“It’s good to have plans.”
“We’ve both been working in shops since we were kids. Amber is taking accounting courses, while I’m studying business administration, and I bet you thought we were just two dumb bunnies.”
“I actually haven’t given much thought to your minds,” Tanner admitted, and both girls laughed.
Afterwards, Brittany pushed back her long blond hair and studied Tanner.
“What about you, Romeo, any plans?”
“I did have some, but after running into an acquaintance this morning they’ve changed.”
“For better or worse?”
“That remains to be seen.”
The three of them left the apartment together, as the girls were going food shopping, while Romeo was saying goodbye again. He walked them to their car, where they both kissed him and wished him farewell.
“I wish you two luck with your shop, what are you going to name it?”
“We don’t know,” Brittany said. “We keep changing our minds.”
The women left him with a wave, and a refreshed Tanner went looking for Sara Blake.
CHAPTER 25 - Ask questions later
“That one!” Sherry said. “That’s got to be him, am I right?”
Tyler followed Sherry’s pointing finger and saw Dean walking towards the deli.
“That’s him, but I don’t see the girl.”
“Or the money,” Sherry said.
Dean entered the deli and waved to a group of kids sitting at a table. After placing his order at the counter, Dean took a seat with the other kids.
Sherry looked across at Tyler and saw that he was drumming his fingers on his knee; she knew that he only did that when he was unsure of his next move.
“Maybe we should grab him when he comes out,” she said.
“No, no we’ll follow him. I bet you he leads us back to the money and the girl.”
“He’s on foot and he knows this town, if he ducked into an alley or cut across a field to take a shortcut, we might lose him. Why don’t I follow him on foot while you follow me in the car?”
Tyler shook his head.
“If he runs, he’ll lose you, he won’t lose me.”
“He won’t run. He doesn’t know me, and besides, the cops will spot you quicker because of how tall you are, and we still need to lay low.”
The fingers drummed again, but stopped as Tyler came to a decision.
“Yeah, you follow him, and once we see where he’s gone, they’re ours.”
Dean’s order was ready. He paid for it and left the deli.
Tyler sneered.
“I bet he used our money to pay for that food.”
Sherry smiled, and even so, the corners of her mouth stayed in a downward position.
“If we have the time, that’s how we’ll kill him; we’ll shove that food down his throat and make him suffocate on it, bag and all.”
Tyler grinned back at her.
“You do have a mean streak.”
She pecked him on the lips and then opened her door.
“That’s why you love me, now let me go follow that punk before I lose him.”
Sherry stepped out into the rain and crossed the street, and on a day devoid of sunshine, Dean grew a shadow.
***
Several blocks away, Sara straightened in her seat suddenly, as an idea popped into her head.
Cameron watched her from the corner of her eye.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I know how to find Tanner. When we were in jail the chief fed us, and the woman who brought the food recognized Tanner. She said that he had gotten in a bar fight and that he left with two girls.”
“Did she mention the girls’ names?”
“Yes, well, one of them... let me think, Joyce? No, Joyce was the name of the girl’s mother, the girl was named Amber, and she said she was Joyce Rowlands’ daughter, or was it Joyce Rollins? Anyway, I think we’re looking for an Amber Rowlands or Amber Rollins.”
Cameron pulled her pickup truck over to the curb. She then reached behind her, and took an iPad out of one of the side pockets on her duffle bag.
It took a few minutes, but she found Amber’s address.
“I have to make a U-turn; it’s back the other way, past the highway exit.”
Three minutes later, they pulled up across from the girls’ apartment house.
Amber and Brittany were outside, they had just returned from going food shopping.
“Tanner? No, who is he?”
Sara described him and the girls exchanged nervous glances.
“You know him, don’t you?”
Brittany spoke softly, as she asked Sara a question.
“Are you his wife?”
“No, thank God, but I need to find him. Is he going under a different name?”
Amber nodded.
“He said his name was Romeo.”
“Romeo?” Sara said, and recalled that Johnny Rossetti told her that Romeo was the name of the man who had killed Frank Richards.
“Is Romeo in trouble?” Brittany said.
Sara forced a smile.
“No, but his family is trying to get in touch. If you see him again, please contact me, I’ll give you my number.”
Sara was about to recite the number when she remembered that her phone had been lost at the jail.
They gave the girls Cameron’s number instead and asked if they had any idea where Tanner could have gone when he left them.
Amber smiled.
“He didn’t say, but he did ask us where he could find a sporting goods store.”
“He did, did he say why?”
“No, but there’s one over on Grant Street, there’s not much selection though, and they carry more fishing gear than anything else.”
Sara thanked the girls and then she and Cameron headed for Grant Street.
“Do you know why Tanner might want to go to a sporting goods store?” Cameron said.
“If they carry guns, yes,”
“He wouldn’t be able to get one today without stealing it, maybe we should call Cooper and let him know about this.”
“No. Cooper would arrest him, I want him dead, but speaking of guns, I’ll need one.”
