The TANNER Series - Books 10 -12 (Tanner Box Set Book 4)

by Remington Kane

  CHAPTER 4 – Turn around

  “It was back when we were thirteen, remember?” Scar said. “That was the year my dad walked in on that bank robbery.”

  Bruise, Abrasion, and Wound nodded. They had been friends with Scar since the third grade, and they remembered well the period that Scar spoke of.

  “The cops never caught those guys, did they?” Bruise said.

  Scar shook his head.

  “The cops didn’t get them, but the guy in the picture did.”

  Bruise held up the photo of Spenser and Amy.

  “This guy? He helped you and your mom?”

  “Yeah, and I never said anything to you guys because I knew you would talk. I mean, we were kids, and I knew that you would’ve told everyone in school... if you knew what really happened.”

  Abrasion stood and walked over to Scar.

  “Hey man, we ain’t kids no more, and you know you can tell us anything, right?”

  Scar smiled.

  “Yeah, and to tell you the truth, I don’t know much, but I think the guy with the eye patch killed the bank robbers.”

  “The dudes that killed your father? He killed all three of them? But I thought the cops said the guys got away,” Bruise said.

  Scar shook his head slowly.

  “My dad saw one of the robbers without his mask and recognized the guy. The dude was an ex-cop. Dad didn’t die right away, and he told my mom the guy’s name when she saw him in the hospital.”

  “So your mom gave the dude’s name to the cops?” Bruise asked.

  “After my dad died, Mom was too scared to go to the police, since one of the bank robbers used to be one of them. So we drove off to a friend of hers that lived here in Wyoming. Her friend contacted this guy with the eye patch and he said that he would help. I was just a kid then, you know, just thirteen, so nobody told me much, but I know he killed them, because a few days after he showed up, my mom told me that I never had to worry about them ever again.”

  Bruise stood.

  “If this guy is as tough as you think he is maybe we should leave.”

  “No,” Scar said. “I’ve got to see him again. The dude saved my life, and my mom’s life too, plus, I think we should tell him about Martinez and the reward that they’re offering for him.”

  Abrasion was holding the picture, and he ran a finger over Amy’s face.

  “This lady is so pretty. If Martinez sent men here, they might hurt her too. We can’t let that happen.”

  Wound stood and walked over to join Scar.

  “Talk to the guy if you want to, but we should wait in the truck. If he catches us in here he might shoot us.”

  Scar thought that over and agreed.

  “Yeah, we’ll wait outside, and I hope he’s not pissed about me breaking in, but I had to know if it was really him.”

  “What if he don’t come back for days?” Wound said.

  “Then we wait,” Scar said. “But I got a feeling he’ll be here soon.”

  ***

  Spenser was bringing his gun up to take aim when he realized that it was Tanner and Alexa coming towards him.

  “Damn Cody, how did you two get here so quickly?”

  Tanner tossed a thumb towards Alexa.

  “She had a feeling that there might be trouble and we’ve been moving fast since leaving Kansas.”

  Spenser grinned at Alexa.

  “I’m taking you to Vegas someday and see how you do at a craps table.”

  Alexa laughed.

  “I’ve tried gambling and I always lose. I don’t think my gift approves of me getting something for nothing.”

  Tanner settled on the ground on Spenser’s right, as Alexa lowered herself beside Tanner.

  “What’s up?” Tanner asked. “Amy said that someone might have broken in.”

  Spenser was staring through the scope again, and this time he could make out Wound, Abrasion, and Bruise, along with Scar.

  “There’s at least four of them, and they look young.”

  Alexa held out her hand.

  “May I borrow that rifle scope? I want to check out that pickup truck they arrived in.”

  Spenser passed her the rifle, and after sighting in on the truck, Alexa looked at Tanner.

  “That’s the same truck that those men who were after you were using. Maybe these four are their replacements.”

  Tanner took the rifle from her. After staring through the scope at the truck, he looked at the men, and recognized them as the Tin Horsemen.

