Young Guns Box Set

by Kane, Remington

  Romeo collapsed a foot from the edge of the pier and lost consciousness. His last sight was of May Ling taking aim once more.

  * * *

  Ryker rose from the dock, inadvertently blocking May Ling’s shot. A glance down at Romeo told him that his daughter’s rounds had inflicted serious damage. If Romeo wasn’t dead, he soon would be.

  May Ling lowered her arms and met her father as he moved toward her.

  “Are you all right?”

  Ryker spit out a wad of blood. “The boy packs a punch,” he said. His voice was a bit hoarse due to the blow Romeo had landed on his throat.

  May Ling caressed his cheek. “Let’s go in the house and clean you up.”

  Ryker smiled. “Hawke is next. Killing him is going to be the best feeling ever. And he’s mine, you hear me, May Ling? Hawke is mine.”

  “Yes, Father, and it was difficult pretending to like him while knowing he killed my brother. He saved my life in Oregon and I still despise him for murdering Damon.”

  After speaking, May Ling checked her watch. The drug she had given Cody would keep him out for hours but grew less effective as time went on. Doing the calculations in her head, May Ling figured she still had two to three hours before he would awaken.

  They were headed to the house when they heard the splash. It was Romeo. He had come to and found the strength to crawl off the end of the pier. May Ling made a move to run to the pier and take more shots at him, but Ryker called her back.

  “The condition he’s in, he’ll drown, or get washed out to sea like that body we tossed over. Either way, he’s finished.”

  “I want to make certain,” May Ling said. She returned to the dock and saw a slick of fresh blood at the end of it. She looked down into the water with dismay. Romeo wasn’t there. She raised her gaze and saw that a strong current had taken him westward. May Ling steadied the gun, took aim, and fired. She got off three shots before giving it up as useless.

  Romeo’s limp form was bobbing in the water while moving away from her at several miles an hour. The closest she had come to hitting him was about a yard shy. If the rifle hadn’t gone into the water, she could have used its scope, but it was gone.

  She returned to her father, and as they walked toward the house, May Ling discussed an idea she had about dealing with Spenser.

  “I like it,” Ryker said, “and I’m glad to see you’re back on board.”

  “I never left, but I couldn’t help falling in love.”

  Ryker reached out and took her hand. “You’re young, May Ling, there will be other men.”

  “But no one like Xavier Zane.”

  Ryker snorted. “Thank God for that.”

  * * *

  Later, as Romeo had done before him, Spenser came onto the island at its eastern end. His boat was smaller, and he had traveled to One-Man Island from the direction of the mainland. To avoid detection, Spenser had cut his engine and let the current carry him toward the rocky shore. After taking the time to check the house for hostiles, he moved toward the pier.

  Spenser had come upon Romeo’s boat on his journey to the island. The boat had run ashore on a speck of land not much bigger than a sandbar. The impact had ripped open the boat’s bottom section on rocks. There was no sign of Romeo on board and Spenser wondered what it all meant.

  After realizing that the automatic helm had been engaged, his assumption was that Romeo had gone after Ryker alone. Spenser damned his former apprentice’s impetuousness, but knew that if their roles had been reversed, he would have done the same. He only hoped it hadn’t cost Romeo dearly.

  Spenser carried a rifle, but it had no scope attached. With no way to reach the pier that offered cover or concealment, Spenser walked toward it with his head on a swivel and the rifle held up and ready to fire.

  Ryker was on the boat. He had been watching Spenser’s advance while ducked down out of sight. When he revealed himself, he did so while holding May Ling in front of him as a shield. Spenser stayed out of easy range of the gun Ryker was holding and lowered his rifle. May Ling looked frightened, and her face was wet with tears.

  “Where are Xavier and Romeo?” Spenser shouted.

  “The blond boy’s body washed out to sea, but the other one is still breathing,” Ryker told him. “Drop that rifle and I’ll let the girl take off.”

  Spenser felt a momentary weakness in his knees at the news of Romeo’s death. He then steeled himself to face Ryker and save May Ling and Cody.

