by Bryan Murray
ASSASSIN 2
SLEEPING DOGS
A Jake Harrigan Thriller (Book 2)
By
Bryan Murray
Copyright © 2014 Bryan Murray
License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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The characters, events and company names in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to known persons, living or dead, or to private companies is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Books in the 'Assassin' Series of Jake Harrigan Political Thrillers
Book 1 - 'Assassin'
Book 2 - 'Assassin 2 - Sleeping Dogs'
Book 3 - 'Assassin 3 - The Wrong Man'
Book 4 - 'Assassin 4 - First Son'
AND NOW
Book 5 - 'Assassin 5 - Sitting Ducks'
It is suggested that for much more enjoyable reading, each of the separate stories above should be read in sequence.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Epilogue
PROLOGUE
For Jake Harrigan, the 31-year-old, rugged-looking Irish-American, the day had been extremely stressful to say the least. The government SUV with smoked windows had taken Jake back to his car in a parking lot on the outskirts of Washington DC, far away from the cameras and prying eyes of the news media, where the in-camera senate inquiry had been held and where Jake had been the material witness.
The hearing had been of such a sensitive nature that all media personnel had been excluded from the proceedings and witnesses like Jake and those who had followed him, had been brought into the hearing under strict secrecy. Only the elite panel of senators who were conducting the inquiry had been aware of the identities of the various witnesses involved.
It had all started when Jake, who had been a lethal, ‘black-ops’ assassin for the CIA, had been sent on a mission to Dubai to terminate the CEO of Ashram Energy, a large privately-owned oil company, who had refused to work with rogue CIA agents on illegal arms sales to so-called ‘strategic’ terrorists in the Emirates, even though the intended victim’s subversive sons had been more than happy to deal with the CIA on behalf of their terrorist friends.
Jake’s wife Nancy, who he had adored, had worked with Midecon, a large defense contractor in Washington DC, and unknown to Jake, she had also been working on a supply contract for the very same Ashram Energy Company, totally unaware that Jake had been sent to terminate their CEO. She had no idea what Jake did for the CIA.
In what had then been a tragic coincidence, she had accidentally overheard a conversation at work indicating that her boss at the defense contractor was also involved with the CIA in the multi-million dollar illegal arms deal with the sons of the owner of Ashram Energy and their terrorist friends and that they were setting Jake up in case anything went wrong after he had terminated the CEO of the company, Nancy had been in total shock to hear them discussing Jake as if he were a hit man!
Janis, the personal secretary to Nancy’s boss, Bill Peterson, had told him that Nancy may have overheard his conversation with CIA Agent Jennings and sadly, later in the day, Nancy had been seriously injured in a faked freeway accident on her way home, courtesy of the CIA.
It had all happened when Jake was returning home from Dubai after completing his mission and narrowly escaping the angry sons and their bodyguards of the man he had terminated.
He had rushed to the emergency room, but his wife had died in his arms. Jake had been devastated and after Nancy’s funeral, when his wife’s friend and colleague Nicole had visited him, she had told Jake that just before the accident, his wife had told her that she had heard something she shouldn’t have at the office and that she was convinced she was being followed.
Jake had thanked Nicole for the information, only to be shocked the next morning to see on TV that the night before, after Nicole had left his place, she had apparently jumped from her apartment balcony to her death, a suspected suicide!
Jake had not bought the suicide story and when he had gone to check on the wreck of his wife’s car, he had been shocked to see that the rear tire that blew out had been set deliberately, using a device that the CIA used frequently, one that Jake himself had also used in the past.
He had then been convinced that both women had been murdered and when he went in search of the rogue CIA agents responsible, they in turn had told the irate Arab sons and the bodyguards of Jake’s victim in Dubai, that Jake, acting as an independent contractor, was the man who had killed their father and patriarch, even though they themselves had given Jake the order to make the ‘hit’.
Jake had then found himself being hunted down by the armed Arabs who came over to the US to avenge their father and also to make sure that the illegal arms shipment to their terrorist friends in Dubai was dispatched on time.
In a clandestine, after-hours visit to the offices of Midecon, to try and discover more about what was going on, Jake had met Sarah Schaumberg, an Israeli-born FBI agent, who had also been monitoring the illegal activities of the CIA. She had been working undercover in Midecon for Senator Johnson of the Arms Appropriation Committee in Washington.
After agreeing to work together, Jake and Sarah had finally tracked down the rogue CIA agents and the Arab CEO’s sons and their lethal bodyguards and in a massive, explosive shoot-out in the Container Port of Baltimore, they had not only stopped the illegal arms shipment from leaving the US, but they had also terminated all the bad guys with the exception of the main culprit in the death of Jake’s wife and her friend, CIA Agent Ted Jennings, together with his assistant, Agent Sharon Gilbert. They had, however, captured them both and turned them both over to the FBI.
