Vance laughed. “Face twenty men on my own? I wouldn’t be stupid enough to try.”
“So, you think he’s a lucky fool?”
“I certainly hope so, and I also hope that luck comes to an end if I ever have to face him.”
“I prefer planning over luck,” Krupin said.
“So do I, but if I had to choose, I’d choose luck.”
“But we don’t get to choose, do we?”
Vance thought about Frank Richards and how close the man had come to gaining undreamed of power and influence, only to have his ambitions and his life snuffed out by Tanner.
“No, sometimes fate just isn’t on our side.”
262
Wheels Within Wheels
Tanner persuaded Jade Taylor to meet with him by telling her he had information about money laundering. They arranged to rendezvous at an outdoor cafe near Central Park, which also offered a view of the famous Dakota Building.
He had told her on the phone that his name was Smith and Jade Taylor said that many men named Smith had passed on information to her over the years.
Pullo had described Jade Taylor to Tanner, so he spotted her right away and joined her at a table. After saying hello, they both ordered coffee from a waitress already wielding a carafe, and once it was poured, they ignored it and got down to business.
Tanner was pressed for time, as it took longer than planned for the information to be formatted without referencing anyone but Heinz, and then Johnny had to peruse it before giving approval.
The time for meeting with Vance at the club was coming up fast and Tanner planned to be there.
Jade Taylor offered Tanner a guarded smile. “Mr. Smith, exactly what is it that you wish to pass on to me?”
Tanner slid a flash drive across the table with a gloved hand. “Have you heard of the Conglomerate?”
“I’ve heard rumors,” Jade said.
“The rumors are true. There’s information on that drive detailing the laundering of money by one of its members, although, the Conglomerate is actually in shambles now.”
Jade studied the drive in her hand. “What do you want in return?”
“Other than swift action, not a thing. But perhaps I’ll get a warm feeling from being a good citizen.” Tanner stood and pointed at the untouched beverages. “I’ll let Uncle Sam pay for the coffee.”
Seconds later and Tanner had disappeared into the crowd.
Jade Taylor rose from her seat, dropped money on the table, and walked off in the opposite direction. After turning a corner, she walked two blocks and stepped inside a van that was waiting for her.
Once the van pulled into traffic, Jade removed the wireless transmitter hidden beneath her hair, and asked the driver if the conversation had recorded.
“We got it all and the client will be very pleased with your performance. Tanner is not an easy man to fool, and neither are Pullo and Rossetti.”
“I was so tempted to just shoot him. I can’t believe he gave you so much trouble the other night.”
“Don’t underestimate the man, everyone who has is dead, and you can’t spend the bounty if you’re dead.”
“What bounty?”
“There was fifty grand up for whoever killed him, and no one even came close.”
“The client, whoever they are, they’re still willing to pay to see him dead, right?”
“Oh yeah, now that Tanner has proven he can’t be trusted all bets are off, but don’t get any ideas, the man would eat you alive.”
The van stopped in front of Grand Central Terminal.
“You did good work playing Jade Taylor, June. Now, take the train back to Connecticut and I’ll contact you soon. And oh yeah, expect a bonus.”
Special Agent Jade Taylor, who was actually a con woman named June Thompson, stepped out of the van and walked toward the terminal’s entrance.
The driver of the van moved back into traffic and activated his Bluetooth to make a call. Sara Blake answered on the first ring.
“Duke?”
“You were right! Tanner is trying to sell out Rossetti to the Feds. I’ve not only got the conversation on tape, but also the evidence he passed along to our phony IRS agent.”
There was an audible sigh of relief, and then Sara spoke again.
“I knew that bastard wouldn’t keep his word. Now it’s time to put an end to him.”
“What’s your plan?”
“I’m not sure, any suggestions?”
“Yes, let Rossetti handle Tanner. Tanner won’t expect anything to come of the information he passed on until later today. That means there’s a window of opportunity where he’ll think Rossetti still knows nothing.”
“No. That’s too risky for Johnny, unless… Tanner trusts Joe Pullo; maybe Pullo can kill him. He’d be wise to anyway. I think Tanner wants that doctor he’s seeing.”
“Fine, pass on what you know to Rossetti and have him give the job to Pullo. With any luck, Tanner will never see it coming.”
263
All Ears
Tanner arrived back at the club just moments before Robert Vance appeared.
Before his arrival, Johnny had received an email on his phone that contained the audio recording of Tanner’s conversation with the phony IRS agent, Jade Taylor, but Johnny didn’t have time to listen to it before the meeting.
Sara had written a short note to go with it.
CALL ME BACK AFTER YOU LISTEN TO THIS AND I’LL EXPLAIN.
LOVE, SARA
Although curious, Johnny had to hold off listening to the recording, because of Vance’s arrival.
Pullo patted Vance down for weapons and found that he had none.
Johnny was standing with his back against the bar and Vance sent him a nod, but then he stared at Tanner, who was seated at one of the tables.
“Why didn’t Heinz come himself?” Johnny asked.
