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Thriller Examines Extraordinary Rendition

Action Pinpoints Issues in Constitutional Controversy


“Batista does it again when international intrigue collides with murder in Extraordinary Rendition! A high -priced Wall Street lawyer gets the shock of a lifetime...  law school never prepared him for this!  It's a fast ride--buckle up!"

--Nancy Grace, Attorney, TV Personality and NY Times Bestselling Author of Death on the D-List


When Ali Hussein—suspected terrorist and alleged banker for Al Qaeda—is finally transported from Gitmo to the US mainland to stand trial, many are stunned when Byron Carlos Johnson, pre-eminent lawyer and the son of a high-profile diplomat, volunteers as counsel.  On principle, Johnson thought he was merely defending a man unjustly captured through Rendition and water-boarded illegally. But Johnson soon learns that there is much more at stake than one man’s civil rights.

Hussein’s intimate knowledge of key financial transactions could lead to the capture of—or the unabated funding of—the world’s most dangerous terror cells. This makes Hussein the target of corrupt US intelligence forces on one side, and ruthless international terrorists on the other.  And, it puts Byron Carlos Johnson squarely in the crosshairs of both.

Pulled irresistibly by forces he can and cannot see, Johnson enters a lethal maze of espionage, manipulation, legal traps and murder. And when his life, his love, and his acclaimed principles are on the line, Johnson may have one gambit left that can save them all; a play that even his confidants could not have anticipated. He must become the hunter among hunters in the deadliest game.

Written by no-holds-barred-attorney Paul Batista, Extraordinary Rendition excels not only as an action thriller, but as a sophisticated legal procedural as well; tearing the curtains away from the nation’s most controversial issues.

Provocative. Smart. Heart-pounding. A legal thriller of the highest order.

CHAPTER 1

When the guard left, the iron door resonated briefly as the magnetic lock engaged itself. Byron sat in a steel folding chair. Directly in front of him was a narrow ledge under a multi-layered, almost opaque plastic window, in the middle of which was a metal circle.

Ali Hussein seemed to just materialize in the small space behind the partition. Dressed in a yellow jumpsuit printed with the initials “FDC” for “Federal Detention Center,” Hussein, who had been described to Byron as an accountant trained at Seton Hall, in Newark, was a slender man who appeared far more mild-mannered than Byron expected. He wore cloth slippers with no shoelaces. The waistband of his jump suit was elasticized—not even a cloth belt. He had as little access to hard objects as possible.

He waited for Byron to speak first. Leaning toward the metal speaker in the partition and raising his voice, Byron said, “You are Mr. Hussein, aren’t you?”

The lawyers at the Civil Liberties Union who had first contacted Byron told him that, in their limited experience with accused terrorists, it sometimes wasn’t clear what their real names were. There were often no fingerprints or DNA samples that could confirm their identities. The name Ali Hussein was as common as a coin. It was as though genetic markers and their histories began only at the moment of their arrest.
“I am.” He spoke perfect, unaccented English. “I don’t know what your name is.”

The circular speaker in the window, although it created a tinny sound, worked well. Byron lowered his voice.

“I’m Byron Johnson. I’m a lawyer from New York. I met your brother. Did he tell you to expect me?”

“I haven’t heard from my brother in years. He has no idea how to reach me, I can’t reach him.”

“Has anyone told you why you’re here?”

“Someone on the airplane—I don’t know who he was, I was blind-folded—said I was being brought here because I’d been charged with a crime. He said I could have a lawyer. Are you that lawyer?”

“I am. If you want me, and if I want to do this.”

All that Ali’s more abrasive, more aggressive brother had told Byron was that Ali was born in Syria, moved as a child with his family to Lebanon during the civil war in the 1980s, and then came to the United States. Ali never became a United States citizen. Five months after the invasion of Iraq, he traveled to Germany to do freelance accounting work for an American corporation for what was scheduled to be a ten-day visit. While Ali was in Germany, his brother said, he had simply disappeared, as if waved out of existence. His family had written repeatedly to the State Department, the CIA, and the local congressman. They were letters sent into a vacuum. Nobody ever answered.

Byron asked, “Do you know where you’ve come from?”

“How do I know who you are?”

Byron began to reach for his wallet, where he stored his business cards. He caught himself because of the absurdity of that: he could have any number of fake business cards. Engraved with gold lettering, his real business card had his name and the name of his law firm, one of the oldest and largest in the country. Ali Hussein was obviously too intelligent, too alert, and too suspicious to be convinced by a name on a business card or a license or a credit card.

