Soulless (A Tanner Novel Book 43)

by Remington Kane

  “Oh God, what happened?”

  “Tanner,” Soulless said, and it was answer enough.

  “Can you stand on that leg?”

  Soulless was about to answer when he saw movement beyond Gwen’s left shoulder. “There’s someone behind you!”

  “It’s all right. That’s Elliot. You know him as Soulless Fan #1.”

  Elliot came up to stand beside Gwen. Seeing Soulless’s injuries, Elliot reached behind him to free the first aid kit he carried. It was strapped to the bottom of his backpack. Soulless thought he had been reaching for a weapon and freed a gun from a holster at his back. He stopped himself from firing when he saw the white bag with the red cross on it.

  “You need something on that burned arm and we have to stop your leg from bleeding,” Elliot said, and he went to work, as the nurse in him came out.

  Elliot put a tourniquet on Soulless’s leg then went to work treating his arm. He’d had Gwen pour a bottle of water over the burns while he was working on Soulless’s leg.

  “Are you a doctor, Elliot,” Gwen asked.

  “I’m a nurse, or I was until I retired early.”

  When he was done working on the leg wound, Elliot removed the shrapnel in Soulless’s arms and applied a soothing aloe vera lotion to the burns, then he loosely wrapped a bandage around the scalded arm. As he was doing that, Gwen removed the bits of shrapnel from the bottom of Soulless’s boots.

  “My God, you’re lucky that grenade didn’t shred you in two,” she told him.

  When Soulless tried to stand, he cried out and would have fallen to the ground again if Elliot and Gwen hadn’t caught him.

  “I can’t walk. I think my leg is broken,” Soulless said.

  “We’ll support you,” Gwen said as she put an arm around Soulless’s waist. “Our car is blocked in by a fallen tree, but Elliot has a Jeep we can use.”

  Elliot got on the other side of Soulless and the assassin gingerly rested his burnt arm across Elliot’s shoulders, between his neck and the backpack Elliot wore.

  The moment was surreal to Elliot. He was helping Soulless get to safety across a field littered with bodies and a burning helicopter. He saw two men with missing heads and gashes down to their lungs. He wasn’t skittish in the least when it came to seeing blood and the wounded, but the sight was horrific.

  “Who killed all these men?” Elliot asked. He hadn’t meant to voice the thought, but it came out anyway.

  “Tanner killed some of them with a helicopter, and there was a sniper helping him too,” Soulless said.

  “He had help?” Gwen asked.

  “Whoever it was shot me in the leg. I’ll be sure to have Tanner tell me their name before I kill him.”

  Elliot smiled at that. Soulless was shot, burned, had been blown up, and was lucky to be alive. And yet, he was acting like he could kill Tanner whenever he wanted to.

  By the time they reached the Jeep, Elliot was panting from an open mouth and sweating profusely. After he helped Gwen load Soulless into the back, he climbed behind the wheel of the Jeep, then cocked his head.

  “I hear sirens.”

  “Get us out of here,” Soulless said. “And why do I keep smelling piss?”

  Elliot started the Jeep and they drove out of the area through the forest while dodging rotting trees and the occasional rock. When Elliot looked over at Gwen, he felt his heart flutter. Yes, he was falling in love.

  18

  A Falling Out Among Lovers

  Tanner flew away from Clear Valley with five passengers in the back of the metal bird and Henry seated beside him in the front. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Luke talking to Vera. In Tanner’s experience with women, the expression on Vera’s face should have told the man that Vera wasn’t in the mood to listen. To make matters worse, Luke was shouting at her. To be fair, he had to yell in order to be heard over the thrumming of the helicopter blades. Vera had been silent. When she did speak, her words came out saturated with rage.

  “You nearly got my babies killed! If Tanner hadn’t been there, we would have died!”

  “I couldn’t do anything, Vera. The other dude had a gun. Besides, I ain’t responsible for you, and I sure as hell ain’t responsible for your brats.”

  It turned out that Luke had uttered the exact wrong thing to say. Vera had been facing forward again with her arms crossed over her chest. She unfolded them and turned her head to look at Luke.

