Pullo grunted and headed for the door.
“I’ll leave that door unlocked for you,” Conti called out.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Tanner asked Pullo if he wanted him to take the first watch.
“We’re not watching him. I just said that. You saw him, he won’t run. The bastard is almost looking forward to it.”
“Why are you so angry?”
“Because this was supposed to be simple, Tanner. We were to find Carlo Conti and kill him. Now, instead of Conti, we’ve found a damn saint. C’mon, I’m going back to the motel to think.”
They were two blocks from the motel when Tanner shouted for Pullo to pull the car to the curb.
When they were parked, Tanner opened his door.
“I think I saw someone lying back there in the bushes.”
Pullo followed, and soon they were standing over the kid they had seen coming out of the motel room with Hellman. The boy was badly beaten and barely conscious. When he moved, he grabbed his ribs, as if they were broken.
Tanner bent down and spoke to him. “Hey kid, who did this to you?”
“Some guy I don’t know, but I think he was paid by Mr. Hellman. Hellman got real pissed when I asked him about Candy.”
Pullo ran toward the pay phone on the corner. “I’ll call for an ambulance.”
“Who’s Candy?”
“She’s a friend, and a black hooker,” the kid said, but the words were slurred, and it appeared painful to talk.
“This girl Candy went missing?”
“Yeah, I can’t find her anywhere.”
Pullo came back, and he and Tanner waited until they heard the ambulance approaching.
“Help is coming, kid, but we’ve got to go,” Tanner said.
“Wait, there’s one more thing.”
Tanner bent down to listen, and what he heard gave him a very bad feeling.
346
Money Or Love?
Merle and Earl sat on a porch swing together as they each stared down at one of the cards Mr. Wilson had left them.
“This is a whole mess of money, Merle.”
“That it is, even after we give Hanna and Savannah their share, it’d still be a lot.”
“And farmin’ is hard work.”
“Yep.”
“If we did sell, do you think the girls would come back with us to New York?”
“No. You heard them last night. They don’t like it there.”
“Yeah, but I don’t wanna lose Savannah. She’s pretty as can be, and she likes me. When’s the last time that happened?”
Merle gave it some thought. “Back in third grade, the Harper twins, Sissy Harper liked you.”
“I don’t want Sissy Harper. I want Savannah.”
“I want Hanna.”
The boys looked at each other and tossed the cards away.
Inside the house, Hanna and Savannah sat at the kitchen table and talked about the offer.
“You think they’ll take it?” Savannah asked.
“That’s a lot of money, and it’s sure nice of them to pay us back for what we lost.”
“We’d still never find a place like this again.”
“No.”
“If they sell, do you think they’ll go back to New York?”
“Probably, and that Rossetti they worked for, he owned a titty bar, and you can just bet that those two had women crawlin’ all over them night and day.”
“I don’t care what Earl used to do. He’s nice to me and I’m fallin’ for him.”
“If they go back to New York we could go with them.”
“I don’t wanna live in New York, Hanna.”
“Yeah, but you might have to if you wanna keep Earl.”
Savannah picked up one of Mr. Wilson’s cards and tore it in half.
“Stupid shoppin’ center, and I miss the swamp too.”
In Tennessee, Sammy was following Garrett Bates’ van while driving Tanner’s rental. If Tanner’s hunch was right, the newspaperman was involved with Volks.
Sammy followed Bates to a small warehouse just outside Brentwood, which housed a commercial printer.
He couldn’t get close enough to see what was going on without being spotted, but he assumed that Bates was picking up the newest addition of his weekly newspaper.
From there, Bates drove to another warehouse in a less affluent area, where two men dressed like bikers opened a gate and let him drive inside the parking lot.
Sammy smiled. It looked like Tanner was right. If so, they would soon have Volks where they wanted him.
347
Paper, Mister?
Tanner suggested to Susan that she and Amy go to the movies, just in case any of Calabrese’s bikers decided to pay the house a visit while he and Sammy were gone.
Amy agreed to meet Susan in town later, and with Sammy out following Bates around, that left Tanner and Susan alone.
They ate dinner and then made love, and as Susan lay facing him, she asked questions.
“You’re not the law, are you?”
“No.”
“You’re here to kill Calabrese?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his real name?”
“You’re better off not knowing, but the reason I’m here is personal. He killed Sammy’s father years ago when Sammy was just a boy.”
“Oh, that is personal.”
“I think this will all end tonight, and that means I’ll be leaving tomorrow.”
“Take me with you,” Susan said, and then she laughed and pointed at Tanner. “Oh, you should have seen your face. I was joking, Tanner. I’m not some lovesick schoolgirl, but you have left me with some good memories.”
Tanner guided her onto her back. “Why don’t we make one more?”
Susan giggled. “Good Lord but you recover quickly.”
“It’s all the clean living I do,” Tanner said.
Tanner followed Susan into town while riding Sammy’s motorcycle. After watching her meet Amy in front of the movie theater, he rode three blocks south and met up with Sammy.
