The TANNER Series - Books 13-15 (Tanner Box Set) Page 11

  It wasn’t Kessler, and when Henry saw who it was, it made his skin tingle.

  “Wow!”

  CHAPTER 22 – A little makeup can work wonders

  At the same moment Henry had been charging at Kessler with a branch, Tanner had been charging up a flight of stairs with his machine gun.

  He had been all set to head towards a room on the right, where he could hear the women crying, however, as he reached the top of the stairs, he heard movement coming from a door on his left, which was closer.

  The door was sitting ajar, and movement was visible, as a shadow skittered across the room’s carpeted floor, a shadow shaped like a person. The shadow disappeared and was followed by a whisper, and the creaking of box springs, as if someone had just sat down on a bed.

  Tanner gripped the machine gun at waist level and shoved open the door with the weapon’s long barrel. Lying atop a bed before him was a beautiful black woman with light brown skin and huge green eyes. The green eyes were filled with fear, and her long shapely legs were spread wide, but trembling like dead leaves in a winter wind.

  Tanner dropped to the floor while still standing in the doorway. The naked woman was there as a diversion to make him pause. It was a trick he had used more than once, and it was effective, as even he had hesitated before hitting the carpet.

  The sex instinct will not be denied.

  Shotgun pellets exploded from a corner of the room where Travis Yates had ducked out of sight behind a leather loveseat that was set in front of an oak dresser. The pellets sailed over Tanner’s head as he was still diving to the floor, and one had come so close that it let out a little TINK sound as it bounced off the top of Tanner’s helmet.

  That sound went unheard over the blast of the shotgun, a blast that was immediately eclipsed by the staccato roar of the machine gun as Tanner shredded the loveseat. The rounds from the machine gun ripped through the leather couch, the oak dresser, and Yates’ body, as well as the wall behind him.

  The thud of Yates’ corpse hitting the floor was drowned out by the screaming of the woman, as she catapulted herself off the bed and went running down the stairs. Tanner caught a glimpse of the rear view and smiled.

  Whoever had chosen her to be a distraction had chosen well, the girl was a true beauty.

  Once back in the hall, Tanner went into the room where the other women were. With the hookers all huddled together, the room was sickly sweet with the aroma of their perfume. It was a pleasant break from the coppery odor of blood and the smell of gunpowder that was drifting throughout the house.

  The women were all dressed in their street clothes and wearing their jackets, hats, and scarves. Tanner searched their hands and found them empty, then looked up to see faces filled with fear.

  “Yatsenko!” Tanner said. “Where is he?”

  The women were clinging to each other, with the tallest in the front, a blonde, while at the rear was a small woman wearing a wig with blue hair. Without speaking, the blonde pointed a finger at the bathroom door on the other side of the room.

  Tanner jerked his head towards the door behind him, telling the women to leave the room. He immediately regretted making the gesture, as the injured tendons in his neck screamed with fresh agony.

  In any event, the women took his meaning, and they moved past him and into the hallway as if they were one creature. They began running down the stairs to head for the front door, and freedom.

  “Yatsenko?” Tanner said, hoping to get the man to move about, or perhaps speak, and give away his location inside the bathroom.

  No one answered, and Tanner sensed no movement. He brought the machine gun up, and moving it right to left, he emptied every last round of the .556 ammo that was left in the attached drum.

  The rounds perforated the door, the walls, and destroyed the bathtub, mirror, and cabinets inside the room.

  Tanner dropped the M249 and was gripping the Taurus Judge before the machine gun had settled atop the floor, then, he moved inside the bathroom to confirm his kill.

  There was no one inside. The blonde had lied to him.

  Tanner was on the move, ready to search the home from top to bottom, when an odd sight caught his eye.

  The sink was full of hair, dark blonde hair, and there was shaving cream and a razor lying on the edge of the sink beside mascara, lipstick, and rouge. Tanner stared out into the room and saw that a suitcase had been dumped upon the bed and its contents scattered. A second case had been emptied, a smaller one, and several wigs were heaped on the bed beside it.

