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

  “I’m sorry about Max, Granite,” Sean said.

  “Thanks, but what about the fucker that killed him? I don’t see Chris, so I guess he’s following him?”

  “That’s right, DeLillo arrived in two cars, his Escalade and one of the bodyguards drove a BMW. Chris has the BMW.”

  Granite felt his phone vibrate. It was Chris.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I followed the prick to a motel on Route 1, the Destiny Motel. What do you want me to do?”

  “Stay on him. I want him alive. I want to know who sent him and why he killed my boy.”

  “You’re in the machine shop?”

  “Yeah, and we just made it, as soon as it quiets down, we’ll head your way.”

  “I’m sorry about Max.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Granite said stoically, as his name implied he might.

  Granite ended the call and saw that Sean was smiling as he held up an orange key.

  “What is that?”

  “A key to a storage locker. I have one just like it where I keep my old set of drums and a dirt bike. If this key fits a lock in the same building, then we might still have a shot at getting hold of DeLillo’s stash of weapons.”

  “Good, Sean, because we’re going to need them. Once we find out who sent the guy that killed Max, we’re going there and we’re going to kill everyone in sight. Call Gunther and tell him to gather the other men, and I mean all of them. We’re going to war.”

  CHAPTER 23 – Maxed out

  Elizabeth, New Jersey, 4:56 a.m.

  Inside his motel room, Jake Vincento winced as he eased his wounded arm inside the sleeve of a leather jacket.

  He had been wounded by Granite’s man, Sean. The round had gouged out a small piece of his flesh from his left shoulder, while numbing his arm and making his fingers tingle.

  He’d used an entire bottle of hydrogen peroxide to cleanse the wound before bandaging it, but the five pills he’d swallowed had done nothing for the pain.

  He had made a successful hit, technically, although it was a total screw up, but unbeknown to Vincento was the reality that he had been followed away from the scene.

  Vincento had imagined himself to be as good a killer as Tanner, which was absurd. However, Tanner’s true talents weren’t restricted to the art of killing, he was also a master at survival and evasion.

  Those were two skills that often meant the difference between life and death, and ignoring their value would be a lesson that Vincento would learn the hard way.

  ***

  Vincento had been instructed to send a text to Sloane Lennox once the contract was fulfilled.

  He never sent it. He had been too wired by the night’s activities and distracted by his wound to think about sending off a text.

  When his phone rang at three a.m., he had been startled by the sound, then braced himself to answer the call and lie.

  “Why didn’t you leave me a text? Weren’t you successful?” Lennox had asked him.

  “Yes, sir, the project is completed.”

  “Excellent, and did you encounter any difficulties?”

  “No. As I said, it’s done.”

  “That’s fantastic, and I will lobby our employer to give you more work. The other individual in your division is overrated. With each success you have, that will become clearer and his services will no longer be desired.”

  “Um, yeah.”

  “Come see me first when you return.”

  “All right, and I’ll be back soon, I plan to get on the road early to beat the traffic.”

  “I’m going to insist on a bonus for you. The rate the other man gets is obscene, but you should be well rewarded.”

  “Uh, thanks, Mr.—”

  “No names please, and no thanks is needed as well. Your success is all the thanks I need.”

  Vincento sighed as he recalled the conversation.

  But he had been successful, hadn’t he? DeLillo was dead, and that was one less arms dealer for the terrorists and other extremists to get weapons from.

  Vincento smiled. The end justified the means, and who really cared about a few Neo-Nazis getting killed... or a Nazi kid.

  Max’s young and terrified face flashed across Vincento’s mind, and he was suddenly saddened by the boy’s death. Nazi or not, he was still just a kid.

  ***

  Vincento settled his bill with the old woman who worked nights in the motel office, and then headed to his car.

  It was barely five a.m., but steady traffic moved along out on Route 1, and Vincento wished that he had driven back even earlier. He hadn’t slept, hadn’t eaten, and despite what Lennox thought, he doubted he would ever take another contract.

