If they thought they had made a mistake and followed the wrong man they might leave. Tanner didn’t want them to leave because he needed information.
The two men following Tanner were named Derrick and Bobby. They were locals, and Bobby had spotted Tanner while stopped at a traffic light.
Derrick was the more aggressive of the two and a former boxer. His nose and ears spoke of his losses in the ring, but he retained the good looks he was born with.
Bobby was a follower, skinny as a reed, and had thinning blond hair. He had been a fair basketball player in high school, but when he failed to get a college scholarship, he joined the army. That’s where he and Derrick met.
After parking in the motel lot, Derrick took another look at the drawing of Tanner’s face.
“Yeah, I wasn’t sure until he looked this way, but there can’t be two guys with eyes like his.”
Bobby checked to see if his gun was loaded for the third time since spotting Tanner. While he did that, Derrick pumped a shell into his shotgun and told Bobby how they would do it.
“You go around back and make sure he doesn’t sneak out, I think the bathrooms here have a small window in them.”
“You’ve stayed here?”
Derrick smiled as he cut off the car’s engine. “That waitress at Elmo’s Bar, you know the one with the long legs? I nailed her here about a year ago.”
“Get out of here! You slept with Mindy?”
“Yeah, but just once, she said it was her way of paying her husband back for something or other.”
“Damn Derrick, that girl is hot.”
“Yeah, but she sucked in bed. Never mind that, you go head around back, wait a full minute, and then you’ll hear me kick in the door. If this Tanner dude tries to leave through the bathroom window, he’s yours, and if he don’t, he’s mine.”
“All right,” Bobby said, and took in several deep breaths. “I haven’t killed anyone since we were in the army. But that was in wartime, and it didn’t count.”
“What do you mean killing in a war don’t count?”
Bobby raised his eyes skyward. “I’m talking about God. Killing is wrong.”
“The price on the dude’s head is a million bucks, that’s worth a little sin.”
“Right, okay, I’ll head around back.” Bobby left the car with his gun tucked against his leg, and ran right, to head around to the rear of the L-shaped building.
After gathering his courage, Derrick left the car and went over to stand outside Tanner’s door. When what felt like a minute had passed, Derrick was readying himself to kick in the door, but then he caught sight of Bobby, who was running back toward him.
When Bobby reached him, Derrick pulled him aside and whispered. “Why aren’t you watching the window?”
Bobby grinned before he whispered back at Derrick. “I don’t need to watch it. There’s a window in the bathroom, yeah, but it’s up high and a single piece of glass, stained glass too. There’s no way he can get out of there quickly, and if he tries, we’ll just shoot him.”
“All right, good, good. I feel better about both of us going in anyway. Now, I’ll kick the door in on three. One… two… three!”
Derrick laid a work boot hard against the doorjamb and the cheap motel room lock broke free, causing the door to fly open and bounce off the wall to the side of it.
They saw no one.
Derrick leaned down with the shotgun at the ready and looked under the bed. While he was doing that, Bobby checked the room’s only closet and found it empty of all but a few clothes hangers. When they were certain there were no other places to hide, Derrick pointed at the bathroom door. It was sitting ajar and showed a dark room beyond.
“We know you’re in there, dude,” Derrick called out, but there was no answer.
The two men crept toward the bathroom with their guns at the ready, both sets of eyes were locked on the slight opening between the bathroom door and the jamb, searching for any movement.
Derrick whispered to Bobby while never taking his eyes from the door. “I’m gonna push the door open. When I do, reach around inside and hit the light switch.”
Bobby whispered back at him. “It sounds good but be ready.”
Derrick stood to the left side of the door, as Bobby moved over to the right.
After silently counting down from three, Derrick shoved the bathroom door open with the end of his shotgun. At the same time, Bobby reached inside and flicked the light switch. When nothing happened other than the light coming on, Derrick moved into the bathroom while keeping his finger ready on the shotgun’s trigger.
The bathroom was empty.
Derrick and Bobby looked at the empty shower stall, then up at the intact stained glass window above the toilet. There was no other way out of the room, and yet, Tanner wasn’t there.
When Tanner cleared his throat, it caused both men to jerk their heads around. Tanner was holding a pair of Tasers. He fired them simultaneously, striking both Derrick and Bobby in the face with the electrified prongs. He then watched them fall to the bathroom’s tiled floor and twitch from the shock they each received. Within minutes, he had them gagged and bound and was backing their vehicle up to the motel room door.
After throwing a blanket over Derrick, he carried him outside and dumped the man into the trunk of his own car, he then repeated the procedure with Bobby, got behind the wheel of Derrick’s car, and went looking for a secluded spot.
Tanner needed information, and before they died, Derrick and Bobby would tell him what he needed to know.
392
Job Openings
Inside the remains of a burnt hulk that was once a home, Tanner removed Derrick’s gag. Derrick worked his mouth a little, wet his lips, then asked a question that had been driving him crazy.
“Where the hell were you hiding in that room?”
