Assassin (Assassin Series Book 1) Read online

  Davidson ignored the comment and continued with his explanation. “We’re convinced the FBI have an agent embedded in Midecon Industries, one of our primary, respected defense contractors here in DC.”

  Confirmation at last! Jake knew exactly what he was talking about, but he tried to draw him out a little further. He could see that this was not going exactly the way that Davidson had intended. “What are the FBI trying to do, for heaven’s sakes?” he asked.

  “Trying to sabotage our involvement with Ashram Energy!” There it was, that magic name again.

  Jake was confused. “Sabotage, in what way?”

  Davidson started to get evasive again. “As I just told you, there’s a lot of different agendas at play in international politics, our lists of contacts are critical, just like their anonymity.”

  Jake looked seriously sceptical. “You mean like Peterson and the other pillars of society at Midecon?”

  Davidson brushed his comments aside, trying to minimize Jake’s scepticism. “Look, our involvement with Midecon and their client Ashram Energy is critical to our strategic plan for stabilizing the Emirates, yet this Senator Johnson and his Arms Appropriations Committee, keep sticking their noses in.”

  Jake couldn’t resist yanking Davidson’s chain yet again. “You mean this FBI undercover agent could be working for Senator Johnson, because he thinks you’re spending too much time and money on these Middle East militants?”

  Davidson pounded the table again. “Dammit, that’s why we need you to take this assignment, to find out what you can about this FBI mole and why the FBI are investigating our activities!”

  Jake looked at him as if to say ‘You gotta be kidding me’! He thought for a moment before answering. “Still not interested,” he eyed Davidson speculatively. “And I want you to understand very clearly what I’m about to say. I’m now convinced that my wife and her friend were murdered and I will find out who killed them, and when I do, there’ll be some body bags needed. As for this Senator Johnson and your so-called FBI mole, they can go fuck themselves!”

  Davidson took a deep breath, close to exploding at this impudent subordinate, trying to remain calm. “That’s absolute garbage and you know it. You would be well advised to follow orders, Agent Harrigan, There’s also one other thing you might want to know.”

  “Such as?” Jake looked interested as Davidson played what he hoped would be his trump card.

  “Mahmoud Ashram’s sons are pissed off big time that somebody iced their father and they’ll do whatever it takes to get whoever did it.”

  Davidson’s veiled threat took Jake completely by surprise. Here he was, his boss already threatening to sell him out to the very people, whose father he had been given orders to terminate. The hairs were standing out on the back of his neck again and he had gone from disliking Davidson to hating him real quick.

  Jake was incredulous. “But you ordered the hit on their old man in the first damn place. I assumed my orders were legit?”

  Davidson gave a wicked smile. “And they were, but as I said, Jake, everyone has a hidden agenda,” he walked to the door, a triumphant look in his eye as if he had won the argument. “I will expect regular reports.” he goaded.

  Jake was unmoved. “Don’t hold your breath.”

  Davidson turned suddenly venomous. “In that case, have a nice life, Jake, at least what’s left of it!” he steamed out, slamming the door.

  Jake took another drink. “Nice guy!” he was in total shock. The last thing he expected to hear, was his very own boss threatening his safety if he didn’t agree to take on an assignment. Charges of insubordination, disciplinary action, yes, but actually threatening to send rabid Arab dogs to kill him to avenge the death of their father, was just unbelievable!

  He sat back, looking out of the window, with a new perspective on Nancy’s death. He now knew that Sarah was Senator Johnson’s mole in Midecon, even though he would not give her up, at least not yet. He also surmised that the fact that Agent Davidson was now begging him to uncover Sarah, indicated that the CIA and Midecon were desperate and had something to hide.

  It was also giving him a reason as to why his wife was murdered. Nicole had told him that Nancy had overheard something she perhaps shouldn’t have and he was now totally convinced of the involvement of the Ashram Energy sons, the CIA and Midecon in a clandestine arms deal. Maybe that was what Nancy had overheard and now, the Ashram Energy involvement could get considerably worse, particularly if Davidson decided to sell him out to the venomous Ashram sons, to exact revenge on their father’s killer. He needed another drink and then some sleep in that order.

