Flesh and Blood (A Tanner Novel Book 35) Read online

  FLESH AND BLOOD

  A Tanner Novel - Book 35

  Remington Kane

  Contents

  Introduction

  Join My Inner Circle

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  1. Inbound

  2. The March Of Time

  3. Not Quite Right

  4. Crush Crushed

  5. Unexpected Visitors

  6. Run For Your Life

  7. Kill Or Be Killed

  8. We Meet At Last

  9. Captured On Camera

  10. Identity Confirmed

  11. Packing For A Trip

  12. Attacked!

  13. Talk Or Else

  14. The Facts

  15. Welcome Home

  16. Bring Him Back

  17. Switched At Birth?

  18. Now It’s Personal

  19. I Want To Kill For You

  20. Making Plans

  21. What Matters Most

  22. The Lesson

  23. Who Guards The Guards?

  24. What Lies Below

  25. The Invasion That Never Was

  26. Like Father, Like Son

  27. Leaving On A Jet Plane

  28. The Decision

  Epilogue

  TANNER RETURNS!

  Afterword

  Coming Soon

  Join My Inner Circle

  Bibliography

  Make Contact

  Coming Soon

  Introduction

  FLESH AND BLOOD – TANNER 35

  Henry’s father kidnaps him and it’s up to Tanner to get the boy back.

  Join My Inner Circle

  REMINGTON KANE’S INNER CIRCLE

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  Acknowledgments

  I write for you.

  —Remington Kane

  Prologue

  OUTSIDE SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, 2004

  Sixteen-year-old Anne Knight looked on with concern as her mother, Laura, moaned from discomfort. Laura had been complaining about a stomach ache for several days then woke that morning with a fever.

  “I think I need to see a doctor,” Laura said.

  Anne brushed back loose strands of her long blonde hair, which was the same golden shade as Laura’s. Anne was beautiful, with blue eyes, and a figure more mature than her years.

  “Does it hurt worse, Mom?”

  “Much worse; this isn’t a stomach ache. I think it might be my appendix.” After saying that, Laura moaned again.

  Anne grabbed the car keys off the table. “Let’s go; I’m taking you to the hospital.”

  “You can’t drive; you don’t have a license.”

  “I have a learner’s permit, and besides, you’ll be in the car with me.”

  Laura opened her mouth to say that she would drive but clamped her lips shut as another spike of pain hit her.

  Anne reached out and gripped her hand “Mom, are you okay?”

  “Let’s go now, baby. You drive.”

  Anne drove well and made the nine-mile trip without incident. The doctors admitted Laura while saying that she had appendicitis and would need an appendectomy. Anne left the hospital later that evening in a taxi to return home alone. She was a responsible girl for her age, so Laura wasn’t concerned about her being alone in the house for a day or two.

  Laura had given birth to Anne when she herself was sixteen. Being closer in age than most mothers and daughters had led to them having a special bond. It had just been the two of them for years, and Laura knew her daughter wouldn’t throw a wild party in her absence. Knowing Anne, the house would be immaculate when she returned and there would be food cooked and waiting for her in the refrigerator.

  Anne arrived home and thanked the cabbie. She’d wanted to drive herself home but had promised her mother that she wouldn’t risk it since she only had a learner’s permit. Still, paying cab fare seemed like a waste of money.

  They lived in a rural area and the home sat on three acres. Laura grew a garden and Anne tended to chickens. The chickens provided them with eggs and there was plenty left over for barter or to sell to neighbors.

  Laura was allergic to animal hair, particularly cats, so Anne never had a pet of her own. That hadn’t stopped the girl from feeding stray animals and volunteering at the local veterinary clinic. Anne wanted to be a veterinarian someday and had been present during numerous operations on animals. She particularly loved dogs.

  Anne entered through the front door of their rented home and turned on the lights. There was an odd odor in the air that she couldn’t identify at first, then realized that it was the scent of tobacco. Neither she nor her mother smoked; however, her father did. Anne thought it unlikely that he would have been in the home. She’d only seen the man half a dozen times during her life, and he didn’t have a key to the door. Like her mother, her father had been a teen when she’d been born. He had joined the army and sent her money occasionally at Christmas. Laura had never wanted anything from him and seemed to resent it the few times he appeared.

  Anne wandered through the home and found answers in the kitchen. From the doorway she could see that the back door was sitting ajar and that one of the panes of glass set into it had been broken. As she stepped into the room, she saw why that was.

  There was a man in the kitchen. He was young, he was bleeding, and he had a rifle in his hands. The burglar—Anne assumed he was a burglar—was on the floor with his back leaning against the cabinet where they kept the pots and pans. Blood was puddling on the tiles from a wound on his left side. Anne noticed all of this and one thing more—the man was gorgeous. He had long, curly dark hair, deep soulful eyes, and was tall and muscular. She wasn’t sure which was making her heart beat faster, the instant attraction she’d felt toward him, or the fact that he was aiming a deadly weapon at her.

