Assassin (Assassin Series Book 1) Page 14

Jake looked around and used his good arm, struggling to climb onto the nearest container to get out of the line of fire. He stood up to look around and more gunfire spattered around his feet. Jennings was firing at him from below. Jake rushed along the tops of the containers, jumping from one to another, as bullets still chased him.

  He zig-zagged along the top of the containers, to avoid becoming an easy target. After running for what seemed forever, the firing stopped and he checked the scene below. He then dropped down to the ground and waited,

  In the adjacent lane, Davidson was moving along cautiously, even more wary when he saw Benny’s body on the ground ahead. He headed around the corner of the nearest container. Jake was in the shadows waiting for him and fired a single shot into Davidson’s chest.

  Davidson glanced up, shock in his dying eyes. Jake looked at him unemotionally. “How does it feel, asshole?”

  Davidson tried to answer. “Screw y....!” he closed his eyes for the last time

  “You lose!” Jake added mercilessly.

  Behind the next row of containers, Jennings had been startled by the single gunshot. He then heard Jake’s voice through the mist. “Okay, Ted, old buddy. Now it’s just you and me. Any last requests?”

  Jennings was angry. “The hell with you, Jake. You just couldn’t keep your nose out of our business, could you?”

  Jake was revelling in the fact that he was agitating his boss. “You’ve got it all wrong, asshole. I didn’t give a damn about your business until you murdered my wife and her friend and now it’s payback time!”

  Jennings cursed at Jake’s comments, letting go a burst of fire in the direction of his voice. “In your dreams, asshole!”

  Back on the ground, Sarah was waiting for Anwar to show. He suddenly rounded the corner and a single shot found the mark and hit him in the head. He fell to the hard concrete. Jamal’s bodyguard ran towards the sound to help his comrade, but in his haste, he came round the corner too fast and a well-place volley of gunfire from Sarah’s rifle dropped him where he stood.

  Her rush of adrenaline was intense, but suddenly, behind her, she felt the cold steel of a curved Khanjar dagger pressed firmly against her throat. “One word and you die, bitch. Drop the gun!” Jamal hissed.

  She dropped her weapon to the ground and he dragged her to the next opening. They passed Benny’s body on the ground and as they moved further along, she could see Davidson’s lifeless body, lying in a pool of blood and water. She couldn’t help but smile and feel a glimmer of hope, as the body count seemed to be mounting in favor of her and Jake. Jamal forced her forwards, using her body as a shield. “You will die a thousand deaths for killing my brother!” he hissed.

  She glared at him and answered defiantly. “Look around you. You’re losing, big time!”

  Jake moved stealthily along, between the rows of containers, waiting for Jennings to show, when suddenly, behind him, a familiar voice broke the silence. “Drop the gun, infidel!”

  Jake spun round in shock to see Jamal with the dagger at Sarah’s throat. He tried to sound casual. “My, my, if it ain’t Osama bin Asshole!”

  Jamal stayed in control. “I said do it or the bitch dies!”

  Jake held up his hands, one with the Glock in it. He swivelled the gun upside down around his first finger as he bent down to slowly lower it to the ground.

  “Okay, okay, take it easy.” Jake’s ruse of surrender, was only a part of his finely-tuned survival instinct. He was now totally focussed, waiting for the opportune split second to make a move. Sarah was also watching him closely, ready to make her move.

  Suddenly, from behind one of the containers, Jennings appeared with his gun in his hand, an evil grin on his face. “Now, isn’t this cozy!” he smiled cruelly. The distraction couldn’t have come at a better time, as Sarah forcibly stomped on Jamal’s foot and rolled out of his grip.

  Jake, who was watching closely, instantly spun the Glock back into the palm of his hand and in a flash he shot Jamal in the head. He fired again shooting the gun from the hand of the surprised Jennings. Jamal dropped like a stone, a gaping hole in the back of his head and Jennings just stood there in shock. “What the...!” he yelped.

  Jake gave a wry smile. “Yes, indeed, very cozy!” he turned to Sarah, giving her a smile and a nod of approval. “That’s more like it!”

  She nodded back. “All done?”