  When Tanner realized what it all meant, he was torn between laughing and crying.

  Yatsenko had been right in front of him and Tanner hadn’t seen him, because the cowardly little weasel had dressed up as a woman and fled the home along with the whores he had brought with him from the city.

  Yatsenko was a short man and had shaved off his goatee. Tanner guessed that Yatsenko was likely the woman he’d seen at the rear of the group, the one wearing the blue wig.

  Tanner scooped up the rifle from the floor, and headed out of the house to find Yatsenko.

  He was going to kill the bitch.

  CHAPTER 23 – Dude looks like a lady

  Henry’s eyes took in every luscious detail of the beautiful naked woman walking towards him.

  Her name was Sondra, and Sondra was limping because she had run over half a mile through the woods in her bare feet.

  ***

  After fleeing the bedroom where Tanner had killed Yates, Sondra ran out of the home in a panic intending to run down the driveway and hide in the woods. However, when she emerged from the home, she found that the limo was on fire and blocking the driveway.

  Sondra then noticed the section of fence that had been flattened by a fallen tree. She stepped over the downed fencing, while feeling the cold metal shock her bare feet, and headed into the forest.

  Naked, she found herself shivering violently, although it was caused mostly by fear, and she kept moving away from the house, while trying to navigate the forest floor without any shoes.

  When she heard the voices of Sara and Henry drifting to her through the trees, she swiveled her head and spotted them as they neared Sara’s car.

  ***

  Sara had noticed the wide smile taking up most of Henry’s face, and when she followed his gaze, she saw Sondra limping towards them.

  “Help me, please help me,” Sondra said.

  Sara moved towards her while taking off her jacket, and when she reached Sondra, she helped her to put it on. The jacket covered the shorter woman enough to block out her most interesting areas, but Henry still stared at her legs.

  “Where did you come from?” Sara asked, although she was certain that she knew the answer already. After opening the car’s trunk, she handed Sondra an old pair of running shoes and the bottom half of a jogging outfit, and when Sondra slipped her feet into the sneakers after sliding on the pants, Sara saw that the shoes fit the girl well enough.

  “I was at the lake house that’s back that way. There’s a badass in there looking to kill my boss, and he may be headed this way. We have to get the fuck out of here!”

  Sara wasn’t going anywhere until she’d heard from Tanner, but there was no point in telling Sondra that. She was about to open the car door to place Sondra and Henry inside, when the sounds of several bodies crashing through the woods carried to her ears.

  Henry raised his arm and pointed.

  “Look, Sara! There are more women, aw, they’re all wearing clothes.”

  Sara stifled a laugh at Henry’s disappointment, as she studied the group coming down the short decline of the embankment to walk towards her. She was hoping to see that Tanner was among them or following close behind.

  When she realized that he was nowhere in sight, she once again feared for Tanner’s safety.

  The first woman, the young black girl, Sondra, rushed towards the cluster of women and clung to the arm of the blonde at the front of the group. They were obviously friends
, and she looked relieved to see that the woman was unharmed.

  The blonde’s reaction was strange, Sara noticed, as the woman sent Sondra a tight smile, while shifting her eyes to the left, where a woman wearing a blue wig was holding onto her other arm.

  Sondra took note as well, and after she looked over at the woman with the blue wig, she pointed at her.

  “Hey! That’s my coat. And who are you? I don’t remember­—”

  The woman in the blue wig brought up a gun and pointed it at Sondra. That caused the blonde to shout, “No!”, as she grabbed her friend’s hand and guided her away.

  The other women scampered off as well, and when Sara went for the holstered weapon on her belt, the woman swung the gun her way and spoke in a male voice with a strong Slavic accent.

  “Take out that gun and I’ll kill you and the boy, and unsling the rifle that’s hanging across your back too.”