  “Get out!”

  “What?”

  “Get out!” Vera said, and she shoved Luke, who was near the open door. The shove did nothing, as Luke was buckled in, so Vera brought up her legs and began kicking him. Her movements were frantic as she screamed, and her feet moved like pistons.

  “Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Goddamn you—Get out!”

  Luke’s upper body fell sideways. His lanky frame was spare of muscle and devoid of excess fat. The weight of his upper body was enough to slip his hips through the seat belt, the legs followed, and Luke plummeted to the earth while screaming.

  Tanner looked back at Vera and saw that her face was reddened but expressionless. Curry, seated in the other open doorway across from Vera, reached up and clutched onto a strap with both hands, as if he feared he might be the next victim of Vera’s murderous wrath.

  They landed in a field near a stretch of trees where there was a town nearby. When Vera stepped from the helicopter, she collapsed to her knees and released a mournful cry as tears flowed freely. She began talking, rambling. Much of what she said was unintelligible, but Tanner understood that she was proclaiming herself to be a bad mother. She said something about living on the streets and meeting Luke, who offered to help. Vera had become so desperate that she allowed a selfish, drug dealing weasel like Luke into her children’s lives. She had followed him to Clear Valley, where the air was unclean, and lived in a used tent so Luke could cook meth. There was something else about losing a house, a car being repossessed, and a man named Ed. Tanner guessed that Ed had been Vera’s late husband. It seemed Vera’s world had gone to hell when he had died unexpectedly in an accident.

  Vera wound down after a minute and sobbed as her chest heaved, then a small hand touched her shoulder.

  “You’re a good mommy.”

  It was Brett. Haley said her brother hadn’t spoken since their father died. He had broken his silence to give comfort to his mother. And when Vera looked at him, Brett hugged her around the neck, then Haley joined in and hugged them both.

  Tanner and Henry watched in silence, giving the family time to themselves, but Curry had something to say.

  “Shouldn’t we be getting out of here before someone finds us?”

  Tanner studied him, this self-proclaimed Soulless Fan #1. When he spotted the gold watch on Curry’s wrist, he pointed at it.

  “Take that off and give it to Vera.”

  “Pardon?” Curry said.

  “Give the watch to Vera.”

  “Are you serious? Do you know how much I paid for this watch?”

  “Judging by the look of it,” Henry said. “When Vera sells it, it will be enough to get her and the kids back on their feet.”

  “But it’s my watch.”

  “Keep it then,” Tanner said. “But dead men don’t need watches.”

  Curry took his meaning and removed the watch. Even under the threat of death, he was reluctant to hand it to Vera, but he did so.

  Vera took the offered watch and stood. “I can really have it?”

  “Yes, and don’t sell it for less than twenty thousand,” Tanner said

  “It’s worth three times that,” Curry mumbled.

  Tanner told Vera to head one way through the trees and that they would head in another direction. She thanked him and began walking away. The last Tanner saw of them, little Haley was waving goodbye.

  Tanner told Henry and Curry to follow him, and they entered the trees. After he was certain they couldn’t be seen from the field where he’d left the helicop
ter, he told Henry to stay with Curry and that he would be back as soon as he could.

  When he returned twenty-six minutes later, Tanner said he had a car. He had stolen an old Honda. He had Henry drive, while he sat in the back seat with Curry.

  “Who was behind the attack?” Tanner asked Curry.

  “I don’t know, but I do know the woman who can lead you to them. She’s the one who talked me into hiring Soulless.”

  “Into hiring Soulless to kill me?”

  Curry winced. “Yes.”

  “Where is this woman?”

  “She’s in Chicago. Her name is Dana Roberts.”

  “Henry.”

  “Yes, Tanner?”

  “Find a place where we can rent a vehicle. We’re heading to Chicago.”

  “You got it,” Henry said.

  “You’re driving to Chicago?” Curry said. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that, and when we get there, I’m going to find out who tried to have me killed.” Tanner stared at Curry. “The other person who tried to have me killed.”

  Curry smiled weakly. “I’ll pay our way there. It’s the least I can do.”

