“I hear you, Tanner, but I can’t wait to settle things with the guy that killed Al.”
“It’ll happen, and I’ll fulfill the contract on Nick Cannon too. And, if there’s a way to do it, I also want to know what they were up to back in New York. There was something odd about that warehouse we found.”
They spent the next day riding around the area as Tanner hoped to familiarize them with the roads and the local communities. There wasn’t much to look at other than trees, but the scenery was beautiful. At one point, Tanner and Pullo stood on a ridge overlooking a vista of green with a river running through it.
Pullo shook his head in wonder. “I’d get lost out here for sure.”
Tanner pointed at the water. “The river flows south. If you followed it long enough, you’d be in Pittsburgh, and you already know that the sun rises in the east. If you have enough markers you can navigate back to a town. People only get lost when they panic or don’t use their heads.”
“I still say this looks like a foreign land to me. I’ll take Manhattan any day over all this green nothing.”
Tanner smiled. “That’s because you’re a city boy through and through.”
“And you’re not?”
“I like New York City, but I grew up in a small town.”
After returning to their motel in the late afternoon, they decided to grab an early dinner at the tavern across the highway. Since it was still quiet, they were seated at one of the big tables toward the rear. They both ordered steaks and drank beer. The bar had several TV’s on around the large room, and they were all showing the same ball game.
“I wanted to play second base for the Yankees when I was a kid,” Pullo said.
“I wanted to pitch.”
Pullo laughed. “I guess every kid wants to be a jock when he’s little.”
Bright sunlight illuminated the area near the front of the tavern as the door was pushed open. When Tanner looked up, he saw a familiar face. It was Logan. He was with another man and two young women. The women were attractive, and the man looked like a male model. Both of the women were dressed in jeans and identical blue pullover tops. The initials LBM were stitched on the left side of the shirts.
“The new guy was in the photo we found in Canton,” Pullo said, “the one taken in front of the bowling alley.”
“You’re right; he was also in the picture Robbie Vespa had.”
“I wonder if this is a coincidence or a planned meeting?”
“They’re headed right for us; I’d say they knew we were here.”
As the group grew closer, Pullo locked eyes with one of the women. She had shoulder-length dark hair and a face made to be kissed. When she smiled at Pullo, he found himself grinning back at her.
“This is a pleasant surprise,” Logan said. “Do you mind if we join you?”
Tanner gestured for them to sit and Logan made the introductions. The two women were Gracie James and her friend Linda Pettit. It was Gracie who smiled at Pullo. She had also taken the seat to his right after joining them. Linda had curly brown hair and a pale complexion; she was staring at Tanner with a fascinated expression.
“You’ve got some eyes there, sport. I bet you don’t get fucked with much.”
“Never twice by the same person.”
The new man was named Isaac. He made a derisive snort at Tanner’s comment.
“You’re a tough guy, Ray, is that it?”
Tanner responded by staring at Isaac until Isaac turned his gaze away. When Isaac took in the sight of Pullo and Gracie smiling at each other, his eyes narrowed in anger.
“Linda and Gracie are militia members too,” Logan said, “and Gracie there is the granddaughter of one of the founders.”
“What’s militia life really like?” Pullo asked.
“It’s great,” Gracie said. “We grow our own food and don’t rely on anyone, especially the government. We even have our own small power plant.”
“Is your boyfriend as crazy about it as you are?”
Gracie smiled at Pullo. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Pullo moved his chair closer to her. “That’s good to know.”
The newcomers ordered food and another pitcher of beer was brought to the table. By the time the baseball game ended, Tanner admitted to Logan that he had reconsidered his decision.
“We’ll join up with you, but how do we get there?”
“You’ll be picked up by someone. Would tomorrow at noon be good?”
“Yeah, and we’re at the motel across the highway. We’ll be waiting outside the office.”
Logan looked thoughtful. “I’ll have to find someone to make the trip. Briggs would be good, but Cannon has him doing something else tomorrow.”
“I’ll have someone get them,” Isaac said.
Logan’s eyebrows went up. “Really? That would be a big help, thanks.”
“Don’t mention it, you’ve ferried my people around before.”
“You two have different groups?” Tanner asked.
Logan grinned. “You could say that. Isaac is a sort of liaison officer between the militia and our neighbors. We help each other out sometimes.”
“Who are these neighbors?” Pullo asked.
“They’re sheep,” Linda said with a smile.
“Sheep?”
“It’s a cult run by a woman named Shasta Shah,” Gracie said. “We call the members sheep because of how laid back and servile they all are.”
“What do the cult members do,” Pullo asked, “beg for money in the street all day?”
“They grow food and make stuff like jewelry and furniture to sell. They all consider Shasta Shah to be their goddess.”
“Seriously?” Pullo said.
“Oh yeah,” Gracie said. “They absolutely worship her.”
Isaac grinned. “Shasta can make those sheep do anything. If she gives a command, they follow it. And they actually call her Goddess too.”
“That blonde bitch looks like a goddess,” Linda said. “I envy her. I also wouldn’t mind having a thousand slaves at my beck and call.”
