To Serve And Protect (A Tanner Novel Book 39)
Page 18
For now, their threat was ended, the rare bill was recovered, and he had performed the favor that had been asked of him. It was time to go home.
22
And The Winner Is…
Steve Mendez lost the race for Mayor of Stark by less than thirty votes. At the same time, he was reelected as Chief of Police by ninety-one percent of the voters. It was apparent that the good citizens of Stark would rather have him protecting them then leading them.
Mendez felt disappointed and flattered at the same time. He also felt bad for his deputy chief, Clay Milton. By remaining in office, Milton would be unable to advance.
“You’ll beat Jimmy next time, Chief,” Clay told him. “And in the meantime, I know that there’s still a lot more that I can learn from you.”
Jimmy Kyle’s acceptance speech was anything but modest. He acted as if he had won by a wide margin and was a beloved leader. When he showed up at the police station to gloat, as usual, he had Councilwoman Avery beside him like a shadow. Avery had also eked out a victory over her opponent.
Jimmy made a point of telling Mendez that he would be cutting his budget again. When Mendez told him about the rare bill that would be auctioned off and the proceeds becoming the police department’s discretionary funds under the forfeiture laws, Jimmy’s good mood was dimmed. Mendez pointed out something else.
“Fergus Jones won a seat on the town council when he beat one of your toadies. You may find that the council won’t go along with your budget suggestions as easily as they have in the past.”
Fergus Jones disliked Jimmy because Jimmy had once broken the heart of Fergus’s baby sister. He had replaced a member of the town council who had rubberstamped Jimmy’s proposals.
Jimmy realized the truth of Mendez’s words. His good mood had fled completely. “We’re out of here,” he told Councilwoman Avery.
Mendez watched them go. With his friend Fergus on the town council to give Jimmy hell, the next four years might not be so bad. And remaining Stark’s Chief of Police wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
Tim Jackson’s search of Fortunato’s computer uncovered Fortunato’s real name of Larry Evers and several overseas bank accounts, along with a hefty stock portfolio. Tanner told Tim to drain it all and send him half the money. Tim told him that he was the best boss ever.
Baby Marian took her first steps on Thanksgiving Day. She released the arm of the sofa she’d been holding onto and toddled over to her mother. Sara had tears in her eyes when she picked her up. It seemed to her that the children were growing up too fast.
Early in December, Cody was at home when he got a call from Henry.
“The news is reporting that a message was placed in the want ads of every major newspaper in the country yesterday. Cody, I think it might have been aimed at you.”
Cody had been at his desk with the computer on. He did a search and found the story. People were baffled by the short message and wondered who it was meant for. It read:
T, you mind your business and we will mind ours, C.
Cody was unconvinced that it concerned him until he read further into the story. All of the ads were placed by someone named Cy Fore, and traced to a fictitious company in Asia named Tan Nor.
Cipher was asking for a truce. They’d probably spent the last several weeks trying to track him down without success and were worried that he might have been busy doing the same. It wouldn’t have escaped their notice that he had located and killed Logan Fortunato, a man who had also considered himself anonymous and untraceable.
A ceasefire was fine by him. Neither he nor Cipher had deliberately gone after the other but instead had found themselves at cross purposes twice. If they stayed out of his way, he’d be happy to return the favor.
Despite that, Tanner had no intention of attempting to respond to the message. Let them worry and wonder if he was lurking out there somewhere, on the hunt for them, or poised to strike.
He smiled. A little fear might do the bastards some good.
TANNER RETURNS!
STALKING HORSE - BOOK 40 - AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER - ON SALE JANUARY 19th
TAKEN! RETURNS
MR. WHITE - BOOK 1 - A TAKEN! SERIES - AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER - ON SALE DECEMBER 22nd.
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TO SERVE AND PROTECT
Copyright © REMINGTON KANE, 2020
YEAR ZERO PUBLISHING, LLC
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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