Consequently, the next morning, Jake and Sarah had then found themselves right in the middle of a massive news story and some very fast damage control was set in motion to save the government from serious embarrassment.
Senator Johnson, who Sarah had been reporting to, had come up with the outrageous cover story where the rogue CIA agents that Jake had terminated for their role in killing his wife and her friend, ha
d been made to look like the dead heroes of a brave and courageous joint task force of CIA/FBI operatives, who had succeeded in stopping an illegal arms shipment by Arab nationals, all of whom had been killed. An extremely tall story, but the public had actually bought it.
Although Jennings and Sharon were still in custody, awaiting the outcome of their actions, Jake had been determined to bring them to justice and it had been he who had persuaded his dead wife’s widowed mother and the parents of her murdered friend Nicole, with the full support of the Civil Liberties Union, to demand a full senate inquiry into the unbridled, lethal activities of the CIA.
The months following the shoot-out in Baltimore, had then been a period of major career transition for Jake and Sarah. In the political aftermath of that fateful night in the container port, they had both resigned from their respective government agencies and formed their own security firm ‘Harrigan and Schaumberg Security’ and the fledgling company was now growing nicely.
And so, after a day when Jake would have much preferred to have been involved in his new business, he was now driving back to his apartment in the Washington DC suburbs, after a gruelling day of sad, memory-wrenching testimony.
CHAPTER 1
Jake drove along, his mind going back to the night before, prior to the senate hearing, when he had received a totally unexpected visitor. It was Janis, the former secretary of Bill Peterson, the crooked VP of Midecon, who Jake had killed in the shoot-out in Baltimore.
She had stopped by to ask for Jake’s forgiveness and when he had asked her for what, she had told him that it was she who had reported to Peterson and Agent Jennings that his wife Nancy may have overheard what they had been discussing in private that had later resulted in Nancy’s death.
She had told Jake that she had no idea that Nancy would die and that she had been riddled with guilt ever since. Her husband, a local cop, had suggested that she talk with Jake to ease her conscience. Jake had told her not to worry, she was only doing her job and couldn’t possibly have known what her bosses were going to do.
Jake’s mind then went back to the harrowing events earlier in the day at the Senate Inquiry. From the time that Senator Johnson had released the bogus cover story to the press, that the bad guys were really the good guys on that violent night in Baltimore, Jake had been extremely apprehensive that the long-awaited inquiry would eventually bring Jennings and Sharon to justice.
The very fact that they could both claim that they were only acting under orders from their boss at the time, Senior Agent Davidson, another rogue agent who Jake had killed in the fire fight, gave the CIA and their counsel, the very opportunity they needed to blame it on Davidson, who they had claimed was acting without authority.
Also, since the damage control and cover story after the shoot-out in Baltimore those months ago, everything that went on that fateful night, was now the subject of a gag order and had been specifically excluded from any testimony in the inquiry, with the only testimony allowed having been that which pertained to the actual deaths of Jake’s wife and her friend.
As he pulled into the driveway of his apartment, Jake was now wishing that he had killed Jennings back there in Baltimore while he still had the chance. Now both he and Sarah would have to await the outcome of the senate inquiry. He checked his mail and went into the apartment, fixing himself a Scotch.
He sat back, reflecting on the events of the day and realized that his worst fears of Jennings walking away free, were a distinct possibility. He had seen firsthand the way that government agencies could close ranks in times of self-preservation and in this particular instance, their sacrificial lamb to enable them to do this had been Jake himself.
James Brickland, the venomous CIA counsel, had been totally clinical in discrediting Jake’s testimony, citing lack of evidence in the deaths of both Nancy and Nicole.
In Nancy’s case, the fact that her wrecked vehicle was now probably just a slab of metal somewhere, had completely discredited Jake’s claim that the tire had been tampered with and he was kicking himself that he hadn’t taken a photo of the damaged tire that night after inspecting the wrecked vehicle.
With respect to Nicole’s murder, besides the fact that there were no witnesses to her being pushed from her twelfth floor balcony by a CIA assassin, the CIA had also managed to dig up old medical records on Nicole, showing that she had received psychiatric help after losing a child out of wedlock some years previously and that she had also been treated for clinical depression when her sister had died in an auto accident two years previously. All giving credibility to her suicide, particularly on a night when she had been discussing with Jake the loss of her close friend Nancy.
