The Agenda Read online

  The Agenda

  A Special Agent Dylan Kane Thriller

  by

  J. Robert Kennedy

  From the Back Cover

  FROM USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR J. ROBERT KENNEDY

  THE SYSTEM HAS FAILED

  THE COUNTRY IS ON ITS KNEES

  CAN DYLAN KANE SAVE IT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE?

  Despite his heroic efforts, CIA Special Agent Dylan Kane’s girlfriend is kidnapped by overwhelming forces in a brazen daylight assault. Later the same day, a series of crippling cyber-attacks bring the cities of America to a standstill, and a former assassin for a secretive cabal known as the Assembly, arrives at CIA Headquarters, claiming to know who is behind the hacks. She demands the assistance of Kane in eliminating her previous employers, and in exchange, will tell him where his partner is held.

  With the cities starving and his girlfriend critically wounded, Kane is in a race against time to save not only the country he has sworn to protect, but the only woman he has ever loved.

  And in the end, he may be forced to choose between the two.

  From USA Today Bestselling author J. Robert Kennedy comes The Agenda, an action-packed page-turner torn from today’s headlines, that will leave you breathless until its riveting conclusion. Filled with intrigue and action, romance and humor, The Agenda delivers like only Kennedy can.

  About J. Robert Kennedy

  With over 800,000 books sold and over 3000 five-star reviews, USA Today bestselling author J. Robert Kennedy has been ranked by Amazon as the #1 Bestselling Action Adventure novelist based upon combined sales. He is the author of over thirty international bestsellers including the smash hit James Acton Thrillers. He lives with his wife and daughter and writes full-time.

  "A master storyteller." — Betty Richard

  "A writer who tells what we are thinking but sometimes afraid to say." — Bruce Ford

  "Kennedy kicks ass in this genre." — David Mavity

  "One of the best writers today." — Johnny Olsen

  "If you want fast and furious, if you can cope with a high body count, most of all if you like to be hugely entertained, then you can't do much better than J Robert Kennedy." — Amazon Vine Voice Reviewer

  Get 5 Free eBooks!

  Get the J. Robert Kennedy Starter Library by joining The Insider's Club and be notified when new books are released!

  Find out more at www.jrobertkennedy.com.

  Follow me on Facebook, BookBub, GoodReads and Twitter.

  Books by J. Robert Kennedy

  The James Acton Thrillers

  The Protocol

  Brass Monkey

  Broken Dove

  The Templar's Relic

  Flags of Sin

  The Arab Fall

  The Circle of Eight

  The Venice Code

  Pompeii's Ghosts

  Amazon Burning

  The Riddle

  Blood Relics

  Sins of the Titanic

  Saint Peter's Soldiers

  The Thirteenth Legion

  Raging Sun

  Wages of Sin

  Wrath of the Gods

  The Templar's Revenge

  The Special Agent Dylan Kane Thrillers

  Rogue Operator

  Containment Failure

  Cold Warriors

  Death to America

  Black Widow

  The Agenda

  Retribution

  The Delta Force Unleashed Thrillers

  Payback

  Infidels

  The Lazarus Moment

  Kill Chain

  Forgotten

  The Detective Shakespeare Mysteries

  Depraved Difference

  Tick Tock

  The Redeemer

  Zander Varga, Vampire Detective Series

  The Turned

  Table of Contents

  Get 5 Free eBooks!

  Table of Contents

  Beginning

  Preface

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  37

  38

  39

  40

  41

  42

  43

  44

  45

  46

  47

  48

  49

  50

  51

  52

  53

  54

  55

  56

  57

  58

  59

  60

  61

  62

  63

  64

  65

  66

  67

  68

  69

  70

  71

  72

  73

  74

  75

  76

  77

  78

  79

  80

  81

  82

  83

  84

  85

  86

  87

  88

  89

  90

  91

  92

  93

  94

  Acknowledgements

  Don't Miss Out!

  Thank You!

  About the Author

  Also by the Author

  For Police Constable Keith Palmer of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection command, who stood his ground, unarmed, and paid the ultimate price, as well as the other victims of March 22, 2017.

  “We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrial civilization to collapse.”

  Maurice Strong, September 1st, 1997

  “It is hardly possible to maintain seriously that the evil done by science is not altogether outweighed by the good. For example, if ten million lives were lost in every war, the net effect of science would still have been to increase the average length of life.”