  “Are you alone?” the man asked.

  “I… yes.”

  He studied her. “Where are your parents?”

  “It’s just me and my mother. She’s not here.”

  His hands relaxed and the rifle slid off his legs and onto the floor; the weapon was still within his reach, but he appeared too weak to grasp it again. The man groaned; the sound was similar to the cry of pain Laura had made earlier. Anne sat her purse on the kitchen table and stepped closer.

  “You’re bleeding. Let me call an ambulance.”

  “No.”

  “What happened to you? Did you cut yourself while breaking in here?”

  “Do you have a first aid kit?” the man said, and the words were almost slurred. He also appeared to be fighting to keep his eyes open.

  “There’s one in the bathroom upstairs, but you look like you need more than a Band-aid.”

  The man groaned, then he slid along the cabinets until he was lying on his side.

  Anne knelt beside him. “I’m getting you an ambulance.”

  “No,” the man said. “No ambulance and no police. They’ll lock me up forever.”

  Anne reached out and touched his cheek. “Who are you?”

  “Kagan, my name is Kagan,” he said, then his eyes shut on their own.

  Anne attempted to get him to speak again, but without success. She stood and went to the phone on the wall near the door, then just stood there with her hand holding it. A moment later she left the phone and went upstairs to grab the first aid kit.

  “No ambulance and no police,” Kagan had said.

  Anne knew that she should call both and let the authorities deal with him, but something inside her was overriding her common sense.

  She returned downstairs with the f
irst aid kit, along with painkillers and antibiotics that were left over from dental procedures her mother had undergone months earlier. She hissed in sympathy and surprise when she opened up Kagan’s shirt to look at his wound. He had not been cut, a bullet had sliced open his side and broken two ribs as it passed through him. In addition, there was a large lump forming on the back of his head.

  Anne froze for a moment, while wondering if she were up to the task of closing the wound. It was one thing to watch the vet stitch up a laceration on a dog and quite another to close a gaping wound on a man.

  No ambulance and no police.

  Anne got to work, unaware that Kagan Andreas would alter her life forever.

  1

  Inbound

  After being away visiting friends and relatives, Cody, Sara, and Lucas returned to their ranch in Texas. Cody parked in front of their home’s front steps and saw a shape rocket down the wooden stairs of the porch.

  Their dog, Lucky, greeted them with unbridled enthusiasm and joy as they exited the vehicle. It was the first time he’d been separated from them since Cody had brought him to the ranch.

  Heidi Winhoffer, the ranch’s young office manager, was with the dog, along with her father, the ranch foreman, Rick Winhoffer. Heidi had volunteered to care for Lucky during their absence.

  Rick and Heidi welcomed them home with smiles and waves as they came down the stairs. After greeting Lucky, Lucas went to Heidi. The toddler had a crush on the pretty, blonde nineteen-year-old. Heidi picked him up and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Lucas was all smiles from the affection he’d received.

  Rick Winhoffer shook Cody’s hand. “Welcome back, boss. How was your trip?”

  “It was good,” Cody said. “How were things here?”

  “All is well,” Winhoffer said. “I attended that auction in Dallas two days ago and we picked up another six head of cattle within the price range you wanted to spend. The ranch is growing.”

  Cody smiled. “Good work, Rick. Thanks.”

  Cody was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. When Heidi noticed the bandage on his left arm her face clouded with concern. “You were hurt, Cody?”

  Cody looked down at his arm, then over at Heidi. “It’s nothing, just a nasty scratch I got while walking around in the desert.”

  It was actually a bullet wound he’d received while he was going up against eight armed men. Those men were dead, and Cody walked away with a minor injury. Once again, his superior skill, ingenuity, and training had allowed him to triumph over tremendous odds.

  Rick and Heidi welcomed them home again then Rick said that there was ranch business he had to attend to. Cody asked him to stop by later so they could talk at length. Rick agreed, then he and Heidi climbed into an ATV and headed off toward one of the fields.

  As the sound of their motor receded, the noise of another engine was growing closer. Cody looked up to see Henry Knight approaching on his motorbike. There was something strapped to Henry’s back; as he grew closer, Cody could see that it was a dark green duffel bag.

  Henry brought his bike to a stop and climbed off. He shook Cody’s hand, gave Sara a kiss on the cheek, then scooped up a smiling Lucas into his arms and held him over his head. After the toddler laughed aloud, Henry lowered him to the ground.

  “Did you guys just get back?”

  “We did,” Sara said. She pointed at the duffel bag, where the top of a large gleaming trophy was peeking out. “You won your race?”

  Henry’s grin was wide. “I killed it, guys. The second-place winner was a full three seconds behind me.”

  “Let’s see that trophy,” Cody said, as Sara offered congratulations.

