The TANNER Series - Books 1-3 (Tanner Box Set)

by Remington Kane

  That’s when Romeo did a dumb thing. He skidded his vehicle to a stop off the side of the road, and then he and the girl made a run towards a group of trees, hoping to get away.

  Not a wise move,

  There was a lake there or something, and there weren’t enough trees to get lost in.

  “We got ‘em now!” Jack told his crew, and after parking, they went in pursuit on foot, the rifles held close, but ready, beneath their jackets.

  ***

  “Does anybody see them?” Jack asked, as he slid down the slope.

  “No,” Silver said. “But what’s that on the ground over there?”

  They had all spotted it at the same time; you couldn’t miss it. The thing was bright orange and seemed to glow beneath the moonlight. But, it was Kalen who first saw what was inside.

  “Shit. Look, there’s money.”

  Jack had time later to recall how stupid he’d been, not much time, but enough to curse himself.

  Two thick bundles of cash were sitting inside the open box and the sight of the money made not only Jack, but also Red and Silver gather beside Kalen.

  They weren’t completely foolish about it though, they did swivel their heads about to see where their prey had run to, and there was no one around, but the money caught their eyes, made them group together, and sealed their fates.

  ***

  Tanner exploded from the murky lake and, before his eyes had even cleared of the water running down his face, he sent a burst of gunfire to the spot where he’d left the box.

  One man fell with two fatal wounds to his side, a guy with silver hair, and his gun bounced and landed in the water. He had hit two of the other men in the leg, as his first shots had been low, but they both stayed standing and took a bead on him.

  Before they could shoot, Sophia came up gasping and firing. Her initial shots were high, but one of them clipped the largest of the men just above the left ear, writing a red line across the side of his head, and he and the other men ducked while firing wildly.

  That’s when Tanner fired a shot that struck the young guy in the crown of his head, as the fool bent over to try to grab the money from the box.

  The man collapsed backwards into another man, one who looked foreign, and knocked him back against the trunk of a small tree. As that was happening, Sophia had shot the big man in his gun arm twice, which caused him to drop his weapon and scream.

  Tanner changed magazines and rushed towards the man pinned beneath the young guy, but slipped when he was halfway there, due to the mud coating the bottom of his shoes.

  The stumble saved his life, as the trapped man had managed to keep his gun and had fired off two shots where Tanner had been.

  Tanner returned fire and wounded the man in the side. That made the man arch his back from the pain, which shifted the corpse that lay atop him, and sent what was left of the young man’s brains leaking into his open mouth.

  The foreign-looking man sputtered, spit, and dropped the gun, so that he could use both hands to clear away the gore, while he was doing that, he cursed in a language that Tanner recognized as Polish.

  Tanner stood above him with his gun pointed at the man’s face, as Sophia held her gun on the big man, and across the lake, people were coming out onto their decks to see what was going on.

  Tanner spoke to the man in Polish and asked him who sent them.

  “Kto wysłał do nas zabić?”

  Sophia did a double take at Tanner, but kept her gun aimed at the big man, who was lying on the ground and bleeding from his scalp and arm wounds.

  The foreign-looking man stared up at him, surprise mixing with pain on his features.

  “I speak English too, asshole.”

  “Then answer the question,”

  “Fuck you!”

  Tanner kicked the corpse aside and fired a shot into the man’s heart. He then moved over to the big man and asked the same question, this time in English.

  “Who sent you to kill us?”

  “The Conglomerate, but I don’t know any names. It’s all handled online, and I’m sorry, dude, really, just let me go, please? I told you what you wanted to know.”

  Sophia answered the man by shooting him in the chest twice.

  The big man let out a moan, murmured something that sounded like, “Stupid,” and died.

  Tanner scooped up the box with the money in it and he and Sophia reentered the trees and disappeared from sight.

  CHAPTER 36 - Never see it coming

  Gary pulled the van over to the side of the road, as he and Trent watched Tim’s vehicle wind along the gravel driveway that led to the farmhouse.

  “Shit, that was a hike,” Gary said. “And I was hoping that we would follow them back to the city.”

  They could no longer see the car after it made the first turn along the driveway, but knew that there must be a house beyond the trees.

  “We’ll give them time to settle in and fall asleep, and then we’ll go in on foot and break into the house.”

  Gary shook his head.

  “I’m not creeping around out in the sticks in the dark, plus, we have no idea how many people are inside the house. Suppose they’re not alone?”

  “What do you want to do, wait out here all night?”

  “Screw that, we passed a motel two miles back. I say we go there, get some sleep and be back here right after the sun comes up.”

  Trent gazed out at the driveway leading to the farmhouse. He was so close to seeing Madison again and clearing his name, but Gary’s words did make sense.

  “What if they leave in the middle of the night?”

  “Let them. We now know what they drive and where they live, besides, why would they run? They think they’re safe here.”

  “All right, but I want to be back here at first light.”

  “Sounds good, but I also want to stop somewhere and grab breakfast before we come back. I’m tired of eating crap. I want some real food.”

