Laurel cocked her head. “Are you and Tanner dating? Because I got the impression that you were with Johnny.”
“I am with Johnny, but right now I’m asking about Tanner.”
“Tanner and I, we have a history, but it’s over and I’m with Joe Pullo. Do you know Joe?”
“Yes, we’ve met recently. But tell me, just how close were you and Tanner?”
Laurel took a step back. When she spoke again, her slight Southern accent seemed more pronounced.
“I’m not going to answer that, and maybe you should show more concern for Johnny. Now excuse me.”
Laurel went outside and found Tanner leaning against Sara’s car. She walked up to him smiling but slapped him across the face when she reached him.
“That was for letting me believe you were dead.”
Tanner shook his head in an effort to clear it.
He had been slapped twice in the last hour. Once by a woman that hated him and now by Laurel, who supposedly loved him. The love slap hurt more.
“Knowing I was alive might have put you in danger.”
Laurel wiped at tears. “It broke my heart when I thought I might never see you again.”
“Does Joe know that?”
“As a matter of fact, he does. He also knows that I love you and he knows that you don’t love me back. That’s right, isn’t it, that you have no feelings for me?”
Tanner sighed. “Laurel, we had this discussion already, a long time ago.”
Laurel wiped away more tears, took a deep breath, then straightened her shoulders.
“I’m going to stop making a fool of myself.”
“How is Rossetti?”
“He’ll be fine, but I’m giving him a CT scan just to be sure. Now tell me, what’s with that woman, Sara, are you sleeping with her behind Johnny’s back?”
Tanner laughed. “That is the absolute last woman on the planet that would sleep with me. She despises me and wants me dead.”
“Some say there’s a thin line between love and hate. I think I know what they mean by that when it comes to you.”
“Joe’s a good man, Laurel. He’ll treat you right.”
Laurel’s gaze grew icy. “Thank you for that advice about my love life. Goodbye, Tanner.”
She turned to walk back inside, and Tanner felt the impulse to reach out and grab her arm, to pull her back, but he stopped himself. What else was there to say?
Laurel wanted a relationship and that was something Tanner couldn’t give. He didn’t need emotional complications, and in his experience, love only ended in disaster.
Laurel disappeared inside, and Sara stepped from the bathroom to gaze out at Tanner, who was walking away. She had seen the entire scene between Laurel and Tanner, before ducking out of sight. And once again, she wondered if Johnny was wrong about Tanner having no weaknesses.
234
Pets Or Pests
At the Cabaret Strip Club, Carl the bartender stayed near the front gate to the alley and kept watch in case anyone tried to enter it.
The cleanup of the earlier firefight was going on, and Carl was glad to be nowhere near the bodies.
Carl was nervous, and his eyes roamed the street, as he paced in front of the gate while tapping a hand against his thigh.
After pivoting to make a turn back the way he’d just come, he nearly collided into Tanner.
“Oh man, Tanner. Please don’t kill me.”
Tanner reached out a hand and held Carl up, as the bartender’s legs had grown weak. “Relax Carl, I’m not here to cause trouble.”
Carl began breathing again and stood under his own power.
“Christ, how did you sneak up on me?”
“It’s part of my job description. Now, where’s Joe?”
“He’s in the alley. There was a… thing here this morning.”
“Four things actually, and I killed two of them, now let me by.”
Carl opened the gate and Tanner walked in while calling out to Pullo.
“It’s me, Joe, Tanner.”
“Back here!” Pullo answered.
Tanner found Pullo standing near four body bags. When he saw Merle and Earl standing off to the side near a white van, he sent them a nod.
“What’s up, boys?”
The two brothers swallowed hard but said nothing.
Pullo spoke to them. “Why don’t you two say hello? He’s a friend of yours, isn’t he? Isn’t that right?”
Merle gestured at Tanner. “He, we, I mean I…”
“Forget it,” Pullo said, and pointed at the bodies. “Load those in the back of the van and then wait inside.”
Merle and Earl shoved the bodies into the van, then slunk inside the club through the back door.
When Sara informed Johnny that Tanner had been masquerading as Romeo, Merle and Earl’s deception became clear. They knew Tanner, and even if he and his Romeo disguise had fooled them initially, there was no way the deception continued while they spent time together.
“Romeo” had also been present when Lars Gruber was reportedly killed by Tanner, and Tanner was said to have been killed by the Carter brothers. Tanner’s corpse later turned out to actually be that of Jackie Verona.
When it came to killing, Tanner took a back seat to no one. Pullo knew that Tanner must have killed Gruber and faked his own death by using Verona’s corpse. That was why it was Jackie Verona’s body unearthed with Gruber’s corpse and not Tanner, as had been originally assumed.
With Johnny’s permission, Pullo interrogated the brothers and Merle and Earl cracked immediately, begged forgiveness, and returned the reward money they’d been given.
Johnny let them live, but Pullo wanted them dead for their betrayal. He was still pushing to be the one to do it.
“Why the hate for the Carter brothers?” Tanner asked.
