Tanner grabbed the man’s wrist with both hands, turned, and flipped the biker onto his back. The man landed on the ground hard, with his skull taking much of the impact.
When Tanner turned to face the second man, he saw him bringing out a knife.
A quick kick disarmed him, and it was followed by a sweep kick that took the man’s feet out from under him.
Amy stood above the man with her gun drawn and told him to stay down, while Sammy pointed at the bikers and used Tanner’s phony name.
“They tried to assault Mr. Myers.”
“That’s how I see it too,” Amy said.
“I won’t press charges if they leave,” Tanner told her. When he looked over at Susan, he saw that she had her arms folded across her chest and was smiling at him.
The second biker helped his companion up, and although the man appeared a bit dazed, he was able to mount his bike and ride away.
After Amy drove off to the police station, and Sammy rode away on his bike, Susan gave Tanner a kiss on the lips.
“You’re here for Calabrese, aren’t you?”
“I’ll just say this; by the time I leave here he’ll no longer be a problem.”
Susan took Tanner by the hand, and they went inside the pub.
CHAPTER 27 – Bees do it, birds do it
Merle and Earl were working harder than they had in a good long time, as they helped Hanna and Savannah around the farm.
The chores were familiar ones, milking a cow, feeding chickens, weeding the garden, and mending a fence. However, they were both worn out by the end of the afternoon, and Earl asked if it’d be all right if he took a soak in the tub.
“It’s really your house, Earl, and you boys were a lot of help today,” Hanna said.
While Earl went up to soak, Merle showered in the RV. After changing into fresh clothes, he walked back to the house to sit on a porch swing.
Hanna came out onto the porch, and after taking a seat beside him, she handed Merle a can of beer.
“Dinner is ready, and we can eat anytime you want.”
“What are we havin’? It smells great.”
“Fried chicken, yams, cornbread stuffing, spinach, and Savannah baked a peach cobbler.”
“Lordy, my mouth’s waterin’ just hearin’ about it.”
“Have you figured out what you wanna do with us yet?”
“Whaddya mean?”
“I mean are you kickin’ us off the property?”
“No! Hell no, you got taken, and yeah, the place isn’t really yours, but me and Earl can see all the work and money you ladies put into it. It would be just plain mean to kick you out.”
“Were you two thinkin’ of moving back here?”
Merle smiled.
“We weren’t, but when I look at this view, enjoyin’ the quiet, I wonder why we ever left.”
“I um, I wouldn’t mind if you stayed. It’s nice havin’ men around, and Savannah has a thing for your brother.”
“Is that a fact?”
“It is.”
“Now that’s funny.”
“Why?”
“Cause I got a thing for her sister.”
Hanna grinned, and Merle leaned over and kissed her.
***
Earl had been lying back in the tub enjoying his warm soapy bath, when the door opened and Savannah stepped in.
“Miss Cole?”
“Call me Savannah, Earl.”
After swallowing, Earl said, “Alright, Savannah.”
He had brought clean clothes into the bath with him. They sat atop the closed lid of the toilet. Savannah scooped them up and turned to leave.
“Where are you goin’ with my clothes?”
“You got a button loose on your shirt. I’ll take it to my bedroom and mend it.”
“Oh, okay, but why take the pants?”
Savannah tugged hard on a belt loop and tore it loose.
“I gotta fix this here too.”
Earl swallowed again, and it was followed by a smile.
“If you want your clothes back, my bedroom is the door on the right.”
“Um, okay.”
“Don’t be long now.”
He wasn’t, he dried himself faster than he ever had before and left the bathroom wearing only a towel, and a smile.
CHAPTER 28 – Easy rider
Tanner knew Sammy was growing restless, but if Bobby Volks was Calabrese, he had a group of bikers around him.
That meant they had to separate him from his men and get him alone, as it would be their best chance to kill him.
Tanner had stayed at Susan’s pub all day in case more trouble came. She worked there until five o’clock, and was headed home to cook dinner, when she spotted a friend.
The man’s name was Garrett Bates. He was bald, black, about fifty, and ran the town newspaper. Tanner had actually read several back issues of the paper, The Rainberry Gazette, while he waited for Susan, and knew that Bates was no fan of Calabrese.
The front page story the week before had been about Calabrese’s bar and all the trouble the place bred for the town. He also insinuated that Calabrese was behind the area’s growing meth problem.
Bates had a firm grip, and he used it when he shook Tanner’s hand.
“Mr. Myers, it’s good to meet you, and you’re a lucky man to be enjoying Susan’s... cooking.”
Tanner studied Bates and saw a hint of jealousy. If he had detected that Tanner was Susan’s lover, he was perceptive.
“She’s a great cook.”
“Yes, indeed, and I also heard that you got into a scuffle with a pair of bikers, is that true?”
“They overacted when I bumped into one of their bikes.”
“You must be clumsy,” Bates said, and after saying goodbye, he went inside the pub.
“I sense that there’s history between you two,” Tanner told Susan.
“As friends only, although, he often asks for more.”
“I don’t blame him.”
