“Yeah, it does.”
She took him by the hand. “Let’s go talk. I have a feeling we can help each other, and you’ve already helped me.”
“All right, but I have a partner in this, a man named Tanner.”
“Where is he, in hiding?”
Tim laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s just the thought of Tanner cowering somewhere.”
“You’re saying he’s brave?”
“I don’t think Tanner feels fear, but then I’m not sure he feels anything.”
In the Chelsea section of Manhattan, Joe Pullo walked toward his townhouse after parking his Hummer in the lot on the corner. He’d been awake all night and it was catching up to him. Johnny R told him to get a few hours of sleep, but he had to be back at the club by noon.
By the time he realized Tanner was sitting on his front steps, he was only ten paces from them. Tanner’s hands were empty, so Joe stifled the reflex to reach for his weapon.
“I take it you want to talk; otherwise, we’d be trading bullets.”
Tanner gestured at two cups of coffee sitting in a Styrofoam holder.
“Black with two sugars, just the way you like it.”
Pullo climbed the steps and sat beside Tanner. As Tanner picked up one of the cups, Pullo grabbed the other one, took a sip and sighed with pleasure.
“That’s good. You got it from the diner around the corner, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, and the waitress remembered me too.”
“So, what’s up? I doubt you came here to surrender.”
Tanner turned his head and stared at him. “I don’t want to kill you, Joe.”
Pullo stared back for a moment, but then broke eye contact to take another sip of coffee.
“I don’t want to kill you either, Tanner, but things are what they are.”
Tanner nodded. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”
They sat drinking their coffee as the neighborhood stirred to life. When a blonde jogged past them with minuscule running shorts and bouncing breasts, they both followed her with their eyes.
“Tasty,” Tanner said.
Joe pointed across the street. “That one lives over there, second floor, and she likes to walk around nude with the blinds up.”
“Lucky you.”
“Yeah, I check her out now and then. I must have seen over a thousand girls dance at the club over the years, but I still take a peek at that one sometimes.”
“It’s human nature,” Tanner said, “just like the will to survive. Take a vacation, Joe, or I’ll have to give you a permanent one.”
Pullo tossed the remainder of his coffee into the gutter and stood, to glare down at Tanner.
“What the hell is wrong with you? You could have made a fortune with the Conglomerate, but instead you’re going to war with them. Kill me, kill Johnny, and Frank Richards too, and you know what? They’ll just keep coming. They’re national, Tanner. Hell, they’re international and they’ll just keep coming until you’re dead.”
Tanner stared up at Pullo, whose face was red with anger, but there was concern in those eyes too.
“They wanted to own me, Joe, and no one owns me but me.”
Pullo let out a huff and went to his front door.
“Leave the city, Tanner. I don’t want to kill you either, but I will, goddamn it I will.”
Pullo went inside and Tanner sat there for a few moments, just sipping on coffee. When he was done, he sat the cup down and walked away, passing the blonde as she made her return trip. She smiled at him and he smiled back, but there was no warmth in his smile, no warmth in his heart, for he would soon have to kill a friend.
69
Italian Tube Steak
At the Cabaret Strip Club, Merle and Earl yawned at the same time.
After Johnny R left them there with Vince, along with orders to keep an eye on Sara, Vince took it upon himself to lock Sara into a broom closet with her hands cuffed behind her, and duct tape over her mouth.
Vince said he wanted to “Soften her up.”
Afterwards, Vince stared at the broom closet as he sat at the bar sipping whiskey, while thinking of Sara. When he hopped off his stool, he spoke to Merle and Earl.
“Hey, you two have any money on you?”
“I got twenty bucks hidden in my shoe,” Merle admitted.
“That’s enough. There’s a coffee shop two blocks away, toward the tunnel. Why don’t you go there and bring back breakfast, I’ll take ham and eggs.”
Earl stood and stretched. “We’ll bring something back for the lady too.”
Vince sent them a wink. “I’ll feed her while you’re gone. She’s going to get a nice helping of Italian tube steak, if you know what I mean.”
The boys did know what he meant, and they exchanged sick glances as they thought about Vince raping Sara.
“And listen you two, don’t get any ideas about running off, because then Johnny will just whack you.”
“We won’t run,” Merle said, and as they headed for the door, Vince headed for the broom closet.
Earl opened his mouth to say something, but Merle shook his head, telling his brother to keep quiet. Then the brothers exited the club, leaving Sara alone with Vince.
Sara’s right wrist was scraped raw and bleeding from her attempt to slip her hand free of the cuffs, and she was furious at herself for having been caught.
The broom closet was narrow and the only thing she had to sit on was a plastic bucket. She was tired, hungry, frustrated, angry, and had to pee on top of it.
She was also scared, and not just for her life, because she had seen the lascivious way that Vince had stared at her.
When the closet door flew open, Sara blinked at the sudden light, but when she saw who had opened it, her heart rate escalated.