  “If I’m not mistaken, there was a diner near the motel and you’re not alone in wanting a hot meal.”

  Gary started the engine and looked over at Trent. All things considered, he liked the kid, and decided that when the time came, he would kill him in such a way so that he’d never see it coming.

  ***

  After dropping Johnny off, Joe Pullo drove around for a while, but when he stopped moving, he found himself parked in front of Laurel Ivy’s townhouse.

  There was a light on upstairs and so he knew she was still awake.

  Pullo, like Tanner, had never shied from violence and had nerves of iron when involved in a firefight, the same could not be said when it came to affairs of the heart, and he feared being rejected.

  He hadn’t been thinking of getting close to Laurel, of dating her, not in the beginning, he had only sought to comfort her over losing Tanner, a pain he too suffered from, and one that surprised him.

  He had always liked Tanner, but the loss was like the loss of a brother, and the shared grief had bonded him and Laurel together as friends.

  His growing feelings for Laurel left him equally surprised and although she seemed affectionate towards him at times, he never wanted her to think that his attempts at offering solace for her loss had actually been a sneaky way to move in on her.

  After sitting in the Hummer for ten minutes, he walked up the concrete steps and rang her bell.

  By the time she came to the door, his palms were sweaty.

  “Joe, hi, is something wrong?”

  Pullo felt like an idiot, because it just occurred to him that she might not be alone. Laurel was young, beautiful, and smart, a Harvard-trained doctor for God’s sake, she must have men lining up.

  He held up a hand and sighed.

  “This was a bad idea; I didn’t realize how late it was.”

  Laurel stepped out on the small brick porch in her robe and slippers and took a good look at Pullo.

  “Something is wrong, what is it?”

  “It... it has to do w
ith Sam, Sam Giacconi.”

  “Oh God, he hasn’t died, has he?”

  “In a way,” Pullo said, and as he said it, he could feel his eyes moisten.

  Laurel took him by the hand.

  “Come inside.”

  “You sure? It’s late.”

  “I’m sure, Joe.”

  Pullo let her lead him inside, and when she turned to face him after closing the door, he kissed her.

  ***

  Blocks away, Sara opened her apartment door to find Jake Garner smiling at her.

  “Hi, I hope it’s not too late, but I really wanted to talk.”

  Garner caught movement behind Sara and saw Johnny Rossetti sitting on a sofa with a bottle of wine and two glasses on the table in front of him. Johnny recognized Garner and smiled, as he raised his glass in a toast.

  “Mr. Fed, it’s nice to see you again.”

  Garner glared at Johnny before looking back at Sara with dismay lighting his face.

  “Rossetti? Sara, you can’t be serious. You know what he is.”

  “Yes, I do, and I’ve also begun to know who he is as well, and who he is, is a man who doesn’t look at me as if I were mentally incompetent.”

  “I never said you weren’t sane, but I do think you need help.”

  Sara smirked.

  “Johnny will be taking care of my needs tonight.”

  Garner shook his head in disgust.

  “You just keep falling down and when someone offers a hand up, you slap it away, but know this, I’ll still be there if you need a friend.”

  “Goodnight, Jake.”

  Garner watched the door close in his face and, with a great sigh, he turned and headed towards the elevator.

  When the door reopened, he spun around with hope.

  “One more thing,” Sara said. “Stay away from my sister.”

  And then the door slammed.

  Garner stared at it for several seconds before he turned and left the building, with a heart that was as confused as it was broken.

  CHAPTER 37 - Mystery man

  Tanner stepped out of the shower and found Sophia staring at him from the doorway.

  After leaving the dead men on the shore of the lake, Tanner returned to the car and grabbed his phone, which he had left behind. With his belongings removed, he checked out the jeep the hit team had been using. It had been left running and the only personal items inside were a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

  He grabbed the lighter as Sophia pleaded with him to leave before the cops showed. She was drenched from the lake as was Tanner, but Sophia was also barefoot, as her shoes had been claimed by the mud at the lake’s bottom.

  Tanner knew that the people across the lake must have reported the gunfire, what he didn’t know was whether or not his vehicle’s license plate had been recorded by a traffic camera, and so he handed Sophia his “Emergency Kit” and told her to climb into the jeep.

  Afterwards, he grabbed a gallon container of gasoline from his trunk and splashed the fuel inside and outside the car, a car, which was registered under the fake ID he was currently using.

  After activating the lighter, he locked the flame on high and tossed it onto the floorboards in front, causing the gas to ignite and fuel a fire that would erase all traces of fingerprints and DNA samples.

  Ten seconds later, the jeep was back in traffic and headed for the nearest exit. After dropping Sophia at home, Tanner dumped the jeep a mile away from her house, wiped it down, and left it sitting unlocked and with the keys still in the ignition. Fifteen minutes after that, he was back at the house and peeling off his soggy clothes.

  “What’s up?” Tanner said.

  “Who are you?”

  “Are you asking me what my last name is again?”

  “No, because that would be as phony as the first name, almost as phony as those tattoos,”

  Tanner had been watching Sophia as he dried off, but when he looked down at his arms, he saw that some of the temporary tattoos had begun to fade or smear. Apparently, the word “temporary” was meant to be taken seriously.