  Tanner continued to stare, and Curry wondered if Tanner would kill him in Chicago, or somewhere along the way.

  “No hospitals!” Soulless said. “I might as well seek treatment inside a prison, because that’s where I’ll end up.”

  Elliot had assessed Soulless’s wounds and announced that the leg injury was bad. Not only had Henry’s slug broken his leg, but there was a chance an artery could have suffered damage. They were headed east on a road that saw little traffic but would eventually meet up with a major thoroughfare. Elliot had given Soulless painkillers that he’d had in his backpack. He warned the assassin they would make him drowsy.

  Gwen looked at Elliot by using the rearview mirror as she drove. “You can treat him, Elliot. Didn’t you say that you were a nurse?”

  “A nurse, yes, but not a doctor. If he doesn’t get the proper treatment, he might lose his leg, or even die.”

  “Are you saying you can’t help me?” Soulless asked.

  “My skills are limited.”

  Soulless brought out a gun and aimed it at Elliot. “Then I have no use for you.”

  Elliot leaned back until he was pressed against the door. “I can help you! I’ll fix you up.”

  Soulless lowered the gun. “I’d thought you’d say that.”

  “Where are we going?” Gwen asked.

  “To Elliot’s home,” Soulless said. “Where do you live?”

  “In New Jersey.”

  Gwen groaned. “That’s a long trip.”

  “About eight hours,” Elliot said.

  “I hope you live alone,” Gwen said. “And is it a house or an apartment?”

  “A home, a large home. I bought it last year and fixed it up nicely.”

  “That’s where we’ll go,” Soulless said, as the drugs began to kick in and he felt like he was nodding off. He spoke to Gwen. “I’m going to sleep. If Elliot gives you any trouble, shoot him.”

  Gwen smiled at Elliot in the mirror. “Elliot’s okay. And we’re lucky to have him.”

  Elliot smiled back. Maybe Gwen liked him too. When he looked at Soulless, he saw the bearded man scowling at him. That wiped the silly grin right off his face.

  19

  Surprise Visitors

  Lorraine Monk had been expecting Paul Mills to call her with good news throughout the day, because according to Mills, Tanner would step into their trap long before the time he’d been given to expect Soulless in Clear Valley. Mills said the same would be true for Soulless, that they would want to arrive early and check out the area.

  That sounded as if it made sense to Lorraine, but when a call from Mills failed to materialize, she assumed he’d been wrong and that nothing would happen until later. She wasn’t concerned, she was optimistic, and a crisis at work had kept her busy until after ten at night. By the time she’d made it home, it was nearly eleven.

  She didn’t worry. As far as Tanner knew, Soulless was supposed to be meeting his bomb maker in Clear Valley at midnight. So maybe nothing would happen until then, and afterwards, Mills would contact her with the good news of Tanner’s defeat and death.

  However, she received word about Mills from a different source. It came to her and millions of others over the news channels. The story concerned a mysterious incident in an area of Ohio called Clear Valley. A female anchor gave the report.

  “Authorities responded to a fire and reports of explosions to find the bodies of twenty-three men clad in black commando gear and what appeared to be the wreckage of a helicopter. Most of the men hadn’t died in the crash but had suffered gunshot wounds, and one of the men was still alive when police reached the scene, but he died en route to the hospital. Details are sketchy and an investigation was underway. In another Ohio mystery, a man was said to have fallen from the sky and landed on the grounds of a plant that produces fertilizer. The unidentified man landed in a pit where manure is kept. The coroner stated that, although the man suffered multiple broken bones, he didn’t die in the fall but drowned inside the pit.” The anchor’s face puckered a bit as she imagined the man’s fate.

  Lorraine had put on the television as she sat down to eat the dinner left for her by her housekeeper. Her appetite disappeared along with her hope that Tanner was dead. She turned off the TV and shoved her plate away.

  How could one man possibly have killed Mills and his people? Tanner can’t be human.

