The TANNER Series - Books 10 -12 (Tanner Box Set Book 4)

by Remington Kane

  Alexa had been telling Sara about the legend of the Tanners when the faint sound of gunfire carried to their ears.

  “That sounds like trouble,” Sara said.

  They were at the rendezvous position, which was a thousand yards to the west of where Tanner went into the water. The change had also brought them closer to the island and Tanner was to swim back out to them.

  Sara rose up and lowered a waterproof lantern over the side of the boat and beneath the water, so that its glow would guide Tanner to their position. The Seabob had an oversized illuminated compass that would also guide him to the boat.

  Alexa borrowed Garber’s night vision monocular and searched the shore for Tanner, but could only make out green shadowy figures moving about, and because of the swell of the waves, they were only viewed from the waist up.

  Alexa spoke to Sara as Deke joined them.

  “We should move closer.”

  “No,” Sara said. “Tanner has these coordinates; if we move, we could pass him without knowing it.”

  Alexa wanted to argue but knew that Sara was right. She searched the shoreline again and saw that one of the guards was scanning the sea, as he tried to locate their vessel. The guard likely had his own night vision in the rifle scope he was using, and judging by the size of his rifle, their boat might be in range.

  “One of the guards is searching for us with a rifle scope,” Alexa said. “He must realize that Tanner had to have arrived by boat.”

  Deke moved up beside her and held up something that looked like a TV remote.

  “What’s that?” Alexa asked.

  Deke smiled at her as he pressed a button.

  “This is a diversion.”

  A bright light flared from the area where they had been when Tanner went into the water. The guard with the rifle looked startled and then fired several rounds at the light, which was blinding.

  Sara smiled.

  “That will not only make them believe that we’re over there, but they’ll also assume that Tanner will be leaving from the shoreline that’s aligned with that position. Good work, Deke.”

  “Thanks boss, but what about Tanner, do you think he’s okay?”

  “Absolutely,” Sara said. “The man is indestructible. Tell Garber to hold this position even if we take fire.”

  “All right, but you ladies might want to go below into the cabin.”

  “No,” Alexa said. “Tanner may need help climbing back in.”

  “Do we have any way to defend ourselves if we’re fired upon?” Sara asked Deke.

  Deke grinned at her.

  “I’m a Marine, remember? I’ve got a rifle ready to go.”

  Alexa dropped to her knees and peered down into the dark water, looking for any sign of Tanner. What she didn’t realize, was that Tanner had yet to leave the island.

  ***

  After staving off unconsciousness and regaining his balance, Tanner saw the silhouettes of three guards drawing closer. The men were approaching his position while walking several feet apart and with their rifles raised and ready to fire.

  Thanks to his black wetsuit, they had yet to spot him where he crouched at the base of a wall amid the plants. Tanner decided that it was time to use one of the items that Deke had placed in the extra pouch.

  It was a homemade grenade that was basically a short pipe bomb. The thing was rigged with a push button fuse that Deke told Tanner was set to blow after five seconds passed. Tanner was closer to the men than he’d like to be when the blast went off, but was willing to risk it. He pressed down on the button, waited two seconds, and lobbed the grenade towards the guard in the middle.

  The contraption landed at the man’s feet and exploded an instant later. The guard was killed, as several nails tore into his flesh, while the men walking beside him suffered injuries to their legs and abdomens.

  After tossing the grenade, Tanner had dropped to the ground, and as he rose back up, he saw that the wall behind him had received two nails at about waist level. Tanner sprinted away from the men, who were screaming in pain, and headed back towards the shoreline, where he had killed the tower guard.

  The Seabob was where he had stowed it, at the base of the tower, along with the air tank. To his left, a tower guard was firing out at sea towards a light he took to be coming from a boat. It was another of Deke’s tricks, and Tanner was glad once again to have the man on his side.

