Stalking Horse (A Tanner Novel Book 40)

by Remington Kane

  “He’s in that room!” shouted one of the men in Spanish. As a single unit, they all turned and began creeping forward toward the open doorway.

  The recording advanced and there came the sound of Tanner’s shouted voice. “The first man through that door dies!”

  “We’ve got him cornered,” said a man, the glee in his voice evident.

  Tanner looked over at Romeo. He was barely discernable in the gloom, but Tanner could see that he was nodding. Romeo hit a switch on the wall beside him. It caused a set of blinding lights above and behind them to come on. They were so bright that Tanner could feel the heat they produced prickle his skin.

  They stood with their shotguns at the ready but aimed low. When they began blasting away it caused the gangbangers at the front of the pack who weren’t hit by the pellets to fire toward the room with the bed in it. They were so convinced that their target was in front of them that they failed to understand at first that they were being fired upon from behind. When the men at the rear fell while screaming, it allowed Tanner and Romeo to get a bead on the men in front. Those men were turning to bring their weapons around when more blasts from the shotguns devastated them. Instead of aiming for legs, Tanner and Romeo sought head shots.

  Four of the kill squad members survived the initial barrage and returned fire. It was ineffective because they were being blinded by the bright lights. Their rounds were aimed at the wrong spot. They shattered some of the windshields or gouged the bricks above them. Seven seconds after the shooting began, sixteen men were either dead or severely wounded and bleeding out. The man they had come to kill, a man who had survived many such attacks, had endured one more and come out on top.

  From inside the room where the bed was, there was again the sound of a shotgun being racked, followed by the words, “The first man through that door dies!” It was the tape player, as it continued on. Seconds later, there would come the sound of a shotgun racking again, then the threat would be heard once more.

  After turning off the glaring floodlights and putting on the normal light fixtures overhead, Tanner sent a text to Pullo.

  Sixteen down in here.

  A reply came back a few moments later.

  That’s another one I owe the informant. I’m coming down. Sammy and the others will keep an eye out and see if any cops respond to the sound of the shots.

  Tanner doubted that would happen. It was an industrial area, and everything was closed. Someone in a passing car likely heard the shots, but it was doubtful that they could pin down the source. He joined Romeo in putting the survivors out of their misery by using a knife.

  Later on, some of Joe’s people would have cleanup duty. Tanner didn’t envy them. Things would have been easier had they put down plastic sheeting, but it also would have alerted the kill squad that they were walking into a trap.

  Morelos had heard the gunfire, and also the faint screams of men as they died. As suspected, the Primeros had walked into a trap. He was ready to make his move, but first, he had to reassure Amber.

  “What if they shoot at me?”

  “They won’t get the chance. Remember, I need you to back up as you drive down the street. The car’s trunk will be facing them, and I’ll be in the trunk shooting at them. Wait five seconds after the shooting starts then get us out of there.”

  Amber took in a big breath, then released it in a huff. “I can do this. But they’ll be firing at you. Shouldn’t you have on a bulletproof vest or something?”

  “I’ll be fine, and so will you. I’m walking back and getting inside the trunk now. Once you see the lid close, it will be time to go. And remember, turn your lights off before you back down the street. It may buy us another second or two before we’re spotted.”

  “Are we doing this now?”

  “Yes. Don’t bother talking to me once I’m inside the trunk. I won’t be able to hear you from in there. If you have something to say, send me a text instead.”

  Morelos moved to the rear of the Ford and unlocked the trunk. It took him a few moments to ready things before he pulled the trunk lid down. When the car failed to move, he wondered if Amber was frozen with fear, but a second later, the engine started, and she moved away from the curb.

  Pullo entered the warehouse and looked around. After taking in the carnage, he walked over and examined one of the invisible shields.

  “I still can’t get over these things. Can I get one?”

  “I’ll put in an order for you. I know the next time I search a room, I’ll be looking behind any clouded glass I see.”