  Jake motioned towards Jennings. “You bet! Cuff that slime ball!” Suddenly, as if from nowhere, he felt the pressure of a gun barrel pushed into the base of his skull and he heard a familiar voice. “Drop the gun or I’ll shoot!”

  Jennings looked across at Jake, a triumphant look on his face. He wriggled free from Sarah, who was about to put the cuffs on him. She was now in sudden shock. There, standing behind Jake, holding the gun, was Lorinda! She pushed the gun harder into the base of his skull.

  She spoke again. “I said drop it or I will kill you!”

  He instinctively dropped the weapon.

  “Turn around real slow!” she added.

  Jake turned in shock to see Lorinda standing there.

  Jennings grabbed Sarah and pushed her towards Jake. Lorinda’s gun was now pointing unwaveringly at both of them. She kicked Jake’s gun away into the darkness.

  Jennings was now smiling gloatingly. “Allow me to introduce my own undercover agent, Sharon Gilbert!” Jake’s mind was in a whirl as he tried to absorb what he was seeing. In a split second, his perception of Lorinda had taken a complete turnaround. For the agency to pull a stunt like this, the stakes had to be higher than even he had envisioned.

  He was livid. “So, you were CIA all along?”

  She nodded. “You got it.” Visions of what had transpired since he had met Lorinda and Marcus, were now flashing through his mind like the quick rewind of a movie.

  He thought for a moment. “But your son, how could you expose a child to such danger?”

  She smiled. “That wasn’t my son, just a street kid I promised a hundred bucks to play the part!”

  Jake stood there in disbelief as he noticed that Lorinda suddenly sounded different. “What the hell happened to the hillbilly accent? And what if...?”

  She was suddenly, surprisingly cold-hearted and finished the sentence for him. “What if the kid got shot or hurt? With what was at stake here, believe me, he was expendable!”

  “You callous bitch!” Jake snarled. He was thinking out loud. “So, that first morning was no accident?”

  She gloated. “Hell no, we knew you were there all night!”

  Jake was still struggling to comprehend. “My God!”

  She continued. “Yeah, we wanted you alive until we could find out what your wife told you. We had to be sure you hadn’t figured out the Trojan connection and that you hadn’t told anyone else.”

  Jake was confused, still concerned about Marcus. “But why involve an innocent kid?”

  Jennings interrupted. “We knew you wouldn’t buy the coincidence of just Sharon stopping by out of the blue. And guess what, you bought it!”

  Jake looked around. “Where is he, by the way? You didn’t kill him as well?”

  Sharon nodded negatively. “No, he served his purpose.”

  Jake was still thinking out loud. “So, that was how they found us at your place! They already knew you lived there!”

  Jennings added with a cruel smile. “Right and Jamal and his men were told that Sharon and the kid were not the target!”

  Jake was totally disgusted, he shook his head at Jennings. “You’re worse than her, you bastard!”

  Jennings had heard enough. “Well, I guess we had twenty million good reasons,” he shrugged. “And we’d love to chat but...”

  Sarah was thinking clearly. “But nothing, asshole. You aren’t going anywhere, except to jail. The port won’t take your cargo now the loading crew know it’s tainted, you just lit up the sky like the fourth of July, blew the shit out of their building, ruined a million dollar loader, and your Arab buddies are all dead,
so there goes all your money. It looks like you and your little friend here will be sharing adjoining cells!”

  Jennings was now smiling triumphantly. “Dream on, bitch!” he began. “Guess what, after we kill you two, we become the good guys. As far as the authorities are concerned, we took out both of you and the Arabs, since you were working together and prevented a dangerous shipment from leaving the US! So, I guess it’s time, and this is the last time you’re going to fuck with my plans, Harrigan!” he screamed at Sharon. “Gimme the damn gun, I’m gonna enjoy finishing this myself!” he reached out to her for the gun and as she held it out to him, Sarah reacted quickly and kicked the gun out of Sharon’s hand, watching it skid away into the fast-flowing, rain-flooded gutter. Sarah and Sharon immediately started to struggle as Jennings seized the opportunity and quickly ran off in the direction of the container vessel.

  Sarah screamed across at Jake. “Go after him, Jake, I’ll take care of this cupcake!”

