Free Furious Jones and the Assassin’s Secret by Tim Kehoe

going on?”
    Gibson got up, walked over to Douglas’s desk, and sat on the corner. “As you know, the Salvatore crime syndicate has had a major operation in Chicago for years.”
    â€œYeah,” Kidd said, wondering what in the world this had to do with him. It would be illegal for the CIA to do anything about the Salvatore syndicate in Chicago. That was clearly FBI territory.
    â€œWell,” Gibson continued, “my team has had a pretty good track record of infiltrating them.”
    â€œOkay,” Kidd said impatiently.
    Douglas must have seen that Kidd was growing restless, so he jumped in.
    â€œThe FBI was doing a stellar job until a local Chicago woman named Jensen got in the way,” Douglas offered.
    â€œGot in the way how?” Kidd asked.
    â€œJensen took over the local gang task force in Chicago,” Gibson said.
    â€œAt the city level,” Douglas added.
    â€œRight,” Gibson continued, “and she has been cutting very aggressive deals with all of the Salvatore scumbags. She’s offering up sweet cash rewards and witness protection plans to anyone who is willing to rat out other Salvatore scumbags. She’s cut over forty deals this year. Many of them with stone-cold killers.”
    â€œSo she’s giving these murderous thugs a pile of cash, a new identity, and moving them to some secret location where they get to live out the rest of their miserable lives in comfort,” Kidd said, “instead of rotting in some jail cell?”
    â€œYes. She’s moving the mobsters and their fami­lies,” Gibson said. “She’s moved over two hundred people so far.”
    â€œOur taxes at work,” Kidd commented.
    â€œNot ours,” Douglas corrected. “This is a state-run witness protection program. Not federal.”
    â€œA state-run program?” Kidd asked. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
    â€œIllinois is the only one in the union that does it,” Gibson answered. “But here is the best part. The state isn’t that big and, according to Illinois law, all the witnesses must remain in the state.”
    Douglas jumped in and stole Gibson’s thunder. “So some idiot in the Illinois state department has put all the witnesses in the same small town. Some small tourist town called Galena. Can you believe it?”
    â€œThat’s messed up,” Kidd agreed. “But I still don’t see how this is a CIA issue.”
    â€œYou’re right,” Gibson said. “It’s an FBI problem. Or at least it should be.” Gibson sighed.
    â€œThe FBI has a mole,” Douglas said. “The Salvatoresyndicate has been tipped off that all of their rats are sitting fat and happy in Galena. Gibson believes that someone on his team leaked it.”
    â€œSo the FBI has a mole.” Kidd threw his hands up in the air. “Welcome to the club. The Salvatores have penetrated every level of government in almost every country on the planet. It’s unbelievable.” Kidd laughed and then continued, “But so what? They’ll send some guys to kill all of these turncoats and everyone wins. Problem solved, right?”
    â€œYou’re right,” Gibson agreed. “That’s exactly what they’ve done. The bodies have already started to appear. Apparently the Salvatore syndicate is so excited about wiping out these traitors, they’re calling in their best assassin.”
    Recognizing the opportunity, Kidd sat up in his chair.
    â€œThat’s what I thought too,” Douglas said.
    â€œThe Sicilian? They sent the Sicilian to Galena?”
    Douglas nodded. “It is the perfect storm. The perfect opportunity to take out the world’s top assassin.”
    â€œMan.” Kidd stood up. “For the first time ever, we know where the Sicilian is? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kidd was giddy with excitement. It was like Christmas morning. He had spent