There was a green panel van parked at the curb with the name of the town’s newspaper painted on the side in yellow. The van had no windows in the rear and the rest were heavily tinted.
“He delivers his own newspapers I see,” Tanner said.
“The paper only comes out once a week. The latest copy I have is last week’s news.”
Tanner sighed.
“I guess that means I missed the bake sale at the church.”
***
They returned to the house, where they found Sammy coming back from a run. Sammy wore gray shorts and a red sleeveless T-shirt, with blue & white sneakers.
As Susan went inside to cook dinner, Tanner talked to Sammy.
“If I know my thugs, Calabrese won’t let what happened this morning go by without trying to retaliate, so stay sharp.”
“I will, but we need to find out if Calabrese is really Bobby Volks.”
“I was going to do that tonight.”
“Without me?”
“No, you’ll be coming along to create a diversion, and then I’ll—”
The rumble of motorcycles filled the air.
The three bikes turned the corner and headed towards them. The rider of the first motorcycle was huge, and after rounding the corner, the two men with him stayed back, and the lead rider pulled up in front of Susan’s house.
“Be cool,” Tanner whispered, knowing what was coming next.
And when the man removed his helmet, the face revealed belonged to Bobby Volks.
CHAPTER 29 – A changed man
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, TEN YEARS EARLIER
The morning after the attack on the brothel, Pullo looked impressed by Tanner’s news.
“You killed them all?”
“I had to, Joe; otherwise they would have kept coming.”
“Yeah, they knew we were interested in Conti, and so they staked out the shelter, but Tanner, you took a risk doing it alone.”
“I’ve killed more than that by myself before, but
did you learn anything new about Conti last night?”
“Yeah, the man’s a saint now, or so it seems.”
“What’s our next move?”
“I want to confront him and see how he reacts.”
“If he’s a fake running a con of some kind, he’ll run.”
“Yeah, but he won’t get far.”
“He walks to that shelter, so he must live nearby,” Tanner said.
“He does, somewhere three or four blocks east of it, according to Cassidy.”
“Do you want to go look for him now?”
“Yeah, and maybe we can end things and head back to New York.”
They left Pullo’s room, and Tanner stared over at the man guarding the door across the way. It was a different man than the first, and he eyed Tanner and Joe with suspicion.
“Before we leave here, I want to know what’s in that room,” Tanner said.
“I don’t blame you; they’ve got me curious too.”
***
They were on their way to find Carlo Conti’s apartment when they spotted him walking down the street towards the shelter.
Joe circled around, and when Conti reached the next corner, Tanner approached Conti from the front, as Joe came up behind him and spoke.
“Carlo, Sam Giacconi sends his regards.”
Carlo Conti was huge. Tanner thought he looked taller than the six-foot-six he was reported to be.
The big man sighed.
“I guess the Lord is calling me home now, but please, not here in the street, not where the children can see.”
Tanner and Joe exchanged glances. The man didn’t seem afraid to die, but was only concerned that a child might view the violence.
Before they could say another word, two teenage boys came out of the hallway of an apartment house, and one of them was carrying a knife.
“Reverend Conti, are these two bothering you?”
Conti’s face grew red with anger.
“Hakeem, what are you doing with that knife?”
The boy looked down at his hand and then pointed at Joe and Tanner.
“They look like trouble.”
“There will be trouble if I catch you with a knife again.”
“I’m sorry, Rev.”
“Alright then, but you and Randy go inside and eat breakfast, school starts in an hour.”
Hakeem hung his head.
“My moms is drunk again, Rev.”
“Go down to the soup kitchen and tell Kelli I sent you, she’ll feed you boys,” Conti said, and then he looked at Joe and Tanner. “And let her know that I might be late.”
Hakeem handed Conti the knife and the big man broke the cheap blade in two and tossed the pieces down the sewer drain.
“Could we take this back to my apartment? Boys like those two don’t need to see more violence.”
“We’re just talking,” Joe said. “We want to know what the con is.”
Carlo Conti laughed, and the booming sound of it filled the air.
“There’s no con, friend. The Carlo Conti they sent you to kill is gone. He died the day he killed Theresa Silva.”
Joe cocked his head.
“That’s the woman you murdered, Tony Silva’s wife.”
“Before she married Tony Silva, she was Teresa Bondi, and Teresa Bondi was the only woman I ever loved.”
“I don’t get it,” Joe said.
“Teresa and I grew up in the same neighborhood and she was my girlfriend, but, she came to despise my violent streak and she refused to marry me. That only made me meaner, although I never stopped loving her.”
“Then why did you kill her?” Tanner asked.
Conti looked skyward, as tears filled his eyes.
“I was all coked up and full of hate that day. Tony Silva wasn’t even a hood, he was a jeweler, but the rumor was that he kept cash in the house. I broke in there and fired at the bed without even looking at them, and when... when I, oh God, Teresa. I didn’t even notice that it was Teresa, not until I had filled my pockets with money and jewelry from a lock box Silva kept atop his dresser. I killed her, I killed the only person I ever loved and as God is my witness, it drove me mad.”
