Author: Carlyle Labuschagne
Title: Tethered
Published On: April 1 2019
Pages: 319
Format: eBook, Print
Purchase Links:
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SYNOPSIS
A girl tethered to a serial killer by heart leads them to the undiscovered bodies of The Devil's breath victims.
Tethered follows two sisters, Willow and Raine Viviers alongside two rogue FBI brothers on what seems like an impossible task to solving a dead end case. With no leads, and a corrupt government cover up, their time is running out to stop the spread of a Serial Killer Cult before another victim is claimed.
But they have a secret weapon...
Willow is a young adult who has just undergone a heart transplant who's trauma has changed her, she's gained a strange supernatural gift - she can see into the heart of the Devil's Breath Killer. She not only feels the serial killer's urges, knows his thoughts, but can somehow get's visions through the eyes of his victims too.
These visions are chaotic, menacing and evil, and Willow can hardly make sense of her own reality without going insane. How will she decipher and hone in her special abilities in time to save a missing agent and stop another Devil's Breath Killing.
Bryce wiped his forehead, removing his mask to take a breather. “What is it?” he pulled a face at the smell, then placed the mask back on.
“The device gave me a reading, huge amounts of sodium hypochlorite.”
“Laymen’s terms?” Bryce interrupted.
“Ammonia or bleach.”
Rodriquez called from behind him, “Someone might have tried to clean up the evidence.”
“Thank you captain obvious,” Aaron said, shooting him an impatient glare. “We’d worked that all out earlier–without a fancy machine.” He added that last bit for Whitmore.
“Fuck you!” Rodriguez flipped him the bird. Aaron pulled a face. “And risk catching something?”
Rodrigues clenched a fist, ready to leap at Aaron.
“Boys,” Bryce warned.
Aaron got back to this position at the edge of the hole as Rodriguez readied the drone, his hands and knees digging into the debris.
“You got it?” Aaron asked, lending a hand to take one side of the drone.
Rodriquez nodded. “Yeah, thanks.” His voice a muffle through the mask. On his stomach he groaned, trying to balance the remote and the drone all at once. Aaron could see beads of sweat dotting his forehead. “Hey, I said I got it,” he insisted.
With the flick of a switch the drone came to life, and both agents steadily let go. The drone hovered, and Rodriquez rose to his knees.
“Patching you into the feed, Captain.”
With that, Aaron stood and made his way beside Bryce. They stared at a blank screen until the drone’s lights came on, illuminating the space. It was only then they realized how vast a room it truly was. Some kind of mechanical track ran along one side of the wall, and as the drone followed it, everyone held their breath.
Moments later, the figure at the far end wall became clear. The captain released a pent up breath. Aaron couldn’t tear his gaze away from the screen. She was dead, evident by her pale, stiff features. Her hair hung dark and limp around her shoulders, with eyes wide open like she’d died facing her death head-on. Her mouth was agape, and he could almost hear the screams of terror.
Rodriquez stood back, his hands trembling as he tried to steady the drone on her face. “I’m gonna be sick.”
“It can’t be.” Bryce and Aaron stared at each other in horror. Aaron didn’t have to reply, it was that bad, and they knew it, they’d both seen it, and it was as real as daylight.
“Rodriquez, are there any explosive devices down there.”
“No, sir.”
“You need to get down there Anderson.” Bryce swallowed against the lump in his throat.
Aaron nodded, his shoulders set in determination as he pulled a headlamp from his gear belt. The shuffle of his feet through the debris and the kick of dust and pieces of cement was like the actions of a soldier coming out of the battlefield alone and hopeless. After slipping on some gloves, Aaron dropped feet first into the hole, caught the edge with both hands, took a breath and dropped down further into the darkness. With a crunch and a cloud of dust, Aaron landed on the hard ground below. Immediately, the heat and the humidity struck him. As he moved closer, he kept telling himself it couldn’t be. But the closer he got to the body, the more evident it became.
His beam of light hit several objects. A crate approximately the size of a narrow coffin, broken and in pieces had been discarded next to a conveyer belt system. The stench of chemicals, mingled with the smell of rotting blood made him sick to his stomach. A few more steps closer and the smell clung to his skin. Finally, he faced her. Her naked skin glossy, pale and stiff. Her chest had been split wide open, ribs contorted so that he could take in the image the killer was trying to convey completely.
She looked like a doll without a heart.
Stepping even closer, he recognized her immediately, and his blood ran cold. Nausea bubbled up inside of him, trying to force its way out…
About Carlyle Labuschagne
Carlyle Labuschagne is a South African Debut Author working her way into the hearts of international readers with her First Young Adult Dystopian Novel “The Broken Destiny. She is not only an author but works as a Sales Rep and Marketing Manager by day. She holds a diploma in creative writing through the writing school at Collage SA. Loves to swim, fights for the trees, food lover who is driven by her passion for life. Carlyle writes for IU e-magazine India, an inspirational non-profit magazine that aims at inspiring the world through words. The drive behind her author career is healing through words. Carlyle is also the founder of the first annual book drive – Help build a library in Africa project. “My goal as an Author is to touch people’s lives and help others love their differences and one another.”
