“No.”
“When this is over and Alvarado is dead, you and I will go there. I need some serious down time, and I’m sure you do too.”
Alexa smiled. “That sounds like a plan; it also sounds like you finally trust me.”
“I do trust you, Alexa, and together we’ll kill Alvarado.”
A flurry of movement on the right-hand laptop screen caught Tanner’s eye and he pointed at it.
“They look familiar.”
It was the Tin Horsemen. They had followed the last two mercenaries of the group to the house and were being told to leave by the other mercs who were already there.
There was no sound, only video, but it looked like two of the mercenaries wanted to use the Horsemen as backup. The mercenaries’ leader, the bearded giant in the overalls, disagreed, and he was telling the Tin Horsemen to go away.
Bruise sent the big man the finger as the Tin Horsemen parked their bikes across the road from the house, and next to the slope that led down to the stream. The water was higher and moving faster than it had been before the heavy rain of the previous night. Bruise cursed as his boot became covered in the slick mud at the side of the road.
Scar took out his phone, which it hurt him to grip with his injured hand. After two rings, he heard the voice of Hexalcorp’s strike team leader, Steve Bennett.
“Talk to me.”
“There’s some guys that say they have Tanner trapped in a house.”
“Give me the address.”
Scar gave it to him and then asked Bennett what he wanted them to do.
“Just keep watch. Once Tanner kills those men, try to follow him, we’re on our way.”
“Tanner might have run out of luck. There’s a whole bunch of guys here, and they say that Tanner lost a lot of blood when their friends shot him.”
“Really? That’s interesting, but do like I said and keep watch.”
“How soon can you get here?”
“We’re not coming there, but we’ll be nearby, just keep watch and call me when something happens.”
“Okay,” Scar said.
Bennett put his phone away as he and his men were headed out the door. “Our four boys say that Tanner is wounded and holed up in a house.”
Hakeem smiled. “That sounds like one of Tanner’s traps.”
“Exactly, which is why we’ll be staying back and watching what happens.”
“You think the house is booby trapped?”
Bennett climbed behind the wheel of a large black Chevy pickup. The vehicle came from Hexalcorp’s Oklahoma office. It had been delivered to them at the airport, complete with weapons and other equipment.
“I don’t know if Tanner booby trapped the house, but I do know one thing about Tanner.”
“What’s that?” Wilson said.
“He never runs out of ways to kill you.”
418
Chess Moves
Like Bennett, Spenser didn’t believe that Tanner was inside the house in Oklahoma City. He stayed at the lake with Amy. They were together outside the cabin that Alexa had rented, as Spenser worked on picking the lock on the rear door.
Amy was looking down at the drawing of Alexa that declared she was wanted dead or alive. Spenser had printed out a copy of it before leaving his house.
“So, they’re both wanted?”
“Yes, and Tanner is now worth two million.”
Amy’s mouth formed into an O. “That’s a lot of money, Spenser.”
“Tell me about it,” he said, and then he laughed.
“What’s funny?”
“This stupid lock; it’s broken. We could have just walked right in. I’ll be sure to check the lock on our own door when we get back.”
Spenser opened the door and they entered. They went about the cabin looking over the things that Alexa had bought at the market.
Amy called from the bedroom as Spenser checked out the kitchen. “There’s a duffel bag on the closet floor. Should I look through it?”
“Yes, but be careful to put things back as you found them,” Spenser said, “We don’t want to tip her off that someone’s been here.”
When they were through with their search, Spenser and Amy left the way they had entered and returned to their own cabin.
“What now?” Amy asked.
“Now we wait for them to come here.”
Amy gazed about. “I’m nervous. This isn’t like one of your cases.”
“No, it’s not, and you can still leave. I’d feel better if I knew you were somewhere safe and completely out of the line of fire.”
Amy hugged him. “No, I’m with you no matter what, remember?”
“I do, and when this is over, we’ll take that trip to New Orleans, count on it.”
Amy hugged Spenser tighter. She didn’t want to say it aloud, but she was getting a bad feeling.
At the house in Oklahoma City, the Tin Horsemen watched as five of the mercenaries who had been inside the house came out and talked to the men who were guarding the entrance to the driveway.
Three other groups of bounty hunters had shown up. It was Bennett’s doing. He wanted as many people as possible searching that house before he and his team stepped a foot inside it. If there were traps, he preferred to let someone else get caught in them.
One of the new arrivals called over to the mercenaries who had been inside the house.
“Did you get him? Did you get Tanner?”
The big man who led the mercenaries held up several receipts. “We searched the whole damn house and couldn’t find Tanner, but these receipts make me think the place might be booby trapped. There’s enough supplies on these slips to build a dozen pipe bombs, and we spotted wire scraps and cut pieces of pipe on a table in the basement. If Tanner is hiding in there somewhere, I think he’ll blow up the first man that finds him.”
Two of the men were professional bounty hunters from Texas. The two stalked over and spoke to the mercenaries.
