Soulless (A Tanner Novel Book 43) Read online

  That night, Dana revealed her past to her husband. He had trouble dealing with it, and the marriage dissolved.

  Dana’s boutique ran into problems as well. The mall it was in had seen a huge reduction in foot traffic due to the trend of shoppers turning to the internet to browse and make their purchases. A downturn in the economy was also a factor, as women had less disposable income to spend on clothes shopping, and in particular the high-end garments Dana stocked in her boutique.

  After her second unprofitable year, she thought of trying to make a go of it by taking her business online, but her heart wasn’t in it. She didn’t care about selling clothes, what she loved was interacting with other women who shared her passion for clothing and walking among the racks filled with the colorful garments. Running a virtual store just wouldn’t be the same.

  She eventually wound up in Chicago, and with her savings dwindling, she started her own escort business. She was the only woman in her stable and that’s how she liked it. She wasn’t making as much money as she used to, but she also didn’t date anyone more than once unless she liked them, or at least tolerated them.

  Dana was thankful she didn’t have to deal with a pimp. She made dates over the internet. Everything in her profile was worded to avoid being trapped by a client who might turn out to be a cop, or at least, Dana had been lucky enough to avoid running into any undercover policemen.

  Recently, she was contacted by a woman. Dana didn’t date women, and she explained that, but the woman was insistent that they meet. That woman was Lorraine Monk.

  They met in a private dining room inside one of Chicago’s best restaurants. The space was small and intimate, and there were candles on the table. After a waiter brought them drinks, they were alone.

  “I don’t know what you have in mind,” Dana told Lorraine, “but I really do not date women.”

  “Neither do I. I chose this space because it allows us to meet in public while still granting us privacy.”

  Lorraine had an unusual offer for Dana and was willing to pay well if she agreed to help her. She wanted Dana to pretend to be someone else, and to contact two men and ask them to do something. There was a chance she would need to seduce the men to make them cooperate. When Dana heard that it involved hiring contract killers, she grabbed her handbag and told Lorraine to count her out.

  “I’ll triple the price I mentioned,” Lorraine said.

  Dana had stood, then paused. “Triple?”

  “Yes. And you won’t have to come into contact with the assassins.”

  Dana lowered herself back into the seat. At thirty-two, Dana faced competition from women a decade or more younger than herself, and all of the men in her target range of customers craved younger women. To make a great deal of money for a few hours of effort was tempting.

  “I’m willing to listen to what you have to say,” she told Lorraine.

  “As I said, I need you to seduce two men. They are fans of rival assassins. I want you to talk each of the men into hiring their favorite assassin to kill the other assassin.”

  Dana leaned forward. “I’m sorry. Did you say that they were fans of assassins?”

  “Yes.”

  “How do they even know who these men are?”

  “There is a website that keeps track of contract killings and the people who perform them. It sounded strange to me at first too, but there are quite a few people on there.”

  Dana took out her phone. “What’s the name of the site?”

  Lorraine told her the website’s name.

  Dana found the site and looked at the headings. She clicked on rankings, then read the headings of some of the posts in the site’s forum.

  “This is bizarre. And this man, Tanner. He’s certainly popular. There was a name there that I’d heard recently in the news, the name Soulless. He’s the one who killed all those people in Mexico.”

  “Yes. And I plan to hire Soulless to kill Tanner and hire Tanner to kill Soulless. Ideally, they’ll murder each other.”

  “Can I ask why you want them dead?”

  “I have my reasons.”

  Dana put away her phone. “Who are these men you want me to seduce?”

  “Before I tell you that, I want to know if you’re agreeing to work for me.”

  “I’ll only have to deal with the men who will be contacting these killers?”

  “Yes.”

  “I won’t have to make contact with the killers myself?”

  “That’s correct. You’ll be acting on my behalf, but I want my name kept out of it.”

  “I don’t know your name. Unless your real name is Jane Smith, which I doubt.”

  “You don’t need to know my name to be able to do your job. I suggest you also use an assumed name when you make contact with the two men.”

  “If I agree to work for you, I’ll do that for sure.”

  “Do you agree? I need your answer now. This is the only time we’ll meet in person.”

  Dana wanted to say no, but the money was just too good to pass up.

  “I’m in. Who do you want me to seduce?”

  “Their names are Elliot Lipson and Tom Curry. Mr. Lipson is a fan of Tanner, while Mr. Curry is a fan of Soulless. They are both active on the assassins website and are antagonistic toward each other. I’ll give you more details about them, including printouts of discussions they’ve had on the website’s forum and biographical information.”

  “They use their real names online?”

  “No. I had to discover those by hiring a private detective. He tracked them both down in a matter of days. He said it wasn’t as difficult as he thought it would be, because the men had volunteered information during the course of the conversations they’ve had with others online. Elliot Lipson mentioned more than once that he was a nurse, was thirty-five, and that he lived near the shore in New Jersey. While not rare, Elliot is not a common name, and it didn’t take long to find a male nurse living near the shore area in New Jersey with that name, and who was a male of thirty-five.”

  “So, he works in a hospital?”

