Sins of the Father and Mother (A Tanner Novel Book 42) Read online

  SINS OF THE FATHER AND MOTHER

  A TANNER NOVEL - BOOK 42

  Remington Kane

  Contents

  Introduction

  Join My Inner Circle

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  1. Bellarose

  2. No Mercy

  3. Hell On Earth

  4. Competition

  5. A Massacre Of One

  6. Punishment Is The Crime

  7. Long Time, No See

  8. Fancy Meeting You Here

  9. To Hell And Back

  10. Betrayal

  11. The Inside Woman

  12. A Threat From The Past

  13. One Girl Too Many

  14. Another Tragic Accident

  15. Dinner Theater

  16. Attack!

  17. Freedom!

  18. Mission Accomplished

  19. A Mother Knows Her Son

  20. Lost And Found

  Epilogue

  TANNER RETURNS!

  Afterword

  Join My Inner Circle

  Make Contact

  Bibliography

  Coming Soon

  Introduction

  SINS OF THE FATHER AND MOTHER – TANNER 42

  Tanner agrees to help friends of Spenser, who specialize in finding missing people. And the past catches up to Michael and Kate Barlow.

  Join My Inner Circle

  REMINGTON KANE’S INNER CIRCLE

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  Acknowledgments

  I write for you.

  —Remington Kane

  Prologue

  OFF THE COAST OF THE BERRY ISLANDS, BAHAMAS

  Not for the first time, Bob Geary thought that buying a boat after retiring was one of the best moves he’d ever made. He and his wife, Eileen, had always loved to travel and wanted to see more of the world. The thirty-one-foot sailboat they’d bought allowed them to go where they wanted when they wanted, and also gave them a sense of adventure.

  Bob was a young sixty-six, while Eileen was fifty-nine. Neither one of them wanted to sit around all day with nothing to look forward to but watching TV or playing a round of golf. Their two kids were grown and neither of them had yet to marry or have children of their own, so there were no grandchildren to spoil.

  They had been at sea for over a year and loved the lifestyle. They might settle down and buy a house again somewhere, someday, perhaps when they were older, but for now, living on the boat was a pleasure. It also came with a lot of work and expense; but everything in life was a trade-off.

  Bob was seated at the stern and cleaning fish while Eileen piloted the craft. At first, he thought he was looking at a log when he spotted a shape amid the swells. When he raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes, he caught a flash of long blonde hair above a sunburned face.

  “Holy crap! That’s a woman out there.”

  Eileen called to him. “What did you say?”

  Bob was already headed toward her to take the helm. “There’s a woman floating out there, hon.”

  “Where?”

  Bob handed her the binoculars. “Behind us on the starboard side. We need to get to her.”

  It took Eileen a few moments to find the form floating out there, but when she did, she saw the woman’s eyes flutter open for a second.

  “She’s alive, Bob. I saw her eyes open.”

  When they were close enough, Bob dived into the water while holding a life preserver. The woman was young, maybe around twenty. She had on the bottom of a bikini but no top. Bob secured the life preserver around her while uttering comforting words.

  “You’re going to be all right. You’re safe now.”

  The woman didn’t reply. Her lips were chapped, and her skin was sunburned. She was obviously suffering from dehydration and likely hunger as well.

  Eileen was careful in how she helped Bob to pull the woman aboard. Causing her pain couldn’t be helped though, because of her sunburned skin.

  After covering her with a soft blanket, Eileen held a bottle of water to the woman’s lips and told her to drink. The woman did so eagerly, and Eileen removed the bottle after she’d drained it.

  “I’ll give you more water soon, but not too much at once. It wouldn’t be good for you.”

  The woman nodded as she cried.

  “I’m Eileen and that’s my husband, Bob. What’s your name, honey?”

  “Inga,” the young woman said, “I’m Inga Olson.” The words came out in a croaking voice.

  “Did you fall overboard?” Bob asked.

  “I jumped,” Inga said.

  “Jumped? Why?” Bob asked.

  Inga’s tears increased. “I was a sex slave.”

  Bob and Eileen shared looks of disgust and revulsion. To think that there were people in the world who would subject another human being to such a fate.

  “I’m going to call for help,” Bob said. As he walked toward the bow to use the radio, Eileen stayed with Inga and attempted to soothe her.

  “Whoever the bastards are who did this to you, they won’t hurt you again. You’re safe now.”

  Inga kept crying. She hadn’t been attempting escape when she’d jumped overboard, she’d been seeking the release of death. Now that she had a hope of returning to her life, her family, it overwhelmed her.

  Eileen stared out at the sea around them and saw no other vessels. In the old days, there was talk of monsters in the depths of the sea. They seldom mentioned the human monsters that sailed upon the waters.

  Eileen wasn’t a violent person, but as she looked down at Inga, who reminded her of one of her own daughters, she felt rage well up inside her. Whoever had harmed the girl needed to be found and eliminated. Not locked up to be fed and kept warm and dry but removed from the company of decent people.

