Flight 12: A Jonathan Quinn Thriller: Flight 12 Begins Series Book Read online

  FLIGHT 12

  A Jonathan Quinn Thriller

  Flight 12 A Jonathan Quinn Thriller Copyright © 2015 by Brett Battles

  All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  Cover art copyright © 2015 by Cory Clubb

  All rights reserved.

  Flight 12 A Jonathan Quinn Thriller is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For more information about the author, please visit www.brettbattles.com.

  FLIGHT 12

  A Jonathan Quinn Thriller

  Brett Battles

  Foreword

  Dear readers,

  What do you get when a dozen bestselling, award-winning mystery/thriller authors write brand-new material centered on one heart-stopping event?

  You get FLIGHT 12, the revolutionary follow-up by The Twelve to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling DEADLY DOZEN. The groundbreaking FLIGHT 12 series will feature a new release from each member of The Twelve, plus very special guests, with a conclusion so thrilling it could only come from the minds of our readers.

  Join The Twelve in the ongoing FLIGHT 12 project. Don’t just read about your favorite characters, participate in the story, win prizes, and see storytelling in a totally new way.

  The Twelve is delighted to present an exciting and unique reading experience we hope you’re going to love as much as we’ve loved writing it for you. Never before have 12 of your favorite thriller authors created an experience like this especially for you.

  FLIGHT 12 brings your favorite characters from The Twelve to life in 12 connected books, with a common ending and a terrific surprise epilogue. What is the epilogue, you say? Come along for the ride and we’ll all discover that together!

  We’ll have events and giveaways during the trip, and in the end, you will write “the rest of the story.”

  Sounds amazing, right? Not to mention exciting and fun as well!

  Who are the passengers on Flight 12?

  Allan Leverone’s Kristin Cunningham

  When an FBI sting goes horribly wrong, Special Agent Kristin Cunningham—alone, unarmed, and still recovering from a near-fatal gunshot wound—races against time to prevent a brutal human trafficker from escaping justice.

  J. Carson Black’s Laura Cardinal

  A young woman approaches Arizona DPS homicide detective Laura Cardinal at the fitness center they share, telling her that she is slated for death and wants Laura to investigate her murder. Laura’s about to revisit the worst homicide case of her life—and this time she might not make it out alive.

  Diane Capri’s Jess Kimball

  When her Taboo Magazine assignment reveals a chilling killer from a modern Italian crime family, Jess Kimball speeds to New York City’s JFK airport to catch Flight 12 to Rome, where Luigi and Enzo will be forced to choose between death and Jess.

  Cheryl Bradshaw’s Sloane Monroe

  A fancy hotel. A private getaway. For Sloane Monroe, rest has finally arrived, until the lights go out and her nightmare begins.

  Aaron Patterson’s Kirk Weston

  Kirk Weston has a problem—he can’t keep his big mouth shut and this time it could cost him his life. Trapped and beyond the help of his old partner in crime Mark Appleton, he has only one chance to escape. Sometimes life gives you lemons…so go bash some heads and hope it works out.

  Vincent Zandri’s Dick Moonlight

  For Dick Moonlight, easy love doesn’t always result in a happy ending.

  Michele Scott’s Evie Preston

  Evie Preston has the most difficult decision in her life to make. Remain in the here and now and pursue the dream opportunity she’s just been given, or find her way to the dark portal (from where she risks never being able to return) to discover what happened to her missing sister and dead boyfriend?

  A.K. Alexander & J.R. Rain’s Kylie Cain

  Kylie Cain and her team of PSI (psychic sensory intelligence) operatives must locate the only individual who is believed to be able to bring about world peace. It’s a race against time and villainess Orlenda Kobach, who seeks world domination under her order.

  Joshua Graham’s Xandra Carrick

  Having barely survived and thwarted recent terrorist attacks, Xandra Carrick wants nothing to do with the missing-children cases that end with their brutalized bodies discovered years later. Until her best friend’s five-year-old son gets abducted.

  Brett Battles’s Jonathan Quinn

  For Jonathan Quinn, there’s more than one way to make a body disappear.

  Carol Davis Luce’s Jessie Night

  Jessie Night, a witness to a grisly mass murder, must make a grim choice—run to save her own life, or stay and fight for the innocent man condemned to die for that crime.

  Robert Gregory Browne’s Nick Jennings

  When a killer resurfaces after a long absence, Nick Jennings dives into a cold-case investigation that hits far too close to home.

  Gary Ponzo’s Nick Bracco

  Someone is hiding a grave secret aboard Flight 12. Can Nick Bracco uncover this mysterious agenda before catastrophe strikes?

  What do all 12 of these passengers have in common?