“I don’t have any way of proving who I am. I can just tell you that I’m Byron Johnson, I’ve been a lawyer for years, I live in New York, and I was asked by your brother and others to represent you.”
Almost unblinking, Ali just stared at Byron, who tried to hold his gaze, but failed.

At last Ali asked, “And you want to know what’s happened to me?”

“We can start there. I’m only allowed thirty minutes to visit you this week. Tell me what you feel you want to tell me, or can tell me. And then we’ll see where we go. You don’t have to tell me everything about who you are, what you did before you were arrested, who you know in the outside world. Or you don’t have to tell me anything. I want nothing from you other than to help you.”

Ali leaned close to the metallic hole in the smoky window. The skin around his eyes was far darker than the
rest of his face, almost as if he wore a Zorro-style mask. Byron took no notes, because to do so might make Ali Hussein even more mistrustful.

“Today don’t ask me any questions. People have asked me lots of questions over the years. I’m sick of questions.” It was like listening to a voice from a world other than the one in which Byron lived. There was nothing angry or abusive in his tone: just a matter-of-fact directness, as though he was describing to Byron a computation he had made on one of Byron’s tax returns. “One morning five Americans in suits stopped me at a red light. I was in Bonn. I drove a rented Toyota. I had a briefcase. They got out of their cars. They had earpieces. Guns, too. They told me to get out of the car. I did. They told me to show them my hands. I did. They lifted me into an SUV, tied my hands, and put a blindfold on me. I asked who they were and what was happening.”

He paused. Byron, who had been in the business of asking questions since he graduated from law school at Harvard, couldn’t resist the embedded instinct to ask, “What did they say?”

“They said shut up.”

“Has anyone given you any papers since you’ve come here?”

“I haven’t had anything in my hands to read in years. Not a newspaper, not a magazine, not a book. Not even the Koran.”

“Has anyone told you what crimes you’re charged with?”

“Don’t you know?”

“No. All that I’ve been told is that you were moved to Miami from a foreign jail so that you could be indicted and tried in an American court.”

There was another pause. “How exactly did you come to me?” Even though he kept returning to the same subject—who exactly was Byron Johnson?—there was still no hostility or anger in Ali Hussein’s tone. “Why are you here?”

In the stifling room, Byron began to sweat almost as profusely as he had on the walk from the security gate to the prison entrance. He recognized that he was very tense. And he was certain that the thirty-minute rule would be enforced, that time was running out. He didn’t want to lose his chance to gain the confidence of this ghostly man who had just emerged into a semblance of life after years in solitary limbo. “A lawyer for a civil rights group called me. I had let people know that I wanted to represent a person arrested for terrorism. I was told that you were one of four prisoners being transferred out of some detention center, maybe at Guantanamo, to a mainland prison, and that you’d be charged by an American grand jury rather than held overseas indefinitely. When I got the call I said I would help, but only if you and I met, and only if you
wanted me to help, and only if I thought I could do that.”

 “How do I know any of this is true?”

Byron Johnson prided himself on being a realist. Wealthy clients sought him out not to tell them what they wanted to hear but for advice about the facts, the law and the likely real-world outcomes of whatever problems they faced. But it hadn’t occurred to him that this man, imprisoned for years, would doubt him and would be direct enough to tell him that. Byron had become accustomed to deference, not to challenge. And this frail man was suggesting that Byron might be a stalking horse, a plant, a shill, a human recording device.

“I met your brother Khalid.”

“Where?”

“At a diner in Union City.”

“What diner?”

“He said it was his favorite, and that you used to eat there with him: the Plaza Diner on Kennedy Boulevard.”
Byron, who for years had practiced law in areas where a detailed memory was essential, was relieved that he remembered the name and location of the diner just across the Hudson River in New Jersey. He couldn’t assess whether the man behind the thick, scratched glass was now more persuaded to believe him. Byron asked, “How have you been treated?”

“I’ve been treated like an animal.”

“In what ways?”

As if briskly covering the topics on an agenda, Ali Hussein said, “Months in one room, no contact with other people. Shifted from place to place, never knowing what country or city I was in, never knowing what month of the year, day of the week. Punched. Kicked.”

“Do you have any marks on your body?”

“I’m not sure yet what your name really is, or who you really are, but you seem naive. Marks? Are you asking me if they’ve left bruises or scars on my body?”

Byron felt the rebuke. Over the years he’d learned that there was often value in saying nothing. Silence sometimes changed the direction of a conversation and revealed more. He waited.
Hussein asked, “How much more time do we have?”