  Sleep didn’t come easily. Jake was still seething at the way that Nancy and Nicole had been murdered, just to satisfy someone’s ‘hidden agenda’. This brought back into close focus Jake’s own role in the termination of Mahmoud Ashram. Just as Nancy and Nicole had been innocent pawns in the CIA’s secret agenda, Ashram, in his own way, had been terminated because he had the integrity to refuse any involvement in clandestine arms trading. This went straight to the very core of Jake’s current misgivings concerning his present role with the CIA.

  He surmised that the USA wasn’t at war with Ashram Energy, but killing the CEO seemed in order to fulfill some hidden agenda for the likes of Jennings and Davidson. Unfortunately, it was people like Jake, who had to live with the collateral damage, whatever it may be.

  Anxious to clear his head, Jake put on a warm jacket and walked across the hallway to his neighbor’s apartment to take Bruno for his evening walk. His neighbor would be back in a couple of days and that would be one less chore to worry about, even though he quite enjoyed the company of the dog.

  CHAPTER 14

  It was a cold but sunny morning on the day of Nicole’s funeral and a large gathering of friends and relatives were there to pay their final respects. Nicole’s parents Jim and Betty, were clearly devastated at the loss of their daughter and they were both being comforted by their other children and close relatives. Among the mourners were Nicole’s friends and some of her colleagues from Midecon, including Janis.

  When the service at the graveside came to a close, Janis stood there with tears in her eyes, tears that were a mixture of sorrow at the loss of a colleague and a death that Janis couldn’t help but think may somehow be connected to the death of Nancy. The guilt that Janis was feeling after having reported that Nancy may have overheard a critical conversation, was still giving her sleepless nights.

  Across the cemetery, alone with his thoughts and away from the mourners, Jake looked on, reflecting on the woman who had merely tried to help him and had paid for it with her life as a result. He would have loved to have told her parents what was going on, but with no concrete evidence as yet, he couldn’t possibly be so cold-hearted as to intrude on what was already a day of anguish for a grief-stricken family.

  He looked across at Janis, assuming that she was filling in for the absent Peterson, totally unaware of any current misgivings that she was having about her current role in Midecon.

  CHAPTER 15

  In the opulent Ashram mansion, Jamal was already looking at CCTV footage from the convention center. The view outside the men’s room, since CCTV cameras were not allowed inside, showed the four Arabs leave after Mahmoud entered and moved off camera. Video of Jake, with his head bent forward, was then seen as he entered the men’s room. Later, the view of Jake was much clearer as he was seen leaving the men’s room.

  Jamal screamed at the Technician. “Stop! Go back slowly!” they rewound the tape and Jamal screamed again. “Right, stop there!” The Technician stopped the tape and a view of Jake’s face came on the screen. Jamal grabbed the Technician’s shoulder. “Okay, now magnify the image,” The Technician did as he was told and a larger picture of Jake filled the screen. Jamal looked venomous. “Now, save the image, I need to send it to the Americans.”

  “Yes, my brother.” the Technician replied.

  Jamal looked at the picture of Jake on the s
creen. “Now I know what you look like, prepare to die a thousand deaths, infidel!” He would have been considerably less confident, however, had he known that the ‘infidel’ was not only very well known to the CIA, but he had also been warned that Jamal and his men could be coming after him.

  Going over to the USA to kill the unsuspecting Jake was one thing, but to attempt to do it when the quarry was expecting it, was a scenario that Jamal had not even considered. Did the treachery of the CIA operatives know any bounds?

  CHAPTER 16

  Sarah drove into the Midecon parking garage, arriving for the day. She got out of her car and as she stood up, she looked across the parking lot and saw Jennings pull up, get out of his car and head inside the building. This guy seemed to be a frequent visitor lately.

  She walked quickly, but nonchalantly behind him towards the reception desk. He approached and the receptionist recognized him. “Good morning, Agent Jennings,” she began. “Can I help you?”