  May 12 New York (AP): A Skyway Airlines flight carrying 375 passengers and 13 crew bound for Rome’s Fiumicino airport from New York’s JFK International Airport has disappeared off the radar overnight, according to airline spokespersons. Skyway Flight 12 had left New York at 12:00 midnight Monday evening and was said to be operating normally and in good weather conditions. According to sources on the ground, the plane, a Boeing 767, was piloted by an experienced flight crew who issued no alarm of any kind prior to vanishing somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean east of Newfoundland. The 767 is said to be a reliable twin-engine carrier that’s been in service since 1982 with an excellent safety record. While a catastrophic mechanical failure is presently being investigated, says an FAA spokesman, a criminal event is not being ruled out. Both sea and air rescue crews have been dispatched from the US, Canada, Newfoundland, and Ireland. This is a developing story.

  So, thriller fans, it’s time.

  Fasten your safety belts. Return your seat backs and tray tables to their full upright and locked position. Review the safety information card in your seat-back pocket once more before takeoff.

  Ready? Here we go! Enjoy the ride on each of the 12 books in the exciting new series where Flight 12 Begins.

  And then, CLICK HERE to join The Twelve in the ongoing FLIGHT 12 project. Don’t just read about your favorite characters—participate in the story, win prizes, and see storytelling in a totally new way.

  We’re really looking forward to hanging out with you. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

  Never miss out! More Flight 12 adventures are coming soon!

  For new-release notification, free offers, gifts, and general information for subscribers only, please sign up for The Twelve List!

  CLICK HERE to Sign Up For The Twelve List!

  Your Flight 12 Crew:

  A.K. Alexander

  Brett Battles

  J. Carson Black

  Cheryl Bradshaw

  Robert Gregory Browne

  Diane Capri

  Joshua Gr
aham

  Allan Leverone

  Carol Davis Luce

  Aaron Patterson

  Gary Ponzo

  J.R. Rain

  Michele Scott

  Vincent Zandri

  CHAPTER 1

  MONDAY, MAY 11th 1:30 AM

  THE BRONX, NEW YORK

  “TELL ME IT’S not just me,” Nate said as he adjusted his end of the plastic-wrapped body he and Daeng were carrying.

  Jonathan Quinn pointed at some rebar scraps on the ground as he led the way. “Watch your step. There’s more junk over here.”

  “I mean, seriously,” Nate went on. “A construction site? In New York City? How much more Goodfellas can we get?”

  “Didn’t Goodfellas take place in Brooklyn?” Daeng asked.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “And I don’t remember a construction-site scene.”

  “For God’s sake, you get what I mean, though, right?”

  Quinn paused at the top of an earthen ramp leading down into what would be the basement of the soon-to-be-erected seven-story building. The concrete for the support pillars had already been poured, but the floor and walls of the basement had not. That was scheduled to happen in a little over six hours.

  Once his colleagues caught up, Quinn let them rest for a couple seconds before saying, “Let’s get this done.”

  Wooden forms built to contain the concrete that would become the walls surrounded most of the basement, while the floor was divided into sections, most of which were filled with crosshatch rebar. The hole Quinn and his men had dug before retrieving the body from the van was in one of these sections.

  The rebar had been difficult to move, but they’d managed to lift a portion high enough to dig under. The dirt from the hole now kept the metal bars aloft.

  Nate might have been trying to be funny with his Goodfellas comment, but the sentiment pretty much summed up why Quinn wasn’t happy with the location. As cleaners, their specialty was to make bodies permanently disappear. This could mean anything from dumping a well-weighted package into the ocean to burying an assignment in an out-of-the-way location. Though he and his colleagues had put bodies below basements before—in fact, had done so recently—those had all been discreetly located.

  A construction site in the middle of the Bronx? Not so much.

  And therein lay Quinn’s second problem with the job.

  This was one of those rare cases when the client didn’t want the body to disappear forever. Just long enough so that when it was found—via an anonymous tip and the use of a jackhammer after the building was completed—it would convey the appropriate message to the dead man’s colleagues. So the clients had chosen the site and ensured that the security officers who usually patrolled the location had been given the night off.

  Their message wasn’t hard to guess, but Quinn barely gave it a thought. The message wasn’t his job. The whats and the whys were almost always best left to the client—in this case Wright Bains Securities, an offshoot of MI6. Quinn and his team need only concentrate on the disposal of the package. But if he hadn’t done work for them in the past, he would have never taken this gig.

  It took all three of them to carry the body across the rebar to the burial location. They then unwrapped the plastic and guided the man into his grave. This would usually be the point when one of them would douse the body with the special chemical mix Quinn had developed. The lethal cocktail would ensure rapid decomposition, and within a few months there would be little left to find at all. But because the client had requested that the body remained identifiable, the chems stayed in the bag.

