Soulless (A Tanner Novel Book 43) Read online

  “I can do that. I just need to take about six minutes off of my time.”

  On his next run, Henry completed it in under four hours. He made two more runs after that with his time improving with each run.

  Cody decided to reveal what the test was. When he told Henry, the teen looked amazed while releasing a sigh of relief.

  “I have to run a hundred miles in less than twenty-four hours?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s it?”

  “You think it will be easy?”

  “No. But I was imagining something worse, like I’d have to make it through the mother of all obstacle courses or something. Do I get extra rest before I have to make the run?”

  “You have the next three days off. On that fourth day, you’ll begin the test at noon. If you fail to run the hundred miles before noon the next day, that’s it.”

  “Do or die?”

  “As far as becoming a Tanner goes, yes.”

  Henry blew out his breath as he imagined running more than three times the distance he had grown used to traveling on foot.

  “A hundred miles.”

  “You can do it, Henry. We’ll use your rest days to give you a chance to go over your route. It will be the same one I ran when I took the test.”

  “How fast did you run it?”

  “It took me twenty-three hours, forty-nine minutes, and twenty-five seconds, along with every bit of will power and stamina I possessed.”

  “You set a record, didn’t you?”

  “I did. I beat Spenser’s old record by three seconds.”

  “That’s the record and you made it with only about ten minutes to spare? Whew. This is going to be tough.”

  “It will be. And that’s why so few people have passed the test.”

  “Any tips?”

  “Just one.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t believe yourself when the time comes that you think you can’t take another step. Don’t listen to the voice of the quitter that lives inside all of us. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Crawl if you have to, but don’t quit and you’ll win.”

  Cody received another delivery from Duke the next day. He had kept working to perfect the box and had developed a better system to hold the rifle in place while it was being fired by the steel rod inside the box. It stabilized the rifle to a greater degree and made the second shot more accurate.

  The next day he left Henry alone and drove to California to be with his family. He missed them and wanted to surprise Sara. Sara, along with her aunt and uncle had sold off her grandmother’s furniture and cleaned and readied the home for a buyer. Sara had also helped her Aunt Grace settle into her new home in a senior community that was nearby. She was planning to return to the ranch the next day.

  Lucas spotted his father first. Cody had parked out in front of the home, caught the scent of barbecued meat, and had wandered around to the rear. Everyone was there and enjoying a last meal at the home where Sara had visited as a child and her aunt and uncle had grown up.

  “Daddy!” Lucas shouted as he ran to his father. Cody caught his son as he leapt up into his arms. Marian toddled over to Cody as she followed behind her mother.

  Cody lowered Lucas and embraced Sara. After kissing, he released her so he could reach down and pick up Marian. The little girl was all smiles and hugged him around the neck like she never wanted to let go.

  “This is a surprise,” Sara said. “Are you flying home with us too?”

  “I can’t. There’s still work to do in Mexico.”

  Cody was introduced to Sara’s aunt and uncle. When Uncle Gary, the lifelong gambler, learned Cody had once lived in Las Vegas, a city he visited often, he wondered if they might know some of the same people.

  “I doubt it,” Cody said. “I’m not much of a gambler and only went to the casinos there for the restaurants.”

  Later, when they were alone in a hotel room, Sara asked how Henry was doing. They were seated on the side of a bed together and Cody had an arm around her.

  “His training is going well. He takes the test in two days.”

  “He’ll pass it.”

  “I think so. I’d be shocked if he didn’t.”

  Sara kissed Cody. “I’m so glad you came here today. I’ve been missing you.”

  “I’ve missed you too,” Cody said, as he began unbuttoning Sara’s blouse.

  Cody returned to Mexico the next day and found the weather had grown hotter. Henry would be taking his test in temperatures north of a hundred degrees. The forecast for the next day was one hundred and five.

  Before driving to the area where Henry was training, Cody met with someone in a nearby town to solidify arrangements he had made online when they first arrived in Mexico. With that settled, he stopped and bought two more 5-gallon tanks of propane to be used in the trailers, since they were running low. His chores completed, Cody returned to the trailers and found Henry going over his gear for his run the next day.

  “How are Sara and the kids doing?”

  “They’re good. They’re heading back to Stark today.”

  “I drove the route again while you were gone. It even seems like a long way in the Jeep.”

  “Are you nervous about it?”

  “A little, yeah.”

  “I was too, and so was Romeo.”

  “Did you and Romeo run together?”

  “We had separate routes and they were both tough.”

  “What’s it like out there in the desert at night?”

  “Night will be dark of course, the ground uneven, and the headlamps only help so much. If you move recklessly, you might twist an ankle. If that happens, you’re done. Pace yourself and watch where you step. I can’t say that enough. Go hard and fast early to cover as much ground as you can but not so fast that you have nothing left later. The test is a marathon and not a sprint. In fact, it will take everything you’ve got.”

  Henry rested well that day while eating more than usual and keeping hydrated. He went to bed early and slept well once his mind settled down with thoughts of what was to come.