“Is that what you call this Father Flanagan act, madness?” Joe said.
Conti wiped the tears from his eyes.
“Think what you want, but it’s no act.”
A young black woman called out Conti’s name from across the street and waved with a smile. She then crossed over with her two little girls, and the kids ran to Conti. When the big man bent over, the little girls each kissed him on the cheek.
“Good morning, Reverend; I wish I could stop and talk, but I have to drop these two off at daycare and then get to work.”
“I understand, Gloria, but stop by the shelter sometime soon.”
“I’ll do that, goodbye.”
After the woman moved on with her children, Conti continued his story.
“I crawled into a bottle and lived like a bum on the streets of Philly for five years before coming down here, and that’s when I met a man who changed my life. He got me help, sobered me up, and he told me that I could change, that I didn’t have to stay who I was, that I could help others, and that I could be forgiven any sin.”
“I guess he never met Sam Giacconi, because Sam is not the forgiving type.”
Conti smiled.
“You can’t scare me, so don’t even try. If it’s my time, so be it.”
After saying that, Conti walked off towards the clinic.
Joe stared at Tanner.
“What the hell do you make of that?”
“I think he’s for real.”
“He’s still Carlo Conti, and Sam sent us here to kill him.”
“No, Joe. Sam sent you here to kill Conti. He sent me here to back you up, and I will, no matter what call you make.”
Joe hung his head.
“There’s only one call, Tanner. I do what Sam asks me to do.”
“He asked you to kill an animal, a son of a bitch, and that’s not Conti, not anymore.”
“We’ll watch him and see if he runs.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Joe grimaced and started walking.
“The car is back this way.”
Tanner followed without a word, and waited to see what Pullo would do.
CHAPTER 30 – The man himself
“You’re Myers, hmm? I thought you’d be bigger.”
“I hear that a lot,” Tanner said.
Calabrese, who was really Bobby Volks, was a large man dressed all in leather. He wore a full beard that showed hints of gray, and his brown hair was as long as Sammy’s raven hair, but it looked greasy and uncombed. When his flinty eyes left Tanner, he stared over at Sammy and spoke to him with his gravelly voice.
“Who are you?”
“You can call me Sammy.”
“Well, Sammy, why don’t you run along, kid?”
“Why don’t you make me?”
Tanner shot Sammy a warning look. This was neither the time nor place to kill Volks, and provoking him might make him aggressive.
Volks laughed at Sammy.
“I remember being your age. I thought I could kick anybody’s ass, but I couldn’t, kid, and neither can you.”
“Why are you here?” Tanner said.
“Let me introduce myself, I’m Johnny Calabrese. I’m always looking for good men, and anybody who could take on two of my guys and not get a scratch is a good man.”
“The two at the restaurant this morning were trying to get by on ugly. It works with most people, but not with me.”
“Goddamn if I don’t like you, Myers, and with those clean good looks you can go places my other guys can’t. I’ll pay you two grand a week, what do you say?”
“Why don’t I come out to that bar of yours and talk? It’s somewhat public here, you know?”
“I hear you, come by at ten.”
“Sammy comes too.”
“Is he old enough to dr
ink?”
“Does it matter?”
“Not at my place, hell, we had these two high school girls there last week, and you should see the things they’ll do with the right incentive.”
“Such as free meth?”
Volks grinned.
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves; we’ll talk business tonight.”
Volks jammed his helmet on his hairy head, revved up his bike, and peeled away.
Sammy spit on the ground.
“If I had my gun I would have killed him.”
“And then you would be sitting in a jail cell. We do this smart or not at all. Do you understand me?”
“I get you, but I don’t like it.”
“You will, because in the end, Volks dies.”
Susan came running out of the house.
“Was that Calabrese?”
“Yeah, and he invited Jack and me to his bar.”
“What? You’re not going are you?”
“I’m going, and I’ll be fine.”
Susan looked back and forth at Tanner and Sammy.
“Could you two stop playacting for a moment and at least tell me your real names?”
Sammy stared at Tanner with a surprised expression.
“You told her that we were working together?”
“I didn’t have to; Susan is smart. My name is Tanner, he’s Sammy.”
Susan studied Tanner.
“Yes, that name fits you better, and there’s no first name either, is there?”
“He’s like Cher or Madonna,” Sammy said.
Susan kissed Tanner on the cheek and then turned to go inside.
“I have to get back to my food, and I’ll keep your secret.”
They watched her go, and then Tanner asked Sammy about Amy.
“What about her? There’s nothing going on between us if that’s what you’re asking? I wouldn’t cheat on Sophia.”
“Relax, that’s not what I meant. But I do want you to talk to Amy and find out more about the meth business, particularly about how difficult it’s been to discover how Calabrese is transporting it. I got the impression that the cops think it’s the bikers.”
“They do; it’s why she was so rough on me when she pulled me over, but every time they check one of them, they’re clean. Amy said that before meth hit the streets, their biggest problem was home-grown pot.”
The TANNER Series - Books 7-9 (Tanner Box Set Book 3) Page 21