When he stopped and stared at the crowd, most of the men gathered believed that he was doing so solely for dramatic effect, but then, Firman shifted his feet, raised the sword high, and brought it down against the side of Prendy’s neck.
Blood sprayed a dozen feet and the boy’s head, now just barely attached, lolled over to settle upon the right shoulder and even as the body was falling forward, Firman reversed the sword’s trajectory and sliced between the shoulder and the head, an act that severed the head from the body and sent it tumbling off to the side.
Jennifer let out screams of pure terror as she tried to make it to her feet, but she was pressed back down upon her knees by two of Firman’s men.
Both Sara and Jake had been frozen by the barbarity of the act and numbed with apprehension, but after giving himself a shake, Jake raised his rifle and aimed through the iron sights.
“We’ve just run out of options; I’ll have to take a chance on hitting her.”
“Look!”
Sara pointed upward, and when Jake followed her gaze, he saw Tanner’s head and shoulders emerge from a hole in the canopy.
“What is Tanner doing? Is he getting ready to jump?”
“No, that would be suicide,” Sara said, and then watched as the fire at the middle of the tarp suddenly expanded, and hot ash began to rain down.
When she looked back at the camp, she saw that the men below had taken notice and that many were pointing up.
That’s when Tanner jumped out of the hole head first, fell over eighty feet, and the ropes holding him came to a violent stop less than a meter above the ground, before recoiling, and placing him in the midst of where Jennifer knelt on her knees.
While still upside down and swinging, Tanner took a hack at Firman with one of the two machetes he wielded. The religious fanatic ducked so quickly that he fell backwards and landed on his bony ass, while losing the sword.
Tanner’s blade missed Firman, but bit deep into the venerable white head of the holy one, Gus Soe, who had been standing beside him, became lodged inside Gus Soe’s holy brain, and sent him to his holy heaven, where he would doubtlessly have to learn the ways and customs of the dead.
Tanner raised his upper body as if he were performing an upside down sit-up, took a mighty swing at the complex knot that secured the ropes to his ankles, and cut himself loose. Then, after turning over in midair, he landed on his feet in the midst of over a hundred armed men.
Firman, along with the two men who were guarding Jennifer, backed away with her and disappeared beyond the crowd, and Tanner reached down and grabbed up the bloody sword.
And as the rebels closed in upon him, Tanner turned in a circle, intense eyes ablaze, and spoke to the men in their own language.
“Who dies first?”
CHAPTER 37 - Change of plans?
Vance tried to look as if he were taking the news in stride, while also noticing the pleasure Fedor took from delivering it.
The meeting at the Cabaret Strip Club was cancelled and it was Fedor’s belief that the reason for the cancellation was because one of the men who attended the last meeting had vanished.
Fedor crossed his legs as he sat on the loveseat in Michael Krupin’s office, and there was a self-satisfied grin on his face.
“It was stupid of you to kill that man for information when you could have simply bribed one of his soldiers and learned the same things he told you. But now, now Pullo is suspicious and has wisely changed his plans.”
“I don’t answer to you, Fedor, and there’s any number of reasons that Pullo might have postponed the meeting.”
Fedor grinned.
“You screwed up yet again, admit it, Rurik.”
“Fuck you.”
Krupin rose from behind his desk and then took a seat on a corner of it.
“Can you fix this? Pullo still needs to die.”
Vance sent him a reassuring smile.
“Of course I can fix it. The meeting was just the best of all possible outcomes, but Pullo is still using that club as his office, just as Rossetti did. I’ll just use the same plan and soon he’ll be history.”
Krupin paced about as he thought things over. When he stopped in mid-stride, he pointed at Vance.
“Stick with the plan, but we’ll give it a couple of more days and if there’s no meeting, then put it into action, and I still want you to take Fedor with you as backup.”
Vance nodded in agreement.
“Of course, I’ll still need another man who is good with a rifle.”
“Not good,” Fedor said. “I am the best.”
Vance shrugged.
“That’s even better, the club has two exits, while I stand watch over the alley exit, you’ll be watching the front, and if by some miracle someone escapes the trap, we shoot them dead.”
Fedor grinned.
“It sounds like fun.”
“Is everything ready? And have you picked out the other men you’ll use?” Krupin asked.
“The men are ready; their part in it shouldn’t take much more than a minute.”
“Who are you using?”
Fedor answered.
“It is my Nephew Anton and his boys; they are all good men.”
Krupin sighed.
“I guess I can look forward to that Fed showing up again.”
“No doubt, but you’ll have an airtight alibi and there will be no way to trace it back to us.”
“Still, I hate that Fed.”
“I just hope he brings that little Italian сука with him,” Fedor said. “I like looking at her, and what do you think, is he doing her, his own partner?”
Krupin spun around and smiled at Fedor.
“You’ve just given me an idea, but one thing at a time, and first, you two will kill Pullo.”
Vance patted the holster beneath his jacket.
“He’s as good as dead.”
CHAPTER 38 - The many, outnumbered by the one
Baja California, Mexico July 1999
Beneath the heat of a desert sun, the man calling himself Tanner put his two protégés through their paces as he trained them to one day be the best at what they do, which was killing.
