The Assassin Galveston

Jim West

Description

After failed attempts to penetrate the veil of one of several oyster wholesale companies operating in Galveston, Texas, suspected of involvement in the production and distribution of the deadly drug, fentanyl, Black Water is called upon to solve the mystery.
Using investigative techniques unavailable to the DEA because of restrictions imposed by numerous laws, Black Water discovers the suspect company is involved in a most unique distribution chain, stretching from Mexico across over half of the United States.
Beginning with the head of one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico to dozens of wholesale and retail oyster companies across the country and down to the street dealers, they are given approval to eradicate the entire distribution chain by whatever means necessary.
Knowing the number of deaths attributed annually to fentanyl, Black Water is only too willing to do what the government cannot do: Remove everyone involved.

Sujets

• Jim
• West
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 01 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669865117
• Langue: English

Extrait

Other Books by Jim West
DNAlien
DNAlien II
DNAlien III
Genocide by GMO
Living Within a Strange Mind Volume I
Living Within a Strange Mind Volume II
The Making of an Assassin Atlanta
The Assassin Baltimore
The Assassin Chicago
The Assassin Denver
The Assassin El Paso
The Assassin Fort Worth








The Assassin Galveston









Jim West



Copyright © 2023 by Aurora Publications.
The mounted cowboy over the state of Texas is the trademark of Aurora Publications.

Library of Congress Control Number:
2023901856
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-6512-4
Softcover
978-1-6698-6510-0
eBook
978-1-6698-6511-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.





Rev. date: 01/31/2023




Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
849656



CONTENTS
Foreword

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
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76



My special thanks goes once again to one of my longest friends (you’ll notice I didn’t say oldest) John Fleenor. Tirelessly, he plows through my incoherent ramblings and tries to make sense of the nonsensical with a sharp wit and more than a few snide comments about my writing sk ills.
Thanks, John. You’ve done well. Again.



Foreword
With the increasing death count rising year after year, fentanyl has become one of the most dangerous drugs to ever hit the streets of America.
When two milligrams, one-fourteenth of an ounce, of this drug can be fatal, and the profits to the cartels in Mexico are astronomical, it’s become one of the leading causes of death among US adults aged eighteen to forty-five.
According to the CDC, this surpasses the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19, suicide, and car accidents combined. From 2018 to 2020, over nineteen people out of one hundred thousand in that age group died of a fentanyl overdose.
If a hundred pounds of fentanyl crosses our wide-open border with Mexico, the cartels collect just shy of $9 million. One hundred pounds—enough to kill over twenty thousand people.
Last year over eleven thousand pounds came into our country, over half of it across the border with Mexico. That’s enough to kill over 246 million of our citizens. That’s over half of our entire population.
And the income to the cartels? Over $985 million . Almost a billion dollars a year. And we don’t seem to have the will to stop it.
My opinion—anyone dealing or transporting even a single ounce should be considered to be the same as a serial killer. That is exactly what anyone providing fentanyl in any form, whether it’s mixed with heroin, cocaine, or some form of methamphetamine, should be considered. They are carrying enough to kill thirteen people.
The worst part—fentanyl is increasingly being mixed with the other drugs so the user isn’t aware they are taking it. If a person wants to ruin their lives with drugs, that’s their choice. But when lethal drugs, such as fentanyl, are combined without the users’ knowledge, it’s the same as if the dealer shot them.
Add in the fact our justice system doesn’t want to prosecute drug dealers unless certain conditions exist, such as possessing a firearm, you have the recipe for disaster. I don’t care who the current or next administration in Washington DC is—this should no longer be tolerated.
We need adult leadership to close the border. That alone won’t stop fentanyl from coming in, but it’ll reduce it by half. And we need a justice system that isn’t just a revolving door. Not just for drug-related crimes, but for all crimes. With no punishment, why would anyone want to obey any law?
My heart goes out to those families who have lost a loved one to this most devastating drug to ever hit our country, especially those whose children have unwittingly overdosed. And it appears fentanyl is now coming into the country disguised as candy. The cartels are now targeting our youngest children. This has to be stopped.



Chapter 1
Jim Lashley had just finished the last three-day trip for the month flying for American Airlines. After telling the crew goodbye, he boarded the small tram that carried him to the employee parking lot.
As he approached his airport car, actually a rather unremarkable ten-year-old double-cab pickup, he hit the remote button to unlock the doors. Tossing his roll-a-board suitcase in the rear seat, he stood motionless beside the front door contemplating the next ten days until his first flight of the upcoming month.
Finally opening the door and climbing in behind the wheel, he started the engine and realized he dreaded going home. It had been over six months since he had avenged his wife Jennifer’s death at the hands of the men who had been intent on assassinating him.
Her death, now over a year and a half ago, and his long painful rehabilitation, still haunted him. Every step in the house seemed to echo with loneliness. The phantom aches from the numerous bullets that had ripped into his muscles, broken bones, and shattered teeth never abated.
The everyday mundane things like the smell of early morning coffee brought back haunting memories of what he had lost. Had it not been for his longtime mentor and friend, retired Marine General Gene Barker, he doubted if he would have made it this far without falling out of society.
If he hadn’t met the General in Vietnam while serving his second tour as a mud Marine on a Long Range Recon Patrol team, Jim’s life would have never arrived at this point. It was Gene who got Jim into the program to become an officer, a Marine F-4 pilot and later a pilot for American Airlines.
It was while attending the Marine Aviation Cadet (MarCad) program at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida, that Jim met Jennifer. After their marriage and the end of the Vietnam War, the General had him transferred to a Marine Reserve unit and brought him into the Black Water family.
Before being hired by American Airlines, Jim used his deployment with the Marines to execute numerous highly controversial assignments for Dark Water, the clandestine enforcement arm of Black Water’s international operations.
Once a pilot for American, he was transferred to Muddy Water, the domestic enforcement arm of Black Water. It was because of his association with Black Water, and more specifically Muddy Water, that targeted him by a rival corporation trying to compete for the extremely lucrative security contracts.
Now after twenty years of having Jennifer in his life, Jim was struggling to fill the void left by her death. And General Gene Barker was the only person who got a glimpse into the shell he had become. The rage that had burned fiercely while he exacted his revenge on the men who had killed his wife no longer provided a reason to continue.
Always a man who confronted each obstacle head on, he found no way to face this current problem—no solution to the constant loneliness that seemed to shroud every waking moment. The more he tried to find a spark of happiness in his life, the more it seemed to evade him.
Knowing just sitting in the parking lot wasn’t a solution, Jim started his pickup and headed for the airport exit. As he left heading south to join 183 eastbound, he reluctantly headed home.
Joining I-35 as he neared Dallas, he grew even more apprehensive. His options for the next few days were unlimited, but he couldn’t see any that might provide the least bit of satisfaction.
Before Jennifer’s death, they would have relished such free time. Now it seemed almost a curse to Jim.
As he maneuvered to take I-30 eastbound, the only thing that seemed logical right now was to find some qui