Young Guns Box Set

by Kane, Remington

  * * *

  After their meal ended and they were about to part ways, Bev kissed each of the boys goodbye with a peck on the cheek. Bev was only about ten years older than Cody and Romeo but had a motherly way about her. That was a good thing for her boyfriend, Roy Hutchins. Hutchins was a paraplegic who could certainly use a partner with a nurturing nature, and Bev was devoted to Roy.

  As they were walking back to where they’d left their car, Cody smiled when Romeo asked him a question.

  “Is that hot chick from the bar following us, or did she stay with Bev?”

  “You noticed her too?”

  “First, because she was good-looking, then afterward, because she kept watching us by using the mirror. She might have been interested in one of us, but if she’s tracking our movements that would mean something else.”

  Cody stopped walking and pointed across the street, as if he were asking Romeo to look at something interesting. Because of the growing surveillance system in London, the boys never went outside without donning long-billed caps, which they pulled down low over their eyes.

  “Check out the window of that store, the one with the blue awning. You can see her reflection. She’s following us all right, but she still seems to be alone.”

  “We’ll split up after turning the corner and I’ll hang back out of sight, then come up behind her.”

  “It sounds like a plan,” Cody said.

  After making a right at the corner, Romeo ran across the road and into the shadows of a tailor shop’s alcove. It was late, and so the businesses along the street were closed for the day.

  When the woman from the bar appeared and saw Cody half a block away and walking alone, she looked about for Romeo but didn’t spot him. After deciding that keeping Cody in sight was still her best bet, she continued to follow him.

  Romeo was about to leave his hiding place and go after her when he saw a man in a leather jacket rushing toward the woman. The man’s eyes were locked on her as he moved past Romeo. After letting the man go by his position, Romeo emerged and followed the followers.

  When he saw the man bring out a knife and quicken his pace to close the gap with the woman, Romeo sped up as well, while bringing out his own knife.

  There was never a dull moment in Old London Town.

  71

  Memories

  STARK, TEXAS, JANUARY 2019

  Tanner and Sara were spending time at the ranch where he recently had a home gym installed inside a corner of the barn. It was just one of the things Tanner had done in preparation for moving from New York City to Texas.

  While they would keep the penthouse apartment in Manhattan, they planned to spend most of their time in Stark once they had a child, and eventually live there full-time.

  Being back on the land where he’d grown up gave Tanner a feeling of peace and a sense of belonging to something. While as a Tanner he had a legacy spanning back over the lifetimes of six other men, as Cody Parker he had lineage stretching back much further.

  The Parkers had always been involved in ranching, first as hands and later as landowners. The ground he stood on had been owned by the Parkers for generations; prior to that, Parkers had worked on it when Texas was still a republic.

  “It’s in your blood, boy,” his grandfather, Walter Parker, had once told him. He had been eight or nine then and out riding fences with the old man. “We all carry our ancestors in our blood and we’re made up of a little bit of each of them. Now, I don’t know what your mama’s family was like, but we Parkers are ranchers and tied to the land. You’ll likely die here one day, and so will I.”

  * * *

  After rising at five a.m., Tanner worked out in the barn gym. Afterward, he ran a meandering path across the land he now owned with his brother, Caleb.

  A running track was next on his list of alterations to make. He was moving at less than his usual all-out pace because of the lack of light in the pre-dawn hour. Moonlight helped, but it was still dark and the land uneven and rocky in patches.

  By the time the sun did rise, Tanner had completed his workouts and was looking forward to breakfast. He had planned to get in some target practice with a rifle, but that could wait until after he ate.

  He had quit running while some distance from the house; the walk back would allow him to cool down from the exertion.

  As he was passing a large oak tree, he recalled a day when his twin sisters, Jessie and Jill, first climbed it on their own. They had been six, while he was only eleven at the time. Tanner could still recall their bright smiles as they called down to him.

  “We did it, Cody,” Jessie had said. “We made it up to the big branch on our own.”

  “I see, but you be careful coming back down.”

  “Down?” Jill said.

  They had not counted on climbing back down and the prospect had made them fearful of falling. Big brother Cody went up the tree and helped them down one by one, first Jill, then Jessie. In gratitude for his “saving” them, the girls had hugged him about the waist. It shocked Tanner to realize that he could still feel their small arms around him, while remembering how good it felt to be the hero big brother.

  “Some hero,” Tanner whispered.

  When it mattered most, when there was a hoard of men surrounding their house intent on killing them… he had failed to protect his family, and Jessie and Jill had died.

  It didn’t matter that he had only been a sixteen-year-old boy at the time, and that he was facing off against dozens of armed and ruthless men.

  He had failed, and that failure had allowed his family to die. He knew that he wasn’t to blame and that there was nothing he could have done at the time to prevent the tragic slaughter. Logic told him that he wasn’t at fault, but guilt and logic were often strangers. Logic resided in the mind, while guilt dwelt in the heart.