“They covered for you, Tanner. We were at war with you and they let us believe you were dead. And tell me something, why did you let them live when you knew they could burn you?”
“I figured if they talked after all the time that had gone by that they would be in trouble too. And besides, they’re not exactly threatening.”
Pullo shook his head in disgust. “You and Johnny treat those two like pets, but they’re more like pests.”
“I just came from the clinic, Rossetti will be fine.”
“I know. I called and spoke to Laurel, and yeah, Johnny’s going to be fine, thanks to you.”
“Yeah, but who were the hitters, Conglomerate boys?”
“You guessed it. Bruno Heinz can’t take no for an answer.”
“I could handle that problem for you and Rossetti, but first I need my own pest taken care of.”
“You mean Blake? Don’t worry, things are on hold for now, but Johnny will still want to sit down with you. This thing between you and his girl has to stop.”
“I’m willing, she’s not. The woman is obsessed with me.”
“If you kill her, Johnny will come after you and if you kill him, then you’ll have to deal with me.”
“That’s a lot of trouble over one woman.”
“Speaking of which, how did things go between you and Laurel?”
“About the same as always.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that you have nothing to worry about.”
The club’s head of security appeared in the doorway. His name was Bull, and he was about the size of one, with a shaved head and a scar on his left cheek.
When he spotted Tanner, he smiled. “So, Romeo is actually the great Tanner, no wonder he was such a badass.”
“What’s up, Bull?”
Bull gestured toward the van. “I’ve got to go bury the trash. I hear we have you to thank for some of it?”
“I did my part.”
“Things are a mess, and this shit has to stop. What if the club had been open?”
Pullo slapped Bull on one of his massive shoulders. “Things will get handled, count on it. And thanks for doing this. Do y
ou want Merle and Earl along to help?”
Bull waved a hand back at the club. “Let them stay. Johnny may need them later.”
“All right and don’t forget, drive slow.”
“Hell yeah, I drive real slow with four stiffs in the back.”
After the van pulled away, Pullo sent Carl inside and spoke to Tanner in front of the club.
“How do I reach you, Tanner?”
“You don’t, I’ll call you.”
Pullo put out his hand. “It’s good to be back on the same team.”
Tanner shook the offered hand, but he looked doubtful.
“We’ll see what happens with Blake.”
Pullo grinned. “Are there any women you get along with?”
“I’m off to find that out. See you, Joe.”
Inside the club, Merle and Earl sat at the bar nursing beers.
“Did you see the way Pullo looked at us?” Earl said.
Merle nodded. “He wants us gone and you know what that means.”
“Do you think that’s why Tanner is here?”
Merle laughed. “Hell, they wouldn’t pay Tanner to kill us. Besides, I think Pullo would want to do it himself.”
“We gotta run, Merle. We stay here and we’re dead.”
“No, we stay. Pullo might want us dead, but he ain’t the boss and Johnny likes us. We just need to wait for things to cool down. If Tanner can make peace after all the guys he whacked, then we should be okay too.”
“Yeah, but they need Tanner with this war startin’ up, and anybody can drive a limo.”
Pullo walked in and glared at them, before moving behind the bar to speak with Carl.
Earl whispered to his brother. “We should run.”
“No, I’m sick of travelin’ around. I like New York, like the job, and I want to stay.”
“I got a bad feelin’.”
“We stay. We gave back the money, Johnny likes us, and it’ll be all right,” Merle said. But if he had to bet on it, he wouldn’t.
235
Reunited
Sophia Verona opened her front door, saw Tanner, and crossed her arms over her chest.
Tanner pointed to his right cheek. “If you’re planning on slapping me, hit me on this side, the left is getting a little tender.”
“Are you going by Romeo these days, or Tanner?”
“It’s Tanner, now should I stay or go?”
Sophia grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him toward her. “Get your ass in here.”
Sophia snuggled against Tanner as they lay in bed together.
“Did you miss me while you were away?”
“Yes, but it was mostly at night.”
“Bastard. Don’t I mean more to you than sex?”
“Of course, you make great coffee too.”
Sophia laughed, then she traced a finger over the wound that Sara’s shot had left him with.
“This scar is new.”
“Yes, I was careless.”
She ran a hand through his hair. “I like you with dark hair. The blond look never went along with those eyes of yours, and the tattoos made you look like a male bimbo.”
Tanner told Sophia about the attempted hit on Johnny Rossetti and was surprised at the level of concern he saw in her eyes.
“Is Johnny going to be all right?”
“Yes, and I see that pleases you.”
“Yeah, Johnny and I broke up a long time ago, but we’re still friends. It’s why he sent you to protect me last month.”
“Well, Rossetti has a new friend who’s nothing but trouble. Have you met Sara Blake?”
“No, but I heard about her. People aren’t thrilled he’s dating an ex-Fed. I’ve even heard a rumor that she’s working undercover.”
“No, she’s an ex-Fed all right; I was there when she shot her partner.”
Sophia’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “Why did she shoot her partner?”
“He was trying to stop her from getting revenge on me and got shot for his trouble.”
“Damn! What did you do to her?”
