The Darkness Within
Book One of
the Sable Quinn Trilogy
ISBN: 978-0-9824833-2-9
K. J. Dahlen
Excerpt Heat Level: 1
Book Heat Level: 1
When Micah died Sable
thought her troubles were over but she’s plunged back into her nightmare when
another family member comes after her. He’s not only after what’s left of the
Reardon family, but before he murders them he wants to bring down Gabriel’s
empire. Sable has to fight to keep herself alive and the others. Will she
survive the day of reckoning?
Excerpt:
I am just a simple man, living the American dream;
I might be just like you except for the
fact that
I am also a serial killer. At first I
hated that part of myself, I tried to deny the truth for a long time but I
couldn’t deny the excitement that I felt when I began hunting an innocent woman
only to end her life. The more I hunted the better I became at hiding from the
world my dark secret. Over the years I began to crave the rush I got when the
raging beast inside me reared its ugly head. The obsession grew until all I
could think about was the next kill, the next young woman whose life I would
cut short.
Sable’s hand gripped the
pages of what she had just read as she looked up at her boss. “Nick,” she wet
her parched lips with the tip of her tongue.
Nick glanced over at her and
frowned. Sable’s face was pale and there was a quickness to her breathing that
wasn’t normal. “What is it?”
Sable held out the pages to
him and sat down at her desk carefully. She put her hands to either side of her
head and slowly closed her eyes against the shock she felt. She rubbed her
aching temples in an effort to calm her nerves. When she opened her eyes, the
first thing she saw was the plain manila envelope lying on her desk. The
envelope had her full first name Sabella scrawled in ink on the outside of it. This
was the envelope she had opened moments ago. Sable frowned as she reread the name
on the front of the envelope. It wasn’t a name she used and no one other than
her mother ever called her by that name.
Sable opened her desk drawer
and pulled out a large clear plastic bag and carefully tucked the envelope
inside. Looking up she saw concern on the faces in front of her. Without saying
a word she handed the envelope to her boss, Nicholas Ramer.
Nick glanced at the envelope
and compared the writing to that of the letters. Sable’s name was written by
the same hand as the pages. He was surprised to find there was no return
address on the envelope, and it hadn’t been run through the post office. It had
been hand delivered. “What the hell? How did this get in here undetected?”
Nick looked over at the
other members of his team and handed the envelope to Quentin Parks. “Run this
over to fingerprinting and see who besides us has handled it.”
Nick glanced at Brandi
Nichols. “Get a board in here and set it up with the pages. Let’s get a handle
on what exactly we’re dealing with.”
He looked over at Max. “See
if you can find anything on the surveillance tapes from last night. I don’t
like the fact that this guy just walked into our offices without being stopped
along the way. This is supposed to be a secure FBI office.”
Max nodded and left the
room.
Nick pulled a chair up
beside Sable and sat down. “Do you know anything about the pages? How they got
into the office or who wrote them?”
“No,” Sable replied. “I
found the envelope sitting on my desk and I opened it. I guess I really didn’t
think about it.” She looked at Nick and had to ask, “What’s going on here?”
Nick shrugged. “That’s one
of the things we need to find out. We also need to find out if this is real or a
hoax; and if it is a hoax, we still need to find out who is responsible. I’m
not sure I like the fact that someone can just walk in here off the streets and
leave a package on one of our desks then walk out again undetected. If it's
real, we need to find out who this killer is and how to stop him.” He stood up
and held out his hand to her, “Let’s find out what this guy has to say. Let’s
do our job and get him off the streets.”
AlexJouJou for Manic Readers says: "The way all the
pieces fit together is actually quite a feat--and a big kudos to the author for
that. There are major bestselling authors that couldn't tie up a plot as nicely
as this one does."
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