The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart

by Remington Kane

  Alexa shook her head as she chased away the speculation. Everyone has to live their own life the way they see fit. She didn’t regret any of the killing she had done. In fact, she would do much more, hundreds more if necessary. She would kill and kill again until she reached the target of her wrath, Alonso Alvarado. He would die by her hand. She knew this the way she knew her own name.

  She was Alexa Cazares, the last of the Cazares family, but she was also Alexa Lucia, daughter of Rodrigo, her Papa.

  She would make herself proud, kill as many as she had to kill, and then stand for sentencing come judgement day. And whatever her fate in the afterlife, she would face it with her chin held high.

  Tanner looked in his rearview mirror and saw that the van was gaining on him. He nibbled at the inside of his cheek as opposing emotions plagued him. One side of him was telling him to stop the car and talk to the woman, while the other side was concerned about her very presence.

  How was it possible that she had found him? Was she even looking for him, or was it all some huge coincidence?

  He shook his head. Her appearance at the motel where he was staying would be too big a coincidence, but wasn’t she wanted by Alvarado as well?

  Again, he was torn by opposite desires. Get away from the woman, lose her, or pull over and talk to her and get answers.

  He soon realized that the matter was going to be taken out of his hands, as the car began to slow on its own. When he looked down at the gas gauge, he saw that the tank was empty.

  He had nearly half a tank left when he left the motel, but then he realized what must have happened. It was the debris from the grenade blast. A piece of it must have punctured his gas tank.

  He brought the already coasting vehicle to a halt, got out, and walked around to the passenger side, where he bent over and saw half of the motel room door handle sticking out of the fuel tank.

  The woman, Alexa? Yes, she had said her name was Alexa. The woman’s van was drawing nearer. Tanner took out his gun covertly, so that no one in the passing cars would see it, then he watched as Alexa pulled up and parked behind him on the shoulder.

  She showed him that her hands were empty, then stepped out of the van slowly. When she walked around to the front of it, they both gazed at each other until Alexa broke the silence. She spoke to Tanner in English, which displayed her Spanish accent.

  “My real name is Alexa Cazares, and Alonso Alvarado killed my family when I was just a girl. I’m going to kill the bastard, and I would like your help, Tanner.”

  Tanner placed the gun behind his back, in his waistband. After grabbing his things from the car, he walked toward the van.

  “Let’s go someplace where we can talk.”

  Alexa pointed at his car. “What about that?”

  “It’s not working, and it’s burned anyway, just like the ID I used to check into that motel.”

  When they were both sitting in the van side by side, they looked at each other again without speaking; then, Alexa placed the van in gear and headed down the highway.

  405

  Wounds, New And Old

  Scar sighed with relief as he rubbed ointment between his slashed palms before bandaging them.

  He and the other Tin Horsemen were in the parking lot of a 24-hour drugstore, tending to the wounds Alexa had given them. Abrasion had gotten off easy with just a kick to the balls, but he was still so sore that he could barely ride his motorcycle.

  Bruise had a missing tooth and a split lower lip from the kick he received. He was busy wrapping a bandage around Wound’s shoulder. Scar had yanked the knife out of it to the tune of Wound’s howls. After slathering an entire tube of antibacterial cream on the deep cut, Bruise was attempting to wrap it tight to stop the bleeding.

  Scar shook his head in disgust. A woman, a woman had kicked their asses, and not some Amazonian broad either, but a woman hot enough to be in a centerfold.

  “We gotta find that bitch,” Scar said.

  Bruise nodded in agreement and held up a flyer with a drawing of Alexa on it.

  “She’s worth money too. This flyer was in Georgie’s car. I also got his phone; it was left on the dashboard.”

  Abrasion spoke as he massaged his balls through the fabric of his jeans. “You stole Georgie’s phone?”

  Bruise laughed, and the missing tooth in the front of his mouth made him look even dumber than usual. “He don’t need it. Hell, you saw him, Tanner blew him to bits.”