  Jake rushed after Jennings, holding his wounded arm and behind him Sarah was already exchanging blows with Sharon.

  The Ocean Mist was almost fully loaded, just waiting for final cargo, as Jennings came sprinting through the mist and driving rain towards the vessel with Jake in pursuit.

  He rushed up the gangplank from the dockside, followed by a breathless Jake. Up on deck, Jennings then ran towards the rear of the ship with Jake in pursuit. Jennings sprinted ahead, grabbing a cargo hook from a rack and rushed around the corner of one row of containers, waiting in ambush for the tired and injured Jake.

  Up on the bridge, the First Mate drew the Captain’s attention, as they watched the drama unfolding on the deck below. The Captain had a worried look on his face, already sensing that something had gone terribly wrong.

  Jake rushed around the corner, and as if a sixth sense suddenly kicked in, he instinctively avoided the brunt of Jennings’s surprise attack. He winced in pain and Jennings lunged at him again with the cargo hook, scarring his already injured arm.

  As Jennings continued his attack, Jake dropped to the ground and using his legs, he swept Jennings’s feet from under him. Jennings fell against the railing of the ship and the cargo hook flew into the air and over the side.

  Jennings sprang to his feet and started swinging at Jake, hitting him several times to the head and body. Jake faltered and then Jennings started running towards the rear gangway leading back down to the dock below.

  Jake picked himself up and continued his dogged pursuit of Jennings. They both came to a section of the deck where there was a stairwell to the deck below. As they rushed along, two startled crew members appeared at the top of the stairs and Jake screamed at them. “Stop him! Stop him!” Thinking that Jennings was a trespasser, they tried half-heartedly to stop him but he busted past them. This slowed him down and as he rushed down the steps ahead, Jake took a dive and landed on his back as he neared the bottom step and they both fell onto the deck. Jennings was winded as he took the load of Jake on his back and after Jake got to his feet first and punched him repeatedly to the head, Jennings finally collapsed unconscious.

  Jake finally got to his feet catching his breath and as he nodded his thanks to the two shocked crew members, he signalled to them that he needed some rope and he then quickly tied Jennings’s hands behind his back and dragged him groggily to his feet.

  CHAPTER 35

  Meanwhile, on the pier, Sarah and Sharon were still engaged in a struggle. Sharon took a wild swing at Sarah, but she ducked before delivering the perfect uppercut that dropped Sharon like a stone to the ground. Sarah took a deep breath and the area was suddenly lit up from the headlights of approaching vehicles. She held her hand to her eyes, struggling to see.

  The FBI back-up had finally arrived and they rushed out of their vehicles, weapons drawn. The rain had eased off somewhat and Davies looked around at the carnage. There were bodies everywhere. He ran his hand up and down his face, amazed to see a bloodied Sarah still on her feet.

  “What the hell?” he asked as he walked over to Sarah, who was completely exhausted.

  She reached down, grabbed Sharon by the collar and dragged her to her feet, handing her over to Davies’s men. “All yours!” she gasped.

  Davies looked at Sarah closely, compassion in his voice when he saw her covered in blood. “Are you okay, Sarah?”

  She nodded tiredly and he looked at the body count, shaking his head in disbelief. “Who the hell are these people?”

  She pointed to the dead Arabs. “The Arabs were the Ashram sons and their bodyguards. They’re all dead. They were the ones who were bankrolling the shipment in the container over there.” she pointed to the container still clamped to the smoldering carrier.

  Davies was trying to absorb what had just happened. “Jesus! Foreign nationals, all dead on US soil!” he looked further across the pier. “And where are the CIA guys?”

  Sarah pointed to Sharon. “This bitch is CIA and there’s a dead albino over there!” she pointed a little further over to the right. “And that’s the senior guy Davidson! Over there, you’ll find the body of Peterson, the crooked VP from Midecon! He got too excited, lost his head!”

  Davies rubbed his hand up and down his forehead. “Sweet Jesus!”

  Another vehicle pulled up and it was Senator Johnson. He climbed out and rushed over, relieved to see that Sarah was still on her feet. “Are you okay, Sarah?” he asked.

  Davies smiled. “She’s more than okay, Senator, just look around!”

