Cody’s Texas accent had faded over the previous year. It was something he had worked on while also learning the rudiments of several new languages. Romeo still sounded like a California beach bum, although he had grown up in Dallas, Texas.
It was Romeo’s turn to drive, and he was doing so while Cody read. After seeing Cody close his book, Romeo spoke.
“I miss Spenser, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but I love not feeling like an apprentice anymore.”
“Hell yeah. We’ve paid our dues and now it’s time to show the world what we’ve got. I don’t know who will be hiding inside the Citadel once we break in there, but they’ll never make it out alive.”
“This guy Hutchins we’re going to see might be able to tell us who is in there when the time comes. Spenser said that he’s trustworthy too.”
Romeo took his eyes from the road and looked over at Cody momentarily.
“You asked Spenser about Hutchins?”
“In an email, yeah.”
“Then Spenser must know what we’re planning to do, right?”
“He knows.”
“What did he think about us targeting the Citadel?”
Cody smiled. “He wrote back to me and said that he knew we would be successful if we decided to do it. He also said that if we didn’t do it then he might try it someday.”
“Spenser has nothing to prove, we do. We need to build a reputation fast if we want to be offered the challenging contracts. I don’t want to spend my time knocking off cheap hoods for rival mobsters. I want to take the type of contracts like we did with Spenser in Russia.”
Cody smiled again as he recalled his time in Moscow. While there, the three of them had taken a contract on the leader of a terrorist group. The man had been protected by scores of armed bodyguards and lived inside a home with numerous advanced security measures.
More armed personnel protected the man inside the house, and he himself had been well-armed. Despite all that, Spenser, aided by Cody and Romeo, breached security and killed the target. That contract paid well enough to fund their entire year of travel.
“Russia was great, and not just the contract,” Cody said.
Romeo smiled as he nodded. “Sasha and Dinara, yeah, those girls made Russia memorable all right.”
“Sasha took your mind off Emma. Which was a good thing. Spenser and I were starting to worry about you.”
“I missed Emma more than I’ve ever missed anyone. Hell, I still miss Emma, and even though she broke up with me, I know she loved me.”
“But she couldn’t accept you as you are, Romeo. Whoever you wind up with someday will have to be willing to live with who and what you are, an assassin.”
“The same goes for you.”
Cody shook his head. “I’ll never fall in love. I won’t allow it.”
“I don’t think it’s up to us, Cody. Man, when I met Emma in Indonesia last year, it was like… well hell, it was indescribable. It was like being born again.”
“And what was it like when she left you?”
“That was the worst, but I wouldn’t trade a moment of it for anything.”
“There’s a world full of women, and I intend to have my share of them.”
Romeo laughed. “You might be over your quota already, dude. You’re like a chick magnet, especially now that you’ve loosened up and let your hair grow long.”
Cody reached back and felt his hair, which reached to his shoulders. “It’s never been this long before, but I may cut it soon. I prefer my hair to be low-maintenance.”
“I know what you mean, but I may grow mine out again soon. I like it long.”
Cody looked out at a passing road sign.
“We’ll be entering Portland, Oregon soon? Good, I’m sick of being in the car.”
“I’m hungry, how about you?” Romeo said.
“Yeah, we’ll pick a hotel with a good restaurant, along with a pool. Maybe we’ll meet some women.”
Romeo laughed. “You’re always working on that quota, aren’t you?”
“I don’t ever plan to fall in love, but that’s no reason to ignore women.”
“I hear you,” Romeo said, as he drove on.
31
Bonding
NEW YORK CITY, OCTOBER 2018
At a casual restaurant in the city, Sara and Tanner were seated with Sara’s father, Warren Blake. Blake needed a new assistant file clerk at his law firm and Sara was going to introduce him to a friend of theirs.
“How old is this young man again?” Blake asked.
“He just turned nineteen, Daddy, and he’s in college. He wants to be a lawyer.”
“God help him,” Blake said.
The young man they were discussing showed up right on time, and Tanner saw that he had worn a suit for the occasion. His name was James Washington. He was black, smart, and had grown up in a bad area without letting it drag him down.
Tanner had met James while on the trail of a serial killer earlier in the year. James had been enlisted to help keep an eye on the man, and he later met Sara. Tanner and Sara had both taken a liking to the teen.
When Sara learned that her father had an entry-level position open at his law firm, she contacted James and asked if he was interested. James jumped at the chance. The job paid almost double what he was making at his part-time supermarket job. It would also give him an opportunity to work in a law firm, where he could gain experience in a field he planned to make a career in.
James and Warren shook hands, then James settled across from Blake while seated between Tanner and Sara.
“Thanks again for thinking of me, Sara. I’d love a chance to work at a law firm, especially one in the city.”
“What school do you attend, James?” Warren asked, and James gave him the name of a prestigious university in Queens.
“I’m there on a full scholarship,” James added.
“That’s impressive,” Warren said. “And I won’t leave you in suspense a moment longer. You’ve got the job. Come in on Monday and we’ll get you started.”
