Stalking Horse (A Tanner Novel Book 40)

by Remington Kane

Henry followed Stone to the apartment building in Greenwich Village where Stone was staying. He didn’t know which one of the apartments Stone entered because he didn’t want to get too close and be spotted.

  He’d been giving Tanner updates on their movements since Stone fled from the park. Tanner and Romeo were just minutes away. Once they joined Henry, they could watch the building until Stone left, and when the time was right, they would grab him and take him somewhere private.

  Stone entered the apartment of the nurse he was staying with and was grateful she was still at work. He didn’t have time to answer questions. He was there to pack his things, grab his passport, then get the hell out of New York. He’d use a car, head through a tunnel to New Jersey, then board a plane and leave the country.

  He realized he hadn’t been so nervous since he was on his first contract with Dunn and Mills. Before that, he had only been an observer. His first target had been a loan shark. The man had been stealing from his boss and needed to die so that others would learn the penalty for robbing the wrong people.

  The guy had been a two-pack a day smoker who was sixty pounds overweight. He still tried to escape from Stone by running into the woods behind his house. It took the teenaged Stone only seconds to catch up to him. By then, the guy was red-faced and clutching his chest.

  Stone often wondered if the guy would have died from a heart attack if he hadn’t shot him. But he had shot him. He’d placed a round in the man’s torso and one in the head, as he’d seen Boyd and Kirby do to others. Ever since that day, they had been a team. They had made a lot of money, traveled often, and lived well.

  He had given all that up for a chance to gain fame as the man who killed Tanner. Stone laughed bitterly as he realized he hadn’t even stayed true to his new course for very long. When he discovered that there was a chance that he could be the next Tanner, he abandoned the contract on the hit man in the hopes of being his apprentice.

  Stupid! Stupid! Stone thought.

  Everything was working in his life and he had to go and throw it all away. Now he had Tanner out to get him. Tanner, the greatest assassin of all time. It was a miracle he wasn’t already dead.

  But he had a name that Tanner wanted. Once he was safe, he’d call Romeo and make a deal. Romeo was big on keeping his word and had said that Tanner was the same way. If they made a deal to trade him his life for the name of his employer, Stone thought that there was a good chance they would let him live. If that happened, he’d return to Italy and resume his life, and be damned glad to do so.

  Stone was in the middle of packing a suitcase when a loud noise made him jump. Rushing to the window, he saw what had made the sound. It was a car accident. Someone had tried to beat the red light the same time another fool had taken off too soon while anticipating the change to green. The collision looked serious and had certainly been loud.

  Stone was turning away from the window to complete his packing when he caught sight of Henry. The sneaky bastard must have followed him. That was why Tanner and Romeo never gave chase. The teen was across the street and looking left at something. It wasn’t the accident, which was to his right. Stone pressed the side of his face against the cold glass of the window and felt a deeper chill run down his spine. Henry had been looking at two men walking his way—Tanner and Romeo.

  “It’s the building across the street,” Henry said, and as he spoke, he looked up and saw Stone’s face in the window. He pointed up at the fourth floor. “There he is!”

  Tanner caught a brief glimpse of Stone before the face retreated from the glass. “I’ll take the front entrance. Romeo, you and Henry take the rear. There must be another way out of there. Remember, we need to talk to him and find out who he’s working for.”

  “Oh, he’ll talk all right,” Romeo said.

  The three of them headed across the street. Tanner had removed a set of lock picks. He made it past the building’s front door lock in a matter of seconds. The cap he wore was pulled down low. With the collar of his peacoat turned up, only part of his face would be captured by any overhead cameras. That is, if the building’s lobby even had any. What it did have was a sofa that had seen better days. The same was true for the two matching chairs that were positioned to either side of it.

  Tanner dragged one of the chairs over to the elevator. The car was at the lobby level. When the doors slid open at Tanner’s prompting, he shoved the chair in the gap, to keep them from closing if the elevator was summoned. If Stone wanted to leave the building, he would need to take the stairs.

