The four men huddled together and Tanner realized that he could understand almost every word, but was disturbed by the topic of their conversation.
They were deciding who would rape Sara first.
That simple fact told Tanner that these weren’t the religious extremists that were behind the assassination and quest for independence, but rather, opportunists looking to get rich by collecting ransoms.
Still, the men might know how to reach the rebel camp, since they appeared to be headed towards their own jungle hideout, and Tanner needed to keep one alive to interrogate.
There was good news as well, since he spotted no guns, although each man was armed with a machete.
Sara let out a moan as she awakened and Tanner saw that the men seemed pleased by it. They likely enjoyed the act of rape more when the woman was aware and screaming in terror.
“Blake, wake up, you’ve got trouble coming. These men want to hurt you.”
Sara shook her head as her eyes opened wide.
“What’s going on?”
“They want to rape you, all of them.”
“Oh God!”
“Listen to me. I’ll stop them, but it might take—”
Tanner was interrupted as a booted foot kicked him on the chin, and as he lay in the dirt recovering from the blow, he realized that the boot was one of his own and that the man had confiscated them for his own use.
Sara screamed as the other three men grabbed at her and began ripping her dress open.
She fought them as best she could, but Tanner knew it was a losing battle.
He made it to his bound feet and wobbled atop the uneven ground, then, he made a promise to the man guarding him.
“You’re all going to die.”
The man didn’t understand the words, but took their meaning, and his laughter mixed with Sara’s screams.
***
Jennifer’s mood darkened in direct proportion to the width of the smile spreading on Firman’s face, as the leader of their rebel captors received good news from a man who had rushed back from patrol to deliver it.
When Jennifer saw that Dr. Washburn looked crestfallen, she knew that he had overheard at least part of Firman’s conversation, and that it was bad news. She nudged Melissa, who was still attached to her, to move towards the doctor and Juan Rio and then asked Washburn what he knew.
“They have the man who’s been stalking them trapped a mile or two from here and think it’s just a matter of time until they capture him.”
Jennifer was saddened by the news, but at least it meant that she would be seeing Jake soon, when she wondered aloud how soon he would be joining them, Juan shook his head.
“The doc here says that Firman gave the rebel orders to tell the other men to capture the bloke alive, but only so they could torture him for information... and then kill him. After that, they’re to stand watch along the trail for a day in case anyone else shows. It also sounds like we’ll be on the march again.”
Jennifer collapsed in tears, as Melissa hugged her.
Washburn patted her on the shoulder.
“Yes, it is upsetting. I think that man may have been our last hope.”
“It’s worse than that,” Melissa said. “That man is Jennifer’s boyfriend; he was trying to rescue her.”
“Oh no,” Washburn sighed.
Jennifer’s grieving was cut short, as she and the other prisoners were ordered to get to their feet and start moving north again, and although she tried to fight it, a steady stream of tears fell down her cheeks.
CHAPTER 28 - Up close and personal
Tanner cursed at the man guarding him in a language the thug understood, and saw anger well up in the kidnapper’s dark eyes.
After doubling down on the invectives, he sent a gob of spit that landed on the man’s face and got the reaction he was hoping for, as the man raised his machete to strike.
Tanner did his best to judge the angle of the blow as he leaned back while thrusting his bound wrists upwards towards the blade, and attempted to meet it just as it returned from reaching the apex of the swing.
If he placed his hands in the wrong position, he could easily lose a finger or bleed to death from a severed artery or vein.
The blade cut through the bonds and took a chunk out of the pad of skin beneath Tanner’s right thumb.
He ignored the pain and even the impulse to look at the wound, as he focused his attention on gaining possession of the machete.
While the blade was still at the bottom of its arc, Tanner bent his knees, leapt up, and sent his bound feet into the man’s face. The thug tumbled backwards to the ground, while Tanner, who was also flat on his back, rolled over and trapped the arm still holding the machete, to then deliver an elbow into the man’s throat.
As the man made a gurgled cry of pain, the men attempting to rape Sara turned their heads and saw what was going on.
One of the men was laying atop of Sara, as he had just torn away her underwear, and with her hands still bound together and her feet trapped, she used another weapon at her disposal, her mouth. She brought her head up, clamped her teeth over the man’s ear, and bit the damn thing off.
Meanwhile, Tanner had gotten his hands on the first man’s machete and raised it as if to cut the bindings on his ankles.
The move was just a feint, and as two of the men left Sara and ran towards him, he fell on his back, made a wide swooping motion with the machete, and placed vicious cuts on the ankles of the men running towards him.
Both men stumbled and as they moved past him, Tanner caught them from behind with a slash to their thighs, which severed the hamstrings of one man, while slicing open the femoral artery of the other man, who had just turned back around.
Tanner watched them moan in agony and whimper in fear for their lives, as he cut through the rope on his ankles, and then left them to finish off the last man.
He found that he was hardly needed, because after she had bitten off her attacker’s ear, Sara had kneed the man in the groin, gained control of his machete, and was holding it by its handle, after having embedded the first six inches of it into the man’s abdomen.
