“But trouble came anyway?”
“First, a lawyer showed up. He was a real slick type and not from around here. He said that it would be in my best interest to take Grey’s deal. He said that Grey was an important man with powerful friends. After I said I still wouldn’t sell, a man showed up here from some government agency to inspect the farm. I do things right here, Tanner, but they still hit me with a bunch of fines that ate up a lot of money. Then, the immigration people came and scared off the workers. Thank God we had gotten most of the crops in by then.”
“I passed a field that had fire damage on the way in. What happened there?”
“That’s an area where I grow crops for my own use. Someone set fire to them. My main crop is soybeans.”
“What happened after the workers were scared off?”
“That was when the bikers showed up and began making threats. I still had a few farm hands here for general maintenance and such, but after one of them was beaten, the others quit. Thankfully, it’s the off-season or I’d be in trouble.”
“They threatened you too?”
Kendra nodded. “Twice, and I think maybe last night they had come here to make good on those threats.”
* * *
Kendra watched Tanner as he went over his weapons and equipment.
“I know you said he wasn’t one, but I still think my granddaddy was a spy.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Daddy would tell stories about how Granddaddy traveled around a lot when he was younger. And, a few times someone tried to kill him, but Granddaddy would kill them first. One time he killed three men at once.”
“What did your father say he was?”
“Daddy would never talk about it, but Mama said granddaddy ran a contracting business. She also once said that this was the only house he’d ever built, so I think that was a cover for something else.”
“He wasn’t a contractor; he took contracts. Kendra, your grandfather was a highly-trained assassin.”
“Are you saying that he was a hit man?”
“He was a Tanner, in fact he was the third Tanner. I’m the seventh, and Farnsworth was the fifth. A Tanner is more than a common hit man, we’re elite assassins. At one time, your grandfather was the best in the world.”
Kendra had a hand on her chest as she tried to wrap her mind around what she was hearing.
“My granddaddy killed people for money?”
“He did, but they weren’t saints. They were men like the ones who are trying to drive you off your own property. I know in his time your grandfather saved lives as well as taking them.”
Kendra sat on an old wooden stool that was beside a work bench.
“Granddaddy a hit man, wow, and he was such a good guy. I still have people tell me about how he helped them out back in the old days by giving them free food or some money. Folks around here loved him.”
“I always admired him, although I only know him from reading about him.”
“Where did you read about him?”
“We, the Tanners, we keep a diary of sorts, and pass it on down to each new Tanner. I’ve read your grandfather’s entries several times.”
“I’d like to read them.”
“I’m sorry, but they’re only meant for Tanners to read. I will tell you this, I know he must have loved you. He mentioned his family often and looked forward to the day he would be a grandfather.”
“I remember him, I was only four when he died, but I remember how he used to pick me up and put me on his shoulder.”
“I supposed the cancer killed him?”
Kendra’s face crumpled as her eyes became wet with tears.
“He had cancer, but it didn’t kill him. I… I killed him. His death was all my fault.”
80
Real Terror
ENGLAND, SEPTEMBER 2003
Cody and Romeo returned to the compound that they had followed the moving truck to, then scaled the fence. They were dressed all in black, wore ski masks, and carried enough ammunition to kill a hundred.
And yet, the guns would be used only if needed. Instead, they had decided to use guerilla tactics. They would split up and silently kill as many as they could before taking on the remaining men. Romeo went right, while Cody headed left.
There was a main building that had lights on at its rear. Of the four smaller buildings behind it, only three were lit. The smaller buildings were pre-fabricated and appeared to be large sheds. Cody wondered if they were the barracks for the cell members who were training there.
When he spotted another building far from the others, he knew he had found what he’d been looking for. The building was made of brick, had no windows, and there were signs posted that said it was a restricted area. It was where the bombs were being manufactured.
While there had been only one guard on the gate, who they had avoided with ease, two men were guarding the bomb factory. They sat next to each other in a pair of fold-out lawn chairs, while smoking cigars and speaking in low tones.
Cody moved into position behind them, then eased closer, as he did so, he could make out their conversation.
They were talking about sports, soccer, and seemed to be in dispute about who was the greatest player of all time. Cody made the argument a moot point by slicing open one man’s throat before jamming the same blade into the other man’s chest. As the first guard gurgled blood and fell out of his chair, the man with the blade in his chest stood.
He was reaching for the gun on the side of his belt when Cody kicked him in the face. A grunt, a loud grunt, followed the kick, and the man stayed on his feet.
You’re a tough one, Cody thought. At the same time, he grabbed the knife from the man’s chest, only to thrust it in again. He must have hit something vital, because the man dropped to his knees, then fell on his face.
Cody was dragging the second body around to the side of the building when the voice came from the darkness.
“Hey, Drake and Eddie, I’ve brought you guys tea.”
A shape developed in the darkness, the shape of a man carrying two paper cups. Cody had settled in one of the lawn chairs and pretended to be tying a shoelace.