“Only a few minutes.”

“A few minutes? I’ve been locked away for years, never in touch for a second with anyone who meant to do kind things to me, and now I have a total of thirty minutes with you. Mr. Bush created a beautiful world.”

 “There’s another president.” Byron paused, and, with the silly thought of giving this man some hope, he said, “His name is Barack Hussein Obama.”

Ali Hussein almost smiled. “And I’m still here? How did that happen?”

Byron didn’t answer, feeling foolish that he’d thought the news that an American president’s middle name was Hussein would somehow brighten this man’s mind. Byron had pandered to him, and he hated pandering.
Ali Hussein then asked, “My wife and children?”

No one—not the ACLU lawyer, not the CIA agent with whom Byron had briefly talked to arrange this visit, not even Hussein’s heavy-faced, brooding brother—had said a single thing about Hussein other than that he had been brought into the United States after years away and that he was an accountant. Nothing about a wife and children.

“I don’t know. I didn’t know you had a wife and children. Nobody said anything about them. I should have asked.”

It was unsettling even to Byron, who had dealt under tense circumstances with thousands of people in courtrooms, that this man could stare at him for so long with no change of expression. Hussein finally asked,

“Are you going to come back?”

“If you want me to.”

“I was an accountant, you know. I always liked numbers, and I believed in the American system that money moves everything, that he who pays the piper gets to call the tune. Who’s paying you?”

“No one, Mr. Hussein. Anything I do for you will be free. I won’t get paid by anybody.”

“Now I really wonder who you are.” There was just a trace of humor in his voice and his expression.

As swiftly as Ali Hussein had appeared in the interview room, he disappeared when two guards in Army uniforms reached in from the rear door and literally yanked him from his chair. It was like watching a magician make a man disappear.




Paul Batista, novelist and television personality, is one of the most widely known trial lawyers in the country. As a trial attorney, he specializes in federal criminal litigation. As a media figure, he is known for his regular appearances as guest legal commentator on a variety of television shows including, Court TV, CNN, HLN and WNBC. He’s also appeared in the HBO movie, You Don't Know Jack, starring Al Pacino.

A prolific writer, Batista authored the leading treatise on the primary federal anti-racketeering statute, Civil RICO Practice Manual, which is now in its third edition (Wiley & Sons, 1987; Wolters Kluwer, 2008). He has written articles for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The National Law Journal.

Batista's debut novel, Death's Witness, was awarded a Silver Medal by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). And his new novel, Extraordinary Rendition, is now being published—along with a special reissue of Death’s Witness—by Astor + Blue Editions.

Batista is a graduate of Bowdoin College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and Cornell Law School. He’s proud to have served in the United States Army. Paul Batista lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York.

Available on :


Amazon:  http://amzn.to/Rfnmva
B&N: http://bit.ly/R44yAo


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Hi,

Wow, has it really been two months? To all of my blogger friends, I'm glad to say that it's good to be back! I have been disconnected from the book world for an agonizing period of time but it's nice to finally pick up a book without having to stress about what's coming out for test tomorrow. I missed the time when reading means escaping ~

Although life has stopped me from spending so much time blogging and reading, there are times where I yearned to sneak off and fulfill my passion! Today is one of the days.

I am not trying to create my own meme or thread, I just wanted to share several books that piqued my interest at first sight when I was browsing through my local bookstore today!



Blurb 


BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY...

THEY GET EVEN.

Lillia has never had any problems dealing with boys who like her. Not until this summer, when one went too far. No way will she let the same thing happen to her little sister.

Kat is tired of the rumours, the insults, the cruel jokes. It all goes back to one person– her ex-best friend– and she's ready to make her pay.

Four years ago, Mary left Jar Island because of a boy. But she's not the same girl anymore. And she's ready to prove it to him.

Three very different girls who want the same thing: sweet, sweet revenge. And they won't stop until they each had a taste.


Judge & Jury : Love the book cover, love the authors, love the blurb. I can't wait to get my hands on this book! Being a big fan of Jenny Han (you have to read her The Summer I Turned Pretty Series) and Siobhan Vivian's Not that Kind of Girl, I have great prospects for the story. Pleads Guilty!

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

Judge & Jury : It was love at first sight, the cover sings to me and filled my attention. Hauntingly beautiful and mysteriously attractive, it was one book cover that I could not resist. Courtney Summers has been known to leave a huge mental impact on the readers mind, with Some Girls Are and Fall For Anything, I doubt This Is Not A Test would be anything just. It's more than just a browse through book for sure!


