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

by Remington Kane

  The mattress he had landed on earlier was gone from the lawn, but Tanner took aim at the spot it had lain atop and the first grenade sailed through the balcony doors and lit up Adams’ bedroom.

  If anyone were inside that room they would be dead, but Tanner fired a second grenade to cause structural damage to the room.

  Tanner hoped that the twin blasts would kill Adams, but if they failed to accomplish that, then they should keep him from reaching his safe room. When fire and smoke erupted from the room beyond the balcony, Tanner felt that he had effectively stopped Adams from sheltering himself behind a steel reinforced door.

  If the man had never left the safe room after the earlier attack, then the fresh debris would keep him trapped inside until Tanner could breach the door and kill him.

  Tanner’s wish was that the man had died in the blasts, and it was time to verify the kill.

  Sirens blared and men were running in Tanner’s direction. He sent his fourth grenade at the herd running towards him, even as one of their shots struck him in the chest. The shot was stopped by the body armor Tanner wore, but its impact was brutal and caused him to not only drop to his knees in agony, but it also caused his aim to falter.

  The grenade struck the ground too far in front of the guards to kill any of them, but did send a blast of sand into their faces, which blinded them for several seconds.

  That allowed Tanner the time he needed to recover from the shot he received, and he sent his fifth shell at the men. It struck one guard square in the chest and he ceased to exist as anything other than a thousand chunks of meat and bone.

  Much of that bone ripped through the bodies of his comrades, and anyone not killed by the blast outright was laying atop the sand, bleeding and moaning from multiple wounds.

  Tanner rushed towards the house with one grenade left in the M32 and used it to blast his way into the home. The grenade created enough damage to cause a section of the second floor to collapse.

  Tanner dropped the empty weapon and took out his gun as he strode over the rubble and avoided the flames.

  Before venturing too far inside, Tanner slit open a waterproof pouch that was hanging at his side and removed the night vision monocular that was inside it. Tanner strapped the optics to his head but didn’t activate it or flip down the monocular, as there was light visible in the hallway beyond.

  Outside, the sun was making its inexorable progress and the night was ending, but if Tanner had to search for Adams in a dark place he wanted to be prepared.

  With the night vision gear at the ready, Tanner ventured deeper into the house. When he heard footsteps on his right, he swiveled his gun that way, but saw an unarmed middle-aged woman wearing a nightgown and slippers.

  The woman looked terrified and let out a scream. Tanner gestured for her to be quiet and to run out of the home the way he had entered.

  The woman spoke to him in Greek, a language he didn’t know, but he assumed that she was either a housekeeper or a cook. Tanner gestured once more for the woman to leave. She did so, while never taking her eyes off the gun he held.

  Tanner then moved on to the staircase, where he detected two guards as he peered around a corner. They looked like sentries and they were guarding access to the stairs and the second floor from their position on the landing.

  That told Tanner that Adams was still alive. No one guards a corpse.

  Tanner ran towards the stairs while firing and wounded both guards in the legs. One of the men tumbled down the stairs, while the other returned fire, but his aim was so bad that he actually shot his partner in the side after the man had come to rest at the foot of the steps.

  Tanner killed the guard who remained on the landing with a shot to the head and then realized that the guard who had fallen was out of the fight and had lost possession of his gun.

  The weapon, a Beretta, lay on the floor of the landing. Tanner grabbed the fallen weapon and moved up the stairs. Time was growing short and he needed to kill Adams and make his escape.

  As he reached the second floor, Tanner lowered the night vision monocular into place, as the second floor had lost power due to the fire. It was filling with smoke and thick with shadows. He heard a faint but distinct sound coming from outside and immediately knew what it was. It was a helicopter. Adams was planning on flying out of there.

  The second floor hallway was dense with smoke, but beyond it, Adams’ bedroom was engulfed in flames and the fire was spreading. There was the body of a guard lying just outside the room. The corpse had burns over most of it.