“I am the one you will deal with, Rossetti. And what’s that saying, I have his ear?”
Vance walked over and stood before Tanner. “Hello Tanner, although we traded shots in the hallway at MegaZenith and again at the Rutherford Hotel, I can’t say that we were formally introduced. Also, I believe you were masquerading as someone else at MegaZenith.”
“You should talk, Vance?” Johnny said. “Or should we call you, Rurik Varanov?”
Vance smiled and turned toward Johnny.
“As a matter of fact, Rossetti, I’ve recently embraced my Russian roots. I’ve contacted an old friend. Perhaps you know him, Mikhail Krupin?”
“The leader of the Russian mob, what about him?”
“He has agreed to lend a hand in Heinz’s crusade to take over the city, as a partner, of course.”
“Krupin has thrown in with Heinz? If that’s true, he’s just made a big mistake, and so have you. Heinz is soon to be history.”
“Actually, Heinz is already history. The old fool was powerless without his men.”
“You’ve pushed Heinz out?” Pullo said.
Vance slowly reached into an inside pocket, when his hand emerged, he was holding a handkerchief, which, when he opened it, contained a severed human ear.
Vance grinned. “When I said I had Heinz’s ear, I meant it. You’re now dealing with me, Rossetti, and I’ve got Mikhail Krupin backing me up.”
Johnny made a face as he took in the blood-speckled ear, but then shook his head in disagreement.
“Krupin is too smart to start trouble, not after all the losses we both had in the last war.”
Vance tucked the ear back in his pocket as he spoke. “That’s ancient history, and I’m talking about the son, Mikhail Krupin Jr., who goes by the name Michael. Unfortunately, his father suffered a serious stroke recently. Unfortunate for you that is, very fortunate for me, as the son is more adventurous.”
Johnny smiled as he tried to appear unconcerned. “If the kid wants a war, he’ll have one. His men will wind up the same as Heinz’s men.”
Vance spoke to Tanner again. “That massacre at
the Rutherford, that was all you, wasn’t it?”
“All but one,” Tanner said.
Vance grinned with pleasure. “Magnificent. And someday, it will be just you and me.”
“Anytime you’re ready,” Tanner said.
“I’m always ready, Tanner, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome or tempt anyone to forget their pledge to keep things civilized.”
Vance headed for the door. “You’ll be hearing from us.”
After Vance left, Johnny thumped the top of the bar with his fist.
“Damn it! Just when we had Heinz where we wanted him, Vance has to change the players.”
“What’s this mean? More trouble or less?” Tanner asked.
“More,” Joe said. “The Russians outnumber us big time. It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
Johnny walked over and looked down at Tanner. “Are you still with us?”
“Yes, Rossetti, same deal.”
“Call me Johnny, Tanner, after all, we’ve saved each other’s lives. Although, I still owe you one.”
Tanner stood and offered his hand. “Johnny it is.”
They shook, and Johnny moved behind the bar. After opening three bottles of beer, Johnny slid two of them toward Pullo, who handed one to Tanner, where he had retaken his seat at the table.
Johnny held up his bottle.
“The Russians are coming. Let’s make them wish they were never born.”
264
How Hard Can It Be?
June Thompson, the con woman who had pretended to be Special Agent Jade Taylor, left the train station and hailed a taxi.
Fifty grand. Fifty thousand dollars for killing just one man.
June had killed men before, the first time to survive, as the man who taught her how to be a grifter was prone to violence when he was drunk. That proclivity to harm women began to show itself when he wasn’t drinking, and the man tried to rape her, after he’d grown angry at her latest refusal to sleep with him.
June killed the fool with a knife she kept in her purse, and then ran to her lover for help. Her lover at the time was an older female grifter named Annie, and Annie helped young June dispose of the body.
Later in life, one of her marks caught on that he was being swindled and June killed him before he could call the police. That time she had used a gun, a weapon she later planted inside the car belonging to the man’s estranged wife. As far as June knew, the wife was still serving a life sentence.
There had been two other men as well, partners in a complicated con. She and the other woman involved in the scheme killed the men. They had overheard the men planning to cheat them out of their share of their ill-gotten gains, so they shot them together as the men were watching a ball game, and then of course, June turned the gun on the other woman and killed her as well.
The woman tended to run her mouth and June hadn’t wanted to take a chance. At least, that’s what she told herself. It left her alone with all the money.
June had studied Tanner when they’d met and found him to be unimpressive. While he was of a good height, six foot or so, he was hardly a big man, and she marveled that so many people had failed at killing him.
When they were sitting at the table, she was tempted to just take out her gun and shoot him. It would have been so easy.
After Duke dropped her off at the terminal, she bought her ticket, fully intending to use it, but she couldn’t get Tanner out of her mind.
Fifty thousand dollars, just to kill Tanner. Amazing.
When her train was called, June sat unmoving, and it left the station without her. She had been thinking, thinking of how easy it would be to just walk up to Tanner while he still believed she was the law, and blast his ass into next week.
Two minutes after her train left the station, she had a plan in mind. A simple plan.
Find Tanner and shoot him dead.