  “Those four are the bikers that attacked you at the motel in Oklahoma City, Alexa. Spenser, we need to take them alive. I think they have answers that we need.”

  Spenser was about to reply when all three of them heard someone approaching from behind. When they looked, they saw Amy.

  “Why aren’t you waiting in the truck?” Spenser said.

  “I’m tired of sitting in the truck,” Amy said, as she settled beside Alexa.

  Spenser let out a sigh.

  “I don’t know why I expected you to do as I asked, you never have before.”

  “What’s going on?” Amy said, and after Alexa explained, Amy had a question.

  “How are you going to approach them without being spotted?”

  Tanner rubbed his chin.

  “We need a distraction. If they’re all busy looking left, we can come up on them from the right.”

  Amy smiled.

  “I can help. I’m not good with a gun, but I can be distracting.”

  “How?” Spenser said.

  Amy stood and began walking towards the house.

  “You’ll see, now get ready.”

  Spenser reached for her hand to bring her back, but Amy was already out of reach.

  “That woman,” Spenser whispered in an exasperated tone, and then he looked over and saw that Tanner and Alexa were smiling.

  “It’s not funny. She could get hurt.”

  Tanner moved towards the rear of the house.

  “Let’s make sure that she stays safe.”

  ***

  Scar left the house by the front door with the others following. They were about to climb in the truck to wait, when Bruise raised an arm and pointed out by the generator shed, which was about a hundred feet from the house.

  “Look, a lady.”

  It was Amy. She was wearing a blue skirt with a yellow top, and as the boys watched, she began unbuttoning her blouse.

  “What’s she doing?” Wound asked. “Is she... is she taking off her top?”

  Abrasion’s mouth hung open as he watched Amy.

  “It’s the lady from the picture... she’s beautiful.”

  Amy teased them for several moments as she slowly removed the blouse to reveal a black lace bra.

  Scar and his men watched enraptured as Amy smiled, turned her back on them, undid the bra’s clasps, and then took it off.

  “Turn around,” Abrasion said softly, as he and the others kept staring at Amy.

  She turned with her arms covering her breasts and smiled at the boys.

  “If you have any weapons on you, I wouldn’t reach for them.”

  Scar had been staring intently at her as he tried to glimpse something more than Amy’s arms and her taut stomach. When her words finally penetrated his brain, he asked a question.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Look behind you,” Amy said.

  Scar and the others turned, and when they saw Tanner and Spenser pointing weapons at them, they raised their hands in the air.

  “Who are you?” Spenser asked.

  When Spenser received no answer, Tanner stepped closer to Scar, who was the tallest of the boys, and he aimed his gun at his head.

  “Don’t shoot!” Scar said.

  Tanner pressed his gun against Scar’s forehead.

  “Give me a reason not to.”

  Scar shifted his eyes over to Spenser, just as Amy came to stand at Spenser’s side while fastening her blouse.

  “I know
you, and you know me too. I’m Mary Fenwick’s son.”

  Spenser recalled the name and lowered his weapon.

  “You’re Johnny Fenwick?”

  “Yeah, but they call me Scar now.”

  Alexa had been inside the house looking for more intruders, and when she came back outside, she walked over to check out the vehicle.

  “I see guns on the dashboard, and they broke in through the kitchen door.”

  After opening the truck, she began removing the weapons, and when she came across them, she held up the wanted posters with their faces on them.

  “Whoever he is, he and his friends were hunting us.”

  After placing the weapons on the porch steps, Alexa walked over to Bruise and kicked his feet out from under him. Before Bruise knew what was happening, Alexa had a knife at his throat, as she looked up at Scar.

  “Tell us who you work for or I’ll kill him.”

  Scar held out a hand. A hand that displayed the healing cut from his first encounter with Alexa.

  “Whoa! Whoa! Chill, we’re on your side. Well, we are now, and all I know is that the dude who sent us here is named Robert Martinez and he works for something called Hexalcorp.”