  It was guilt that drove him to become the best assassin, the most-skilled killer of all time. He wanted to be so proficient at delivering death that odds wouldn’t matter. His belief, formed at the age of sixteen, was that it was possible to be good enough that no one could ever defeat you. That if a hundred men attacked, you could still come out on top and protect those you loved.

  As unrealistic as that expectation had been, as a man, Tanner was the embodiment of it. He had triumphed over superior odds many times and was still increasing in skill and knowledge.

  Tanner reached out and touched the tree, where as a boy he had been a hero to his sisters. He was months away from taking a bride and beginning a family. He would protect them. History would never repeat itself.

  * * *

  An hour later, Sara walked up to Tanner and handed him a mug of coffee. He was in a field he had set-up as a shooting range and was practicing with a rifle. He kissed her good morning and thanked her for the coffee.

  “I thought you might come back in for breakfast before shooting.”

  “I considered it,” Tanner said, “but this is more important.”

  Sara settled on a nearby tree stump with her own mug of coffee in her hand.

  “We’ll eat when you’re done.”

  “You waited for me?”

  “Yes, and I know that training is important to you.”

  “I won’t be much longer.”

  “Take your time.”

  Training would always be more important than comfort to Tanner, for it could be the difference between life and death.

  * * *

  Later that morning, while inside the home office of the ranch house, Tanner’s phone rang. The call came from Kayla Farnsworth, the granddaughter of Tanner Five.

  “What’s up, Kayla?”

  “Something odd has happened that I thought you’d want to know about.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “A letter arrived at the house my granddad used to own. After his death the house passed on to me and Zoe, then, we later sold it to a friend. Anyway, my friend saw that the letter was addressed to my grandfather and she forwarded it on to me.”
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  “It was addressed to your grandfather, after all these years?”

  “Yeah, I know, it’s odd. Since his name was on it, I opened it. I expected that it might be from an old friend of his who didn’t know granddad had died years ago, but inside, the letter was addressed to Tanner.”

  “So, whoever sent it knew your grandfather was a Tanner. Is there a return address or a name?”

  “There’s both. It was sent by a woman named Kendra Boudreaux and the address is a town in Louisiana.”

  “Boudreaux from Louisiana?”

  “Yes, why, does that mean something?”

  “Tanner Three was a man named Benjamin Boudreaux; he lived in Louisiana.”

  “Oh, and she mentions a Benjamin Boudreaux and says that he was her grandfather.”

  “Do me a favor and send that letter to me, Kayla, but before you do, scan it and send me a copy.”

  “No problem, I have your email, but where should I send the physical copy?”

  Tanner gave her the address of the ranch, then thanked her for calling.

  Kayla had one more bit of news.

  “This woman, Kendra, in the letter she’s asking for help, and she sounds desperate.”

  “Send me that letter. She’ll soon get all the help she needs.”

  72

  No Deal

  LONDON, ENGLAND, SEPTEMBER 2003

  Keeping with Romeo’s plan to turn the tables on the woman following them, Cody walked on alone after Romeo hung back. When he felt enough time had passed, Cody stopped walking and spun around to march back toward the woman following him.

  She was a reporter named Kay Reed. When Cody looked past her, he saw a man coming up fast behind Kay with a knife in his hand. Behind that man was Romeo, who had also taken out a knife. Perhaps Kay sensed them, or maybe she realized that Romeo might still be around. In any event, she turned her head just as the man was bringing up his blade to take a hack at her. Kay froze from fright, and Cody took off in a dash toward all three of them.

  * * *

  Kay Reed wondered where the blond man had gotten off to. She then decided that he must have arrived at the hotel in a separate car and had driven off before she had rounded the corner.

  She decided to keep following the dark-haired man, the one with the unusual eyes. If possible, she would record the number on his vehicle, or better yet, follow him back to his lodgings.

  But then, she saw the man stop and turn, to look at her. Kay realized that he had known she was there all along.

  What about the other one? she thought, and when she swiveled her head to look behind her, she saw a man in a hoodie rushing toward her while raising a knife.

  Kay froze, too terrified to even scream. As the blade rose higher in preparation of a strike, she raised her hands up in a futile and instinctive gesture that would be useless against the man’s knife.

  Then, the blond man was there. He grabbed hold of the man’s hood with one hand, halting his forward motion, and with the other he plunged a knife beneath her attacker’s sternum. That caused the hooded man to release a gurgling cry of pain. It also made him drop his blade and fall to his knees.

  When Kay turned to flee, she ran into Cody, who took her by the wrists.

  When she looked back at the blond man, Kay saw that he was taking a wallet from the rear pocket of the man he had stabbed. That man was now on the ground with a growing pool of blood seeping out from under him.

  * * *

  After taking hold of Kay, Cody looked around. There was a couple across the street and six shops down, but they had taken no notice of the violence. They were involved in an argument about someone named Dottie and her penchant for involving them in her troubles.

  Cody was glad they were preoccupied, and the man on the ground was out of their view behind a parked car. When they grew closer, Cody saw Kay look their way, and knew she was about to call to them for help. To stop her, Cody kissed her.