The would-be rapist was staring down at the protruding blade with wide, unbelieving eyes, as Tanner walked over and sliced through Sara’s bonds.
He kept his eyes to the task, as her body was exposed beneath her torn garments, and as he freed her, he asked if she was all right.
“I’ll be fine... thanks to you.”
He whispered in her ear.
“Keep him alive for now; we may need him to gain information.”
Sara answered him with a slight nod and Tanner went to finish off the other men, but before he left, he removed his shirt and draped it around Sara’s shoulders.
The man he had hit in the throat with his elbow was already dead, and the thug’s tanned face was still bright red from the lack of oxygen that was the cause of his demise.
The man with the cut hamstrings was writhing in the dirt and Tanner left him to follow the trail of the man with the severed artery. He didn’t have far to go, and found the dead man lying beside a tree.
He gathered up the machetes, checked the men for anything of use and retrieved his stolen boots. Afterwards, he dragged the man with the injured hamstrings closer to Sara and left him beside the man with the severe stomach wound.
Both men forgot their pain for a moment, as shock filled their eyes when they realized that Tanner spoke their language, even though he did so badly and with a horrible accent.
Sara stood beside Tanner and went to work wrapping cloth around the wound on his right palm, which was dripping blood. She had covered herself as best she could, but Tanner’s shirt fell to just above her knees and she was naked beneath it, as her undergarments had all been ripped or cut away.
“What did you say to them?” she asked.
“I told them that the first one to give me directions to the rebel camp wouldn’t be harmed again.”
The man with th
e damaged legs pushed back his pain and let loose a string of vitriol at Tanner, with an added insult thrown in towards Sara.
Tanner made a casual movement with the machete and sliced open the man’s chest, bisecting the nipples and causing blood to flow freely.
Sara turned away from the disturbing wound, but heard the man with one ear begin to jabber away, as he gave Tanner directions to the rebel camp.
Tanner went back and forth with the man as he attempted to understand him. When he was certain that he understood where the camp was located, he told Sara that it was time to move on.
Sara pointed down at the two men, both of whom were moaning from their injuries.
“What about them?”
“They’ll both be dead of blood loss by nightfall, or possibly get attacked and devoured by animals.”
“It’s better than they deserve.”
Tanner stopped at the body of the man who had died by asphyxiation and began stripping him of his clothes, while he spoke to Sara.
“If I cut the bottoms off his pants we can use some of the rope to make a belt for you, otherwise, your legs will be eaten by mosquitoes.”
A minute later, and Sara had a pair of baggy pants to go with Tanner’s shirt, while he claimed the man’s tunic for himself.
Sara looked around at the dead and dying men and then gripped Tanner’s good hand in a show of gratitude.
“I don’t want to think about what would have happened to me if you were anyone else.”
Tanner gestured back towards the man she had wounded.
“I had help, and did you spit the ear out or swallow it?”
Sara’s eyes twinkled with mischief.
“Spit or swallow? Don’t you think that’s a little personal?”
And as she walked away laughing, Tanner cleared his throat and then jogged to catch up to her.
CHAPTER 29 - The Rookie
Jake Garner came to the edge of the cliff and realized that he was trapped.
The drop below looked to be about sixty feet and the stream at the bottom was too shallow to jump into without breaking a leg, or worse, his neck.
The distinct sounds of at least two men was drawing closer, one from each side, but after turning and running back the way he had come, Jake was felled by a rifle butt to the side of his head.
As he lay on his back and the world around him began to fade away, Jake silently cursed himself for failing Jennifer, and wondered if he would ever wake again.
***
In New York City, Sophia laughed aloud once more as Sammy told her one of his many stories.
Sammy had talked her into going for a ride in a horse-drawn Hansom cab, after Sophia scoffed that they were strictly for tourists, but afterwards, she admitted that she loved the experience and would definitely do it again.
After the cab ride, they took a booth inside a bar and Sammy listened as Sophia talked about her father and brother, and he later mentioned that he had met Jackie Verona once when he was a child, and his grandfather, Sam, was still running The Family.
Before Sammy could launch into another tale, Sophia reached across and took his hand.
“I’m having a good time, thanks. I needed to laugh; it’s been a rough week.”
“Are you worried about Tanner?”
“A little, but there’s no one tougher,”
“That’s what Uncle Joe says too.”
“He’s not really your uncle, is he?”
“No, but he’s looked out for me ever since my father died in the last war we had with the Russians, and my grandfather thought of him as a son.”
***
Sammy insisted on seeing Sophia all the way home to Staten Island, and as they stood outside her door, she gave him a peck on the cheek.
“I don’t know if you expected more, but I am kind of seeing someone.”
“You mean Tanner?”
“Yeah,”
Sammy stared into her eyes.
“If that doesn’t work out for you; I want you to know that I’m interested.”
“You don’t think I’m too old for you?”
“Hell no, and I’m not too young for you, so what do you say, can I at least live on hope?”
Sophia giggled.
“Do you know baseball?”
