“I left that in their cabin when we were there earlier, and while you were showering… I snuck back in to get it. When she saw me coming out, I panicked and ran, and she ran after me.”
Alexa walked over to Tanner. “What’s going on?”
“As I said, they’re friends of mine, or at least Spenser is, this is the first time I’m meeting Amy, although I’ve heard good things about her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew these people?” Alexa said.
“I trusted you, Alexa, but I had to be sure. Spenser followed you from Oklahoma City to here, and then from here back to Oklahoma City. If you weren’t who and what you said you were, that would have been an ideal time to contact someone. When Spenser told me that you made no stops other than for gas and groceries, it confirmed what I believed, that I could trust you.”
Alexa’s face screwed up in confusion. “You had someone follow me? But no, I would have seen him.”
Tanner shook his head. “Not Spenser you wouldn’t; he’s too good to allow himself to be spotted.”
Alexa sucked in a breath as a pained expression darkened her face. “I thought you trusted me when you sent me here, but you were just testing me? Goddamn it, Tanner, what do I have to do to prove myself to you? Should I let Alvarado kill me, would that convince you?”
Alexa rushed out the open doorway and back to her van. After parking it in front of their cabin, she just sat inside it.
One tear escaped, then two, she wiped them away in anger as Tanner limped over toward her.
When she looked at him, he sent her a shrug.
“I won’t apologize for testing you, but I do want you to know that I trust you completely now.”
Alexa reached out the window, gave him a weak slap across the face, and called him several unflattering names in Spanish.
“Are you through now? Because if you are, I want you to come inside and see Spenser.”
Alexa smirked. “If that towel had slipped any lower, I would have seen all of Spenser.” She stepped from the van and looked Tanner over. “How do you feel? Do you need to see a doctor?”
“The leg hurts some, but the ribs are worse. Still, I’ll heal, and we need time to plan our attack on Alvarado in any event. Spenser convinced me that if I rushed into Mexico without a plan, I might never get out alive.”
“Your friend is right, and we’ll plan while your ribs heal, but one way or another, I will see that bastard Alvarado dead.”
They returned to Spenser’s cabin and found that Spenser had dressed. He was wearing boots, jeans, and a green short sleeve sweatshirt.
Alexa found him to be handsome and thought that the eye patch gave him a mysterious air. When Amy walked up to her and extended her hand, Alexa shook it, then smiled.
“I didn’t like going through your things, Alexa,” Amy said. “But Spenser thought it was necessary.”
“I was angry before, but I understand your need to be certain about me,” Alexa told Amy, and then she spoke to Tanner. “Will Spenser and Amy be coming with us when we go to see Tanner Six?”
Tanner smiled. “Alexa, Spenser Hawke is Tanner Six.”
Alexa stared at Spenser, and then back at Tanner. When she looked over at Amy, Amy just shrugged.
Alexa gave a little laugh. “Tanner Six, oh Spenser, you’ve got to meet my Papa, he would love to talk to you. He knew Tanner Five.”
Spenser studied Alexa. “Your last name is Lucia?”
“It is now, because I took the name of the man who raised me, but I was born Alexa Cazares.”
“The man who raised you, is he Rodrigo Lucia?”
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“Tanner Five mentioned him on occasion, I think he was happiest when he lived with Rodrigo’s mother and traveled with their circus, he said he even did an act as a trick shooter while he was with them.”
“Yes, Papa mentioned that,” Alexa said.
Spenser looked over at Tanner. “How did you get injured, was it the men I warned you about?”
“Yes and no, I injured the leg while avoiding a grenade blast by one of the men sent to kill me, but the ribs were caused by a brute working for someone else.”
“I assumed this brute and his keeper were handled?”
“For now. If they pop up again, they’ll wish they hadn’t.”
Spenser laid a hand on Tanner’s shoulder. “It’s so damn good to see you, boy, and I’ve missed you.”
Tanner smiled. “I’ve missed you too, old man.”
