“You are a son of a bitch, Tanner! Why did you let Juan believe you were in the building?”
“It seemed a good move,” Tanner said.
“You’re a bastard, but then again, this failure will fall on Juan’s shoulders and will make me look even better for warning against charging in.”
“He won’t have to bear the disgrace for long though, will he?”
Rico smiled. “Oh no, I fear that Juan will die a young man.”
“Just remember the deal we have concerning Krupin; he’s mine.”
“Yes, as we said earlier.”
SEVEN HOURS EARLIER, IN THE REAR PARKING LOT OF AN ABANDONED STOREFRONT IN BROOKLYN
Rico stepped from his car with his hands in the air. He was naked except for a pair of black boxer shorts and his socks and shoes.
His car was parked sideways, and he opened the doors so that it was plain to see that no one was inside. He then opened the trunk, lifted a square mirror out of it and angled the mirror so that it displayed the empty trunk upon its surface.
The car across the parking lot drove closer and parked a dozen feet away. A moment later, Joe Pullo, Tanner, and Bosco emerged from the vehicle, to walk toward Rico with their guns drawn.
Bosco went over the car, just in case, and stabbed at the rear seats with a knife.
Rico laughed. “What? You think I hid a midget with an Uzi inside the seats?”
“It pays to be careful,” Bosco said.
Pullo held his gun down in front of him and stared at Rico. “Your boy Conti said you wanted to talk, so talk.”
Rico did, and Pullo and Tanner listened carefully.
Rico came to Pullo with a plan to end the war. It would mean that Pullo would take Krupin’s role as Juan Alvarado’s partner, but it would also mean that he would be co-ruler of New York City.
“Who authorized this, Alonso Alvarado?” Tanner asked.
Rico answered as he began putting his clothes back on.
“Alonso knows nothing about this, but I know he would go for this plan. He despises you Tanner, but he could work with Pullo here.”
Pullo shook his head no. “I’m no one’s pawn, and we’ve been doing well in this war.”
Rico laughed. “I’ll grant you that Tanner here has given us holy hell, but Pullo, think about it. We have thousands of more men than you do. We also have the money to recruit thousands more right here. If you anger Alonso enough he will literally wipe you from the planet. What I’m offering you is a chance to survive.”
Tanner raised up a hand. “Let’s hear him out. But first, what do you get from this, Nazario?”
“Pullo will be taking Krupin’s place at the table, and I will be taking Juan Alvarado’s spot.”
“You plan to kill him?”
“I was hoping you would beat me to it, but yes, I will kill him, and I will blame his death on Michael Krupin. Alonso will believe me when I tell him that Krupin went mad when he discovered he was being cut out of the deal. I will blame Juan’s death on Krupin, then Pullo and I will be in charge of New York. It is a good plan, and it will end the violence.”
Pullo sighed. “And if I say no, what then? You’ll keep coming?”
“I won’t like it, Pullo, but Alonso will order your death. He is not above killing your loved ones as well.”
“What about Mike Conti,” Tanner said. “Where does he fit in to all this?”
“Conti sold Pullo out, as you must have realized when he reluctantly arranged this meeting. He will wind up with nothing.”
“You know where we’re staying?” Tanner said.
“You are at the Hotel Rutherford. Conti placed a GPS device on one of you and tracked you there. He sold you out. If you want to kill him for it, I will have no problem with that.”
Tanner stared at Rico for several seconds and then smiled. “And what is my role in all this?”
“Unfortunately, Tanner, you will have to be sacrificed, but in all honesty, you’ve brought it on yourself.”
“Sacrificed in what way?”
“Pullo has to cut ties with you, and the sooner the better. I will tell Alonso that it was Pullo who came to me, that he saw how unwinnable his situation was and that he considered you a… what’s the phrase? A loose cannon, yes? Once Pullo is no longer tied to you, I can get Alonso to accept him. In fact, he would much rather deal with the Giacconi Family than Krupin. And at this point, Krupin barely has an organization left.”
