Johan’s friend came to first. According to the ID found in his wallet, his name was Aaron Murrell. Murrell flinched when he looked at Bo’s scowling face, then flinched again when he met Tanner’s intense gaze. A third flinch happened when he noticed the silenced gun Tanner was holding. Murrell’s male model looks had been ruined by a broken nose and cracked front tooth. He spit out the piece of broken tooth onto the ground and asked a question.
“What happened?”
“You decided that drugging women and selling them as sex slaves was a good thing,” Bo said. “Now, you’re going to learn what happens to men who do that.”
“I didn’t drug them, Johan did.”
“And you think that makes a difference?”
“Let me go and I’ll never do anything like this again, I swear.”
“Shut up, Aaron,” Johan said. After being in America for ten years, his German accent was slight, but still noticeable. He had come to and was staring up at Bo. “You were at the gas station.”
“That’s right. And you like to drug girls and sell them.”
“Is that what this is about? Those girls? You want them, take them. I was being greedy by grabbing them anyway. We already sent a shipment off, but I know a guy in Fort Lauderdale who would give me twenty thousand apiece for them.”
“Twenty thousand dollars,” Bo said, incredulous that the man before him would subject a fellow human being to a life of terror and degradation for mere money. Johan mistook his disgust for interest.
“There’s good money in it, bro. Come work for us and you could make some fat stacks.”
“I’m not your bro and I don’t want to work with you. We’re going to tear down your entire organization, and you’re going to help us.”
Johan’s face hardened. “Are you the assholes who killed Nick?”
“Someone else had that pleasure,” Tanner said, “But we were there when it happened. Your group has attracted a lot of attention since Inga Olson escaped.”
“I told my uncle that we should have killed that bitch, but he thought that would look bad and give the cops a reason to give us grief. Are you working for her, for Inga?”
“Where can we find Nick’s sister. The one who calls herself Mistress?”
Johan smiled. “I won’t tell you a thing. Hit me all you want; it won’t do any good.”
Tanner looked at Murrell. “Do you know where to find her?”
“Aaron doesn’t know anything. He’s just eye candy for the girls.”
“You’re saying he’s useless to us?”
“Yeah.”
Tanner brought up his gun and shot Aaron Murrell in the chest. The bullet ruptured his heart and ended his life. The act was so quick that Bo was startled by it, but he approved.
Johan gaped at the body of his friend, as understanding dawned on him.
“You’re going to kill me too.”
Tanner holstered his gun and took out the screwdriver he’d bought at the gas station. He slammed it home just beneath Johan’s right knee while pressing a hand over his mouth. Johan bellowed in pain, the sound muffled by Tanner’s hand. When he tried to move away, the blade of the screwdriver shifted inside him and brought fresh agony with it.
Tanner took his hand away from the big man’s mouth and Johan lay slumped back against a tree. He was panting as if he had just run a mile. Tanner’s other hand kept a firm grip on the handle of the screwdriver.
“We’re going to ask you questions and you’re going to answer them. Refuse and you’ll only feel more pain.”
Johan clenched his eyes shut, as he fought to trap his tears. “What do you want to know?”
Tanner and Bo left the parking lot twenty minutes later. Johan had told them what they needed to know, oh yes he did, and began babbling towards the end of it. That end arrived when he took a bullet to the forehead.
Mistress’s full name was Nancie Collins Ventura. She was currently in Tampico, Mexico, awaiting a “shipment” of new girls. The mansion Inga was auctioned off in four years ago was in Tampico, and there would be another auction taking place in two days. That meant there was now a time limit involved. If they failed to find those women before they were auctioned off, they might never be seen or heard from again.
Tanner would be at the auction. If he had his way, high bidders and low bidders would all be rewarded with the same prize—death.
6
Punishment Is The Crime
Arthur Collins learned of his son’s death and of the torture and murder of his niece, Regina. Someone was out to get them.
He knew it wasn’t the police. They had rules and procedures to follow. No. Whoever killed Nick and Regina didn’t follow rules.
The timing was bad for this sort of thing. They had twelve girls on a ship headed for Mexico and an auction scheduled. If not for that, the family could go into hiding until they figured out what to do next. As a precaution, Arthur had summoned his other nieces, Emily and Karen to join him at the house he kept in Stowell, Texas. His daughter, Nancie, would have joined them as well, but she was already in Tampico awaiting the arrival of the ship.
Arthur was seated in his study. There was a monitor on his desk that showed him what the security cameras were picking up. Movement in one of the eight sections displayed caught his attention and he saw that a car was coming down the home’s long driveway. His nieces had arrived.
A different camera filmed them as they exited the vehicle. Twenty-one-year-old Emily was petite, beautiful, and had strawberry-blonde hair. If not for the fact that she was family, she would have brought in good money if auctioned off to the men Arthur sold women to. Karen, who was twenty-three, had dark hair and her looks were unremarkable. She was what some people referred to as full-figured, but what Arthur considered fat. Arthur didn’t like Karen and the feeling was mutual, but again, she was family. Of the three of them, Regina had been his favorite niece and the one Arthur considered to be the smartest. Whoever killed her would pay with their lives once Arthur hunted them down.