  “You and me both, bro,” Romeo said.

  Pullo wrinkled his nose. “It’s starting to stink in here. Let’s go outside. We still have to move those vans they left parked down by the corner.”

  They exited onto the sidewalk in front of the building. The steel exterior door had a dent in it and the knob was missing. The sledgehammer had done its job well.

  Pullo took his phone out to call Adamo Conti and put him in charge of removing the vans from the scene. Before he could send the text, the car driven by Amber began backing down the street from the avenue. As instructed by Morelos, she was driving at a steady pace but not speeding. Despite having the headlights turned off, the bright white lights of the car’s reverse lamps made it difficult to miss her.

  Romeo pointed. “Look at the trunk! There’s a rifle barrel sticking out of it.”

  They raised their weapons, then hesitated to fire. The barrel of the rifle was pointed forward, and not toward them, but the car kept coming.

  “There could be a bomb inside that car,” Tanner said. “Let’s take cover inside the building.”

  Before turning to reenter the warehouse, Pullo shouted up at his men on the nearby rooftops. “Blast that car!”

  His men took aim as the sound of a rifle firing came from inside the Ford’s trunk. It was joined by the men on the roofs and the night erupted in gunfire, along with Amber’s screams.

  Manuel had watched the kill teams enter the warehouse after using a sledgehammer to knock in its door. Seeing so many men, he became certain that Tanner was about to die. When the shooting started, followed by the screams of the Primeros, he closed his eyes and knew that once again members of his gang were dying. However, it also meant that Tanner was near, near enough to kill.

  The gunshots and screams ended as suddenly as they began. He had been about to move closer to the warehouse when he saw a man cross the street and enter the building carrying a rifle. He couldn’t be certain, but he thought that man was Joe Pullo. Tanner and Pullo were together. If he could take them both unawares and survive to talk about it, he would be the hero of every Primero, and feared by all the other gangs. Yes, if he survived.

  Pullo reemerged from the warehouse with Tanner and a blond man that Manuel didn’t recognize. He had never seen Tanner either but knew from the intensity of the man’s eyes that it had to be him.

  Three men with guns. Even if he snuck up on them it wasn’t likely that he could kill them all with a handgun before one of them returned fire.

  Manuel was considering attempting to kill only Tanner and then escaping, when he noticed the car reversing onto the street with its headlights off. There was a woman behind the wheel, a pretty white woman. Her eyes were locked onto the rearview mirror and something was sticking out of the car’s trunk.

  Pullo shouted indiscernible words while looking upward. A moment after that, rifles fired on the car from more than one rooftop. Manuel gazed up at the men. Had he tried to get closer to Tanner to kill him, he would have been cut down by the men on the roofs. His determination to make up for his earlier cowardice dissolved and was replaced by the urge to run. He had to get away before he was seen, and someone killed him.

  Manuel turned to flee and return to his stolen car. As he was rushing past the doorway of a shop that sold secondhand goods, someone grabbed him, while clamping a hand over his mouth. Manuel struggled to get free, but it was no use. And then a knife blade was pressed to his
throat.

  He’d been caught, assumed that he would soon die, and had accomplished nothing by returning to New York. Tears welled up in his eyes. Bravery had been his downfall, and he would have given anything to be a live coward again.

  Tanner reached the car first, after waiting several minutes to see if a bomb would detonate. When no blast came, he decided that it was safe to leave cover. The motor had cut off because the engine compartment had been hit multiple times, as had the driver, a woman with blonde hair.

  Despite her wounds, she was alive, but unconscious. Pullo and Romeo were with Tanner. Pullo hit the trunk release while Romeo stood near the back of the car ready to fire at anyone inside the trunk. Romeo lowered his rifle after viewing the form in the trunk. More than a dozen wounds had ended the man’s life. And on the body’s right cheek was an old scar.

  “I think this is that sicario, Morelos,” Romeo said, as Tanner and Pullo walked over to get a look into the trunk.