  Sarah looked nervously towards the container ship, still shrouded in the smoke and flames from the building explosion. She was quick to correct any impression that Davies and Johnson may have been getting. “I was only a part of this, gentlemen, I had a hell of a lot more help.” she looked across the dock as they were struggling to understand what she meant.

  “What do you mean?” Davies asked.

  “Jake Harrigan was incredible!” she replied. “He’s one man that you would not want to go up against!”

  Davies looked around. “Where is he?”

  “The last time I saw him, he was chasing Jennings, the last CIA guy, towards the container ship and I haven’t seen him since,” her expression suddenly changed as through the mist and smoke Jake finally appeared, dragging Jennings along.

  “Well, I’ll be damned!” she gasped. Sarah was delighted to see that Jake was still alive. She continued to explain to Davies and Johnson. “That’s the CIA bastard who Jake says was behind the murder of his wife and her friend. You’d better grab him fast, I’m amazed he’s still alive!”

  Davies nodded in agreement. “I agree.”

  Jake pushed Jennings, forcing him to stumble along towards the waiting entourage. Jennings was a beaten man. Jake, who was now in total control, snarled at Jennings. “You taught me to kill, but do you know what, killing is too good for you. Public humiliation and prison is much more suitable for a low life bastard like you!”

  Jennings was venomous. “Dream on!” he managed a wicked smile. “I was only following the orders of a superior that you conveniently eliminated. See if you can make that stick, asshole! Also, like I told you before, you’re just a foot soldier, watch out for the whitewashing!”

  Jake gave him another push forward, causing his to stumble again. “Well, if the authorities don’t get you, your career’s already in the toilet, so I guess I’ll just have to find you and kill you myself! But if I were you, I’d pray real hard for a prison cell!” he snarled.

  They reached the container and Davies’s men escorted Sharon and Jennings away, Jake and Sarah embraced each other warmly. Aside from the feeling of huge relief, there was genuine affection between them. Jake gently touched the cuts and bruises on her face, totally impressed at the way she had handled herself. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She smiled. “Once I saw you approaching.”

  Davies came over and shook Jake’s hand. “Hell of a job, you guys. Thanks for your help, Jake. Now we need to get you guys patched up.”

/>   Johnson approached and also shook Jake’s hand. “Well done, a good job by the both of you. We just opened the container and you wouldn’t believe the nasty stuff they were trying to smuggle out.”

  Jake stayed low key. “Happy to be of service, Senator,” he pointed to Jennings being dragged away. “He’s the one who ordered the kill on my wife Nancy and her friend Nicole. That was my mission, sir!”

  Johnson put his hand on Jake’s shoulder. “I understand, son!”

  Jake looked Johnson in the eye. “Looks like you’ve got some serious damage control to take care of. If the public ever get wind of what really happened here tonight, you’ll be up to your ears in a media storm!”

  Johnson patted him gently on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, son. I’m a US Senator!” Jake was about to find out exactly what that statement meant.

  As the car pulled away taking Jennings and Sharon, Jennings stared venomously at Jake through the window. Jake smiled and pointed his first finger at Jennings like a gun and flexed his thumb like the hammer. He was already second guessing his decision not to finish Jennings while he had the chance.

  Among the crowd gathered on the dock, Jake walked over to the guard John who looked at Jake, covered in blood, a shocked look on his face. “Are you okay, sir?’ he asked.

  “I’ll survive.” Jake replied. He looked John in the eye. “Did you let the African/American woman in?”

  The guard replied. “Yes, sir, she flashed her ID, and said she was FBI and needed to join you guys, was that okay?”

  Jake nodded. “Hey, no sweat, just one thing,” The guard looked confused as Jake continued. “Next time, check the fuckin’ ID properly, okay?”

  “Yes, sir.” John walked away quickly into the crowd.

  At the back of the ambulance, Jake and Sarah were still being patched up by the medics. They were wrapped in blankets, still wet and still covered in blood.

  Sarah looked at him affectionately. “Well, I guess we didn’t make it to hell after all?”

  Jake smiled. “Amen to that. You handled yourself like a pro!”

  She looked pleased at his compliment. “You too. Remind me never to piss you off.”