“Shasta Shah never gets nearer than arms-length to those people of hers,” Isaac said. “She says it maintains an aura of mystery.”
Linda barked out a laugh. “The only mystery is how stupid the sheep are. That cult is a racket and they’re all suckers.”
“They’re not all stupid,” Isaac said, “Some of her people have advanced degrees, there are even two doctors who have joined. Smart or not, they all act crazed around her; she never goes out without her guards.”
Linda huffed. “I still say they’re weak-minded. If someone tried selling that bullshit about her being a goddess to me, I’d shoot their ass.”
Logan and Isaac had arrived in Logan’s pickup, which had an extended cab, while Gracie had given Linda a lift into town in her car. Logan had to depart shortly after finishing his meal. As he and the others stood to leave, Gracie announced that she would stay a little longer.
“Linda can ride with you and Isaac, Logan.”
“I’d be happy to,” Linda said, as she smiled at Isaac. Tanner believed Linda had a thing for the man, although Isaac’s eyes had stayed locked on Gracie all night.
When they were outside in the parking lot, Isaac waited until Linda had climbed into the rear of the truck before speaking to Logan.
“Those two in there, why not let me have them?”
“Why would you need more people at the cult compound?”
“You know Nick has me training Shah’s guards how to shoot properly. If Hollis and Russo are as good at shooting as they say, they’ll come in handy.”
“No, I want them at the militia. If they work out, I’ll offer them positions in the Inner Core. Nick is looking to expand the group.”
Linda lowered her window. “You’re not fooling anybody, Isaac. You’re just trying to keep Gracie and Joe Russo apart. Anyone can tell Gracie likes the guy.”
“Russo is nothing but a street punk. I’m much
more her type.”
“How many times has Gracie turned you down? Forget about her and hit on somebody else… like me.”
Logan got behind the wheel to start the engine as Isaac climbed into the passenger seat. Isaac stayed silent as he sulked and harbored dark thoughts.
Feeling like a third wheel, Tanner excused himself and told Pullo he’d see him in the morning. Pullo and Gracie were so into each other that the mobster merely grunted in response.
An hour later, as Tanner was watching TV, he heard the sound of voices approaching. Peeking out a corner of the window, he spotted Joe and Gracie entering Pullo’s motel room.
Tanner grinned, it seemed the mafia member now had more than vengeance on his mind. Tanner turned off the television, took a shower, and went to bed. He woke once during the night, at around three a.m. That was when Gracie left Pullo’s room. They stood leaning against Pullo’s car while whispering and exchanging soft kisses.
Through a gap in the window curtains, Tanner could see Pullo’s face as Gracie drove away. Pullo looked like a man falling in love.
11
Nowhere
Isaac arrived at the motel the next day at ten minutes past noon, while driving a red Chevy Tahoe.
Instead of saying hello, he told Tanner and Pullo to get in their car and follow him.
“And hurry it up; I’ve got other things to do.”
Pullo was about to point out that they weren’t the ones who had shown up late. He never got the chance, as Isaac raised his window back up.
“I don’t like that guy,” Pullo told Tanner.
A half hour after leaving town they were on a narrow two-lane road in a rural area. Isaac’s van and their car were the only vehicles in sight. Eight minutes after that, even the occasional farmhouse disappeared, to be replaced by trees.
Isaac drove fast and didn’t use turn signals. It had caused Pullo to pay close attention whenever they neared an intersection or side street. There weren’t many roads, but mostly the occasional dirt track that ran off into the woods.
“Welcome to nowhere,” Pullo said.
“And we’re in the middle of it,” Tanner agreed.
More minutes passed before Isaac slowed the van and hung a right, again, without indicating with his signal. The strip of gravel road they traveled over was bumpy and the van slowed to about thirty miles an hour.
Tanner spotted something through gaps in the branches of the trees that looked incongruous with the landscape. It was the top of a tall building and looked like a golden spire. It resembled something seen in a book of fairy tales. When he pointed it out to Pullo, the mobster wrinkled his forehead in confusion.
“Maybe someone built a theme park out here.”
At a fork in the road, Isaac went right again. Less than a minute later, the road ended at a clearing, beyond that was a wooden gate with a guard shack beside it. There was no one in the shack but the gate opened when Isaac input a four-digit code.
The gate was swung open to reveal a black man dressed in army camouflage. His was another face from Robbie Vespa’s photograph. Isaac spoke to the man, gestured with his thumb back at Pullo and Tanner, then proceeded to drive through the gate. They were in an open space that sat between the gate they had passed through and a field of corn. On the left was a platform that could be used as a loading dock. It sat out from a small building that was a warehouse.
Five cars were parked along the fence. Two looked fine, but the other three were covered in dust and had tires growing soft. They looked abandoned and fit only for the junk yard. All five vehicles had out of state license plates.
The golden palace of Shasta Shah was more visible now. It was the tallest structure in the area by far and located at the center of the cult’s compound. At night, it would be lit up brilliantly.
Pullo parked their car beside Isaac’s van, and Isaac spoke to them through a lowered window.
“The man that opened the gate is named Marcus, he’ll see to you from here on.”
