OCCULT ASSASSIN: DAMNATION CODE by William Massa

Author:William Massa [Massa, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Critical Mass Publishing
Published: 2015-01-31T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

DETECTIVE JESSICA SERRONE blinked and shielded her eyes against the blinding sunlight as she walked up to the eco-house. Two uniformed officers stood guard at the front entrance. They exchanged quick greetings and stepped aside, granting her access. She didn’t have to flash her badge, as the men recognized her.

Serrone wasn’t someone you easily forgot. A German-Mexican heritage had given her both height and striking, exotic looks. Well-defined Aztec features projected a regal quality. Some of the less politically correct officers had started calling her Pocahontas behind her back. Serrone didn’t mind. There were worse things than being nicknamed after a hot Disney princess.

Once inside the house, she approached the first body and tried not to disturb the forensics team hard at work. Serrone spotted a knife next to the corpse. The dead man must’ve dropped it a second after his neck was snapped.

Another detective sidled up to her. With his ruddy features, Detective Nathan Grell formed a sharp contrast to Serrone’s caramel complexion. “Girlfriend of one of the stiffs called it in. Says he’d been acting a bit weird as of late. When she didn’t hear from him last night, she got scared and let herself in. Two more guys upstairs. Hope you didn’t have your breakfast yet. It gets gory once you reach the living room.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

Detective Serrone kneeled before the body. Longish hair and a goatee hid most of the dead man’s acne scars. His wide-eyed stare seemed to follow her as she examined the body. She caught a glimpse of black ink on the victim’s forearm – a series of ones and zeroes. She pulled back the sleeve and inspected the full sequence. By now she was familiar with the binary number. It had become the signature for these occult attacks. The only time she’d seen it outside of a crime scene was when they fished the three suicides out of the Bay.

The popular theory going around suggested that the tech workers had engaged in a murder-suicide pact. But now there were three more bodies. She somehow doubted this cult member had broken his own neck.

Serrone shifted her gaze to the latex robot mask. Talk about the perfect accessory for a murderous sci-fi cult. She made a quick mental note to track down suppliers that sold the masks in question.

“I guess Halloween came early this year. Think they got the three-for-one special?” Grell said.

Serrone didn’t smile. This case was becoming more out there with each passing day. The cult theory had been initially met with skepticism. Serial killers were part of the mainstream nowadays, but cult killings veered into the weird and carried the whiff of homegrown terrorism. As the bodies kept piling up and the crimes grew more elaborate, her superiors couldn’t ignore the mounting evidence.

The notion of a dark cyberpunk cult might sound fantastical, but it also made sense in a weird way to Serrone. San Francisco was a Mecca for anyone who wanted to make computers their career and possessed the technical talent to back up that ambition.

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