  Tanner ignored the air tank and stepped into the water with the Seabob. There was no time to strap the tank on, as he could make out several shapes running towards him. As the first shots came his way, he fired back and was rewarded with the sound of one of the men grunting in pain and falling to the sand.

  “Kill that bastard!” the man told the guards with him, as Tanner waded into the surf with the Seabob.

  It was time to use the second item that Deke had placed in the pouch. It was a balloon sheathed inside several other balloons and filled with concentrated red food dye. Once he was in the water, Tanner squeezed the balloon until it burst open and was surprised by how much it resembled blood, as it mixed with the seawater in the near darkness.

  As Tanner dived beneath the waves with the Seabob, a bullet struck its covering, just above one of the handles, and damaged the compass. That wasn’t good, but at least the slug didn’t cause any damage to the Seabob’s engine.

  Once he was well beneath the surface of the water, Tanner saw two more bullets pass by on the left, amid the glow of the Seabob’s headlight. The rounds moved in a strange slow motion, and Tanner wondered if they would even pierce his skin had they struck him.

  If Deke’s blood balloon worked the way they hoped it would, the guards at the shoreline would think that Tanner had received a serious wound and was bleeding heavily. That would give them less incentive to keep firing while making them believe he might be dead.

  Tanner was bleeding, as the shot that struck his forearm had ripped his flesh open, but Tanner felt fortunate that the bullet had done so little damage. An inch to the right and he would have a broken arm at the very least.

  Tanner stayed under for as long as he could and then surfaced for air. No one fired at him, and it looked as if the guard shooting at the light had ceased doing so. After regaining his breath, Tanner dived with the Seabob once again. Before coming up for air the second time, he had spotted the glow of the lantern far to his left.

  Without the compass to guide him, he had been drifting off course. Tanner dived once again and headed for the glow of the underwater lantern. He nearly made it all the way to the boat but had to surface for air a dozen feet away.

  He saw Sara staring at him and noticed that she looked relieved to see him. That relief morphed into a look of concern when she saw the wound on his forearm.

  “Were you shot?”

  “Yes, but not seriously,” Tanner answered as he moved to the side of the boat.

  As Sara took the Seabob from him, Alexa and Deke helped him aboard.

  Tanner sat in the boat and looked up at them.

  “Adams is still alive. I’ll have to try again.”

  Sara leaned over and stared into his eyes.

  “You’ll kill him.”

  “Yes.”

  Sara straightened and called over to Garber, who was at the wheel.

  “Take us back. It’s time to regroup.”

  Garber nodded, started the engines, and pointed the boat back towards their private beach.

  Round one had ended.

  CHAPTER 14 – Round two

  Tanner saw the looks of bewilderment on the faces of Alexa, Sara, and Deke as he told them about the girl who attacked him and killed herself.

  They were in the room Tanner shared with Alexa, and Alexa was bandaging Tanner’s wounded forearm. He also had an ugly bruise on his back where the slug had hit the body armor.

  When Sara looked as if a light had suddenly gone off in her head, Tanner asked her what she was thinking.

  “What you said about the girl attacking you, some
thing similar occurred while I was still with the Bureau. I was part of a joint taskforce team sent to arrest a man suspected of running a gang of white slavers. After entering the house, we found three naked women chained up in the basement. The women attacked us as we tried to free them and one even grabbed an agent’s gun and attempted to shoot herself.”

  “Why?” Alexa asked.

  “The girls were told that if they ever escaped and went to the police that their families would be killed. On the other hand, if they died defending their owners or killed themselves instead of being apprehended or questioned by the authorities, then their families would receive a large sum of money. It was all a lie of course, but their fear for their families kept them in line, while their love for them made suicide seem attractive.”

  “Why would anyone believe that?” Deke asked.

  Sara made a face of disgust.

  “All three of the girls were no more than sixteen and they had been taken from their families when they were just children. The slavers brainwashed them into believing their lies and converted them into being another line of defense.”

