The TANNER Series - Books 7-9 (Tanner Box Set Book 3)

by Remington Kane

  Juan leaned in and spoke softly.

  “Who do you think is out there? I think it’s one or more of those Mercs that tried to rescue us the other day.”

  “I pray it’s the Marines,” George Hough said.

  “It’s one man, that’s my guess,” Dr. Washburn said, and the rest of them nodded in agreement, because they knew that he had combat experience.

  “So what do you think, mate?” Juan Rio said. “You think he’ll just keep pecking away at them until only one is left?”

  The doctor had opened his mouth to answer when the guard to their left cried out in pain, and Melissa screamed when she saw the knife handle protruding from the rear of the man’s neck, as he fell to the ground at their feet and twitched violently.

  Prendy must have seen where the knife had come from, because he fumbled at the pistol on his belt before firing wildly into the trees on the left, where a figure had turned and darted back into the shadows.

  Jennifer had caught a fleeting glimpse of the man before he dove for cover, and her mouth dropped open in shock as she realized it was a face she knew very well.

  The man had been Jake Garner, her lover, and he was doing his damnedest to save her.

  CHAPTER 17 - An army of one

  Jake Garner ran as fast as his legs would allow, as a smile lit his face with joy.

  He had spotted Jennifer, had seen that she appeared relatively unharmed and had also managed to kill or seriously wound another one of the men holding her for ransom.

  If he could stay alive and free for another day, he felt as if he would have a chance to rescue her.

  He heard the sounds of at least three men behind him and swerved towards the trap he had set-up.

  The country of Guambi is riddled with streams, has several rivers and is bordered on one side by the Indian Ocean,

  Many of those streams only gain life during the rainy season, which can last for months some years, but when that season ends and the streams run dry once more, they still leave their traces behind in the form of long sandy troughs.

  Jake had spent time before the attack on setting up a trap, by sharpening the ends of branches with a machete, and then burying them in the bottom of a trough with their pointy ends facing up. When he was done, he covered the hand-made spears with palm fronds to obscure them.

  Jake had used this same trick to kill three other men and he was using it again, but with a twist.

  After coming to the trap, Jake made a long leap, ducked low, and then lay on his stomach to hide among a collection of thick plants that gave him cover.

  When the three guards came rushing along in his wake, Jake watched as they slowed to a skidding halt in front of the scattered palm fronds.

  Apparently, they had heard of the way in which their compatriots had been wounded for slaughter.

  One of the men crouched down while the others looked about and when the man brushed aside the fronds, he saw the sharp spikes sticking up from the bottom of the trough.

  All three men let out a laugh and when their friend had stood again, they backed up, took a running start, and jumped over the spikes. Unfortunately, for them, upon landing on the other side, they broke a thin, almost invisible thread of fishing line, which freed several tree branches with still more spikes tied to them, and when the branches whipped around, they embedded their spikes into the men’s faces, necks, and backs.

  As the men cried out in agony and shock, Jake sprang up, rushed towards them and began hacking away with his machete.

  He tried his best to make each blow a fatal one, however, one of the men struggled and thrashed around so much that Jake had to inflict over a score of wounds, until the blade finally slashed across the man’s throat and he bled to death.

  Jake looked at the horror he had wrought on the rebels and dropped to his knees and vomited the spare bits of raw fish and roots he’d been sustaining himself on.

  He had never killed anyone before coming to Guambi, but knew that he would slaughter as many men as it took to free Jennifer. Still, he would never get used to it and the violence sickened him each time he employed it.

  Before leaving the scene, Jake reached over and freed the gun hanging low on a man who had taken spikes to the left eye and jugular vein. When he checked the revolver, he saw that it was fully loaded, and then he ran towards the nearby river as fast as he could, as the shouts of yet more rebels filled the jungle air.

  CHAPTER 18 - What goes up...

  Tanner and Sara had changed clothes and walked about the resort in an effort to blend in as tourists, while hoping to learn if there had been any new developments.

  After calling home, Sara learned that the rebels had made contact with her father and increased the amount they demanded for Jennifer’s release and Sara’s fear for her sister’s welfare also increased.

  Soldiers seemed to be everywhere in their gray uniforms, in an effort to comfort fears and keep the tourists dollars flowing in Telunas, which really was a beautiful place.

  The resort was painted in blue, green, and pink pastel colors, beautifully landscaped and offered over a mile of white sand beach with turquoise water and an awesome view of sunrise each morning.

  After hanging around the hotel bar, Tanner had uncovered a piece of news that the resort management was trying to keep under wraps. An American staying at the hotel had gone missing, but was assumed to be lost, rather than kidnapped, at least, that was the story being offered.

  Sara had been upset by the news that another American had gone missing, surprised when informed that the man was an FBI agent, but outright flabbergasted when she heard the man’s name.

  “Jake Garner? Are you certain?”

  “Yes,” Tanner said. “That’s what the bartender said, and wasn’t he your partner, the one you shot?”

