“It’s a tracking device,” Tanner said. He had been standing inside the room’s small closet. His sudden appearance so unraveled Bruno that he dropped the heel and let out a shriek.
“You... you’re dead.”
“As Mark Twain once said, ‘the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
“What? Who?”
Tanner raised the Taser he was holding and fired. Bruno shrieked again, this time in agony, and fell to the floor. Tanner placed a set of handcuffs on Bruno as he cuffed his wrists around the base of the room’s steel radiator. It was low to the floor and didn’t even allow Bruno enough slack to stand.
Once he’d recovered, Bruno stared up at Tanner with a furrowed brow.
“How the hell are you alive, Tanner? Maurice emptied a damn Minigun on you.”
“I ducked.”
“Maurice will just have to kill you again.”
“He’ll get the chance. I’ll be paying him a visit soon in Sicily, and thanks to you, I know just where to look.”
Bruno tugged at the handcuffs, then kicked the floor in frustration.
“When I don’t call Maurice back he’ll know something is wrong.”
“I heard your side of the conversation; you said you’d contact him in a month.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No.”
“No?”
“I’m going to tell Degussa where he can find you.”
“That’s the same as killing me.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Tanner said, and slapped a thick piece of duct tape over Bruno’s mouth.
Degussa answered the phone himself and said that he would contact associates who would pick up, “The package” and ship it back home. Tanner had to wait for nearly two hours, but then watched as two men exited a white van and rolled a large suitcase into the hotel. When they rolled the suitcase out, a keen observer could tell that it weighed considerably more.
With Bruno handled, Tanner drove to where Sara was waiting for him, and was amazed to realize that he couldn’t wait to feel her in his arms.
“Yeah, yeah,” he whispered, and drove faster.
38
Hail The Conquering Hero
Maria squealed with delight when her husband told her he had killed Tanner.
Scallato held his hands up, as if to say, “What other outcome could there be?”
He arrived in Sicily the day before, but he had been three towns away looking at properties with a real estate agent. He was searching for something near, but not too near his home, to make it easier to visit Veronika. Once they had sons, and he was confident that Veronika could give him sons, he would be spending most of his time with his new family.
After kissing him, Maria promised that she would make him his favorite dish, but then remembered that she was out of garlic.
“Send the boy to fetch some,” Scallato said.
“But don’t you remember, Maurice? You told me that Antonio wasn’t to run errands anymore.”
“I know what I said, but he’s good for little else, so send him.”
Maria started to protest, but knew it would do no good, and so she called for Antonio, who was outside in the field behind the house.
“What’s he doing out there?” Scallato said.
“He’s practicing his knife throwing and is getting quite good. You should go watch him.”
“The boy had his chance to impress me. He failed miserably.”
Antonio entered, when he saw his father he broke out in a huge smile. It faded when Scallato gazed back at him impassively.
“Antonio, we have good news. Your father has killed the American assassin named Tanner. I need you to go into town and buy garlic. We’re having Busiate with the Pesto Trapanese that your father likes, for a celebration.”
Maria handed Antonio money for his trip to the store and he stared at it, then over at his father.
Only weeks ago, Scallato had told him that he was a man, and that a man didn’t run errands for women.
“Patri?” Antonio said.
“What, boy? Just do as your mother says and get the garlic. Perhaps you’ll do that right.”
Antonio hung his head and slunk out of the house. Maria watched him through the window and gave a little moan.
“You are too tough on the boy, Maurice, and he loves you so much.”
Scallato stood up from the table.
“I’ll be in my workshop. Let me know when it’s time to eat.”
“Maurice?”
“Yes?”
“What about Tanner’s woman, is she dead too?”
“Not yet, but there will be plenty of time to deal with her.”
“I don’t like her running around; she sounds dangerous to me.”
Scallato spun and pointed a finger at Maria.
“I don’t care what you like or don’t like, and don’t tell me how to do my work. I will kill the bitch when I’m good and ready. Tanner is dead, and the threat is ended, be happy about that.”
“I didn’t mean to question you. Maurice… do you blame me for Antonio’s failure?”
“Maybe you babied him too much, or maybe it was me and I should have been home more, either way, the boy is useless.”
Tears erupted from Maria’s eyes.
“No, Maurice, do not give up on him. Antonio loves you and will prove himself worthy someday, please, just have patience.”
Scallato opened the door.
“I’ll be in my workshop.”
As he stepped outside and closed the door behind him, Maria sank into a chair and cried.
Antonio entered town and bought the garlic his mother needed, and as he did so, he felt like a child. But he was a man, wasn’t he? Hadn’t he been with a woman, and hadn’t that made him a man? And such a beautiful woman Yana had been.
But, he was a coward. His disgraceful behavior with the Martello brothers had proven that, but maybe he didn’t have to stay a coward. He would prove himself a man someday, perhaps like his mother said, when he was older, and then his father would love him again.
He was about to head home when he heard his name being called, it was his friend, Paolo. Paolo waved at him from the front porch of the town’s cozy little hotel, that was more like a bed & breakfast establishment. Paolo’s father worked as manager while Paolo’s mother was the maid and cook.