“I keep an old Glock 17 there in the glove box, but, wait, here, use this.”
Cameron passed Sara her sidearm. It was .45, an old Colt M1911 pistol.
“Nice weapon, and it’s older than the two of us combined.”
“It’s in mint condition though. My great-grandfather carried that during World War II.”
“I’ll take good care of it, but what are you going to use?”
“I’ll use the shotgun, like you said, we want ‘em dead, not arrested.”
“If we run into Tanner, shoot first, you won’t get a second chance.”
Cameron laughed.
“What’s funny?”
“Sara, I always shoot first, it’s why I’m still alive.”
“Shoot first and ask questions later?”
“Uh-huh, of course, I don’t get many answers that way, seeing as how they’re usually dead.”
And now it was Sara’s turn to laugh.
CHAPTER 26 - A smile would have looked weird
At Al’s Sporting Goods in Ridge Creek, Tanner was loading his purchases into the trunk of his stolen car, with the help of the stock boy.
He had driven past the farm, saw the state police vehicles and unmarked sedans, and knew that the Feds had arrived.
With two bank robbers on the loose, that meant that the town was locked down, plus, his newest fake ID was burned and the Feds had his truck.
Unfortunately, it also meant that he would have to avoid Sara Blake and deal with her another time. His biggest concern was getting away before he was captured again.
He had paid cash for his purchases, because he knew that his cards would be flagged and lead the Feds right to him.
With everything loaded, he tipped the skinny kid helping him,
and drove off to look for what he needed. Thanks to the sporting goods store, he had a way out, now he just needed to find the right place from which to leave.
He spotted a suitable location as he drove over the creek that gave the town its name and when he reached the other side of the narrow concrete bridge, he eased the car along a muddy graveled track and headed for the water.
***
When they were three blocks away from the sporting goods store, Sara jerked around in her seat, after Cameron completed making a right turn.
“That’s him!”
“Tanner?”
“No, Tyler, Cameron, that man back there getting out of the car was one of the people who shot your brother.”
Cameron checked her rear view mirror and then hung a sharp U-turn, which caused the man already in the lane to blow his horn at her sudden appearance in front of him.
Cameron ignored the man. She then sped back to the spot where Sara had seen Tyler, and parked her truck behind the stolen Chevy.
They were on a side street that faced a field. In front of the field was a produce stand and in front of that, a small parking lot that had a chain hanging across it, with a sign that told you the stand was closed.
Sara pointed at the green one-story building.
“I think he went in there.”
Cameron was already getting out of the truck with her shotgun when they heard Amy scream.
***
Sherry had followed Dean to the produce stand and verified that Amy was also inside.
The stand was a wooden structure with a concrete floor that was twenty by thirty feet. There was a counter along the back wall, and also shelves and tables where the baskets of produce could be placed.
Each side had a window, but the ones in the front had been shuttered. The outside of the building was painted a deep green, and bore a mural of corn, tomatoes, and peppers,
After watching Tyler park the car, Sherry waved him over and then entered the stand with her gun drawn.
When Dean and Amy jumped at the sight of her weapon, Sherry laughed at the looks on their faces, even as she removed her hat and shook off the rain.
“Why look so surprised? You really thought that you could just steal from us and walk away?”
“We’ll give you back the money. You don’t have to hurt us,” Dean said.
Sherry’s eyes brightened.
“Yeah boy, actually, we do.”
Tyler entered the stand, strode past Sherry, and rammed a fist into Dean’s stomach that drove the boy down to his knees.
Amy screamed, grabbed the backpack they had transferred the money into, and tossed it over to Sherry, where the pack landed at her feet.
“There’s your money, now please just leave us alone.”
Sherry zipped open the backpack and saw stacks of cash. After closing the pack up again, she nodded at Tyler.
“It’s here, let’s do it.”
She had just pointed her gun at Amy’s stomach when the window behind her blew apart and nine 00 buckshot pellets shredded her knees.
Sherry went down screaming as blood poured from her legs.
Tyler spun around, and Sara, who was behind him in the opposite window, had him in her sights and was ready to fire.
She took pressure off her trigger an instant later, when Dean leapt up and dived towards Amy, to push her to the floor and out of harm’s way behind the counter.
The delay gave Tyler time to fire a shot at Cameron, and she was hit in the left triceps and dropped to the ground outside the window.
Sara fired at Tyler as he was moving towards Sherry and the shot tore apart his left hand. The tall man howled in agony and sent three booming shots at the window, which blew the glass out with the force of a bomb.
Sara avoided being cut or shot by mere inches, because she was already circling around to see to Cameron.
Tyler looked down at Sherry, saw the pool of blood she was lying in, and knew that she would soon be dead.
Sherry stared up at him, and then her eyes shifted to the backpack lying beside her head.
“Go.”
Tyler reached down, grabbed a strap of the bag with the thumb of his good hand, and gazed back at Sherry with tears blinding his vision.
“I love you, baby.”
Sherry’s normally sour expression smoothed out into one of pure love.