  Tanner encountered no one else as he looked for access to the roof, while coughing from the smoke. He found the way to the roof in the form of a metal spiral staircase that led up to a closed metal door.

  From outside came the faint sound of distant rifle fire, but it was brief. Still, he wondered if the boat Alexa was on had taken fire from someone in the helicopter.

  Tanner ran up the steps. There was little time to do anything else that would be more cautious, as the sounds of the approaching helicopter grew louder.

  The door was made of metal but the lock looked flimsy. After removing the monocular, Tanner opened the door with a kick, and the sea breeze outside was refreshing after inhaling the smoke.

  The first thing Tanner saw was the helicopter diving towards the roof, as if it had been approaching from a great height. Then, he saw Adams standing beside a guard who was dressed in a set of hooded coveralls and sunglasses. The guard held no weapon, but Adams was brandishing an AK47.

  Tanner was taking aim at Adams when the hand appeared.

  It was the single biggest hand that Tanner had ever seen and it engulfed his own hand, gun and all, and such was the force of the pressure the hand exerted, that Tanner was certain the bones in his fingers were breaking.

  The man who owned the hand came into view. Tanner marveled at the size of him. He was a Greek who stood well over seven feet tall and had the musculature of a bodybuilder. The man used his other hand to punch Tanner in the face, just beneath the left eye.

  Afterwards, the man picked Tanner up and flung him towards the edge of the roof. Tanner hurtled through the air, went over the side, and plummeted towards the ground over thirty feet below.

  CHAPTER 16 – Done!

  Alexa pointed towards the smoke rising from the island, as Sara became aware of the helicopter approaching from the east. The sleek aircraft looked as if it had flown right out of the newly risen sun and it was headed straight for the island.

  “If Adams makes it onto that helicopter it will take some time to locate him again,” Sara said. “I hope Tanner has already fulfilled the contract.”

  Alexa continued to stare at the smoke with worried eyes.

  “I just want Tanner to make it off that island in one piece. I wish that he would have let me go with him.”

  “You wanted to join him?” Sara asked.

  “Yes, but he said that he works alone.”

  “It’s better this way,” Sara said. “If you were over there he would be worried about you, and possibly distracted.”

  Alexa turned and glared at Sara.

  “That’s how you see me, isn’t it, as a distraction? Or maybe you see me as competition for Tanner’s heart. Which is it?”

  Sara laughed.

  “I have no romantic interest in Tanner, or any other man for that matter, but he is important to my plans, and yes, I think that you’re a distraction he doesn’t need.”

  “Not everyone wants to be alone, Sara, and I won’t do anything that would harm Tanner.”

  Sara was about to answer when the helicopter lowered its altitude and drew closer. After slowing its approach, it hovered a few hundred yards away and a rifleman appeared in an open doorway. The sniper got off a shot that just barely missed Alexa and drilled a hole into the side of the boat.

  A second rifle boomed. It was Deke, who stood atop the cabin’s roof. He was holding a .300 Winchester Magnum modified with a Jewell trigger, and which had a scope attac
hed. His single shot blew apart the sniper’s skull and sent his headless corpse tumbling from the chopper and into the water below.

  Afterwards, Deke fired several shots at the chopper’s tail rotor. That made the pilot of the helicopter climb and continue his path towards the island.

  Alexa grinned at Deke.

  “Thank you. You saved my life.”

  Deke couldn’t hear her. His ears were still ringing from the blast of the gun, however, he took her meaning and sent her a wink.

  “Glad to help, beautiful.”

  Sara smiled at Deke and shouted up at him.

  “Maybe we should have hired you instead of Tanner.”

  Deke smiled back as he fed a fresh cartridge into the rifle. His hearing was clearing up and he could make out Sara’s words.

  “Our boy will get the job done. I don’t think Tanner knows how to fail.”