  Scar held up his bandaged hands. Like everything else he’d ever attempted, he’d done a piss poor job of wrapping his cuts. The ends of the bandages hung loose and blew in the breeze.

  “New plan; we leave Tanner alone and go after the woman. She might be worth a lot less, but I think we can take her… and I don’t want to get blown up.”

  “That’s fine by me,” Abrasion said, and the others agreed.

  “I’ll know that van again if I see it,” Bruise said. “It had all them tinted windows and new tires.”

  Scar straddled his bike. “All right, we’ll look for her in the morning. First, let’s get a motel room for the night.”

  “With what?” Wound said. “We spent most of that money your mother gave you on buying gas and supplies.”

  Scar reached in a pocket with just his fingers, so he wouldn’t hurt his hand. When his fingers came back out, they were holding a credit card.

  “This is my mom’s card; she won’t care if I use it.”

  The four of them rode off to find a place to stay, not knowing that Tanner and Alexa were just a few miles away.

  After spotting a nearly hidden driveway on a back road, Tanner had instructed Alexa to pull the van over. What had caught his eye was the stack of white plastic wrappers.

  Each wrapper held a bundle of flyers from local merchants and supermarkets. They were piled in front of an oak tree and behind a hedge that was a few feet past the entrance to the driveway. There must have been dozens of them.

  Once parked, Tanner told Alexa he was going to check out the house and to keep the engine running so they would be able to move quickly if they had to.

  Alexa said that she would, and Tanner disappeared into the darkness. When he returned just a few minutes later, he told her the house looked lived in, but that there appeared to be no one at home. All the lights were off, despite the vehicle parked under a carport.

  “I rang the bell and then went around to the back door and knocked hard on it. If we’re lucky, whoever lives here is away on vacation.”

  Minutes later, they were inside the home. Alexa had picked the lock on the rear door in the kitchen like it wasn’t even there. Once again, Tanner had been impressed by her.

  The home sat back from the road and was surrounded by trees on three sides. The fourth side opened onto a large field that stretched for over a mile. Beyond that was a roadway, discernible because of the lights of the vehicles moving on it.

  Upon entering, both Tanner and Alexa wrinkled their nose. The house had a musty odor. To the relief of both of them, the electricity was still on, and they looked around the kitchen.

  A newspaper sat open on the table as if someone had just been reading it, and there was a coffee cup sitting beside it. Tanner looked inside the cup and saw a dark sediment at its bottom, as Alexa pointed at the newspaper.

  “Look at the date. This paper is over four years old.”

  Tanner took out his gun and motioned for Alexa to follow him. There was no door between the kitchen and the hallway, but beyond the threshold, the home looked dark.

  Alexa handed Tanner a small flashlight from her purse, and he shined it into the hall. He held it in his left hand with his arm extended out from his body. If someone were to fire at the light, he might have a wounded hand, but the rest of him would likely be spared.

  However, nothing happened, but there was an open door across from the kitchen entrance. When Tanner moved closer and shined the light that way, a set of wooden stairs were revealed.

  With his gun at the
ready, Tanner stepped to the opening and shined the light down the steps. That was when he and Alexa saw the body lying at the foot of the stairs.

  They moved away from the basement, and Tanner shined the light about the hall.

  Alexa spotted an odd sight by the front door and silently pointed it out to Tanner. After looking at it for several seconds, Tanner moved back to the basement and tried turning the light on. Nothing happened, and he thought that the bulb must have burned out a long time ago. He then played the flashlight beam over the body.

  The corpse was desiccated, shriveled, and had been an old man when alive, judging by the white hair visible at the back of its head. It wore khakis and a red flannel shirt, but only one brown slipper.

  When Tanner moved the beam around, he saw the other slipper. It was lying on the third stair from the top and blended in with the dark wood. He then shined the beam back at the pile of envelopes lying against the front door and knew what had happened.

