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

  With his shoulders slumping and his head hanging low, Henry walked off and headed for his secret hideout inside the hollow tree.

  When he reached it and ducked inside, he was shocked to see that someone had left an envelope for him. The envelope was bigger than the type his grandmother mailed stuff in, and brown too.

  It was taped to the inside of the tree and had his name printed on it. When Henry opened it, he found the note that he had given to Tanner.

  It read:

  Dear Agent X,

  I have an assignment for you.

  I want you to get rid of the bad guy who killed my mom.

  I’ve tried to do it myself but I’m just a kid.

  All the money I have is with this note and I know it’s not much, but maybe it’s enough?

  I hope so.

  Boyd Kessler scares me Agent X. Sometimes I think he’ll hurt my grandma too.

  OK, that’s all I had to say and I hope you’ll help.

  Your friend for life,

  Henry Knight

  Henry folded the note and realized that there was something else in the envelope.

  It was another note, and there was a small plastic baggie attached to it. The clear bag contained the four gold teeth of Boyd Kessler.

  When Henry saw what the baggie contained, his mouth dropped open in wonder, and he read the succinct note.

  Dear Henry,

  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

  Your friend for life,

  Agent X

  Henry slipped everything back in the envelope and placed it in his memory hole, where it rested beside the picture of his mother.

  A HOME TO DIE FOR

  By

  REMINGTON KANE

  CHAPTER 1 – Adrenalin withdrawal

  Killburry, Connecticut 5:59 a.m.

  Tanner got out of bed while Alexa was still asleep.

  He dressed quickly in a pair of black jogging pants, white sneakers, and a dark gray sweatshirt. His phone was in his right front pocket, while a pistol was in a concealed holster at the small of his back. The gun felt as needed as a cheese grater given the serenity of his current surroundings, but he always felt naked without one.

  He went downstairs, passed through the gleaming kitchen full of spotless chrome appliances, and stepped onto the wooden deck at the back of their home. Beyond the large yard he and Alexa had, there was a park. Tanner heard the sounds of a woodpecker high up in a tree, along with the noise the geese made, as they squawked and meandered around the park’s tranquil lake.

  His home was near the center of a cul-de-sac with the park at its rear and a wide circular turnaround in front. A wide two lane street granted access to the twelve large homes in the neighborhood. It was the first of several developments that were to be built, and was bordered on both sides by forest.

  After stretching, Tanner went to the gate at the back of his property, unlocked it, and stepped into the park. It was still dark, but the moon granted ample illumination and the sun would be up in less than an hour.

  The circumference of the park’s lake was just over a mile and Tanner ran four fast laps before he had spotted another person moving about.

  It was the two old ladies who did their walking routine in the park each weekday morning. Tanner sent them a wave as he flashed by them at the beginning of his fifth lap.

  He liked to run early, but was running earlier than usual since moving to Killburry.

  The two old ladies were the first of many joggers, runners, walkers, and bicyclists that would flood the park each day, and by nine a.m. the place became crowded. Killburry’s population was rather well-to-do, and a small army of nannies pushed strollers about the park each day, while some residents didn’t need to work or had a home office.

  Tanner returned to his house before seven, found Alexa still asleep, and left her to her dreaming.

  After shaving and taking a quick shower, he went back down to the kitchen wearing jeans, boots, and another sweatshirt.

  The town of Killburry had the lowest crime rate of any small town in America with a population of fewer than ten-thousand residents. Jaywalking was the worst criminal act Tanner had seen committed since moving there three weeks earlier.

  The town had an interesting history. It had been home to a chemical plant since before the start of WWII, which had employed the majority of the town. Unfortunately, it was proven by an investigative reporter that the company had been illegally dumping waste products from the plant into the lake of a neighboring town.

  That made the chemical company the target of the EPA. After tests determined that the soil around the company’s property was contaminated, the chemical company found themselves in a battle with the government. At the same time, officials from the town where they had dumped their waste were suing them.

  Once the bad press came to the attention of their customers, the chemical plant began losing accounts, and the company soon went bankrupt.

  No chemical factory meant that there were no jobs, and the town of Killburry began to die. The population of four thousand dwindled to less than three hundred over the course of several years, and most of the town sat rotting and abandoned.

  The chemical plant had been dismantled. What machinery couldn’t be auctioned off was sold for scrap, while the rest of it headed to an industrial waste site.

  Then, enter Silicon City.

  Silicon City was the name bestowed on the massive technological center built in Killburry by a conglomerate of technology companies that were looking for a site to build on that was halfway between New York City and Boston. Killburry was closer to Boston than New York, but had the added bonus of being near Hartford, Connecticut.

  The backers of Silicon City bought up most of Killburry and removed the contaminated soil. Just two years later, the technological center had been built, along with the condos and private homes needed to house Silicon City’s workforce.

  More homes were built, or were in the planning stages. This included the new home Tanner lived in. The town of Killburry had been all but dead, but was reborn.