  Henry, who as far as Sara could tell, was devoid of fear, walked over to the woman, reached up, and yanked off the wig.

  “It’s a guy in a dress, and he’s wearing makeup too, ugh, gross.”

  Yatsenko snatched the wig back from Henry and shoved him towards the car.

  “Come on little boy, you and I are going for a ride.”

  ***

  As they neared their motel, Alexa said that she was hungry, and so Deke pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant that sold pizza.

  As they ate, Deke brought up the subject of archery, and told Alexa that as a boy, he collected stone arrowheads. When he asked Alexa how often she shot a bow, she shook her head.

  “I haven’t shot an arrow since I was a little girl, and that was a toy that fired suction cups.”

  “Are you serious? And you call yourself an aficionado of edged weaponry? Oh, we’ll have to fix that gap in your education.”

  Alexa laughed.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  ***

  After leaving the restaurant, Deke drove back the way they had come and took Alexa to a sporting goods store three blocks away. By the time they left the store, he had her outfitted with a good beginning bow and had bought himself a new compound bow.

  Alexa had run a hand along the cables and pulleys on Deke’s new toy and made a comment.

  “That looks dangerous.”

  “It is, but it’s also great for hunting and will put food on the table. The bow I picked out for you is a simple longbow. Given your innate skill with other weapons, I expect that you’ll master it quickly. Once you do, I’ll move you up to a recurve bow that will give you more power.”

  Alexa grinned.

  “Let’s go play.”

  ***

  There was a small strip of land at the rear of the motel they were staying at, and they used it to practice their shooting.

  Alexa was awkward at first, but she picked up the necessary techniques in short order, and was soon hitting the edges of the target consistently.

  Deke on the other hand, was masterful, and at one point, he thrilled several of the other guests and their children, who had wandered over to see what was going on.

  Not wanting to wear out her growing enthusiasm for the sport, Deke suggested that they stop shooting and pick it up another time.

  Alexa agreed, and told Deke that they could use the land owned by Conrad Burke to train.

  “Great idea, and we’ll both be there from time to time anyway,” Deke said.

  When Alexa opened the door to the room she was staying in with Tanner, she found that Deke was right behind her.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m coming in the room to stay with you, and before you get the wrong idea, I’m only doing it for the sake of safety. You suffered a concussion, Alexa. You shouldn’t be left alone.”

  “Oh really, is that the reason you want to stay in the room with me?” Alexa said, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

  Deke sighed.

  “Yes, that is the reason. I’m worried about you. You took quite a whack on the side of the head.”

  Alexa uncrossed her arms as her gazed softened.

  “Thank you for caring, but why don’t you just call me once an hour, and if I don’t pick up you’ll know that something is wrong.”

  “I suppose that could work too,” Deke said. “And I wouldn’t want Tanner to get the wrong idea if he found us alone in your room. He might shoot me.”

  “Tanner isn’t the jealous type, and he likes you, Deke.”

  “I like him too... damn it.”

  “Why is that a bad thing?”

  “If I didn’t like him so much I might not feel so guilty about the way I feel about you.”

  “We’re just friends Deke, you and I, and I hope we can stay friends.”

  “Of course we can, and who else will teach you the proper way to fire an arrow?”

  “I look forward to a second lesson,” Alexa said, as she began easing her door shut.

  “I’ll call you in an hour to make sure you’re all right. By the way, when are Tanner and Sara expected back?”

  “It might be awhile, but hopefully everything has gone smoothly and they’re on their way back.”

  Deke sent Alexa a comforting smile, but it had been his experience that nothing ever went as planned.

  CHAPTER 24 – A hell of a good kid

  Ukrainian mobster Kyril Yatsenko pointed his gun at Sara, while wearing makeup, a dress, and a pair of red spiked heels.

  Despite the gun pointed at her face and the danger it posed to herself and Henry, Sara took the time to puzzle over the heels. She knew several women who had trouble keeping their balance in high heels, and yet, Yatsenko was walking just fine, and had even traversed the uneven terrain of the forest deer path.