  Tanner and Spenser looked at each other.

  “Why would a corporation be sending people out to look for you, Spenser?” Amy asked.

  Alexa removed her knife from Bruise’s throat and stood.

  “It’s Alvarado. He must have hired Hexalcorp to help locate us. They have resources that he doesn’t.”

  Tanner removed his gun from Scar’s forehead.

  “You need to tell us everything you know.”

  Scar nodded, as he pointed at Spenser.

  “We will, I owe him.”

  Tanner, Amy, and Alexa looked at Spenser, and Spenser explained.

  “His mother was one of my early clients. If I hadn’t been called in, he and his mother would be dead.”

  Alexa spoke to Scar.

  “Is there anyone else on the way here?”

  “No, Martinez just told us to check it out, but he didn’t sound like he thought we would find anything.”

  “That sounds about right,” Tanner said. “If they knew Spenser was here for certain, they would have sent more than these four to check things out.”

  Amy began walking back towards the spot where she left Spenser’s truck.

  “I’ll get the truck while you sort through this.”

  Abrasion rushed to her side and pointed back towards the pickup.

  “I could give you a lift.”

  Amy stopped walking and looked at him. Abrasion was only an inch taller than she was, and his brown hair was shoulder-length. He wore a goofy smile and his eyes were staring at her breasts.

  “I’m not taking my top off again if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Abrasion took a step back as he shook his head.

  “I was just trying to be nice.”

  Alexa walked over to them.

  “You’ll drive us both, and if you try anything you’ll be sorry.”

  Abrasion scowled at her.

  “You kicked me in the balls the last time I saw you, and they still hurt.”

  Alexa gave him a shove.

  “Just drive where we tell you to go.”

  Tanner called to her.

  “Keep him with you when you drive your van back here.”

  “Right, and when we return we’ll figure out our next move.”

  “Yes,” Tanner said, and he smiled at her. He’d been doing that a lot lately it seemed.

  Alexa smiled back at him as she sent him a wink, and then she and Amy went to retrieve their vehicles.

  CHAPTER 5 – Making plans

  After Amy and Alexa returned with the vehicles, they found that Spenser had thrown two frozen pizzas in the oven, and that Scar and the other Tin Horsemen were seated atop stools in front of the kitchen island.

  Tanner saw Alexa frown at the Horsemen, and he told Abrasion to join his friends atop the stools.

  “Maybe we should tie them up,” Alexa said.

  “Spenser doesn’t think it’s necessary and neither do I,” Tanner said. “But if any of them do something stupid, they’ll wish that they hadn’t.”

  “We just want to help,” Scar said.

  “You can help by telling us what you know,” Spenser said. “How did you come to be here?”

  Scar told them about finding the original Hexalcorp Strike Team dead at the house in Oklahoma City, and the details of Martinez’ call.

  Alexa laughed.

  “He hoped to pass you four off as an elite team of mercenaries? The man must be desperate.”

  “He is,” Tanner said. “If he told Alvarado that his men failed, he’d probably be killed. I’m going to call my contact at the Burke Corporation, they might know something about this man Martinez, and they’ll also give me the latest satellite images of Alvarado’s compound.”

  “Do that,” Spenser said. “The more info we have, the better.”

  ***

  When the pizza was ready, Amy reached up into a cupboard for glasses. She had grabbed two of them, and when she reached back to get more, she saw that Abrasion had moved over to help her.

  As he handed her more glasses, she asked him his name.

  “I’m Abrasion.”

  “That can’t be your real name.”

  Abrasion shook his head.

  “Nope, my real name is Lionel.”

  “Thank you for helping me, Lionel,” Amy said, and Abrasion blushed.

  ***

  As everyone sat around eating pizza and drinking soda, Spenser and Tanner asked the boys more questions, as they tried to come up with a plan that would throw suspicion off Spenser while satisfying Martinez and Alvarado.

