Tanner- Year One Read online

  After the women were in the van, the other two guards walked to a Lincoln that was parked down the block. When the van backed out of the driveway, the men in the Lincoln followed behind.

  Tanner waited until they turned the corner before he placed his vehicle in motion. A short drive later, they pulled up to a building that looked condemned.

  To the left of the home was a vacant lot filled with trash, while to the right was what remained of a long-ago house fire. The blackened timbers had weeds growing amid them, with more trash littered around the ruin.

  The two bodyguards sat in the car, while the driver of the van unlocked three deadbolts. The women followed him inside the house, and after uttering a few words, the man stepped out of the home, using his key again, to lock it up.

  Tanner was too far away to have heard what the man said, but his body language gave him the impression he’d been issuing a warning.

  After a toot of their horn, the men in the Lincoln drove off, followed by the van driver. Did this mean that the women were alone?

  After watching the house for a while, Tanner left his car and walked over. The windows were open to let in air, but the derelict home had bars over the glass. They were the type with padlocks.

  After he knocked several times with no answer, a female voice told him to go away.

  “You’re locked in, aren’t you?” Tanner asked.

  After a long hesitation, the voice spoke again.

  “We don’t know shit and we ain’t buying anything.”

  “I can get you out of there,” Tanner said.

  “Are you a cop?”

  “No. I’m here looking for Joy. Her sister Kate misses her.”

  Several voices spoke at once inside the house, then it grew quiet. Tanner was hot standing on the dilapidated porch. The temperature inside the home must have been worse.

  A new voice spoke. “I’m Joy… you know Kate?”

  “I do, and she’s been looking for you.”

  “I can’t… we can’t leave here… they would kill us.”

  “Who’s we? The three men who just left here?”

  “Yes, and a man named Eddie, and Maxine.”

  “Maxine and this Eddie, they stay at the house you came from?”

  “They live there.”

  “Joy.”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m going away, but you’ll see me again.”

  “They would kill you too.”

  “No, they won’t.”

  Tanner left the house and returned to his car.

  The three bodyguards arrived back at the home to gather the women at six p.m.

  After arriving at Maxine’s, the van parked in the driveway. The man behind the wheel stayed in the vehicle as the other two men herded the women into Maxine’s. After moving the van across the street, the third man entered the house.

  Maxine, the madam, was lying on the floor. She’d been a tall woman with enormous fake breasts and dyed red hair. She lay dead beside her equally deceased live-in boyfriend. They had each received a gunshot wound to the heart. The bodyguards who had entered the home with the women were lying on the floor as well. They were still alive, although suffering from blows they’d received to the head by a baseball bat.

  Tanner was holding the bat. It impacted with the yellow teeth of the final bodyguard and sent pieces of them down his throat. A second blow to the side of the head and the guard was unconscious. The man had been holding the keys to the van. Tanner reached down and picked them up.

  The women huddled together by the entrance to a hallway. Their terrified eyes went from Tanner to the men on the floor.

  “Go outside, ladies,” Tanner said. “You don’t want to see what happens next.”

  One of the women stepped forward. She was white, petite, and had large green eyes.

  “Are you going to kill them the way you killed Maxine and Eddie?”

  “They were shot; I plan to use the bat.”

  “I want to watch.”

  “Not me,” said one of the other women. She went out the door, and the other five followed, including Joy. Tanner looked at the woman who stayed.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Brie.”

  “How long have they had you here?”

  “Shit, I don’t even know, maybe a year. My pimp sold me to them.”

  One of the men on the floor stirred. Tanner raised up the bat and brought it down on his head three times. He did the same to the other two men and tossed aside the bat. He was wearing gloves and didn’t fear leaving prints behind. What he was leaving behind was a vest with the emblem of the gang in Miami. If Maxine had connections or partners, they would inflict their vengeance on the drug gang.

  Brie smiled down at the bodies. “Bitches don’t look so tough now.”

  “Let’s go,” Tanner said.

  Once they were outside the house, they found the other women standing by the curb. It was a Sunday, and while a few kids were in the playground, many residents were sleeping late, and there was little traffic. The neighborhood was quiet.

  “Joy, I want you to come with me, okay?” Tanner said.

  “Do you really know Kate?”

  “Yes,” Tanner said, as he handed Brie the keys to the van. “Drive it wherever you want but wipe it clean when you’re done.”

  “I’m getting the hell out of here,” Brie said, then she looked at Joy. “You coming with us or staying?”

  Joy stared at Tanner, then walked toward him. “I’ll go with him.”

  Brie shrugged, and headed for the van, with the other women following. Their faces were still devoid of expression, as was Joy’s.

  “My car is down this way,” Tanner said.

  Joy got in the passenger seat, sitting as far from Tanner as she could get. As he was pulling away from the curb, Tanner dialed a number.

  “Hello?”

  “Kate?”

  “Yes?”

  “This is Ray.”

  “Hi.”

  “There’s someone who wants to talk to you.”

  Tanner passed the phone over to Joy as he headed toward the freeway.

  TANNER RETURNS!

  TANNER 23 - A MAN OF RESPECT - Available for Pre-order - Coming April 20th

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  TANNER: YEAR ONE

  Copyright © REMINGTON KANE, 2019

  YEAR ZERO PUBLISHING

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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