Title : Whisper
Author : Chrissie Keighery 
Published : July 2012 

Blurb 


I'm always trying to figure out what's really going on. Always having to fill in the gaps, but never getting all the details. It's like trying to do a jigsaw when I don't even know what the picture is, and I'm missing one of the vital middle pieces.

How do you know if your friends are talking about you behind your back or if a boy likes you? They could act innocent, but you'd know from the rumours. You'd hear the whispers. But what if you couldn't hear those whispers anymore? What if everything you took for granted was gone? Being a teenager is hard enough.

But being a deaf teenager?

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.cambriahebert.com" title="Cambria Hebert" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j467/cambriahebert/BewitchedBanner.jpg" alt="Cambria Hebert" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Hey guys,

I am honored to have Cambria stop by here today for my stop on Bewitched Blog Tour! I just wanted to say how much I love her Heven and Hell series and it's so exciting to be on the tour!! Without further ado, let me present you with Cambria's guest post for today! 





Hey everyone!

I am so glad to be here today as part of the Bewitched blog tour!!! Bewitched is the newest novella in the Heven and Hell series! Because this book is a little bit witchy I have dedicated this tour to Halloween! Today’s post is full of visitors. People that have come by for a costume contest!! And the best part is… when I decide the winner --YOU get the prize! So hang out for the fun and then enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post!

But before I let in the crazies – I mean – people in costumes… here’s a little info about Bewitched.



         For years, I accepted that Heven was more popular than me. I never liked it but I lived with it. I walked in her shadow, I stood by her when no one else would. When I finally thought her spotlight was mine things began to change. She began to change. Now she hardly ever calls me back, she spends all her time with her hot new boyfriend and everyone at school thinks she’s back on top. She had it all. But apparently she wants more. She wants Cole – my boyfriend. What’s worse is that it looks like she got him. I’ve had enough and she’s going to be sorry. Why?

Because I am bewitched.

Bewitched is available now in Ebook for $0.99. It should really be read after Charade, book two in the Heven and Hell series.

And now onto the contest!!!

Contestant #1            
    


Agh! Is that a costume or a ACTUAL ghost??? And is he video tapping us…. Holy Crap!!! A Peeping Ghost.

Good thing Contestant Two is here to help us!!

Contestant  #2



It’s Abraham Lincoln the vampire Hunter! Oh wait, he hunts vamps NOT creepy Peeping Ghosts (who may or may not be real!)

Thanks for nothing, Abraham.

Onto Contestant three!

Contestant #3



Well, clearly this dude won’t be any help because he’s getting eaten! Maybe the shark will help us….
*Taps shark on fin* Excuse me, do you eat real or not real ghosts with cameras? *Sharks shakes head*
Well, great. You lose, someone show man- eater the door please.

Maybe contestant four will help us…

Contestant #4


AGHHHHHHHHHHH!  Who let her in here??? Now she’s gonna eat our brains or maybe puke on us (have you seen her shirt? Ew).

Can’t anyone help us???

*HOOOOOWWWWLLLLLLL*

What was that?

Contestant five crashes in…

Contestant #5



 It’s a werewolf!! *Werewolf proceeds to eat the ghost, his camera and the lady with her nasty shirt.* Then he turns to face me and then he transforms into …


A hot prince!!! A werewolf and a prince…..

HE WINS!!!!!!!

Now if you will excuse me… I have a werewolf/prince to charm… don’t forget to enter for the prize!

Note:

Ghost with camera image was found at: http://www.talisweb.com
Abraham costume can be found at: http://www.halloweencostumes.net
Man eating shark can be found at: http://www.squidoo.com
Werewolf can be found at: www.halloweencostumes.com 
Prince can be found at: www.halloweencostumes.net 
Exorcist lady can be found at: www.halloweencostumes.com 

Giveaway is:

A signed  Bewitched notecard
A signed  Bewitched Flyer
A signed  Bewitched bookmark
An Ecopy of Bewitched


        Kimber has grown to be one of the my most likable character in the series, her bubbly personality is what attracts me to her character and I was always entertained to read about her friendship with Heven, they reminded me about my relationship with my own best friend.

         However in Bewitched, I saw a side of Kimber that I never thought existed.

         Insecure, betrayed and alone.

         Those are a few words that should not exist in Kimber's dictionary, however I couldn't help but felt for her as she went through what she thought was Cole's and Heven's betrayal. She made bad choices, yet it didn't affect my affection towards her! I couldn't wait to see how everything plays out.