  “It worked for Adams,” Tanner said. “If not for the girl, he’d be dead right now. She delayed me long enough for him to reach his safe room.”

  “I have to report in to Mr. Burke, Tanner. How long will it be until you make a second attempt?”

  “I’ll be hitting them again... tonight.”

  “What?” Alexa and Sara asked at the same time.

  “You heard me right. I need to hit them right away; they won’t be expecting it and won’t have time to recruit new guards.”

  Sara shook her head.

  “No. We’ll wait and plan out another attack. Everyone on that island is on edge right now and they’ll likely shoot you the second you step foot on it.”

  “I wasn’t asking for permission, Blake; I was just telling you what I’m going to do.”

  “It sounds foolish,” Sara said.

  Alexa appeared to be as upset as Sara was, but she calmly took Tanner’s hand in her own.

  “Why do you want to attack again so soon?”

  “I’ll go in just before dawn, just as the first faint glow is seen in the east. Their guard will be down then and they’ll have been awake all night.”

  “You’ll have to go in harder,” Deke said, and Tanner agreed.

  “You’re right, the time for stealth is done. I have to blitz them. You wouldn’t happen to have a rocket launcher lying around, would you?”

  “I have something even better, an M32. I had it shipped ahead in pieces, but I can reassemble it in no time.”

  Tanner assumed that Deke was joking, but then realized he was serious.

  “An M32 will make a second assault easy,” Tanner said.

  “What’s an M32?” Alexa said, and to the surprise of Tanner and Deke, Sara answered her.

  “It’s basically a rifle that fires grenades like a six-shooter. It’s also something I never requisitioned.”

  “Its my own property, boss. It’s disassembled and lying inside a crate in the garage, but I can have it back together in minutes.”

  Tanner stood up from the bed and looked at his freshly bandaged arm before speaking to Deke.

  “You realize that I may have to abandon the M32 after it’s empty?”

  “I do,” Deke said, “That’s why the boss lady here will promise me a new one in any event.”

  Sara nodded.

  “I’ll talk to Mr. Burke, and don’t call me boss lady, my name is Sara.”

  “Whatever you say, Sara,” Deke said.

  Garber appeared in the doorway.

  “The Seabob has a cracked casing, but we still have the other one.”

  “That’s good,” Tanner said. “Now let’s get ready for round two.”

  ***

  A few short hours later, Sara stood beside Deke at the wheel of the boat and watched Tanner and Alexa as they said goodbye again.

  Sara marveled at Tanner’s calmness. The man had even caught a short nap before they left the house and now he was headed back to an island where he had been lucky to escape the first time.

  A Tanner, Sara thought, and reasoned that the main trait each Tanner must look for in a protégée was fearlessness. That was something that couldn’t be taught, was beyond rare, and an attribute that Tanner possessed in spades.

  Nothing much ever seemed to bother the man, although he had to have witnessed more violence in his life than most combat veterans. His psyche must be such that he can simply push aside those things that others would dwell on, and in most men would spawn nightmares, or shackle them with a post traumatic stress disorder.

  While seeking revenge against him, Sara had found it necessary to ignore Tanner’s positive attributes and to dehumanize him by thinking of him as a monster, a mere killing machine, or a heartless psychopath.

  With her mind cleared of vengeance, and her association with Tanner more personal, she had come to see him for what he was. An exceptional man, and one whose chosen occupation was death, and the delivering of it to others.

  It also had not escaped her notice that she found him to be attractive, even sexy, although she’d never admit it to anyone but herself. His confidence bordered on egotism at times, but it was based in reality. Tanner was every bit as good as he thought he was, Sara knew, and damn if that didn’t just make the man seem hotter.

  ***

  After giving Alexa a parting kiss, Tanner stared over at Sara. She walked up to him and offered her hand.

  “Good luck, Tanner, and come back in one piece.”

  “That’s the plan,” Tanner said.