  “He and Jenny are dating and I accused him of using her as a way to get back at me. I thought that he would break her heart, but if he’s here, then... he must actually love her, to risk his life this way. My God, have I ever been right about anything?”

  “You think he’s out there trying to rescue her?”

  “Yes, Jake is much too smart to get lost. He’s either out searching for Jennifer... or he’s been captured too.”

  “Maybe we can make contact with him, or even call him if he’s carrying his cell phone and is near a cell tower, but I’ve heard that the typhoon that passed through the area recently destroyed many of them.”

  “I still have his number on my phone. I’ll try calling when we go back to the room.”

  “There’s one more thing. The army is placing troops at the border between Telunas and Guambi, which will make it more difficult for us to leave the country.”

  “That’s an understatement, but we have to find a way around it.”

  “First, we’ll need weapons; do you have the money and the directions to where the meeting will take place?”

  “Yes and it shouldn’t take us long to get there.”

  “I want to make a stop at the hotel gift shop.”

  Sara looked surprised.

  “The gift shop, why? Are you buying something for Romeo and Nadya?”

  Tanner smiled.

  “Not exactly,”

  ***

  While there were army troops keeping people away from the Guambi border, no one spotted Tanner and Sara as they left the resort grounds and moved farther down the shoreline, where a huge sign written in over twenty languages warned that leaving the resort area was not a good idea.

  Sara walked along at his side empty handed, but Tanner carried a white cardboard carton under one arm that was about the size of a hatbox, and was sealed on the top and bottom with a wide strip of clear tape.

  As they came around a curve in the shoreline, they saw the other face of Telunas, as miles of shacks, shanties, and downright hovels went on for as far as the eye could see, with only a short line of homes in the distance that looked new.

  The people wore little clothing and what they owned was fa
ded and tattered. Young children ran about naked and there was smoke rising in the air from numerous cook fires.

  “This is horrible,” Sara whispered.

  “As bad as it is, it was worse before the resort was built.”

  “You’ve been here before?”

  “Yes, I passed through a long time ago, but there were no houses at all then and no chance to make a real living. Still, like every other business, I’m sure that the resort doesn’t pay their people any more than they need to.”

  Three men walked towards them from the shacks. All three were shirtless, looked tough, and long-handled goloks hung in sheaths fastened around their waists by rope.

  Tanner sighed as he realized they weren’t carrying anything.

  “This was a waste of time; they don’t have any weapons.”

  “Maybe they’re in the waistbands of their pants, behind their backs.”

  “Possibly, but not likely,”

  Sara looked at the box Tanner carried.

  “It’s a good thing you came prepared.”

  “Yes and be ready.”

  As the men reached them, the one in the middle, the smallest of the three, spoke to them in English with a strong Dutch accent, while pointing at the box Tanner carried.

  “You bring money, good.”

  “Where are the weapons?” Sara asked.

  The man laughed at her and spoke to Tanner.

  “You let woman speak for you?”

  “She’s not my woman; I’m working for her.”

  The man swiveled his head to take in his companions and saw that they were laughing as hard as he was, he then called Tanner a name that would roughly translate to the English word, wimp.

  Tanner waited until the laughter died down and then spoke.

  “Give us the weapons and we’ll give you the money.”

  “Why is money in a box?”

  “It’s for the weapons, we’ll need something to carry it all in. We’re buying four handguns and two boxes of ammo, no?”

  The man’s smiled widened, and he slid out his machete as he and the other two men drew closer.

  “No, give me box.”

  “You’re robbing us?” Tanner said, and his tone was one of incredulity.

  The punk called him a name that insulted not only his intelligence but also his manhood and grabbed the box. After shaking it and hearing the sound of paper rustling, he sat it atop the sand, then, kneeled down and tore the box open.

  When the multi-colored balloon flew up into the air, all three men followed its ascent with their eyes and that gave Tanner and Sara the opportunity they needed to strike.

  While Tanner kicked the kneeling man hard in the mouth with his booted foot, Sara connected with the crotch of a second man.

  The third man had his machete free and was raising it to strike, when Tanner dropped to the sand and rolled into him, which caused the man to fall face forward.

  By the time he hit the sand, Sara had gathered up the machete that belonged to the group’s leader, and was holding the blade against the throat of the man she had kicked in the balls.

  As the man who had fallen got back up, Tanner tossed sand into his face and blinded him, then wrested his machete away.

  The leader rose up as well, and his mouth was covered in blood.

  After mumbling curses at them from lips that hurt more than his wounded pride, the man and his companions followed Sara’s orders and trudged back towards the shantytown, minus their machetes.

  Tanner plucked the bundles of cash that were laying loose inside the box, handed them to Sara, and then the two of them walked away without the guns they needed.

  “We’ll have to come up with a plan that doesn’t involve weapons,” Tanner said.

  Sara turned her head and smiled at him.

  “That trick with the balloon, did you learn that at hit man school?”

  “Why, they don’t teach that at Quantico?”

  Sara laughed as Tanner smiled, and they walked the rest of the way back to the resort in companionable silence.