“I killed someone she loved. It was just business, but the woman knows how to hate.”
“You’re right, she sounds like nothing but trouble, but you can’t kill her. If you did, you’d have to kill Johnny too.”
“I might not have a choice. The woman just keeps coming for me and she’s the reason I have this new wound.”
“She shot you?”
“Yeah, I underestimated her.”
Sophia scowled. “Maybe I should kill her.”
“Rossetti is trying to broker peace. I’m willing; maybe she’ll come around too.”
“Don’t trust the bitch.”
“Don’t worry. I also want you to watch your own back. It sounds like Heinz wants a war, and that makes you a target.”
“Yeah, he’s slid right into Frank Richards’ slot.”
“For the proper fee, I’ll do to him what I did to Richards.”
Sophia kissed him. “Enough shop talk; we’ve still got catching up to do.”
Tanner’s hand slipped between her thighs.
“I’ll get right on that.”
236
Invasion
After learning that his hit on Johnny Rossetti failed, Bruno Heinz stared out a window on the sixth and top floor of the Rutherford Hotel on Randall Street.
“Are you certain?” Heinz said to his aide, Victor, while speaking in German. Heinz was sixty, bald, and had a big barrel of a chest, while Victor was much younger, had dark-blond hair, and was stick thin, with glasses.
“Their vehicle was found near Rossetti’s tawdry club and they have not reported in for hours. I think it is safe to assume they were unsuccessful.”
“But their last report stated that Rossetti only had a woman with him, correct? I find it hard to believe that Rossetti could triumph over a four-man team by himself.”
“So do I, but there is the rumor that the assassin Tanner is still alive. It was he who killed Lars Gruber. Perhaps he intervened on Rossetti’s behalf.”
Heinz turned from the window. The suite he was in was immaculate, large, and well appointed. However, most of the lower floors of the Rutherford Hotel were, while functional, still under renovation. Only his people were on the premises while the work was put on hold.
“Find Tanner and make him an offer, a generous offer. If he refuses to join us, kill him.”
Victor sighed. “If he refuses, killing him could prove difficult.”
“I pay you to do difficult things, Victor. Use whatever resources you need, but either recruit Tanner or kill him. Now go earn your money.”
Victor bowed slightly. “Yes sir.”
After Victor left, Heinz stared out the window again, while thinking. A few minutes later, he was on the phone with one of his people in Germany, as they spoke over a secure line.
“Send more men, Hans.”
“How many and how soon, sir?”
“A dozen by the end of the day on Monday, New York City time. You’ll have to hire mercenaries, of course, but that way we won’t have to concern ourselves with passports and airport security; they’ll handle that themselves. I’ll supply the weapons they’ll need on this end.”
Heinz could hear the man on the line take in a deep breath.
“A dozen more? So, it’s war then?”
Heinz smiled. “It will be more like an invasion.”
“I’ll see that it’s done, and sir?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve located that man you wanted to speak to, Robert Vance. He’s there in the city. Shall I set up a meeting, or would you rather have Victor do it?”
“You do it. Victor is handling another matter.”
“Fine. I’ll call you back with the details of when and where, but I take it you won’t want him at the hotel?”
“You’re correct; this place needs to remain a secret for now. Get a time and location from Vance and we’ll discuss things in the limo.”
“Fine, and sir?”
“Yes?”
“Good luck with the war.”
“You have those men here by Monday night and I won’t need luck, now goodbye.”
Heinz put the phone away, and once again, he looked out the window. What he saw was a city ripe for the taking.
237
The Thug And The Stud
The following morning at Sara’s apartment, Johnny awoke to find her in the kitchen. He was dressed in a robe and had yet to shave.
Sara smiled when she spotted him. “Good morning, how does your head feel?”
“I still have a slight headache, but the dizziness has passed.”
“Good. Do you want coffee?”
“Yeah, and why don’t we take it out on the balcony? I could use some fresh air.”
“The balcony? Have you forgotten about Tanner?”
“We have a temporary truce, Sara, and if the man wanted to kill us, he could have done it yesterday.”
Sara heard the logic in Johnny’s words, and had already risked exposure by going out for a run earlier. After being stuck in the apartment for days on end, she had ached to get back to her morning jog. That didn’t mean she trusted Tanner to keep his word. Despite that, they enjoyed coffee out on the balcony.
“Tanner must want something from you, Johnny, likely money. But I don’t believe him when he says he won’t kill me. He’s just biding his time. Tanner is scum and he’s devoid of honor. I can’t believe you trust him. And have you forgotten that he killed your uncle?”
“Of course, I haven’t forgotten, but I have made peace with it. In a strange way, it’s one reason I trust him.”
“I don’t understand what you mean?”
“Richards cancelled the contract on my Uncle Al, but that didn’t change things for Tanner. He had given his word to kill the man and he carried out the hit, despite knowing that it meant he’d become a target himself. When Tanner gives his word, he means it.”
“Bullshit!” Sara said.
Her phone rang. When she checked the caller ID, she saw that it was from her sister.
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 75