  Alexa had figured it out as well, and she spoke it aloud. “The old man fell down the stairs… a long time ago. How is that possible?”

  “It happens now and then. I once read of a man who died of a heart attack in his apartment and wasn’t discovered for over six years. All his bills were on auto pay, even his rent. He was found sitting in front of his television when a pipe burst in the apartment and had to be fixed.”

  “Still, didn’t someone miss him?”

  “Apparently not.”

  “How sad.”

  “Let’s check the rest of the house, just to be sure.”

  It took only a few minutes to confirm that they were alone. There were no pictures in the house, or at least none visible. Alexa wondered what sort of lonely existence the old man had lived.

  Once they were back in the kitchen, Alexa opened the refrigerator, then closed it quickly. The smell inside was horrible.

  “Everything in there needs to be thrown out,” she said.

  Tanner took a seat at the table and gestured at the chair across from him.

  “Tell me your story. What did you mean when you said that Alvarado killed your family?”

  Alexa sat, folded her hands in front of her, and began her tale.

  “I was seven, and it was my tía’s… my aunt’s birthday.”

  Tanner held up a hand. “If it’s easier for you, you can talk to me in Spanish. I speak it fluently.”

  “Do you? That’s good, and yes, I think more clearly in Spanish.”

  Alexa began talking again, in Spanish. When she reached the part where the trucks full of men arrived, Tanner felt a chill run down his spine.

  406

  Kindred Souls

  Jack Rockford had been strapped into a chair for so long his legs had gone numb.

  He had drifted off to sleep once and wondered if he had done so a second time, as the sound of an approaching vehicle stirred him and made him jerk his head up.

  He prayed it was the cops and not Tanner returning. Tanner was as bad as the cartel street hoods, and must be worse, since he had supposedly killed so many of them.

  The vehicle, which sounded like a car, drew closer, stopped moving, and then Rockford heard the engine cut off. Whoever was out there was being cautious, because they didn’t just walk into the hangar, but must have been looking things over.

  Finally, the small door built inside the massive hangar door opened, and a man entered carrying a gun. The man was very handsome, and there were FBI credentials dangling from a chain around his neck. He also looked tired. Rockford briefly wondered how far the man had traveled to get to him.

  When the gag was removed, Rockford wet his dry lips with his tongue and looked up at the man. “I’ll tell you anything that you want to know, but you have to protect me.”

  “Protect you from the Alvarado Cartel?”

  “Yeah, and Tanner too.”

  Special Agent Jake Garner of the FBI field office in New York City listened as Rockford talked. Tanner had faxed him Rockford’s confession, and he immediately made the trip to Oklahoma on the strength of it.

  As he listened to Rockford in person, Garner realized he would likely get a promotion from the bombshell info Rockford had. And in his mind, Garner sent Tanner a silent thank you.

  Alexa finished her story. She had even mentioned Rodrigo by name and told Tanner that he had known Tanner Five.

  Tanner had listened without making a comment, but he realized that if her story were true, they were kindred souls and fellow sufferers at the hands of Alvarado.

  After taking a deep breath, Alexa switched back to English and asked a question.

  “You are the sixth Tanner, correct?”

  “I’m the seventh. Your Tanner trained my mentor.”

  “Why are you in Oklahoma?”

  “Why do I have to have a reason? Maybe I just came here to hide.”

  Alexa laughed. “A Tanner doesn’t hide from anything. That’s what my Papa says, and you have done nothing but proven him right.”

  “I have to get to my mentor, Tanner Six. He’s had dealings with Alvarado years ago… and we both thought the man was dead. We only knew him by his nickname, Martillo.”

  “Hammer… he used a hammer to murder my grandmother.”

  “How did you track me down?” Tanner asked.

  “The short answer is… I’m psychic.”

  “Psychic?”

  “You don’t believe in a sixth sense?”