“He’s still in there, Tanner, and he’s alone as far as I can tell.”
“Let’s do this.”
They left their vehicles, walked across the street, and down a driveway that ran alongside the newspaper office.
There was a wooden door at the rear of the building with a roll-up metal door at its left, and when Tanner tried them, he found that they both were locked.
He looked over at Sammy. “Did you bring what I told you to bring?”
“Yeah, I bought it while Bates was stopped for lunch.”
Sammy reached behind his back and came out with a small crowbar.
“Once I pop this door, he might go for a weapon, so be ready.”
Sammy nodded, and this time he took out a gun.
Tanner looked about to see if anyone was watching, but there was fencing separating the building from the one behind it, while the bakery to its left and the bank to its right had both closed for the day and had empty parking lots.
Tanner jammed the tip of the crowbar between the door and its frame, just above the lock. After wedging it in as far as he could, he began working it back and forth slowly, which gave him more room to jam it deeper inside, and with a violent jerk, the door popped open. It had made less noise than Tanner would have guessed, but it was still enough to alert Bates.
The newspaperman had been in the back of his panel van. When he peeked his bald head out of the rear, he saw Tanner walking toward him with a gun.
“Don’t shoot me, Myers! I’m not armed.”
Sammy looked inside the van and saw dozens of plastic bags containing white crystalline powder. There were also stacks of newspapers, and an old cigar box full of red rubber bands.
On the left side of the van were several rolled-up newspapers. When Tanner freed one from its rubber band, a baggie fell out.
Bates had been sitting on the floor of the van as he worked at concealing th
e baggies inside the newspapers, but he had gotten on his hands and knees to look out the back.
He was shaking violently, and his eyes never left Tanner’s gun.
“Are you going to kill me?”
Tanner answered the man by slamming the gun across the side of his head and stunning him. He then held out his left hand, and Sammy handed him several zip ties.
Minutes later, Bates was bound up in the rear of the van with Tanner driving, as Sammy followed behind on the motorcycle.
348
The Dance Of Joy
Merle and Earl had dinner with the girls, but none of them seemed very hungry.
After playing cards for a while, they went out and sat on the porch swings, but Earl sat with Merle, while Savannah settled beside her sister.
“Merle?”
“Yeah, Hanna?”
“When you sell the farm, Savannah and I wanna go to New York with you.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, I mean, if you want us to come along.”
Earl leaned forward and looked past his brother. “I guess you’d rather have the money than the farm, hmm?”
Savannah leaned forward too, as she looked past Hanna. “I don’t want the damn money. I wanna be with you, dope.”
Earl smiled and stood up. “Well, what about the farm?”
“I love the farm, but if you’re goin’ back to New York, well then, I’ll go with you.”
Hanna walked over and sat beside Merle.
“Would you stay here? I know it ain’t New York City and that I’m not some fancy stripper, but I think we could do all right together, don’t you?”
Merle smiled at Hanna while speaking to Earl. “We’re stayin’ little brother; the Carter boys are back home to stay.”
Earl let out a whoop of joy, and Savannah flew into his arms.
In New York, Pullo was at Laurel’s townhouse and playing cards with three of his men: Mike, Bosco, and Big Ralphie. He suspected they were letting him win.
It didn’t surprise him. He remembered doing the same with Sam Giacconi. It took the thrill out of the game, so he folded his cards.
When the phone rang, Pullo wondered who was calling, but he didn’t think much of it, and Laurel answered the call in the kitchen.
When she appeared in the doorway a few minutes later, he could tell that something had saddened her.
“What’s up, baby?”
“That was Merle and Earl. They’ve decided to stay in Arkansas, but they said they would be back for the wedding.”
“I guess they were homesick.”
“Yes, but I’ll still miss them, and I also want to meet these two women they keep talking about.”
As Laurel went upstairs, Pullo contained his glee at the news until he was certain she was out of sight, and then he let it out.
Big Ralphie looked at Pullo in amazement. “Wow, boss. I’ve known you for years and that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you dance.”
349
Hunting At Night
Tanner pulled the van to a stop on the side of a dirt road, before climbing into the rear of the vehicle, where he knelt beside Garrett Bates.
When Sammy pulled up on the bike, Tanner switched the dome light off before leaning over and opening the rear doors.
Bates was looking up at Tanner with eyes white with fear, and a sheen of sweat coated the man’s bald head.
“Where and when do you meet Calabrese?”
“What?”
“He must talk to you in person sometime.”
“Oh, yeah, there’s a farm, an old deserted farm out on County Road West, but he doesn’t come alone.”
“How many guys does he have with him?”
“Two, and they’re all armed. But listen, Myers, I’m cooperating, right? There’s no reason to kill me.”
Tanner whipped out a knife and cut Bates’ hands free. “You’re driving us to this farm.”
“How did you know I was involved? Everyone thinks I hate Calabrese.”