  As noon approached the next day, the temperature was a hundred and four and climbing, and the humidity was over ninety percent.

  “How do you feel?” Cody asked.

  “I feel good. A little nervous, but good.”

  Cody placed a hand on Henry’s shoulder as he smiled at him. “You’ll pass the test, Henry. I know you will.”

  “Any last-minute advice?”

  “You’ll get some rest whenever you stop to drink, but only take a break if you’re ahead of schedule. Remember, you’ll be much stronger today than tomorrow. If you’re not well past the fifty-mile mark by midnight, you’ll likely never make up the miles.”

  “Okay. I’ll remember that.”

  Cody checked his watch and Henry did the same. They were synchronized and showing that noon was less than a minute away.

  “Good luck, boy.”

  “Thanks,” Henry said, as he checked his pack and shoelaces. He was as ready as he would ever be.

  When the time came, Cody shouted “Go!”

  Henry took off strong but not in a sprint. He had learned to pace himself. Cody watched him until he disappeared into the distance.

  Henry covered the first twenty miles at a pace that broke his personal best time. He was feeling like he could run the next twenty with ease. When he reached one of the spots along the way where Cody had recently left chilled water and food for him, he took the time to check his laces and consume a protein bar. He didn’t want to eat anything more filling than that until he surpassed the halfway point.

  He was about to take off again when he heard the sound of someone calling to him. He looked around, thinking it must have been a bird he had heard, when he spotted two small figures walking toward him from his left. The taller of the two was waving at him.

  They look like kids.

  As they drew closer, Henry could see they were girls. One
of them looked to be about fourteen and the other was maybe six or seven. They were both drenched in sweat and looked dusty from their trek across the sand. Henry rushed over to meet them and spoke to them in Spanish.

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “We got lost,” the older one said. “We were with our mother exploring the desert when our truck died. Mom couldn’t get it going again and decided to walk off and get help… that was yesterday. I think something might have happened to her.”

  Henry removed his canteen and handed it to the girl. She took it with gratitude showing in her eyes and offered it to her sister first. The little girl gulped at the water, then handed it back to her sister.

  “I’m Henry. What are your names?”

  “I’m Karena, this is my little sister, Mia. I’m so worried about our mom; she never came back last night.”

  “Do you think you could find your car again?”

  “We tried and ran into you. I think we’re lost.”

  Henry guided the girls over to the spot where he’d taken his short break. There was still water there and food, along with a little shade. The girls settled on the ground to rest and eat something.

  Henry checked his watch. Helping the girls had already consumed eleven minutes of his precious time. To finish his race against the clock, he would have to beat Cody’s record by over a minute. He cursed under his breath. Why did he have to run into the girls today of all days?

  His mind raced as he tried to think of what to do. He considered leaving them where they were and returning for them the next day but rejected that notion even as it formed. They were two kids wandering in the desert. On top of that, their mother was missing and likely needed help of her own. Add to that the meager shade, sparse water and food, and Henry knew that abandoning them to fend for themselves was out of the question.

  He closed his eyes and felt like crying. There was no way he could keep going and finish the race. Cody said he had one shot at becoming a Tanner and to do so he had to finish the race. Henry checked his watch again. Now he was thirteen minutes behind. If he took off and ran for all he was worth, there was still a chance he could make it.

  “Henry, can you help us find our mother?” Karena asked.

  Henry was staring off along the route he needed to run. When he looked at Karena, he forced a smile.

  “I’ll help you. But I need you two to promise me you’ll stay here. Will you do that?”

  Karena said yes, while little Mia nodded at him.

  “I’ll be back in about three hours with more water and a friend of mine that will help me find your mom. Remember, stay here.”

  Henry gave his route one last look before taking off at a run along the way he had traveled earlier. He felt sick. He had not only failed to finish the route in time but hadn’t even made it as far as his training distance.

  Would Cody give him a second chance to run the route? He hoped so, but Cody’s words kept echoing in his head.

  A Tanner never fails. If you fail at the test, there’s no way you can ever be a Tanner. And there are no excuses or circumstances that will change that decision. Absolutely none. You must pass the test.

  “Shit! Shit! Shit!” Henry yelled.

  He was pounding along the trail three miles from where he’d left the girls when he realized a vehicle was headed his way. As it drew closer, he saw it was one of the rented Jeeps. Henry stopped running and hung his head. He had never felt like such a failure in his life.

  Cody stopped the Jeep a few yards away from him and off to the side of the trail, then stepped out. “What happened, Henry? Why are you headed back toward the camp?”

  Henry gestured behind him as he hung his head. “I ran across these two little girls who were lost. I had to stop and help them. I know it means that I failed, but I couldn’t just run off and leave them out there without trying to help. I couldn’t.”

  When Henry looked up, he saw that Cody was grinning at him.

  “Congratulations, Henry. You passed the test.”

  “What?”

