Bloodline by F. Paul Wilson Read Free Book Online

book."
    "Probably not him. Think of all the curios and artifacts a janitor must see around the museum on a regular basis. He should risk his job and whatever else to steal a book?"
    "Not just any book—a one of a kind."
    "And a maintenance man's going to know that?"
    Good point, Jack thought, but…
    "The security guy said a funny thing this morning. Said they found a book in the maintenance guy's locker, but it wasn't mine. Then he said, 'Looks like he's a Kicker.' Any idea what he was talking about?"
    "Probably means the book they found was Kick ."
    "Never heard of it."
    Abe's eyebrows rose. "Really? It's something of a phenomenon. I saw an article on it in yesterday's Post . Don't you read the papers?"
    "Sometimes. A little—usually right here. But I don't study them like you do."
    Abe slid off his stool and rummaged under the counter, finally coming up with a tabloid. He thumbed through it, then folded it back and turned it toward Jack.
    "There. Big as life."
    Jack glanced at the header— Kicking Back with Hank Thompson —and saw a photo of a guy he assumed was the author. Below that was a picture of the book's cover—
    He snatched the paper from Abe's hand.
    "Christ!"
    Ice water trickled down his spine as he stared: The word Kick ran across the top, the author's name along the bottom, and between them… a chillingly familiar insectoid stick figure.
      

    "Nu?"
    Jack dropped the paper and dug into his back pocket. He pulled out the sheets he'd found on the prof's desk and unfolded them, then held the figure copied from the Compendium next to the reproduction of the cover.
    The same… exactly the same.
    And again, that feeling of familiarity, of connection.
    "What the hell?"

2

    "He's something of a phenomenon," Abe said as Jack skimmed through the article. "He self-published the book two years ago and sold tens of thousands of copies over the Internet. One of the New York houses picked it up and it's become a bestseller."
    "But what is it?"
    The article wasn't much help. It mentioned the author's "troubled youth" as if everyone knew about it. And Hank Thompson's quotes about searching inside for the true inner you and then breaking down the barriers that blocked you from your real self sounded trite.
    " Aldous Huxley said to open the doors of perception ." He laughs. "I dropped out of school in the tenth grade. I know about Huxley through the Doors. Jim Morrison — the Lizard King — has always been a personal hero of mine. But I say, don't be satisfied with just opening those doors — KICK THEM DOWN!" he shouts in the oratory style that has packed his speaking engagements across the country .
    Jim Morrison was his hero? Jack looked at the picture and figured, Yeah, he must be. With that long, unruly, wavy dark hair, Thompson could be what Morrison would have looked like if he'd survived into his late thirties. Except for the eyes. He lacked Morrison's piercing dark eyes.
    "Of all the possible people through human history to look up to, he picks Jim Morrison?"
    Abe frowned. "Jim Morrison… who's Jim Morrison? Is he a customer?"
    "Never mind. Is this guy for real?"
    An Abe shrug. "I should know? Apparently lots of people think so."
    " I tell them to KICK down those doors and let in the light — new light, new air, a new world awaits. The future is calling — ANSWER !"
    Jack looked up. "People buy this stuff?"
    "By the ton. Apparently he's a mesmerizing speaker."
    Jack read on and stopped at another quote.
    "It is time to separate yourselves from the herd. You know who you are. You know who I'm talking to. You don't belong with the herd. Come out of hiding. Step away from the crowd. Let the dissimilation begin!"
    "'Dissimilation.' That's a new one."
    "You should remember it. Adopt it even. It's what you've done with your life already."
    Jack thought about that. He supposed he had. But he got the feeling Thompson wasn't talking about living under the radar.
    When I ask him what he has to say about claims that