Rossetti was Tanner’s handiwork, but Garner lay dying because of Sara.
“You don’t feel any regret at all over murdering Brian, do you?” Sara asked.
“No.”
“What was Brian’s life worth to you? What did they pay you?”
“I charged ten thousand, had he been aware that he was targeted and gone into hiding, I would have charged much more.”
“I should have placed him under protection, but we were certain no one knew he was willing to talk.”
“I was told they had cameras in his apartment, in the bedroom,” Tanner said.
It was a lie, but he hoped that the thought of being filmed unknowingly while making love would distract her. And while they talked, Tanner oh so slowly shifted his weight, taking pressure off his knees and transferring it to the balls of his feet, as he prepared to leap at Sara.
“Video? They filmed us?”
“Yes, but I never saw it. I only needed a photo of Ames.”
Sara appeared stricken and her face scrunched up as if she were about to cry, but then she emitted a low chuckle, as she smiled at Tanner.
“Nice try, Tanner, and come on, leap at me. Maybe you’ll make it before I put one in your face.”
Tanner scowled at her. She had been toying with him. He had thought himself seconds away from being shot to death, but her smile made him wonder if she was planning to take him somewhere to be tortured.
“What’s your next move?” Tanner asked, as the sound of sirens carried on the wind.
“We’re going to stay here until I’m certain my partner gets medical attention. After that, I’ll arrest you and take you away.”
“Never to be seen again,” Tanner said, and Sara nodded.
“Fasten those cuffs behind your back. Refuse and I’ll fire a shot into your shoulder.”
Tanner gazed around, searching for a way out and finding none. To the south, near the front of the home, was a red haze above which smoke billowed into an ever-darkening sky.
Tanner placed one end of the cuffs around his left wrist and clamped it shut, locking it in place.
As he was about to secure the other end, two figures emerged from around the side of the shack.
It was Merle and Earl.
They were naked from the waist up after having their shirts ripped away by the undercarriage of the RV. Their skin was reddened from the heat of the blast, and mottled with sand from lying on the ground.
Their eyelashes were gone, seared away from having been so close to the heat of the fire, and their hair was also singed, the end of each strand blackened and curled.
They still had the shotguns, but they carried them loosely by their barrels and pointed skyward. Their eyes were unfocused.
The rear of their skulls had slammed against the bottom of the motor home, leaving both men to travel about dazed and moving aimlessly in what was an intensified version of their normal state.
In the dusky light of a fading day, Sara saw the shotguns before registering any other details. She barked out an order to the brothers to drop their weapons. They stopped walking, looked startled, and the weapons fell to the dirt.
Sara had taken her eyes off Tanner for only a moment and assumed that he would use that flash of time to attempt escape by means of the ATV, or perhaps come charging at her.
She fired even as she turned, and her shot ricocheted off the side of the ATV, with Tanner nowhere in sight.
Sara stared, looking at the land beyond the vehicle, searching for Tanner, then she caught movement on her peripheral, to the left. It was Tanner.
He had dived beside Rossetti’s massive corpse and was using it as a shield to hide behind. Sara turned just in time to see a hand snake out and grab the Mossberg that laid atop the body.
She dove to the ground as the Mossberg boomed.
Tanner greeted the appearance of the Carter brothers with a smile and launched himself to twist in midair and land on his back beside Rossetti’s body, which had three times his thickness and would act as temporary cover.
He reached up with his right hand and snatched back the shotgun he had tossed away earlier, then fired high.
Killing the female FBI agent would be ideal in the short run, but the consequences of killing a federal agent would be unending and make him a priority target for the law.
He didn’t need that kind of heat, so he fired high, jacked another shell, and waited for return fire, knowing that it would give Sara’s position away.
He felt Rossetti’s corpse vibrate from the impact of the round before he registered the shot.
She was to the right of him, taking cover behind the front of the ATV.
Tanner sprang up and fired, once again spraying buckshot over Sara’s head. Afterward, he ran toward the shack and dived low, covering the last ten feet with a leap amid gunfire, and slammed into the floor of the shack just inches from the entrance to the tunnel.
Sara cursed as she watched Tanner propel himself into the shack and realized her shots had missed him.
Tanner was headed for the tunnel. If he made it into the house, he might disappear in all the chaos caused by the fire and gun battle.
The sound of sirens was loud and stationary, and red and blue lights flickered at the front of the home.
Sara blinked in surprise when she saw that the Carter brothers hadn’t moved since dropping their weapons, and they watched her run toward the shack with dazed, dull eyes, like cattle watching a farmer plow a field.
After crouching low and peeking around the doorframe, Sara entered the shack and headed for the entrance to the tunnel.
When she reached the bottom of the ladder, she paused, set the selector switch on the MP5 to full auto, and moved along the tunnel.
Her eyes were trained on the section ahead where the tunnel curved. She was ready for an ambush, while prepared to slaughter.