  Tanner needed time to heal and there were preparations to make before they made their assault on Alvarado’s compound.

  After listening to the conversation, Alexa said she had an idea.

  “Let’s hear it,” Spenser said.

  “I’ll contact Damián Sandoval and ask for help. He has much to gain from Alvarado’s downfall.”

  “What sort of help?” Tanner said.

  “His cartel extends into Texas, as does Alvarado’s cartel. It would be a simple thing for him to make Alvarado’s people believe that you were in the state and causing havoc.”

  “You mean have his people kill Alvarado’s people and claim that I did it? That sounds like a big favor,” Tanner said.

  “Maybe,” Alexa said. “But I think he’ll do it, and I also think he’ll support us once we get inside Mexico.”

  “That would be invaluable,” Spenser said. “How will you make contact?”

  “They gave me a laptop with a skype connection. I’ll be contacting Sandoval’s man, Dante.”

  “After I make this call to my contact at Burke I’ll need to buy a new phone,” Tanner said. “I shouldn’t risk using the one I have much longer.”

  “I keep a few throwaway phones for use in my work,” Spenser said. “I’ll give you one of those.”

  Amy stood and began grabbing the empty paper plates and glasses, over at the kitchen island, Abrasion did the same, and then he stood next to Amy as she leaned back against the sink.

  “I have a call to make too, Spenser,” Amy said. “You know, the things we’ll need for your plan.”

  “How long will it take to get that stuff here?” Spenser asked.

  “I’ll have them ship it overnight, but I’ll need time to get it just right.”

  “Get what right?” Scar said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Alexa said, as she still didn’t trust Scar and the others.

  ***

  While Spenser kept watch over the Tin Horsemen, Tanner, Alexa, and Amy each went off to make calls and talk to their contacts.

  After sending off a message to Dan Matthews of the Burke Corporation, Tanner was surprised to receive an email back only a minute later.

  The email contained a p
hone number and a request to call as soon as possible. Tanner had expected Matthews to call him on the phone they had previously used, but knew the man was a stickler for security, and so he used one of Spenser’s throwaway phones.

  Tanner called Matthews immediately, and heard the man answer after only one ring.

  “Tanner?”

  “It’s me, Matthews, what’s so urgent?”

  “Hold on, Mr. Burke wants to speak to you.”

  When Conrad Burke came on the line, Tanner recognized the man’s voice from the times they had seen each other in Guambi.

  “It’s me, Burke, what’s up?”

  “I need a favor from you, Tanner.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “It concerns Robert Martinez of Hexalcorp. Your email stated that he was inside Alonso Alvarado’s compound. Are you certain of that?”

  “I can’t be certain, but that’s the information I have.”

  Tanner heard a sigh come through the phone line; it was followed by Burke speaking.

  “I need to keep Martinez alive, the damn fool.”

  “I take it you know him?”

  “Unfortunately, he was once married to my wife’s sister and they share a child, which I suppose makes him family.”

  “All right, I won’t kill him unless I have to, but I can’t speak for what Alvarado might do to him.”

  “How did you come to learn that Robert was inside the compound?”

  Tanner told Burke about the Hexalcorp Strike Team and Martinez’ attempt to use the Tin Horsemen as their replacements, in order to fool Alvarado.

  “Robert is an idiot. When those men fail to get results Alvarado will be furious with him.”

  “Maybe not, we have a plan forming that will make it seem as if they’re making progress. It may buy Martinez more time.”

  “Fine, but Tanner, what’s your ultimate plan? Alvarado is being guarded by an army of men, too many for even you to kill all of them.”

  “For one thing, I won’t be alone, there are three of us.”

  “Three?” Burke said, in a voice that was filled with disbelief. “Tanner, if you had three hundred helping you it might not be enough. My analysts have studied the satellite photos we’ve taken of the compound and Alvarado has beefed-up his security tremendously. My people tell me that there’s absolutely no way for you to enter that compound, and that any attempt would leave you dead.”