but one more thing.”
“What’s that?” Martinez asked.
“Um, the lady, don’t hurt her, okay?”
“Sure kid, whatever you say, but if you don’t make that call, men will be sent to hunt you down and kill you.”
“I’ll call, but first I see the money.”
“You’ll see it,” Martinez said, and then the call ended and he looked over at Alvarado. “Once we have the woman and the old men, Tanner’s fate will be sealed. If you don’t kill him, his companions will trade him to get back their loved ones.”
Alvarado smiled. He could almost smell Tanner’s blood.
PART THREE
SLEIGHT OF HAND
CHAPTER 28 – Love lost, money gained
The following morning, the sun rose bright and hot on a new day, and for some it would be their last.
Tanner thought it best for the Tin Horsemen to fly back home before the assault on the compound, but had thanked them for their help.
“You boys are more useful than I would have thought, but why don’t you give up trying to be tough guys, it doesn’t suit you.”
Scar nodded at that.
“I think you’re right, but we did have fun helping Amy.”
Everyone told the boys goodbye, and Amy hugged each of them. When she reached Abrasion, she added a peck on the cheek.
“Have a good flight, Lionel.”
“I will, and Amy?”
“Yes?”
Abrasion sighed.
“Nevermind, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
The boys left for the airport, and Tanner, Alexa, and Spenser prepared themselves to assault the compound.
***
Inside an apartment in Mexico City, Dante was holding a gun on a man named Julio. The man was the regular driver of the delivery truck that supplied Alvarado’s compound.
Two of Dante’s men held Julio’s wife by her arms, as Dante explained to the young man what he needed him to do.
Julio had looked angry, but that soon morphed to fear, and when he realized that Dante was asking him to cross Alonso Alvarado, he became terrified, and a tear escaped.
“Sir, this man Alvarado, he will kill me; he will kill us all.”
Dante sent Julio a smile that looked much more confident than he felt.
“Alonso Alvarado will die. You do everything I ask of you and your wife will be returned to you unharmed. Do you understand? Alvarado can’t save you or your wife, only I can.”
Dante gestured to one of his men.
“This man will drive you to work. Once you’re in your truck and have left the depot you will meet him at a warehouse where you will take on a pallet. From that point on you will do what you normally do, and that means that you will make it to Alvarado’s compound by noon. Try to run or call the police and you’ll never see your wife again, understood?”
Julio looked like he might vomit, but after swallowing several times, he answered.
“I understand, and I’ll do anything to get my wife back. Do not hurt her.”
Dante looked at one of his men.
“Take him to work, and after the truck is loaded, come to the place I told you.”
“This is going to work, isn’t it Dante?” the man asked.
&n
bsp; “I would bet my life on it,” Dante said. “And in fact, I have.”
***
Sometime later, at the Mexico City Airport, Abrasion checked to see if Alvarado had sent the money. He had, and Abrasion made a call.
Martinez answered before the first ring had finished sounding off.
“You got your money, now where are they?”
Abrasion gave him the address of the motel, hung up the phone, and went to get on his flight.
CHAPTER 29 – Special delivery
When it was time for Tanner, Spenser, and Alexa to separate from Amy, Rodrigo, and Emilio, all six of them knew that there was a chance they would never see each other again.
Realizing a sad fact and giving in to it were two separate things, and Tanner, Spenser, and Alexa spoke with confidence when they said that they would all reunite.
Tanner stood by as Alexa hugged Rodrigo and Emilio, and Spenser held Amy in a warm embrace, but then it was time to leave, and the three of them left the motel.
***
With the assault on the compound only hours away, Dante had removed most of the guards.
The two men that remained at the motel looked to be asleep, as they sat propped up under a tree with their hats pulled down over their faces, and several beer cans scattered about.
The men Alvarado sent to grab Amy, Rodrigo, and Emilio, shot the two guards over a dozen times each, and then strolled past the bodies.
When they broke down the door where the sound of a TV was playing, they saw the frightened woman and two old men, and smiled, for they had just earned the bonus they’d been promised.
When Alvarado, a man who once loved to talk in chess phrases, learned that he had Spenser and Alexa’s loved ones, he said three words.
“Checkmate grows near.”
***
Dante’s man stood beside the truck driver, Julio, as they watched the phony pallet being loaded onto the tractor-trailer.
At Dante’s orders, his men had removed six wrapped skids that had been stacked high with cases of bottled water, fruit juice, and beer, and the discarded pallets sat at the left side of the warehouse.
Julio’s eyes had widened in surprise when he saw the two men and the beautiful woman climb inside the hidden opening of the wrapped skid of hollow cartons, and once again, he wondered what madness he had been dragged into.
The TANNER Series - Books 10 -12 (Tanner Box Set Book 4) Page 24