45
It’s Been A Hell Of A Day
Tanner waited several seconds after Sara climbed down into the tunnel, before rising from concealment behind the overturned table, where he had curled himself into a tight ball.
He retrieved his shotgun from where he had propped it in the corner among the pickaxes and shovels, then went back outside.
Merle and Earl were still standing there, and Tanner spoke to them.
“It’s been a hell of a day, hmm boys?”
They said nothing back, but just stood there, weaving.
Tanner ignored them and went to Garner. The Fed was still breathing, but he had lost blood and lay in a puddle of it. Tanner checked the agent’s pockets and found the handcuff key. After using it to free the cuff on his wrist, he dialed Garner’s phone.
When the 9-1-1 operator answered, Tanner said, “Officer down, near a shack at the rear of Al Rossetti’s property.” As the operator asked a question, Tanner dropped the phone atop Garner’s still form.
Moments later, the ATV was in motion and headed toward the distant lights of the airfield.
Sara cursed with wild abandon as she kicked the chair that she had earlier wedged against Rossetti’s office door.
Tanner had tricked her somehow.
If he had gone through the tunnel, there would have been no way for him to leave the office without first moving that chair or unlocking the window, and she could see from where she stood that the window latch was secured.
She coughed, as smoke entered her lungs. The fire was still burning, although she could hear the rush of spraying water being used by the fire department.
Tanner, she had to find Tanner.
She rushed back to the closet, stepped over Joy’s body, and traversed the tunnel passage once again. When she emerged, she found a pair of paramedics working on Garner. They had removed his vest and cut his shirt away to tend to the wound in his side.
Sara looked about, but saw neither Tanner nor the Carter brothers, then she realized that the ATV was gone as well. She gazed north and could see the lights of a vehicle in the desert, moving away.
“Will he live?”
The woman answered. “We think so, but he may have a collapsed lung, and he’s lost a lot of blood.”
Sara turned and ran toward the road. She needed a car to get to the airfield. If she couldn’t stop Tanner from flying off, she could at least have the Bureau track his flight.
The front of the house was a scene of pandemonium, where several more paramedics worked on wounded men, and the fire continued to burn not only the house, but it had also ignited a pair of parked cars.
Firefighters were spraying down the cars and the home. Their hoses and equipment made Sara’s trip back to the road a circuitous one, as she navigated around fire equipment, ambulances, and chunks of debris.
The road was closed off to civilian traffic. Sara was about to commandeer a police car when she heard a glorious sound. It was a helicopter, and it was landing in a nearby field.
She rushed toward it, reaching it just after it put down, and filled her fellow agents in on Tanner’s escape.
The helicopter rose into the night sky once more and went in pursuit. It took only seconds for the lights of the airfield to come into view, and Sara laughed with glee when she saw that the ATV was still a hundred yards shy of reaching it.
The pilot landed near the airfield, as the ATV came to a stop a short distance in front of its nose. The pilot, who was also an agent, spoke over the aircraft’s loudspeaker.
“DRIVER! STEP OUT OF THE VEHICLE WITH YOUR HANDS HELD HIGH AND YOUR FINGERS SPREAD!”
The instant the figure emerged from the ATV, Sara rushed forward with the MP5. She would have loved to torture Tanner, but she would settle for killing him outright.
“It’s me, Tanner, Special Agent Blake.”
She moved to her left to block the lights of the chopper, so that the glare wouldn’t blind Tanner and he could see her face when she pulled the trigger.
The man stepped forward with his hands held high and Sara saw it was Merle Carter.
“No!”
She dropped her weapon, ran at Merle and tackled him to the sand.
“Where is he? Damn you! Where is Tanner?”
Merle shook his head and blinked, trying to focus on the words of the woman screaming at him.
“I don’t know where he is, but I think he took my brother with him.”
Sara moaned. Then she recalled the sight that greeted her when she emerged from the tunnel the second time.
Garner on his side, his vest removed, his shirt cut away, but there was no chain around his neck, the chain that held his FBI credentials.
Sara rolled over to lay atop her back in the sand, as sobs racked her body and despair filled her heart. She had risked everything, even the life of her partner, and all for nothing.
Tanner was gone.
46
Sorry About That Whole, Ya Know, Shooting You Thing
An APB was put out on both Earl and Tanner, but only Earl was located.
Tanner had left him inside Garner’s car, handcuffed to the steering wheel, with Garner’s credentials in the glove compartment.
Garner regained consciousness before going in for surgery, and Sara was held under house arrest in the Vegas field office until Garner could be questioned further.
When he did wake the following afternoon, he gave a full statement.
Sara said nothing. Refused to utter a single syllable, but when her boss, Martin Brewer, appeared in Vegas, she followed him into an interrogation room and confessed all.
After much back and forth between Brewer and other FBI officials, Sara was released, but told to stay in Vegas until further notice. She was also informed that if she left the city for any reason whatsoever, she would be labeled a fugitive, hunted down, and charged with the attempted murder of a federal officer.