  Kay’s blue eyes widened in shock at the contact. A moment more and she began to struggle, but Cody held her in an embrace, as if they were lovers. Once the couple turned left down the intersecting street, Cody ended the kiss. He then took away Kay’s small purse, which hung from a strap on her shoulder. Kay made a weak protest, then saw that Cody was after information, not money.

  He spoke to Romeo. “Her name is Kay Reed.”

  “Why were you following us?” Romeo asked.

  “Pardon?” Kay said, as she struggled to compose herself.

  Romeo moved closer and took Kay’s right arm.

  “She can tell us later, right now we need to get out of here.”

  Cody nodded in agreement as he took Kay by her other arm, then the three of them moved down the street like a group of old chums.

  “Are you going to hurt me?” Kay asked.

  “That depends on why you were following us,” Cody told her.

  “I… I work for the woman who wants to hire you, hire you to kill.”

  The boys stopped walking and stared at her.

  “Who are you talking about?” Cody said.

  “Garth Livingston, you’re being hired to kill Garth Livingston.”

  “I was asking about your boss, who is she?”

  “I can’t say. She needs to remain anonymous.”

  “We’ll return to that, but why was that man back there trying to kill you?”

  “I think he was one of them.”

  “One of them?” Romeo said.

  “A member of Green Wrath, a terrorist. I’m a reporter and I’ve written articles about them in the past. When I wrote a book about them, the death threats escalated.”

  “That wasn’t a threat back there,” Romeo said. “That dude was going to hack you to death.”

  Kay’s eyes grew moist and she nodded her head. “I know, and thank you for saving me.”

  They began walking again. They were headed toward the nearest tube station.

  When they reached the entrance, they went into the underground where a crowd was waiting for the trains. A problem on the line had delayed things and the nighttime travelers were standing three deep. They stood back several feet from the crowd with Kay still between them.

  Realizing that Kay was cooperating, Cody released her arm.

  “Will you come with us to someplace where we can talk?” Cody asked Kay.

  “I’ll talk with you. I need to know if you’ll be taking the contract.”

  “And then you’ll tell this mysterious client of yours?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then the answer is no.”

  “Why?”

  “Your employer sounds like a control freak,” Romeo told her. “We don’t need to be told how to go about our business.”

  Kay was shaking her head. “No, following you was my idea, not Mrs.—not my employer’s. I just wanted to know whom we would be dealing with.”

  “We? As in your employer and you?”

  “Yes, and she’s not really my employer. She’s my friend, and I wanted to help her by gaining information. I’m an investigative reporter… sometimes I go too far.”

  “Which you did, by tracking us down,” Cody said.

  “If we were a different sort of men, you would be dead right now,” Romeo told her.

  “Can I see it?” Kay asked him.

  “See what?”

  “The wallet you took off the man who tried to kill me. Perhaps I can trace him to more members of Green Wrath.”

  Cody smiled. “You never stop working, do you?”

  “Green Wrath must be destroyed, and Livingston killed. If you two won’t kill him, we’ll find others who will.”

  The train arrived; they piled on with the rest of the crowd. It was a tight fit, and Cody found himself pressed against Kay. She looked up at him and whispered.

  “Please help us. Livingston is a monster who needs to die.”

  “I want to meet this friend of yours. If she’s willing to stay out of our way, we’ll consider it.”

  Kay
nibbled at her bottom lip for a moment, then nodded.

  “I’ll call her and see if she’ll agree to it.”

  “How can we reach you?”

  Kay slipped a hand into her small purse and came out with a business card.

  “That’s my mobile number. Call me anytime after midnight and I’ll have an answer for you.”

  At the train’s first stop, Cody and Romeo stepped off without saying a word to Kay. Within moments they were lost in the crowd.

  The next time Kay opened her purse she was inside her flat. She discovered the wallet taken off the dead man who’d tried to kill her. Romeo had slipped it in there without her noticing. Kay studied the contents of the wallet, then went to work unraveling the history of its late owner.

  73

  A Plea

  STARK, TEXAS, JANUARY 2019

  Tanner received an email with an attachment that contained a scanned copy of the letter Kayla Farnsworth had mentioned.

  The letter was a plea for help from the granddaughter of Tanner Three, Benjamin Boudreaux. Boudreaux was a hero of Tanner’s and had been a man much like himself. The letter mentioned an agreement made between Boudreaux, Tanner Three, and Farnsworth, Tanner Five.

  Hello Tanner,

  Mr. Farnsworth, my name is Kendra Boudreaux. When I was just a girl, I was told by my mama that if I ever wrote to you that I was to address the letter to Tanner, rather than use your name. Mama said that it would mean something to you. I was also told that you would help, although I don’t know if anyone can help me.

  My mama said that you were a friend of my granddaddy, Benjamin Boudreaux, and that you and he had an agreement to look out after each other’s family. Now, I know a lot of time has passed, being as how my granddaddy died a long time ago, but I’m hoping this letter reaches you somehow.