“Of course and I’m a die-hard Yankees fan.”
“Then you’ll know what I mean when I say that you can stand in the on deck circle.”
“Awesome, and if you ever let me up to bat, I plan to make rookie of the year.”
Sophia laughed again.
“Goodnight Sammy, I had fun.”
“Goodnight Sophia.”
Sophia gave Sammy a smile and then she unlocked her door and went inside.
Sammy held it in until he believed he was far enough away that Sophia wouldn’t hear it, and then he let out a shout of glee.
Inside the house, Sophia had been leaning back against her door and when she heard Sammy’s boyish howl of joy, she shook her head and laughed once again.
CHAPTER 30 - You’re with him?
Sara surprised Tanner by keeping pace with him, as he alternately ran and then stopped to listen for any sound that would tell them they were not alone.
Listening to discern the movement of humans was not an easy task. The jungle was alive with sounds, and while most of it came from the numerous birds that chittered about, there was often the murmur of running water, the rustle of movement made by small mammals, and the occasional squeal from above, as long-tailed monkeys climbed and played among the tree branches.
Swarms of gnats were encountered often, as mosquitoes buzzed and bit, and when Sara leaned against the wrong tree, Tanner informed her that dozens of small red spiders had crawled onto her and she cringed while he swatted the insects off her back.
The only weapons they carried were the machetes taken from the men who abducted them, and if they ran into anyone with a gun, they would be in trouble.
When the faint cry of pain came from their left, it was Sara who heard it, but after they moved towards the source, Tanner heard it as well.
Afterwards, they agreed that the wailing sounded as if it were coming from a man and they moved stealthily through the trees to find the origin of the sound.
The task became difficult when the cries of pain ceased for a time, but when another one came again and was intoned with pure agony, they headed directly towards the sound and found the source of it nearly a mile away.
***
When Jake Garner regained consciousness, it came slowly, but when the first of his fingernails was pried up with the tip of a knife and then yanked off, he came fully awake in an agonizing instant.
He was strung up between two trees with the toes of his bare feet just able to touch the ground beneath him, and while one man gripped his fingers, another tore off his nails, and a third man looked on with a happy expression, while laughing like a child.
The torture ceased for a time, as one of the men questioned him by using bad English and Jake stalled and lied as well as he was able, but eventually the torture resumed.
The agony was cumulative and as the fourth nail was ripped from his left hand, he felt as if he were about to pass out again. However, Jake staved off the darkness as hope dawned, because the man who was about to pry up his thumbnail suddenly went rigid with shock, as the bloody tip of a machete poked out of his throat.
Jake filled with hope, only to have it dashed when he saw that the man who killed his tormentor was Tanner.
I must be hallucinating. Garner thought and then assumed it confirmed, because next, he spotted Sara Blake fighting beside Tanner and he knew that if the two of them were ever within reach of each other while brandishing machetes, they would be using them on each other.
Sara dispatched the man who found Garner’s pain humorous by slicing him open at the middle, and as he lay in the dirt dying, his own cries of agony left him joyless.
After plunging his blade through the torturer’s neck, Tanner with
drew it and shoved it past the ribs of the man who had been holding Jake’s hand in place, which punctured the man’s heart and left him to drop like a stone.
Tanner slapped Jake lightly on the cheek to revive him and issued a command.
“Hold still!”
Two quick chops with a machete and Garner was freed from his bonds and collapsed to his knees, with Sara kneeling beside him.
“Is this real?”
Sara smiled.
“Yes and you’re safe now.”
As Sara gathered up the rifle and lone revolver that belonged to the men they’d slain, Tanner helped Garner walk to a stream that was fifty yards away, and after they’d all drank their fill of water, Garner gingerly washed his damaged hand in the stream.
They were all seated on the ground and as Sara looked over Garner’s wounds, Tanner inspected the rifle and gun. Both were fully loaded and appeared to be in firing condition. Tanner kept the rifle, but passed the gun to Sara.
Jake looked first at Tanner, and then at Sara.
“You two working together has got to be one hell of a story, but right now I’m more concerned about Jennifer. Please tell me there’s more help on the way?”
“There is,” Tanner said. “Conrad Burke is waiting for us to signal him and then he’ll send in a group of men.”
Jake made a grim face at that news.
“I came across the bodies of the last men he sent; I hope he has better luck this time, and Tanner, Sara, thank you. If you hadn’t come along I’d be dead.”
Tanner stood.
“Are you good to travel?”
“I am, but my left hand may be almost useless for a while.”
“Were they torturing you for fun, or did they want information?”
“It was both, but the man who had been holding my wrist spoke a little English and he asked me if I was, ‘Here on my lonesome,’ I lied and said that I wasn’t, but they saw through it.”
“It’s a good thing that they did,” Sara said. “Otherwise they might have searched and come across us.”
Jake smiled.
“I’ve seen her, Sara. I saw Jennifer and she seemed to be all right. There are also five other hostages, two women and three men.”
The TANNER Series - Books 7-9 (Tanner Box Set Book 3) Page 9