Tanner ignored him while he removed Bobby’s gag.
“How did you two find me?”
“We just spotted you,” Bobby said. “And it surprised me; they say you’re supposed to be in Texas or Mexico.”
“Who else knows I’m here?”
“Just us,” Bobby said.
“You said that they think I’m in Texas or Mexico, who’s they?”
“Don’t answer him, Bobby. Don’t tell him shit,” Derrick said.
Tanner reached back, grabbed the shotgun, and pointed it at Derrick. “Interrupt again and I’ll kill you.”
“It was on the website! Don’t shoot! It was on the website,” Derrick said.
“What website?”
“At Chemzonic,” Bobby said, “It’s where we work. It’s a chemical plant, and there was an alert for you in the secure area of the website.”
“My picture was on an official company website?”
“It’s a special website we’re not supposed to know about, but the head of security does. I saw him punch in the code once, and so I go on there to take a look every now and then. It didn’t do me any good; most of what’s on there is encoded. But they had that drawing of you and a one followed by six zeros, so I didn’t need to decode what that meant.”
“Was it all encoded?”
“Mostly, but under your picture it said something like, se busca vivo o muerto. Consuela in the cafeteria told me that it translated into, ‘wanted dead or alive’ and that it mentioned a reward, so we figured you were worth a million dollars.”
Tanner went quiet as he thought things over. The company where Derrick and Bobby worked, Chemzonic, must be linked to the Alvarado Cartel somehow, and in fact, it made perfect sense. The Alvarado Cartel was one of the biggest suppliers of meth. Meth needs precursor chemicals to be manufactured, and what could be better than owning your own chemical plant?
Tanner reached behind him and grabbed an iPad from a duffel bag. After signing on, he asked Derrick how to access the area he was talking about. It was a website that seemed unconnected to the Chemzonic Chemical Company.
“Which link do I hit?”
“Where it says, Members Only,” Bobby said.
Tanner hit the link, and a sign in window came up.
“What’s the sign in?”
Bobby gave it to him and Tanner saw the drawing with his face on it. The figure $1,000,000.00 was written below it, along with the words, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! which was written in several languages. The rest of the page was a gobbledygook of scrambled text that made no sense.
“What’s the name of the head of security?”
Derrick answered. “He’s Jack Rockford, a real pretty boy prick too.”
“They wouldn’t be hiring on, would they?”
“Maybe,” Derrick said. “But Tanner, that’s your name right, Tanner?”
“That’s my name.”
“Seriously man, where were you hiding in that room?”
“I wasn’t in the room. I left it right after I entered. I cut out the window in the bathroom when I rented the room and then glued it in place with cheap paste. It pops right out and fits right back in.”
“Shit, we should have thought of that.”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why would you think of that?”
“You did.”
“Yeah, but it’s my business to stay alive and that will no longer be a problem you’ll face.”
Tanner fired the shotgun twice.
There were two new openings at the Chemzonic Chemical plant.
393
Inevitable
In Mexico, Alonso Alvarado put down his phone after getting updates from the men he had stationed at every border crossing between the United States and Mexico. He would call the men he placed at the airports next, but he didn’t expect Tanner to board an airplane, at least not a commercial jet.
He had thrown over a hundred of his best men at Tanner in New York City, and now those men were dead, and Tanner had vowed to travel to Mexico to kill him.
Juan, his only son, had died, and if Tanner made it behind the walls of his compound, Alvarado knew he would join him in death.
Cody Parker, that was Tanner’s true name. However, it did Alvarado little good to know it, because Cody Parker had no one left in the world that Alvarado could threaten to use against him. He had already killed the man’s loved ones when he thought he had also murdered him.
Tanner was coming to kill him, to avenge the woman he’d lost in New York and for the family he’d watch die years ago. Tanner was coming, and Alvarado didn’t doubt it for a second.
He had put the word out about the million-dollar reward for Tanner. The man would be hunted by hundreds of lowlifes, dreamers, and even a few genuinely competent killers.
He hoped one of them might get lucky, or that their combined numbers might overwhelm Tanner, but deep down, Alvarado realized Tanner wouldn’t be stopped by such men. No, Tanner was coming, and he was coming for him.
Alvarado had done something a day earlier that he had never done before, nor had ever needed to do. He had hired outside help, professional help, in the form of a company that specialized in security, among other things.
The company was named Hexalcorp. They were supply contractors with several governments, including The United States of America.
Hexalcorp was rated second in their field, but their top competitor, the corporation, Burke, had refused to do business with him.
That slight would not go unanswered, and Alvarado would send grief toward Conrad Burke, the Burke Corporation owner, but for now, Tanner was the main concern.
Hexalcorp was sending a top representative to the compound to enhance the security and had dispatched a group of men they called a “Strike Team” to find and eliminate Tanner.
Alvarado hoped the men would succeed, but he was far more interested in increasing the compound’s security, because Tanner was coming. Alvarado knew with everything in him that Tanner was coming, and the bastard Cody Parker was as inevitable as death.
