Flesh and Blood (A Tanner Novel Book 35)

by Remington Kane

  Something occurred to Joaquin then, and he asked Tanner a question. “How did you know that I would be here?”

  “I’ve read the DEA’s file on Kagan. You’re listed as a rival in it and so is Dante. The Federales reported that you visit this club weekly for meetings. I also know that you donate a small fortune to your church. As for Dante, he leaves his fortress every two weeks to meet with a married woman. If I wanted to kill him, I could have waited until he was with the woman and killed him.”

  “The Federales know about Esmeralda?”

  “You’d be surprised what’s in that file. A lot can be learned with the use of satellites and mini drones. There’s also information that can help us to get to Kagan.”

  “Who hired you to kill Kagan?”

  “No one. I have personal reasons for wanting the man dead. I also have a plan to make it happen.”

  “Kagan Andreas is well-protected. It would take an army to get to the man.”

  “I heard the same thing when I came here to kill Alvarado. It didn’t take an army; it took knowledge and the right plan. Call Dante and set up a meeting for early tomorrow.” Tanner tossed a phone inside the limo. “There’s one number in the contacts. I’ll be waiting for Dante’s call. Tell him that I only want the two of you to know that I’m in Mexico. If word got out that I was here it would complicate things.”

  Tanner took two steps away from the limo, then went back and handed Joaquin the bodyguard’s gun. Joaquin took it and set it on the seat. When he looked up, Tanner had moved deeper along the alley to be swallowed up by shadows.

  At Kagan’s palace, Henry had spent the day exploring the house and the grounds while a bodyguard followed him. It was a different man from the one who had been outside his door all night.

  Henry had been searching for a weakness in the villa’s security and found none. He had wondered if anything was off-limits to him but no matter where he went the guard never protested.

  There was an electrical room. The door was locked but it looked as if it would be easy to pick. Knowing that Tanner would come for him, Henry wanted to be prepared to help make a breach of the gate easier. If he disabled the power, it would render the gates’ magnetic locks useless.

  It wouldn’t work. Further into his exploration Henry came across a massive generator and the large tank of propane that would fuel it. If the power went out, the generator would kick on. He also discovered a field of solar panels which offered more redundancy to the compound’s energy supply.

  The helicopter on the roof would have been an ideal way to escape except for the fact that Henry had no idea how to fly it. If he could discover which of Kagan’s men was the pilot, he could possibly force him to take-off at gunpoint. He also had no gun.

  There were mounted binoculars on the roof. They were like the coin-operated type found at scenic overlooks. Henry peered through one and could see way off into the distance. The walls of the compound were more than a mile away from anything else. The nearest structures were the hangars at the private airfield.

  Toward lunchtime Henry found Jax in the game room. There was an area that was an arcade and Jax was playing Pac-Man while his own guard stood by and watched.

  “Your father has every freaking game I’ve ever seen. Do you want to shoot some pool?”

  Henry didn’t, but he could think of nothing better to do and so agreed to play. Jax won two of three games and then they decided to return to the balcony where they had eaten breakfast. Henry’s guard said that he would have food brought out to them there for lunch. He’d made a call on his phone before leaving the game room. By the time they arrived there were place settings at the table along with pitchers of ice water. Three of the servers with the white jackets were standing by along with a fourth man who was dressed like a chef. The chef spoke English with a Belgian accent and asked the boys what they would like to eat.

  If the man was disappointed by their simple requests for cheeseburgers and fries, he didn’t show it. After determining how each boy wanted their meat cooked, he left to prepare the meal. When it came, Henry was surprised by the size of the burgers, which were huge and served on freshly baked brioche buns. They were accompanied by a platter of French fries that were seasoned superbly and seven different condiments were there for their choosing.

  Jax had a beer with his food but Henry had opted for a soda. A different collection of harem girls were down at the pool but were as subdued as the ones who had been there earlier.

  New place settings were put on the table and warming trays were rolled out. Then Kagan appeared with Vasquez, Faye, and the new woman whose name Henry didn’t know. He made eye contact with the blonde and she looked away immediately. Henry was surprised by what he’d seen. It seemed as if she feared him. Maybe she thought Kagan would offer her to Henry too.

  Instead of standing behind Faye’s chair again, the woman took a seat beside her at the table. She kept her gaze downward and stared at her plate.

  His father asked Henry how his morning went, and Henry said it was fine.

  Vasquez had a large brown envelope in his hand. It was bulging with its contents. He tossed it to Jax while saying, “Catch!”

  Jax caught it, opened it, and began laughing. “Is this mine?”

  “That’s right,” Kagan said. “To show my appreciation for what you did yesterday.”

  Jax reached in the envelope and brought out a banded bundle of one-hundred-dollar bills. It was worth ten thousand.

  “How much is in here?”

  “A quarter of a million,” Kagan said. “That should last you a while once you get home.”

  “Dude, I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here and work for you.”

  Kagan stared at him. “Are you serious?”

  “Hell yeah. I don’t want to be one of these losers in the white jackets or a bodyguard; I thought maybe I could be like those guys in the Mafia, you know, a button man. You push a button on a guy, and I’ll go out and kill him for you.”

