If he attempted to drive off, he’d be shot to death inside the car, and if he tried to run away, there would be no way to avoid being spotted on the flat terrain.
The car itself was of no concern, because he had stolen it just for the meeting, knowing that negotiations sometimes went awry with a new client, and that his transportation might need to be abandoned.
Tanner got into position and waited for McKay’s men to grow impatient and come to him.
Jack Sheer came around the bend first with two men following behind, and all three men were armed. Sheer had a sawed-off shotgun in one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other. Tanner could hear McKay’s voice sounding tinny and weak, as it came from the speaker of the walkie-talkie.
“He must be inside the car, blast it.”
A second passed, and then the quiet day erupted into the thunderous sound of multiple weapons firing, as Sheer and the men with him blasted Tanner’s car, shredding the seats, destroying the dash, and shattering all the windows.
The barrage was brutal but short-lived, as first Sheer and then the two men with him fell onto the gravel with wounds to their feet.
When all three men were down and moaning in agony, Tanner slid out from beneath the car and went for their weapons.
The two men with Sheer were too concerned with their wounds to think about the revolvers they’d dropped, but Jack Sheer reached out to grab his shotgun, and Tanner shot him in the foot again.
That finished Sheer, who rolled over onto his back and began crying from the pain, as blood formed in a puddle around his foot.
Tanner tossed the two revolvers away but kept the shotgun, then he picked up the walkie-talkie.
“McKay.”
There was a pause, but then McKay spoke. “Tanner?”
“Forget your plans. And if you come after me again, I’ll kill you.”
There was no answer. Tanner dropped the unit and stomped it with the heel of his boot. After rounding the curve, he came across the pickup truck that Sheer and his men had used to block the driveway. Tanner got in it and drove off to see Frank Parker.
193
Entrance Exam
Tanner and Doc walked along a county road that was wider than Tanner remembered it being.
It had been a two-lane road mostly used by ranchers, but was now a four-lane thoroughfare, which Doc told Tanner had been extended, and ended at a ramp that would place you on Highway 16.
“That sounds much quicker than taking Derby Street to Culver Avenue,” Tanner said, and Doc gave him a strange look.
“You said you hadn’t been here for years, but you remember the street names. Either you’ve got a great memory, or you’ve spent a good deal of time here.”
Tanner looked over at Doc but didn’t comment. A moment later, something ahead caught their attention.
There was a pickup truck blocking the entrance to the Reyes Ranch. Two toughs were getting out of it and looking their way.
Doc gestured at them. “What do you think? Are they trouble? Or maybe Reyes already hired security.”
“We’ll soon find out,” Tanner said.
As they drew closer, Tanner could tell that the two men were related, likely brothers. Both were watching them with interest.
It was a hot day, and yet, the men wore unbuttoned denim shirts over their white tees. The shirts were there to cover their guns, which judging by the outlines Tanner could discern, were just jammed in their waistbands, and not sheathed in holsters.
The men were both about forty and had dull eyes set in slack faces. The one on the right had hair two shades darker than the man on the left, but other than that they looked like twins. They reminded Tanner of Earl and Merle Carter, except these boys were meaner looking and twice the size of Merle and Earl.
Doc smiled at the men. “Howdy boys. How’s it going?”
The one with the darker hair walked over and stared at them. Tanner guessed he was at least six foot five.
“If you two are headed to the Reyes Ranch, you can just turn around.”
“Why is that?” Tanner said.
The big man smirked. “It’s because I said so.”
Tanner pointed over at the entrance to the Reyes Ranch. “Is that girl with you?”
When the man turned his head to look, Tanner reached over and yanked the gun from beneath the man’s shirt.
The man cried out, “Hey, don’t!”
Tanner pressed the gun against the man’s stomach, as his brother came walking over.
“Tell your brother to toss away his gun or I’ll blow a hole in you and use you for a shield.”
“What’s going on, Ernie?” the man’s brother asked. He couldn’t see what was happening, but he could tell that something was wrong by the way his brother’s posture had stiffened.
“He’s got my gun, Rich, and he wants you to toss yours away.”
“Shit! How did he get your gun?”
“He tricked me. But never mind that, just toss away your gun.”
Rich took his gun out but didn’t drop it. “It’s a bluff. He won’t shoot you.”
Ernie looked into Tanner’s eyes. “It’s no bluff, this dude will shoot. Damn it, toss the gun away.”
Rich hesitated for a moment, but then threw his gun into the sand on the side of the road.
Tanner spoke to Doc, who had been watching the scene with his mouth hanging open. “Go get the gun and grab that shotgun from its rack in the truck.”
“What?”
“The gun, Doc; go get it. And the shotgun in the truck too.”
Doc shook himself as if he were trying to wake up, but he followed Tanner’s instructions, as Tanner told Ernie to join his brother. He then had both men lean back against the truck bed.
A car drove past as the drama unfolded. The driver was alone and seemed absorbed by a conversation he was having on his cell phone. The man never turned his head to look at them, or to glance into his rearview mirror.
“Who do you two work for, Chuck Willis?”
