He had to keep his legs straight and still, otherwise the metal backing from the oven would rattle and make noise. Tanner knew that anyone opening the basement door would see his lower half suspended above the steps and tear his legs to pieces with gunfire.
Tanner listened for any sound, even as his eyes searched for movement through the smeared, thick glass rectangle set in the oven door. The cramped space was hot and stank of grease and burnt meat. While grimacing, Tanner realized that when he fired the shotgun in the tight space the sound would be deafening.
He waited like that, as his legs cramped from strain and sweat ran down his face and into his eyes.
When the wait ended, it was abrupt. First, Aldo’s shadow appeared, then the back door was kicked in. Afterward, Aldo and Ronny joined Craig in the middle of the room.
The first blast from Aldo’s Mossberg made Tanner grit his teeth, and after Craig ripped open the door beneath the sink, Tanner knew it was time to act.
He was right about the sound, as the blast from his own gun deafened him and set his ears to ringing, but he followed it up with another shot as he shoved open the oven and blasted Craig.
Tanner crawled out of the oven, his head swiveling about for signs of movement, as the ringing in his ears blocked out all other sound.
The man who had kicked open the back door was dead, but one of the other men was reaching for a Glock. Tanner beat him to it and used the gun to place two bullets into his head.
He wanted to ask the remaining man where the fourth man was, but he knew he would never hear the answer over the ringing sound in his ears. He suspected that the fourth man had been left outside to guard Billy and Cindy.
Tanner tossed his empty shotgun away and grabbed up Aldo’s superior Mossberg. With practiced efficiency, he pumped another shell into the chamber and placed the gun against Aldo’s chest.
Aldo found it hard to focus on anything other than the agony in his shredded legs, and he moaned in disgust as he watched Tanner blow Ronny’s brains out.
When he saw that Tanner meant to kill him with his own gun, he cursed, and then he asked Tanner a question.
“How the hell did you fit inside that oven?”
There was no answer. Tanner just stared down at him with a set of cold eyes, and for Aldo, the world ended.
Outside the house Aldo’s man, Benny, was smiling after hearing the familiar blasts of Aldo’s Mossberg.
Benny was the youngest and newest member of Aldo’s crew. He was a muscular man with prison tats on his neck and a single braid hanging down his back.
Benny grinned at Billy and Cindy, who were sitting on the ground while propped against the side of the pickup.
“Your asshole friend Tanner is dead, and if I had to guess, Aldo will want to plant you too.”
Cindy responded to his words by crying, while Billy tensed up, as if he was about to leap to his feet.
Benny pointed his gun at him. “Try it. Try it and I’ll blow your head off.”
Billy settled back against the pickup and Cindy reached over and took his hand.
A minute passed, then two, and then nearly five, and Benny’s eyebrows knitted together.
He wanted to call Aldo to find out what was happening, but just in case things hadn’t ended inside, he didn’t want to distract his boss or give away his position by causing Aldo’s phone to ring or vibrate.
Benny reached down and grabbed a fistful of Cindy’s hair, causing her to rise to her feet, while keeping his gun leveled at Billy.
“Stay seated, kid, me and the sweet piece are just going to take a look inside the house. If you try to run, I’ll kill her.”
Billy put up a hand. “I won’t move, just please don’t hurt her.”
“Stay seated and she’ll be fine. Now c’mon, Blondie, let’s see what’s going on in there.”
Benny guided Cindy along by the grip he still held on her hair, and as they stepped toward the house, something caught his eye. A car was coming. Benny turned back toward the road and watched as an old Chevy pulled to the curb and parked. Benny studied the car and thought the driver was alone.
The kid by the pickup twitched and Benny pointed his gun at him, but the kid wasn’t looking at him. He was staring at something behind Benny, and the kid was smiling.
Benny jerked his head around, saw Tanner rushing toward him, then felt the carving knife enter his chest. Benny released Cindy and sank to his knees.
As a chill passed through Benny, he actually felt his heart stop beating, and knew he was dead.
17
Just When You Think You’ve Got It Made
After Tanner killed Benny, the Chevy that had been parked out on the road jumped the curb while making a harsh scraping sound, it then headed across the uneven ground of the lawn.
Tanner swung the Mossberg up to blast it, but Billy was blocking his shot as he ran over toward Cindy. Tanner cursed and then, not being a fool, he swiveled his head about looking for other attackers. That’s when he spotted Earl sprinting toward him from a corner of the house.
When he spun in that direction, Cindy was blocking his shot. Before Tanner could adjust, Earl plowed into her and shoved Cindy into Tanner, causing him to lose his balance just as the car driven by Merle clipped Billy and knocked him down.
Tanner recovered, rolled and was bringing the shotgun up when he saw Cindy frantically gesturing behind him. Tanner dived out of the way just in time to avoid being run over by Merle.
He hadn’t been aware the car had changed direction because his ears still rang from the shot he had fired inside the oven.
Earl tried to wrest the shotgun away, even as Merle exited the car. Tanner kicked Earl in the chest, forcing him away, but Merle reached out with a stun gun and blasted Tanner, causing him to drop his weapon and collapse atop the grass.