  After lowering himself into the water, Deke handed down the Seabob, as well as the watertight bag containing the M32. With that done, Deke pointed towards his newest creation. It was a mannequin that he had come across while exploring the house. Deke had put a wetsuit on it and dropped it in the water earlier. After checking with a pair of binoculars, it appeared to be headed to shore.

  “Our friend is moving in with the tide, Tanner.”

  “Good, that should buy me a few seconds of distraction and allow me to get close to the house. I have to keep Adams from running into his safe room again.”

  Alexa sent Tanner a little wave.

  “I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Tanner said, as he turned on the Seabob. Seconds later, he was under the water and headed back into danger.

  It was where he had lived most of his life.

  CHAPTER 15 – He ain’t no ho

  Darren Grimes was tired.

  As a part of Adams security team, the young mercenary had been up all night to guard against another attack, and was given the duty of patrolling the shoreline near the house.

  The bastard who had tried to kill Adams earlier had wiped out half of them. Now they had to keep Adams alive long enough to get him off the island in one piece.

  At least the guy that tried to hit Adams was thought to be dead. Anyway, that was the story going around, since one of the other guards said that there was a lot of blood in the water where the guy went in.

  Darren sighed.

  The girl Adams had been banging had died in the attack. Darren had liked the girl, who had been named Karla. Karla had been bought and paid for by Adams. She had been a whore most of her short life and Darren thought that sucked, but the world was what it was and hot little things like Karla became property of men all the time, one way or another.

  Darren chuckled to himself. Wasn’t he a whore too?

  He sold his ass to Adams for two grand a week and nearly got killed doing so on more than one occasion.

  It was like that old saying—In this world, you’re either a pimp or a ho.

  Darren was halfway through a yawn when he spotted something bobbing in the surf. He couldn’t be certain, but from the shape of the object he thought that it might be a man. He unslung the AR-15 he had hanging across his back and looked through his scope.

&n
bsp; The optics on the gun weren’t great, seeing as they lacked night vision, but the sun was lending a glow as it peeked above the horizon. Darren saw what looked like a man floating face down in the surf.

  He opened his mouth to raise the alarm but then shut it. What he was seeing wasn’t moving. It was likely the body of the dude that had attacked them earlier. They had thought that the body must have been washed out to sea, but the waves in their fickleness must have brought the corpse back.

  Darren waded into the water until he was standing knee deep and then waited for the body to come to him. He realized what it was before it even reached him, and wondered where it had come from.

  It was a mannequin in a wet suit and goggles. Darren dragged it out of the water and was looking into the lens of the goggles when he saw movement reflected in them. Before he could react, he felt the knife slide between his ribs and he experienced a moment of intense agony that made his eyes water.

  Darren fell to his knees, then onto his back in the wet sand, where he stared up at his attacker.

  The man had the eyes of a predator. Besides the bloody knife he held, he was also holding one of the biggest goddamn guns that Darren had ever seen.

  “You are definitely a pimp,” Darren mumbled, and then he died, as his punctured heart ceased sending blood to his brain.

  ***

  Tanner stepped over Darren’s corpse and ran towards the guard tower that was nearest to Adams’ house.

  When he was a hundred yards away, Tanner stopped running and fired off a grenade. The guard had spotted his approach and was already firing at him, but the two shots he was able to squeeze off went wide of Tanner.

  The 40 mm grenade also went wide of its target and landed in the sand several feet away from the guard tower. Tanner hadn’t fired an M32 in over a decade and his skill with the weapon was rusty, but he remembered that at close range you had to aim the sights low, as the gun was designed to hit targets that were hundreds of meters away. Still, the blast went off close enough to topple the guard tower and kill the guard.

  With that accomplished, Tanner launched two grenades towards the house. Both grenades were fired at the balcony he had leapt from earlier, beyond which laid not only Adams’ bedroom, but also the safe room that the man had fled into, to avoid Tanner. Once again, Tanner had to aim low or he risked having the grenades sailing over the house.