  Lorraine left her table with her wineglass in hand and went to stand out on the balcony of her apartment. When a tear fell onto her cheek, she wiped it away angrily, because it was caused by self-pity. She had been preparing to get revenge for so long, had planned so well, and had seen everything come together, only to have it all fall to pieces at the end.

  When she thought of the time and expense she’d expended to gain revenge, all for nothing, it made her sick to her stomach.

  At least she didn’t have to be concerned about Tanner seeking vengeance against her. She had been wise enough to take measures to prevent that.

  Dana Roberts knew what she looked like but didn’t know her name, and Tom Curry and Elliot Lipson didn’t even know she existed.

  Lorraine sighed. It was time to go back to the drawing board, or perhaps not. It was possible the assassin Soulless was still out there hunting for Tanner. Maybe the madman would track Tanner down and blow up his house, or given Soulless’s history, something more spectacular.

  If that didn’t occur, it would be up to Lorraine to find another way to kill Tanner. But what would that be? The man seemed to triumph over anything thrown at him. She sighed again and cursed the day she ever came up with the idea to build a new Citadel. If not for that, John and Gavin would still be alive, and she’d be free of her obsession to kill a man who refused to die.

  Lorraine downed the last of her wine and walked off the balcony to ready herself for bed. She knew one thing. She wouldn’t quit. She would see Tanner dead someday.

  In eastern Pennsylvania, Gwen entered an urgent care clinic after having used a grenade to blow apart a locked door. Elliot was with her, because he had the medical knowledge and knew what supplies they would need.

  They left the clinic four minutes later with bandages, ointments, instruments, and drugs, along with a pair of crutches and a wheelchair. There were the sound of sirens in the air as Gwen drove off, but the police vehicles were too far away for their flashing lights to be seen.

  Elliot was laughing. “I never thought I’d do anything like that. It was exciting.”

  “It’s a fierce rush, right?” Gwen said.

  “Did you get everything you need, nurse?” Soulless asked Elliot. He said the word “nurse” as if it were an insult. It was his way of insinuating that Elliot was less than a man.

  Elliot was in the passenger seat, he turned to look at Soulless, who was stretched out across the rear seat with his wounded and broken leg
propped up.

  Elliot had stitched the wound closed earlier after cleaning it and removing bits of the slug that had caused the injury. He’d also had to remove bone fragments from the area around the break in the leg. But Soulless needed serious painkillers, along with antibiotics to help avoid an infection.

  They arrived at Elliot’s house, a large, white, two-story colonial, two hours later. It was after midnight and the neighborhood was quiet. Gwen drove the Jeep into an attached garage and she and Elliot helped Soulless to get out of the car. There were three steps they had to navigate to get into the house, once Soulless was up them, they entered Elliot’s kitchen.

  Gwen looked around, took in the neatness, the set of pots hanging from a rack, and the plants on a windowsill. She squinted at Elliot.

  “You live here alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were you ever married? This doesn’t look like a bachelor’s kitchen.”

  Elliot shrugged. “I like to cook, and I like things neat.”

  Soulless had been lowered into a chair. “I hope there’s a bedroom on this floor. I can’t make it upstairs.”

  “There’s a guest room down here. It’s a good-sized room.”

  Gwen looked out a window and saw a large yard. “Nurses must make good money for you to afford this posh place.”

  Elliot explained about the settlement he had received for his mother’s death in an elevator accident. Soulless asked him if he had arranged the accident.

  Elliot looked appalled at the suggestion. “I would never do that. I loved my mother very much.”

  “People love money too, nurse,” Soulless said.

  Before they settled down for the night, Elliot checked Soulless’s wound. The slug had entered his thigh in the front, hit the femur, and exited out of the side of his leg. The assassin had bellowed from the pain when Elliot manipulated the bones back in place earlier, but no tears had fallen. Instead of a cast, Elliot had applied a straight leg immobilizer to Soulless. The brace could be removed and allow him to check on the damaged tissue of the wound and the stitches holding it together. A cast would have been much better. Elliot wasn’t certain if the leg would heal right without one and didn’t care. He had told Soulless he wasn’t a doctor and the man had threatened to kill him. If Soulless was left with a permanent limp, it would be his own fault.