As Veronika moved back inside the apartment, a young blond peeked out from behind the bathroom door. The girl was beautiful, petite, and dressed in a red bikini. Her name was Yana and like Veronika, she was Russian. When she saw that only Veronika remained, she came out and pointed at the apartment door.
“Tell me that wasn’t my date.”
“The boy is young, but you’ll make a good teacher.”
“I’m no damn, teacher, Veronika, and I don’t screw children.”
“You’ll do as you’re told, and you’ve been well paid to do so.”
Yana’s anger turned to sadness as she paced.
“How old is the boy?”
“I don’t know or care. All I know is that we’re paying you to make him a man, and he better be a happy man when you’re done with him.”
“He should be with a girl his own age, or no girl at all, as young as he is.”
“I don’t know any whores that young, but don’t worry, he’ll like you. And if he’s anything like his father, you’ll like him too.”
Yana crossed her arms over her chest.
“You should have told me how young he was. I would have said no.”
Veronika rushed over to Yana and pushed her backwards onto a sofa. Before Yana knew what was happening, Veronika held a knife near her left eye.
“You smile and treat that boy right or I’ll blind you. You’re a whore, Yana. You’re not paid to think; you’re paid to fuck.”
Yana’s eyes were locked on the tip of Veronika’s blade as she answered.
“All right! Yes, yes, I will make him happier than he’s ever been.”
Veronika patted her on the cheek with the flat side of the knife.
“I’m glad we understand each other.”
Downstairs, at the side of the building, Scallato schooled his son on the ways of the world.
“I love your mother, Antonio, but I need more than one woman to satisfy me. As you get older, you’ll discover that truth for yourself.”
“It’s still cheating,” Antonio said.
Scallato shook his head.
“Morals like that are for lesser men. We are Scallato’s, son. We walk this world and do as we please.”
Antonio pointed up in the direction of Veronika’s apartment.
“I bet my mother doesn’t know about her.”
“She doesn’t, but she knows that I spend time with other women just like she knows that I kill for a living.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Your mother is honored to be my wife, but she knows I’m a man of deep desires. She’s also not foolish enough to think that she alone could satisfy me. All she cares about is that I don’t embarrass her by flaunting other women in her face. I would never do that, which is why I only meet with Veronika away from our home.”
Antonio leaned back against a wall as he thought things over.
“This woman, Veronika? Do you love her?”
“Of course not. She pleasures me, and I pay for her apartment. It’s a business transaction, nothing more or less.”
Antonio gave that more thought, then had a question.
“Why am I here?”
Scallato’s grin was wide.
“You’re going to love this.”
Scallato met Veronika nearly a decade ago, when she was the fifteen-year-old daughter of a Russian who was an acquaintance of Scallato’s. Scallato handled her father’s problem by killing three men and left Veronika’s life. The next time she saw Scallato, Veronika was nineteen and a college student. The two became lovers and she’d been Scallato’s mistress ever since.
Veronika longed to be more than a mistress, as she loved Scallato, but she knew that he would never leave his wife, Maria.
Veronika’s apartment was large, lushly furnished, and had a great view of the city of Rome.
Antonio Scallato registered none of this. His eyes were occupied with taking in the loveliness of the blond and beautiful Yana. She was seated on a sofa beside Veronika and was still wearing only the red bikini. Antonio stared at her body without shame and only ended his gazing when his father spoke to him.
“What do you think of Yana?”
Antonio looked into Yana’s green eyes for the first time, but then quickly glanced away.
“She’s nice,” Antonio said, with a voice that had gained a bit of huskiness. He had kissed several girls from his town and had even felt the budding breasts of one through her blouse, but he had never become as aroused as he did when looking at Yana.
“She’s yours, Antonio.”
Antonio stared at his father.
“What?”
“Yana, she is a gift from me to you. It is time that you became a man and Yana will be your first woman.”
Antonio smiled, but then caught himself as he looked over at Yana again.
“You mean that I can… I mean, that she’ll let me… touch her?”
Scallato laughed.
“You’ll do more than touch her. She’s yours, boy, and when we leave here you’ll be a man.”
Sitting beside Yana, Veronika gave the young whore a small nudge to get her moving. Yana rose from the sofa, walked over to Antonio, and offered her hand.
“Come with me.”
Yana saw a silly grin take over Antonio’s face as he rose from his seat. Despite his young age, he was still an inch taller than the petite Yana.
Yana had plastered a smile on her lips, but her eyes still held a touch of sadness. Antonio was tall and muscular, yes, but he still had the face of a boy. He also bore a resemblance to Yana’s younger brother, who was ten-years-old. As she disappeared into Veronika’s guest room with Antonio, Yana felt like a pervert. She vowed to herself that someday she would pay Veronika back for making her have sex with a child.
Once they were behind closed doors, Yana walked over to the bed and laid back upon it, she then called Antonio over and told him to lie beside her.
“You’ve never been with a girl before, have you?”
Antonio shook his head.