The brothers kept quiet and only glared at Tanner.
Doc recovered the gun and removed the shotgun from inside the pickup.
The guns, both .44 Magnum revolvers, had their serial numbers filed off, while the shotgun was loaded with 12-gauge buckshot.
“On your way,” Tanner said, and the two bruisers climbed into their truck. Before driving away Ernie stuck his head out the window.
“We’ll remember you,” he told Tanner, then he drove off.
As the truck became a dot in the distance, Doc let out a long sigh. “I about peed my pants when you grabbed that gun from his waistband. I thought for sure the other one would start shooting.”
“I guess now we know why Reyes is hiring security guards.”
Tanner gave Doc the handguns and the old man put them in his pack, while Tanner carried the shotgun pointed downward.
They walked down a paved driveway that Tanner remembered being gravel the last time he was there, and when they came upon the house, its size surprised him.
The place was new, no more than ten years old. It was a ranch-style house that was still bigger than the two-story house the Parker home had been. It sat in the same place as the old structure. There was also a new barn and a massive stable. Although everything looked different, being back on the ranch still stirred something in Tanner.
His reverie was broken as a rider approached from the left. The woman riding the black horse stopped the beast abruptly, as she spotted the shotgun in Tanner’s hand.
Tanner sat the gun on a nearby tree stump, then walked over to speak to the woman.
“Mrs. Reyes?”
Maria Reyes nodded to Tanner while taking him in, and after looking at Doc, she asked a question.
“Are you with those men parked outside?”
“No. I took their guns and sent them away.”
Maria cocked her head as she studied him. She was a beautiful Mexican American woman in her mid-forties with flawless light brown skin. She
sat atop the huge stallion as if it were an extension of her.
“You took guns away from the Harvey brothers?”
“I didn’t catch their last names, but they called each other Ernie and Rich.”
“That’s them. And what’s your name?”
“I’m Tanner, and that’s Doc.”
Maria’s eyes flowed over Tanner once more. “Are you looking for work, Mr. Tanner?”
“Yes.”
Maria smiled. “Consider yourself hired.”
194
Fair Warning
THE PARKER RANCH, SEPTEMBER 1997
Cody Parker walked into the kitchen holding the dog he had saved under one arm, just as his twin sisters were headed out the back door with their friend, an auburn-haired girl named Tonya.
All three girls were eleven years old and classmates. Tonya had been headed out the door first, but she stopped suddenly and grinned back at Cody.
“You found my dog!”
“I told you I would. Now make sure you close the gate at your house from now on.”
“I will,” Tonya said, as she took her dog from him and smiled dreamily. Her crush on Cody was evident to anyone with eyes.
The blonde-haired identical twins were named Jill and Jessie, and Jessie, being the bossier of the two girls, grabbed Tonya’s sleeve and pulled her back toward the door with one hand, as she balanced a plate in the other. The twins were holding food and drink in the form of fried chicken, biscuits, and single-serve cartons of juice.
“Where are you going with all that food?” Cody asked. His stepmother, Claire, who was seated at the kitchen table, answered him.
“They wanted to have a picnic.”
“That looks like a lot of food for three little girls.”
“We’ll eat it all,” Jill said, and then the girls were gone.
Claire gave Cody a sour look as she spotted the rifle slung across his back. “Do you have to tote that thing with you everywhere you go?”
Cody stared at her. Claire Parker married his father, Frank Parker, less than a year earlier after discovering she was pregnant with Frank’s child. At thirty, she was closer to Cody’s age than that of his father, and the two of them seemed to rub each other the wrong way.
Claire was a blonde and had regained her shapely figure in a short time after giving birth to a son, James, who sat in his high chair beside her.
“I’m just placing the rifle on the porch, so I can clean it later.”
“It’s not loaded, is it?”
“No.”
Claire sent Cody a small smile. “I just worry about the girls getting hold of it, you know?”
“Jill and Jessie know better than to play with weapons. They’ve got .22s of their own.”
Claire had been feeding the baby, Cody’s stepbrother. Cody’s words caused her to lower the hand holding the spoon near the high chair.
“Those little girls own rifles?”
“They got them a year ago on Christmas. They fired them a couple of times and then lost interest.”
Claire shook her head. She had grown up on the east coast in a northern state and had never been around guns while growing up.
“The girls are only eleven.”
“I started shooting a lot younger than that. Is my father here?”
“He’s in the living room with a visitor, a man named Tanner.”
“I know Tanner. I met him earlier.”
Little James made a mewing sound and smiled up at Cody.
“Aren’t you going to say hello to your brother?” Claire asked.
Cody walked over and took James’ small hand in his own. “He’s getting bigger.”
“Yes, and I think he looks like you and your father too.”
“People always said that I looked like my mother,” Cody said, and Claire tensed up at the mention of the first Mrs. Parker, who died when Cody was only eight.
“Um, dinner will be ready at six.”
“All right, but this Tanner, do you know why he’s talking to my father?”
“No, but it seemed like something serious.”
Frank Parker paced back and forth across the living room of his home after hearing what Tanner had to say about his meeting with Andy McKay.
