The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart

by Remington Kane

  “Who hired you to intimidate the Reyes family?”

  “It was the kid.”

  “What kid?”

  “You know, Javier, Javier Reyes.”

  “Javier hired you to give his own mother grief?”

  Rich spoke up. “It probably wasn’t his idea. He runs with those motorcycle punks. All I know is that he paid us two bills a day to run off anybody looking for work there.”

  “Where did he get the money? Is he selling drugs?”

  “Those dudes, they transport, but not here, they do a little business up in San Antonio, but they’re nothing.”

  “What’s the name of the gang?”

  Rich laughed. “You know how those pricks roll. The name probably has the word devil or diablo in it somewhere, but they hang out over by the railroad tracks on the other side of Highway 16. It’s a place that used to be a Taco Queen.”

  “You’re not still working for him, are you?”

  “No, man. It sucked sitting out on that road all day. At least when we’re here we get to see some ladies jogging by.”

  “And nobody kicks your ass.”

  “That too, so are we done?”

  “We’re done. But if I see you at the Reyes Ranch again you won’t like what comes next.”

  “Yeah, tough guy, we hear you. Hey, you want to buy some weed? We got good shit.”

  “Maybe next time.”

  Tanner drove away from the park, but he had more questions than when he’d arrived there.

  212

  A Rat Abandons His Ship

  THE MCKAY RANCH, SEPTEMBER 1997

  Tanner had traveled on foot to kill McKay and found that the man had upped his security considerably.

  There were two armed guards doing crisscrossing circuits around the ranch house, while four stood on the porch holding rifles, and two more guarded the entrance to the driveway.

  Tanner moved closer to the house by staying in the shadows and hunkered down at the base of a wide tree, which was twenty feet from the home.

  Beyond the house, light spilled from the stables, and Tanner heard several voices amid the clinking of what sounded like poker chips. That meant there would be still more men to deal with.

  The level of security puzzled Tanner.

  If McKay was expecting an attack, then why not involve his brother the sheriff and have deputies guarding him, such as the one assigned to guard the entrance to the Parker ranch.

  By not involving the law, it meant that McKay was hiding something from his brother. Tanner could guess what that something was.

  The shooters had all been Mexican and were affiliated with a gang in Mexico that was known to be involved in the drug trade as security for couriers.

  McKay must have hired those men to kill the Parkers, and their employers weren’t happy about losing four soldiers.

  Tanner smirked. McKay’s insane quest for vengeance had made him a bigger target for revenge than the Parkers had ever been.

  A door at the side of the house opened and Jack Sheer hobbled out on his crutches. Sheer was dragging a big duffel bag behind him, the type that had a thick strap so you could sling it across your back.

  After looking about to see if anyone was watching, Sheer headed toward a car parked near the door. After some difficulty, due to his bad foot and the size of the huge green bag, Sheer managed to wedge the duffel inside the trunk.

  One of the guards came around the corner of the house and called to Sheer, just as the ranch foreman slammed the lid on the trunk shut.

  “Jack!”

  Tanner saw Sheer nearly jump out of his skin and knew the man was up to something. If the guard noticed, he hadn’t let on, and smiled as he approached Sheer. The guard was young, about Tanner’s age, with straw-colored hair and a big gap-toothed grin.

  “What’s up, Jack?”

  “Nothing, Ray, how are things with you?”

  “I’m liking this easy overtime with another baby on the way, but what do you think the odds are that we’ll see any trouble?”

  Sheer said nothing, but Tanner saw that his right hand had begun to twitch.

  “Jack?”

  “Um, no trouble. This is just a precaution because a deal that Mr. McKay was involved in went wrong. Besides, if anything happens the boss can always call in his brother the sheriff, right?”

  The guard, Ray, seemed to relax at those words.

  “Yeah, that’s right, the cops will back us up. What kind of people was the boss dealing with?”

  “Legitimate, or so he thought, until the man threatened him on the phone.”

  Ray shook his head sadly. “It takes all kinds, but that’s enough yakking. I have to keep moving or the other perimeter guard, Ed, will report me. You know what a prick that guy is.”

  “Right, see you around, Ray.”

  When the guard was out of sight, Sheer opened the car door to get in, but then banged a fist on the roof of the vehicle while muttering something to himself, as if recalling that he’d forgotten something.

  After watching him hobble back inside the house, Tanner saw the second guard appear. The man came from the opposite direction that the first one had. After watching the man until he rounded a corner of the house, Tanner left the shadows and went to the car, where he reached in and pulled on the trunk release lever.

  Tanner removed the duffel bag from the trunk and sat it by the door, behind a large bush. He then climbed inside the trunk, but only after he pulled back the carpet to uncover the cable that controlled the trunk release, so he wouldn’t be trapped inside.

  He had his gun ready in case Sheer opened the trunk again, but doubted that he would do so, since the duffel bag had to be wedged inside and had taken up all the space.

  Twenty seconds after lowering the trunk lid, Tanner could hear Sheer approaching in that faltering gait that the crutches gave him.

  The motor started, just after the front end of the car lowered from Sheer’s weight in the driver’s seat, and soon they were on the move.