  Henry slid it out of the bag and set it on the bottom porch step. The trophy was nearly four feet high. It was gold with an emerald green center, while at the top was the golden figure of a rider on a motocross bike with the front wheel off the ground. The figure’s right hand was raised up in triumph.

  “I won money too. It’s more than I’ve ever won before. Grandma made me put most of it in my college fund.”

  Cody offered his hand. “That’s fantastic, Henry, and I’m not surprised a bit.”

  Sara kneaded the small of her back and stretched. She was nearing her seventh month of pregnancy. “Oh, my back is sore. I’m going in to sit and have a cup of coffee.”

  “Go ahead, honey; I’ve got Lucas,” Cody said.

  As Sara headed up the stairs, Cody began unloading their luggage. Henry grabbed a pair of bags and even Lucas helped. He gripped one end of a wooden rocking horse that Spenser had made for him as Cody supported most of the weight. The rocking horse was the child’s new favorite toy.

  Cody and Henry took the luggage to the master bedroom and placed it on a hope chest that was at the foot of a king-size bed.

  Afterwards, they went into the kitchen to join Sara. The housekeeper was there but was about to leave for the day. Her duties were light, and she’d only had to open up the house and change the bed linens. She was new to the household staff and replaced a woman who had once worked as a maid at the town’s hotel. That woman had passed away in her sleep weeks earlier.

  The new housekeeper applied for the position shortly before Cody and Sara went on their trip and they had yet to get to know her well. She had fine references and had once worked as a pediatric nurse. That was a plus for Sara, who was soon to be the mother of two young children. The housekeeper was named Mrs. Kent. She was around fifty, a widow, and reminded Cody of a teacher he’d had in third grade. He had never liked that teacher, but he wouldn’t hold that against Mrs. Kent.

  She paused to greet Cody and asked him about his trip. Cody told Mrs. Kent that they’d had a fine time but were happy to be home. He asked her if she had any questions about her duties and she said no.

  “Miss Sara explained everything. And I must say, there’s not very much to do.”

  “Sara likes to do some things herself, but she’ll need more help after the baby arrives.”

  Mrs. Kent smiled. “That’s why I’m here, sir.”

  Once the housekeeper left them, Henry gave Cody and Sara details about his race. When he was done, Cody asked him if anything else interesting had happened during their absence.

  “There was a fire at the old mill, but they say the building was going to be torn down anyway.”

  Sara said she was taking Lucas upstairs so she could begin unpacking and Cody and Henry decided to sit out on the front porch. When they were settled, Cody asked Henry a question.

  “What about that deputy, Chris Monte, has he been bothering you again?”

  “No. If anything he stays away from me when he can. He was at the race because he’s Caroline’s boyfriend.”

  “Caroline was at the race too?”

  “Yeah, Olivia asked her to come and cheer me on. I like Caroline; she’s too nice for Chris Monte. I hope they break up soon.”

  “I had someone look into his background. He was once investigated by his superiors at the DEA for accepting bribes. A drug dealer had accused him, but there was no evidence and he was put back on duty. It still seems strange to me that he’d quit a career in the DEA to come here to work for a small-town police department.”

  “Monte took pictures of me at the race, but it wasn’t creepy or anything like the last time he did it. I still wonder what that was about.”

  “Keep an eye on him. If he’s up to something he’ll reveal himself soon.”

  “The guy’s a cop. He can get away with a lot, and since he killed that kidnapper, the whole town thinks he’s a hero.”

  “He did save that woman’s life. Maybe he’s just a little odd.”

  “Maybe,” Henry said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

  A few miles away, Chris Monte was answering his phone as he was watching a baseball game. It was a cell phone that only one person had the number to. That person was Henry’s father, a man named Kagan Andreas.

  “Hello?”

  “How is my son doing?”

/>   “Henry is fine. I saw him last night at the home of the woman I’m with.”

  “She was the blonde in those pictures you sent me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You have good taste, and her little sister is beautiful too. I see why Henry likes her. What about this Cody Parker, the rancher? Does Henry still hang around him?”

  “Parker was off visiting family for a while, but Henry mentioned that he and his wife would be coming home today. I wouldn’t be surprised if the boy is over there right now.”

  “Have you found out anything new about Parker?”

  “No, but most people like him, except the mayor. I think there’s some bad blood there that goes back to their high school days. Do you want me to ask the mayor about it?”

  “Don’t bother. I’ll be coming to town soon. It’s time for me and my boy to get together.”

  “Okay, how soon?”

  “Soon, so be ready to meet me when I call you.”

  “How are you going to go about this? I mean, Henry doesn’t even know you.”

  “That’s because of his damn grandmother. If Laura hadn’t interfered years ago and turned Anne against me, Henry and his mother would have been living with me in Mexico all these years. I owe that bitch.”