  As he approached his vehicle, he saw a good looking woman get out of a nearby car and stumble. She was tall, blonde, and obviously drunk off her ass.

  “Hey there, handsome, you’re up early.”

  Vincento answered her as he loaded his things into his trunk.

  “You’re up early too.”

  She laughed as she weaved her way over to him.

  “Uh-un, I never went to bed... but I want to, how ‘bout you?”

  Vincento blinked in surprise. Was she asking him to bed?

  Then, she was on him, and her arms wrapped around his neck.

  Her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying, and he thought it odd that he didn’t smell liquor on her breath.

  “Did you kill my boy?” she said.

  “What?” Vincento said, and as he asked the question, he felt the sharp sting of an icepick at the base of his skull.

  “You move an inch and I’ll kill you.”

  “Who are you, lady?”

  “You killed my boy you piece of shit. My name is Darlene Klein. You murdered my baby, my son, Max.”

  Vincento was about to speak when he saw Granite, Sean, and Albert walking towards him. He was thinking of risking the icepick when the woman pushed it in a little deeper. The fresh pain froze him, and then he was surrounded and having his arms held by Sean and Albert.

  “What do you want?” Vincento asked.

  Granite leaned in and whispered.

  “I want justice.”

  Max’s mother, Darlene, withdrew the icepick, only to hold its bloody tip up for Vincento to see.

  “I don’t want justice; I want revenge.”

  Vincento looked at the parents of Max Klein and understood that he would soon be dead.

  CHAPTER 24 – The cell tower of Babel

  Tanner and Alexa spent their morning at the land owned by Conrad Burke.

  While Tanner practiced with his guns and rifles, Alexa was improving her skill at archery.

  They took a break around noon to head to the Burke Corporate Campus, which was nearby. Alexa was going to talk with Deke and tell him that he couldn’t call her anymore, and she wanted to do it in person.

  Sara had called Tanner as they were leaving their home in Killburry. Jacques Durand had sent Sara a text and informed her that neither Deke nor Jake Vincento were a match for the man in the photo he’d discovered. A photo he believed showed an image of the legendary assassin, Maurice Scallato.

  She also passed along Durand’s desire to hire Tanner for contracts. Tanner told Sara that he was interested and to let him know when Durand had an offer to make.

  As they drove towards the Burke campus, Alexa asked Tanner if he knew how to shoot a bow and arrow well.

  “Spenser made sure of it, but Romeo has a true gift in that area. I’ve even seen him split one arrow with another at the center of a bull’s-eye.”

  “You were both trained at the same time?”

  “Yeah, and I guess you could say that we were in competition, but Romeo always treated me like a brother. I never felt like we were rivals.”

  “But Spenser picked you to be Tanner.”

  “I was better, and I wanted it more. Once Romeo had enough money, he lost interest in doing anything that wasn’t fun.”

  “And now he doesn�
�t work?”

  “He’s good with his hands and knows a lot about boats, so he does free repair work for his neighbors at the marina he lives in.”

  “And when do you think you’ll retire, after you find someone to train?”

  “Maybe, but doing nothing sounds like a living death to me.”

  “I like Romeo’s idea better. Enjoy life while you’re young.”

  “I do enjoy my life, Alexa.”

  Alexa patted him on the arm.

  “I’m not trying to start an argument, and I’m not looking forward to talking to Deke either.”

  Tanner looked over at her as he drove.

  “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “No, but I do have feelings for Deke, and I’ll miss having him as a friend.”

  “He would never settle for being friends, he might try, but he wants you.”

  “I know, and that’s why I need to talk to him. I sent him a text and asked him to meet me in the cafeteria.”

  “Why do you want other people around? Does he scare you?”

  “No! Deke would never hurt me, but I’m hungry, and why not kill two birds with one stone?”

