Pullo stopped walking and stared at Tanner. There was anger showing in his eyes.
“Don’t you think I know that? But what can I do? We’re the Mafia, damn it, and that means we’re Italians.”
“But it doesn’t have to. Finn and Rico prove that.”
“The Commission in Chicago would have to give the okay for me to start recruiting non-Italians in huge numbers. I don’t see them doing that. Those guys are all old-school.”
“They also don’t have anywhere near the power they once had, and it’s the Primeros that run Chicago these days. The same thing will happen here if you don’t make changes.”
“What are you, an expert on the Mafia now?”
“No. I just don’t want to see you get killed someday, Joe. And I don’t see the Primeros backing off just because of what happened tonight.”
Pullo relaxed his stance as he calmed down. “Tyrese brought that up too. We’re going to have a meeting about it soon. If you’re still in the city then, come to the meeting with me.”
“I’ll do that.”
They continued walking and reached the conference room. The door opened to reveal Rico and Sammy laughing at something Romeo had told them. When Romeo spotted Tanner, he grinned.
“Yo, bro, how did things go in Brooklyn?”
“The coroner will be working overtime for a while. I hear that you helped a stranded motorist.”
“Yeah, pretending to break down on the overpass like that was pretty slick, and the dude had a hell of a rifle too, an AR-50 with a Nightforce scope. It’s mine now, spoils of war.”
Tanner and Pullo took seats. Pullo told Tanner about his meeting with Enrique and about the look on the thug’s face when he realized that they already knew about the troops he had in Brooklyn.
“How did you find out about that?” Tanner asked.
“I got an anonymous tip.”
“Anonymous?”
“That’s right. And after we checked it out, we saw that it was for real.”
“What did they ask for the tip?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s odd. I’m sure you would have paid a lot for information like that?”
“Yeah, and I’m betting that the caller will get in touch again and ask for something. I also think they want to stay anonymous because they’re a part of the gang.”
“Someone in the Primeros is snitching on their own for money?”
“It could also be a federal agent,” Rico said. “In Mexico, they were some of our best snitches. They’d investigate our rivals and then sell us the information.”
“Ah,” Pullo said. “You might be right. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve gotten tipped off by a dirty cop. But they usually ask for the money right away.”
Sammy stood and stretched his arms over his head while yawning. “I’m headed home to my bride.”
“Joe told me that you and Julie got married. Congratulations,” Tanner said.
“Thanks.”
Rico stood. “I’m headed out too. Sammy is giving me a lift home since my car is in the shop.”
“You guys get some sleep and meet me back here around four in the afternoon,” Joe told them. “We need to find a new supplier to replace Enrique’s people.”
Sammy and Rico agreed they would be back at four and left the conference room.
“I never thought I’d see Sammy have Rico anywhere near his car unless he was trying to run him over,” Tanner said. “When did they become friends?”
“Rico saved Julie’s life during the war with the Gants. After that, Rico was all right in Sammy’s book.”
“What’s Rico’s story?” Romeo asked.
“He used to work for Alonzo Alvarado,” Tanner said.
“And he’s still breathing, dude?”
“I’m not a fan of Rico’s,” Tanner said. “He owes his continued existence to Joe.”
Pullo shrugged. “When Alvarado put him in charge here, Rico treated me better than he had to. I remembered that when I took control again. He’s also a damn good man to have around.” Pullo stood. “I’m heading out too. I’ll be walking out the front doors so the Feds can see me. You two better leave through the tunnel.”
Romeo smiled. “I could go for a slice of pizza.”
3
A Man Of Respect
Tanner and Romeo arrived at the penthouse to find that everyone else was asleep. Romeo’s wife and child were staying there, along with Henry, and the Parkers live-in housekeeper, Franny Facini.
After showering and checking on his children, Tanner climbed into bed beside Sara and was asleep within a minute. When he wasn’t working, he was Cody, and he was glad to have the night’s work behind him. Using explosives was necessary when dealing with so many men, but it wasn’t his preferred method of killing.
Cody stirred when Sara left the bed at seven. After saying good morning and giving her a kiss, he went back to sleep. When he awoke an hour later, he entered the kitchen to find that everyone was there except for Romeo and Henry.
Little Marian was seated in her high chair and Sara was feeding her. Marian had recently turned one. When she spotted her father, her face lit up in a grin and she called to him while raising her arms.
“Daddy!”
Cody went to her and kissed her. Marian was adorable and definitely a daddy’s girl. Back on the ranch, she would leave her toys and toddle along behind him whenever he left a room she was in. Cody had taken to keeping a playpen in his office so that she could stay with him while he handled paperwork.
The other children, Lucas, and Romeo’s daughter, Florentina, were seated at the kitchen table on booster seats and were still wearing their pajamas. Franny was watching them eat, although they were old enough to need little supervision. At the stove, Romeo’s wife, Nadya, was cooking breakfast for the adults.
Cody told everyone good morning and kissed Sara. A chime announced the arrival of the penthouse’s private elevator.