Parker was a handsome man with dark hair and green eyes. He appeared younger than his forty-six years. He stopped his pacing and looked at Tanner again, who was seated on a sofa.
“All of us, not just me?”
“Yes, all of you. And then he wanted this house burned to the ground.”
Frank Parker settled across from Tanner by sitting on the edge of a table that sat near the windows.
“My daughters are just kids, and my son, my youngest son… he’s just a baby.”
“Yeah, and he was willing to pay extra for him. Mr. Parker, McKay wants every last one of you dead. What I’m wondering is why?”
Parker paced again, but then walked back to the windows and gazed out as he spoke to Tanner.
“My new wife, Claire, she and I had an affair while she was still married to McKay. We couldn’t help it; we fell in love.”
Tanner nodded. “That explains it. I figured it had to be personal for him to hate you so much.”
“McKay and I used to be friends, good friends… until I met Claire. Still, I can’t believe he would be so ruthless.”
“Love changes a man, but so does hate, and while love usually fades with time, hate deepens.”
Frank Parker gave a weary sigh. “I don’t know what to do. The county sheriff is McKay’s brother.”
“That does complicate things, but there’s only one way to handle this—McKay has to die. Otherwise, it’s just a matter of time before he finds someone who won’t turn him down.”
Parker spun around. “Why did he try to hire you?”
“I was referred. I’ve done this sort of work before, not the craziness McKay has in mind, but I’ve killed for money.”
Parker blinked several times at that news and broke eye contact, before asking a question.
“Would you kill McKay for me?”
“No. At this point I’d be a prime suspect. But Parker, McKay needs to die. The way I see it, it’s either you and your family or it’s him.”
Parker walked over and stood before Tanner. “I appreciate you coming here to warn me, but I guess all I can do is hire bodyguards.”
“I’ll kill McKay,” said a voice from the doorway.
When Tanner turned around in his seat, he saw Cody Parker walking into the room.
“You were eavesdropping,” Cody’s father said.
“I was listening in, and Tanner is right, McKay needs to die.”
Tanner stood and walked over to stare into Cody’s eyes. “You really think you could kill a man? It’s not like shooting a coyote.”
Cody met Tanner’s gaze. “Like you said, it’s him or us.”
Frank Parker walked over with his hands held up. “Whoa! Nobody’s killing anybody. I’ll hire some bodyguards and then go talk to the man. I can reason with Andy. Like I said, we used to be friends.”
Cody pointed back toward the kitchen. “McKay hates you because of that woman in there and I warned you that she was nothing but trouble.”
“That woman is your new mother, and I’ve told you more than once, we didn’t plan to fall in love, it just happened.”
Cody shook his head at his father. “She’s not my mother; she’s just your wife.”
Frank placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “I love her, boy.”
Cody’s expression softened. “I know, Dad, but loving her has turned you into a fool.”
Tanner watched this exchange in fascination. The boy, Cody, seemed to be more of a man than his father was.
Parker offered Tanner his hand. “I thank you for warning me about McKay’s intentions, and like I said, I’ll hire bodyguards. I’ll also let others know what he tried to do. That alone should stop him from going through with it. The man might want me dead, but he also doesn’t
want to wind up on death row.”
“I wish you luck then,” Tanner said.
“Why don’t we hire you to be a bodyguard?” Cody said to Tanner.
“I don’t do that sort of work, kid… sorry, I meant to say Cody.”
Cody stared into Tanner’s eyes. “I trust you. You could have taken the job, or you could have just left without saying anything. Instead, you came here to warn us. Why not see things to the end?”
Tanner smiled. He couldn’t help it. He liked the kid. “I don’t come cheap.”
“Room and board and a thousand a month,” Cody said.
“Two thousand, and it won’t take a month.”
“Done,” Cody said.
Frank Parker was watching this exchange silently, but then he found his voice. “Hey! Who does the hiring around here, boy?”
“We need him, Dad.”
“I should consult Claire.”
“I’ll pay him myself if I have to,” Cody said, “but Tanner is staying.”
Parker sighed and looked over at Tanner. “Do you believe this kid? And let me tell you, he was always like this. You’d think he was my father and not the other way around.”
“He’s a man all right,” Tanner said, and he shook Cody’s hand.
“We have a deal?” Cody asked.
Tanner gripped Cody’s hand tighter. “Yes sir, Mr. Parker, we have a deal.”
195
Regrets
The barn at the Reyes Ranch was used for storage. It didn’t smell as bad as Tanner thought it might.
Maria Reyes had shown Doc and Tanner the loft apartment at the top of the barn. Even though it had its own entrance on the side, it still smelled faintly like the hay that was stored beneath it. The tiny apartment had a kitchenette, bathroom, and a washer/dryer combo. It had been the ranch foreman’s residence, but that man had recently married his pregnant girlfriend and bought a house.
The ranch foreman also had use of an old pickup truck until he bought a better vehicle in which to keep a car seat. Tanner asked Maria if he could use the truck. She said yes and had hired both he and Doc on as security.
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 61