“We’re going in. If you don’t want trouble, don’t try to stop us.”
“Go on in, but if you get an arm blown off don’t come crying to me.”
The two men pushed by them, and the others who had been standing around followed them down the driveway.
Bennett had parked on the side of the road not very far from the house. Scar had just called to tell him what was happening. When the call ended, Bennett told his men what Scar had relayed to him.
“It looks like a bunch of losers are tearing that house apart looking for Tanner.”
“What if he’s really in there, could he hide from them?” Hakeem said.
“If I gave you a day to build a hiding place inside a house do you think you could do it?”
Hakeem considered Bennett’s question and then nodded. “Yeah, all I would really need to do is build a false wall with a hidden latch.”
“Or you could hide under the floorboards, or above the basement ceiling, or even inside a large piece of furniture,” Bennett said.
Simms chuckled. “If we can think of that, so will those yahoos inside the house who are looking for Tanner. I bet they tear that place apart.”
“Yeah,” Bennett said. “And that’s why I don’t think Tanner is in that house. I think this is all a trick to flush us out.”
“What’s that mean?” Wilson said.
Bennett’s phone rang. He grabbed it from its charger on the dashboard and looked at the caller ID. “It’s Martinez.”
As soon as Bennett answered the phone, Martinez spoke. “Give me some good news that I can tell the client.”
“Take this with a grain of salt, but it looks like Tanner might be injured and holed up in a house here.”
“If that’s the case, why aren’t you going in there after him?”
“Because I’m not convinced he’s in there. I think he’s somewhere doing just what we’re doing, he’s sitting back and watching the show.”
“What would be the point of that?”
“I think he’s
trying to draw us out.”
“What? How would he even know you’re after him?”
“He doesn’t know our names, but he knows that Alvarado will send someone. I think that this is his way of smoking us out.”
“Ah, but that would mean he’d have to be watching from somewhere close, no?”
“My guess is that he has cameras strung up around the property.”
“This is like a chess match. So what’s your next move?”
“For now, we’ll just wait and see what develops; as the saying goes, only fools rush in.”
“Steve, you’ve got to get this bastard. You know what it will mean for all of us if you fail.”
“Alvarado would really kill you?”
“If he didn’t, that wife of his would, she’s as scary as he is.”
“Don’t worry, Martinez, Tanner’s good, but we’re better.”
“I hear you, and I have complete faith in you. Call me when you have him.”
Bennett ended the call and saw that his men were all looking around, as if Tanner were lurking in the bushes.
“Chill, guys. Wherever Tanner is, he’s waiting for us to show at the house, and once we do, we’ll have him.”
“How do you figure that?” Simms asked.
“I’ll walk in there with you and Wilson after Hakeem gets into position with a sniper rifle. We’ll wait for Tanner to show himself. When he does, while thinking that he has the upper hand, Hakeem will surprise him with a bullet to the head. He can’t hide from a night vision scope.”
Hakeem laughed. “We used that same trick in Iraq three times. Yeah, it should work, but Steve, what about the woman he’s with?”
“What about her? She’ll die just like Tanner.”
“Martinez said that she made it inside Alvarado’s compound on her own. Maybe we shouldn’t underestimate her.”
“We won’t, but what can she do to us?”
Wilson held aloft the drawing of Alexa. “If she’s as hot as this picture, I can think of a few things I’d like her to do to me.”
The men all laughed along with Wilson. They were completely unaware that Tanner was watching them.
419
I See You
Bennett was right when he guessed that Tanner had cameras strung up around the home’s property, but Tanner and Alexa had also placed outdoor cameras up in trees and attached to light poles in the surrounding area.
There were nearly thirty cameras in use, although two of them weren’t operating properly. Tanner and Alexa had worked into the early morning hours in the pouring rain while getting everything done; now it was paying off.
The cameras even had night vision capability. Tanner Six had suggested the idea, but Alexa had shown Tanner how to install them.
A trained thief, Alexa knew about surveillance equipment. She had connected the cameras wirelessly to a trio of laptops, and now the rear of her van looked like a small security office.
Tanner had zoomed in on Bennett and Wilson, who were seated in the front of the vehicle. He had marked them as likely candidates for the men hunting him for Alvarado, but when Wilson held aloft the drawing of Alexa, he knew for certain they were the ones.
“That’s them?” Alexa said.
“I think it’s a safe bet,” Tanner said. “They’re the only ones staying back. I think they’re just waiting to see what develops.”
“How do you want to handle this?” Alexa asked. “It looks like there are four men in that truck.”
“We’ll wait along with them, and when they finally make their move, we’ll make ours. Alvarado hired them, but I want to know who they really work for.”
“Waiting for them to make the first move, is that your whole plan, or do you have something specific in mind?”
Tanner reached over to grab his drag bag from the floor. A “drag bag” is the term snipers coined for a tactical rifle case. Tanner opened the case and removed his weapon, a Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle.
“This is all the plan I’ll need.”