“Old?” Amy said. “Spenser’s only in his forties.”
“It’s a sort of joke,” Spenser said. “Tanner and I have a father and son vibe going, and someday, Amy, I want you to meet my other boy, Romeo.”
“I saw him and Nadya recently,” Tanner said. “He told me that they’ll be here next year… after the baby is born.”
Spenser grinned. “Yeah, he told me about that.”
Amy laughed. “That means I’ll soon be dating a grandfather.”
Tanner and Alexa said goodnight and entered their cabin.
Alexa pointed at the sofa. “I should make you sleep on that for taking so long to trust me, but since you’re injured I’ll show mercy and let you share the bed with me.”
“You’re very kind,” Tanner said, and kissed her. When the kissing grew more passionate, Alexa broke off from Tanner and headed for the bedroom.
“I need a shower, but you shower first, and then I’ll place a better bandage on that leg wound.”
Tanner followed and leaned in the bedroom doorway.
“Alexa.”
She had been unpacking her duffel bag, but she turned and looked at him.
“Yes?”
“I don’t really understand how you found me, but I’m glad you did.”
Alexa smiled brightly at him. “I’m here and I’m staying.”
They kissed once more, then Tanner limped into the bathroom.
424
What Thing?
At St. Anthony’s Hospital in Oklahoma City, Nurse Marion Brown had just finished thinking about what a quiet night it had been so far. That was when the giant American Indian walked in with what looked like a stick jutting from his neck.
The man’s clothes were damp, although it wasn’t raining, and he carried an unconscious woman in his arms who had a nasty cut on her face.
Marion called for an orderly to bring over a stretcher, then watched as the Indian laid the woman gently upon it.
“Oh my God, sir, what happened to you two?”
Brick smiled. “It’s just a mild case of Tanneritis.”
A second orderly brought over a wheelchair, but when Brick tried to sit his massive frame down into it, the handles became wedged around his hips. He pushed the chair aside and spoke to Nurse Marion.
“I’ll walk; it’s good exercise.”
“Yes,” Marion said. “And then we’ll have a doctor remove that thing in your neck.”
Brick gave her a perplexed look. “What thing in my neck?”
Marion looked unsure how to respond to that, and Brick let out a loud laugh before he followed along behind Ariana’s stretcher.
Tanner came out of the bathroom after showering and sat on the side of the bed. He was only wearing a pair of black boxers, and Alexa got down on her knees between his legs.
Tanner smiled at her. “I thought we might kiss first, but I’m not complaining.”
Alexa laughed as she reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the sterilized gauze and antiseptic cream.
“I’m down here to place a fresh bandage on your leg.”
“I see,” Tanner said.
Alexa bandaged the wound in his left leg and then stood, leaned over, and kissed him.
“I’m going to take a long hot shower, so you might as well go to sleep.”
Tanner’s eyes flicked to the gap in her blouse. The view pleased him.
“I think I’ll stay awake and see what develops.”
Alexa ran a hand throu
gh his hair. “You need rest, and… certain strenuous activities might aggravate your rib injury.”
Tanner kissed her. “Go take that shower.”
Alexa did so, and when she left the bathroom, she was wearing a long baseball jersey with the team’s name written across it, The Mexico City Red Devils, Los Diablos Rojos del Mexico.
The shirt was red with white lettering, and it fell to mid-thigh on her. Tanner took in Alexa’s long, sexy legs, and when he met her eyes, he saw that she was smiling.
Alexa turned out the light and crawled into bed beside him.
“I didn’t pack a nightgown, but I think I’ll go shopping for some soon.”
“The shorter the better,” Tanner said.
Alexa snuggled against him, but gently. Tanner had a wounded leg on one side, and sore ribs on the other.
“Are we really safe here?” Alexa asked.
“Yes, but Spenser will set up perimeter alarms anyway.”
“Does he live in the area?”