Billy came limping over just as they loaded Tanner into the back seat of the Chevy, but Earl swung the Mossberg around and Billy froze in his tracks.
The Chevy stuttered as if it were about to cut off, but it kept running, and Merle headed the car down the lawn and back toward the road.
The vehicle gave off white smoke as it hemorrhaged engine coolant, and when Merle drove it off the curb, the muffler ripped loose.
Merle felt like his heart was doing a thousand beats a second. He kept checking the back seat, where Earl was holding the shotgun on Tanner.
When the muffler came off the Chevy, Merle stopped the car in the middle of the street and the engine died.
“This car is done. We’ll take Aldo’s Land Rover.”
Earl looked horrified by the suggestion. “Are you crazy?”
“Aldo’s probably dead. I’m pretty sure he won’t mind.”
Tanner was still affected by the first blast when Merle gave him a second taste of the stun gun, then he was carried to the Land Rover.
Merle pointed back at Billy and Cindy. “Go make sure those two don’t follow us.”
Earl took out a knife and ran back toward the young couple.
Billy pushed Cindy behind him and put up his hands to fight, but Earl stopped short of them and plunged the blade into a rear tire of the pickup, causing a flat.
Then the Carter brothers took off, leaving Cindy and Billy to look on with sad eyes, as they worried over Tanner’s fate.
18
That Smile
Merle handed his brother a large plastic zip tie and Earl bound Tanner’s wrists together.
Merle gazed at Tanner in the rearview mirror and it thrilled him to see the man dazed and helpless.
“We got him! Damn it if we don’t got him!”
Earl patted him on the shoulder. He was so giddy that he was giggling, but when he looked over at Tanner and met the man’s eyes, the giggle died in his throat.
“Who are you two? Do you work for Rossetti?” Tanner asked, and was glad he could hear his own voice, and that the ringing in his ears had faded away.
“We work for ourselves and we’re gonna get a shitload of money
for you.”
“How much?”
“Ten grand.”
“Dead or alive?”
Earl shrugged. “Either one.”
“Rossetti will pay more for me alive, especially when he finds out I killed four of his men back there. You can probably get twenty.”
Earl caught his brother’s eye in the mirror.
“He’s right. He’s worth more alive than dead, because that way Rossetti can kill him himself.”
Merle stared at Tanner. “He’s just sayin’ that so we won’t kill him, still… after whackin’ Aldo and his boys, yeah, Rossetti will probably pay more.”
There was a cell phone sitting in the cup holder. Its shrill ring made the brothers jump in their seats.
“Rossetti’s calling,” Tanner said.
Merle reached for the phone as if it was too hot to touch, but after six rings, he answered it.
“Hello?”
“Benny?”
“Um, my name is Merle Carter, is this Rossetti?”
“This is Ramone, why are you answering Benny’s phone?”
“It was in the Land Rover.”
“Where the hell is Aldo?”
“Aldo’s dead. Tanner killed him and his whole crew.”
The line went silent and Merle rode on with the phone pressed against his ear, as he drove along US-93.
“Listen, Merle, or whoever you are, do you have any idea where Tanner might be now?”
“We got him! My brother and me, we got Tanner and we took him alive. He’s right here in Aldo’s ride.”
More silence as Ramone processed the news. Seconds later, Merle could hear him speak to someone else, but couldn’t make out what was being said. Then a new voice came on the line.
“This is Albert Rossetti, if you’ve got Tanner, put him on the phone.”
“Ah, yeah, um sure thing, Mr. Rossetti, hold on a second.”
Merle passed the phone over his shoulder, as he spoke to his brother.
“It’s Rossetti himself and he wants to speak with Tanner.”
Earl took the phone clumsily with his left hand and then held it up next to Tanner’s right ear.
“Hello? Tanner?”
“Hello, Rossetti.”
“Listen, how do I know it’s you?”
“It’s me. I was hired to kill you and that’s just what I’m going to do.”
“Hey, tough guy, I don’t think you’re gonna do shit. You know what’s funny? The guy that hired you, we’re best buds now and I’m under the Conglomerate’s protection, so everything you’ve done is for nothing.”
“I was hired to do a job and I’m going to do it. Nothing changes that, Rossetti, nothing.”
“We’ll see, punk, now put that Merle guy back on.”
Tanner jerked his head away from the phone and Earl handed the cell phone back to his brother, who received instructions on where to meet up with Ramone.
Merle slipped the phone back in the cup holder and spoke to Earl.
“We’re taking him to a house on Stewart Avenue in Vegas. A dude named Ramone will meet us there.”
Tanner gazed out at the desert landscape, content to let himself be ferried to Vegas by the Carter brothers. After all, that’s where his target was, and Rossetti would be that much easier to kill if he thought he had nothing to fear.
“Merle?”
Merle looked at his brother via the mirror. “What?”
“Tanner’s smilin’. Why’s he smilin’?”
“Just keep that shotgun on him.”
“All right, but I don’t like that smile.”
Merle moved his head until he could see Tanner in the mirror, and no, he didn’t like that smile either.
