The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart

by Remington Kane

  Tanner pointed toward Spenser’s cabin. “I think I should talk to Amy.”

  “Do that, and Alexa and I will have a chat at the same time.”

  “She knows, Spenser. She knows that my real name is Cody Parker.”

  Spenser raised an eyebrow. “I see, and Amy knows as well.”

  Tanner looked surprised at that, and perhaps a little perturbed by it as well.

  Spenser saw his reaction and shrugged. “I love her, son, and I promised her that there would be no more secrets between us. I trust her and you can too.”

  Tanner went inside and found Amy in the kitchen. She was seated at the breakfast nook, which offered a view of the lake.

  She sent Tanner a tentative smile. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m healing, and I’ve come to thank you for helping Spenser.”

  “I love him, Tanner.”

  Tanner settled himself in a chair across the table from Amy. “You can call me Cody. I always feel a little odd being called Tanner when I’m around Spenser, since he’s a Tanner too.”

  “He doesn’t do that anymore, take contracts.”

  “Doesn’t he? Isn’t that what he does when he’s helping his clients?”

  Amy thought that over and nodded. “I guess that’s true, but those people are desperate and have nowhere else to turn when they seek him out, and he does a lot of good.”

  “Yes, he does, and I hear that you help him sometimes too.”

  Amy smiled, and then laughed.

  “Did I say something funny?”

  “No, it’s just that, well, when Spenser first showed me that wanted poster of you and I read about what a violent and deadly man you were… it’s… I’ll just say you’re not what I expected. And I can tell that you and Spenser love each other.”

  Tanner grabbed the carafe that was sitting on the table and poured himself a cup of coffee.

  “We’re family, Spenser and I, and if I’m reading him right, you may soon be joining that family.”

  “He hasn’t asked me to marry him, but yes, I think that’s where we’re headed. But first, first Spenser has to help you deal with what’s in Mexico.”

  Tanner stopped his cup halfway to his lips and stared at Amy. “What’s this about Mexico? Spenser’s not going down there with me.”

  Amy nodded, as concern lit her face. “Yes, he is, and I’m so worried for him.”

  When Tanner came out of the cabin with Amy following behind, he found Spenser and Alexa laughing together over something, as they spoke in Spanish.

  He marched up to Spenser. “You’re not coming to Mexico. That’s not what this was about. I came to see you to pick your brain, not to ask you to risk your life.”

  Spenser had been leaning back against his truck; he straightened up and placed a hand on Tanner’s shoulder.

  “This isn’t all about you. I failed, Cody. I had that bastard Alvarado broken in pieces and left for dead, but somehow, damn it, somehow that son of a bitch made it out of that burning house and has been living his monstrous life all these years. That’s my fault, son, my failure, and not you or anyone else is going to stop me from finally seeing him dead.”

  Tanner removed Spenser’s hand from his shoulder. “No. It’s too dangerous, because of your missing eye. It’s why you passed the Tanner name to me when you were still so young.”

  “I passed the name on because you were ready. Hell, Cody, I risk my life all the time because that’s how I live. I feed on the challenge, even the danger, and I’ll tell you right now, I’m as good as I ever was.”

  Tanner shook his head in disagreement, then he did something that truly hurt him to do. He threw a punch at Spenser, a right hook aimed at Spenser’s blind side.

  Spenser blocked the punch by grabbing Tanner’s wrist.

  “What was that, a test? Try that again, boy, and I’ll knock you on your ass.”

  Tanner lowered his hand as he chuckled. “Yes, sir, but how the hell did you see that punch coming?”

  Spenser pointed at the side-view mirror on Alexa’s van. “I’ve learned to compensate for the injury over the years. I had to, because I refuse to live my life at half speed.”

  Tanner raised his hand again, but this time it was to offer to shake with Spenser.

  Spenser gripped Tanner’s hand and smiled. “We’re going down to Mexico, Cody, and we’re going to finally put that monster Alvarado in the ground.”