“Will he take us to meet the leader of the militia, Nick Cannon?” Tanner asked.
“Marcus will answer your questions; I have to leave.”
The van backed away, made a U-turn, and headed toward the gate. After Marcus let Isaac through again, he locked the gate and walked over to Pullo and Tanner, who had gotten out of their vehicle. Marcus was tall and muscular, with short hair and a thin mustache. There was a duty belt around his waist. It held a gun, pepper spray, a truncheon, a cell phone, and a flashlight. The cell phone was useless inside the compound, as it had no cell towers.
“Are you two carrying weapons?” Marcus asked.
Tanner and Pullo nodded, while wondering if Marcus was going to request that they hand them over.
Marcus smiled. “That’s not a problem; we just need to know.” He led them toward a path that could be used to walk through the adjoining cornfield.
The farmland appeared to go on for quite a distance and covered over a dozen acres. There were a number of young women among the stalks, and a few of them looked like teenagers.
They each wore gray slacks with gray T-shirts and white sneakers. It was July, and hot, and so the women sweated as they worked. When the women spotted Tanner and Pullo, they smiled in greeting. The smiles were vacuous and seemed to appear as if by reflex. That is, most of the women smiled.
Tanner spotted a beauty with dark hair eyeing him curiously. She was on the periphery of the group and working alone. A long braid hung down her back. When she realized Tanner was watching her, she plastered a smile on her face and looked away.
Another woman appeared. She was large, looked capable, and was dressed in camouflage fatigues like Marcus. She wore a duty belt of her own, and her gun had a pearl-handled grip. Dangling from one hand was one of those insulated coolers that were designed to carry six-packs. Instead of beer, hers contained bottles of water.
“Who do we have here, Marcus? Are these Isaac’s friends?”
“Yeah, he just dropped them off,” Marcus said, as he reached in the cooler to grab a bottle of water.
The woman was named Miranda. She was the sole female who had been in Vespa’s photo of Nick Cannon’s Inner Core group.
Despite her smile, Miranda had a stern look to her face. Peeking out from under her rolled up sleeves was a militia tattoo.
“Help yourselves to water, guys. We’ve a short hike ahead of us.”
Tanner grabbed one of the four remaining bottles, checked that it was sealed, and opened it to drink. Pullo did the same, and the water was refreshing.
The empty bottles went back into the cooler and they headed off through the corn. When they were a hundred feet in, Miranda excused herself to head right.
“I need to talk to one of the girls pulling weeds. I’ll catch up to you.”
As Tanner turned his head to watch her go, his vision blurred. After rubbing his eyes, he turned back to look at Marcus. The man was no longer there. Pullo remained at his side but was shaking his head.
“I think the heat is affecting me,” Pullo said.
Tanner’s vision blurred again as understanding dawned. “We’ve been drugged, Joe.”
As he spoke, Tanner freed his gun from beneath his shirt. The weapon seemed heavier than it should.
“Head back to the car,” Pullo said. As he turned to take a step, he tripped and went down. When Tanner bent over to help him up, he followed him to the ground instead, as the world swum in circles about him.
Tanner laid on his back with barely enough strength left to hold onto his gun. A moment more, and the weapon slipped from his grasp.
Just when he believed he might pass out, Marcus appeared and helped him to his feet, as Miranda did the same with Pullo.
The two of them were dragged forward while being forced to stumble along. Tanner cursed himself for not being more cautious and hoped he hadn’t been poisoned. As they cleared the cornfield, Tanner spotted a pickup truck with its liftgate sitting down. Marcus hauled him up into the bed of the
truck with ease, then he helped Miranda do the same with Pullo.
Moments later, the truck was on the move. The last sight Tanner saw before losing consciousness was the image of a face that was thirty-feet high. It was the countenance of a blonde woman with an angelic smile and ocean-blue eyes. It was the face of Shasta Shah. Isaac had delivered them to the cult for brainwashing.
I’ll kill the man. Tanner thought, then, everything drifted away.
Kate Wyman was the woman Tanner had caught staring at him. She wondered what business Tanner and Pullo had with the cult. Although they were both young, neither man looked like one of the typical new recruits that joined the cult on their own.
The other two, the man and the woman wearing camo, Kate knew they were part of the nearby militia. What she didn’t know was why they were always hanging around the cult. She suspected they were there to train Shasta Shah’s guards, who the cultists referred to as monitors.
Deciding to take a risk, Kate had followed along behind Tanner’s group while keeping to the cornstalks. When she watched the militia members separate from the men, she feared they had detected her and were circling back to her position.
Then, Pullo went down, followed by Tanner. Moments after that, the two men were dragged out to the road and dumped into the rear of a pickup. As Kate watched the truck head toward the buildings at the center of the compound, she wondered what it all meant.
One thing was certain, those men hadn’t come to the compound to join the cult. That meant they were possible allies.
Kate rushed back to join her fellow workers before she was missed. In her role as a cult member, she smiled a phony grin a hundred times a day. But as she walked through the cornstalks, the grin she wore was genuine.
12
The Hole
Tanner- Year One Page 5