Terrorbyte

When Special Agent Ellie Conway is given a fresh case she discovers one of her own poems scrawled around a crime scene. The beginning of things to come.
Before long Ellie, Mac and her team are searching for a unknown killer who prays upon the mentally ill. He chooses his victims from the membership list of the Butterfly Foundation. A foundation Ellie and Mac created to help the children of mentally ill parents.
As they delve deeper into the world of the Unsub a truly frightening scenario unfolds, the real crimes are covered by the gruesome deaths of mentally ill mothers.
A Russian joins the team, bringing with him more information on their Unsub, and more questions.
Ellie faces the ultimate horror as her world implodes.

Terrorbyte. a novel by Cat Connor

An excerpt from Chapter 1.

Mac’s eyes met mine. “You’re a terrible liar Ellie.”

He passed me a pile of papers.  It looked to be about a hundred pages.  Flipping through them, I realized they were all saying similar things-congratulations.  See you at the dinner.  Damn!  He snapped me.

“I can not speak in front of people.”  Mac’s eyes shifted back to the paper work on his desk.  He was about to bury himself in work but not before I saw the little boy lost behind his eyes.  That look made me want to wrap my arms around him and tell him it was okay, then smack him upside the head and tell him to get over it!

“I don’t want to do this either.”  That was the truest thing I’d said all afternoon.

excerpt from chapter 2

“I want you to run the investigation.”  He paused for a second before adding, “Lee says there’s poem.”

My blood suddenly felt cold as if it were choking up my veins.  The icy blockage threatened to cut off the oxygen to my brain.  Thoughts suddenly swirled in my head.  A poem, we hadn’t encountered a poem in a crime scene since The Son of Shakespeare case.  Coincidence?  I’d been thinking about him earlier.  Coincidence?  Focus, Ellie, focus.

“Where and when?”

“I want you in Alexandria A-sap.  Lee and Sam are on scene, it was Lee who called this to our attention.  He took a call from local police asking for assistance.”

“You coming?”

The entire conversation seemed punctuated by Caine’s silences and dead air, I didn’t like it.

“Caine?”

“This is yours Ellie.  You’re supervising special agent on this one.  I’ll be with the director for awhile,” he paused, I heard paper moving on his desk and knew from experience he was pulling an all nighter on something for the director.  “I’ll meet up with you as soon as I can.”

excerpt chapter 3.

The home was in disarray, but the impression I gleaned was of permanent turmoil and disorder rather than this being due to the current situation.  The officer stopped at the end of the short interior hallway.

I felt a rising desperation bought on by the overall feeling of terror in the apartment, and called into the rooms beyond, “Lee?”

His deep voice filtered through my defenses leaving warm security in its wake, I’m okay.

“Ellie check this out.” 

I glanced at the officer with me.  He nodded and said quietly, “I’ll be right here ma’am.”

“Thanks.”

I stepped over strewn garbage as I made my way to his position somewhere on my right.  As tempting as it was to cover my mouth and nose, I resisted.  The smell of death permeated the room.  Lee was in the kitchen.

“I’m here.”  I flicked my eyes quickly around the room getting a sense of the scene.

Lee pointed to the cabinets something written in marker pen the writing extended all the way around the kitchen putting the body in the center of a bizarre circle of words.  It took me a few minutes to discover the beginning. 

“A poem?”  Lee asked tentatively, I knew by his tone he didn’t want to go there again either.

 

All Content provided by Cat Connor