  This time, Alexa held up a hand. She did so to clarify something.

  “Am I hearing this right? Both of you will be helping me to kill Alvarado?”

  “That’s right,” the two men said at the same time.

  Alexa smiled, then she laughed. As she went to Tanner, he placed an arm around her waist.

  “Two Tanners. Oh, Alonso Alvarado and his cartel are doomed.”

  Spenser took Amy’s hand, kissed it, and then he tousled Tanner’s hair playfully.

  “Not only are they doomed, Alexa, but I know exactly how we’re going to do it.”

  BOOK 11

  TANNER TIMES TWO – A TANNER NOVEL – BOOK 11

  Tanner and Alexa travel to Mexico with an unexpected ally, as they seek revenge against Alonso Alvarado.

  However, Alvarado, the drug cartel leader, has hundreds of men to protect him.

  Will Tanner defeat incredible odds once again, or will Alvarado triumph and see Tanner dead?

  Part I

  Allies & Enemies

  1

  Good

  While stopped at a rest area on I-70 West in Kansas, near the Colorado border, Tanner realized that the three men standing by a soda machine were staring at him.

  He was with Alexa and had been waiting for her to exit the ladies’ room when he saw a guy in a blue work shirt nudge the man beside him and whisper something.

  The man who was nudged turned and looked at Tanner; that was followed by the third man in the group turning to gaze his way as well.

  When the first man took a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, studied it, and then looked back at him, Tanner knew he had just been made.

  He had already used the men’s room, and it had been empty when he left it. It would be a good place to handle the three men and not make a public scene.

  He also wanted to lure them away from Alexa and hoped that she wouldn’t leave the ladies’ room before he could take care of the men.

  Tanner was five feet from the bathroom door when a teenager cut in front of him and went in first. The dark-haired kid was about eighteen and was Tanner’s height. He wore a blue and orange knit cap with a matching football jersey that declared he was a fan of the Denver Broncos. Like Tanner, he was wearing jeans.

  A quick glance back told Tanner that the men had decided to head his way, and with the kid involved, he had to change his plan. Once he’d entered the bathroom, Tanner yanked the cap off the kid’s head and stuck a gun in his face.

  “You do exactly what I say and you won’t be hurt, understand?”

  The boy looked angry, but the sight of the gun calmed him. He nodded as a look of fear entered his eyes.

  “Good,” Tanner said. “Take off the jersey, walk into the last stall, and sit down. Do it quick.”

  The kid was out of the football jersey in a flash and Tanner put it on over his own shirt as he watched the kid go into the stall.

  “Stay quiet, kid, and you’ll be all right.”

  Tanner had just enough time to move over in front of a urinal before the three men entered. He pretended to be urinating as he bobbed his head and hummed a tune.

  Meanwhile, he was using the shiny metal of the flushing apparatus above the urinal to keep track of the men. He couldn’t make out many details of them in the distorting reflective surface, but he could see their movements.

  As Tanner hoped they would, the men saw the knit cap and matching jacket and took him for the kid. They then began peering under the doors of the stalls. When the man who had first spotted him took out a knife and headed for the stall the
kid was in, Tanner made his move.

  He was holding a metal baton. The type that telescoped out to its full length once you flicked your wrist to open it. The men’s eyes were glued to the stall where the kid sat. They stiffened with surprise as they heard the baton snap into its full length, but they were too late to do anything about it.

  Tanner caught two of them on the back of their skulls with his first swing. That stunned one man, while knocking the other unconscious. When the third man turned around, the man holding the knife, Tanner landed a blow on his face and broke his jaw.

  The man bellowed from the pain and attempted to stab Tanner in the leg, but a third swing silenced him, while a backhanded movement with the baton knocked out the man who had only been stunned.