  ***

  Tanner was headed towards an impact with the ground when he reached out a hand and snagged the edge of a stone planter. The planters had been built into the window sills on the second floor of the home, but were all devoid of plants or flowers.

  Tanner was able to keep his grip with his left hand, but the right hand was numb and soon slipped free. He had lost the gun to the giant that had tossed him off the roof, but still had his knife.

  By the time he climbed back onto the roof, the chopper had landed and he watched as the guard in the hooded jumpsuit clambered aboard. As Adams was about to climb onto the chopper with the AK-47 slung across his back, Tanner flung his knife and hit Adams in the side, which caused the man to scream out in agony.

  Tanner had made the throw aiming for Adams’ throat, but had to toss it with his left hand, because his right hand still felt numb. There was also a broken pinkie finger that was screaming with pain.

  The man who had tossed Tanner over the side charged at him while bringing out a handgun. Tanner dived to his right and recovered his own gun from where it had landed, however, the big man fired first.

  His shot hit Tanner in the chest in the same spot on the body armor where he’d been struck earlier. The pain of the impact caused Tanner to shoot off target, and he caught the big man in the calf, causing the behemoth to stumble.

  The giant held his arms out in an attempt to regain his balance, but moved too close to the helicopter’s tail blades, which sliced his gun hand off up to the wrist.

  Blood flew everywhere and Tanner felt some of the warm spray hit his face. The giant bellowed in shock and bewilderment as he looked at the bloody stub where his hand had been.

  Tanner stood and rushed past the man, to shoot at Adams, who had just recovered from the initial agony of being wounded between the ribs.

  The bullet hit Adams’ rifle, shattering the stock, and sending a piece of the damaged weapon into the side of Adams’ neck. That caused Adams to gag, but the wound appeared to have done little damage, as it missed any major arteries.

  As Tanner approached the chopper door, the pilot took off with only the guard in the coveralls aboard.

  Tanner stared up at the guard, but couldn’t see his eyes behind the dark glasses, while the hood obscured more of the man’s face. Then, the chopper was in the air and headed back towards the mainland.

  It didn’t matter to Tanner. He had Adams and that was all he needed.

  The knife in the side had been excruciating for Adams, while the wound to the throat had been painful, but not life-threatening.

  Adams was still alive and staring up at Tanner from where he was kneeling on his knees. He had his hands pressed to his throat in an effort to staunch the trickle of blood from his neck wound, which he probably thought was worse than it was.

  Adams raised up a bloody hand and begged for mercy.

  “Please don’t kill me. I’m not—”

  Tanner’s next bullet ended Adams plea for mercy.

  When Tanner looked back at the giant, he saw that the man was flat on his back and breathing rapidly. He was in shock and dying from the massive blood loss caused by his severed hand and spurting wrist.

  The sound of a motor came from the rear of the building and Tanner walked over to see a boat taking off from a small dock.

  The remaining guards had to assume that Adams was dead or had flown off in the chopper. Either way, there was no one left to protect, and so the men were fleeing to safety.

  Tanner counted only three of them, along with the woman wearing the robe he had seen earlier. He let them go. Adams was dead and if the rats wanted to flee a sinking ship then let them.

  Tanner flexed his right hand and was certain that his pinkie was broken, while his left shoulder still ached after having borne most of the stress from stopping his fall. His left eye was swelling shut too, from the blow the giant had given him.

  Before leaving the rooftop, Tanner took several pictures of Adams’ corpse with a phone, and then he went back through the house.

  The second floor was like a furnace from the fire. Tanner held his breath and ran through the smoke and down to the ground floor. The home had a stone foundation, but would be gutted by the flames without anyone fighting the blaze.

  Tanner recovered Deke’s M32 and found a portable marine radio inside the security office. He went outside and used it to call the boat, and when Sara came on the mike, Tanner gave her the news.

  “It’s done.”

  CHAPTER 17 – Lazarus

  Tanner wore a splint on his broken finger.