Hank O’Grady placed the blame for everything on Cindy’s father, Joe Preston.
O’Grady and his surviving men, of which there were only four, including Drake, testified that it was Preston who was behind the attack on Rossetti’s home.
O’Grady claimed to have no knowledge of Cindy’s whereabouts, and hadn’t known that she was being held for ransom by Rossetti, until someone named Ramone called him by using Cindy’s phone.
Three witnesses came forth to say that Joe Preston liked to go around claiming to be the owner of a ranch, and often made it sound as if he were a very rich man.
O’Grady’s lawyers put forth the theory that Rossetti heard Preston’s tales and believed them, then kidnapped his daughter and held her for ransom.
They also contended that their client knew nothing about the insane, “Rescue Mission” that Preston organized, and that the unfortunate men who flew to Vegas with him were duped into believing that Hank O’Grady had sanctioned it.
The whereabouts of Joe Preston and his daughter, Cindy, were unknown, as well as that of Cindy’s reputed boyfriend, William Benton.
Mr. Benton and Ms. Preston were only wanted for questioning, but there were warrants out for Joe Preston, and police in both Nevada and Colorado were ready to charge him with numerous crimes.
Meanwhile, New York City crime boss, Johnny R, had vowed to get to the bottom of what happened to his Uncle Al. He’s also pledged that the person responsible for his uncle’s death would pay.
When asked what he meant by that last statement, Johnny Rossetti simply grinned.
Sara visited Garner in the hospital three days later. She couldn’t help but smile when she found four young nurses gathered around the man’s bed.
When Garner spotted her, his face lost all trace of pleasure, and he asked the young ladies to leave them alone to talk.
The women did as he asked and each of them graced Sara with a look of either resentment or envy.
“I’ve come to apologize.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Sara hung her head. “I don’t expect forgiveness, but I want you to know I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
“I shouldn’t give you any forgiveness either, but in a way, I have. I’ve decided not to press charges against you.”
“I know. It’s why I’m not in jail right now.”
She raised her eyes and studied him. “Why are you showing me mercy?”
Garner met her gaze. “I’m not sure myself.”
“Whatever the reason, I thank you.”
“You need help, Sara, psychiatric help, or this obsession you have for Tanner will eat you alive.”
“It’s not obsession. The bastard killed the man I love… loved. If our roles were reversed, wouldn’t you have risked anything, paid any price to see him suffer?”
“No, not any price and I never would have hurt you. I mean, my God, Sara, you shot me. You shot me, and I nearly died.”
Sara wiped at tears, as she spoke in a whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
“Get help, please? I didn’t know Brian Ames, but I can’t imagine he’d want you to ruin your life over his death, not if he loved you half as much as you seemed to have loved him.”
Sara took in a big gulp of air and let it out in a sigh.
“Goodbye, Jake, and again, I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”
“Get help, Sara, get help.”
Sara drifted out of the hospital room with one thought on her mind—finding Tanner.
Two days later, she was summoned back to the Vegas field office where she was presented with a generous offer.
She could stay with the Bureau, in the records department, located in West Virginia. She would no longer be an armed agent, would face little stress, but would have to agree to a year of weekly visits with a Bureau psychiatrist.
She turned the offer down without having to consider it, handed in her credentials, and became a civilian again.
The Bureau had outlived its usefulness to her. She saw that clearly, and she was glad to be free of the restraints and pretense that her position as an a
gent had forced upon her. She no longer had to feign seeking justice through lawful means when all she really wanted was payback.
There would be no financial difficulties due to job loss either, because Garner had guessed right.
Sara came from money and had inherited a trust fund, thanks to a great-great grandfather who had been an industrialist and amassed a fortune.
Sara didn’t need to work and had the money to finance whatever she chose to do with her life.
She had only one desire, or rather, an obsession. Sara wanted to find the man calling himself Tanner and eventually end his life, but only after he paid with agony for killing her love, and he would beg for death before she was through with him. Oh yes, Tanner would beg.
47
This World’s A Bitch
Eleven days after Sara had taken her helicopter ride to search for Tanner in the desert, Billy and Cindy were taking one of their own.
They were in Arizona, at the Grand Canyon, as Cindy fulfilled a dream she had nurtured for years.
They were flying over the South Rim of the canyon but had plans to return the next day and take in the West Rim, along with its famed Skywalk.
The young lovers had taken Tanner’s advice and contacted a document forger that Tanner had used in the past. They were scheduled to return to the city of Flagstaff in two days’ time to pick up their new IDs and passports, after which they would marry and begin their new lives.
After touring the Grand Canyon, they returned to their motel room. Following a quick swim in the pool, they decided they were hungry, and while Billy showered, Cindy drove across the highway and grabbed food from a drive-thru.
She drove an old Chevy Cavalier that Billy had bought with cash. Billy hadn’t registered the car yet though, he was waiting to do so under his new name.
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 14