Pullo shook his head again. “Take this deal of yours and hit the road.”
Tanner moved in front of Pullo to face him. “We need to talk alone.”
“I’m not taking this deal.”
“Will you talk?”
Pullo nodded. “We’ll talk. Bosco, keep a close eye on this guy.”
“Right, boss.”
Tanner and Pullo walked back to stand near the trunk of their car.
“Take the deal, Joe. It will end the war and keep Laurel safe.”
“Are you crazy? They want me to cut you loose. Do you know what that means? It means that my guys will be gunning for you along with the cartel.”
“No, it doesn’t, because I won’t be here. I meant what I said the other day. I won’t rest until the Alvarado Cartel is destroyed, and that means chopping off the head, Alonso Alvarado. Take the deal. When I kill Alvarado, Rico there will be a king without an army to back him up, but you’ll still control New York City, all of New York City.”
“Or,” Pullo said, “you’ll be gunned down somewhere, and I’ll be stuck with this dirtbag and the cartel as partners.”
“I won’t fail, but you’re right, if they kill me, you’ll be stuck with them. But you’ll be alive, Laurel will be alive, and there will be peace. What Rico said, it’s true, if Alonso Alvarado really wanted to, he could wipe the Giacconi Family off the planet. Take the deal, tell them we’re through, and bring Laurel home.”
Pullo reached out and gripped Tanner’s arm. “They’ll kill you, buddy. You might last a while, you might even kill hundreds, but the cartel will kill you.”
Tanner’s intense eyes blazed. “I’ll make it to Mexico and kill Alvarado.”
“And if you die?”
Tanner reached out and gripped Pullo’s other arm. “Then I’ll die knowing that you and Laurel are safe. That’s not a bad way to go… saving your friends. Take the deal, Joe. Take the deal.”
They walked back over, and Pullo sent Rico a curt nod.
“I’ll take the deal.”
Rico grinned. “Excellent!”
“There’s one condition,” Tanner said.
“What’s that?” Rico asked.
“Juan Alvarado thinks we’re at the Hotel Rutherford, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And you have men watching the building now, right?”
Rico held up a hand. “I see where you are going with this, and yes, the men you have in that building will be allowed to leave, that is, once Juan and Pullo have made an agreement.”
“The men in that building aren’t Joe’s men, they’re Krupin’s.”
“The missing Russians?” Rico said, and then he got it. “Ah, you were setting up a trap. What was it, a bomb?”
“Gas, a type of homemade nerve gas. We moved the Russians after knocking them all out with a harmless gas and then chained them inside the Rutherford. But you, you were going to walk your men right into a death trap, and once you killed the Russians for us, then the nerve gas would be released.”
“I might have fallen for it, but I was suspicious from the start.”
“One more thing, Joe and I didn’t place those men in there. Mike Conti and I did it, understand?”
Rico laughed. “You’re setting Conti up. He’s the one that said you were in that hotel, but Pullo will say he was never there.”
“Right, Joe will claim that we argued after Sophia’s funeral because he’d decided to make peace and I wanted to keep waging war. That’s when Conti and I joined forces to lead you into a trap.”
/>
Rico stood quietly for a moment as he considered things, and as a realization struck him, he looked sickened.
“Oh God.”
“What is it?” Pullo said.
“Juan Alvarado, that fool will send me inside the hotel even though he suspects a trap.”
“He won’t,” Tanner said. “Not once he knows that Joe’s not there and that Conti was trying to betray him.”
“Yes, he will. I know the men inside that building are the Russians, but I can’t tell him that, and neither can Pullo, not if he wants Juan to trust that he really wants peace. Juan will order me to lead an army of men into that building even if he suspects a trap, because the simple fool will believe our sheer numbers will be enough.”
“Tough break,” Pullo said, although he didn’t care if the men lived or died.