  “Not anymore. Elliot Lipson was recently awarded over a million dollars in a wrongful death suit he filed against the city of Trenton. His mother had been involved in an elevator mishap in a city-owned building. Lipson quit his job and bought a house. Given how often he posts on that assassins website, I’d say he spends much of his free time on there.”

  Dana shook her head. “He must be a weirdo. Who the hell would be a groupie for someone who kills for a living?”

  “Mr. Lipson is a fan of Tanner. There are many on the website who like Tanner. Mr. Lipson is just the most outspoken and enthusiastic of his fans.”

  “What do you know about the other one, Tom Curry?”

  “He’s a trust fund baby and has never worked. Mr. Curry is a fan of Soulless. If this were professional wrestling, Soulless would be the villain. Before he became interested in assassins, Tom Curry was a fan of the serial killer Jeffrey Mitchell, among other serial killers. He was also arrested once, many years ago, but the charges were dropped when he paid off the victim.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He hired someone in your profession, then tied her to a bed for over twenty-four hours. The woman managed to spit out the gag he’d stuck in her mouth and screamed for help. A mailman heard her and called the police.”

  “What a sicko. He might have killed the woman.”

  “I agree. I think he was probably working up the nerve to do just that, to see what it felt like.”

  “He sounds like a real winner. I should have asked for more money.”

  Lorraine reached into a leather portfolio that was on the seat beside her. She removed a file. It contained information about Tom Curry and Elliot Lipson, including photos. Elliot Lipson was six feet tall, wore glasses, and could stand to lose a few pounds, but Dana was surprised by Tom Curry’s photo.

  “The creepy guy is cute.”

  “He’s handsome, yes, but he seldom dates
. My guess is that he doesn’t like women, or people in general.”

  “And I have to sleep with him?”

  “That’s up to you. I don’t care how you convince him to take out a contract on Tanner, as long as he does. The same is true for Mr. Lipson.”

  Dana closed the file. “When do I get paid?”

  Lorraine passed over an envelope. “That’s half of the money we agreed on. You’ll get the rest when the contracts have been accepted by Tanner and Soulless.”

  Dana held up the envelope. “This is half of the new amount we agreed on?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you already had it ready to go in an envelope. What if I had agreed to work for less?”

  Lorraine revealed a second envelope. It made Dana wonder if there was a third, and perhaps thicker envelope in that purse. If she’d known what a creep Tom Curry was, she might have haggled more. Too late for that now, they had already made the deal.

  “How are these hit men contacted?”

  “Through the internet, on the dark web. It’s all in that file, but I’m sure Mr. Lipson and Mr. Curry will have no problem figuring out how to make offers. When the time comes, contact me via email and I’ll supply the money needed.”

  “You’re paying for the contracts?”

  “Through you. You’re to pretend that you’re wealthy. Mr. Curry might be able to afford Soulless’s fee, but I doubt Elliot Lipson has enough funds to hire Tanner. Most of his windfall from that settlement he won was spent buying and furnishing his home.”

  Dana stared at Lorraine. “This is personal to you.”

  “My motive doesn’t concern you. You need to concentrate on getting Lipson and Curry to do what you want.”

  “I will. Is there a time limit on this?”

  “The sooner the better.”

  “Then I’ll get started tomorrow.”

  “Do you have any more questions?”

  “How will you pay me the remainder of the money? Will we meet here again?”

  “I know where you live. I’ll have a courier bring the money to your apartment house. Any other questions?”

  “No. But if I think of something else, I’ll email you.”

  “Then I’ll say goodbye,” Lorraine said, and stood. “Please stay at the table for five minutes after I leave, and if you’d like, you can order another drink, or something to eat.”

  Dana watched Lorraine leave, then sat at the table and looked through the file again.

  What the hell did I just agree to? She thought. I have to convince two strangers to hire two hit men and have the hit men try to kill one another. It’s all insane.

  The waiter returned and asked Dana if he could get her anything, while speaking, he was looking at her breasts. When she said that she was fine, he grinned.

  “You are fine, damn fine. Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do for you?”

  The waiter was a young guy in good shape who was aware he was handsome. His cocky smile gave the impression he thought he was irresistible to women. Dana ran into his type all the time. She found the best way to handle them was to be curt and brusque in her manner.

  “I don’t need anything. Goodbye.”

  “Okay then,” the guy said, and left her alone.

  Dana stayed for another few minutes in order to follow Lorraine’s instructions, then left the restaurant and took a cab home. The next day, she would start with Elliot Lipson, the Tanner fan. Given the man’s looks, he probably didn’t date much; seducing him should be easy.

  Dana should have paid heed to her instinct to turn Lorraine’s offer down, but greed had overridden her good sense. She was far from the first person to make that mistake, nor would she be the last.

  11

  On The Job Training

  Henry nodded enthusiastically when Cody told him they would be traveling again. They were out on the ranch’s shooting range and practicing. During a break, Cody decided to tell Henry about the contract.

  They had only been back on the ranch for a short time, and Cody hadn’t planned to leave again so soon, but Henry’s college classes would be resuming in a few weeks. If they were going to travel, it would be best to do so before school started again.