“Drake? Is that you?”
“No,” Cody said, and slashed open the side of the man’s throat. The tea fell to the grass with the man following. When he heard nothing else moving, after the man breathed his last, Cody went to work placing two of the explosives taken from the briefcase bombs on the door of the factory where it had been made. Romeo had two more of the bombs, which he would attach to the propane tanks at the main building.
Fifteen minutes later, Cody had circled back around to a position near the main gate where he found Romeo watching the gate guard.
“The dude is reading a book,” Romeo whispered. “How many did you kill?”
“Three, and I planted the bombs on the factory.”
“I got two more over by a latrine they have set up.”
“Time to get the rest,” Cody said, as he checked his watch.
After consulting his own timepiece, Romeo nodded and moved toward the gate guard. He was standing directly in front of the man before the guy even looked up.
“Hi there,” Romeo said.
The man made a startled cry as he dropped his book. Romeo hit him with a series of punches that knocked him down and stunned him. He then took the gun from his holster, before slapping him on the cheek.
“How do you alert the others if there’s an intruder?”
The man sat up and Romeo could see the confusion in his eyes.
“What? Oh shit, you broke one of my teeth.”
“Is there a siren or what?”
“An airhorn. They gave me an airhorn.” The man pointed to an object sitting on the ground near one of the gate posts.
“That’s it?” Romeo said.
The man shrugged. “It’ll work… or it would have. Are you with the coppers? No, wait, you’re a Yank. Who are you?”
“Blow the horn,�
�� Romeo said, as Cody came up beside him. The man on the ground glanced at Cody, then looked away. “You’re going to kill me.”
“Blow the horn,” Cody said. He had picked it up from the ground and handed it to the man. While he was doing that, Romeo had unlatched the gate.
“They’ll come running, they’ll all come running if I blow it.”
“We know,” Romeo said.
The man blew the horn and the sound quieted a pair of owls that had been making noise in the trees. In the camp, numerous lights came on, followed by doors banging open.
“Don’t follow us,” Romeo told the gate guard. A moment later he was through the gate with Cody and sprinting down the winding driveway that led from the compound. It was a clear night with a moon edging toward full. They could discern the path with no difficulty.
The airhorn was blown again, then came the sound of vehicles. Cody and Romeo rushed from the scene with most of the remaining members of the compound on their trail.
* * *
The gate guard was named Geoffrey. When the first vehicle arrived, he piled in while explaining that two young Americans had attacked him. His face was puffing up and there was still blood dripping from one nostril.
“I fought them off I did, and then I sent them running.”
“Why didn’t you shoot them?” asked the man sitting beside him.
“They took my gun.”
“Then how did you fight them off?”
Geoffrey was searching for an answer when he spotted something as they rounded the final curve that led to the main road. It was a truck.
“Look! A lorry. It must be theirs.”
By the time Geoffrey and the others got out of their vehicle, three more had arrived behind them. In all, twenty-two men were at the truck. Two others had stayed behind to aid the guards at the factory. At the same moment Geoffrey had spotted the truck, those men had found the two dead guards Cody had slain.
They heard a car start up and several men ran past the truck, which was blocking their vehicle’s path. By the time they reached the road, the car’s taillights were far in the distance. After jogging back, they reported that the intruders had gotten away.
“The cab is empty!” called a man who had climbed up on the truck, he then jerked his head as a muffled voice came from the rear of the huge vehicle. “There’s someone inside the back.”
“Two of them,” another man said. “I hear two voices. Open that door.”
“Hey guys,” Geoffrey said. “This is our own bloody lorry it is. Look at the name written on the side.”
Geoffrey was correct. It was the moving truck. Cody had driven it there while Romeo had followed in their car.
One of the men opened the rear door and numerous flashlights lit up the interior as the stench of the bodies wafted out. However, the living were also in the truck. The tall man and the short man were strapped against opposite walls with gags in their mouths. The rough ride out to the compound had left scrapes and bruises on them, but they were conscious and frantic to speak.
Geoffrey climbed up into the truck and untied the gag on the tall man, as it came free the man began shouting.
“The bombs are in the lorry! Free us! free us!”
Geoffrey looked about, saw three of the suitcase bombs taped to a wall, and soiled himself. He left the tall man, ran to the truck’s edge, and leapt. The timers on the bombs counted down as Geoffrey was in mid-leap. The blast sent him eighty feet, to smash his back against the side of a tree. The others near the truck fared worse and died in an instant. Geoffrey, seriously injured, would survive for another day before succumbing to the damage done to his organs.
Back at the bomb factory, the two survivors who had found the dead guards spun around and gaped at the explosion. They had just begun their run toward the scene when the bombs Cody planted went off, followed by the two bombs Romeo left on the propane tanks by the main building.