  They were all out cold, but they would live. Spenser had convinced Tanner that, if possible, they shouldn’t kill unless they had no choice. They were headed to Spenser’s home in Wyoming. They didn’t need to leave a trail of bodies for the cops or anyone else to follow them there.

  The violent activity made Tanner’s injured ribs ache. He leaned against the wall, after retrieving the knife the first man had dropped. It was a good blade, with razor sharp steel and a G-10 grip. Alexa would love it.

  When the kid peeked his head out of the stall, Tanner told him to come out and walk over to him.

  The boy’s eyes were wide with wonder as he stared down at the three injured men. Tanner wiggled out of the jersey and handed it back to the kid along with the cap.

  “Hey, were those guys after you?” the kid asked.

  “Yeah,” Tanner said.

  The kid grinned. “You sure taught them a lesson.”

  Tanner took out his wallet, counted out three-hundred dollars, and handed it to the kid.

  “Sorry about the gun in your face. Take your girl to a game on me.”

  The kid laughed. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes,” Tanner said, then he heard Alexa call his name through the door. When he opened the bathroom door, Alexa saw the three men sprawled out on the tile floor.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “I’m good.”

  The kid looked Alexa up and down and his eyes widened with desire. “Hi.”

  Alexa smiled. “Hello. Did you help my friend?”

  “No, but I let him wear my football jersey, so he could fool those guys.”

  “That sounds like help, and don’t tell anyone you saw us, okay?”

  “I won’t,” the kid said, but his eyes were locked on Alexa’s breasts.

  A man walked toward them. He had the look of someone who needed a bathroom and needed it immediately. As he moved past Alexa, he stopped short when he saw the three men on the bathroom floor.

  The kid pointed at the men. “They were like that when we got here; I guess they had a fight.”

  The man hesitated for a second and then went inside. “I don’t care. I have to go now.”

  As the man headed into a stall, Tanner and Alexa walked toward the exit with the kid tagging along beside them.

  Tanner thought the boy must have entered the bathroom to pee, but with all the excitement the urge had apparently left him or been forgotten. Once they were outside, the kid pointed to a red Jeep with a blonde girl sitting in the passenger seat. Like the boy, she was dressed in Denver Bronco attire.

  She called to him, as she looked Alexa over. “Who are they, Billy?”

  Billy held up the money and tossed a thumb at Tanner. “I made a new friend, Cindy.”

  Tanner twitched slightly upon hearing their names, and Alexa took notice.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No, just a memory surfacing. I once knew another Billy and Cindy, and they were about their age.”

  Tanner and Alexa told the kids goodbye and began walking toward her van. The boy drove past them, and he and the girl blew the horn, smiled, and waved.

  Alexa decided to drive, and they were back on the road and headed toward Spenser Hawke’s home in Wyoming. Tanner needed time to heal, and although Spenser had a plan to kill Alonso Alvarado, certain preparations had to be made in advance to carry it out.

  Alexa looked over at Tanner. “Did you hurt your ribs?”

  “A little, but it’ll pass.”

  “How far ahead do you think Spenser and Amy are?”

  “No more than an hour; we’ll be at his place before nightfall.”

  Spenser knew that Tanner might find trouble like the three men left behind in the bathroom. He’d wanted to keep Amy away from any harm by driving on ahead.

  Although Spenser was wanted by Alvarado, his eye patch helped him to avoid detection by anyone looking at the wanted poster with his face on it, a face that showed a man with two good eyes.

  Alvarado had been looking for him for well over a decade. It seemed unlikely that he would be identified now. However, that assumption was a mistake, because the Tin Horsemen were headed to Spenser’s house, and they would be there to greet his arrival.

  Alexa sped the van along. “I want to get closer to Spenser and Amy.”

  “Why?”

  Alexa turned her head and looked at Tanner. “I just feel like we should.”

  “You sense something?”

  “Yes… something, but I’m not sure what.”

  “All right, we’ll get closer, but don’t speed too much. We don’t need to attract a cop.”