  She sighed, knowing the odds were that they would never be caught, much less punished appropriately. She was wrong about that. By her and Bob rescuing Inga, a string of events would follow that would lead to a man named Tanner becoming involved.

  1

  Bellarose

  STARK, TEXAS

  Cody Parker left his ranch house to greet his two guests, Michael and Kate Barlow. The Barlows and Cody had been contacted by Spenser Hawke and asked to help a friend of Spenser’s. The friend was named Maxwell Lee. Maxwell ran an organization named The Searchers, which helped to find missing people.

  The Barlows had volunteered to work with Maxwell Lee on several occasions in recent years without pay. They looked on it as penance for some of their past misdeeds. Cody agreed to help Maxwell as a favor to Spenser, because Spenser was busy helping a client who had gotten into trouble.

  The woman they would be looking for had gone missing in Miami years ago, the same time as Inga Olson. The trail was cold, but Maxwell Lee hoped to find something with the help of the Barlows and Cody.

  The Barlows had been in San Antonio while working as corporate spies for a client. That job had been a success and now they were available to go to Miami.

  Cody invited them to his home so that they could talk. He wanted to hear their impressions about Maxwell and his people.

  Kate waved at Cody as she parked near the steps to the ranch house. Standing beside Cody was his young son, Lucas, and with them was their dog, Lucky, a black lab.

  Michael Barlow was in the passenger seat. Over thirty years ago, when he was twenty-two, he’d been involved in a serious accident when a drunk ran a red light and T-boned his car. Michael had been driving and lived, but his father had died. He knew it was irrationa
l to feel blame for his father’s death when the accident wasn’t his fault, but he did so anyway. Since that day, Michael avoided driving whenever he could.

  Michael Barlow was average looking. He stood about five-foot-ten and weighed somewhere around a hundred and seventy pounds. Although handsome, the dark-haired man was not memorably so, while his brown eyes looked out at you from a smooth-shaven face.

  Kate Barlow matched her husband well, but they looked nothing alike. Kate had brown hair, gray eyes, and although she was attractive, she wasn’t the sort of woman who would stay on your mind after only one meeting. Both husband and wife were in their fifties.

  The Barlows stepped from the car and into a pleasant day with bright sunshine. Kate sent Lucas a smile. Michael’s reaction was different. He hadn’t seen the boy before and was shocked at how much he resembled Cody.

  “My God, he looks just like you, even his eyes.”

  “They run in the family,” Cody said. “My daughter has them too.”

  The Barlows had been told to address him as Cody while at the ranch. The last time they’d been in Stark had been after the attack by Ordnance Inc.

  They had called and warned Cody about the attack just moments before it began. The precious seconds of warning might have made all the difference in Cody and Sara’s survival that day. It was that act that had caused Tanner to forgive the Barlows for the desecration of his family’s graves. They had also inadvertently been responsible for uniting Cody with his brother, Caleb, whom he hadn’t known existed. Since then, Cody had asked the Barlows for their help on occasion, with Kate using her hacker skills to aid him frequently.

  Despite their new status as associates, Michael was still wary around Cody. As Tanner, Cody was as deadly as they came. Michael didn’t trust easily and wondered if Cody’s forgiveness was genuine. He worried that Cody might someday decide to take vengeance on them after all.

  “Are you two hungry?”

  “Thanks,” Kate said, “but we grabbed a bite on the drive here.”

  Lucas stepped forward and put out his hand. “I’m Lucas.”

  Kate smiled at him as she took his hand. “I’m Kate, and he’s Michael.”

  Michael looked at Cody, as if asking for permission to take Lucas’s hand. Cody nodded and Michael shook the boy’s hand.

  “You’ve got a good grip, Lucas,” Michael said. He was smiling too, as his anxiety lessened.

  Cody led them into the house while Lucas stayed outside with Lucky to play.

  “Sara is off visiting a neighbor with the baby, but she’ll be back soon. We’ll go to the office where we can talk in private.”

  They entered the office, which was decorated in a western style. On the floor near the desk was a playpen with toys and dolls in it. Kate started to laugh.

  “What’s funny, Kate?”

  “I was just wondering what your enemies would think if they could see you at home. You’re not nearly as scary as Cody as you are as Tanner.”

  “What enemies?” Michael said. “They’re all dead.”

  “Not all of them, Michael,” Cody said.

  Michael paled a shade. “Do you still consider us to be your enemies?”

  “No. I was referring to the assassin named Soulless. We had a run-in last year and I thought he had died in an accident. He survived and I’m sure he’d like to see me dead.”

  “Do you need our help in finding him?” Kate asked.

  “I wouldn’t know where to start, but thanks for the offer. Now, what can you tell me about Maxwell Lee and his people? Spenser told me what they do, how they find missing people, but I wanted to hear your opinions of them.”