While sitting across from Alvarado in the cartel leader’s office, Martinez told Alvarado that Tanner was believed to be wounded and hiding inside a house. Alvarado gave him a skeptical look.
“Who wounded him?”
“That’s unknown, but he was identified, that means he’s still in the same area as my team. It’s just a matter of time until they get him.”
Alvarado sighed. “One of my men, Rico Nazario, he thinks that Tanner is a devil. I agree with him. If your men are as good as you think they are, they’ll stay out of that house. Tanner recently used gas to kill over a hundred men inside a building.”
Martinez leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs. It was a move that he hoped would look confident, although, he was growing nervous. He had thought Tanner would be dead already.
“My men are aware of Tanner’s tactics. They’ve been fully briefed, and they won’t act until they’re sure it’s the right move.”
Alvarado looked out through the patio doors. “I should put more men on the perimeter,” he muttered.
“Sir, Tanner will never make it this far, trust me.”
Alvarado stared at Martinez for several seconds. “How many men are still inside the compound?”
“A little over sixty at any given time, why?”
“Send half of them outside and extend the perimeter guard.”
“That’s really unnecessary.”
“Just do it, as you said earlier, if Tanner can’t make it to the wall, he won’t make it over the wall.”
Martinez rose to his feet. “I’ll take care of that right away.”
After Martinez left the room, Alvarado stared off into space.
“He’s coming here, I can feel it.”
420
Trust
By nightfall, over a dozen men and women had been inside the home looking for Tanner. They had torn up floorboards, knocked holes in walls, and demolished several pieces of furniture.
When it became apparent that the home wasn’t booby trapped, Bennett made a call and told Scar, Bruise, Wound, and Abrasion to go check out the house. They did so, and when they finished, Bennett gave them directions to his location.
Hakeem and Simms leaned over Bennett’s shoulders as he scrolled through Scar’s phone. They were looking at pictures Scar had taken inside the home and were interested in the photo of the huge bloodstain Tanner had left outside, near the car he had stolen.
“If that’s real and Tanner is out there somewhere wounded, he’s lost a lot of blood,” Hakeem said.
“It’s not real,” Bennett said. “It was just bait.”
Scar yawned. “We’re heading back to our motel if you don’t need us anymore.”
“Yeah, you boys do that, but one more thing, was the house empty when you left?”
“Oh yeah, and it’s too dark to see where you’re going in there because somebody tore apart the wall where the circuit breakers were. They thought Tanner might be hiding behind there, and Wound almost fell into one of the holes that were made in the floors.”
Wilson spoke up. “Hey, tell me something, when did you guys come up with these nicknames of yours, Scar, Wound, Bruise, and… what’s the other guy’s name, Contusion?”
“It’s Abrasion,” Abrasion said. “We made the names up in the third grade and they just stuck.”
“Third grade, huh? That explains a lot,” Wilson said, and Scar and the other Tin Horsemen rode away.
Bennett watched them go, then he spoke to his men.
“All right boys; let’s get to work.”
At the van, Alexa pointed at the monitor where Bennett and his men were on camera.
“They’re on the move.”
Tanner checked the other cameras and saw no sign of Scar and his followers. “It looks like the bikers have left the area.”
“If these men are as elite as you think they are, I’m surprised they would be working with those four fools.”
“I’m sure they were just
using them.”
They followed the progress of Bennett’s truck, which was rolling along slowly with its lights off. When it stopped, it was a hundred yards from the house, and Bennett and his men climbed out. The camera in that area was acting up; Alexa couldn’t get it to switch to night vision mode.
“Damn it, all I see are four shapes,” she said.
Tanner pointed at the screen. “Yeah, but look at the silhouette on that one. It looks like I won’t be the only one with a rifle, and you can bet that his night vision scope will work better than our camera.”
Alexa grabbed a black hoodie and put it on. “I’ll go after him and eliminate the threat.”
“That’s dangerous, Alexa. What if he sees you first?”
“I’m not a Tanner, but I’ve been killing Alvarado’s men for months. Most of that killing was done in the dark, guerilla-style. I’ll kill that man before he even knows he’s dead. Trust me.”
“If you don’t kill him, he’ll try to kill me when I confront the others.”
“I’m not the type of woman that needs saving, Tanner. When I say I’ll do something, I’ll do it. I’ll kill that man.”
Tanner looked away from Alexa and stared at the monitor. Bennett, Simms, and Wilson were back in the pickup and driving toward the house, while Hakeem was on foot and carrying his rifle.
“He just broke off from the others and is headed this way. Go kill him.”
Alexa smiled, gave Tanner a soulful kiss, and left the van with a knife gripped in her right hand.
“Take a gun with you,” Tanner said.
Alexa called back to him over her shoulder. “I’m better with a blade.”
Tanner watched her from the rear doors of the van as she disappeared into the night.
He trusted Alexa, and now he would find out just how good she was.
Tanner closed the doors, started the van, and headed toward the house.
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 134