  “What is Spenser’s home like?”

  “Very nice, and I helped him build it, along with Romeo.”

  “You’re handy with tools?”

  “Yeah, basic carpentry, some plumbing and electrical too.”

  “I hope he has a tub. I want to soak in sudsy water and relax.”

  “There’s a huge tub in each room… and they’re each big enough for two.”

  Alexa grinned. “That sounds like heaven.”

  Tanner looked at her as she drove. Alexa had come into his life at a time when he thought the last thing he wanted was a relationship, but after only spending a few days with her, he knew he wanted more of her.

  Alexa felt his gaze. “What?”

  “Nothing,” he said.

  She sent him a smile. “I feel it too.”

  “Feel what?”

  “Good, I feel good when I’m near you.”

  “Yes,” Tanner said, and then they grew silent as they rolled along the highway.

  2

  Seeds Of Betrayal

  The former Tin Horsemen, who had taken the place of the Hexalcorp Strike Team, were closing in on Spenser Hawke’s home in Cody, Wyoming.

  They were following a tip that Spenser was the man who had nearly killed Alonso Alvarado years ago, but didn’t expect it to amount to anything, because they had learned that Spenser had only one eye.

  Bruise, who was pretending to be Simms, drove, while Scar sat in the passenger seat beside him, and Wound and Abrasion rode in the rear.

  The trip to Wyoming had taken a day longer than it should have, because Martinez had called and told them to gather their passports in case he needed them to leave the country in pursuit of Tanner.

  Scar had called his mother and asked her to go out to their garage apartment where the boys lived, and to gather their passports. They all had valid passports, because of a previous trip they had taken to Canada the year before. Once the passports arrived by overnight mail, they were back on the road.

  Scar kept staring at the drawing of Spenser. He was more certain than ever that he knew the man depicted in the sketch.

  “I can’t remember where and when it happened, but I’ve seen this guy before.”

  Abrasion leaned forward to look over Scar’s shoulder. “Try to remember where you saw him, because the guy is worth a lot of money.”

  “I am trying, but I keep drawing a blank.”

  There was a GPS unit built into the truck that had taken them to the general vicinity of Spenser’s home, but they had to rely on directions from the source of the tip as to where the house was actually loc
ated.

  Scar had written the final directions on the back of the drawing of Spenser’s face; he instructed Bruise to make a left down a private driveway.

  Once they had made the turn, they ran along for about a thousand yards and could see Spenser’s home growing nearer.

  Wound spoke up from the back seat. “That’s a nice place, and it’s all out here on its own.”

  “We should be careful,” Abrasion said. “If this is the home of the guy that Martinez wants us to find, that means he’s dangerous.”

  Scar told Bruise to approach the house slowly. Bruise did so, and soon they were parked in front of the home.

  “I don’t see any cars,” Wound said.

  Scar opened his door and stepped out. “I’ll go ring the bell.”

  “What if the guy in the drawing is inside?” Bruise said.

  “Then we drive off and let Martinez know about it,” Scar said, as he closed his door and headed for the front porch.

  In Mexico, at the compound belonging to Alonso Alvarado, Martinez paced back and forth near the inner gate. With Tanner still on the loose, Alvarado had decided that he needed even more men sent out to patrol the desert. Martinez watched the men leave as several men returned from an earlier patrol.

  When his phone rang, Martinez jumped slightly. He knew without looking that it was Alvarado calling him for news, and he had none to give.

  “Yes sir, how may I help you?”

  “I see you there by the gate watching the men enter and leave, tell me, should we begin using passwords?”

  “Passwords?”

  “Yes. What if Tanner entered while pretending to be one of the guards? If he didn’t know the password, he would be found out.”

  “We could do that, but I have the men working in groups of two or three. If a single man attempted to enter the compound, he would be stopped.”

  “Ah, that’s good, but begin using passwords as well. We have to keep Tanner from entering the compound.”