  Most of the residents who had remained in the town after the chemical plant expired were not citizens of the highest caliber. Because there were so few of them before Silicon City was built, each crime they committed had a greater impact on the statistics kept by the state.

  With the influx of an upper middleclass, highly educated, and gainfully employed populace, in three short years, Killburry went from having some of the worst crime statistics in the state, to having the best. Also, thanks to Silicon City, the living standard and per capita income in Killburry rose dramatically at the same time.

  When a nationwide news magazine named Killburry, Connecticut the safest small town in the country, while also claiming that it was a family-oriented community, Alexa took Tanner to see it, and soon thereafter, they closed on their home.

  ***

  Alexa always set up the coffeemaker before going to bed, and so a fresh pot of brew awaited Tanner. He poured a cup into a mug and went out to sit on the elevated deck.

  In Killburry, Tanner was going by the name of Tom Myers, while Alexa used her own name.

  The neighbors were told that Tanner was a freelance researcher, a cover career he had used often over the years, because it accounted for him being able to stay at home to work, while it would also explain any sudden trips out of town taken to do on-site research.

  There had been no trips out of town. He had told Alexa that he wouldn’t take a contract for several weeks so that they could settle into their new life.

  That meant that he had more time left to endure before he could take any work, and each day felt longer than the one before it.

  It wasn’t Alexa. Tanner still wanted to be with her and was aware that he was falling in love. His love for her wasn’t the instant attraction and desire he had felt for Laurel Ivy, currently Mrs. Laurel Pullo, but it was love, and he wanted to be with her.

  No, the days were made long by the lifestyle he was livin
g. Their house was new, and thus in excellent condition. If he had a list of home improvement projects to fill his days, that would make the time go faster, but so far the only thing he’d done was paint a few rooms and install a ceiling fan.

  There had been one large project. One that made him feel odd but safe. He had dug a small tunnel in a corner of the basement that led up beneath a shed he erected a short distance from the house.

  If he and Alexa were attacked for any reason, they would have a way out.

  Alexa had watched him silently as he broke through the brick wall of their basement to access the ground behind it. She knew that it wasn’t simple paranoia that made Tanner feel that the tunnel was a necessity.

  At sixteen, Cody Parker was forced to watch his family be slaughtered because they had nowhere to escape to from the barrage of bullets that annihilated their home. A simple tunnel and they might have escaped and been able to survive.

  Tanner had changed in many ways since the days when he was the boy named Cody Parker, but Cody Parker still dwelled within him. And Cody would be damned if he was going to see another loved one die in the manner that slaughtered his family.

  He had removed enough bricks to begin digging when he stopped and spoke to Alexa.

  “You think I’m crazy for doing this, don’t you?”

  “No Cody, I don’t, and I know what it’s like to carry the past around with you. I still have nightmares about the day my own family was slaughtered. I’ll tell you something else too.”

  “What’s that?” Tanner said.

  Alexa sent him a bittersweet smile.

  “We’re never getting a damn swimming pool.”

  Tanner stared at her with confusion registering on his face, but then he understood her meaning, and released a sad chuckle. Alexa’s entire family had been herded into a swimming pool and shot down in front of her when she was just a child.

  No, they would not be getting a swimming pool.

  “We’re damaged goods, aren’t we?” Alexa said.

  “Maybe, but everyone’s got scars. It’s the way the world works.”

  ***

  Spring had just begun and things were turning green. Alexa said that she wanted to grow a garden. That was fine by Tanner, because it would give him something to do, and would help pass the time.

  He hoped that Conrad Burke would have a contract for him once his sabbatical ended, because he needed a challenge, and he was too damn young to retire.

  For a moment, he wondered what Sara Blake was doing in his absence, but knew that she had other duties beside the managing of Burke’s wet works program.

  Tanner scowled, as a realization struck him.

  He missed Blake.

  He then smirked. No, he didn’t miss Blake. He missed what she represented. Sara Blake had come to mean work, new contracts, new challenges. No, he told himself. He didn’t miss her, and yet, for several days now, he had been fighting the urge to call her.

  Alexa came out onto the elevated deck dressed in a robe and slippers, while carrying a mug of coffee. After a kiss of greeting, she sat beside him and looked over at the park beyond their back fence.

  “It’s so peaceful here, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “As peaceful as the grave,” Tanner said.

  Alexa put down her coffee and stared at him.

  “You’re bored, aren’t you?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “No, Tanner, I’m not. This is exactly the kind of life I want, and the only thing that would make it better would be having children.”

  Tanner had been bringing his coffee to his lips, but stopped and stared over at Alexa.

  “Is there something you’re trying to tell me?”

  Alexa laughed.

  “No, I’m not pregnant, and I don’t mean that I want to be, at least not right away. But I do want to have children someday, and I’ve told you that before.”

  “Yes you have, but I don’t know if I’d be a good father. I’m not exactly the role model type that a kid needs.”

