Furious Jones and the Assassin’s Secret (26 page)
Read Furious Jones and the Assassin’s Secret Online
Authors: Tim Kehoe
“Excuse me, does Dubuque have a taxi service?”
T
he cab dropped me off
at the Dubuque Regional Airport. I tipped the cabbie ten bucks and walked inside. There was a little café directly in front of me. I was starving. I ordered a Coke and scanned the menu for something to eat.
The girl behind the counter brought me my Coke and asked, “Can I get you anything else?”
“Ah, you don't have any scones, do you?”
“Absolutely. What kind?”
“What do you have?”
“Blueberry, lemon, and cinnamon.”
“Perfect. I'll take one of each.”
I sat down at a table to eat all three scones when my phone buzzed once. It was Emma.
“Hey, how is my favorite journalist?”
“Pretty awesome, actually.” Emma sounded excited.
“Yeah? Did you write the story of the year?” I asked.
“More like the story of the decade,” she said. “They're running my story in the
Chicago Tribune
today, Furious. Can you believe that? On the front page, no less!”
“Of course they are,” I said, smiling. “You're good.”
“Mrs. Dalton, the woman who runs the program here at Northwestern, she said it was as fine a piece of investigative journalism as she has ever seen from a student.”
“That's awesome, Em. You deserve it.”
“It's all thanks to you. How are you doing? How is Trish's mom?”
“She's not out of the woods yet, but they think she's going to be okay,” I said.
“And you?” Emma asked. “How are you doing?”
“I'm all right.”
Other than I lost everything in my life
, I thought.
“What happens to you now?”
“I'm thinking I might disappear for a while. Think things through a bit,” I said.
“Will you let me know where you disappear to?”
“As long as you don't report it,” I said.
“Anonymity is part of the craft,” Emma said. “Besides, as far as my readers are concerned, Furious Jones is dead.”
She paused and then added, “I can't believe I have readers!”
“I can. I'll call you as soon as I settle someplace,” I said.
“Okay. Take care of yourself.”
“You too.”
And then, almost as if on cue, my cheap, crappy phone died. I stood up and threw the Coke can and the cheap phone in the trash.
I passed a newspaper stand on my way to the ticketing counter. Large stacks of my dad's new book,
Double Crossed
, were piled out front. I grabbed a copy and handed it to the clerk.
“I hear Carson Kidd actually dies in this book,” the clerk said, pointing to the cover.
“Yeah, I heard something like that too,” I said.
I paid for the book and walked toward the ticketing counter. I stared at the photo of my dad on the back of the book while waiting in line. He looked like the big man. Like a world famous adventurer, fearless explorer, tough-guy author. And in the end, he was. He did the right thing. He stood up to the bad guys and tried to fix the wrongs.
“Sir? Sir?” The man behind the counter was motioning to me.
“How can I help you?”
“Yes. One ticket, please.”
“To where, sir?”
I looked back down at my dad. I had spent most of my life wanting to make him proud. Wanting him to notice me.
“To where, sir?” the man behind the counter asked again.
“Ahhh . . .”
I
pushed the door open
and walked into Douglas's room.
“I've got one condition,” I said.
Douglas looked shocked to see me. “And what's that?”
“I'll do it if you promise that we'll nail each and every one of those Salvatores.”
Douglas smiled. “With you onboard, Furious, I believe we will.”
“Then I'm in.”
Tim Kehoe
is an author and the inventor of numerous toy products, including the world's first colored bubbles, called Zubbles, and he was recently named one of America's 100 Best by
Reader's Digest
.
In 2005 Zubbles was awarded
Popular Science
's Best of What's New Grand Award. He lives with his wife and five children in Minnesota. Visit him online at
timkehoe.com
.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2014 by Kehoe Companies LLC
Jacket photograph copyright © 2014 by Aaron Goodman
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Jacket design by Chloë Foglia
Jacket photo-illustration by Aaron Goodman
Interior design by Hilary Zarycky
The text for this book is set in Electra.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kehoe, Tim.
Furious Jones and the assassin's secret / Tim Kehoe.âFirst edition.
pages cm
Summary: Upon witnessing his famous spy-novelist father's murder just seven months after his mother's death, twelve-year-old Furious, now an orphan, seeks clues in his father's latest novel to stop the murderer before he or she strikes again.
ISBN 978-1-4424-7337-9
ISBN 978-1-4424-7339-3 (eBook)
[1. MurderâFiction. 2. SpiesâFiction. 3. AuthorsâFiction. 4. AssassinsâFiction. 5. OrphansâFiction. 6. Organized crimeâFiction. 7. Adventure and adventurersâFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.K25177Fur 2014
[Fic]âdc23
2013009281