  Once Tanner had Sheer away from the ranch and without the guards to intervene, he would get answers from the man. He would also teach him the price for not heeding his warning, a warning he delivered when he shot him in the foot.

  Tanner was young, and he had discovered that those older often discounted him because of his youth. But Sheer would learn the folly of such thinking. It would be the last lesson he would ever learn.

  Within minutes, Sheer was motoring along on Highway 16, and Tanner settled in for the ride.

  213

  Me First

  Tanner felt an unfamiliar twinge of concern for another human being the moment he heard what had happened. Romina was missing.

  After a polite, if strained, meeting with Maria at the ranch, when Chaz Willis came by to pick up Romina for their date, the two teens left in his car and headed to the movies. Chaz was seventeen, tall, dark, and as good-looking as his father. He spoke politely to Maria and appeared to adore Romina, who was smiling at everything the boy said. She looked as happy as Tanner had ever seen her.

  Tanner had wanted to follow, just in case, but both Romina and Maria told him it wouldn’t be necessary. Tanner stayed behind and lay down for a nap before he rose to begin his usual nightly vigil.

  Doc shook him awake less than three hours later. That was when Tanner learned that Chaz had called the house asking to speak to Romina, who he believed had abandoned him at the movie theater. After Maria told Chaz that Romina hadn’t come back home, she discovered that her daughter’s phone wasn’t being answered. Maria had asked Doc to get Tanner.

  Tanner found her standing outside. She was staring at the driveway as if she were willing Romina to appear.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Maria said, and Tanner saw that her eyes were on the verge of tears.

  Javier was present as well and looked numb with worry for his sister.

  Maria let loose a long sigh. “I called the police and they said it was too soon to panic. I understand tha
t, but with everything else that’s been going on around here, I just… oh God, where is she? I called her friends, and no one knows anything. I even tried Tonya Jennings, wondering if she had gone to see her, but no, no one knows where she is.”

  Headlights came down the drive and Chaz Willis’s car appeared. When he climbed out of it, the kid looked both bewildered and scared, as he approached the group and explained what had happened.

  “When the movie ended, we both had to use the bathroom, so I went into the men’s room while Romina walked toward the ladies’ room on the other side of the lobby. When I came out, I walked over there and waited, but after fifteen minutes went by, I started to worry. That’s when I asked a girl I know from school to check and see if Romina was inside, and she said that she wasn’t.”

  “What did you do then?” Tanner asked.

  “I looked everywhere for her and kept calling her phone. I thought we were having a great time, but now I don’t know. I thought maybe she dropped out of the date for some reason… and that’s when I called here.”

  Another set of headlights came down the driveway and Tonya appeared. She walked over to Maria and took her hand.

  “Is there any word yet?”

  Maria shook her head, and this time a tear fell. She looked over at Chaz with pleading eyes.

  “Have you done something to my daughter? Is your father behind this?”

  Chaz looked taken aback by the accusations, as well as insulted. “Mrs. Reyes, I would never hurt Romina, and neither would my father.”

  “I have an idea,” Tanner said. “Maria, where does Romina’s ex-boyfriend live?”

  “Billy? Do you think he’s done something to her?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

  “I know where Billy lives,” Chaz said.

  Tanner joined him in his car, as Maria joined Tonya in hers to follow. Doc and Javier stayed behind in case Romina came home.

  Chaz gripped the steering wheel tightly as he drove, and his handsome young face twisted into a grimace filled with hate.

  “If that fucking Billy has hurt Romina, I’ll kill him, I swear I will.”

  “You’ll have to get in line,” Tanner said, as he touched the knife in his pocket.

  214

  A Waste Of A Good Room

  SOMEWHERE NORTH OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, SEPTEMBER 1997

  After more than an hour had passed, Tanner began to think that stowing away inside Sheer’s trunk wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  When the car finally came to a stop five minutes later, Tanner felt the car rise, as Sheer removed his bulk from the vehicle. Tanner gripped his gun tightly, while waiting for the trunk to open.

  The trunk lid stayed closed and a scraping sound came, as Sheer slid the nozzle of a gas pump into the opening on the side of the car.

  Within minutes, they were back on the road. It was another half an hour until Sheer stopped again and left the car. Tanner took a chance and pulled on the cable that controlled the trunk release. It took much more effort than using the latch inside the car, but after three seconds of steady pulling, the trunk unlatched and popped open partway.

  They were at a motel that was set off a highway. After verifying that no one was in sight other than the people in the passing cars, Tanner stepped out of the trunk and felt his cramped legs and back sigh with relief. Before closing the lid, he covered up the release cable with the carpet again, then secured the trunk lid shut as quietly as he could.

  The car was parked just to the right of the window that looked into the motel office. Tanner saw that Sheer was taking a room, as the middle-aged motel manager handed a key across the counter.

  The woman pointed to her left, likely indicating to Sheer where his room was located. Tanner moved in that direction before Sheer could turn around. He was at the ice machine and facing away when Sheer backed the car into the slot before Room 12.

  Sheer hobbled around on his crutches to the rear of the vehicle just as a young couple was walking by. The woman was a blonde wearing a short dress. After saying hello to the couple, Sheer watched the woman until she and her boyfriend entered their room, which was two doors down from Sheer’s.