“I’ll talk him out of it, somehow,” Rico said.
“Sure,” Tanner said. “But for now, you let him know that Joe is ready to make peace.”
“And what about you, Tanner, where will you run to?”
“I’ll be leaving for Mexico. I’m going to kill Alonso Alvarado.”
Rico laughed so hard it made the staples in his head hurt.
“Oh God, you’re either a madman or a fool. There’s no way into that compound, and even if you made it inside, you’d never get to Alonso. Also, there is a price on your head. You can be sure that every punk in Mexico will be looking to cash in.”
Tanner shrugged. “You asked me my plans and I told you.”
The meeting ended, and Rico called Juan to set up a get-together with Pullo.
“The man is ecstatic. This will make him look big in his father’s eyes.”
“He’ll die happy,” Tanner said. “But when do you plan to kill him?”
“I’ll do it when we break the news to Krupin that he’s out and Pullo is in. Then, I’ll frame Krupin for Juan’s death. Afterwards, I will have to give Alonso the bad news.”
“And you’re certain he’ll leave you here to run things?”
“I am; I was being groomed for such a position already. It’s only natural that I step in and take Juan’s place.”
“You’re saying that Alonso Alvarado trusts you?” Tanner said.
“He does.”
Tanner smiled. “It’s good to know the man’s a fool; it will make him that much easier to kill.”
OUTSIDE THE HOTEL RUTHERFORD, SEVEN HOURS LATER
“I would wish you good luck, Tanner, but the truth is, I hope you die.”
“Same here, Nazario, but tell me, what will Juan Alvarado think when you go back and tell him you survived a gas attack. Your eyes aren’t even red.”
Rico cursed. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“You’re in luck, I did.”
Tanner sprayed Rico in the face with pepper spray. Rico let out a yelp and began rubbing at his eyes.
“It’s pepper spray, Rico, and now you look like the survivor of a gas attack.”
Tanner got in his car and started the engine. “You don’t have to thank me,” Tanner said, as he drove away from the scene of yet another massacre.
383
Sandoval
Damián Sandoval was an important-looking man wearing an expensive suit and sitting inside an armored limo in Mexico City.
Dante held the door open as Alexa slid in to sit across from Sandoval, then he sat beside her and closed the door.
When Sandoval held out his hand, Dante passed over the hard drives Alexa had stolen from Alvarado’s compound.
Alexa was dressed in jeans and a dark-green T-shirt, because she had Dante stop to retrieve her van. Had they not stopped, she would have been forced to meet Sandoval dressed in her blood speckled camouflage cape or sit across from the man while half naked and dressed in her whore’s disguise. Neither would have been acceptable to her, but given the way Sandoval was eyeing her, he might have preferred the whore clothes.
Damián Sandoval was still handsome and trim at forty-nine. He had started life in the drug trade as a simple street soldier, then had worked his way up in the old Mercoto Cartel, which had control of the state of Tamaulipas. He had taken over after killing Hector Mercoto in a bold move that made him a legend.
Now, it was known that he wanted Mexico City, wanted it back actually, and that meant that Alonso Alvarado, a man he once worked for, had to go.
“You are a very beautiful woman, Anna, and of course, that is not your real name.”
“Does my name matter?”
“No, not at this point, but you are as lucky as you are beautiful. If Dante here hadn’t been one of the men sent to track you down, Alvarado would be torturing you at this very moment.”
“I know, and I’m grateful.”
“You are also brave. I know of only one man who would have risked going into that compound alone, and you’re just a woman. You should be rewarded for your bravery. I will give you ten-thousand dollars for the hard drives.”
“Thank you,” Alexa said. She hadn’t expected any reward, but by talking to Sandoval, she hoped to learn something of value. She also let his, “just a woman” comment pass, since there was no point in angering the man. “Tell me, Mr. Sandoval, are you planning to attack Alvarado anytime soon?”