  He smiled. “Yes, is Mr. Peterson available, please?”

  The receptionist smiled. “One moment, sir, I’ll check,” she picked up the phone and dialled a number. “Hi, Janis, this is reception. Agent Jennings is here to see Mr. Peterson,” she listened for a moment and then turned to Jennings. “Of course, sir. You know the way. He’s expecting you.”

  Jennings smiled. “Thank you very much.”

  To one side, Sarah had been going through her routine of checking her mail and she had already moved ahead of Jennings towards Peterson’s office suite. She was hoping to make her presence inconspicuous, but still hoping to pick up any pertinent information that she could, regarding Jennings’s visit.

  When Jennings arrived in the outer area of Peterson’s office, Sarah was already standing close by the communal copying machine, going through the motions of copying a document, within earshot of Peterson who had just come out of his office waiting for Jennings. The two men greeted each other cordially and walked towards the door of Peterson’s office, already in conversation. Peterson was the first to speak. “What do you need, Ted?”

  Jennings lowered his voice, but not sufficient that Sarah couldn’t hear. “Jamal’s on his way in and he’s looking for blood!”

  Sarah was thinking fast. So, an angry Ashram son was heading into town. Would he be travelling alone? At least she would have something to discuss with the senator.

  The two men entered Peterson’s office and closed the door behind them. Sarah looked across at Janis, sitting there at her desk. She walked over. “Hi, Janis, are you okay?”

  Janis looked briefly startled. “Sure, what do you need?”

  Sarah smiled disarmingly. “Oh, nothing, I just wanted to let you know that the copier is out of paper.”

  Janis smiled thinly. “No problem, I’ll take care of it.”

  Sarah smiled and walked away, a pile of useless copies in her hand. She would have been extremely upset if she had known that it was Janis who had literally signed Nancy’s death warrant on that fateful day, even though she was only doing her job.

  Back at her desk, Janis’s hands were trembling slightly as she gazed through the window. The past few days had not been good for her and the sleepless nights had been even worse. Although she had not discussed any of her current worries with her boss, she was having considerable trouble dealing with the guilt that she was experiencing, ever since she had alerted Peterson and Jennings to Nancy’s presence outside her boss’s office.

  Janis had finally realized that there were some strange things happening around her at Midecon. She had been showering one morning when her husband Bob had seen the telecast announcing Nicole’s death and knowing that she was a colleague of Janis, he had told her what happened. What he didn’t see, was her throwing up in the shower after he left. Janis was now afraid to speak to anybody at Midecon, particularly since she realized that one wrong word to the wrong people, possibly even to her boss, and a person could end up dead!

  Inside Peterson’s office, the two men were still deep in conversation. Peterson was curious. “So, Jamal has a CCTV mug shot that we suspect is Harrigan?”

  Jennings smiled and answered. “Yes.”

  “And does he know who he is?”

  “No, that’s where we come in.” Jennings looked malevolent.

  Peterson was thinking out loud. “You mean we throw Harrigan to the wolves?”

  Jennings was enjoying himself. “More like desert scorpions, but exactly. As far as we are concerned, Harrigan is a known local contractor, probably hired by one of Mahmoud’s competitors or enemies.”

  Peterson was following his line of reasoning. “That way we get rid of Harrigan and the knowledge of our dealings will die with him, just as it did with his wife!”

  Jennings finished the sentence for him. “And we conclude the deal as planned, my soon to be rich friend!”

  Peterson suddenly frowned. “And if anything goes wrong?”

  Jennings put his arm round Peterson’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, it’s foolproof!”

  “Famous last words!” Peterson replied. After Jennings left, Peterson sat staring vacantly out of the window. Less than a couple of weeks earlier, he had been a willing accomplice to smuggling sensitive defense material out of the country, into the hands of known terrorists, that in itself was a treasonous offence, but now he was an accomplice to double murder with a possible third to follow, if Jennings was successful in steering the venomous Arabs towards the unsuspecting Jake Harrigan. At least, he surmised that Jake was unsuspecting, but what he didn’t realize was that Davidson had already forewarned Jake in a roundabout way that the bad guys were coming. For a man like Jake, that was all he needed to know.