Vince looked her over, leering, then he gripped her by the neck and yanked her out, causing Sara to lose her balance and fall atop the tile floor of the club’s kitchen.
She kicked at him, but he stepped aside with ease and the effort hurt, because she was lying back atop her bound wrists.
She saw the first punch coming but couldn’t avoid it, and Vince caught her on the chin. The second one landed at her left temple and dazed her so much that she nearly passed out.
As she recovered, she realized he had taken off her shoes and was pulling her jeans down. The tile floor was cold against her skin, helping to revive her, but then a knife was pressed against her throat, and she knew she could either let him have his way, or die.
Vince saw Sara accept the reality and laughed at her, even as his free hand tore off the buttons on her blouse. But when he moved his hand down and slid it beneath the elastic of her underwear, anger overcame good sense and Sara bucked her hips, sending Vince off balance. It caused him to slam his head against the leg of an oak table.
The knife slipped as he fell, missing Sara’s neck, but not her shoulder, and blood flowed from a cut there.
Vince bellowed in fury. “You bitch!”
Vince was back on her in an instant and he used his knife to slice her bra open, exposing her breasts.
Sara fought. The hell with letting him have his way. If the bastard was going to take her, he was going to have to take her. She was not going to give in. She raised her head and bashed Vince’s weasel-like nose with her skull, then smiled as Vince grunted, and blood flowed down his face. His eyes became unfocused as well, but he raised the knife high, its blade gleaming amid the fluorescent lights and chrome counters.
Sara bucked again, but it was no use, and when the knife reached its zenith, she knew that death was just an instant away.
70
Do You Find Me Repulsive?
Tim Jackson was falling in love and he knew it.
He told Madison all about himself, about being the only child of a single mother who died when he was a senior in high school, about being a hacker, and about the price on his head.
When she told him about
her suspicion that her father had arranged her mother’s “accident,” he felt sick inside, while wondering if Tanner had killed the woman.
But Tanner had said he didn’t take those kinds of jobs and Tim believed him. He also believed that Tanner did plan to kill Madison’s father.
“How much did you steal from Daddy’s company?” Madison asked.
“About a million, but I did it a little at a time over a long period. I transferred it to an offshore account and a few weeks later I learned that someone was looking for me. Well, for my hacker alias, Rom Warrior.”
“But now they know your real name, right? Tim Dyer.”
“That’s an alias too, I’m Tim Jackson.”
Madison smiled. “Hello, Tim Jackson, and aren’t our lives just a mess?”
Tim reached across and took her hand. “Not all of it.”
Madison blushed, but she also removed her hand from his.
“Sorry,” Tim said. “I should have known you were already hooked up with someone, or is it that you find me repulsive?”
She giggled. “You’re cute and you know it, and my boyfriend and I broke up last month when he moved to California.”
“So… do I have a chance?”
“Let’s solve our problems first. You say that people tried to kill you, and what about this guy Tanner? I know you said that he saved you, but he sounds dangerous too.”
“Oh, he’s dangerous, but he’s helping me, and I think he’ll help you too. But why did you want to get into your father’s office? What were you hoping to find?”
“I don’t know, maybe something to tie him to my mother’s death. He had her killed, Tim. My dad had my mom murdered.”
Tim took her hand again and Madison let him.
“Did you find anything?”
“No. Reese wouldn’t let me go in there with him. I think he’s the only one who has the code for the alarm pad.”
“I can bypass that.”
“There’s a lock too. I saw Reese remove a key from his wallet.”
Tim grimaced. “A key? Well, I’ll find a way around it, and once I’m in your father’s computer, I’ll look for evidence that he killed your mother too.”
“Why do you need to get inside his office? Can’t you hack into it remotely?”
“MegaZenith’s firewalls are better than the Pentagon’s, but everything I need is right there in your father’s office.”
“If that’s the case, then how did you steal the money?”
“I accessed one of their subsidiary’s systems. At the time, I didn’t even know they were connected to MegaZenith, but um, I have to tell you something… Tanner, he plans to kill your father if they keep coming after him.”
Madison looked down at the tabletop. When she raised her head again, tears leaked from her eyes.
“Daddy killed my mom. I don’t care what happens to him.”
Tim heard her say the words, but he wasn’t sure he believed her.
Outside the restaurant, Carl Reese peered through the corner of a window and watched the young couple. He had met Madison, or Drew, as he knew her, just hours earlier, but he already wanted her more than he’d wanted any woman in years.
He knew he had no chance with her and that she only returned his smiles because he was her boss, but there were more ways than one to get a woman in bed, and he was not above using any of them.
Carl Reese walked away before he could be spotted, as a plan for conquest formed in his mind.
71
Blood, Boobs, And Blushing
The knife clattered to the kitchen tiles an instant before Vince collapsed and slid onto the floor beside it. When Sara looked up, she saw Merle holding a fire extinguisher.
Beside him, Earl raised a fist in triumph. “You got him a good one, Merle.”