With a practiced move, Yana reached back and removed her bikini top, she then guided one of Antonio’s hands onto her breasts. The boy’s eyes widened with wonder as a soft moan escaped him.
Yana forced herself to keep smiling, but being with the boy felt so very wrong. After releasing a resigned sigh, Yana said the words that Veronika told her to say to the boy.
“Take your clothes off, Antonio, and let Yana make you a man.”
Antonio sprang from the bed and stripped naked. When he rejoined her atop the mattress, Yana had to fight the urge to cry.
10
Bummer
Tanner dressed in a black turtleneck, black slacks, and black boots, then donned a tan corduroy jacket. The jacket was bigger than needed and was well-padded at the shoulders, chest and back. The outfit was the same one that Kalah’s bodyguards wore, but it was to be only the first layer in Tanner’s disguise.
After checking his look in the mirror, Tanner removed some of the padding from the front and rear of the jacket. The change made the added bulk less noticeable up close and gave him a more natural look of greater size. Once satisfied, Tanner left his room.
In times past, Tanner would have merely placed a hair in the doorjamb as he closed it shut. If he found the hair missing or in a different spot upon his return, it would have let him know that someone had broken into his room. Those days were over, and now it took only a few dollars to buy a hidden camera that could be left in the room. The devices even had motion detectors that would alert your phone of an intruder’s presence. However, Tanner still placed a hair inside the doorjamb. It was an extra layer of protection that took only seconds to apply, so, why not?
After taking the elevator down to the hotel lobby, Tanner met Sara in the coffee shop and sat with her at a table. She looked him over with a keen eye as she took in the padded jacket.
“You’re not quite as bulky as Kurt, but you’ll be able to pass for him once you’re wearing the blond w
ig.”
Tanner took a sip of the coffee Sara passed to him, then nodded.
“I only have to fool the man inside the house watching the camera above the door. Once they buzz me in, the ruse will be over.”
Sara looked concerned.
“Even with the element of surprise it will still be three against one, and they are deadly men.”
“You’re worried about me?”
“I have no doubts about you coming out on top, I’m only concerned that you might be injured.”
“Don’t be. Once I’m inside Kalah’s home, they’ll all be dead in less than ten seconds.”
Sara stared at Tanner.
“What?” Tanner said.
“You, your confidence, if any other man talked like that I would swear it was bravado. You say such things as if they’re facts.”
“You don’t like it?”
“I actually find it to be sexy.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s true, you’ll kill them all, and despite their training, experience, and superior numbers… they don’t stand a chance.”
“And that’s sexy?”
“Strangely enough, yes.”
“You know what I find sexy?”
“What?”
“You Sara, and I want us to take that vacation together when this is over.”
Sara grinned.
“It’s a date.”
In Rome, Scallato had left Antonio alone in the hotel room while he met with the informant he called his, “pet cop.” This was the same cop whom he let live on the day he killed his older brother, Bernardo, so that he could succeed his father as the next generation of Scallato assassins.
Scallato also had a younger half-brother named Dario, but Dario Scallato never had any interest in becoming an assassin. Maurice considered Dario a nonentity and had not spoken to him in many years.
The meeting with his pet cop took place inside another hotel room, and the two drank wine as they talked.
The two met rarely, but Scallato thought it appropriate given his failure at killing Tanner. His contact had proven invaluable over the years, and this day was no exception.
Scallato looked down at a photo of Sara Blake and nodded.
“That’s her, and you say that she is an ex-FBI agent?”
“They expelled her after she shot her own partner.”
Scallato was a man who rarely showed surprise, but shock showed on his face as his contact explained the history between Tanner and Sara Blake.
“This is one hell of a woman. I feel better now about failing to have killed her. And you say she and Tanner are now lovers?”
“Likely, yes, which I find unfortunate.”
Scallato tossed a hand in the air.
“Women are fickle, and no doubt Tanner is quite the man. If he were a lesser man I would have killed him easily.”
“He won’t stop looking for you.”
“I know. Keep track of him. When I’m ready, I’ll travel to where he is and kill him.”
“And what about the woman?”
“I will kill her too.”
The contact sighed.
“Such a shame.”
Scallato smiled.
“My wife wishes me to torture her, this Sara Blake.”
The contact frowned.
“You have an interesting wife, Maurice.”
“Where is Tanner now?”
“In Berlin. He’s there to kill Malek Kalah.”
“Ah, a worthy target, perhaps Kalah’s bodyguards will kill Tanner for me. I understand that they’re exceptional.”
The contact said nothing, but just stared at Scallato.
“Is there something on your mind?” Scallato asked.
“Just this, I think you take Tanner too lightly. Why not go to Germany and kill him now, while he’s distracted with Kalah?”
Scallato made another dismissive hand gesture.
“Tanner has been lucky, I’ll grant you that, but he’ll be just another in a long line of assassins who thought they were in my league. I will let Tanner wonder about me for a few weeks. Every odd sound at night will be me sneaking up on him, and every dark corner will bring fear. There is a psychological aspect to the art of assassination, and the constant fear about where I am and when I’ll strike will wear the man down.”