Mrs. Cromwell had been right. News of the boys’ exploits made the front pages of every paper in the UK. Someone was killing the members of the terrorist organization Green Wrath, and the speculation was that they had just begun.
Mrs. Cromwell was going to spend a small fortune on bonuses by the time Cody and Romeo were through. She would consider it money well spent.
81
Cousins
THE BOUDREAUX FARM, LOUISIANA, JANUARY 2019
After making her statement that she had been responsible for her grandfather’s death, Kendra excused herself and rushed out of the barn.
While looking for a place to store some of his supplies until they were needed, Tanner came across an interesting find. It was a motorcycle, an old Harley-Davidson Knucklehead. It had been hidden beneath a dust-covered tarp.
The red bike was in sad shape and its wide leather seat was cracked and peeling. Despite that, it appeared to be restorable with care. Tanner knew it was a 1947 model because Boudreaux had written about it many times in his entries. He had also given the bike a name, Lucille.
Kendra returned to the barn while wiping her eyes with a tissue. She pointed at the motorcycle.
“That was granddaddy’s bike.”
“It’s worth money, even given the shape it’s in; I would bet a collector would pay well for it.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but tell me what you meant before when you said that you killed your grandfather.”
Kendra dabbed at her red eyes and took a seat on the stool near the work bench. After taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, she spoke while looking at the barn floor.
“There used to be another house on the property. It was behind the main one and not nearly as nice. It was one of those prefabricated houses that they sold out of a catalogue. That was a wedding gift from my other granddaddy, mama’s daddy. Because he had the land, Granddaddy Boudreaux let my parents assemble it here, but Mama said he refused to help put it together. He said that homes should be built from scratch, not kits. Anyway, they put up the house.”
“It’s not there now. What happened to it?”
Kendra chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before speaking.
“When I was four, I found a book of matches. One morning I woke up early, before the sun, and I wandered about the house by myself. When I remembered the matches, I took them out from where I’d hidden them and… and I started playing with them.”
Kendra paused, and Tanner remained silent. He could guess where this was headed.
“I started a fire in the living room ashtray, then I got the bright idea to add paper to it. Embers from the paper caught a pair of frilly lace curtains on fire. My mama loved those curtains.”
“What happened then?”
“I panicked and went running back to my room. Daddy was working nights at the old mill, so he wasn’t home. My Aunt Trudy was living with us then. She woke up when the smoke got bad and got my mama up too. I knew mama would be mad at me for ruining her curtains. I was so young then that I really didn’t understand how destructive a fire could be. In order to avoid being punished I went and hid in my closet. By the time they made it out of the house, Aunt Trudy and Mama each thought the other one had found me and taken me outside. They had gone into my room and discovered the bed was empty. When they realized I was still inside, the house was like a torch. That’s when Granddaddy showed up.”
“He saved you.”
Kendra nodded as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“By the time he found me in the closet there was so much smoke that I was choking on it and couldn’t see a thing. I could hear though, and I heard my granddaddy tell me that I was going to be all right. I… I also heard his screams as the fire burned him on our way out of the house. Years later, Mama told me that he had wrapped me inside a wet blanket and carried me through a wall of flames to safety. That’s why I say I killed him, because it’s true.”
Tanner walked over to where Kendra sat on the stool.
“You were just a child. Yes, you started the fire, but you’re
not to blame for the consequences, because you had no idea what you were doing. If you had, you wouldn’t have hidden in the closet, you would have woken everyone up and gotten out of there on your own.”
Kendra looked at him with wet eyes. “I loved that old man, Tanner, and child or not he died because of me.”
“It was the best thing for him.”
“What?”
“Benjamin Boudreaux wasn’t a man who should waste away in a bed during his final days, Kendra. He was a fighter and a man who loved his family. Yes, he died saving you, his granddaughter, and I’m certain he would do it again if possible. As far as I’m concerned, I can’t imagine leaving this world in a better way than saving one of my family from death.”
Kendra wiped at her eyes as she sat up straighter. “I never thought of it that way.” After rising from the stool, she wrapped her arms around Tanner in a hug. “Thank you.”
Tanner was surprised by her reaction, but he put his arms around her. Then, Kendra stepped away from him with an embarrassed expression.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hugged you.”
“That’s okay,” Tanner said. “We’re practically cousins.”
82
It’s About To Get Personal
ENGLAND, SEPTEMBER 2003
After leaving the compound in ruins, Cody and Romeo returned to the moving company warehouse and sat the red garbage can out in front of the building. The tall man they’d interrogated had told them where to find the keys to the cars the group used.
Romeo drove one of the vehicles to the out of the way house where Morrison was said to hold his meetings. Cody had followed along behind, then had hidden his own vehicle and joined Romeo inside the house.
The home was filthy and had second-hand furniture. Two of the rooms could be locked from the outside and their windows were covered by plywood. The moving aside of a sheet revealed a blood-stained mattress and part of a tooth was found lying in a corner.
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