  He finished drying himself by rubbing the towel over his hair and grabbed the clean pair of boxers that he brought into the bathroom with him. After putting them on, he gave Sophia a tight smile.

  “I guess I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

  She went to him and placed her hands atop his bare chest while gazing up into his eyes.

  “I don’t want you to leave; I just want a few answers, a, a freaking name. Is that too much to ask, that I know the name of the man I’m—”

  She sighed, realizing how close she came to saying too much and very likely, the exact wrong thing. When she spoke again, her voice was less pleading.

  “You saved my life and I don’t even know who you are, can you at least tell me that?”

  “I could, but if I did, it would open up too many questions, and Sophia, there’s really no need to keep going on about this, is there?”

  “I don’t understand what you mean?”

  “I’m leaving the city tomorrow. I told you that, I never hid that, so just think of me as Romeo and let things be.”

  “That car you torched, was it stolen?”

  “No, it was legit, but was under a fake ID.”

  “And you speak another language, what was that?”

  “It was Polish.”

  Sophia narrowed her eyes and spoke to him in Italian.

  “Si può capire quello che sto dicendo in questo momento?”

  “Yes. I can understand what you’re saying.”

  Sophia gasped.

  “Christ, how many languages can you speak?”

  Tanner slid by her and back to the bedroom where he began to dress.

  “What? You’re leaving because I asked you to tell me your name?”

  “Like I said, I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

  Sophia took him by the hand and gazed into his eyes, as her own eyes searched for something that wasn’t there.

  “You’re really just going to walk out and leave things like this, aren’t you?”

  She saw it then, not what she wanted to see, but a faint reflection of it.

  Tanner kissed her and then gave her hand a squeeze.

  “My leaving is the best thing I could do for you. If I stayed past tomorrow, things would go to hell fast, trust me.”

  “I do trust you, don’t doubt that, but I don’t understand you one damn bit.”

  Tanner let her hand go and gathered what little he had.

  “I have to go now.”

  “I... at least let me drive you someplace.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  He left the bedroom and walked down the stairs with Sophia following. At the front door, she gazed at him with exasperation showing on her face.

  “Whoever you are, you’re a bastard, do you know that?”

  “It has been pointed out to me from time to time.”

  Sophia hugged him and gave him a long, soulful kiss.

  When it ended, Tanner opened the door.

  “Goodbye, Sophia.”

  “You’re welcome here anytime, mystery man, but be careful out there and watch your back, remember, Frank Richards wants us both dead.”

  “That won’t be a problem soon.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m going to kill him tomorrow,”

  Tanner gave Sophia one last look and then he walked out into the night without as much as a backward glance.

  CHAPTER 38 - Security by Tanner

  SUNDAY 7:34 a.m.

  Al Trent was staring at Gary.

  They were sitting on opposite sides of a booth, in a diner that was two miles away from Tim’s farm, which the locals called Forgotten Farm.

  The diner was nearly empty, but would fill shortly with those seeking sustenance for the body before seeking it for the soul, in the church down the block.

  Besides Trent and Gary, there were six other patrons in the diner. There were two couples, a trucke
r whose rig was parked across the street, and an old man who looked as if he had been hatched atop the stool he perched upon.

  Trent and Gary had awakened to heavy rain and the forecast was for more to come, as a huge storm system approached from the Ohio Valley Region.

  They also woke to discover that the van had a flat tire and found that the spare was missing. Fortunately, for them, there was a gas station across the road from the motel.

  Gary limped the van over there and the two of them waited for the place to open.

  Their plan to make an early assault on the farm had been pushed back and caused Trent to become nervous.

  “Could you please finish your breakfast? This is already a later start than we had planned on.”

  “Relax Trent, they’re not going anywhere. It’s early on a Sunday morning and raining like hell out there.”

  “They could still leave.”

  “Maybe, but not for good, if we get there and they’re gone, we’ll just break in and wait and if they’re there... we do what we do.”

  Trent pushed his glasses up farther on his nose and then took a sip of his coffee.

  The diner they were in was quaint and old. It had been in operation since the 1940s and was a converted train car. Its exterior was covered in aluminum, which shined even in the rain, while inside, the chrome counter glowed in the glare of fluorescent lighting.

  The linoleum tiled floor was worn down from the tread of endless feet, but the place was clean, smelled of good food, and the elderly waitress served it to you with a genuine smile.

  “You do understand that you’re not to hurt them, especially Madison. Rough Jackson up all you want, but we do need him to transfer certain data to me.”

  Gary stared at him.

  “I know what to do. Richards gave me clear instructions.”

  “All right then, let’s go.”

  ***

  Back in Manhattan, on Wall Street, Tanner was keeping watch on the overhead door that led to the loading dock of the building hosting The Conglomerate’s meeting.

  After leaving Sophia’s home, he traveled back to Manhattan by train and made his way to an underground parking garage, where he kept a stash of weapons, clothing, and a fake ID.