  G. H. Hardy, A Mathematician's Apology, 1940

  Preface

  The technologies described in this book are real, and the hacks described are technically possible, many having already occurred, a recent minor example the hacking of Dallas’ emergency sirens. The perfect storm described in this novel has yet to occur, but the rapid collapse of urban society is a near certainty should it.

  As of 2010, over 80% of Americans lived in urban centers. In these massive cities, there is nearly zero food production—all food and water are transported in. Should a nation’s transportation system be compromised, and its fresh water systems threatened, those within the cities could find themselves thirsty and starving within days.

  Leaving a simple, devastating question that demands to be answered by all law-abiding citizens.

  When your child is starving, when your significant other runs out of their medication, and when your government appears powerless to stop those responsible, how long would it be before you took matters into your own hands, and acted to save your family?

  1

  Bronx, New York

  Larissa Williams tightly gripped the package under her jacket, trying to look as inconspicuo
us as possible, a difficult task with so few people on the streets. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, had already fled New York City in the aftermath of the attacks, yet millions still remained, huddled in their homes, terrified to go out. Under a dusk to dawn curfew, most voluntarily extended it to the daylight hours for their own protection.

  The city was shut down.

  Businesses were closed, transit was at a near standstill, and tens of thousands of cars were abandoned in the streets, paths cleared along major routes by the National Guard using bulldozers. During the first 48 hours, there had been rioting and looting, but the Guard now had orders to shoot looters on sight, returning a frightening calm to the city.

  Her stomach rumbled.

  As a nurse, she had been deemed essential personnel, so was first in line for rations if she showed up for work. Which she did. It was the right thing to do, but she didn’t do it for the food. In fact, she had passed on the rations. She had plenty of food at home.

  Or rather, she did.

  Her apartment had been looted, all their food and water taken, and the babysitter murdered, leaving her three kids alone until she could reach them. It had been hours since she had received the desperate call from her young son, and had heard nothing since, not even from her brother who had promised to help.

  And yet that wasn’t what preoccupied her thoughts.

  Before leaving the hospital, she had done something she felt horrible for doing, something she had never thought she could do.

  She had become a thief. One of the very looters she had urged shot just yesterday.

  All the food she had to feed her three kids was now gone, and they would be starving by tomorrow. She was racked with guilt, though felt justified, albeit only slightly. She was, after all, feeding children, not herself.

  But what if she were caught?

  Would the National Guard accept her reasoning? She doubted it. She’d probably be arrested, for she had taken food from the mouths of the sick and dying.

  Yet she had no choice. Weren’t the lives of her three young children worth as much as the patients this food had been earmarked for? And many of those people were certain to die. Didn’t it make more sense to feed those who could live through this crisis?

  The government kept promising relief, yet it never arrived. It could come tomorrow, or next month. Those responsible for the catastrophe promised it never would, and right now, she believed them more than Washington.

  A glass bottle rolling on pavement had her head swiveling toward the alleyway she was passing.

  “What you got there, lady?”

  Her heart slammed as footfalls echoed.

  She ran.

  Part of her didn’t want to look behind her, the prospect of seeing whoever was chasing her more terrifying than not knowing. She spotted a National Guard unit ahead at the next intersection, at least a dozen armed men that were there to protect her.

  Yet she was a thief, breaking the law.

  Would they shoot her for looting? And if they did, who would take care of her children? She glanced behind her, finding herself alone. One of the soldiers walked toward her, tapping his watch. “Five minutes, ma’am!”

  “I-I’m almost home.”

  He nodded at her, returning to his post. She dared not get any closer, the bulge in her jacket too obvious.

  She took a chance.

  She dashed down an alleyway, a foolish venture, yet she had little choice. Somebody grumbled from between two dumpsters, yet she pressed on as fast as she could. She could see the street just ahead, her apartment building on the other side, when two men stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

  “What’s the hurry?”

  She cried out, trying to push through, but it was useless. They grabbed her arms and the food she had managed to conceal for so long fell to the ground.

  “Holy shit!” The two men scrambled for the loot, and she took advantage. She raced past them, bursting out onto the street, tears streaking her face as she rushed for the doors of her building, a siren wailing a warning of the impending curfew, and she left to wonder where the next meal for her children would come from.

  Tonight, she had failed her family, her helpless children, and soon they’d be sick enough to join those in the hospitals, too weak to go on.

  If they were still alive.

  She unlocked the door to her apartment building, stepping inside and pulling it shut, feeling safer, though not safe. For in today’s America, friends and neighbors were no more. No one could be trusted. The country was collapsing, and the government was powerless to stop it. She had stolen food from the dying, then had it stolen from her.