       
         Once again, Cambria has managed to pull me into her enthralling world of paranormal with just merely a few pages. Isn't she awesome?

         Tirade comes out November this year, so keep your eyes open!

As part of the blog tour, Cambria has also kindly offered to giveaway a bunch of Bewitched goodies to one lucky winner! *jealous stare*

Be sure to enter the giveaway and thank you for stopping by.

Have a Bewitching day!
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Blurb 


Betrayal burns. Death hurts and the clock ticks…

Minutes and hours stretch into days. How long can Sam survive being confined in Hell? I have a plan… a plan with a lot of holes. I need someone who can make up for my weaknesses, someone who possesses the power that I lack. Riley is supposed to be off limits. He’s dangerous, he’s mean and he’s not to be trusted. 
But I do. 

Beelzebub is on a tirade, bent on revenge. I took what he wants and sent him into the flames. I will wear the scars of his punishments forever. But scars don’t scare me anymore.

On my way to free Sam I find my true path, a secret place and new allies. But in Hell nothing is easy… and everything is cruel. The only thing left to do is survive.


I am extremely excited for Tirade, I couldn't begin to even imagine what would happen next in the Heven and Hell series! November seems too far away!


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Bewitched (Heven and Hell 2.5) - Cambria Hebert Release date : October 5th 2012

Synopsis


For years, I accepted that Heven was more popular than me. I never liked it but I lived with it. I walked in her shadow, I stood by her when no one else would. When I finally thought her spotlight was mine things began to change. She began to change. Now she hardly ever calls me back, she spends all her time with her hot new boyfriend and everyone at school thinks she’s back on top. She had it all. But apparently she wants more. She wants Cole – my boyfriend. What’s worse is that it looks like she got him. I’ve had enough and she’s going to be sorry. Why?

Because I am bewitched.


Book Trailer 

Curse of the Beast (Curse of the Beast #1) - Ashley Lavering Published : May 1st  2012

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Friday, 27th—Amber’s Supernatural and YA Reviews
Book Review and Giveaway of a free ebook, a deck of Curse of the Beast playing cards, and a swag bag.

Saturday, 28th— Jagged Edge Reviews
Author Interview

Sunday, 29th—I am a Reader, not a Writer 
Giveaway of a Signed Paperback copy of Curse of the Beast and swag bag

Monday, 30th—Intoxicated by Books
Book Review

Tuesday, 31st— Blkosiner's Book Blog
Author Interview and Giveaway of a free ebook, a deck of Curse of the Beast playing cards, and a swag bag


Wednesday, 1st—Enchanted Writings
Character Interview

Thursday, 2nd—The Stubby Pencil
Book Review and free ebook

Friday, 3rd—The Non Reluctant Reader
Author Interview and Giveaway a free ebook

Saturday, 4th— Why not? Because I said so!
Book Review

Sunday, 5th—Creative Thoughts
Giveaway of a Signed Paperback copy of Curse of the Beast and swag bag

Monday, 6th—Epilogue
Character interview and Short except from Star Cursed book 2

Tuesday, 7th—Debbie’s Inkspectations
Author Interview

Wednesday, 8th—Once Upon a Twilight
Book Review and giveaway

Thursday, 9th—A Dreamland Teenage Fantasy
Book Review and Giveaway a free ebook.

Friday, 10th—Fire Star Books
Author Interview and Giveaway a free ebook and a swag bag.

Saturday, 11—Read Between the Lines
Book Review and Giveaway of a free ebook, a deck of Curse of the Beast playing cards, and a swag bag.


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In this classic story that inspired the hit movie by the same name. Charlie Gordon, a mentally disabled adult who cleans floors and toilets, becomes a genius through an experimental operation.

Hello everyone,

I would like to dedicate this post to everyone for still being here even though I have not been updating as much as I liked to, this year has been pretty busy for me and I've neglected doing what I loved - blogging and reading, but since I already had half a year to adapt to my tight schedule and hectic datelines, I think I'm starting to get a hang on juggling between reading, reviewing and life! I'm sure I won't be an active blogger as I used to be, but I hope to have time to keep updating posts and keep visiting your blogs! I still haven't given up on my passion!

I'm in the middle of reading three books, so I hope my reviewing skills won't grow rusty anytime soon! Thank you once again and sorry for being absent! =D

*I've actually written this a long time ago, but I just want to share a short poem with you guys* 



*I actually created a video inspired by one of my favorite song! Hope you loved it! *