Dutchman

'It's him, the Dutchman...'Other names had come and gone in his lifetime, but the Dutchman always was his identity. It had been the name given him decades ago by a Frenchman. It was the only name that had stuck. The same Frenchman had given the African his nickname. The African was the only one who knew where he was or that the person known in some circles as the Dutchman was still alive. There was only one reason the African would come to Santa Fe without writing him first. Those who hired them both for a high profile contract nearly four decades ago knew the man called Jake Koenig in Santa Fe was the Dutchman. He knew the CIA or a rogue group within the Company along with a shadowy group of Cubans were deeply involved in the contract he and the African fulfilled years before. He was also certain they, perhaps with other accomplices, were the driving force behind the attempts on his life that came after the contract was completed. Now the Dutchman would have to use all his skills to survive the squad of Cuban assassins sent to finish the job others had left undone. He was older now, and slower. Perhaps he wouldn't escape this time. His only hope was to get his story out. To that end, he arranged to meet with someone. 'Pat, how would you like the story of a lifetime?' Jake asked Pat while they sat at the Ore House Bar in Santa Fe. Pat Montoya was a young reporter for the Santa Fe New Mexican. Even though the New Mexican was a small town paper serving the capitol of New Mexico, he was not immune to the dream of getting that one big story, a story that defines ones career. That simple question posed by Pat's neighbor, Jake Koenig, was all it took for Pat to become involved with the domain of assassins. It was a world where intrigue, plots, counterplots, and conspiracies were commonplace. He also was about to enter a world where those who wanted the truth to remain hidden could extract severe retribution upon those who happened upon the truth. By agreeing to meet with Jake, Pat knew that even listening to the story had a degree of risk. He was about to meet the Dutchman and hear an assassin's story. He had no idea how hearing that story would change his life forever.