For after all, how hard could it be?
265
Unintended Consequences
Johnny, Pullo, and Tanner were on their second beers and the talk had veered away from business and onto sports.
Tanner knew that Joe Pullo was a football fan, but Johnny Rossetti surprised him by having a vast knowledge of the sport.
“Oh yeah, Tanner, I almost never miss the Giants when they play at home. I was also a quarterback in high school. I wasn’t very good, and we lost most of our games, but man I loved playing.”
Pullo then spoke of the day he first met Tanner, when the hit man delivered the severed head of mob informant Vincenzo Rigoletto to the funeral parlor owned by Sam Giacconi.
Tanner looked around at the club. “This is that same building.”
Johnny nodded. “It is. Sam sold it to me cheap when he got out of the funeral home business. When I told him I was opening a strip club, he said that the place was going from dealing with bones, to dealing with boners.”
“The place had been a bar anyway before it was a funeral parlor,” Pullo said. “And back in the 1920s it was a speakeasy.”
“The place has some history attached,” Tanner agreed.
Johnny’s phone rang while he was leaning on the bar and talking about the Pop Warner football team he helped to sponsor. Both Tanner and Pullo were seated at a table just a few feet away.
It was Sara calling from her apartment. Johnny excused himself and moved down along the bar.
“Did you get my message?”
“I did, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to it. What is it?”
“It’s proof that Tanner isn’t keeping his word. He met with the woman he believed was an IRS agent and tried to pass on evidence that you’ve been money laundering.”
Johnny moved even farther down the bar, where he couldn’t be overheard.
“What do you mean Tanner believed she was an IRS agent. Are you saying she’s not?”
“I… I hired her, through Duke. Once I learned that Tanner had information he could use to hurt you, I placed her there to make it easy for him to do so, and today I was proven right.”
Johnny moaned.
“What was that groan about?” Sara said.
“Tanner went to Jade Taylor for me; we were going to use her to take down Heinz. Didn’t you even look at what he gave her?”
“I… hold on, let me load this in my laptop.”
As he waited for Sara to view the file, Johnny looked over at Tanner, who was talking to Pullo. Sara had crossed the line again, but with luck, Tanner would never find out about it.
When Sara came back on the phone, she sounded confused.
“You’re right; this file is all about Heinz and his company’s activities here and in Germany.”
“Yes Sara, now please, let it go. Tanner isn’t trying to outsmart or double-cross us. He just wants you to leave him alone, and so do I.”
“No, no, there’s more than this, much more. Tanner is working with Heinz, he must be, the man spent the night at that hotel where Heinz lives.”
“Yes, he did, he infiltrated Heinz’s headquarters and killed an elite team of assassins the next day, and last night he went back and finished the rest of Heinz’s men off.”
“Are you certain?”
“I was there last night. Sara, he killed over twenty men by himself. Joe thinks he became enraged because Laurel was nearly killed when Heinz tried to kill Joe.”
“You think that Tanner really cares for her?”
“I don’t think anything is going on, nothing like that, but from what I hear, they have a past. But, wait a second, how did you know that Tanner spent the night in that hotel?”
There was no answer, although Johnny could hear her breathing.
“Sara?”
“The other night, Duke, he managed to place a tracker on Tanner, and I’ve been following his movements.”
“Damn it.”
“I know, but I don’t trust him.”
“You gave your word that you were through hounding the man. Doesn’t that mean anything, Sara?”
“Honey, from where I’m sitting, it’s better.”
There was silence, then Sara spoke in a resigned tone.
“I’ll tell Duke to stand down. Tanner never has to know about any of this.”
The door to the club swung open and Johnny watched as the woman he knew as Jade Taylor walked in. She was headed toward Tanner with a smile on her face.
“Your phony IRS agent is back. What’s that about?”
“She’s there?”
“Yeah, you didn’t send her?”
“No, Duke said she was on a train back to Connecticut.”
“Shit, she’s got a gun!”
Sara heard a string of gunfire, such as the sound a fully automatic weapon made while firing. That sound was followed by the clatter of the phone as it hit the floor.
Afterwards, she could hear someone shouting, but could only distinguish the voice as male. It was followed by a woman screaming. The screaming ended, to be replaced by the sound of weeping. More muffled voices, the shouted word of, “Don’t!” spoken in a woman’s tone, and sounding desperate, and finally, silence.
“Johnny! Johnny what happened? Is Tanner dead? Did she shoot him? Johnny!”
Over a minute passed, then Sara heard the shuffle of feet. That sound was followed by the sound of crying, but it was the deep soulful cry of a man in mourning.
She shouted into the phone once more, and seconds later, she was rewarded by a voice answering. It was Tanner’s voice.
“Blake?”
“Tanner? What happened? What’s going on there?”
“Rossetti is dead… Johnny is dead, and he was murdered by the bitch you sent to kill me.”
“No! You’re lying! Johnny, put Johnny on the phone.”
“Blake!”
“Tell me he’s not really dead, please? Oh God, please tell me he’s alive.”
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 85