  His chest looked like one huge bruise and his left shoulder was sore. One eye was still swollen and turning black, but despite all of the minor aches and pains, he felt good.

  Adams was dead, the contract was fulfilled, and he was looking forward to more down time spent with Alexa.

  By the afternoon, everyone had been awake for most of a day with scant rest, they decided to leave Greece as soon as possible and catch up on sleep while they flew back to Connecticut.

  Tanner awoke aboard the jet to find that the sun had gone down, while Alexa was reclining beside him and still asleep. Deke and Garber were also asleep, but Sara was awake, and she sent Tanner a smile as a way of greeting.

  He moved across the aisle and sat beside Sara.

  “Have you talked to Burke?”

  Sara nodded and then winced as she took in Tanner’s black eye, which still had some swelling to it.

  “You should have a doctor check out that eye, Tanner.”

  “It’s worse than it looks, and it’s not the first time I’ve been punched in the face.”

  “Well, Mr. Burke was very pleased, as is the government. I would expect more offers in the future.”

  “I’ll probably take the contracts, although I was surprised that Adams was so easy to kill.”

  “Easy? You nearly died in the attempt, and don’t forget, you had to take two whacks at him because of that poor girl getting in your way. Maybe Adams was saved from other attempts on his life in the same fashion.”

  “That’s a possibility,” Tanner admitted. “But after surviving three other assassination attempts by trained killers, I’d have thought that he’d be more of a challenge.”

  ***

  Hours later, they landed to find a limo awaiting them. Everyone climbed into it except for Garber, whose wife was meeting him inside the terminal. Tanner thanked Garber for his help and then the limo was on the move.

  It was late, and Sara, Tanner, and Alexa were headed to a hotel while Deke would be dropped off at his apartment.

  “Why a hotel, Blake?” Tanner asked Sara. “Aren’t you settled in here yet?”

  “Not yet, and I travel so much that a hotel still makes sense for me, but I’ll have to find an apartment soon.”

  “There are vacancies in my building,” Deke said. “In fact, someone just moved out of the apartment that’s below mine.”

  Sara asked Deke where he lived, then nodded with recognition when he told her.

  “I know exactly where that is; one of my aunts lived in that building when I was yo
unger. The rooms are huge. Have the owners kept the place up?”

  “It was renovated two years ago. It’s pricey because it’s so close to the park, but it’s also near the Burke corporate campus.”

  “I’ll look into it,” Sara said, while at the same time, her phone rang. Sara said hello and then listened as her eyes emitted worry.

  When she ended the call, Sara did so with a sigh and spoke to Tanner.

  “That was Mr. Burke. He’s sending me a photo that he wants you to see. He said that he would like you to explain it.”

  “What’s that mean?” Tanner said.

  “I don’t know, but the man did not sound happy.”

  Sara looked back down at her phone and saw that she had received a new photo. When she opened it, she gasped in surprise and shook her head.

  “It’s not possible.”

  “What is it, Blake?”

  Sara handed Tanner her phone and he stared at the photo.

  It was a photo of Julien Adams. A new photo, and he was holding a copy of The Guardian, a London newspaper.

  The paper had a current headline about an earthquake in California, a minor quake that had occurred while members of the British Royal Family had been visiting the state.

  Beneath the headline titled, A PRINCE IN MORE THAN NAME, there was a photo showing the young prince reacting to the tremors by bravely shielding his wife with his body, as small bits of debris rained down on them from a ceiling. No one was injured, but that earthquake had occurred hours after Tanner had supposedly killed Adams.

  If someone wasn’t manufacturing fake photos for some reason, then that meant that Adams still lived. But how?

  The phone chirped again. There was another photo. Tanner sent it to the screen and saw a second photo of Adams. He held no newspaper in the second photo.

  Instead, he was grinning and giving the finger to the camera.

  Adams was telling Tanner that he had not only failed, but that he could go fuck himself.