Terrorbyte by Cat Connor Page A

up and said, “The crime scene unit found evidence of children, two unfinished breakfasts and a school bag.”
    I looked at my watch. The kids should be in school.
    â€œFind the children; see if our witness knows which school they attend.”
    A low buzz emanated from my belt. I stopped its vibration swiftly and checked the display on my phone. ‘Unknown Caller’ flashed above a number I didn’t recognize.
    â€œMac, any ideas?” I passed him the phone.
    He grimaced and sighed. “My brother, that’s his work number.”
    We let the call go unanswered. Mac voiced my thoughts, “It’s too early in the case for him to think he’s been targeted by the killer.”
    We all sniggered unkindly. Now that’s something I never wanted to see. An image of Eddie’s overweight donut-stuffed body tied up with golden ribbons!
    â€œYou’d think,” I replied. My mind was now playing reruns of the life of Eddie Connelly: Eddie the Hero; Eddie the Victim; Eddie on the Run; and all of it in his own private fantasy world. I halted the amusing memories; it wasn’t the time. “Where were we?”
    â€œI’ll get on with a nationwide search on the signature,” Sam replied, “while we wait to hear back about any possible felons or similar unsolved cases in ViCAP.”
    â€œExcellent. Stick a bulletin on LEO as well. Another agency or law enforcement community may have something that ties in.” In my opinion Law Enforcement Online is the best thing since Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar back in 1971. LEO is this groovy intranet for the law enforcement community. Everyone can keep in touch, send out bulletins and read updates to bulletins and announcements quickly. It probably saves as many lives as a bulletproof vest. I stood up and checked my watch. All morning I’d had this feeling there was something I had to do but couldn’t narrow it down to a particular thing.
    â€œI’ll be somewhere,” I said, unsure as to where somewhere actually was.
    Mac, with an indulgent smile, said, “We’ll be in Fairfax. You can reach us on Ellie’s cell phone.”
    â€œGood to see you again, Mac.” Sam shook his hand firmly. “I mean it, man. It’s good to have you on board. You are in, yeah?”
    â€œNo formal request. It’s supposed to be our day off, so thought I’d tag along.”
    â€œI’ll get something in writing.”
    â€œCheers, just let me know when you get sick of me … I’ll hustle on back to Cyber and get paid to spend all day on MySpace and Twitter.”
    Sam gave Mac a friendly jab to the upper arm. I knew from experience it was some male bonding thing and given more time and different circumstances, they’d wrestle each other to the ground or something equally grown-up.
    Mac drove again and again I didn’t mind. The radio hummed underneath the whine of traffic. Mac leaned forward, cranked the volume and sang along as Bon Jovi’s ‘Have a Nice Day’ blared forth. The volume did little to disguise Mac’s voice. The next American Idol he was not.
    He broke off from singing a few times to curse fellow drivers. The song gave way to the latest offering from Grange. My two favorite bands in a row – we’d stumbled upon a good radio station. I let my mind wander happily with the song and drift with the hunky lead singers.
    More cussing brought me back to the present.
    The car stopped. I expected Mac to leap out and accost whoever it was he last swore at, instead he opened my door for me.
    He announced, “We’re here.”
    I half expected here to be his mom’s house but it was a parking lot. This was a confusing development. I looked around until I saw a sign that read Inova Fairfax Hospital. Which didn’t help my confusion any.
    â€œWhy?” I asked.
    Mac gave me one of those disbelieving looks. “Your appointment with the