Merle grinned, but the smile faded as he saw the bloody wound on Sara’s shoulder, but then his eyes drifted to her exposed breasts and he blushed as he tore the tape from her mouth.
“You okay, lady?”
“I’ll be fine, thanks to you and your brother, but please find the handcuff key before someone else comes in here.”
Earl checked Vince’s pockets for the key and found it; like his brother, he blushed at the sight of Sara’s breasts.
It was one thing to ogle topless dancers on a stage who were there of their own free will, quite another to glimpse the breasts of a woman who’d been bound and nearly violated.
By the time Earl had her free of the cuffs, Merle had found a chef’s jacket for Sara to put on. It was much too large for her, but it restored her modesty.
She looked at Merle and Earl with a pained expression. “They’ll kill you for helping me.”
Merle pointed down at Vince. “He sent us out for food and that’s just what we’re gonna do, go get food, then we’ll come back here and act like we found him.”
“That could work, and he did look dizzy after I head-butted him, but there’s that wound on the rear of his head.”
Sara looked around, found a stainless steel rolling pin and brought it over. Afterwards, she rubbed it against the bloody laceration on the back of Vince’s skull and dropped it beside him.
“There, they’ll think I hit him with that, but you two will still be taking a chance.”
Merle shrugged. “We couldn’t let him hurt you, not like that. That shit ain’t right.”
Sara headed for the door. “Call me later at that number I gave you. I want to know that you two are safe.”
Sara found her purse sitting atop the bar and was glad to find that her wallet and keys were in it, but her gun and phone were missing.
She turned and looked at the brothers. “Do you know what happened to my car?”
“Yeah, they had me drive it here,” Earl said, as he pointed toward the alley side of the building. “It’s just on the other side of that wooden fence in the parkin’ lot of that strip mall. I stuck your gun and phone under the seat.”
“Good, thank you.”
She had opened the door when Merle called to her.
“Hey, lady.”
“Call me Sara.”
“All right, Sara, we’ve been doin’ like you said and the word is that Tanner plans to kill Johnny R and a man named Frank Richards. Richards is a big shot in the Conglomerate.”
“The Chief Executive Officer of MegaZenith? That Frank Richards?”
“Don’t know, but that’s the name we heard.”
“Good, you did well, and guys… thank you, really.”
The brothers answered in stereo. “You’re welcome.”
Sara left, and Merle and Earl soon followed, as Vince lay drooling atop the kitchen floor.
When Tim returned to his hotel room, he found Tanner waiting for him.
“You’re late. Was there a problem?”
“Ah, well, not exactly, but I had to bring in a new partner.”
Tanner stood, brought out a gun and aimed it at Tim’s midsection.
“Explain that, and it better be good.”
Tim told Tanner about Madison, while talking quickly, his voice pitched high. By the time he had finished, his face was damp with sweat.
“She can help us, Tanner.”
“She’s Richards’ daughter, maybe she’s setting us up.”
“That’s not likely at all, is it?”
“I want to meet her,” Tanner said and put the gun away.
“Just say when and where.”
“Tonight, before you go to work, and about that, were you able to get into Richards’ office?”
“No, hell, the asshole supervisor, a dude named Reese, he had me scrubbing toilets all night.”
“Is there a chance that the girl could distract him?”
Tim let out a hoarse laugh. “Reese has the hots for her, so yeah, she could distract him, but I mean, he might want her to do something.”
“Do something?”
“Yeah, like something sexual, and I don’t think she’d go that far, at least I hope not.”
/>
“It sounds like Reese isn’t the only one that wants her.”
“I’ll get into his office, but it may take more than one or two nights to do it.”
Tanner headed for the door. “Time is not something we have a lot of, but I’ll keep them busy.”
“Okay, but where do you want to meet tonight?”
“I’ll call later and let you know, and don’t let this girl distract you.”
“I won’t. You can count on me, Tanner, really.”
Tanner left without another word and Tim collapsed on the bed.
As Madison approached her apartment, Al Trent emerged from a red Mercedes sports car and sent her a smile.
“Al? Why are you here? Did Daddy send you?”
Trent walked up to Madison and took her by the arms. “Your father doesn’t know I’m here, and I came to see you, of course.”
Madison brushed his hands off and sighed. “We’ve talked about this. You know that I don’t feel that way about you.”
“You could, in time.”
“No, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but no, and besides, I’ve met someone.”
“Is that why you’re coming home at this hour?”
“That’s none of your business, but maybe you can help me. What do you know about my mother’s death?”
Trent spoke wordlessly for a moment, before taking off his glasses and wiping them with his tie.
“Your mother died in an accident.”
Madison squinted in suspicion at Trent. “You know something, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do know something. I know that you need to mend fences with your father. This apartment here, the lease runs out in four months and your car will be repossessed before that. Your father has cut you off, Madison. How do you expect to live?”
“I have the money grandmother left me in her will and I can get a job as well. I don’t need Daddy, Al. I need the truth; I want to know what happened to my mother.”
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 21