  They covered the man with the dirt they’d earlier removed and then smoothed it out, leaving no evidence that a hole had been dug there at all.

  Nate looked across what would soon be the basement floor. “Totally Goodfellas. Kinda makes you want to be here when they pour the cement.”

  “I’d rather head home,” Quinn said.

  “I’m with you,” Daeng said.

  The two men headed for the ramp. Behind them, Quinn heard Nate pick up the plastic the body had been wrapped in and hurry to catch up.

  “I just said kinda, not that I wanted to,” he said. “Man, you guys are no fun at all.”

  “You know, if you want the total Goodfellas experience,” Quinn said, “Daeng and I’d be happy to dig a hole for you.”

  “I bet you would.”

  When they reached the van, Nate shoved the used sheeting into a yard waste bag, cinched it closed, and tied off the top. It was now ready to be burned in the Dumpster they’d already picked out along their route to the airport.

  As Daeng pulled the van onto the street, Quinn’s phone vibrated in his pocket. After pulling it out, he was surprised to see the name on the display was Helen Cho.

  He thought about ignoring her, but knowing Helen would just keep hitting redial, he hit ACCEPT. “I’m in the middle of something. Can I call you back later?”

  “I know you are,” Helen said. “You’re doing that thing for Annabel Taplin.”

  Though he was annoyed that Helen knew what he was doing, it didn’t surprise him. She was in charge of a semi-autonomous US government intelligence agency based in San Francisco and seemed to have her fingers in a little bit of everything. Quinn and his team had been doing a lot of work for her recently, a budding relationship that filled the void left when Quinn’s previous main employer, the Office, had been dismantled. But Quinn wasn’t going to let her agency, or any organization, dominate his time like the Office had.

  “If you know I’m busy, why call me?” he asked, not hiding his displeasure.

  “Because if you’re still in New York, I have something I need you to do immediately.”

  “You heard me say I’m in the middle of something, right? Immediately’s not going to work.”

  “How much more time do you need?”

  “That’s not your business.”

  “Actually, I think it is.”

  “No. It isn’t.”

  She paused. “All right, maybe it’s not, but I have a serious situation in need of your talents that happens to be right there in New York. The problem is, I’m not sure how much longer we can keep the wraps on it, and the last thing I want is to see it splashed on the front page of the New York Post. Is there any way part of your team can finish your current job and you could move on to mine?”

  The truth was, once the plastic sheeting had been destroyed, they’d be done and could all move on to her assignment, but Quinn didn’t want her to know that. It could create unrealistic expectations for future jobs. “I might be able to do that, but I won’t be able to break free for at least a half hour.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  She paused. “Well, we’ll have to make that work, then. If you could get there sooner, I won’t complain.”

  “When did the subject expire?” he asked.

  “Approximately twenty minutes ago. I have a couple agents on scene who can brief you on the details.”

  “Where?”

  “Manhattan.

  CHAPTER 2

  MANHATTAN

  STICKING TO THE initial plan, Nate drove the van into Queens, where they set the plastic ablaze in the pre-selected Dumpster. From there, they went another seven blocks and exchanged the van for the rental sedan meant to take them back to the airport. While it would have been helpful to keep the van to transport the new body, Quinn was not about to use the same vehicle on a pair of unrelated jobs. The possibility of cross contamination was too great. He always kept jobs separate. Durrie had taught Quinn that. “If you don’t,” his old mentor had said, “and one goes south, it’ll take the other with it. Bad business.” They would have to appropriate a new vehicle in Manhattan.

  Being a little after two a.m., the drive into the heart of the city was easy, and soon they were parked three blocks from the Tribeca address Helen had given Quinn. Nate and Daeng grabbed the two duffel bags containing th
eir clean kits, and the three of them headed the rest of the way in on foot. When they reached the specified street, they paused at the corner and scanned the area ahead.

  “That’s it,” Quinn said in a low voice as he motioned toward a five-story red brick building. It was smashed between two similar structures, all of which were mixed-use, with apartments above ground-floor businesses.

  The restaurant on the ground level of the target building appeared closed—a sushi place, with a glass door on the left and a large window under an awning on the right.

  “I don’t see anyone,” Nate whispered.

  “Me, neither,” Daeng said.

  Quinn frowned. He had also not picked up signs of anyone. Where were these contacts of Helen’s?

  “Wait here,” he said.

  He crossed the street and circled a line of matching blue bicycles parked in gray docks before he turned down the street. He took a quick glance at the Japanese restaurant as he passed, but the interior was too dark for him to see anything. He had just reached the neighboring building and was contemplating his next move when he heard the door to the restaurant creak open behind him.

  “Quinn,” a voice whispered.

  Turning back, he saw an op named Leonard Tune stepping through the doorway. Quinn had worked with him on another of Helen’s jobs a month earlier.