Arthur left the house to greet Emily and Karen. They were coming up the steps of the home’s wide veranda.
Karen gave him grief before he could say hello.
“Who the hell killed Nick and Regina, Arthur?”
“You know as much as I do.”
Emily shivered. She and Karen had discovered their sister’s mutilated corpse shortly after Michael and Ali had left the apartment.
“You should have seen what they did to Regina, Uncle Arthur… it was inhuman.”
“And whoever did it will pay. But first, we still have an auction to get through.”
“If it’s still on, why are you here instead of heading to Mexico?” Karen said.
“We have to assume that Regina and Nick talked before they were killed. That being the case, I’m in the process of making changes.”
“What are they?” Karen asked.
“Tampico is out. I’ll be holding the auction here. But I’ll need a day to get things ready.”
“And what about the ship?”
“I’m trying to reach them, to tell them to head to the Port of Galveston instead.”
“That means the girls will be on the ship a day longer than usual,” Emily said. “You should have them give them food and water or they might get sick and look like hell by the time the auction starts.”
“You’re right,” Arthur said. “I’ll tell them to give them some water, but not food. That French bastard Roussin would charge me extra for that, and he’s already going to milk me for having to change his course.”
“If we’re holding the auction here, why is Nancie still in Tampico?” Karen asked.
“We’re setting a trap for the people who killed Nick and Regina. They must still believe the auction will be held there. But Nick and Regina had never been to the villa we rent, Nancie has, so they’ll go after her in order to get that address. Instead of Nancie, they’ll find men with guns waiting for them.”
“But Nancie is still the
re?” Emily asked.
“She insisted on staying. She wants to kill whoever it was that killed Nick.”
“She’s an idiot to risk herself like that,” Karen said. “If it were me, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near Tampico right now.”
“My daughter is not an idiot; she’s brave, and she’s angry.”
“Whatever, Arthur. I’m going inside. Have someone bring my bags to my room.”
“I’ve only two guards with me, but there are a lot more on the way, and none of them are here to haul your suitcases around. Get your own bags, Karen.”
Karen gave her uncle a dirty look, then went down the steps to grab her bags. Emily was smiling as she followed Karen. It always amused her to see her uncle and sister argue.
Arthur checked his watch. It was getting late. He went inside to attempt to contact the ship again and tell them to change course. One way or another they were having the auction. There was too much money at stake, and some of it would be used to pay mercenaries to kill the people out to get them, whoever they were.
Tanner and Bo joined up with the others at a restaurant in Miami Beach for a late dinner.
Maxwell agreed with Tanner that the auction would be a great opportunity to attack the gang of slavers. However, his enthusiasm with the plan faded when he learned how well guarded the villa would be.
“Upwards of a dozen armed men sounds like daunting odds, Tanner. And don’t forget, each of the people there bidding will have a bodyguard too. Maybe we should meet the ship when it docks with the women and let the Mexican authorities deal with people at the villa.”
“If we do that, the women will be safe, but Nancie Ventura might get away along with the men looking to buy the women. Even if the Mexican police raid the house, all they’ll find are the guests. It will seem as if they interrupted a party.”
“But the guards will have guns, and there will be other evidence that they’ve been holding people there against their will.”
“None of that will get them hard time, and the guests can claim innocence. Twenty or more armed men isn’t intimidating to me, Maxwell. Trust me when I tell you that I’ll be able to handle them. Besides, Bo can help me.”
Bo nodded. “What do you need me to do?”
“You can take out the guards at the gate, then handle any that come out to investigate when they don’t respond to calls. I’ll take care of the ones inside.”
“What about the rest of us?” Kate asked.
“Once the guards are handled, you’ll be able to free the girls. Bo and I will deal with the rest of the gang and the guests.”
“I want to get my hands on Nancie Ventura,” Kate said. “The one who calls herself Mistress.”
“I’ll help you with that,” Ali said. “There’s a special place in hell for her. It’s bad enough that there are men doing this, but for a woman to be involved is just sick.”
“It’s sick all the way around,” Michael said. “And are we sure this auction will still take place? They’ve lost four people so far. They have to know that someone is out to get them.”
“Johan said that the girls were already on the ship,” Tanner said. “The buyers are all set too. They’ll hold the auction. And because it’s in Mexico they’ll probably think that whoever killed Johan and Nick won’t follow them there.”
“Ok, but what if that sniper shows up there too?” Michael said.
“I’ll deal with him.”
“If we really want the same thing,” Maxwell said. “The sniper might become an ally.”
“Maybe,” Tanner said. “And I’d like to know who hired him.”
“What’s our next move?” Ali asked.
Maxwell answered that. “We need to find Nancie Ventura. She’s staying in Tampico until the ship arrives with the girls. Unfortunately, she’ll be using a fake name and Tampico is a tourist destination with many hotels. We only have a day to find her too.”