  Tanner was on the first-floor landing when he heard an apartment door open somewhere on an upper floor. What he didn’t hear was the sound of that same door being closed shut again. Stone had left the apartment he was in without taking the time to close the door behind him.

  Tanner heard nothing else and wondered if Stone was trying to call the elevator to his floor. He hoped so. It would waste time that Stone didn’t have.

  Tanner continued going up the stairs in a quiet but steady pace. Above him, on the fourth floor, rapid footsteps could be heard on the stairs. Tanner moved back into a corner of the next landing he reached and waited for Stone to come to him. Moments later, he realized that the footfalls weren’t getting louder, but were fading. Stone wasn’t coming down; he was headed up.

  The roof, Stone thought. It’s my only chance.

  Stone had been up on the roof a few times. The nurse he was sleeping with liked to smoke weed but never wanted the smell to remain in her apartment. The last time her mother had visited her from Rochester, she had commented on the lingering odor.

  Stone had asked the nurse if she ever wondered how it was that her mother knew the scent so well. He suspected that mom had first-hand knowledge of marijuana.

  There was access to a fire escape from the roof, but it wasn’t Stone’s intention to use it. He assumed that either Tanner or Romeo would be waiting at the bottom of it. His plan was to leave the building by jumping onto another one. The next building over was a bit shorter than the one he was on and separated by an alley that was maybe fifteen feet wide. He could jump fifteen feet with a running start. He had damn well better if he wanted to live.

  Henry and Romeo had spotted the fire escape. Instead of heading up it themselves, they would wait and see if Stone tried using it to reach the street. There was also a rear door in the building. Romeo and Henry waited by it. There was a canopy above the door that would shield one from rain. It would also keep Stone from seeing them until he was too far down the fire escape.

  Romeo sent a quick text off to Tanner.

  We’re in position but there’s no sign of him yet.

  Tanner who was climbing stairs, tapped out a brief reply.

  Roof.

  Stone winced when the metal door of the roof shrieked while he was opening it. His hands were free, he had left his open suitcase sitting on the bed and fled the apartment with the clothes on his back and his passport.

  He went to the edge and looked over at the roof of the other building. His estimate of fifteen feet was about right, but it suddenly looked like a long distance.

  He took in a deep breath and calmed himself. He was young, he was in good shape, and had long legs. With a running start, he should be able to cover the gap. Landing well would be the tricky part. The roof was a few feet lower than the one he was on. He had to be careful how he touched down. If he landed badly and twisted an ankle, he’d be done.

  His plan was to make the leap onto the adjacent roof, then keep running from roof to roof until he was at the other end of the block. The apartment building roof was the only one that was so tall and separated from its neighbors by a wide alley. The rest of the roofs were of a uniform height and adjoined to each other like row houses. Negotiating them would be easy after making the first jump.

  Stone walked back to the other edge of the building, turned, leaned forward, then took off at a sprint. He timed his leap just right and sailed out above the space between the buildings.

&nb
sp; Like Peraza, Pullo had used a different phone than his normal one for their communications. When he checked it, he saw that his informant had left a message that he wanted to setup a meeting in person. He sent a text back, asking for details, and was surprised when the phone rang. That surprise was increased when he heard the voice on the other end.

  “Tyrese?”

  “It’s me, Joe. The phone I’m calling on belonged to a Primero named Luis Peraza. He was the one sending you the tips.”

  “Let me guess. He was killed by the Crips?”

  “That’s the story. The asshole had another phone too. There was a text on it that said he was to be in charge of taking over New York. Peraza was setting us up by making us trust him.”

  “And he wanted us to meet in the flesh soon. I bet that wouldn’t have gone well for me. Tanner and Romeo said it might be something like that. How did you know it was Peraza?”

