Young Guns Box Set - Books 1-4: A Tanner Series (Young Gun Box Sets)

by Remington Kane

  Minutes later, Cody was limping up the hill with his hands behind him and the huge raider prodding him along with the sniper rifle at his back. Overhead, the second promised storm was moving in fast, as dark clouds approached from the southern horizon.

  As they were walking toward Wendy in her convertible, she began giggling. Cody stopped moving and turned to face her.

  “You think this is funny?” Cody asked. His voice was a bit hoarse after having nearly been strangled to death.

  “I think I’m glad I’m not you. And oh, look at those eyes. Vince is lucky to have caught you.”

  The brute grunted at Cody to keep moving and they started up the hill again. When they were at the top of the road and about to enter the driveway, the huge raider paused, angled his massive body to allow a clear view of Cody, and gazed back at Wendy. Afterward, he stepped quickly onto the home’s driveway while keeping the tip of the rifle pressed against Cody’s spine.

  Wendy, startled by what she’d glimpsed, took out her phone and called Ryker.

  Ryker greeted Cody’s arrival with a confident grin, then looked down in annoyance as his phone rang. It was Wendy calling. Ryker brought out the phone, saw who the caller was, then stuffed it back in his pocket without answering.

  “I’m a little busy up here, dear,” he said to himself.

  As Cody came even with Spenser, Ryker studied him.

  “You killed a lot of good men today, boy, but now it’s your turn.”

  Cody grimaced as he took in Romeo’s appearance. Romeo’s bruised face was puffy, and his calf was a bloody mess where pellets had ripped open his flesh.

  “You were wounded?”

  “I caught some buckshot. But bro, you should have stayed away.”

  Ryker pointed at Romeo, then Cody, and spoke to Spenser.

  “I’m going to make you watch them die before I—Damn it, Wendy!”

  His phone was making noise again. He took it from his pocket to shut it off and saw that Wendy had sent him a text.

  THAT GUY’S HANDS AREN’T TIED AND HE HAS A GUN.

  Ryker’s head shot up just in time to see Cody taking aim at his men with the Beretta machine pistol. The startled men took a barrage of rounds as they sought to bring up their weapons.

  Two of the men had been standing behind the other four. They remained unharmed. Romeo grabbed the knees on one raider and caused him to fall into the other man. After wresting the first thug’s gun away, he used it on the two men.

  With Cody’s attention on the threat posed by the six raiders, Ryker had a clear shot at him. The Mossberg boomed, spitting out death, but the shot went high as Ryker was struck in the throat with a knife.

  Spenser was carrying more than a simple blade. It was a ballistic knife with a spring-loaded handle. At the press of a button the blade was sent forth at forty miles an hour. It entered Ryker’s throat at a spot to the left of his Adam’s apple, then exited his neck partway, with blood dripping from the blade’s tip.

  Ryker released the shotgun, made a gagging sound, and felt along his throat with both hands. Blood was running freely from the wound, but there was no gush of red as there would have been had an artery been severed. Nevertheless, terror had found a home in Ryker’s features as he realized the severity of his wound.

  A check of the six raiders near Romeo revealed that they were dead or dying. The seventh raider, the large man whom Cody had overcome during their struggle on the hill, laid atop the driveway. He had his hands in plain sight, while the sniper rifle was on the ground beside him.

  Cody promised the man he would be allowed to live if he cooperated, and the brute pretended to hold him hostage with an empty rifle.

  Cody had clasped his hands behind his back while gripping the Beretta. He’d ordered the huge raider to stay close and keep the rifle pressed against him. If the tip of the rifle left his back, Cody would have assumed the man was trying something, and he would have shot him.

  Romeo laughed as he looked around at the carnage, then he pointed at Ryker, who was down on his hands and knees, struggling to breathe.

  “Hot damn, Cody! You saved us.”

  The joy of their victory was cut short as Wendy crested the hill in her Mustang and aimed the vehicle at Spenser and Cody. However, her first victim was the surviving raider who’d been lying on the ground.

  Perhaps it was caused by the angle of her view, due to the front end of the car being higher than the rear. In any event, Wendy didn’t spot the man until he struggled to get to his feet. By then, it was too late, and she struck him.

  The force of the impact propelled the raider into Cody. They hit the ground and went tumbling toward the cliff’s edge. The raider slammed into the safety railing, broke through the wood, and kept going. As he fell, he released a bellow birthed by the realization of his impending death.

  Cody followed him through the gap in the railing, but he managed to snag one of the small posts of the broken fence. However, his grip was tenuous, and his fingers slipped free.

  “Got you, bro,” Romeo said. He had leapt over to land at the edge just in time to grab Cody’s wrist.

  Meanwhile, Ryker had raised himself up and toppled into Wendy’s car.

  Spenser had dived to the ground to avoid the Mustang. He leapt up in time to grab the steering wheel as Wendy was turning the car around to head back down the hill. Wendy’s shotgun had fallen to the floor, but she still had her stun gun.

  Spenser released the steering wheel and lost his balance as Wendy touched the stun gun to his hand. As the car raced away, Romeo was pulling Cody to safety. The effort cost both men, as Cody pulled a shoulder muscle and Romeo’s shotgun wounds screamed in agony.