  The men from the rooftops had reached the street, save for one who was still on lookout. When Rico Nazario walked up to the car, Tanner pointed down at the body.

  “Is that Morelos?”

  Rico leaned closer and stared at the corpse. He hadn’t seen Morelos in years and knew that people aged, and their looks altered. With the damage done to the dead man’s face, which was misshapen on the left side because of a massive exit wound to the back of the head, it was difficult to gauge what he had looked like in life. When Rico straightened, he nodded.

  “It looks like him, but I won’t swear to it. I was never close to the man and I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

  “What are the odds that another guy with a scar on his right cheek would come gunning for Tanner and Uncle Joe?” Sammy said. “It must be him.”

  Pullo pointed toward the front of the car and spoke to Sammy. “Get that woman to the doctor we have filling in for Laurel. If she was helping Morelos, there might be others here helping him too. We need to know that. Adamo, you’re in charge of moving these vehicles. You’ll need to hide this one under a tarp when you tow it. Leave the body in it for now. And Finn?”

  “Yes, Joe?”

  “Call in some of our friends on the police force. We need this street blocked off as soon as possible. In the meantime, you and Rico make sure no cars drive down it. We’re lucky we don’t have cops here already with all the noise we’ve made tonight.”

  “Romeo and I are out of here, Joe,” Tanner said. “We’ve got a car parked on the other side of the block.” He looked down at the body in the trunk one more time before leaving, by reentering the warehouse. He and Romeo grabbed up the shields they had used against the Primeros, then headed out the rear door. He was looking forward to returning home to his family. It had been a long day, and a night of killing.

  16

  Suspicion

  Tanner and Romeo returned to the penthouse an hour before dawn and were surprised to find Henry awake and sitting in the kitchen. The young man was devouring the last of an Indonesian dish called Bakso that Nadya had made. Bakso were meatballs, and Nadya had prepared them with noodles and Alfredo sauce. Henry had tasted the dish for the first time and enjoyed it so much that he asked Nadya for the recipe to give to his grandmother.

  Nadya had hit him playfully on the arm and said that she would go him one better. Before they left the penthouse to return to Texas, she would teach Henry how to make the dish himself.

  “That way, you won’t need to bother your grandmother,” Nadya told him.

  Henry used a napkin to wipe his mouth, then asked a question. “The trap worked?”

  “Oh yeah,” Romeo said with a smile. “And aren’t those the same clothes you had on last night? I guess that date went well, hmm?”

  Things had gone well with Gwen once they’d connected at her apartment. Things had been excellent in fact. Henry had only left Gwen’s bed an hour earlier. He could have stayed the entire night, but he didn’t want to risk waking anyone at the penthouse by calling or texting. And with everything that was going on with the Primeros, he didn’t want Tanner worried by his failure to return home without explanation. He and Gwen had agreed to go to the movies and have dinner later.

  “A gentlemen doesn’t discuss such things,” Henry said, while adopting a snobbish accent. His expression changed to one of worry afterward, because he had to tell Romeo his suspicions about Stone.

  Tanner noticed the change in his demeanor. “What’s wrong, Henry?”

  “Something happened earlier tonight, something serious.”

  “We’ll talk in the office with the door closed,” Tanner said, as he turned to walk out of the kitchen.

  Henry explained his encounter with Mitch Lombard as Tanner and Romeo listened without making comments. They were seated together with Tanner and Romeo on the sofa and Henry in an armchair. Afterward, Tanner asked Henry why he didn’t call him when he knew that Lombard was out to harm him.

  “I thought about it, but I knew you were busy helping Joe Pullo.”

  “You’re my apprentice, Henry. If you need help you can call me anytime. I’m never too busy for you. Understand?”

  “Yes. And thanks.”

  “Aside from that, I’d say that you handled things well. But I do have a few questions.”