Paolo had two puppies with him and was playing with them. They were the same dogs that Antonio’s father had wanted him to kill. After leaving them to fend for themselves in the hills, Antonio found he couldn’t sleep for worrying about them.
He had snuck out of the house that night, while his father had been in the workshop, and gone to tap on Paolo’s window at the rear of the hotel. Paolo also snuck out, then, the two of them went to look for the puppies up in the hills with a pair of flashlights.
It took an hour of searching, but they found the pups. The small hounds had been shivering, and the next day, Paolo’s mother talked his father into letting him take care of the dogs until he found them homes.
Antonio picked up one of the puppies and was surprised by how much bigger it looked than the last time he’d seen it. That brought to mind his first sight of the pup, and he asked Paolo a question.
“Do you think you could ever kill something like a puppy?”
Paolo gave Antonio a strange look. Paolo was a handsome boy with lots of curly hair. Girls were attracted to him, but he blushed and became tongue-tied whenever he spoke to one. Although he was a year older than Antonio, Paolo looked up to his friend.
“Kill it?”
“Yeah, like with a shotgun. Do you think you could do it?”
“Antonio, you would have to be mental to do something like that. Those are the kind of guys that grow up to be serial killers.”
Antonio stared at the puppy as he held it up.
“Why is it so hard to do? It’s about the same size as the rats that live down by the docks. I could shoot the rats. Anyone could shoot the rats.”
Paolo smiled, as the other pup licked his face.
“Rats don’t know how to love, puppies do.”
Antonio was considering the difference between rats and dogs when the puppy he was holding squirmed loose. The pup then went exploring beneath the floorboards, which were set high, due to habitual flooding in the spring.
Paolo pointed at his feet, indicating the floorboards.
“Get the puppy, Antonio! Talk about rats, my father places rat poison under there. Don’t let the puppy eat it.”
Antonio scrambled onto his belly and crawled under the porch. He was familiar with the space; he and Paolo had played under there when they were smaller boys. He saw the puppy up ahead and to the left, but the creature eluded his first attempt to grab him. By the time Antonio managed to catch him, he was almost out the back side.
Someone was standing on the rear porch and talking, no, two people, a man and a woman. When Antonio realized that they were speaking English, he listened in. He understood the language, along with French and some German.
When he realized what he was hearing and who it was that was speaking, Antonio was stunned.
Sara looked over the scenery while sipping on a cup of coffee. She was in disguise again, but this time it was a simple one, just a blond wig and sunglasses.
Tanner wore no disguise, but was dressed in a suit, complete with a wide-brimmed hat. They had been in town for only an hour and were waiting for it to get dark.
“It’s beautiful here, Tanner. We’ve been to so many gorgeous locations and could barely enjoy them. Once Scallato is no longer a threat, I want to take a few days and return to Rome to play tourist.”
“Fine, I could use the down time, but first, Scallato has to die.”
“He won’t see you coming,” Sara said.
Antonio crawled back toward the front of the hotel with the squirming pup beneath one arm.
Tanner was alive somehow when his father was certain that he had killed him. That was horrible. The man must know where they lived, or he wouldn’t be in Raguso, and he was deadly, even his father had said so.
Antonio handed the pup back to Paolo, grabbed his bag of garlic, and ran for home as fast as he could. However, when he was halfway there, he slowed, then, he stopped.
His father had no idea Tanner still lived, and that meant that his father had failed. Maurice Scallato, Il Fantasma, The Ghost, had failed. Somehow, Tanner had tricked his father into believing he had died, and if not for Antonio, Tanner would have the advantage and invade their home.
The thought of the American assassin sneaking into their home in the middle of the night chilled Antonio, but also enraged him. What if Tanner wasn’t satisfied with just killing Antonio’s father? What if he also harmed his mother, as well as Anna, Antonio’s little sister.
The man had to be stopped from ever coming near their house. Antonio imagined the scene when he returned home and told them that Tanner was alive. Would they even believe him? Yes, his father would know he wouldn’t lie about such a thing, but oh, how embarrassed he would be.
Would he blame me? Antonio thought. What was that saying, kill the messenger? Yes, he would be going home and proclaiming his father a failure. His father wouldn’t like that, would hate it, and worse of all, Antonio would get no credit for alerting him.
Antonio could hear his father’s voice in his head.
“You were just lucky, Antonio.”
“Only a boy playing with puppies would have been there to overhear them in the first place.”
“If you were really a man, you would have killed Tanner yourself.”
That last thought made Antonio cock his head.
Why not kill Tanner? Oh, if he killed Tanner, killed a man who was said to be the equal of his father, oh, then, then his father would have to say he was a man. It would be easy too, all he had to do was go back to the hotel with a shotgun, and this time he would pull the trigger. One pull of the trigger and Tanner died, his family was safe, and his father would love and respect him again.
