MEANWHILE, IN ARIZONA
This is an excerpt from JK’s latest crime thriller – The Lost Bird.
Miles to the west of Texas, Pat Monaghan took the last sip of coffee from his thermos as he drove down one of what felt like a thousand state and county roads in desert Arizona. He checks the look of his new aviators in the mirror and shakes his head. The other ones fit better.
He pulled to the side of the road to recheck his MapQuest and Garmin apps and was happy when he heard a familiar ringtone on his phone. His quest had taken him off of the media radar in Palm Springs, but the search had been hot and frustrating.
“He Sis. How’s it going?”
“Striking out at every turn.”
Pat put his white Jeep four-door in drive and got back on the road.
“Well, I’m not doing much better. I started with where we landed near Blythe, and I’m driving up and down every road out here just looking. I have a list of every known runway, and I’ve checked quite a few already, but no luck. Nada.”
“Now listen to me. I’m serious. There’s more out there in the desert than most people realize. Drug traffickers, people traffickers, bad guys who don’t want to be found, and crazies with boundary issues. Drive onto the wrong property, and they’ll shoot first and leave you for the birds.” Pat smiled as he listened to his little sister. She might be with the FBI and be good with a gun, but she was still his little sister, no matter how much she proved otherwise.
“That’s okay. I brought a few friends along, just in case.”
“What? Who’s with you? I thought just about everyone was treating you like a traitor.”
Pat laughed despite the enormous pain he felt inside. He had been beating himself up with doubt and second-guessing for days and was surprised by how many friends had turned out to be the fair-weather kind.
“I’ve got Mr. Sig and Mr. Sauer with me, Linda,” he said as he popped the center console and looked at the semi-automatic handgun and two boxes of ammunition he always kept handy, just in case.” As he drove, he watched a red Peterbilt tractor-trailer coming from the opposite direction and felt the Jeep shake from the air the rig was pushing as it flew by.
“So, nothing on your end? No leads? Nobody saw or heard anything. It’s kind of hard to miss a plane like that.”
“Nope. Whoever did this was good, and despite everyone’s efforts, we have nothing to go on. The police finally found the drone and the phones. The thieves rigged it and blew it up as it reached the golf course near the airport. The FBI lab has all that now, but they said, “Don’t hold your breath.”
# # #
In Texas, Chris, Susan, Will, and Billy Bradshaw sat quietly in a large booth in the back of the same bar Chris frequented and had been assaulted outside of. They shared stories about Leo, their time in the Marines, Susan’s track record for dating knuckleheads, and how proud their parents had been of Will’s grades in school and his success running cross country. The blonde server, who usually tended bar, delivered another round of drinks, soda, and chicken wings and expressed her condolences a second time. Chris smiled and said thanks, but his attention was elsewhere. He was squinting to see the TV behind the bar. Susan turned to see what had caught his attention.
“Still no trace of her. No leads,” she said as she read the scrolling news headlines. Bradshaw shook his head.
“Your granddaddy flew in one of them, didn’t he?” Before Susan could answer, Will perked up with pride.
“He sure did. Was a tail gunner at only twenty years old.”
Susan sipped her beer and said something that caught Chris by surprise.
“His sister’s with the FBI.”
“Who?”
“That B-17 pilot. I was just reading his bio on my phone.”
Chris thought for a moment about what Susan had said, but then he saw Will’s eyes grow, and he knew someone, more like something, was approaching their booth. Chris turned to see for himself just as Childress and Liz arrived. Chris began to get up, but Bradshaw was in the way and didn’t budge.
“We know we’re not welcome here, but I just wanted to say we’re sorry about your father,” Childress said, speaking directly to Will and then turned to Chris.
“Sorry about your father. You might remember I lost mine when I was a kid. You were lucky to have had Leo as long as you did.” Chris thought his jaw would explode as he exerted the pressure of a grizzly bear. He pushed at Bradshaw again and exhaled in frustration as his friend simply turned toward him and shook his head no. Then, Chris saw something. He stared at Childress and Liz’s hands. They held them while they tried to talk with Will and didn’t notice they were being studied. That was it! He could see ink on both hands, but they seemed to spell something out when held together. Chris cleared his throat and extended his right hand the length of the table toward Childress. He watched how, at first, Childress and Liz both began to react by letting go and stepping back, but then Childress gave Chris a puzzled look and extended his hand. As Chris grasped it and shook it hard, he unclenched his jaw long enough to utter, “I had forgotten you lost your dad that young. Thank you.” Chris watched as Childress looked at Will with surprise, causing him to miss Chris’ quick inspection of the tattoo on his hand, the one that read Almas.
# # #
Susan was stunned and almost gasped at what she saw. Before she heard her brother’s kind words, she expected it was a ploy and that he would rip Childress’ arm from his body. Instead, she saw a wave come across his face. She’d never seen it before and wasn’t sure if she should question it or let this play out. She knew Childress and Liz were no good, but with a police detective seated with them, she felt confident guns wouldn’t make an appearance. She unsnapped her bag on the bench between her and the wall, making access to the compact pistol a bit easier, just in case. Then, she had to say something. She just had to.
BestThrillers.com wrote, “Leave it to Kelly, who wowed us with a spy thriller set in the world of auto racing, to come up with a devious scam involving the Make-A-Wish foundation. In a book filled with highly memorable characters, Kelly does wonders with 70-year-old pilot Pat Monaghan. The alliance he forms with another determined veteran to make things right is a white-knuckled adventure for the ages. The Bottom Line: One of the most memorable heist thrillers of the past decade.”
TO ORDER a print or eBook version of The Lost Bird for yourself or as a gift on Amazon click here. To order a personalized, signed copy by the author write to Info@JKKelly.com