  Tanner laughed.

  “Who says women aren’t practical.”

  ***

  In the office of Conrad Burke, inside the Burke Corporate Campus, Sloane Lennox was not having the fine day he had expected to have.

  Burke had been informed about the slaughter in the parking lot where Vincento had been sent to kill Michael DeLillo. DeLillo was dead, yes, but so were ten other men, and Jake Vincento was no longer answering calls.

  “Do you have any idea where he might be, Sloane?”

  Sloane Lennox stood before the desk and tried to look more confident than he felt.

  “During our last conversation, Mr. Vincento said that he would be returning here early.”

  “It’s noon now. That’s not early, and I don’t like the fact that we can’t get in touch with him. I’m going to call Miss Blake.”

  “What could she possibly do, Conrad? She wasn’t even aware that there was a contract.”

  “I don’t know what she can do; that’s why I’m calling her to find out.”

  ***

  Sara’s flight had landed and she was in the area. She took Burke’s call while driving home from the airport.

  It concerned her that they had lost contact with Vincento, but she had only one suggestion to make.

  “Let’s consult an expert.”

  A minute later, Sara, Tanner, and Burke were in a three-way conference call. Sara had let Tanner know that Vincento had gone missing. When Burke told Tanner that some of the dead men were from a Neo-Nazi group, Tanner asked for more details about them.

  “They’re suspected of funding their organization through takeover bank robberies, and they’re very violent,” Burke said.

  Sara heard the tone of urgency enter Tanner’s voice the moment he issued instructions to Burke.

  “Listen to me, Burke. Call the cops, and then herd your people downstairs near the armory as soon as possible.”

  “What? Why Tanner?”

  Tanner was about to answer when he saw Alexa’s posture grow stiff. That was followed by her tilting her head, as if she were listening. When she said nothing, he spoke to Burke.

  “If those Nazis have Vincento they’ll make him talk and he’ll tell them about the Burke Corporation.”

  Alexa was breathing faster. She turned her head and mouthed the words, “Slow down.”

  Tanner lowered his speed, which was already at the speed limit. As he slowed, he spoke into the phone again.

  “Burke, If those neo-Nazis can takeover a bank, they can takeover a building. Prepare your security and get your people to safety until the cops show.”

  “Good God, you’re right,” Burke said, and it was followed by, “I’ll call the police. I’d rather err on the side of—”

  Tanner’s phone went dead. At that same instant, he heard what sounded like an explosion, and it was near his location.

  “Madre de Dios, look out!” Alexa screamed as she pointed out the windshield.

  Up ahead of them, a tall, metal tower glistened in the sun before toppling onto the roadway. Part of it shattered into pieces that went flying in every direction, while the bulk of it settled atop the road. It was a cell phone tower, and it blocked the way to the front entrance of the Burke Corporate Campus.

  Tanner slammed on his brakes and avoided hitting the car in front of him only by driving onto the grass at the side of the road, which was now blocked in both directions by the fallen tower.

  Tanner marveled at Alexa’s sixth sense. Had he not slowed as she had instructed him to do, he likely would have collided with the vehicle in front of him.

  Tanner lowered his window, listened, and could hear more explosions, but they were farther away, yet closer to the building.

  Alexa gripped his arm.

  “What’s happening?”

  Tanner put his jeep in reverse, U-turned, and headed back the way he came.

  “What’s happening is that Burke is learning a basic lesson in economics,” Tanner said.

  “Economics?”

  “Yes, he’s learning that you get what you pay for. Now hang on, it’s going to get bumpy.”

  Tanner drove the jeep across the opposite lane, jumped the curb, and headed into the woods that ran behind and alongside the Burke Corporate Campus.

  Inside the building, people were dying.

  CHAPTER 25 – You can’t hit what you can’t see

  Darlene Klein had been pretending to flirt with the security guard who was on duty inside the main building of the Burke campus.