  Kagan stared at Jax without saying anything, then he smiled and looked at Vasquez. “Do you believe this kid?”

  “He’s something else,” Vasquez agreed. “I say we keep him around.”

  Kagan looked at Jax again. “You want to be a killer?”

  “I do. I liked killing those guys at the airport yesterday.”

  “Okay. The next time I need someone killed I’ll let you handle it.”

  “What’s the job pay?”

  “We’ll talk salary later, after your first assignment. In the meantime, enjoy yourself.”

  “Cool,” Jax said.

  Henry shook his head in wonder. He never liked Jax, but he didn’t think he was crazy. Kagan was willing to send him back home with enough money to change his life and all he wanted to do was stay in Mexico and kill people. What did he think that was at the airport yesterday? Someone wanted Kagan dead, and Jax had just volunteered to stay by the man’s side and make himself a target too.

  Although he’d said that he wanted to spend time with Henry, Kagan stayed away for the rest of the day and Henry only saw him again during dinner. Henry didn’t mind at all. As far as he was concerned, the less time he spent around Kagan the better.

  Faye showed up in Henry’s room at ten o’clock wearing a different yet equally revealing piece of lingerie from the one she’d worn the night before. It was black and had slits up the side that revealed the flesh of her hips. Henry wondered how long it would be before he weakened and asked Faye to really sleep with him. But he knew the answer to that. He would never sleep with her. If she agreed to do so it would be done out of fear for her life. That thought cooled the desire building in his loins.

  “Your father said I’m to be with you every night until you tire of me.”

  “And then I guess he’ll send one of his harem girls in here.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll stick with you. That way I don’t have to risk having one of the girls tell him that I refused to have sex with them.”
<
br />   “Why don’t you sleep with them?”

  “Because I know they don’t want me. They’re here against their will, aren’t they?”

  “I don’t know. I do know that there are all new girls here every few months as the old ones leave and others take their place. I assumed they came from a brothel.”

  “I think they were kidnapped or tricked into it. I saw a documentary that showed how women get abducted when they think they’re auditioning for modeling jobs.”

  “You could be right. Besides, if you tell your father that you no longer want me then he may offer me to your friend… I don’t want that.”

  “Jax is not my friend. We were just out running together when they grabbed us.”

  Henry looked Faye over and found himself distracted. He grabbed a robe off the foot of the bed and handed it to her.

  “Put that on.”

  Faye smiled. “How old are you, Henry?”

  “Sixteen.”

  “That’s what I thought. And you’re already more emotionally mature than most men I’ve known.”

  “Because I didn’t sleep with you?”

  “No, because of why you didn’t sleep with me. You understood that I was being coerced into it. That’s not to say that I don’t find you attractive, but I’m twenty-eight.”

  “Kagan said he was your age when he slept with my mother; she was my age then. He thinks it was all right because they were in love.”

  “Statutory rape is the least of Kagan Andreas’s crimes.”

  “Why do you work for him?”

  “I was stupid. I needed money and I went to work for a drug dealer who would pay me under the table. I was the one who organized his packaging operation, where they cut the heroin with other substances to make it less pure and expand the available product. I made a suggestion that increased profits by three percent and Kagan heard about me. He offered me twice what the drug dealer was paying to come to work for him. After looking over his shipping practices I made a suggestion that saved him money. It wasn’t until later that I discovered I couldn’t just quit when I wanted to. I know too much about his business now. He doesn’t need me either, so he keeps me around as an assistant.”

  “Why did you need money?”

  “My sister was dying, and I wanted to cover her hospital bills. She left behind a husband and three kids. Her husband is in a wheelchair from an accident and can’t work. The medical bills would have ruined them and probably put him and the kids out on the street. I still send them most of the money I make. I’ll never get a chance to spend it anyway. Your father will never let me go, that is, until he tires of me. That might be soon.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That woman who was following me around today. I think she’s my replacement.” Faye began crying. “I don’t know if Kagan plans to kill me or add me to his harem. I would prefer to die.”

  Henry took Faye by her shoulders. “There’s someone coming here to get me out. I want you to leave with me when that happens.”

  Faye sniffled. “Get you out? How?”

  “I don’t know how he’ll do it, but he will.”

  “You’re talking about one man? Henry, one man can’t take on all of your father’s security guards. There are more than a hundred of them and how would he ever get over the wall or through the gate?”

  “This man will find a way. I know he will. Will you come home with us? I mean back to America.”

  “I’m Canadian, but yes, if such a miracle happened, I would go anywhere rather than stay here.”

  Henry released her and turned away, but Faye reached out and took his hand. When he turned around to look at her again, she kissed him softly on the lips.

  “What was that for?”

  “For trying to help me.”

  “What’s your full name?”

  “Faye Gardner, and what surname do you go by?”

  “Knight. It was my mother’s last name.”

  Faye touched his cheek and sighed. “I wish you were a little older.”

  “I’ve been wishing that since I was a kid.”