Sara saw Cody take out his phone to check the interior cameras and answered his unasked question.
“That’s Henry. He went out for a run this morning.”
Cody nodded, but checked to make certain it was Henry. He followed the teen’s progress toward the kitchen and saw that he was carrying a large paper bag.
Nadya smiled when she saw Henry. “You remembered to get the bagels. Thank you, Henry.”
“You’re welcome, and I love bagels. There’s nowhere to get them back in Stark, but Franny makes them now and then. Her homemade ones are the best.”
“I could have made them here too,” Franny said.
“No cooking or cleaning for you while we’re here,” Sara said. “This is supposed to be a vacation for you.”
Franny waved that off. “There’s only so much sightseeing I can do before I get bored out of my mind. And I like to cook.”
Henry went off to shower and said that he would be quick about it so that they could eat. As he was leaving the room, Romeo appeared. Seeing how sweaty he was, he asked Henry how far he had run.
“Ten miles.”
“How long did that take?”
“Less than an hour, just like Cody.”
Romeo held up his hand and Henry gave him a high five. “You’re a stud, dude.”
Florentina was a daddy’s girl as well. She was four and had her mother’s petite build and her father’s blonde hair. She called to Romeo.
“Daddy, are we still going to the zoo today?”
“Is it raining out?”
“No.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to go and have some fun.”
Florentina cheered and told Lucas that she couldn’t wait to see the monkeys. Lucas declared his desire to see the lions and tigers. Romeo and Nadya were taking the kids to the zoo, except for baby Marian, who would stay with her father. Franny and Sara had tickets to see a matinee of a Broadway play, and Henry had plans to explore the city alone.
After everyone had eaten, Sara and Nadya took Lucas and Flo
rentina to their rooms to get them dressed and ready for the zoo. Henry headed out for the day and Franny went to her room to relax.
Romeo joined Cody in the penthouse’s office. Marian was with them, and Cody lowered her into a playpen that was filled with dolls and stuffed animals.
Cody and Romeo settled on a sofa near her and watched her play and talk to the dolls. Marian’s vocabulary seemed to grow every week and she was already speaking in short sentences at times.
“It’s great to see that Henry is working out, dude. It looks like you’ve found Tanner Eight.”
“He’s got the right temperament, is smart, and fears nothing. He’s also developed into a marksman.”
“I’ve started training a kid too. I guess you can say he’s my apprentice.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s this kid named Stone Rodgers. He’s only eighteen. I met him when we were both out to kill the same target.”
“It was an open contract?”
“Yeah, on a drug dealer who tried to kill his boss. It paid good, forty grand, so I figured, why not? It only took me a day to track the dude down because he was stupid enough to try and hide out at his ex-wife’s vacation cabin. Stone had found the guy by following the drug dealer’s brother there.”
“How did he react when you killed the target before he did?”
“How do you know I did?”
“Because you were trained to be a Tanner, Romeo. No one is going to fulfill a contract before you do.”
“Yeah, I shot the dude from over five hundred yards away just as Stone was sneaking up on the cabin.”
“And the guy’s brother?”
“He had left already, after dropping off food.”
“So, the kid waited until after the brother left?”
“Oh yeah. No sense in killing the brother, you know?”
“We know that, but an untrained shooter in his teens might have rushed in and shot them both while only thinking about the payday he would get.”
“That’s one reason I like the kid. He showed patience and wasn’t bloodthirsty, and it was smart to follow the brother to the cabin. He told me he had staked the guy out for two days.”
“I know we started at about the same age, but eighteen is still early to be an assassin. What’s his story?”
“Stone grew up an orphan in New Hampshire and ran away from a foster home and joined a street gang. The gang had a battle with a rival group and Stone killed three of them with a knife, including the gang’s leader. After that, whenever his gang wanted someone killed, they told him to do it. He was only sixteen then, but smart enough to know that the gang was a dead end. At seventeen, he left the life and began taking contracts for a drug dealer he’d met while he was with the gang. After a while he started going freelance and liked taking open contracts because they usually pay better.”
“What happened after you killed the target?”
“Stone dived for cover behind the dude’s car. As I was walking away, I heard him shouting something but couldn’t make out what it was because of the distance. When I went back and moved closer to the cabin, I realized that he was asking a question. He wanted to know how far away I was when I made the shot.”
“I hollered the answer back to him and he stood up and held out his empty hands. I figured, what the hell, and showed myself. I had on a ski mask, so it’s not like I was showing him my face. ‘Teach me to shoot like that,’ he said. ‘I’ll pay you.’ When I saw how young he was, I took off the ski mask and started talking to him.”
“And now you’re training him?”
“We went to that private range you showed me, and I taught him the basics. The kid is a natural and picked it up right away. As soon as the right target comes along, we’re going to go after the contract together. I want something with a little challenge.”
“By a challenge, do you mean more than one target?”