  “I didn’t know shit until I looked over his cell phones. One of them had the text he sent you where he warned you that the meeting with Ernesto Enrique was a trap.”

  “He was some piece of work to betray his own people that way. Damn, Tyrese. If you hadn’t gone out there, I’m not sure how things would have turned out.”

  “It was a risk, but it’s worked out. There’s news on the radio here that the gangs are fighting each other. Me and my boys are heading back home now. I hope these assholes here all kill each other.”

  “You gave them someone else to worry about and bought us some time. I owe you for coming up with that plan.”

  “Right now, our deal is 55/45 in your favor. I was thinking that 51/49 sounds better.”

  Pullo laughed. “I’m surprised you’re not asking for a 50/50 split.”

  “Why be greedy? And if I was you, I’d want to stay in control. A 51/49 split makes that work.”

  “All right. 51/49 it is. Hell, you make us more money than our old partners ever did.”

  “And I’ll make even more in the future. The Bloods are going to be branching out into online sports betting. Those websites are raking it in.”

  “And they’re legitimate too. The Feds regulate them.”

  “The Bloods will be a silent partner in one of them. It can’t be all about the street anymore, not the way things are headed.”

  “I hear you. Have a safe trip back, Tyrese.”

  Pullo looked down at the phone in his hand after the call ended. He brought up the last text Luis Peraza had sent him, the one in which he requested that they meet in person.

  He chuckled, turned the phone off, and tossed it in the trash.

  21

  The Name

  Tanner came onto the roof with his gun leading the way. Movement to his right caught his eye and he was captivated by the sight of Stone Hayes in mid-leap between two buildings. The young man reached the apex of his jump and began falling toward the other roof, which was lower. A moment more and he was out of sight, so Tanner moved toward the roof’s edge to see what had happened.

  Right after his leap into the air, Stone registered the loud squeaking of the roof access door. That meant that either Tanner, Romeo, or Henry had found him. But they were too late.

  He bounded well into the air and covered good distance before he was headed down toward the other roof.

  Roll when you land, he reminded himself. Tuck your head to your shoulder and roll.

  He doubted anyone would shoot at him. After all, they wanted to know who had hired him. They might be bold enough to attempt to make their own leap off the roof, but that seemed unlikely. Desperation had fueled his leap. Tanner, Romeo, and Henry weren’t desperate, they were just angry.

  As he neared the other roof, Stone was confident that his jump had been successful. But as he got closer, he realized he hadn’t leapt far enough.

  The roof’s ledge was raised and had a rounded metal edge, and the building below it was made of brick. Stone fell against the side of the building and managed to grab onto the edge with both hands. His feet sought to find a toehold in the brick as his hands slipped along the metal edge. That edge was a favorite spot for pigeons and the droppings they’d left behind made the surface slick. Stone scrabbled and clawed like mad to gain purchase, but it was a losing battle. When a piece of the brick he’d been pressing a foot against came free, it caused him to shift sideways.

  His hands slid off the metal edge and he screamed, “No!” well aware of the fate that waited below for him.

  Romeo and Henry heard Stone’s body slap against the edge of the roof. They stepped out from beneath the small canopy they’d been standing beneath to look upward.

  They watched Stone’s frantic attempt to gain a grip on the roof’s edge. When Stone released his cry of panic and fell, all they could do was watch as he plummeted six stories and into the alley.

  Stone actually landed on his feet, with the impact fracturing his ankles, dislocating his knees, and causing severe damage to his spine. As he fell back against the alley’s surface at great speed, he cracked his skull open and broke both elbows.

  Romeo reached him first. Despite his awareness of Stone’s treachery, he was still distressed by the sight of the young man’s shattered body. He lowered himself beside Stone and spoke to him.

  “Don’t try to move. We’ll get you help.”

  A startled cry came from the mouth of the alley. There were two women standing there. They had been passing by the alley when they heard Stone call out as he lost his battle to make it onto the roof. They had watched him fall, then saw Romeo and Henry’s arrival.