  And tomorrow, God willing, she would do it all over.

  For there was no one left to help her.

  She was on her own.

  2

  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  Three days earlier

  CIA Special Agent Dylan Kane sprinted as hard as he could, a grin on his face, the hormones pulsing through his system giving him a natural high that only vigorous sex with a beautiful woman could provide.

  Though that was frowned upon on the streets of Philadelphia.

  He glanced over his shoulder to see the only woman he had ever loved keeping pace, less than ten feet behind him, taking advantage of the slight delays he encountered as he threaded his way through the crowds of pedestrians.

  Lee Fang had changed his life in ways he could never have thought possible. He was madly in love with the former Chinese Special Forces soldier, the brave woman having chosen what was right over what was safe, forced to betray her country in order to save it. She now lived her life in exile in the United States, a grateful American government providing her with a pension and strict conditions that were driving her crazy.

  She was a doer, a woman of action, with skills that would make most men envious, yet she was forbidden from using any of them, lest it attract attention. The Chinese had been quiet so far, no sabers rattled, insisting she be returned. And if she kept a low profile, along with a shut mouth, they’d probably leave it that way, though it meant never returning home, never holding down a fulfilling job, and lying to any friends she might make.

  But with him, it was different.

  He had been the one who had extracted her, who had saved her life, so she knew exactly who he was and what he did, and he her. It meant they could be completely open with each other, no secrets beyond operational.

  They could be themselves.

  Like right now.

  Two highly competitive athletes, sprinting all-out in the streets of Philly, without, for a moment, a care in the world. His career as a spy, a member of the CIA’s Special Activities Division of the Special Operations Group, had been one of quiet distinction, a solitary life with few friends, and a family left in the dark, his relationship with his father estranged because of it.

  His cover story as an insurance investigator for Shaws of London had never sat well with his father, especially after blindsiding him with the announcement he had left the military, a profession for which his father had tremendous respect. It had been a betrayal, never forgiven, and a sore spot at almost every rare family gathering, no matter how desperately his mother tried to keep the peace.

  But that lonely life had changed when he had met Fang, though not immediately. She was a job, a package to deliver. Yet he had felt sorry for her, understanding her isolation, and that had led to an unexpected friendship that had quickly blossomed into much more.

  He loved her.

  He had even told her so.

  He had told plenty of women he loved them over the years, his marks sometimes needing to hear those words before they spilled their secrets or offered up their bodies for clandestinely taken compromising photos.

  But this had been the first time he had actually meant it.

  Yet he was tormented, tormented by a secret eating away at him, a secret he could never share without shattering the heart of the woman he loved.

&n
bsp; Somebody dropped on the sidewalk ahead of them, a crowd quickly gathering. Kane eased up and pushed through the crowd, an Asian man gripping his chest.

  “I think he’s having a heart attack!”

  Kane looked about. “Is there a doctor here?”

  Two black SUVs skidded to a halt only feet away, Asian men—Chinese—pouring out.

  Ahh, Christ!

  He stepped back when the man on the ground suddenly grabbed him by the leg. Kane delivered several quick blows to the man’s throat, leaving him choking for air when Fang cried out. He glanced over his shoulder to see two men hauling her toward the open door of one of the vehicles. Kane reached for his gun, finding none.

  He had left it at Fang’s apartment.

  This was supposed to be a jog, one she took every day alone, one he took every day with her when visiting.

  He frowned.

  That’s how they knew where we’d be.

  Apparently, the Chinese had been searching for her the entire time, and now they had her.

  Not if I can help it.

  He spotted a shoulder holster on the decoy and yanked the weapon, rolling to his side then popping up on a knee. He squeezed off two quick rounds, dropping one of the men holding Fang, then fired two more, eliminating the other. Fang grabbed their weapons, blasting double-barreled at the targets to her right as Kane continued to fire at those on her left. Six were down, another six remaining, when something hit him and every muscle in his body seized. He dropped to his knees, the sensation overwhelming, a sensation he had experienced in training and real life.

  Somebody had tased him.

  He collapsed to the ground, his entire body shaking, his muscles tensed to the point of exhaustion, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the decoy holding the device with one hand, his heavily bruised throat with the other.

  Fang cried out, rushing toward him when she too was tased from within one of the vehicles. She tumbled forward, smacking her head hard on the pavement. Kane tried to reach for her but couldn’t, completely incapacitated by the 50,000 volts coursing through his body. The surviving attackers grabbed her and hauled her inside the lead vehicle, its tires chirping as it sped away, the other quickly following.