  “Maybe I do, but I call it following my gut.”

  Tanner was leaning back in his seat, and Alexa’s eyes flowed over his torso as she smiled.

  “I don’t see a gut; you look very fit to me.”

  Tanner stood. “There are bedrooms upstairs.”

  Alexa raised an eyebrow. “Yes, and?”

  Tanner smiled slightly. “And I thought you might like some sleep, alone. I wasn’t suggesting anything. I’ll sleep down here on the sofa.”

  “I know, I didn’t mean to… never mind, but maybe we should take shifts, no?”

  Tanner pointed toward the front of the house.

  “That’s a gravel driveway out there. If a vehicle drives on that I’ll wake up, but I’ll also set up temporary alarms on all the doors and windows down here. Still, it’s very unlikely that we were followed.”

  “I see your point, but I have to go out to my van and get some things before I settle down for the night.”

  “Fine,” Tanner said, and then the two of them just stared at each other. They had done so several times already. And while those glances and stares were fueled by suspicion or wariness, this one was fueled by admiration. They were attracted to each other. Each one felt it and knew the other was feeling it as well.

  Alexa gave herself a little shake and broke the spell. “I’ll be right back.”

  They cleared the mail away from the front door and saw that it looked to be mostly junk mail, and that there were no personal letters in the pile. There was an old desktop computer on a table beside a console TV. Tanner guessed that the old man had paid everything on line and likely had his bills deducted automatically.

  If there was still a large sum of money in the man’s account, who knew when the body would have been discovered.

  Tanner followed Alexa out onto the porch and looked around at the night while Alexa retrieved her bag. He used the flashlight to look at the vehicle beneath the carport on the left side of the home. Its tires were flat after having sat for so long.

  There was a shape out in the field. It looked like it might be a shed of some kind, a big one, since it was about the size of a small garage. Whatever it was, it was leaning to the right and in need of repair.

  When Alexa walked back to him, she handed Tanner a bottle of water and a protein bar.

  “It’s not much, but it will do until morning.”

  “Thank you,” Tanner said, and again, they found it difficult to break their gaze.

  Alexa walked through the doorway, then looked back at Tanner. “Call me if you need anything
. I mean, if you need help with anything, to do with security.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Tanner said.

  “What should we do with the old man’s body?”

  “Why should we do anything?”

  “I want to bury him.”

  Tanner thought about it and then sent her a nod. “We could do that. It looks like no one gave a damn about him in life; at least he can get some attention in death.”

  “Thank you. And we can help each other, Tanner. Together we’ll see that bastard Alvarado dead.”

  “Let me think about it, and as I said, first I have to speak with my mentor.”

  “Is he nearby?”

  “Yes, I should reach him soon.”

  “Good, I’ll come with you.”

  “Well see, Alexa. Okay?”

  “Yes, first we must have trust, I see that, and goodnight.”

  Tanner watched her walk up the stairs as he shut the door.

  Unless her words were all lies, he had found an unexpected ally in Alexa. That was good. And if she were lying, if she were playing him somehow, that would be bad, because it meant he’d have to kill her. Tanner could think of things he’d like to do to Alexa but killing her wasn’t one of them.

  “I hope you’re the real deal,” he whispered, and then he went off to secure the doors and windows.

  407

  Truth And Consequences

  Spenser Hawke had always been an early riser, and the morning after Tanner met Alexa was no exception.

  What was an exception was the fact that the power had gone out during the night. He remembered waking momentarily when the thunder began and assumed that the storm must have brought high winds with it.

  Spenser threw on jeans, a sweatshirt, and an old pair of sneakers, and went outside to the generator shed. Once the generator was operational, he returned to the house and responded to the few emails he had, then checked for phone messages. He had none, and so that meant that he had no client for the time being. That would change, because someone’s back was always up against the wall, and when they couldn’t handle their problems themselves, they called Spenser.