Read Online Terrorbyte by Cat Connor - Free Book Online Page A

for months that there was something off about my sense of where I am in relation to objects around me. I had been telling him he was talking shite. I’d been subjected to him going on and on about how I am spatially challenged. I am not spatially challenged. I refuse to be anything that makes me sound retarded.
    â€œMaybe.”
    Mac looked at me in amazement. “Maybe’s ass.”
    â€œOkay … I have more bruises from walking into desks than I usually do.” I sensed the truth welling up inside me and spilling forth, unchecked. “I get dizzy for no reason and sometimes there’s a ringing noise in one ear. Lying down makes the dizziness worse … tipping my head also makes it worse. It seems to cause nausea. But it does go away. Then it comes back.”
    I’m a freak. I dumped a lid on the freaky stuff: no need to mention the odd sensation of eyes watching me at crime scenes. Who needed to mention dead people watching me?
    â€œI want you to have an MRI and a head CT.”
    â€œBoth? Isn’t that overkill?” Something behind Hawkeye caught my eye: a teddy bear, a brown teddy bear lying on a shelf under the windowsill.
    Oh, my. He wasn’t Hawkeye at all; he was Radar O’Riley impersonating Hawkeye. No wonder he ordered an MRI and CT; he can’t know what he’s doing! There was no way he was a real doctor.
    An uncanny fear gripped me. Maybe there really was something wrong.
    The fear gave way to panic. I found myself standing. “I’m on a new case. I need to be at work now.” I didn’t have time to listen to someone who was obviously an imposter.
    â€œI’m going to schedule the tests. I will get back to you this afternoon.” He looked at my file again. “I have your work numbers and cell phone.”
    â€œGreat, good, wonderful,” I replied. Within seconds I was out the door, trying to find the colored line on the hallway floor that would lead me to the parking lot. Mac should’ve noticed he wasn’t the real Hawkeye.
    A hand grabbed my arm. “What?” I shook my arm to dislodge the hand.
    â€œHoney, it’s me.” Mac slipped his arm around my waist. “It’s going to be all right, it’s just tests, no one thinks there’s anything major wrong with you.”
    â€œWhat if there is?”
    He grabbed my shoulders and spun me to face him. I staggered as my body came to a stop. “You’re still Ellie, you’re not a different person, no matter what the tests show.”
    â€œI don’t want to have the tests.” Then I remembered: this guy couldn’t order tests if he was not a real doctor. Whew!
    â€œI know, and I fully understand how scary this is. But it is better we find out if something whacky is going on.”
    How could anything be whackier than Radar impersonating Hawkeye? Why didn’t Mac notice?
    I decided it wasn’t the best time to bring up the whole Hawkeye thing. I had a sneaking suspicion that I might be wrong about that. He may have been the real Hawkeye.
    Mac whispered, “It’ll be okay.”
    â€œWhat does he think it is?”
    â€œSomething called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.”
    It sounded bad.
    Mac kept talking. “They think it is caused by debris collected in part of the inner ear. It often follows a head injury. It is treatable. Leon said he’ll do something called the Epley Maneuver and that should fix it. He wants to be sure nothing else is going on, hence the tests.”
    Somewhere inside me, I decided he was only saying that to make me feel better. If he knew dead people were watching me, what would he say then?
    I breathed in his cologne, let the soft pressure of his hands melt away the panic I felt and fully believed him. Sometimes you’ve just got to have a little faith. It would be okay. Then I had the strangest feeling, as if I had missed something. I pulled back a little and looked at Mac.
    He