  CHAPTER 19 - Call me Sara

  “I have an idea,” Tanner said, as he and Sara sat at a table inside the hotel’s bar.

  “What’s your idea?”

  “Instead of going to the rebels, why not let them come to us?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean we’ll play the part of the rich American couple and let everyone know that we have money. It’ll be like sending up a flare to the rebels and once they kidnap us, we’ll eventually wind up at their camp.”

  Sara smiled.

  “And Jenny will be there too, but we’ll still be hostages.”

  “And I’ll still be me, and being me I’ll find a way to get us free.”

  “I don’t know; it won’t be easy.”

  “No, it never is, but we could wander the jungle for weeks and never find that camp, this way, we’ll be taken right to it. You brought me here because I’m good at surviving long odds and I don’t intend to die here, but it’s your decision.”

  Sara considered things for a moment and had a question.

  “Even if the rebels come for us, they’ll have the same problem that we have. They’ll have to get past the soldiers guarding the border.”

  “They’ll find a way. This is their turf, their people and then, there’s always the option of a well-placed bribe, in a region this poor, corruption is a certainty if you know the right people.”

  “Alright then, what do we do?”

  Tanner smiled.

  “We act like a couple of rich assholes. In other words, just be yourself.”

  Sara scowled.

  “Just because I come from money doesn’t mean that I’m a—”

  She stopped talking when she realized that Tanner had been teasing her, and then she laughed.

  “Tanner?”

  “Yes, Blake?”

  “Call me, Sara; after all, we are married.”

  “Whatever you say,”

  “And don’t you have a name, a real name?”

  “I did at one time, but now, I’m just Tanner.”

  Sara’s face darkened.

  “Tanner, the killer,”

  “Yes and the men who took your sister will be making my acquaintance very soon.”

  “I hope you kill them all.”

  Tanner smirked at her.

  “What?” Sara said.

  “I think you’re getting your fire back, that’s good, you’ll need it.”

  “I still feel empty inside and I miss Johnny more than I would have imagined. And what do you think is happening in New York? Is Pullo capable of running The Giacconi Family?”

  Tanner grinned.

  “Joe is more intelligent than he lets on, and Vance and the Russians are probably licking their wounds by now.”

  ***

  Michael Krupin was one angry young man.

  The twenty-three-year-old was used to getting his way and suffering a massive setback was not an event he coped well with.

  Vance, who was known to Krupin as Rurik Varanov, watched the young man as he paced about the room and occasionally stopped to hurl something at the door, and it occurred to Vance that Krupin wasn’t fit to lead and that the situation would have to be remedied soon.

  There was another man in the room. He was nearing sixty and his hair had begun to gray, but he still had a young man’s build and a military bearing. His name was Fedor, and he didn’t bother to hide his disdain for Vance.

  “Michael, I warned you that listening to this fool was a bad idea, maybe now you’ll take heed of what I say the way your father did.”

  Krupin pointed at Fedor.

  “I don’t want to hear ‘I told you so’s,’”

  Krupin paced back and forth once more and then spoke to Vance.

  “Eighty-two! Eighty-two men dead, over a hundred wounded, and you can bet that they’ll try to trace them directly back to me. The Feds are getting involved, did you know that? And, they say that th
ey can’t tie any of it to The Giacconi Family.”

  “I underestimated Pullo. I admit that, Michael, but I promise you that I won’t do it again.”

  Krupin walked over to where Vance sat and screamed down at him.

  “We had one huge advantage over them; we had more men, but not after today. God, this has made me look like nothing but a fool. You have to fix this, Rurik, and you have to fix this soon.”

  Vance stood suddenly, which caused Krupin to step backwards so quickly that he nearly fell down. Standing to his left, Fedor placed his hand on the gun in his holster.

  “I will fix this, Michael.”

  “How?”

  “I’ll kill Joe Pullo and then I’ll work my way through their ranks until there’s nothing left of The Giacconi Family but memories.”

  Krupin straightened his tie and calmed himself.

  “I think I like your plan.”

  Vance smiled.

  “I knew you would, and I’ll start on it right now.”

  Vance left the office and Krupin settled behind his desk.

  “Fedor.”

  “Yes, Michael?”

  “If Rurik fails to kill Pullo, I want you to kill Rurik.”

  “Fine, but it would be better if I killed him in any event, no?”

  Krupin gave that some thought, Vance had been a friend of his father and he had known the man since he was a boy, known him and liked him.

  “Michael?”

  “Yes, kill him.”

  Outside the office, Vance removed his ear from the door and slipped away down the stairs soundlessly, as a look of hatred tainted his face.

  CHAPTER 20 - Weapons of mass proportion

  As Tanner and Sara passed the front desk on the way to their room, the clerk informed them that the hotel manager wanted to see them in his office.

  The subject of the meeting was described as “A minor problem with their accommodations,” but after entering the room and being confronted with guns, Tanner realized that the problem they faced was a major one.

  Two men held weapons on them while a third sat behind the hotel manager’s desk. He was not the hotel manager; his name was Conrad Burke.