  Looking closer, Sara saw that Yatsenko’s calves and forearms were smooth, as if they were shaved on a regular basis.

  Yatsenko narrowed his eyes as he saw where she was looking.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” Sara said, but the corners of her mouth curled up in a knowing smile.

  “Slowly unsling that rifle and hand over the gun. If you attempt to shoot me, I’ll kill the boy.”

  “No, you won’t,” said a voice from the top of the embankment, and when Sara turned her head to look, she saw Tanner clad in full body armor, as he held a large revolver extended and steadied by both hands.

  Henry cried out, “Agent X!” and Sara reached over and yanked the boy away from Yatsenko.

  With Henry in the clear, Tanner fired twice, and sent 000 buckshot into Yatsenko’s rather buxom bosom. Unfortunately, for Yatsenko, the box of tissues he had stuffed inside his bra did nothing to stop the massive pellets from devastating his heart and lungs. After hitting the ground, Yatsenko let out a long wheezing sigh, and breathed no more.

  “Wow!” Henry said, as he moved over to stare down at Yatsenko.

  The young women who had traveled with Yatsenko all ran off together up the opposite embankment and out of sight.

  Sara attempted to hold Henry back from the body, but the boy was insistent upon getting a closer look. Sara let him, and after picking up Yatsenko’s gun, she walked over to greet Tanner. She had noticed the odd way he was holding his head, as well as the numerous dings on the body armor.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’ll heal, but let’s get out of here. I heard sirens in the distance as I was walking away from the house.”

  “We need to take Henry with us.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s seen a lot Tanner; he needs us to explain things to him.”

  Tanner looked over at Henry, who was still gazing down at Yatsenko’s fresh corpse with stark fascination.

  Sara urged Henry to get in the car, and after Tanner removed his body armor, he tossed the components in the car’s trunk, along with the empty M249. Before climbing in the car, he also changed his pants and grabbed a sweatshirt, since the old clothing was speckled with blood on the sleeves and cuffs.

  As he
sat next to Sara, he winced at the feel of the seat against his back and leaned forward. Sara reached over and lifted his shirt, she then hissed in sympathy at the web of bruises covering his back, as well as his stomach and chest.

  “You are going to hurt like hell tomorrow.”

  “Wrong, it hurts like hell right now.”

  Sara had placed the car in gear, but she paused in depressing the gas pedal.

  “Do you need a doctor?”

  “I don’t think so, but I would love a beer.”

  Sara laughed with relief and drove back to the highway.

  Henry leaned forward and stuck his head between the seats, then stared up at Tanner with a huge grin on his face.

  “Another successful mission, Agent X?”

  Tanner smiled.

  “Didn’t your grandmother ever tell you not to take rides from strangers, kid?”

  “You’re not strangers. She’s Sara, and your name is Tanner, but your code name is Agent X. Who was that man in the dress you shot, he talked funny, was he a foreign spy?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Are you hungry, Henry? We’ll stop and get burgers and shakes,” Sara said.

  “Awesome, but I’d better call my grandma and Glenn so they don’t get worried.”

  “We’ll do that when we stop to eat.”

  “Okay, and hey, Agent X?”

  “What kid?”

  “Can I have my rifle back?”

  “Yeah, but I think I’ll give you a shooting lesson first. How’s that sound?”

  “That’s cool, and I don’t really know how to shoot, not a big gun like that. All I’ve ever really shot is a BB gun.”

  “There’s not much difference in the basics, it’s all load, point, and shoot.”

  “You sure shot that guy back there.”

  “You didn’t see that, Henry... understand?”

  Henry furrowed his brow, but then smiled.

  “You mean that it’s like a government secret?”

  “Something similar, and you can’t tell anyone what you saw. Do you think you can keep a secret?”

  Henry straightened and sent Tanner a salute.