  “Where are we going?” Henry asked.

  “I’ve accepted a contract while using another name, but you’ll be the one fulfilling it. I’ll be along for the ride to watch you work.”

  “My own contract?”

  “That’s right. This is part of your training.”

  “Who’s the target?”

  “Mac Strawbridge. Four years ago, Strawbridge embezzled eight million dollars from a pension fund and went missing. His accountant, a woman, went missing at the same time and the police thought that they might have run away together. Her body was later found in a shallow grave by a land surveyor. Now it’s assumed that Strawbridge killed her because she discovered what he had planned. The man offering the contract says he spotted Strawbridge living under a new name in South Carolina. Strawbridge is calling himself Kyle Reynolds now.”

  “Is he sure it’s the same guy?”

  “He is, and so am I. I’ll show you the pictures he sent me.”

  Cody took out his phone and found the two photos. Mac Strawbridge had been bald and wore glasses, while Kyle Reynolds had a full head of dark hair and didn’t wear glasses. The men’s noses and chins were different, with Reynolds’ nose being slimmer and his chin more rounded.

  “They look alike, but different too, because of the hair,” Henry said. “Is he wearing a toupee?”

  “It’s probably a hair transplant, along with plastic surgery to change his nose and chin. It didn’t fool the client, who had known him well. In the email he wrote, he said he thought of contacting the police, but figured that prison was too good for Strawbridge, and he’d rather pay to make sure that Strawbridge was dead. That’s where we come in.”

  Henry was still staring at the photos. “Are we sure it’s the same guy?”

  “They look alike, right?”

  “Yeah, but there are probably a dozen guys in South Carolina who might resemble Strawbridge.”

  “It’s him.”

  Henry kept staring at the photos, going back and forth between the two. When he was done, he handed Cody the phone.

  “This is my contract?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then I don’t want to do it until I’m absolutely sure that I have the right man.”

  “Why not just trust that the client has it right?”

  “No. That’s not good enough. Not when we’re planning to take a life.”

  Cody smiled at him, and Henry smiled back, as he understood.

  “You were testing me, weren’t you? You wanted to see if I’d accept a contract without making sure I had the right target.”

  “I was testing you, and you passed.”

  “Okay, so how do we verify that Reynolds is really Strawbridge?”

  “We’ll have to check his fingerprints and compare them to those on file.”

  “How do we get a copy of the ones on file?”

  “Steve Mendez says he can help with that.”

  “Hmm. It’s handy to have a chief of police for a friend.”

  “It is. I told the client we would take the contract once we verified the man he saw in South Carolina was really Mac Strawbridge. It pays thirty thousand dollars. It’s all yours once the contract is fulfilled.”

  “All mine?”

  “Minus expenses, yeah. This is your contract, Henry. I’ll only be along for the ride.”

  “Cool. When do we leave?”

  “Tomorrow we head to Charleston, and if he is Mac Strawbridge, we should be back here in a few days.”

  Cody decided to fly them to South Carolina in his own plane. Henry flew part of the way. He was a new pilot and could use the hours. As a cover for the visit, Cody would be attending a cattle auction while they were in the state.

  They had an address for Kyle Reynolds in a suburb of
Charleston. After checking into a hotel, Henry rented a car and drove there, with Cody sitting in the passenger seat. When Cody said he was along for the ride, he meant it.

  The house was in a nice neighborhood. The homes had large front yards and some land in the rear as well. Henry parked in front of a home with a For Sale sign on the lawn and stared across the street and down several doors at a blue house with the white picket fence in front of it. Directly across the street from Reynolds, a fat man in a pair of denim shorts and a black sleeveless T-shirt was trimming his hedges. He stopped frequently to swill beer from a can he kept nearby. There was a boy of about eighteen cutting the grass. He resembled the man right down to the gut and was pudgy. When the man wasn’t looking, the kid stole a swig from the beer can.

  “I want to get a look at Reynolds and follow him if I get the chance. If he eats out anywhere, I’ll grab whatever glass he uses and get his prints off it to see if they match Strawbridge’s fingerprints.”

  “That sounds like a good plan,” Cody said.

  The kid down the street finished the lawn and his father told him to go grab a rake and to bring him another can of beer. The boy went inside. He appeared to be breathing hard from working with the mower, although the machine had been self-propelled. The little bit of walking had worn him out. The kid went inside while using the hem of his T-shirt to wipe the sweat off his face.

  A minute later, Henry removed his attention from Reynolds’ home and onto a young woman who was out for a jog. She was in her early twenties, had long auburn hair flowing behind her in the breeze, and was swimsuit model gorgeous. The shorts she wore were skimpy, and her tight top accentuated her large breasts, which bounced as she ran.

  “Damn,” Henry said.

  “Damn is right,” Cody agreed, then he reminded Henry to check his surroundings. “That woman is worth looking at, but not enough to allow someone to sneak up on you.”

  Henry broke from his trance and swiveled his head to look around. Cody had been right; the woman had distracted him.