James’ mouth was hanging open slightly. “I’m hired just like that?”
“And you’ll keep the job if you work at it.”
James smiled at Sara. “I have you to thank for this.”
“I trust my daughter’s judgement about people,” Warren said, then he slid his gaze Tanner’s way as he added, “Usually.”
* * *
The lunch was a pleasant one. James, who was personable, caused Warren to laugh more than once. When Sara learned that James had taken a bus to Midtown, she offered to give him a ride home.
“It’s all the way in the Bronx, Sara,” James said.
“That’s all right, I have a client to see in Hunts Point, which isn’t very far from there.”
“Tanner,” Warren said. “Stay a while longer and have a drink with me at the bar.”
Sara stared at her father. “What’s this about?”
“Nothing, honey, I just want to get to know my future son-in-law better.”
“You two are getting married?” James asked, and Sara showed him her ring.
“Oh man,” James said. “How did I miss seeing that? And too bad about the marriage, I was hoping to be next in line when Sara dumped you, Tanner.”
“You’ve lost your chance forever,” Tanner told him.
* * *
After Sara and James left, Tanner and Warren moved over to the bar, which wasn’t crowded at the early hour. They ordered brandy, and Tanner waited for Warren to get to the reason for their talk. The older man did so once they had their drinks.
“My daughter tells me that you want to reclaim your true identity.”
“Sara has told you my real name?”
“No, but she has told me that you were the survivor of a tragedy when you were still a teenager. If I can help in any way, let me know.”
“Thank you, I may need to have a lawyer involved. I was declared dead over twenty years ago. You can see where that m
ight need some explaining when I finally show up to reclaim my name.”
“I’d like to hear your story. I promise to keep it confidential.”
Tanner nodded. “Yes, I guess you have a right to hear it, as Sara’s father.”
The sad and violent tale of the fate of the Parker family was relayed to Warren Blake. The lawyer listened attentively, and only spoke when Tanner was finished.
“That was a horrific thing to have to live through. It gives me a new perspective on you, Tanner.”
“It’s in the past. Now I have Sara and we’ll start a family of our own.”
“That Mexican cartel leader that you killed. Did he have any connection to the slaughter of your family?”
“It was the same man. We each believed the other to be dead for years.”
“Good Lord, how the hell did you survive going up against such a man? He must have had a small army guarding him.”
“I had help from friends.”
“Friends willing and able to face off against an army beside you? I would say that they counted as more than friends.”
“So would I,” Tanner said. “I’ve also trained my whole life to be able to kill difficult targets.”
Warren shook his head in disagreement.
“You didn’t train solely to be able to kill; you also trained to survive. After what happened to you, you could have gone one of two ways. You could have crawled into a hole somewhere and kept your head down as you tip-toed through life, or you could vow to never suffer such losses again and fight back.”
“I’m a fighter, always have been.”
“The fact that my daughter is a part of your dangerous world worries me, I admit that, and Sara, my Sara has always had a streak in her that sought excitement.”
“Sara can protect herself when needed, Mr. Blake, but I swear to you that I would die before I’d allow anyone to hurt her.”
“I believe you would, and better yet, you’re more than equipped to kill anyone who might try it.”
Tanner finished his brandy, then set the empty glass on the bar.
“Is there anything else, Mr. Blake?”
“Yes, if you have the time, come with me out to the airport and I’ll show you my plane.”
Tanner smiled. “I would like that. I haven’t had my license very long, but I love flying.”
Warren raised his glass in a toast.
“It will be nice to have another pilot in the family.”
32
The Expert
CAMAS, WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 2002
The Citadel expert, Roy Hutchins, lived in the city of Camas in Washington state, which was about a twenty-five-minute drive from the boys’ hotel in Portland.
Roy Hutchins was wheelchair-bound and in his early-forties. His temples were graying, and he had vibrant blue eyes. There was a gun strapped to the side of the wheelchair in a holster. It was a .45 automatic.
They met with Hutchins at his house. It was a two-story home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One of the bedrooms had been a dining room, while the downstairs bathroom was a converted pantry. After his injury, Hutchins adapted the house to his needs.
Hutchins had grown up in the home before leaving at sixteen to travel the world. After the death of his mother, he inherited the place. Hutchins had the place on the market until he lost the use of his legs. Now it looked like he would someday die in the house he was born in.
Behind the home was a meadow and a narrow band of trees, and beyond that an elevated roadway that was part of an exit ramp. The ramp led to the street that ran perpendicular to Hutchins’ block. Hutchins had played in that large meadow as a kid, but now he would never walk again.
Hutchins had a live-in girlfriend named Bev. Bev was in her thirties, had blonde hair with streaks of blue, and she dressed like a hippy in a tie-dyed poncho and sandals. There was even a peace symbol hanging from a chain around her neck. Despite that, Cody detected the outline of a holstered gun beneath the poncho.