“Yeah, dude. And we’ll try to take them with long-range shots. It will be low risk and I’ll be able to see how he does.”
“Where is the kid, back in the Corpus Christi area where you live?”
“No, I actually met him over in New Jersey. That’s where the contract was, and I was already in New York doing another job. But Stone lives here in the city.”
“I want to meet him.”
Romeo grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“You’ve met my apprentice, now I’ll meet yours.”
“The kid might go all fanboy on you, Cody. He talked about you once, saying how he would love to be half as good as Tanner.”
“Does he know that you know me?”
“I never mentioned it, but I will when I call him, and I’ll set up a meeting with him tomorrow at the shooting range.”
“Henry’s eighteen, and so is your apprentice. I remember when we were that young and traveling around with Spenser.”
“They were damn good days, dude. And man did we ever learn a lot.”
“That we did. Maybe I’ll take Henry along to the meeting at the range. We could both use some practice while we’re here in the city.”
“Bro, that would be great. And maybe they’ll get along.”
“Let’s hope so. You don’t make many friends in our business.”
“Pullo is a cool dude, for a mob guy. I see why you like him.”
“Last night’s meeting could have gone bad for Joe if you hadn’t taken out the guy on the overpass.”
“I hope he knows the Primeros won’t quit trying to take away his territory, not with the numbers they have.”
“He knows, and he’s holding a meeting about it soon and wants me to be there.”
Romeo grinned. “What’s that title they gave you?”
“A man of respect.”
Romeo laughed. “You’re the first Tanner to ever join the mob.”
“I didn’t join them; they joined me. They wanted to avoid going to war with me again.”
“If you can’t beat them, join them.”
“Exactly.”
4
The Stranger
Stone Rodgers, whose real name was Stone Hayes, was smiling as he put away his phone after talking to Romeo and learning that he would be meeting Tanner soon. The plan was coming together.
Stone was staying at an apartment in Greenwich Village. The apartment belonged to a woman he had met while working out at a gym. She was a nurse who logged long hours in the emergency room. She believed that Stone was a struggling actor.
Stone had done some acting in high school and had performed in a few amateur plays. Those acting skills came in handy when he convinced Romeo to take him on as a sort of apprentice assassin. His boyish looks had helped as well. Stone did look like a teen, but he was actually three weeks away from turning twenty-four.
And far from being the loner he was pretending to be, Stone had two partners, and was part of a kill team. Despite that, when approached by his employer, he had agreed to take the contract on Tanner alone.
He and his partners, Boyd Dunn and Kirby Mills, had been hired to eliminate three members of an Italian crime syndicate. He had been friends with Dunn and Mills since they had met as boys inside the same orphanage. They were six years older than him and always treated him like a little brother. Growing up an orphan was one of the few real details of his life that he had told Romeo.
He had never joined a street gang. Dunn and Mills had been his gang, his only friends, and the closest thing he had to family. The three of them worked as a hit squad for the last four years, mostly in Europe. Killing paid far above minimum wage and they lived well off the money they made.
It was after the killing of the syndicate members that Stone was approached by a handsome man of about forty while he was on a date. The man had just a touch of white at his temples but was obviously in good condition. He stated that he was aware of what Stone did for a living and wanted to hire him for an assassination. The man spoke English with an Italian accent. That was hardly surprising s
ince they were in Italy.
Fearing that the man was a cop, Stone denied knowing what he was talking about and rushed away. When his date returned from her trip to the bathroom, she found their table empty.
Stone met with Dunn and Mills at a bar and told them about the encounter. To his shock, the man who had approached him earlier slid into the booth beside him.
“I’m not a police officer if that’s what you’re thinking, Mr. Hayes. I have a serious and very profitable contract I want you to take.”
Dunn and Mills were seated together on the other side of the booth. Unlike Stone, they were in their late-twenties and looked it. Both had dark hair and brown eyes and favored wearing suits. Stone preferred jeans and T-shirts, which was a factor in making him appear younger than he was.
Dunn was the more aggressive of the trio and its unofficial leader. As his right hand drifted toward his hip, the uninvited guest at their table issued a warning.
“Please leave your hands in plain sight or I’ll be forced to kill you.”
It was only then that Stone and the others realized that the stranger’s right hand was below the surface of the table.
“What the hell do you want?” Dunn asked the man.
“From you and Mr. Mills, I want nothing. However, Mr. Hayes would be perfect for what I have planned.”
“And what is your plan?” Stone asked.
“Revenge. I want you to kill a man for me.”
“I’m part of a team. You’d have to hire all three of us.”
“Your partners are unnecessary. This would also not be a normal contract. It will require a great deal of guile and patience.”
“Why patience?”
“The target is elusive. I don’t know where he is, but I have uncovered the fact that he is friends with a man whose whereabouts I do know.”
“And you want me to sit on that guy until the target shows up?”
“I want you to make contact with the man, befriend him, and when he leads you to the target, it will be time to act.”
Stalking Horse (A Tanner Novel Book 40) Page 3