  “I know that you love being a Tanner, but you’re a man first, Cody, and I think you’d be a great father.”

  “But not while I’m a Tanner?”

  Alexa sighed.

  “I don’t know. That’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.”

  Tanner reached over and took her hand.

  “Get dressed and I’ll take you out to breakfast.”

  Alexa grinned as she stood.

  “Good, I love those blueberry pancakes they make at the diner. Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”

  “Take your time,” Tanner said. After all, he had plenty of it to fill.

  Alexa had been gone for only a few moments when a scream came from beyond the fence that separated their property from the park. Tanner jumped to his feet while shielding his eyes with his hand, only to realize that the scream came from a teenage girl.

  Her boyfriend was teasing her with a frog he must have come across at the edge of the lake, and the girl was squealing her displeasure.

  The kid tossed the frog into the lake and then he and the girl kissed and continued on their way to school.

  Tanner settled back into his seat and sighed. Even the frogs in Killburry had more excitement than he did.

  Another day in paradise.

  CHAPTER 2 – Stop, thief!

  The neighbors in the houses left and right of Tanner were a close-knit group of four married couples, and they occupied the four homes surrounding him.

  The men were all part of a lame neighborhood watch group that as far as Tanner could tell was just a way for the men to get out of the house and hang out together. The four men were George Tucker, Bill Vitale, Darren Garston, and Ted Anderson, George was the oldest at 40, while Ted was 34.

  The men had been in the army together, had met their wives while stationed in Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, and had stayed close enough over the years to buy homes near each other.

  Their wives, Tina, Anna, Louise, and Josie were even closer to each other than their husbands were. The four women had grown up as army brats, and had lived for years in New Jersey, as their fathers were stationed at Fort Dix. The four women were all 32, had all gone through school together, and knew each others’ secrets.

  Despite their closeness, the four couples had been welcoming to Tanner and Alexa.

  Josie, the only one of the women who was childless, had been especially friendly towards Tanner, and had told him that she was “Always ready for a visit from a handsome neighbor,” and that she knew how to keep her mouth shut.

  Josie was a petite redhead with a shapely body. Her husband, Ted, was a meek real estate agent, and Tanner had seen Ted sneaking cigarettes outside in the backyard so that Josie wouldn’t catch him smoking.

  Josie would have proven a pleasant break from the boredom of life in Killburry, but Tanner wasn’t about to throw away what he had with Alexa for a piece of recreational ass, although, it was a very nice ass.

  ***

  As they left the house to have breakfast, they saw Tina, Anna, and Louise getting out of Tina’s huge minivan in Josie’s driveway. The three mothers had just returned from having taken their children to school. The four children ranged in age from five to seven, while three others, two toddlers and a six-month-old baby, stayed with Josie in the morning until the other women returned.

  As Alexa was waving to the three women at the minivan, Josie called out to Tanner, who she knew as Tom, and sent him a wink.

  Alexa, no one’s fool, was aware that Josie was a shameless flirt, but also knew that Tanner would never betray her.

  “That little slut really desires you,” Alexa whispered, even as she sent Josie a phony smile accompanied by a wave.

  “Maybe I should give her what she wants,” Tanner whispered back. “You know, in the interest of being neighborly.”

  Alexa elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Do that and you’ll never see me in your bed again.”

  T
anner smiled.

  “It was just a thought.”

  Tanner had bought a new Jeep Wrangler. It was black and a four-door model that he enjoyed driving. As they were getting into it, Alexa made a suggestion.

  “If you really want to be neighborly, why don’t you join that neighborhood watch group? It would be a natural for you... as long as you remember not to kill anyone and to let the cops handle the criminals.”

  Tanner paused as he was about to close his door.

  “Are you serious?”

  “I know they’re a joke, but it would be a way to bond with the other men, and it’s not like you have too many friends, is it?”

  Tanner shut his door and started the engine.

  “Neighborhood watch might be interesting if this was a more dangerous town, but I’ll try to be friendlier towards them. They seem harmless enough.”

  “Good, now let’s go eat, I’m hungry.”

  Tanner was backing out of his driveway when the sound of a scream pierced the air. His first thought was that it was more kids fooling around, but the scream was followed by a shout made in a deep male voice.

  Tanner put the jeep in neutral, cut off the engine, and listened.

  “What was that?” Alexa said.

  Her answer came when a tall, skinny kid in his late teens came running out of their yard with a purse in his hand. The strap on the purse was hanging loose, and appeared to have been cut.

  The kid was fast and grinning like a fiend. Without stopping to think, Tanner left the jeep to run after the punk.

  Alexa called for him to stop, but Tanner wasn’t listening.

  Finally, there was some excitement.

  The kid didn’t look back as he ran along the tree-lined entryway to the cul-de-sac, but did so, once he had reached the avenue beyond.

  The punk’s eyes grew huge when he saw that Tanner was chasing after him. He kept running until he reached another stretch of homes, then he ran down a driveway and headed for a rear fence.