  Tanner asked Henry about details of the account and was impressed by Henry’s thoroughness in handling the scene to make it appear that Lombard suffered an accident.

  “Do you think I missed anything?”

  “No. I think I would have done the same thing if I had been there.”

  Henry hung his head. “No, you wouldn’t have. Because you wouldn’t have accidentally killed the guy in the first place. I screwed up and I know it.”

  Romeo chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” Henry asked.

  “Dude, Tanner and I don’t mess up often now, but we sure as hell did when we were your age. And like you said, it was an accident.”

  “Romeo is right. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Tanner said. “Anyway, we’ve something else to discuss. We need to know who targeted you.”

  Henry sighed. “Only six people knew that I was meeting Gwen at the bookstore. You guys, Sara, Nadya, Franny… and Stone.”

  Romeo’s back stiffened upon hearing the name of his new friend. “You suspect Stone set you up?”

  Henry nodded. “Who else could have?”

  “What about the chick, Gwen? What do you know about her?”

  “Gwen? You think Gwen set me up to be killed? C’mon, Romeo, why would she do that?”

  “Maybe she’s working for somebody. You trust her now, don’t you? It would be easy for her to set you up again.”

  “Gwen’s a nice girl who works in a bookstore. That’s all she is. She’s not spying for anyone or out to get me killed.”

  “And why would Stone want you dead?”

  “I think maybe he wants to take my place. If I was dead, he might think that Tanner would decide to train him to be the next Tanner.”

  “But the kid’s not like that, Henry. That would be some cold-blooded shit to do you like that.”

  “You don’t know Stone that well, Romeo,” Tanner said. “And Henry, Romeo could be right about Gwen. Even if she is innocent, maybe she told someone about you who isn’t. This could be one of Kagan Andres’s friends looking for revenge.”

  “I thought about that, but wouldn’t they be the type to come at me themselves?”

  “Here’s what we’ll do,” Tanner said. “I’ll ask a hacker friend of mine named Tim to look into Gwen and Stone’s backgrounds. If there’s something there to find, Tim will find it.”

  Romeo shook his head as he stared down at the floor. “Stone better not have had anything to do with this. I like that kid, but if he tried to have Henry killed, that would… shit!”

  Tanner laid a hand on Romeo’s arm. “We’ll wait and see what Tim comes up with. I’ll leave a message for him. Right now, I think we could all use some sleep.”

  H
enry yawned. “I could, but first I have to go back to the kitchen and wash my plate.”

  Romeo reached out and placed a hand on Henry’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re all right, kid. I hate to think what would have happened to you if you hadn’t checked the area before walking into that bookstore.”

  “It was Tanner’s training. I thought circling the block was a waste of time, but it saved my life.”

  “It is a waste of time, usually,” Tanner said. “The one time it isn’t, it allows you to come out on top.”

  They left the office as the first hint of daylight brightened the eastern horizon.

  In Florence, Italy, Boyd Dunn and Kirby Mills were on a private jet they had chartered in order to make it to Stone’s side as soon as possible. After the preflight checks were completed, they would be on their way to the United States. Their destination was New York City.

  “He’ll be pissed at first and accuse us of trying to boss him around. You know that,” Mills said.

  “I don’t care. I’ve got a bad feeling and I think Stone needs our help.”

  “He doesn’t realize that he’s playing with fire. If Tanner doesn’t kill him, the man who hired him to kill Tanner might try to do it.”

  “That’s another thing, we’ll watch over Stone and have his back, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

  “Me neither.”

  The jet’s pilot informed them that they were ready to take off. After taxiing down a runway, they were in the air and headed for New York.

  Rico Nazario didn’t make it home to his apartment until nearly ten o’clock in the morning. He had stayed at the warehouse to help Adamo Conti supervise the cleanup of the bodies and the repair work to secure the two broken doors. Rico had been awake and on the move for more than a day. He was looking forward to having a hot shower and falling into bed for some much-needed sleep. It was not to be.