“No, Spenser lives in Wyoming.” Tanner brushed Alexa’s hair from her eyes and kissed her. “When you took my hand the other day, you said the words, ‘Cody’ and ‘buffalo.’”
“Yes?”
“Spenser’s home, it’s in Cody, Wyoming, and it was named after a man named Buffalo Bill Cody.”
“Ah, and that’s why you were so upset? You thought I knew where to find Tanner Six, and there was no way for me to know that.”
They were quiet for a few moments, just laying together in the dark, but then, Tanner broke the silence.
“The name Cody, it’s also my real name. I’m Cody Parker, and uh, Martillo, that bastard Alonso Alvarado, he slaughtered my family the same way he killed yours.”
Alexa sat up, put on the light, and stared at Tanner. “Oh my God, how old were you?”
“I was grown, mostly grown, I was sixteen. If not for Spenser, I would have died that day. He’s also the man who crippled Alvarado years ago.”
“Why didn’t he kill him?”
“He thought he had, and believed it for nearly twenty years, but the son of a bitch survived somehow… just like I did.”
“And as I did as well,” Alexa said.
She turned off the light and laid back down beside Tanner, to rest her head on his chest.
“We both owe that monster so much, and soon we will make him pay.”
“Yes.”
“Tanner, who did you lose?”
“My two sisters, my father, stepmother, and my baby brother.”
“What were their names?”
Tanner sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”
Alexa kissed him gently upon the lips. “It does matter, because they are the ones you’ll be killing this monster for, just as I will avenge my family.”
Tanner began to talk, telling Alexa stories about his family, about his twin sisters, and as he talked, he recalled things about them all that he had nearly forgotten. When he finished, they faded off to sleep, fellow victims of the past, who would soon make their tormentor pay.
425
3 Plus 1 Equals 4
When Scar realized that the large black crows had been devouring parts of Steve Bennett, he upchucked the Egg McMuffin he’d eaten only minutes earlier.
Scar, Bruise, Wound, and Abrasion woke early and went looking for Steve Bennett and the other strike team members after Bennett didn’t answer his phone. When they decided to go to where they last saw the strike team, they came across their vehicle parked at the entrance to the house.
Scar tried calling the number again as he pulled his motorcycle up to the front of the demolished house and heard the phone ringing nearby. He and the other Horsemen walked toward the field and found the crows and the bodies.
Abrasion looked around. “Where’s the black guy, Hakeem?”
Wound pointed out toward the old shack, where over a dozen more crows were feasting.
“I bet that’s him.”
The phone had stopped ringing, but it started right back up. Scar plucked the phone from a pile of goo he hoped was just mud and answered the call while placing it in speaker mode.
A man’s voice came out of the device loud and clear. It was Robert Martinez of Hexalcorp; he was calling Bennett for an update at Alonso Alvarado’s insistence.
“Steve? Thank God, why weren’t any of you answering your phones?”
“Bennett’s dead,” Scar said, and heard a noise that sounded like a whimper on the other end of the line.
“Oh my God. Who am I talking to? Tanner, is that you?”
“My name is Scar. Me and my gang were doing some work for Bennett and his boys, but they’re all dead now.”
“All of them?”
“Yeah, I think they were mostly shot up, but Bennett looks like he swallowed a bomb, he’s all in pieces. I’m amazed this phone works.”
The line grew quiet as Martinez tried to think of some way to salvage things. If he didn’t do something, Alvarado would murder him.
“What’s your name again?”
“Scar.”
“Scar? Oh wait, you’re the guys that spotted the woman at that motel Tanner was at, right?”
“That’s us, and if we ever see her again we’ll make her damn sorry she ever messed with us.”
“You and your gang, there are four of you, correct?”
Scar took a head count. Came up with three, but then remembered to count himself too.
“Yeah, there are four of us, why?”
“Never mind, just listen to what I say. If you follow my instructions, I’ll make you and your friends rich.”
“You’re talking about Tanner?”