“See you in heaven.”
Tyler nodded, as he wiped tears from his eyes. Then, with a running start, he leapt out the window and headed off across the soggy field.
***
When Sara rounded the building, she found the shotgun pointed towards her, but then Cameron let it rest in the crook of her right arm as she examined the damage done to her left. She was down on her knees, but there was mud all across the front of her from diving for cover.
“Check it out, he took a chunk right out of me, but with that cannon of his I’m lucky I still have an arm.”
“The woman is down and I only managed to wound the man.”
Cameron tossed her chin towards the field, where Tyler was sprinting away.
“Look at that bastard run like the coward he is.”
Sara helped her up.
“Let’s see to the kids.”
They entered and found Dean and Amy just rising up from behind the counter.
Cameron stared down at Sherry. Sherry was still alive, but going into shock, as her breathing was becoming rapid.
“Take those two outside,” Cameron said to Sara, while referring to Dean and Amy.
Sara herded the kids from the store and Cameron and Sherry were alone.
“Hey! You look at me.”
Sherry’s eyes blinked rapidly, but then they focused in on Cameron.
“That man you murdered at the bank, that was my brother.”
Sherry said nothing, but her left eye twitched and her gaze fell on the shotgun.
Cameron braced the shotgun against her shoulder and pointed it downward at Sherry’s face.
“Go to hell you cunt!”
The shot was loud in the small structure, and the only thing left of Sherry’s head was a mouth. And yes, it wore a bloody frown.
CHAPTER 27 - Former Agent Blake
To say that Agent Cooper was unhappy with the outcome of events at the roadside stand would be an understatement.
He was livid that Sara and Cameron had taken it upon themselves to confront Tyler and Sherry and chalked it up to pure luck that the two teens weren’t killed in the crossfire.
When Sara protested, saying that there had been no time to waste in confronting the pair of bank robbers, Cooper smirked at her.
“Any excuse to shoot at someone, hmm? And it doesn’t matter a damn who or why, but there’s just something inside you that wants to kill. I know about your time with the Bureau, Blake, and not just how it ended with the shooting of your partner. I also know about the four separate shooting incidents you were involved in and that you killed during three of those occasions.”
Sara grew silent then. She was taken aback by Cooper’s words, and was hearing in them an echo of something Tanner had said earlier, that there was a part of her, a violent and sadistic aspect, which wanted to be given free reign.
“Yes, I killed while with the Bureau, and it was always in self-defense, also, I regret shooting my partner more than you’ll ever know, but Agent Cooper, there really was no time to do anything but act here today. Had we sat back and called you, those kids would be dead.”
“So you say, but all I see is a clusterfuck. Tyler Gray escaped with the bank money, Sherry Weston is dead, and Cameron Ryder was wounded and taken to the hospital.”
“The woman being dead is a good thing, no?”
“No, it is not, former Agent Blake, because once we capture Tyler Gray we’ll have no one to testify against him in the murder of Deputy Lydia Bradshire, or any way to tie him definitively to the bank robbery.”
“That’s ridiculous! When you capture him, he’ll have the money on him
.”
Cooper pointed at two state police vehicles, where Dean and Amy were being held separately until they could be questioned.
“Those two had the money, should I arrest them for the robbery as well? I’m talking chain of custody here, we have none; Tyler Gray can claim that he saw the money and attempted to take it, or better yet, a clever lawyer could assert that Gray was rescuing it, in order to turn it in.”
“That won’t happen; there will be forensic evidence to tie him to the robbery.”
“I certainly hope so, because everyone who could testify against him is dead.”
“I could testify against him. I could repeat the statement I gave you, the conversation that he and the deputy had at the jail.”
Cooper looked down his nose at her.
“You want to testify? Any half-decent defense attorney would rip you apart, a woman who shot her own partner. Hell Blake, the judge’s biggest concern might be why you weren’t charged with attempted murder yourself, and if the Bureau hadn’t been so busy covering its ass, you would have been.”
Sara glared at Cooper as anger welled up inside her, but it faded away, because she knew that his words weren’t far off the mark.
“May I leave the scene?”
“Yes, but come by that farm later and give a full statement. We’ve been using that farmhouse as a base, since the town’s only police station is underwater and half the damn force is dead.”
Sara was walking away when Cooper called to her.
“You’re going to go look for Tanner, aren’t you?”
“Yes, although by now I’m sure he’s left town.”
“Not yet he hasn’t, but I’ll be pulling the men off the checkpoints to aid in the manhunt for Tyler Gray.”
“Then maybe there’s still a chance.”
“That old Colt I took off of you, where did you get it?”
“It belongs to Cameron; please see that it’s returned to her.”
“She’ll get it back, and Blake?”
“Yes?”
Cooper’s expression softened.
“If you locate Tanner, call it in, you don’t have to face him alone.”
Sara sent Cooper a noncommittal nod and walked back to Cameron’s pickup.
The TANNER Series - Books 4-6 (Tanner Box Set Book 2) Page 9