However, there were times that one first had to survive in order to kill, and so, he also trained them in ways to do that... with varying results.
Romeo stepped out of the contraption that Tanner called The Gauntlet and tossed a pair of knives to the ground in frustration.
The Gauntlet was made up of five rotating poles, each with five arms set at various and adjustable heights, and each arm was tipped with a generous smear of red lipstick. The poles were connected by a system of pulleys at their base and would rotate at the spinning of a handle,
The five poles with their five arms represented twenty-five men with knives, and if you were marked by one, it would leave a trace in the form of red lipstick, red for blood.
Romeo emerged from the gauntlet covered with over three dozen marks, many that would have been fatal injuries if they were truly the wounds they represented.
“Shit, man, who the hell could face that many men in a knife fight and live?”
“I’m standing here in front of you and I once faced over a dozen, I was also trained on The Gauntlet until I could emerge without a mark on me. Tanner Five said that I was the only one who ever did that.”
Romeo looked at Tanner as if he were crazy.
“Dude, why didn’t you just shoot the fuckers?”
“I was out of bullets, but I did have two knives. Now enough talk, it’s Xavier’s turn.”
Xavier plucked the knives from the ground and stood in the center of the five poles. In order to do so, he had to bend one knee, hold one arm over his head, and lean backwards slightly. This was the only position in which a smear of lipstick wasn’t close enough to touch him.
Tanner shouted, “Here we go!” as he cranked the handle that controlled the pulleys.
Xavier emerged at the end of the cycle with even more streaks than Ro
meo wore.
He looked over at Tanner.
“This is tough.”
“That it is,” Tanner agreed. “But if you get really good at it, you’ll have no fear in a knife fight.”
***
Two weeks later, Tanner returned from a supply run to find Romeo and Xavier working with The Gauntlet.
He smiled as he rubbed a hand across his beard.
Xavier had practically lived inside the poles, as he was determined to best the contraption, and even Romeo had improved dramatically.
Tanner watched as Xavier ducked, sidestepped and skipped over the flailing poles, and it reminded him of a ballet he once saw. One by one, the boy knocked the lipstick tips off the poles, until the ground around his feet was littered with them.
When Xavier emerged from the machine after a full ten minutes, he was exhausted, sweaty... and bore only one red mark of lipstick.
Tanner looked at the young man who was far too close to his own age to be considered a son, and yet, nevertheless, he felt the swell of paternal pride.
“That was awesome, Xavier, simply awesome.”
The boy who would someday surpass his mentor, shook his head in disagreement as he pointed to the lone mark on his shoulder.
“I won’t quit at this until I’m perfect, and someday I’ll be the best, just like you.”
Tanner nodded. It was all he could do, because he was too choked up to speak.
***
Tanner recalled his training with The Gauntlet as he found himself surrounded by over a hundred men with machetes and knives.
He had no doubt that there were firearms carried by some of the rebels, but there were none in evidence amongst the men facing him from the front of the crowd.
When the first man lunged at him, he sliced a red line across the man’s stomach with the machete, and saw him retreat into the crowd.
He would kill some of these men, but that was not his main objective. The goal was to survive, and a superficial wound often served to dissuade an opponent as well as a serious injury would.
Two more men came at him, one from behind, one from the left. Tanner slashed over his shoulder with the sword and impaled an eye, while the machete swung left and bit deep into a rebel’s chest. He then went on the offensive, and as he brought the sword back around, he sliced open the faces of three men, even as the machete ripped apart the throat of a fourth man.
The crowd of rebels reacted as one and moved back a step.
They had thought they faced a man, just an average man, but Tanner wasn’t average, not when it came to killing, and for more than a dozen men in the crowd that lesson would be learned at the cost of their lives.
***
Atop the hill, Sara and Jake watched in awe as Tanner faced off against a multitude of opponents, but then broke free of their wonderment and sprang into action.
Sara’s first shot hit a man at the rear of the crowd and sent him tumbling forward into his fellow rebels.
The sound of the shot made the entire crowd turn their heads, and down below, Tanner used the distraction to slash the sword across four throats.
Jake’s first shot passed through the mouth of one man and hit the rebel behind him in the side of the head, while Sara’s second shot tore apart a man’s midsection.
The men in the crowd who did have weapons pushed their way to the rear, and fired up at Sara and Jake, even as Tanner continued to hack away at their machete wielding brethren, and all the while, hot ash rained down, as the canopy overhead was consumed by fire.
***
Firman fled towards safety, as two of his followers dragged Jennifer along.
As soon as he saw that the canopy that shielded them from surveillance was on fire, Firman realized that they were being attacked, and when the white devil descended from the sky like an outcast angel, his worst fears were realized.
He wiped away a tear as he recalled the death of Gus Soe, and prayed the men in the camp had sent the devil that killed the holy one to the fiery bowels of hell.
With the venerable one passed on, the mantle fell to Firman to keep the cause alive and with his lone remaining hostage, he would raise enough capital to see Gus Soe’s dream come true, by trading her for an exorbitant ransom.