“No, I placed Dante inside simply to gather information. However, any attack would not have happened for months.”
“Would you change your mind if you had an ally?”
Sandoval smiled. “Are you talking about yourself?”
“I am, but I’m also talking about the man named Tanner.”
“The American? I hear he is causing Alonso much grief in New York City, but what does he have to do with what’s happening here?”
“Nothing yet, but he’s a Tanner. I believe he’ll be coming for Alonso Alvarado.”
“No, young lady, that man Tanner will soon be dead.”
Alexa shrugged. “You may be right, but if that man comes here, will you help us?”
“Us? You know this man?”
“No, but I’m going to look for him, and I will find him.”
Sandoval cocked his head as he studied her. “You are a strange woman; do you know that?”
“So I’ve been told, but will you help us?”
“If such a miracle occurred I would consider giving assistance, but here is my advice to you. Take the money I’m paying you for the hard drives and head to the United States. I will even help you to travel under a new identity. Once you’re there, find a nice place to hide, because believe me, Alonso Alvarado will be looking to flay you alive.”
At that very moment inside Alvarado’s compound, the man himself was in a state of rage.
“A woman! One goddamn woman manages to breach our security and kill several men. How is such a thing possible?”
The man he was screaming at was his head of security, and the man was wise enough to bow his head and speak in a quiet tone.
“I will investigate, but she must have had help from that guard, Dante. Joaquin tells us that Dante helped the girl escape.”
Alvarado was standing on his crutches, but the rage was making him shake, so he sat in his special chair.
“Leave me, and don’t come back here until you’ve searched the entire compound.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Wait! There’s one more thing. The whores and the men that brought them here, kill them all.”
“Sir?”
“I can’t have word of this getting out. People must believe that this compound is impenetrable.”
The man looked like he wanted to say something in defense of the women; instead, he simply nodded.
“I’ll see to it myself.”
“Do that, and check this damn compound, every square inch.”
The compound was searched as Alvarado demanded, and it became apparent that a guard was missing. When another guard walked over to look down the alcove that led to Carlos Ayala’s bedroom, he spotted the blue bath rug and bent over to pick it up.
One minute after that, the body of Carlos “the accountant” Ayala was found, and Alexa soon had a price on her head as well.
384
Red Meat
When Rico returned to the office building where Juan Alvarado made his home, his eyes were still burning from the pepper spray.
As painful as it had been, Tanner had helped him, because one look in the mirror told Rico that he truly looked like someone who had survived a gas attack. So much the better, he needed Juan to trust him.
He was let into the suite by one of Juan’s guards, where he saw that Juan and Joe Pullo were dining on a late-night meal of steak, while laughing together over something.
Rico had been worried that Juan and Pullo might not get along, but Pullo had adopted just the right amount of fawning to stroke Juan’s ego and make him feel in control. The meal itself was part of Rico’s plan, and Rico was glad to see that Pullo had played along.
Juan stared at Rico in amazement after Rico explained what had happened.
“They’re all dead?”
“Yes, one other man made it and was running for the doors with me… but he tripped, and then I was alone.”
“But... Tanner was in there, right?”
“No, Juan, the whole thing was a trick. Mike Conti must be working with Tanner; the two of them set this up.”
Pullo steeled himself and then uttered words he hated saying. “Now you know why I broke things off with Tanner. The man is a maniac. If not for him, I would have made peace with Krupin a week ago.”
Juan sank back down in his seat at the table, in front of his half-eaten steak.
“Oh God, all those men. And my father will blame this on me, you’ll see. But you remember Rico. It was my father that insisted we go into that building.”
Rico tried to hide his disgust. Tanner had lured them into the building, yes, but it was Juan who had given the order to rush in after the man.
“Listen,” Pullo said. “Don’t you think it’s time we broke the news to Krupin? I want to see his face when he finds out he’s lost everything.”
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 121