  When the first explosion sounded off, which took out the cell phone tower, Darlene watched the guard’s expression change from happy to concerned. When the second and third explosions killed the building’s power, and disabled the phone lines, Darlene freed the guard’s gun from the holster on his hip and shot him in the stomach three times.

  “That’s for my son.”

  The man had barely fallen onto the polished lobby floor before Darlene was joined by her husband Granite, Chris, and Albert, along with five other men. More of Granite’s people were entering through side and rear entrances. They killed any guard they came across while herding all others into the cafeteria in the middle of the building.

  Before he died from the torture inflicted upon him by Darlene, Jake Vincento told Granite everything he knew about the Burke Corporate Campus.

  Granite was there to grab Burke and to hold him for ransom. Thanks to Vincento, Granite knew the location of Burke’s office and what sort of resistance he could expect to face.

  The main building’s receptionist was a lovely young Black woman named Sonya Hathaway. She had frozen in place after watching Darlene kill her friend, but terror put her to flight when she saw the heavily-armed men enter. Over their bullet-proof vests, they all wore black T-shirts with white swastikas on them.

  Sonya let out a cry, clambered over the rear of the reception desk, and fell hard atop the floor behind it, hurting a knee in the process.

  “Kill that Black whore!” Granite said to his people.

  Nine guns took aim at Sonya’s back, as she limped away crying, desperately fleeing for her life.

  Nearly a dozen guards burst from a door on the left, which housed the security office. They fired their weapons while spreading out across the lobby. Their arrival spared Sonya, but made them targets.

  The guards’ Glocks were fine weapons, but thanks to raiding the storage locker of the late Michael DeLillo, Granite and his men had superior firepower in the form of modified Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns.

  When the firefight ended, the guards were dead, Granite had lost two men, and Albert had a ragged hole in his left hand.

  As the men stepped over the bodies and headed for the stairs, Darlene returned outside to ready their escape vehicles.

  They had four ATV’s. Darlene had
driven them to Burke in a box truck, and then entered the lobby pretending to be a lost delivery driver.

  Granite, Chris, and Albert had led more than twenty other men to the Burke Corporate Campus in a caravan of stolen vehicles. Granite’s most-trusted man, Sean, had arrived earlier and set the charges to disable the power and communications equipment.

  While everyone else attacked the building and seized Conrad Burke, Sean was off readying the group’s hideout, which was the secluded home of a neo-Nazi sympathizer.

  The ATV’s and the safe house were for Granite and his top people. His other men would have to take a chance getting past the cops or running through the woods to lie low somewhere.

  On the other side of the woods was a large van hidden away. Granite, his wife, Chris, Albert, and another man named Gunther, would use the van to move Burke to the house where Sean was installing chains in the dank basement, which was to be Burke’s new home.

  After the ransom was paid, Granite planned to kill Burke, then use the proceeds from the kidnapping to grow his organization.

  But first, they had to get Conrad Burke.

  ***

  Inside the cafeteria, a different Burke was being approached by Deke Mercer, but his goal was to offer protection. Burke’s wife had been in the building when the chaos began. Dr. Sharon Burke was fifty, beautiful, and intelligent.

  “Mrs. Burke?”

  “Yes?”

  “My name is Deke Mercer. Please stay near me while this madness is going on, and ma’am, I think you should conceal that.”

  Dr. Sharon Rosenbaum Burke followed Deke’s eyes and saw that he was looking at the Star of David hanging from a chain around her neck. She reluctantly tucked it inside her blouse.

  “Thank you; I wear it so often that I forget it’s there.”

  Deke looked around the cafeteria from where he stood against the right wall, where the serving line was located. An armed man was positioned at both the south and north doors that led into the cafeteria.

  The doors at the southern end were blocked by one of the long dining room tables that came with bench seats. The doors at the northern end led into the kitchen area and had windows in them, and the man guarding them kept one eye looking that way.