  “Don’t wish your days away. No one knows how many more we’ll get.”

  “My grandmother says that too. I still can’t wait until I’m an adult.”

  “Do you have a girlfriend at home?”

  “Her name is Olivia. She just turned seventeen.”

  “I bet she’s beautiful.”

  “She is, and I miss her.”

  Henry settled on a sofa with Faye and asked her questions about Kagan and if she had any ideas about how to escape.

  “There’s a tunnel.”

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ve heard Vasquez mention it once.”

  “Do you know where it leads to?”

  “No, I only heard him mention the tunnel.”

  “Who pilots that helicopter?”

  “Señor Gomez.”

  “Is he one of the men in the suits?”

  “Yes, he has gray hair, a thin mustache, and droopy eyes. He’s a former banker who oversees the men who launder money for your father.”

  “Does he have a family?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How often does he leave the grounds?”

  “Every now and then. Why do you want to know that?”

  “I have a friend who says it’s better to know too much than not enough. Now that I know who the helicopter pilot is, maybe I’ll get the chance to force him to take us away from here.”

  “Your father doesn’t trust you enough to give you a gun.”

  “I know, but I might be able to get my hands on a knife.”

  Faye hung her head. “I don’t think I’m ever leaving here.”

  They talked for a little longer and shortly after midnight Faye left to return to her own room. The guard outside the door watched Faye with interest before sending Henry a thumbs up. He was younger than the other guards Henry had seen and not as stoic.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Gerardo.”

  “I’m Henry.”

  Henry struck up a conversation with him and asked about local sports teams. Gerardo’s English was good, and he was a rabid soccer fan. By the time Henry returned inside the room he was friendly with Gerardo and the guard wasn’t wary of him in the least. That was fine. It meant Henry would have a chance of taking him by surprise the next time he was guarded by him. No, Kagan wouldn’t give him a gun; that didn’t mean he couldn’t get his hands on one.

  20

  Making Plans

  Joaquin told Dante about his meeting with Tanner. The cartel leader was shocked to learn that the assassin was back in Mexico. Like Joaquin, he questioned his motives. When Joaquin told Dante that Tanner knew about his fortnightly visits to see his married lover, he was puzzled how anyone could have known about that but was reassured that Tanner wasn’t out to kill him.

  Joaquin called Tanner and told him that Dante agreed to meet. Tanner wanted to get together early but let Dante pick the place. It was decided that they would meet at sunrise.

  The following morning, Tanner entered with stealth into the small village near what was formerly Alonso Alvarado’s fortress. All he could make out of the walled estate was the very top of a flagpole.

  Being in the area brought back memories and emotions connected to the time he was last there. Those memories concerned Alexa, a woman he loved, and Spenser, his mentor and friend. Spenser had come up with the plan that allowed Tanner to infiltrate the compound. The man had taught him much and was still someone he looked to for advice.

  Triumphing over Alvarado had garnered Tanner much attention and bolstered his reputation as an elite assassin. Later, when he defeated Maurice Scallato, it was widely accepted that he was the best assassin on the planet. His actions since that time had only strengthened that opinion. He was widely regarded as the greatest assassin of all time. He damn well should be, was how Tanner looked at it. He was standing on the shoulders of the six Tanners
who had come before him. He owed it to Spenser and the memories of the others to be the best.

  Dante wanted to meet at the old church where Joaquin and his family worshiped. The building looked older than anything else in the area and was impressive.

  Alonso Alvarado had treated the impoverished citizens of the town and its neighboring communities like serfs. Their young women were lured into prostitution and their brothers paid to guard him and work for him in other ways, such as drug mules.

  After Alvarado slaughtered a group of prostitutes to keep them from revealing that his estate had been invaded by Alexa, the town turned against him. Dante Cardoso had used their hatred for Alvarado to gain their favor when he plotted to take Alvarado’s place as leader of the cartel.

  He paid better than Alvarado and treated those around him with respect. The DEA file stated that a statue of Dante had been erected in the town. Tanner looked for it on his way to the church but didn’t spot it. Maybe it was in front of the town hall. The DEA file also reported that Dante’s cousins were the town’s mayor, police chief, and the head of the fire department.

  Tanner arrived on time for the meeting because it was either that or show up late. Dante had texted him the location only thirty minutes earlier. Normally, he would have preferred to choose where a meeting would be held. He made an exception because he needed Dante’s help.

  If they teamed up, he might have Henry back in a day or two. Without such assistance, it might take weeks, and be far riskier.

  After approaching the church on foot from the rear, Tanner began climbing it by finding hand and toe holds between the old stones used to create it. When he was at a small window, he jammed the tip of a knife through a gap to unlock the window latch. He had to strain to force the window open then barely managed to squeeze inside. He was in a space that was used for storage. It was musty and seldom visited. His boots left their prints in the dust on the thick planks that made up the floor.

  The door wasn’t locked but threatened to squeak if he tried to swing it open too fast. Tanner left the room and stepped out into a small space that looked down on the church. Candles were burning throughout the church and the sharp smell of the wax scented the air.