“Yes, but I’ll give you each ten grand even if you never find Tanner.”
“Say that again.”
“You heard me right. My name is Martinez and I’ll pay you ten grand each, five now and five later, but you have to do exactly as I tell you.”
Scar looked at Wound, Bruise, and Abrasion, and saw that all three of them were nodding their heads.
“All right, Mr. Martinez, tell us what to do.”
Six hours later, the Hexalcorp Strike Team was back on the hunt.
Martinez instructed Scar and the other Tin Horsemen to strip Bennett and his men of all ID and weapons and then to bury the bodies. They were to take on the men’s identities and have the use of their vehicle and credit cards.
Bennett and his men might be dead, but Martinez did not intend to follow them into the hereafter. If he could keep the truth from Alvarado until Tanner was either killed or believed to be in hiding, he just might make it out of this mess alive.
The new Hexalcorp Strike Team, the former Tin Horsemen, were tooling along the highway in Bennett’s huge pickup truck after paying a local gas station to store their bikes. They were all five grand richer thanks to Martinez, with a shot of getting five thousand more.
Scar laughed as he drove. “This is a sweet ride and look at all the weapons we’ve got. Hell, I bet we could kill Tanner, why not?”
Abrasion was sitting in the back holding Hakeem’s rifle. He had also taken the man’s name, while Wound was now Wilson, and Bruise was Simms.
Abrasion stroked Hakeem’s rifle as if he was its lover. “Get me close to Tanner with this baby and I’ll blast him to pieces, homie.”
Scar looked into the rearview mirror. “Homie?”
“Hakeem was black, right?”
“Yeah, but dude, he didn’t talk like that. Don’t be a racist.”
Abrasion ducked his head. “Sorry, and I didn’t mean anything by it. I thought Hakeem was cool; it’s why I took his name.”
Bennett’s phone rang, and Scar placed it on speakerphone. “Bennett here, Chief.”
Martinez’ sigh filled the car. “It’s good that you’re using his name, but don’t call me chief.”
“Okay, but what’s up?”
“Tanner seems to be in the wind, but I’ve got a lead on the other man we’re looking for. There’s a guy up in Wyoming tha
t swears he used to sell him fuel.”
“So, you want us to go to a gas station in Wyoming?”
“No, it’s diesel fuel for a generator, and the guy knows where he lives.”
“We’ll check it out.”
“I’ve sent the address to that phone, and don’t get too excited; I think the lead is a dud.”
“Why do you say that?”
There was static on the line, but then Martinez came back on. “What did you say, Scar? I couldn’t hear you.”
“I asked why you thought this tip was a dud.”
“Oh, the guy you’re going to check out, he only has one eye. Call me when you get there, Martinez out.”
426
One Tanner, Two Tanni?
Tanner’s leg felt better when he woke, but his ribs still ached from Brick’s attack.
Alexa had risen before him, had showered again, and was wearing a different T-shirt. It was one of Tanner’s. It hung on her like a short black dress.
“Good morning,” she said, and then she kissed him.
“Is that coffee I smell?”
“It is, and how are you feeling?”
“Not bad, except for the ribs.”
Tanner grabbed a fresh pair of boxers and headed for the shower. When he came out, he sat on the side of the bed.
Alexa had been sitting in a chair watching the news. She shut off the TV, walked over to the bed, and lowered herself between Tanner’s legs.
Tanner gave his bandaged leg a good look.
“I don’t think that dressing needs changing yet.”
Alexa smiled as she removed the T-shirt she was wearing.
“I agree with you.”
When they finally emerged from their cabin in the early afternoon, Tanner and Alexa found Spenser coming back from a walk around the lake.
He smiled at them. “You two looked rested.”
“We are,” Tanner said.
Spenser was standing by his truck; he leaned back against it. “Alexa, tell me more about Rodrigo.”
The Tanner Series - Books 1-11: Tanner - The hit man with a heart Page 136