19
He Must Be Dead
Sara and Garner jumped from a helicopter, then squinted as protection against the sand billowing about in the wake from the chopper’s blades.
The house was several hundred feet away, but Sara spotted the body on the front lawn as soon as she looked in that direction. He had been a muscular man with a long braid, and there was a knife sticking out of his chest.
Garner pointed at the body as they drew closer. “Looks like he got it in the heart. There’s not much blood.”
Sara nodded in agreement, then noticed the local PD approaching. The cop was a forty-something woman with short dark hair and blue-green eyes. She ignored Garner but looked Sara over with much interest.
“I’m Detective Gladstone. I understand that you know who caused all this chaos?”
“Yes,” Sara said. “We believe it was a man named Tanner, but I understand you have a witness?”
Gladstone pointed at a hill across the road. “Mr. Howard, his house is on the other side of that hill, but he didn’t witness any violence.”
“What did he see?” Sara asked.
“He saw two men carry another man into an SUV from that car abandoned in the street there. He also saw a young male and a young female, both Caucasian, standing near our first corpse, the man on the lawn there.”
“Do you have the man and woman in custody?”
“Mr. Howard said the boy changed a tire on a pickup and hauled ass away from here. And he said it had Arizona plates, so they might be headed out of state.”
Garner spoke up. “We’d like to look in the house when we can.”
“Sure, and I understand you have a forensic team on the way as well, correct?”
Garner smiled. “Yes, and we appreciate your help.”
Gladstone smiled back at him. “Always happy to help.”
After Gladstone left, Garner looked at Sara and saw worried eyes above a frown.
“What’s wrong?”
“She said that the witness saw a man being carried away. It sounds like Tanner’s luck may have finally run out.”
Sara’s phone vibrated, and she answered it. It was Agent Whitman. Sara placed the call on speakerphone.
“Go ahead, Agent Whitman, what’s this news you have?”
“It’s Rossetti. He and another man left his home together, but our agents lost them after they entered a casino.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes, the four bodies on the scene there were all employees of Rossetti. All four men are listed as private security.”
“Private army is more like it. Thank you, Whitman, and stay in touch.”
Garner grimaced. “It took six men, but it sounds like Tanner’s finished. If Rossetti hasn’t killed him yet, he soon will.”
Sara felt a strange mixture of emotions. She wanted Tanner dead, but only by her hand. It was also likely that his body would never turn up, but rather be buried forever out in the desert.
That’s when Sara wished for something that she never thought she would, she wished for Tanner’s continued survival.
She turned and headed into the house to look at more of Tanner’s handiwork.
20
And He Can Fight Too
Merle was thinking of ways to spend his share of the money when the Land Rover was struck from the side and forced into oncoming traffic.
“Shit!”
Merle saw a tractor-trailer headed straight for him with its air horn blaring, but before he could recover from his shock and move back into his lane, the Land Rover was struck again. This time the impact forced him off the roadway completely and into the scrubland past the shoulder.
Tanner was jounced about just as Merle and Earl were, but he used it to turn toward Earl and kicked out at the shotgun, knocking it out of Earl’s hands and onto the floor, while a second kick caught Earl on the chin and stunned him.
Once Merle brought the vehicle to a shuddering stop, Tanner opened the door, stood with his bound hands raised high and then brought his arms down in a rush. The plastic zip tie struck the edge of the steel door and popped open, as its ratcheting teeth gave way to the immense pressure.
Merle saw that Tanner was free and grabbed the stun gun off the seat. That’s when Billy shattered the driver’s side windo
w with a tire iron. Merle cried out as a thousand bits of glass covered him, and Tanner reached over the back seat and ripped the stun gun away, before plucking the shotgun from the floor.
Cindy ran to Tanner and grabbed his arm. “Are you okay?”
Tanner saw the concern in her eyes and smiled. “I’m good, thanks to you and your boyfriend.”
Someone shouted, “Hey!” and Tanner saw that the driver of the truck they nearly hit had parked his rig and was charging toward them, his face scarlet from anger.
Tanner handed Billy the weapons and walked over to meet the man. The trucker was huge, well over six feet tall and wide with muscle.
The man stopped walking and glared at Tanner. “Were you the asshole driving that car?”
Tanner said nothing, quickened his pace, and slammed a fist into the trucker’s gut.
A sound like, “Oooouuummmffff,” emerged from the trucker as he bent forward, and then Tanner slammed him on the side of the head with an elbow, causing the man to grunt and fall facedown into the sand.
With that done, Tanner returned to the Land Rover and stared in at the Carter brothers.
“Billy, Cindy, go wait in the pickup and I’ll be right there.”
Cindy nibbled her bottom lip, then spoke to Tanner. “Are you going to kill them?”
“That depends on them,” Tanner said, and Cindy followed Billy back to the pickup.
Merle gazed at Tanner with hopeful eyes. “You ain’t gonna kill us?”
“Not if you do what I say. And it should also save you from Rossetti too.”
“Rossetti?” Earl said.
“I don’t think he’ll be happy that you let me get away, do you?”
The brothers looked at each other as their faces turned pale.
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 7