The Rasner Effect Read Online Free Page B

up her own father for the hit.
    The Duke Organization proved to be everything Colonel Duke had hoped it would become, and worse. What they lacked in intelligence and experience, they made up for in pure psychopathic tendencies. They left dozens of bodies in their wake as they showed very little discretion, caution or care toward innocent civilians in the way of their intended targets. It wasn’t long before their actions caught the government’s attention and need for indirect involvement. That involvement was to hire a mercenary who would be responsible for putting an end to the Duke Organization.
    Should he have taken the job? It was a question Jake asked himself every single day throughout that long chase. Not that he really had a choice either way. They made him an offer he dared not refuse.
    The chase began on the day the FBI picked up Jake for his illegal occupation and brought him before General Straker. Instead of arresting him, Straker offered a deal. Jake would get a fresh start and a clean record in return for accepting a job for the United States government. His task—to put an end to the reign of the organization created and formerly ran by his past Commanding Officer—and do it with stealth.
    An entire year, that’s how long the chase lasted, always coming close but missing his intended targets. Jake suffered his own personal losses, which included the assassination of his younger brother, the FBI agent that set up his deal with the General. Suddenly, Jake no longer had an ally among his new employers. Even worse, he found himself in a war that had turned personal.
    The day came when all the information he had gathered—including his own hunches based on a year of studying the group—finally paid off. Jake intercepted information on the Duke organization’s next target. It was just a matter of where and when they would strike. It turned out to be on a New York City bridge the intended target traveled over daily.
    It was late afternoon when the members of the Duke organization set up their homemade bomb. Jake made his sneak attack on the co-leader—the man who took out the Colonel. The man, however, detonated the bomb earlier than planned. He then stayed behind to fight what turned into a hand-to-hand battle while everything burned around them. It was the ultimate sacrifice, giving the rest of the group enough time to flee.
    Although Jake’s memories of the day’s conclusion remained foggy, he knew it was not his actions that brought an end to the battle. His opponent’s defeat came at the hands of the government soldiers who’d intervened, despite the promise he received from General Straker there would be no interference until the job was done, or Jake was dead.
    Feeling used, betrayed, and dissatisfied, all Jake had left to show for those twelve-months was payment—his criminal record wiped clean.
    Jake received what he was promised, a clean record, but it cost him his identity as well as his life. He was placed into the witness protection program, and the high priced mercenary known as Jake Scarberry was no more.
    After seven years, Jake had finally accepted his new identity as Charles Wright. He now worked as a custodian in various locations throughout the town of Alligator Pond, Florida.
    Of course, the biggest mission of his underground career, taking down the Duke Organization, was never again acknowledged or discussed. The main core of the group had not been heard from since that day. For the most part, they all remained inactive and impossible to find. The government covered up the Duke Organization’s actions, referring to the deaths as accidents or random murders and the blown up buildings as gas leaks or electrical fires.
    The afternoon bombing of a crowded New York City bridge, to kill one target, was blamed on an international terrorist who committed suicide just before he could be caught. The accused terrorist, who took the blame as well as the credit, was a radical from the Middle