  “They’re getting away,” Cody moaned.

  “No,” Spenser said. He rose on wobbly legs and grabbed up the fallen sniper rifle. When he saw that the car had run over the scope he cursed aloud.

  “Here,” Cody said. He was holding out the magazine he had earlier ejected from the rifle.

  Spenser loaded the gun, chambered a round, and raised it to his shoulder. The car had made it down the hill and was picking up speed as it ran along the road.

  Spenser was shaky from his encounter with the stun gun. His first shot missed, as did the second. As the crack of the third round echoed in the air, the Mustang veered wildly. Afterward, the car slowed and came to a stop with its right side sitting off the roadway.

  Ryker crawled out of the vehicle, opened the driver’s side door, and pulled Wendy’s bloodied and wounded form from the car. Spenser couldn’t be certain, but he thought she was still moving. Lifting the rifle up again, he fired. His second shot did damage to Ryker’s left leg as he was getting behind the wheel. A subsequent shot destroyed a tail light, then the car was out of range and gaining speed.

  Cody and Romeo were standing at Spenser’s side. All three men felt sick watching Ryker get away.

  “I hope he bleeds to death,” Romeo said.

  “He just might,” Spenser said.

  Two of the raiders still lived, barely, but not for long. With his one good arm, Cody dragged them to the edge of the cliff and sent them over the side like so much trash.

  By the time they made it to Wendy her face was white from blood loss and she was going into shock. She had a ragged exit wound above her right breast.

  Spenser knelt down beside her. “Ryker left you here to die. Tell me where I can find him, and I’ll kill him.”

  Wendy’s answer was a bare whisper as she gave the name of a hotel.

  “He won’t return there. I need to know where he lives.”

  Again, the whisper, yet too faint to hear. Spenser lowered his ear to Wendy’s lips. A moment later, he felt her last breath touch his cheek.

  “Did she say something else?” Cody asked.

  Spenser nodded. “Ryker has been living in Sydney, Australia. If the bastard survives, he’ll eventually head home.”

  They clambered into the pickup truck once used by Ryker and headed off to tend to the
ir own wounds. Behind them, Ryker’s dead raiders littered the landscape.

  “Ryker has been calling himself Tanner, Spenser,” Cody said.

  “I know. I should have hunted him down and killed him years ago.”

  “He said he had an apprentice too, Cody,” Romeo said.

  “Then even if he dies, we’ll still have a phony Tanner to deal with. What’s our next move, Spenser?”

  “First, we heal and make preparations, then we head to Australia and finish this.”

  By the time they reached the highway the rain was coming down in a torrent and the sky was black. It matched their moods.

  114

  Dead Drunk

  NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 2018

  Monty and Craig celebrated their release from jail by getting loaded at a bar in Tribeca. Their conversation was filled with the things they would do to get even with Eric Tang.

  Despite having their charges lowered to minor offenses, both men would face jail time of up to a year. Monty wanted to wait until after they got out to go after Tang, but Craig wanted vengeance for Wire’s death as soon as possible.

  They stumbled from the bar at closing time and made their way down the street while talking and laughing too loud, given the early hour. When they reached the subway platform, they found only three other people waiting for a train.

  “I’ve got to take a leak,” Monty said. There was a bathroom a short distance away. However, it had been locked years ago due to crime. Monty wandered farther down the platform where broken lights placed the area in shadow.

  When several minutes passed and Monty didn’t return, Craig, his own bladder needing release, went looking for him. He found Monty sitting on the floor with his back leaning up against a metal pillar. Monty had peed himself and his eyes were bright with fear.

  “What the hell, man? Why are you sitting on the ground?”

  “He told me to,” Monty said, as he pointed toward a deeper darkness.

  When Craig followed his finger, he saw the outline of a man, and the soft glint of a gun. After the man told him to sit beside Monty, Craig lowered himself on Monty’s left. When the man said nothing more, Craig asked a question.

  “Don’t you want our wallets?”

  “No. I want you to sit quietly while we wait.”

  “What are we waiting for?”

  There was a rumbling, and the noise increased as a train approached. As the din grew in volume and was on the verge of superseding all other sounds, Tanner spoke while aiming the gun.

  “The wait is over.”

  Five hours later, the bodies of Monty and Craig were found by a subway maintenance crew. They had each been shot in the heart.

  In Queens, Celia opened her shop to find that an envelope had been pushed under the door. There was no note, only a photo. The picture showed Ronnie Powers looking as scared as Celia had ever seen anyone look, and there was pain in those eyes too. Judging by the blood, she was sure he must have died. Celia had been saddened upon learning of Carlton’s death, but she went about her morning chores while wearing a smile. Every so often she would look at the photo and giggle.

  That evening, Tanner and Tang played chess in Tang’s den. The room was somewhat warm because of the fireplace having been lit. The odors of burning paper and leather scented the air as Dalton Geary’s black book burned.

  “I owe you, Myers. If you ever need anything let me know.”

  “You’re giving it to me right now. Men like ourselves don’t have many opportunities to interact with our own kind.”