  CHAPTER 17

  The doors of the immigration area at Dulles Airport in DC slid open and Jamal, his brother Anwar and their five bodyguards, hurriedly moved into the terminal. Jamal couldn’t wait to get on the trail of the infidel as soon as he got the relevant information that he needed. However, he and his cohorts had no idea that their adversary was perhaps the most lethal operative in the CIA. Jamal turned to one of his bodyguards. “Get the car and organize the weapons, I need to make a call.”

  The bodyguard rushed off as Jamal clicked on his phone and dialled a number as they continued to walk briskly through the terminal.

  Jennings answered. “Yes?”

  Jamal was anxious. “This is Jamal, did you get the picture of the infidel that we sent you?”

  Jennings was ready for him. “As a matter of fact we did. We have intel that could be most useful!”

  Jamal looked enthused. “And the address?”

  Jennings tried to keep it brief. “I’ll text it to you. And remember, you didn’t get this information from me.”

  Jamal gave a venomous smile. “Do not worry, my friend, the infidel will die and then we will resume our unfinished business.”

  Jennings was pleased. “Call me when it’s done and make sure you leave no loose ends, the Feds are scrutinizing our every move.”

  Jamal answered. “He will beg for death! Ma’a as-salaama.”

  Jennings heaved a sigh of relief. “Until our next meeting.” Jamal was really thirsty for blood and more than eager to exact revenge on this American.

  * * *

  Jake made his weekly pilgrimage to the cemetery, unaware of any pending danger, to lay fresh flowers on Nancy’s grave. He always had a brief chat with Nancy. He bent down on one knee. “Well, my sweet angel, it looks like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and it cost you dearly. I’m also really sorry to tell you that the bad guys also killed your friend Nicole. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m gonna rain hell on the gutless bastards who did this to you, to me, to us!”

  He stood up and walked sadly to his car with an overwhelming feeling of emptiness as he drove away, deep in thought.

  * * *

  Senator Johnson was walking on the treadmill in the senate gymnasium, a high tech retreat for heavy politicians, who may have attended one too many lunc
heons in someone’s honor. At his age, he was fighting a losing battle with his waistline, but psychologically, it made him feel better. His phone rang and he answered after checking the caller ID. He wiped his face with a towel. “Yes, Sarah?”

  “I’m sorry to disturb you, Senator,” she began, “But I thought you’d like an update. Can you talk, sir?”

  Johnson was alone. “Yes, no problem. What’s goin’ on?”

  Sarah continued. “Well, Jennings was at Midecon again today and met with Peterson. It seems that Jamal Ashram and presumably his entourage are heading into town and they are not happy campers! That’s all I heard, sir.”

  Johnson brought the treadmill to a stop. “Hmm, I wonder what put a burr under their saddle?”

  Sarah was thinking out loud. “Hard to say, sir,” she thought for a moment. “And I may be wrong, but I’ve been thinking.”

  Johnson smiled at her intuitiveness and interrupted her. “Go on, I’m listening?”

  She collected her thoughts. “Well, sir, on the one side, we’ve got Jamal and his brother who just lost their father to an unknown assassin and on the other side, we’ve got Jake Harrigan, who just lost his wife in what could well have been a staged accident to presumably cover something more sinister,”

  Johnson was trying to follow her reasoning, the remnants of the previous nights over indulgence and the half bottle of claret over lunch still lingering as she continued. “Just think about it, Senator. Jamal’s father was iced and Harrigan’s wife was also killed under strange circumstances, while working on the Ashram Contract. The common denominator could be the Harrigan family and most importantly Jake Harrigan, a known CIA operative, who for all we know, could also be an assassin, I tried accessing his file but it was way above my clearance level.”

  Johnson’s brain was slowly clearing. “You mean Harrigan could be the one who killed their father? And if he did, d’you think that Jennings would sell out Harrigan to reach his own ends?”