394
Closing In
Tanner left the hapless Derrick and Bobby inside the burnt-out house. They would be discovered in the coming days, but not soon enough for it to interfere in his plans.
He dumped Derrick’s car in long-term parking at the airport, then took a cab back to the motel, where he apologized for the busted door and paid for its repair. He had enough people after him; he didn’t need the cops looking for him over a busted motel room door, and the phony ID he was using was still good.
He drove to a different motel, just in case, and after spending an hour coming up with a revised plan, he sent an email off to Tim Jackson. If anyone could decode what was on Chemzonic’s secret website, it would be Tim.
Tanner fell asleep with Derrick’s shotgun propped up against the side of the bed. He would sleep until the sun woke him.
The following morning in Mississippi, Alexa was sitting inside her van, watching the sunrise, as she wondered where Tanner was. Her mind told her that he was probably in Mexico by now, but her “little voice,” her sixth sense, said that he was heading west, northwest.
She was parked outside a motel and had checked in the day before under the name Anna Sanchez, with a fake ID and credit card courtesy of Damián Sandoval, Alonso Alvarado’s rival.
Without doubt, Sandoval was as big a dirtbag as Alvarado was, but his assistance had proven useful, and his man Dante had saved her life.
As she checked in to the motel, Alexa had showed the clerk the drawing of Tanner. The night clerk hadn’t recognized him, and Alexa was waiting to ask the day clerk the same question when the new person came on shift.
She took the drawing out and looked at it yet again and wondered what sort of man Tanner was. He was a killer for hire, of that she was certain, but he was also a Tanner.
Alexa’s adopted father, her Papa Rodrigo, had known Tanner Five.
Rodrigo had still been a boy of fifteen and living with his widowed mother while Tanner Five had been middle aged, but he had become friends with the man before he knew who and what he was.
Rodrigo was gay, and he and his friends from the circus had been attacked by a gang of local kids from the town where they were performing. After Rodrigo had been spotted holding another boy’s hand, the two of them were thrown to the ground and kicked.
Tanner Five had stopped the beating before Rodrigo and his friend were seriously injured, or possibly worse.
Tanner Five had later traveled with the circus and stayed with Rodrigo and his mother for months after that. Although Rodrigo had never come out and said as much, Alexa always got the impression that Tanner and Rodrigo’s mother became more than friends.
In any event, Tanner Five had taught young Rodrigo to fight, at least enough to defend himself, and he had also impressed Rodrigo as being a man of honor.
It wasn’t until years later that the two of them met again. By that time, Rodrigo had become an accomplished young thief. Accomplished, but not perfect, and he was caught in the act of emptying a safe by the man he was trying to rob.
Rodrigo told Alexa that after he heard the sound of a shotgun racking a shell, he knew he was dead. But to his surprise and joy, when the blast came, it was the owner of the shotgun who perished, because he had been shot by Tanner Five, who had been hired to kill the man.
The two fled the scene and went where they could talk. That’s when Rodrigo learned the truth about his Tanner.
More trouble ensued shortly thereafter, and Rodrigo recounted how Tanner Five went up against incredible odds on several occasions and came out on top every time. He said that Tanner Five told him that he had been trained by his predecessor, the fourth Tanner, who in turn had been trained by his own mentor. A Tanner was an assassin, yes, but they were trained to be more than that, they were trained to be the best, to survive anywhere, and to never give up until the target was dead.
Now, some thirty-odd years later, Alexa searched for her Tanner, and she prayed that he was someone who could help her, and not just some mindless killer.
A car pulled up and parke
d in front of the motel office. When a man got out holding a paper sack and a thermos, Alexa assumed he was the day clerk starting his shift. She left her van while holding Tanner’s picture and went to see if the man knew his face.
Alexa lit up when the desk clerk nodded his head affirmatively.
“Yeah, this guy, he was here; it was the night before last. I wasn’t working that night, but I was here talking to my boss when he checked in.”
“What name did he go by?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, we’re not allowed to give out that kind of information, but he checked in alone if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not involved with him; I’m just looking for him.”
The clerk leaned on the counter. He was a young white guy with curly brown hair and gray eyes. He looked Alexa over and smiled.
“He’s a lucky guy to have you looking for him, but what are you, some kind of bounty hunter?”
Alexa returned the man’s smile and wondered if he was about to hit on her. She would love to know what name Tanner was traveling under, but in truth, it would do her little good. She had no way to track him down electronically and a man like Tanner would change identities the way other men changed clothes.
“I’m not a bounty hunter or a cop, but the man I’m looking for, well, we have something in common. I want to find him to see if we could help each other.”
The man straightened up, tapped at the computer keyboard for a moment, and then shook his head.
“He checked out yesterday morning and left no forwarding address, sorry.”
“That’s okay; thank you for your help.”
“You’re welcome.”
Alexa opened her purse. “I’ll be checking out.”
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 124