  “I’m not a fool, Ryker; you’ll shoot us both If I disarm myself.”

  “You killed my boy, Hawke! You murdered Damon and shoved him into a shallow grave. I don’t give a shit about this girl but you’re a dead man either way. If you want her to die too that’s fine by me.”

  May Ling called out to Spenser.

  “Xavier needs a doctor. Please do something, Spenser.”

  Spenser weighed his options, which didn’t include doing anything as stupid as dropping his rifle. As he was considering risking a shot at Ryker, May Ling stamped on Ryker’s foot while raking her nails across his face. As Ryker reacted to the pain, May Ling yanked her arm from his grip.

  There was no pain. May Ling had stomped on her father’s artificial foot while pretending to scratch him. They knew that Spenser was too far away to detect the subterfuge. As Ryker feigned injury, May Ling bolted toward Spenser.

  Spenser raised the rifle and fired at Ryker, but the man had already ducked out of sight and down the steps that led to the boat’s cabin. The round passed over Ryker’s head and May Ling reached Spenser without being fired upon.

  As she had done in the woods behind Roy Hutchins’ house, May Ling sought shelter from an attacker under Spenser’s protection. As he draped an arm over her shoulders, May Ling smiled and freed the knife she had hidden behind her back.

  141

  Betrayed

  OFF THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY 2004

  Romeo felt himself being lifted out of the water and remained conscious long enough to see the faces of three men. Two of them were wearing weathered cloth hats with fish hooks stuck in them. Before he passed out again, Romeo heard one fisherman ask the others if he were alive.

  “Yeah, but not for long the way he’s bleeding.”

  With that appraisal ringing in his ears, Romeo blacked-out again.

  When he came to a minute later, one of the men was wrapping his torso with gauze in an effort to stanch the flow of blood from his wounds. Another of the men was at a radio set. He looked to be about fifty and wore a graying beard. Romeo summoned up enough strength to speak.

  “No cops.”

  The man lowered the radio and shook his head.

  “Those are gunshot wounds, fella; we have to report it. Anyway, you need a doctor.”

  “I have a doctor… he’ll, he’ll come to you.”

  “I still have to call the cops.”

  “Money, I’ll give you money to be quiet.”

  There was silence on the boat as the three men exchanged glances. The handset on the radio was lowered as the man asked a question.

  “How much money?”

  Romeo moaned as he shifted his right arm. The wound in his shoulder was making movement both difficult and agonizing. He reached into the front pocket of his wet jeans and brought out the bundle of cash he had found in Vivian’s purse. It was the ten-thousand-dollars Ryker had paid Garcia. Vivian had reclaimed the money from the bungalow on Cork Island after killing the ex-cartel member.

  The man wrapping Romeo with gauze spoke to the guy at the helm.

  “Get us to shore, Stan, and stay off the radio.”

  * * *

  May Ling pretended to tremble with fear as she snaked an arm around Spenser’s waist. With her other hand, she was gripping the handle of a knife with a surgical-sharp blade. Spenser’s focus was on the boat, where Vince Ryker was ducked out of sight, and where Spenser believed Cody lay wounded and near death.

  “How bad off is Xavier, May Ling?” Spen
ser asked.

  “He’s doing better than you.”

  May Ling jammed her blade into the base of Spenser’s back, injuring his spinal cord. The pain was intense, and the wound birthed weakness in his limbs. After ripping the knife free, May Ling stabbed Spenser again, this time the knife connected with his side and bit deep enough to slice into his large intestine.

  With his arm still around her, Spenser gripped May Ling’s long hair and jerked her away from him. When he went to strike her in the face with the butt of the rifle, May Ling moved quickly enough to make it a glancing blow to her shoulder. She also managed to grip the rifle’s stock.

  Spenser felt his strength ebbing and was unable to hold on to the weapon; it fell from his hands. When he looked at May Ling, Spenser saw raw hatred glittering in her dark eyes.

  “You killed my brother!” May Ling screamed.

