Unlikely Assassin (ePub)

Jordan Smith's wife dies of cancer. With the unwitting help of his niece, the irate senior citizen tracks down and murders the insurance company exec responsible for denying several of their claims for treatment. The homicide is assigned to two Fairfax County detectives, beautiful Simone Fitzhugh, the rising star of the department, and her partner and mentor, Michael Demidov, an intimidating Russian expatriate. The detectives soon come knocking on Smith's door, but regard him as an "e;unlikely assassin"e; because of his age. One of their other cases is finding Linville "e;Snakearm"e; Arkus, an elusive drug dealer. Arkus has put out a contract on the two detectives. To complicate matters, Demidov has come to realize that he's in love with his partner. He does not want to burden her with unwanted attention and puts in for retirement. Before he goes, he hunts down Arkus and "e;defenestrates"e; the dealer from the tenth floor, ensuring ensuring Simone's safety after he's gone. "e;Inconsistencies"e; in Demidov's account of the incident lead to his suspension, leaving Fitzhugh to investigate the murder of the insurance exec by herself. Smith's niece Dannie adds up some clues and realizes that her uncle may be responsible for the insurance exec's death, so she solicits Smith's help in solving the problem of her husband Sean's cruel boss. Sean is near his breaking point, and Dannie asks her uncle if he can "e;do anything."e; He can, and does. However, a private detective is on to Smith and inveigles him to do a high profile assassination. With the help of private eye Joe Aronson's ex-secretary/hacker, Smith shoots Stin Morley, a corrupt aide to a corrupt US Senator, catching the aide in flagrante with the Senator's wife. Her nude and screaming picture is on YouTube within hours and causes a media feeding frenzy that oscillates between outrage and hilarity. The Feds step in and predictably hijack Simone's investigation. Despite being an amateur at "e;wet work,"e; Smith has been careful and has left no forensic evidence until the mistake that links him to Morley's murder, and by extension, to the previous unsolved murders. Events culminate in a confrontation between Smith and an Assistant Director of the FBI. He shows Smith the evidence gathered by the Agency and the Fairfax police , but to Smith's surprise offers him a deal. Smith accepts, but it is not at all what he expected-the Assistant Director, recognizing that eliminating Morley Smith's was a valuable contribution to the country, wants him to keep on "e;working,"e; but now for the FBI.