  “I decided to change things up and give you the second test first. It’s a test of your suitability to be a Tanner. It was a test of your character. If you had abandoned those girls in order to keep going and not lose time, it wouldn’t have mattered to me how quickly you ran the hundred miles. And I can’t tell you how disappointed in you I would have been. But you didn’t do that. You were willing to sacrifice your chance at becoming a Tanner in order to help those girls. That proves you have what it takes to be a Tanner. I’m proud of you, boy. And I never doubted you would make the right choice.”

  “I passed?”

  “You passed. But you still have to do the run.”

  Henry laughed. “I passed one of the tests, I… but wait a minute, what about Karena and Mia? Who are they really?”

  “They’re child actors I hired to play a part.” Cody pointed at the trail behind Henry, where a white Land Rover was visible traveling in their direction. “Here they come now.”

  The vehicle pulled up beside them and Henry saw Karena and Mia’s smiling faces. The woman driving resembled the girls and was their mother, Maria. Maria lowered her window and spoke to Cody.

  “My girls fooled him, didn’t they?”

  “They did, and thanks again for your help,” Cody said, as he passed the woman an envelope.

  “What’s this?”

  “A bonus.”

  “Thank you. Call whenever you need us,” Maria said.

  As the vehicle was moving away, Karena and Mia waved to Henry as they giggled. “Thanks for finding our mom, Henry.”

  “They’re good little actresses. They really had me fooled.”

  “Hop in the Jeep. After you shower, we’re heading into town to celebrate.”

  “I passed one of the tests and I didn’t even know it.”

  “It was the same for me. Romeo and I failed to kill a target because we decided to keep two girls from blowing themselves up at a trailer that we thought had been boobytrapped. We figured there was no way Spenser would let either one of us become a Tanner after that. But by saving those girls, we proved we had our priorities straight.”

  “But you had run the hundred miles before that, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, but I decided to give you that test last. Why would I care if you can run a hundred miles in twenty-four hours if you were the type of man to abandon two children in a desert?”

  “I couldn’t do it, and anyone who could is a sick bastard.”

  “I agree.”

  “When do I run the real race, tomorrow?”

  “You’ll rest again for two days and then take it. After that, we’re off to Colorado to fulfill the contract on the cult leader, Krakoff.”

  “When I finish the race in less than twenty-four hours then what?”

  “Then you continue to train with me for another year or so and learn as much as you can. After that, you start taking contracts on your own, to gain experience. When I step down as Tanner, you’ll be taking my place.”

  “It’s really going to happen. I’m going to be a Tanner.”

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t wait to finish the run and put that behind me. There’s no way I’m not going to finish on time either. I’m glad you gave me the second test first. It feels like a weight has been lifted off me.”

  “Yeah, I remember wondering what the second test would be. And I had to wait months to find out.”

  Henry settled back in his seat, then sighed. “I wish there was someone I could talk to about this, but it has to remain a secret.”

  “You can tell Laura. Your grandmother knows you’re here, and why.”

  “Yeah, and I will, but I can’t tell any of my friends.”

  “Romeo and I had each other to talk to.”

  “It’s amazing you two were such good friends, since you were competing for the same spot.”

  “Romeo was never petty and always treated me well. Technically, he was Spenser’s fi
rst apprentice, and I was second, although, we began training at the same time.”

  “Does Spenser know we’re here in Mexico?”

  “Yeah. I talked to him about it. If he wasn’t helping a client, he might have joined us here.”

  “That would have been cool. I like Spenser.”

  Three days later, Henry took off again on a quest to cover a hundred miles on foot through the desert in twenty-four hours or less. The weather was hotter than what it had been on the day he ran into Karena and Mia, but Henry didn’t care. His focus was on finishing the race as fast as he could.

  When he reached the halfway point at midnight, Henry had run fifty-seven miles. It was nearly twice the distance he had ever covered before, but he still had a long way to go, was exhausted, and his feet hurt with every step he took. He rested for ten minutes before taking off again with his headlamp leading the way through the night.

  By mid-morning, Henry was running on fumes and still had sixteen miles left. It amazed him that he had only covered twenty-seven miles since midnight. Part of it was due to the many breaks he had taken, one of which had lasted twenty minutes while Henry ate well. He regretted eating so much afterwards, as it had made him feel sleepy. Part of the distance he had covered after that had been done while walking instead of running, because when he ran his feet hurt all the more. Water was a problem. No matter how much he drank, he only wanted more, and sweat poured off him constantly from the one hundred-and eight-degree heat.

  Cody had broken from tradition by giving Henry the second test first, but there was one tradition he had kept. When he had been the one in Henry’s shoes, Spenser had written him a letter of encouragement. The letter was to be read only after the sun had risen.

  When he was feeling like the only thing he wanted to do was to lie down and go to sleep, Henry opened Cody’s letter and read it.

  * * *

  Henry,

  * * *

  I know how tired you must be feeling and what it’s taken to get to this point. I hope you’re close to the finish line. If not, know that there is no shame in losing this race against the clock. Few men could travel a hundred miles on foot in the desert if they had twice the time you were given. It won’t make you less of a man if you don’t finish.