Yes! He could do it. Just one little pull of the trigger and the legend of Antonio Scallato would be born. He would be the man who killed the American assassin, Tanner, and he would at last be worthy to wear the name, Scallato.
Antonio rushed home, handed off the garlic to his mother, and ever so quietly, he removed the shotgun that sat above the fireplace.
After wrapping the gun in a blanket, he sneaked out his bedroom window and headed back to town.
Just one pull of the trigger and a legend would die, while another was born.
39
Catch And Release
Tanner guided Sara onto her back as he moved between her legs. They were both fully dressed, in all but their shoes, and were waiting for darkness to fall. Outside, the last rays of the day’s light were saying their farewells. Tanner and Sara knew that once they found Scallato’s home, it would be like facing a lion in his den.
“What are you doing?” Sara said, and there was laughter in her voice.
“I think they call this sex,” Tanner said.
“But we’re fully clothed.”
“Then let’s just call it a dress rehearsal.”
Sara giggled, angled her hips, then pushed Tanner off her with a knee. He settled beside her on his back and smiled.
“No sex, mister, not now, not when Scallato is so close. Maybe you could enjoy yourself with that sort of pressure, but I can’t.”
Tanner rolled onto his side and ran a hand along her body.
“This will all be over soon. Once we talk to the priest, Father Rossetti, and learn where Scallato lives, I’ll set up a sniper’s nest and wait for him to show himself.”
“What if he’s with one of his children?”
“I’ll still kill him.”
“No, that’s horrible. No child should see their parent killed.”
Tanner kissed her.
“The man wants you dead, Sara. I don’t want to let him live a second longer than I have to.”
“I understand the risk, but no. Tanner please? Only kill him when he’s alone.”
“All right, and of course, I’d prefer to do it that way. The last thing we want is for Scallato to get away again. I don’t think he would resurface until he was firing rounds at us.”
“You think he would abandon his family?”
“He’s studied me. He knows that they would be safe and that I wouldn’t use them as bait.”
Sara turned toward him and supported herself on an elbow as she gazed into Tanner’s eyes.
“Why not use them as bait, or threaten to kill them?”
“The family?”
“Yes, I’ve studied you too, remember? I know that you have a ruthless streak.”
“Not against innocents, they’re off-limits.”
“I know that too. But why are they off-limits? Is it a rule you have, or is that a rule of the Tanner’s?”
“It’s both, although, a Tanner will do anything to survive. The first rule of being an assassin is to survive no matter what it takes. It’s difficult to kill when you yourself are dead.”
Sara gave Tanner a soft kiss on the lips.
“You’re a good man, do you know that?”
“I don’t think I’d fit anyone’s definition of good, Sara.”
“You fit mine, and when I first realized that you were a good man it redefined my beliefs about good and evil. You’re not good in a traditional sense, Tanner, because you don’t behave within societal and moral expectations, but you are a good man, and you do good things.”
“I’m going to do a good thing in this town and rid the world of Maurice Scallato.”
Sara shook her head in wonder.
“I still can’t believe he has a wife.”
Tanner held up a finger to correct her.
“Widow, not wife, it’s just a matter of time.”
Sara laughed, pushed Tanner onto his back, then straddled his hips.
“Let’s get back to that
dress rehearsal.”
At the home of Maurice Rizzo, who was actually Maurice Scallato, his wife Maria called out that dinner was ready. Little Anna came downstairs with her favorite doll in her arms. She was followed by her father, but there was no sign of Antonio.
Maria called him again, served the food, and looked over at the staircase.
“Antonio get down here; it’s time to eat.”
“Maybe he’s mad because he had to go to the store,” Scallato suggested.
“Or maybe he’s not feeling well; I should go check on him.”
“No woman, sit down and eat. If the boy wants to sulk, let him sulk.”
Maria sat, but called her son’s name once more.
“Antonio, come eat!”
There was no response.
Scallato sent a backhanded wave toward the staircase.
“The hell with him, now let’s eat. The food looks excellent.”
Maria smiled at the compliment to her cooking, but she cast a worried glance at the stairs. It wasn’t like Antonio to sulk. Maria began to eat quickly. The faster she finished her food, the sooner she could check on Antonio.
“Dress rehearsal” was well on its way to becoming a full-fledged performance when something nibbled at the edges of Tanner’s awareness.
It was a sound, something akin to the creak of a floorboard, but less pronounced. It was the sound that wood made when a slight weight was placed upon it. When he heard it once again, he placed a finger to his lips and pointed at the door to their room.
Sara’s eyes widened with alarm. She slid off Tanner, stood, and adjusted her clothing, when she looked over at him, she saw that Tanner was zipping up with one hand while slipping a knife out of its sheath with the other.
She arranged the bed so that it appeared to have been used, then tiptoed inside the bathroom and turned on the shower. She and Tanner had drilled on what to do if Scallato paid them a visit and they were both ready to kill anyone who entered the room. Sara opened the medicine cabinet, adjusting the mirror so that it showed her the door from her position inside the bathroom.
[Tanner 16.0] To Kill a Killer Page 21