Once the boys passed over his fee, Hutchins invited them to sit on a sofa. Roy Hutchins knew them by the names of Xavier and Romeo. He was also acquainted with Spenser, although they hadn’t seen each other in years.
Roy Hutchins was a former hit man who now made his living acting as a go-between and an arms dealer. The Citadel was a preoccupation with him and he was willing to aid anyone who wanted to ruin its perfect record.
Hutchins’ home was well-decorated, if a bit feminine. The influence came from Hutchins’ late mother and not Bev. Hutchins had left things the way his mother had them and didn’t care what the home looked like.
On a coffee table positioned between Hutchins and the boys were photos of the Citadel. It wasn’t much to look at. The Citadel had begun life as a secret military base and refuge built into the side of a cliff in 1956, during the cold war.
Before it could be completed and stocked with equipment and supplies, the plan was abandoned after a newspaper article mentioned it.
The Citadel was in a cove where a sheer cliff rose over a hundred feet. At its summit was a flat plain protected on three sides by natural outcroppings that had been enhanced with a fifteen-foot stone wall topped by barbed wire.
The wire was electrified as well, and the thick wall had been built by the army. No one had ever made it over the wall or up the face of the cliff. Although the wall was seen as suicide, the cliff tempted many. Most of the men who had died over the years did so while trying to scale the cliff.
After sending her a look along with a double nod of his head, Bev announced that she would be in the kitchen. Cody figured that the double nod was a signal that everything was all right, as Bev relaxed after receiving it.
“Do either of you boys want a drink or some coffee?” Bev asked them.
“We’re good, but thanks,” Cody told her, and Bev left the room. After watching her go, Hutchins smiled at the boys.
“You two got guts to be targeting the Citadel. I’m the only one who ever survived the place, and it cost me my legs.”
“How did you survive if you were so badly injured?” Cody asked.
“Oh, I could still walk after I was shot. I even ran. But the slug in my back shifted and damaged my spinal cord. Two days after leaving the Citadel, my legs went numb, and an operation did nothing to help me. It wasn’t the doctor’s fault. He was a mobbed-up guy that I used, but he was also a damn good surgeon. If I had gone to a regular hospital, not only would I have become a cripple, but I would have been in trouble with the cops too.”
Romeo leaned forward. “What can you tell us about the Citadel?”
“I can tell you that the place is a bitch-mother. Many men have died trying to breach their security, you should think about that. If you go for it, there’s a good chance that you’ll both die.”
“What went wrong with your plan?” Cody asked.
“Me and another guy went after the place back in 1993. We were only the eighth attempt back then. There was a Salvadoran drug lord named Jorge Aquilleran hiding out there. Aquilleran had a one-million-dollar price on his head. My partner and I figured the best way to get inside the Citadel was to attack the guards while they were outside during a supply run.”
“I thought the guards never left the Citadel,” Cody said.
“They don’t, not technically, that is, they don’t leave the Citadel’s grounds, but they still need supplies. You see, the Citadel’s supplies are brought in by plane once a month or so, on an old Caribou Airlifter, what they call a DCH-4. The plane drops crates that have parachutes attached. Later, the crates are loaded onto a truck and driven back to the Citadel, while the old supply crates are left for pick-up. When they leave the old crates in the field, you know a supply run is in the works. Normally, this is the only time anyone ever leaves the inside of the Citadel and it takes less than an hour.”
Romeo looked at Cody.
“If we got inside one of those crates we could use it like a Trojan horse.”
Hutchins held up a han
d in warning.
“It’s been tried. Three men did it about six years ago after taking over the supply plane. What they didn’t realize is that the crates are checked before they’re brought inside the Citadel. I don’t know how they died, but the three were never heard from again. When the plane landed back at the airport with their partner on board, he was killed by someone working for the Citadel.”
“Tell us about the cliff,” Cody said, then he watched as a knowing smile lit Hutchins’ face.
“The cliff, everyone thinks they can scale the cliff, and that’s the trap.”
“What do you mean?” Romeo said.
“That cliff is craggy, steep, and at the top the rock has been purposely loosened. Just a year ago, I sat here with two young guys like yourselves and told them about the cliff. A couple of Canucks they were, and experienced climbers. Like everyone else, they waited for a stormy night to make the climb.”
“Why during a storm?” Romeo asked.
“Thunder hides the sound made by the climbing gear, and these guys were also drilling into the rock as they went along.”
“It sounds like they really knew their stuff,” Romeo said.
“Oh yeah, they went up the cliff in a professional manner with a plan in mind and were using all that mountain climbing shit that guys like them have.”
“You’re talking about inserting bolts in the rock face. That’s why they were drilling?” Cody asked.
“Yeah, they did that so that they could leave the Citadel the same way. They had this idea that they were going to sneak in, make a kill, and sneak out, all under cover of the thunderstorm.”
“That must have been some storm. Drilling into rock makes a lot of noise.”
“I guess, but the sounds of the storm gave them cover.”
“And what happened to them?” Cody asked.
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