  Tanner used this distraction to ease closer, and when Sheer opened the trunk with his key, Tanner was standing right behind him.

  Sheer whispered, “What the hell?” as he stared into the empty trunk.

  Tanner gave out a little whistle, and Sheer nearly fell as he spun to face him on his crutches.

  “Tanner?”

  After ripping the car keys out of Sheer’s hand, Tanner gripped the crutches and kicked Sheer in his ample gut. That caused the ranch foreman to fall on his ass inside the trunk, while also banging his head on the rim of the trunk lid.

  “We need to talk,” Tanner said. He shoved Sheer’s legs inside the trunk and closed it on him. Twenty seconds later, Tanner had the car back on the highway and was searching for a secluded spot.

  Back at the motel, the crutches laid discarded on the ground. Sheer would soon have no need of them, or of anything else in this world, and he would tell Tanner everything he wanted to know.

  215

  Dragon Slayer

  Romina’s ex-boyfriend, Billy, lived in a quiet neighborhood of new two-story homes.

  Each home had a driveway on the left and a deck in the rear, but no basement. With the house shrouded in darkness, Tanner feared that the boy may have taken her somewhere else.

  That is, if Billy was even the one who took Romina.

  It briefly crossed Tanner’s mind that the Harvey brothers might have grabbed her, but he dismissed the idea. That level of escalation didn’t seem like something they would have the balls for. Also, they would have to know that he would kill them once he found them.

  Romina likely accompanied the person who had her on her own or was tricked by them. She wouldn’t trust the Harvey brothers enough for either scenario to play out.

  Tonya parked her car behind Chaz’s, and Tanner and Chaz walked back to speak to her and Maria, as Tonya lowered her window.

  “You two stay here while I check out the house.”

  “It looks like no one is at home,” Maria said, but Chaz pointed to the car that he had parked behind, an old Chevy.

  “I’m not 100% sure, but I think that’s Billy’s car.”

  “Everybody wait here,” Tanner said. “I’m going to check out that car and then the house.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Chaz said.

  “That’s not a good idea, kid.”

  “I wasn’t asking,” Chaz said, and Tanner nodded, liking the boy’s fire.

  “Let’s go.”

  When they reached the car, Chaz let out a little moan after looking inside.

  “That green sweater on the back seat there, Romina was wearing that inside the theater because of the air-conditioning.”

  Tanner recognized the sweater as well, and when he peered down the driveway, he saw a narrow strip of light coming out from beneath the garage door.

  “Stay behind me,” he told Chaz, then he walked toward the garage.

  As they drew closer, they could hear a male voice that sounded plaintive in tone, but couldn’t make out the words. Once there, Tanner tried the door handle very gently and discovered that it was locked. He then eased around to a window on the side and peered in through a gap on the right, at the edge of the curtains.

  Romina was seated in a wooden chair at the back left-hand corner of the garage. She was tearful and frightened. She appeared to be unharmed, but her ankles were duct taped to the chair legs while her wrists were similarly bound to the arms.

  Seated and facing her in a matching chair was a boy with blond hair that fell past his shoulders. He was wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt and pants from a suit. The boy was pleading with Romina while one hand gestured wildly and the other hung limp and held a gun.

  Chaz whispered, “Oh shit,” when he spotted the gun. Tanner gestured for him to remain quiet, before taki
ng the boy by the arm and pulling him away from the garage.

  “Go to Miss Jennings and have her call the cops. If Billy’s parents come home or if anybody else tries to come back here, stop them, especially Maria, Mrs. Reyes. The last thing we want to do is panic Billy.”

  “All right, but what are you going to do?”

  Tanner brought out his gun. “I’m going to free Romina.”

  Chaz looked at the gun and then up into Tanner’s eyes. “Are you going to kill him?”

  “We’ll see. But Romina is coming out of there alive, I promise you that. And one more thing, I’ll need the keys to your car.”

  Chaz hesitated for just an instant before handing Tanner the keys. While Chaz walked over to talk to Tonya and Maria, Tanner started Chaz’s car. While keeping the lights off, he turned into the driveway, cut the engine, and let the vehicle coast toward the garage. Once there, he restarted the engine, turned on the high beams, and blasted the radio.

  He was out of the car and standing at the side of the garage door when it went up three feet. Billy ducked beneath it, before letting the door fall shut behind him. Tanner watched as Billy shielded his eyes with his hands and saw that he had tucked the gun behind his back in his waistband.

  “Who’s there?”

  Tanner fought the urge to shoot the little psycho. Instead, he just reached over and removed Billy’s gun, which caused the kid to spin around and face him, while crying out in surprise.

  “Hey!”

  Tanner smashed Billy across the face with an elbow and Billy’s hands flew to his broken nose. Tanner then kicked him in the balls, grabbed him by the hair, and kneed him in the side of the head for good measure.

  Billy collapsed to the ground with a moan, and Tanner raised the door and stepped inside the garage.

  “Tanner!” Romina said, as he drew closer. Until that moment, she had been so blinded by the headlights that all she saw were shadows.