“It might help if we searched her place,” Michael said.
“You and Kate can help me do that,” Tanner said. “And Maxwell, Bo, and Ali can handle our travel arrangements.”
Maxwell smiled. “I’m guessing you want to stay under the radar.”
“If possible. I’d like to be able to bring my weapons with me. I can’t do that on a commercial flight.”
“I’ll make it happen.”
The group separated after leaving the restaurant. Tanner and the Barlows headed to Nancie Ventura’s rented home in Key Largo.
Tanner checked the area around the home before calling the Barlows and telling them it was safe to join him on the property. As before, someone had been there already. The door was unlocked. When Michael saw that, he took a step backwards.
“I hope there’s not another dead body in there.”
“You two stay back and let me check it out,” Tanner said as he handed Kate his keys. “If you hear shooting, get in the car and take off.”
“And just leave you here?” Kate said.
“If it’s safe I’ll call and tell you to come back, if not, then you won’t risk getting hurt.”
Kate was about to protest and suggest that they stay, but Tanner had already slipped inside the house.
Michael took her by the hand. “Maybe we should wait for him by the car.”
“I want to wait here.”
“He’ll be all right, Kate. The man is hard to kill, you know that.”
“He can still be hurt.”
Tanner returned within minutes and told them to come inside. “There’s no dead body, but someone has searched this place.”
“You’re not kidding,” Michael said as he walked in.
Whoever had searched the house had gone out of their way to destroy Nancie Ventura’s belongings. The sofas and chairs had been ripped apart along with the mattress in the bedroom. Every item of clothing had been shredded as well, and heels had been yanked off of shoes.
“If this house was a body, I’d say it had been tortured by the same person who killed Regina Collins,” Michael said.
“They were both destroyed by someone in the grip of rage,” Tanner agreed. He was looking at a Picasso print that was hanging on a wall in the home’s study. Not only had a knife been taken to it, but someone had also written the word Bitch on it with a black magic marker.
“I don’t see a computer anywhere,” Kate said.
“They must have taken them,” Michael agreed.
“Too bad,” Tanner said. “If we had her laptop it might have had information on it that we could use.”
“And now the sniper has it. He may kill Nancie Ventura before we find her.”
“Hold on a second. I might have found something,” Kate said. She was down on her hands and knees near a desk. When she stood, she was holding a computer tablet. She had spotted a corner of it sticking out from beneath an overturned filing cabinet. It was an older model. Kate tried turning it on and found that it was dead.
“Maybe it just needs to be charged,” Michael said.
“Let’s hope so, and with luck, Nancie Ventura has it synced with whatever she’s currently using. If I can charge it and it updates, we might be able to find her.”
They searched the wreckage for anything useful and found nothing else. As they were driving away from the house, Tanner wondered about the man who had taken the shot that killed Nick Collins. He had dived to the floor when he realized that there was a shooter, but even if he hadn’t, the round would have passed through Nick Collins and missed him. Collins had been sitting across from him and off to his left side. The assassin had moved to the far corner of the balcony he’d been on to make certain that the round hit Collins on an angle. The man hadn’t wanted to risk him becoming collateral damage. That was the mark of a true pro and showed that the shooter wasn’t cold-blooded. Maxwell could be right about the man becoming a possible ally.
As for whoever it was that had tortured Regina Collins and devastated Nancie Ventura’s belongings, that person was disturbed. Things were persona
l for them and they suffered from bouts of rage. If that person reached Ventura before they did, there would be nothing of the woman left.
That couldn’t happen. They might need Nancie Ventura in order to gain access to the villa. Their one advantage might be that they knew a secret about the woman, thanks to Johan. Tanner hoped no one else knew about it. If so, Nancie Ventura might have already been found, and be dead.
The woman who liked to be called Mistress by the women she victimized was currently in Tampico.
Nancie Ventura was a sadomasochist who loved inflicting pain on others. She’d been introduced to it by a lover when she was sixteen. That man had been her neighbor who was married and the father of one of her friends.
Nancie had been invited over to the house by her friend. She didn’t really like the girl but was interested in her older brother. After learning that there was a locked room in the basement that was off-limits, Nancie made it a point to find out what was in there.
She stole a spare key to the home and memorized the alarm code after watching her friend input the numbers into a keypad. When the family went on a vacation to the Grand Canyon, Nancie entered the house and found her way inside the forbidden room.
What she found was an adult playroom for sadomasochists. There were manacles, whips, chains, ball gags, leather masks, and a table that had some interesting attachments connected to it. There was also a TV and a collection of videotapes depicting how all that paraphernalia was used.
Young Nancie watched every tape. Whenever she viewed a scene where someone was inflicting punishment on another person, it aroused her. In several tapes, her friend’s father was being punished by a woman wearing a leather mask. Although she never showed her face, Nancie recognized her voice. It was her friend’s mother.
Sins of the Father and Mother (A Tanner Novel Book 42) Page 6