The contact held up a wineglass.
“As you say, but I’ll be glad when you kill him.”
Scallato clinked glasses with his contact.
“Tanner is dead already; he just doesn’t know it yet.”
After leaving their hotel in Berlin, Tanner climbed into the rear of a stolen van as Sara drove.
Tanner found the narrow European vehicle to be cramped compared to its wider American counterparts, but still managed to don his “bum” costume. The bulk of the costume was an old threadbare overcoat that had stains and tears showing. Its buttons were fastened using Velcro and the front of a shirt had been sown into it. The bottom half of the pant legs were from a ratty pair of jeans that were secured above Tanner’s knees. These were also held in place with Velcro. To complete the outfit, Tanner wore a floppy hat that had a hole in its crown, while the tops of his black boots were hidden by the upper section of work boots that looked caked with old mud.
Tanner had spent an hour the night before practicing taking off the outfit. He was confident he could strip down to his bodyguard clothes in less than five seconds. Add to that an additional few seconds to secure the blond wig in place. The wig was hidden away in a pocket and had an elastic band that Tanner could use to hold it to his skull.
Within ten seconds he could transform himself from homeless man to trusted member of an elite security team. However, for it to work, he had to lure the blond German down on the street. Ideally, Kalah’s hatred of the homeless would cause the man to deal with the “bum” himself. Tanner wasn’t optimistic of that outcome since Kalah’s security team was known to be topnotch. They would advise their charge to stay inside the protection of his home while they dealt with the bum, Tanner, themselves.
Being well trained, they would doubtless send out two men, Tanner just had to hope that the blond man would be one of those men.
“You sewed that costume together yourself, Tanner?”
“Yeah, it’s a handy skill for an assassin, especially when it comes to stitching up your own wounds.”
Sara made a face.
“No wound talk, everything will go smoothly.”
“Let’s hope so, but this could take a few days. I may not get under Kalah’s skin quickly enough, or he may not glance out his window at me.”
“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that. So, what happens if they don’t react?”
“Plan B.”
“What’s plan B?”
“A frontal attack on the guards.”
“That sounds riskier.”
“It’s not, but it increases Kalah’s chances of reaching his safe room before I can kill him.”
“Let’s hope the bum routine works.”
More than a day went by before Kalah responded to Tanner’s presence. Tanner littered, begged for money from people passing by, insulted a woman who told him to get a job, and avoided the police. When he was tired of playing the waiting game, Tanner upped the stakes by urinating on Kalah’s doorstep.
He had just made it back across the street when two of the bodyguards came out and shouted for him to stop. Neither man was the blond German, and so Tanner attempted to evade the confrontation by running through an alleyway and climbing over a fence. When one of the security guards vaulted the fence like it wasn’t there, Tanner had to decide on a course of action. He could kill the guards chasing him and then hope to take the other two by surprise, try to outrun the guards, or take a beating. While the beating was the least appealing of the three options, it did leave his cover intact.
If he were to outrun the bodyguards, the men would rightly suspect that he wasn’t homeless. Unless, that is, he was a homeless athlete i
n exceptional condition. Killing the guards was an appealing option after two days of playing pretend, but one of the two remaining guards could easily make him as an imposter. Tanner was counting on the blond wig to aid in his deception, without it, he bore little resemblance to the two guards that chased him.
And so, a beating it was to be. Tanner slowed as he neared the end of another alley and pretended to be winded. He looked back at an approaching guard with a fearful look and turned to put his hands up. When he spoke to the man in German, Tanner did so while pretending to gasp for breath.
“I’m… sorry. Don’t hit me.”
The guard kicked Tanner’s feet out from under him and sent him sprawling onto his back. The other guard was behind them. He was straddling the fence and watching, but he seemed uninterested in joining the scuffle.
Tanner raised his hands in a pleading gesture and the first bodyguard kicked him in the ribs. The blow hurt, but its impact was lessened by the padding Tanner wore under his coat. That kick was followed by one aimed at Tanner’s head. He nearly managed to avoid it, but the toe of the bodyguard’s boot caught him on the bottom of his scruffy chin.
Tanner rolled over as if the blow had spun him, and as he did so, he freed a knife. He was willing to take a minor beating, especially given the protection of the padding he wore, but if the man got carried away, Tanner would kill him.
Another kick followed. It was a kick to the butt and it was accompanied by a warning that Tanner never return to the street where Kalah lived.
Tanner gushed out promises that he would never return, and the guard left him lying on the ground. Tanner watched the man move back over the fence with ease to join the other bodyguard, he then stood and assessed his injuries. They were all minor, but he supposed that he’d have a bruised chin for a few days.
As he left the alley, Sara pulled the van to the curb.
“Are you hurt?”
“The guard only tuned me up a little. I don’t think his heart was in it.”
[Tanner 16.0] To Kill a Killer Page 7