“Yeah, and you’re still breathing, which made me wonder why he would put up with you and your newspaper. The cops would also never check your van because they trust you.”
“The two guys coming with Volks, I bet they’ll be the same two from the bar last night,” Sammy said.
“Who’s Volks?” Bates said.
“Never mind,” Tanner said. “Just take us to this farm, and when we get there, you’ll call Calabrese.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Not if you do as I say.”
“How can I trust you?”
“Bates, in about three seconds I’m going to smash you in the face if you don’t stop talking; you can trust that.”
Bates shut his mouth and Tanner freed his ankles from the zip ties.
Calabrese showed two hours later, and as Sammy thought he would, he had the same two bruisers from the night before with him.
Bates was leaning back against the van casually. The rear doors were open a crack, and Sammy lay flat on his stomach with a gun pressed against the base of Bates’ spine.
As they rode toward Bates, Calabrese and his men passed an old rusted Ford pickup on their left, which was sitting up on cinder blocks.
As the bikes rumbled by, Tanner sat up and then jumped out of the truck bed. He was running at full speed to catch up to the motorcycles, which began to slow as they neared the van.
One of the men must have caught sight of him in his mirror, because the bike swerved and then made to turn around. Tanner stopped running, dropped to one knee, and took aim at the dark shape of the rider’s helmet, with help from the gun’s laser sight.
The man was fumbling for a weapon beneath his jacket when the faceplate on the helmet shattered, and Tanner watched as the bike toppled over onto its side.
Knowing he’d been set up, Calabrese fired at the van and struck Bates twice in the chest, then revved up his bike to flee. Sammy exploded from the rear of the van and rolled to the ground. While lying on his stomach, he released several shots at Calabrese.
The shots missed Calabrese, but one of them wounded his other man. The man was hit in the back, and it caused him to swerve. When his front tire hit the rear of Calabrese’s bike, both men lost control and went tumbling, as their motorcycles skidded off into the weeds bordering the surrounding forest.
Sammy was ahead of Tanner’s position. He made it to his feet and went after Calabrese. He was so intent on catching the man that he ignored the biker he had wounded and ran right past him.
The biker pulled himself up to one elbow and took aim at Sammy with a long-barreled revolver. Before the man could pull the trigger, Tanner shot him in the back twice.
“Sammy! Slow down!”
There was no answer.
They had talked about this while waiting for Calabrese to show. Tanner had warned Sammy about the dangers of running into the woods at night, telling him that Calabrese could easily lay in wait or circle back.
The light was bad as well, for although there was moonlight, clouds filled the sky and could render the forest pitch black without notice.
Tanner cursed, grabbed the dead man’s fallen revolver, and ran into the shadows of the trees.
350
Personal Business
Sammy knew he was being stupid, but he couldn’t imagine letting Volks just slip away.
He had been fourteen when Volks killed his father, Joseph Giacconi, and he still remembered the anguished look on his grandfather’s face when he told him of his father’s death.
From that day on, his grandfather tried to protect him and keep him out of the life, but he knew where he belonged even while he was in college in California. It was the main reason he had returned to New York City to live.
Sophia’s face flashed across his consciousness and he smiled.
She had been a surprise.
He hadn’t been in love since he had a crush on a girl in high school and figured he would never fall that hard again. But after one loo
k at Sophia Verona, he knew he couldn’t forget her.
“I have to make it back to her,” he whispered to himself, and a second later, he heard the crunch of leaves to his right.
Sammy dropped and rolled behind a tree as three rounds passed through the space where his chest had been an instant before.
Tanner saw the muzzle flashes coming from up ahead and to his left. When there was no accompanying cry of pain, he knew the shots either had been fatal or had missed. What he didn’t know was who had fired them, but suspected it was Calabrese given the gun’s sound. He hoped Sammy had the presence of mind to turn off the laser sight on his weapon.
Tanner moved as soundlessly as possible through the trees and heard someone approaching. Calabrese, who was Bobby Volks, was tall and outweighed Sammy by a good fifty pounds. Tanner waited for whoever was coming to get closer. If he could see their silhouette, he’d know who it was.
When the lumbering shape came toward him, he knew it was Volks. He raised his gun to fire, but then thought of Sammy.
The kid needed to put Volks down.
Tanner hid behind a tree and waited.
Volks appeared seconds later holding a gun in his right hand while he fumbled with a phone in his left. He was about to call in reinforcements, but he’d never get the chance.
As Volks passed him, Tanner smashed the revolver he’d taken off the dead man against the back of Volks’ head.
The big man tumbled to the ground and Tanner rushed over and snatched his weapon away, before crushing the phone with the heel of his boot.
Volks looked up at him with dazed eyes, but had stayed conscious, as Tanner hoped he would.
Sounds came from behind them and Tanner realized that Sammy was growing nearer. He emptied the remaining rounds from Volks’ gun into his hand, just as the man stood up on unsteady legs.
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 109