  “It is enjoyable to be able to speak freely around someone. I love Beth, and she knows I was once an agent of sorts, but I would never reveal to her the things I’ve done.”

  “That life is behind you now, and you have a family.”

  “Is that in your future as well?”

  “I would have laughed at that question not so long ago, but yeah, I’ll probably be a father someday.”

  “Have boys. Now that they’ve become teenagers, worrying about my girls is turning my hair white.”

  “That’s not your only problem.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Tanner moved a rook as he smiled at Tang.

  “Checkmate!”

  Epilogue

  UTAH, AUGUST 2001

  Herman McCoy waved goodbye to his wife while seated on his front porch. Janet was off once again to do the weekly grocery shopping. Herman picked up the newspaper to read the latest about the massacre that took place near the edge of the basin region.

  Twenty-seven men had been found dead, included in that total were the three deacons. There were also two young women killed. One of the women had been found slain beside a deacon, and the police had not a clue who was responsible.

  Herman felt the weight of those deaths. He had made a deal with the man named Tanner and taken his money. Now, two young women were dead along with dozens of men.

  The one bright spot was that the three deacons had been killed.

  As Herman folded his newspaper to put it away, two men stepped out of a car that had parked across the street. One of the men was his old friend, Tony Costa, who was balding but still trim and fit. Herman envied him his health.

  For a moment, Herman’s heart raced as he thought the other man was Tanner. But no, although bearded and athletic, the man was ten years younger than Tanner and had darker hair.

  Tony looked worried to Herman, while the younger man had a neutral expression.

  “We’ve got to talk,” Costa said.

  “So…you’re the real Tanner, and not the other guy?” Herman asked Spenser.

  “That’s right, and you were used by that man. His name is Vince Ryker.”

  “I didn’t know he was a phony.”

  “He knows that, Herman,” Costa said. “And he knows I was fooled by that bastard too.”

  “So why are you here?” Herman asked. “Do you want the money he gave me?”

  “Ryker gave you money?”

  “Yeah, a lot of money, for my wife, you know… once I’m gone.”

  “I don’t care about the money,” Spenser said. “What I want to know is if he told you anything that might help me track him down.”

  Herman was shaking his head until he remembered something.

  “He showed me a picture of his daughter. The girl was standing in front of that opera house, the famous one that looks like it’s made of giant sea shells.”

  “The Sydney opera house in Australia?” Spenser asked.

  “Yes, that’s it, and he said he had a son too, but I never saw a photo of him.”

  “Thank you, Mr. McCoy. That helps confirm what I already believed.”

  “This man, Ryker, did he kill all those people?”

  “No, but he’s the reason they’re dead, and he nearly killed my friends.”

  “I’m sorry I got involved.”

  “Tony explained about your daughter. I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “That’s okay,” Herman said. “I’ll be joining her soon.”

  Spenser met up with Cody and Romeo in Romeo’s suite at the hotel where they were recuperating. They weren’t sure if Ryker survived or not. On their way out of the area, they had come across Wendy’s Mustang. The car had run off the road and was by the stream, with its front end sitting in the water. There was no sign of Ryker.

  The storm that struck the area that afternoon had eventually caused flooding. It was possible Ryker succumbed to his wounds after abandoning the car. If so, his body might have been washed away, and yet to be found.

  Regardless of the odds of Ryker’s survival, Spenser wasn’t taking chances. He would head to Australia and search for the man, along with his apprentice.

  “Let Cody and I handle Ryker’s apprentice,” Romeo said.

  “You two won’t be going with me.”

  As Cody and Romeo began to protest, Spenser raised a hand to silence them.

  “You’ll be traveling with me, yes, but I’ll be dropping you off in Indon
esia for that training I mentioned.”

  “Then what? You’ll go after Ryker alone?” Romeo said.

  “That’s right. I won’t place you two at risk again. We were fortunate to escape with our lives.”

  “Ryker is the one who was lucky,” Cody said. “If Romeo and I hadn’t been so damn sure of ourselves we would have prepared better and suffered less. I don’t like you going after Ryker alone, but I’ll go to Indonesia and train. I won’t ever doubt you again.”

  Spenser and Cody left Romeo’s suite an hour later to return to their own accommodations. Before separating, Spenser had a private word with Cody.

  “You deliberately disobeyed me the other day when you came back. It worked out well, but you might have been killed.”

  “I tried to leave like you wanted me to, but I couldn’t do it.”

  “Why?”

  “I couldn’t lose my family again, Spenser, but if it was going to happen… I didn’t want to be the only survivor. I’d rather die than live through that again.”

  Spenser put an arm around his shoulders.

  “You couldn’t have saved your family, but you saved me and Romeo, son. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, and Spenser?”

  “Yes?”

  “This training we’ll be undergoing, is it really that special?”

  “It’s the ultimate, Cody. Once you’ve mastered the techniques you’ll learn, you’ll be as deadly as any man who’s ever lived, and I’ll have no more to teach you.”

  Cody’s eager smile made Spenser grin.

  “When do we leave?”

  Afterword

  Thank you.

  REMINGTON KANE

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