Adding to this, the claims by Brickland that Jake’s testimony was that of a deeply saddened husband, angry at the world that his wife had been killed while he was out of the country and blaming it on bosses who he clearly had personal conflicts with. As a result of this, Jake had been convinced that Brickland’s well-spoken rebuttal had been more than enough to sway the stone-faced senators against him.
* * *
A sudden knock on the door brought Jake back to the present. He opened the door and a police officer, dark-haired, in his 40’s was standing there. He looked like a man with the worries of the world on his shoulders, with red-rimmed eyes as if he had been crying. Jake looked closely at the man, he certainly didn’t recognize him.
“Can I help you, officer?”
The man looked extremely stressed. “Mr. Harrigan?”
Jake nodded. “Yes, what can I do for you?”
The officer looked nervously both ways up and down the street. “I wonder if you could spare me a few minutes?” he asked. Tears were brimming in his eyes as he continued. “I’m Bob Mercer, Janis’s husband!”
Jake remembered that Janis had told him her husband was a cop and he held the door open. “Sure, come on in,” he motioned Bob to a chair. “You look like you could use a drink?”
Bob nodded. “Scotch is fine, thanks.”
Jake quickly poured a drink and offered it to him and all of a sudden, those hairs on the back of his neck were beginning to stand up. He wasn’t sure how to start the conversation as he asked “Is everything okay, Bob? How’s Janis?”
At the mention of his wife’s name, Bob’s eyes started to fill with tears. “She’s dead!” he answered, the words sticking in his throat.
Jake’s heart missed a beat. “My God! What happened?”
Bob was still clearly in shock. “I got home early and found her dead on the floor. It looked like she’d tripped over the carpet and hit her head on the coffee table. They seem to think she must have had a massive heart attack!”
Jake was trying to absorb the facts. “Who’s they, Bob?”
“The police, medics and now the coroner.” he replied
Jake’s mind was racing ahead. “I’m so sorry, Bob,” he was already wondering why the man was here on his doorstep, so soon after such a devastating loss. He probed gently. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Bob was searching for words, still deep in shock “I guess being a cop, I don’t take anything at face value and I just felt that I needed to stop by, see what your reaction would be.”
Jake was already thinking ahead, his own suspicions already firmly in his mind, but he certainly didn’t want to alarm the grieving husband in front of him at this stage. “Reaction?” he asked.
Bob looked him in the eye. “I’m not a fool, Mr. Harrigan!”
“Call me Jake.” Jake added.
“Yeah, right,” Bob continued. “And I’ve been following what was going on in Midecon up to the time that Janis left and I’m sorry about your wife and her friend. I guess that’s why I’m here.”
“I’m listening?” Jake urged, feeling the man’s pain.
Bob blew his nose. “As Nicole used to say, ‘One wrong word in Midecon and a person could end up dead’ and that’s why I wanted to chat to you, Jake. I knew all about the senate inquiry today and I was t
he one who suggested to Janis that she came to see you last night.”
Jake nodded. “Yes, she told me.”
Bob continued. “From the time of the death of this Nicole woman, I’ve been real wary concerning the deaths of people who appear to have had an accident.”
Jake was not anxious to get involved, having seen what happened to Nicole after her visit to see him, but he realized that this guy was no fool. “So, what can I do to help?” he asked.
Bob looked him in the eye “I just wanted to ask if you really thought it was an accident?”
There it was, out in the open. Decision time, Jake! He could see in Bob, the heart-rending grief that he himself had suffered that fateful day in the hospital at Nancy’s death bed, and try as he may, he simply couldn’t let this poor man carry on confused, without giving him some feedback. For all he knew, it could simply have been exactly what it seemed, an unfortunate accident and if so, there was little he would be able to do to help.
However, his mind went back to the old adage, that when a death happened under suspicious circumstances, it always warranted a closer look. Now, the question on the table was, did he think that Janis’s death was an accident?
His mind went back to the previous night when he and Janis had been discussing the events of months ago. They had talked about Midecon, Nancy and Nicole and the question that was now burning a hole in his mind was, were they being monitored?
He thought of the way that Benny, the CIA assassin working for Jennings, who Jake had also terminated, had obviously been stalking Nicole before pushing her off her balcony, and he wondered if any visitors calling on him since that fateful night, were also being monitored. If so, the fact that Janis had even offered to testify at the inquiry, if necessary, would have raised alarm bells in the agency like there was no tomorrow, especially on the day before the inquiry itself!
He decided to answer Bob’s question honestly. “Do I think it was an accident? Well, Bob, you’re in law enforcement, you’ve visited many a crime scene, so I would suggest that you take a closer look at the death scene photos. You say you found Janis’s body on the floor and her head appeared to have hit the corner of the coffee table?”