  “Maxwell Lee and his team are the last hope for many people who have lost loved ones,” Kate said. “Michael and I have worked with them a few times and came away impressed. Once Maxwell accepts a case he never gives up, and we’ve found most of the people we went looking for.”

  “And the ones you haven’t found?”

  “They’re open cases,” Michael said. “If new information appears, we’ll go back to working them.”

  “We worked the first case as a way of thanking Spenser for saving us from that Hammer Team from Ordnance Inc., but we keep working them because we like the way it feels to help someone.”

  Cody nodded at that while looking down at his phone. On screen, he could see Lucas playing with the dog through the security cameras outside the house.

  “How many people are on Lee’s team?” Cody asked.

  “Three,” Michael said. “Himself, a big guy named Bo, and a young woman named Ali. Ali is the newest member.”

  “Maxwell gets help from other people too,” Kate said. “I think they’re mostly grateful clients.”

  “I see why he and Spenser are friends. They both help people.”

  “If Maxwell wants your help then I guess that means he’s expecting trouble,” Michael said. “It’s not surprising. Any scumbag who kidnaps women and sells them as slaves wouldn’t be opposed to using violence.”

  “Spenser said that Maxwell and his people would meet us in Miami, but where is he now?”

  “They’re in West Virginia,” Kate said. “They’re reuniting a mother with her child.”

  At a park in Wheeling, West Virginia, Cara Smith was wondering how she was going to come up with enough money to pay her rent or even buy food. She’d lost her job eight months earlier and had only made a little money doing side hustles while collecting unemployment. The unemployment checks had stopped on the same day her old car had died.

  On top of that, her three-year-old daughter became sick and needed to see the doctor. It was nothing serious, thank God, but paying for the doctor and the medicine had taken the money she might have used to get the car fixed.

  Her luck had been running bad since her fiancé left her and moved away when he found out she was pregnant. Cara’s late father had died before she had the baby. He had been her only relative and her friends were as broke as she was. If she didn’t find a job soon, she didn’t know what she would do.

  Cara was twenty-five, had dark curly hair, and green eyes. She’d been working as a bank teller but was finding it difficult to find a job in the field because the banks were laying off people. She had applied for other jobs as well, but she had yet to hear back from any prospective employers.

  She was shaken from her thoughts of financial worry when she spotted two men walking her way.

  Cara was seated on a bench as her three-year-old daughter played on the grass nearby. One of the men was white, about fifty, and wore a dark suit without a tie. He had graying hair and blue eyes. As he grew closer, Cara met his eyes and felt herself grow calm. There was something about the man’s eyes that soothed her. The feeling passed when she looked at his companion. He was a large black man wearing jeans and a dark-blue T-shirt. His biceps tested the seams of the shirt and he was well over six feet tall. His features were brutish, and there was a scar above one eyebrow. Looking into his eyes wasn’t a soothing experience as it had been with the other man, but instead, Cara was shocked by what she saw there. It was intelligence. The man might look like a thug but there was an unadulterated intellect revealed in his gaze.

  As the older man walked over to sit beside her on the bench, the black man lowered himself to the grass beside her daughter. Cara looked around to see if anyone was nearby who could help, although she wasn’t sure what she needed help with. No one had threatened her, they’d only made her feel uncomfortable.

  “Don’t be nervous,” the older man said. “We’re here to help you.”

  “Help me how?”

  “My name is Maxwell Lee, Miss Smith. My friend there is Bo.”

  “You know my name?”

  “Yes. We’ve been looking for you.”

  “I don’t have much money, but you can have my phone.”

  “We’re not here to rob you. In fact, we’re here to give you something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The truth.”

/>   Cara was staring at Bo with apprehension. Maxwell followed her gaze. Cara’s little girl had been playing with a make-believe tea set and dolls. Bo was playing along, and the child was smiling.

  “Look at how gentle my partner is when playing with your daughter. Your daughter can read his heart; she knows she need have no fear of him.”

  Cara watched and saw her daughter giggle at something Bo said. Seeing that relaxed her.

  “Your daughter’s name is Bellarose, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. How did you know that?”

  “I know a few things. You have a scar on your right knee in the shape of a triangle. You got it when you were younger than your daughter.”

  Cara reached down and placed a hand over her knee, which was covered by the jeans she wore.

  “How do you know about my scar?”

  “Your mother told me about it.”

  “My mother? You knew my mother?”

  “I do. And she can’t wait to see you again.”

  Cara shook her head. It made her dark curls fly about. “My mother died when I was only one. I never really knew her.”

  “Who told you that she died?”

  “My dad.”

  “Karl Smith?”

  “That’s right. That was his name.”

  “No. His real name was Karl Stanford,” Maxwell said. While speaking, he removed several photos from an inside pocket of his suit. He handed them to Cara.