  Henry shouted to them. “Call an ambulance!”

  One of the women pointed toward the intersection where the car accident had occurred. “I see an ambulance not too far away. We’ll go get them.” She took her friend’s hand and urged her to move. The friend was the one who had made the startled cry. She shook herself as if to wake from a bad dream and went with the other woman towards the ambulance.

  Tanner called down from the roof. “We need to get out of here. We’ll meet in front of the supermarket down the street.”

  Henry acknowledged him with a wave. When he looked down at Romeo, he saw that he was bent over Stone, with an ear near his mouth. Convulsions rocked Stone’s body a moment later, then he lay still. When Henry stared into his eyes, he could see that he was no longer looking back.

  “Let’s go, Romeo.”

  Romeo made it to his feet and Henry saw the sadness in his expression. He didn’t offer sympathy. It didn’t seem fitting.

  Henry started toward the alley’s entrance, but Romeo called him back. “We’ll go the other way.”

  They took off in a run down the alley and came out the other side. It made their walk to the supermarket longer, and they were not surprised to find that Tanner had arrived there before them.

  Tanner took one look at his friend’s face and knew. “He died.”

  “Yeah,” Romeo said. “But Cody, bro, he gave me a name with his last breath.”

  “The name of the man who hired him? Who is it?”

  “Scallato. He said the name Scallato.”

  22

  Enemies Abound

  Hours after his fall from the roof, Stone Hayes lay on a steel tray in the morgue. Looking down at his shattered body were his friends, Boyd Dunn and Kirby Mills.

  They had arrived at the apartment house where Stone had been staying and found the woman he’d been living with crying. She was Stone’s type all right, a blonde with long legs and a generous chest. She told them how she had arrived home from work to hear from neighbors about her boyfriend’s mishap on the roof.

  “I don’t know what he was thinking trying to jump onto the other roof. Maybe he was on something.”

  Dunn and Mills knew that Stone hadn’t been taking drugs. He’d been running from someone. And that someone was Tanner.

  They went to the morgue. After bribing a worker, they were escorted into a room and shown their friend’s body. Both of them cried tears that they wiped away as s
oon as they formed. Stone had been their little brother, their only family. And now his life had been snuffed out. The fury building inside them was unlike any they had ever felt before.

  In Italy, Dario Scallato was awakened by the ringing of a phone. It was after two a.m. and he had only been asleep a short time. He knew by the tone that it wasn’t his regular phone ringing, but rather the phone he used to stay in contact with Stone Hayes.

  If the young American was calling, perhaps it meant that he had come to his senses and was back on board with Dario’s plan.

  “Hello?”

  “Scallato, this is Boyd Dunn.”

  “Dunn? How did you get this number?”

  “Never mind that. I’m calling to tell you that Stone is dead.”

  “Tanner?”

  “Of course it was Tanner, you asshole. You sent Stone here to kill the man and now he’s dead.”

  “You’re there, in America?”

  “That’s right. Kirby and I flew here to talk sense into Stone. But he was already dead when we got here.”

  “You have my sympathy.”

  “Sympathy? We don’t want your pity you son of a bitch. I’m calling to put you on notice. Kirby and I are going to kill Tanner for killing Stone, and then we’re coming after you. And believe me, we’re going to make you wish that you were never born.”

  The line went dead.

  Dario Scallato put the phone down and lay back onto the bed. He wasn’t concerned with Boyd’s threat to kill him. He had to assume that Boyd Dunn and Kirby Mills would die at Tanner’s hand. No, what concerned him was the knowledge they held of his involvement. If Tanner were to uncover the fact that he was behind Stone’s attempt to kill him, there would be nowhere on earth where he could hide from the man, and he would share the fate of his late brother, Maurice. Dario lied awake the rest of the night pondering what to do next. In the end, he would decide to travel to America and kill Tanner himself.