When they reached the ATV used to shuttle supplies from the shore, Firman ordered the men to place Jennifer inside it, and then they were on their way to the small boat that would take them to the yacht anchored farther along the coastline. The yacht had belonged to the Australian captives, and Gus Soe had confiscated it for his own use.
Now, the luxury craft would be Firman’s base of operations, as he took Gus Soe’s place as leader, and as the ATV bumped along towards the shore, Firman daydreamed about future glories.
***
Back at the rebel camp, inside the cage holding the prisoners, Juan Rio let out a yelp of pain as he managed to squeeze his hips through the small hole in the corner of the cage, and as his feet sank into the accumulated urine, feces, and foul water below, he fought against the impulse to vomit.
Dr. Washburn called out encouragement to the Brit, as Juan attempted escape so that he could undo the lock on the cage door.
“You’re doing it, Juan, and the rebels are still distracted.”
Juan held onto the rope weaved across the cage’s bottom and began moving towards the edge of the pit he dangled above.
At one point, a hand slipped and he nearly lost hold with the other, but regained his grip by using one of the floating corpses for purchase.
When he made it to the end, it took three tries to swing his legs up high enough, but soon he was lying on the ground at the side of the cage and trying to catch his breath.
“Look out!”
The cry of warning came from Melissa, and when Juan turned his head, he saw one of the rebels rushing towards him with a machete held high.
In the next instant, there came a loud crackle from overhead, as two of the corners holding the camouflage tarp aloft gave way, and a huge swatch of flaming debris fell from the sky. The edge settled atop the charging rebel, while most of the debris fell on the men behind him.
Juan ignored the screams of the burning rebels and went to work freeing his friends.
***
At the same moment that Juan had been stepping atop the corpse, Tanner was tackled low from behind, and fell on his back among the score of dead and mortally wounded he had created.
The men at the front of the crowd smiled and rushed forward, and that’s when Tanner freed the revolver from beneath the tunic he wore and shot the two closest men in the face.
That caused the crowd to surge backwards, and moments later, as the flaming debris fell, it covered most of them, while scattering the rest.
Tanner jumped to his feet amidst the confusion and chaos and followed the trail that the fleeing Firman had taken.
He told Sara Blake that he would free her sister, and he intended to keep his word.
***
After the debris fell, Sara and Jake rushed down into the valley to free the prisoners, only to find that they had freed themselves.
Several of the rebels had recovered their wits and were poking at the smoking debris to gather up the guns of their fallen comrades so that they could start the fight anew, while Sara and Jake were both down to their last rounds.
A helicopter appeared overhead, and within seconds, death rained down from above as the men in the chopper fired at the rebels.
The chopper soon veered off, as the wind shifted and the smoke on the ground obscured their view.
The stench of burning flesh was thick in the air, as the rebels who were trapped beneath the flaming camouflage tarp were burned alive, but their screams were fading away.
Jake fired his last round at a rebel as the man bent over to retrieve a pistol, and then Jake plucked the gun from the ground and handed it to Sara, before also grabbing up a different rifle.
After inspecting the pistol and finding it loaded, Sara passed the gun
along to the hostages that followed behind them, and Juan smiled at the weight of the weapon, although he had never held one before in his life.
Sara’s final round wounded a man in the thigh and she claimed the rifle he had pointed at her, which had only two rounds left.
Afterwards, they left the camp and entered the trees, as they skirted around the fire, with Jake leading the way.
“Have you seen Tanner?” Sara said, and Jake shook his head no, while wearing a grim expression.
“All I know is that Jennifer was dragged off in this direction and there were only a handful of men around her.”
The sound of the chopper seemed to come from everywhere at once and competed with the crackling sounds of the fire, but after walking only fifty yards, they were free of the smoke and could make out a patch of blue in the distance.
They heard automatic gunfire and something that sounded like a muffled explosion, only to be followed by the whine of an engine, and when Sara and the group with her moved a dozen more yards, they caught sight of the helicopter as it spiraled towards the water.
They ran, and seconds later, they had a full view of the beach, and Sara felt her heart sink as she fell to her knees.
The chopper was partially submerged in the water, as the men who had been inside it scrambled onto the shore, while farther down the coastline, a boat sped away, and Sara could just make out the short blond hair of her sister, and wondered if she would ever see her again.
CHAPTER 39 - The kiss of life
After leaving the camp, Tanner heard the ATV before he saw it, and followed the sound to the beach.
He had no idea who Firman was and just thought of him as the skinny man who had been about to execute Sara’s sister.
After topping a rise that led down to the beach, Tanner saw that Firman was walking towards the shore, where a skiff with an outboard motor sat just past the waterline. Behind Firman, two rebels dragged Sara’s sister along, as the woman tried her best to get away.
There had been a man standing near the boat who was armed with an assault rifle of some type, possibly an AK-47. As Firman approached him, the man looked around the rebel leader, as if searching for someone, and Tanner guessed that the boat belonged to the white-haired man who had died first, and that the man guarding the boat wasn’t happy about anyone else using it.
The TANNER Series - Books 7-9 (Tanner Box Set Book 3) Page 12