  She lunged at Spenser. May Ling had forgotten the promise she’d made to her father. Ryker wanted to be the one to kill Spenser. However, May Ling was looking at the man who’d murdered her little brother. She wanted to rip apart Spenser’s throat.

  Spenser raised a protective arm and the blade opened up a gash across his triceps muscles. When he went to backhand May Ling, a wave of agony passed through him from the wound in his side. The pain was so debilitating that it dropped him to one knee.

  When Spenser attempted to free his sidearm, the fingers on his right hand refused to respond. May Ling’s initial wound to his spinal cord was having a devastating effect.

  Spenser turned his head toward May Ling, saw the blade coming, then felt an agonizing pain in his left eye.

  His scream was followed by laughter from May Ling. When he opened his eyes, Spenser found his vision halved. His left eye was gone, destroyed by the knife.

  May Ling kicked him in the side and he rolled over onto his back. As she was about to bury the blade in Spenser’s throat, Ryker’s voice pierced her bloodlust.

  “He’s mine! Don’t kill him!”

  The blade’s momentum was too great to stop its downward trajectory. Even so, May Ling diverted its path and sank the knife into Spenser’s upper chest. As Ryker moved in to handle the kill, May Ling took Spenser’s gun from its holster.

  Ryker’s laughter was as cruel as his daughter’s. He gazed down at Spenser with a self-satisfied smile.

  “You call yourself a Tanner, and yet my daughter laid you low.”

  “I… trusted… her,” Spenser said, and his breath was labored. He was in so much pain that he marveled he hadn’t passed out.

  “Farnsworth must have drummed into you that an assassin’s greatest weapon was the element of surprise. May Ling has surprised many a man, Hawke. She may someday surpass me as a Tanner.”

  “You’re… not… a Tanner.”

  Ryker reached down and gave a little twist to the blade still embedded in Spenser’s chest. The pain it caused made Spenser cry out as black spots danced before his remaining eye.

  “I am Tanner,” Ryker told him, “and you’ll soon be a dead man.”

  142

  Tanner Vs. Tanner

  ONE-MAN ISLAND, FEBRUARY 2004

  Ryker kissed May Ling goodbye. They were standing at the base of the gangplank that belonged to Bart Rodgers’ boat. May Ling was going back to the bayside house to murder Cody.

  “Don’t give that boy a chance, May Ling. Kill him before he wakes up.”

  “I’ll handle it, Father. You don’t have to worry.”

  May Ling’s voice was strong and steady, but Ryker saw that her eyes had become moist. He hugged her.

  “You really do love him, don’t you?”

  “I do, but I also understand that he has to die.”

  Ryker held May Ling out at arm’s length and stared at her.

  “If you find you can’t bring yourself to do it, hold him at gunpoint and wait for me. If you don’t return within three hours, I’ll come to you. I won’t have a problem killing Zane.”

  May Ling shook her head. “I can do it.” She looked away from Ryker and farther along the dock, where Spenser lay on his back fighting to remain conscious. “I wish I could stay and watch you kill him, but I have to leave, or Xavier might wake before I return.”

  Ryker glared at Spenser. “I’m going to take my time with Hawke. He will not have an easy death.”

  After another kiss goodbye, May Ling piloted Bart Rodgers’ boat away from the dock.

  Ryker called over to Spenser. “My daughter is going off to kill your boy Xavier, Hawke. She drugged him, so it will be as easy as snuffing out a candle.”

  Spenser groaned as he rolled over onto his right side, to face away from Ryker. The knife May Ling used on him was still planted in Spenser’s chest. It was the least of his pain. He had suffered damage to his spine, a laceration to an intestine, and his left eye was gone.

  His movements were compromised by his injuries; however, Spenser still summoned the strength to make it onto his hands and knees. That accomplishment was fleeting, as his right arm seemed unable to support his weight. Spenser collapsed onto his forearm while staying on his knees and keeping his back turned toward Ryker.

  A loud moan followed as a spasm of pain rocked Spenser. For a moment it looked as if he might keel over onto his side, but he remained positioned on his knees, as if he were groveling. Beneath him was a spreading puddle of blood as his wounds continued to bleed.

  Ryker walked over while holding a stun gun and a folding chair. Before leaving, May Ling had fetched the items from the house for her father. Ryker had waited a long time to have Spenser at his mercy. He intended to savor the victory and make it last.

  Having received the same training as Spenser, Ryker was aware that Spenser may have hidden a razor blade in his belt. He had found the blade, along with the small gun that had been strapped to Spenser’s ankle.

  Ryker chuckled as he sat in the chair. Spenser was as defenseless as a kitten and nearly as weak. If he handed Spenser a gun, Ryker would still have no fear that he could be harmed by him. He had seen Spenser’s inability to draw his holstered weapon. May Ling had inflicted serious damage to their enemy; now Ryker would have the pleasure of killing him.

  “It was always going to end like this, Hawke, you know that, right?”

  Spenser said nothing, nor did he deign to turn his head to look at Ryker.

  “I am, have been, and always will be Tanner Six. You and your apprentices are an abomination formed by Farnsworth. The old man must have been senile to think I would give up becoming a Tanner just because I no longer had his blessing.”

  Spenser swayed on his knees and he was leaning on one hand, but Ryker saw the muscles in his arms tense. It made him laugh.

  “You’ve got it in your head to take a leap at me, Hawke? Try it and I’ll blast you with this stun gun. The shape you’re in, I doubt you can even stand.”

  There was no response. Ryker prodded Spenser in his side with the stun gun, but he didn’t activate it.

  “Say something, asshole. I want to hear you beg. If you beg, maybe I’ll give you a quick death.”

  Spenser still remained silent. Ryker leaned over in the chair and grabbed a fistful of Spenser’s hair.

  “Look at me when I talk to you.”

  As Ryker jerked Spenser’s head around to force him to face him, he saw why Spenser had remained speechless.

  Spenser was gripping May Ling’s knife in his mouth by its handle, after having pulled it from his chest with his teeth. Spenser snapped his head to the right, causing the edge of the sharp blade to slice across Ryker’s throat.

  Blood spurted from the deep wound and arced into the air. The effort it took to inflict the fatal injury to Ryker had sapped the remainder of Spenser’s strength. He dropped flat onto the dock as Ryker tumbled from the chair.

  Ryker made it to his feet while croaking incoherent sounds. He wore a look of astonished disbelief as he vainly sought to apply pressure to the wound. Blood seeped through his fingers and plopped onto the dock in crims
on circles.

  The inevitability of his situation hit home, when Ryker, weakened from the drastic and sudden blood loss, was unable to remain standing. The stun gun had been dropped, but he still wore a pistol on his hip.

  With a slick and bloody hand, Ryker unholstered the weapon. Pulling the trigger took a great amount of his fleeting strength and accomplished nothing. The round missed the prone Spenser and sailed over him. The gun slipped from Ryker’s hand. He lay on his side gasping as he felt his life slipping away.

  Spenser’s hands and feet were as numb and lifeless as wood, but with concentrated effort and renewed vigor, he dragged himself over to Ryker and stared into his eyes.

  “You were never fit to be a Tanner.”

  Ryker wheezed his final breath seconds later. Spenser collapsed and lay beside him, while wondering if he would follow Ryker into the grave. Then, his world shrank down to a dot, which faded to blackness.

  143

  Empty Heart

  NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY 2004

  May Ling skillfully docked Bart Rodgers’ boat into the private boathouse, then secured the vessel and closed the boathouse doors. She had left Cody sleeping at the other end of the home. May Ling didn’t think he would hear the noise the boat made, at least not enough to wake him.

  Although she dreaded the act she had to do, the killing of Cody, she moved with haste. The drug she had given him, a liquid sleep aid, would be wearing off soon. She hoped the exhaustion he’d felt had extended the duration of his sleep. If Cody stirred and found her missing, she might lose her advantage, as well as her nerve.