Thirst No. 4 by Christopher Pike Read Free Book Online Page B

Seymour asks.
    It’s my turn to stand and speak. “Matt does have a point, and so does Seymour. I still think we’re going to be forced to appeal to the IIC to help us stop the Telar but we may as well use what time we have to gain a better understanding of what the IIC’s up to. I know Sita was anxious to explore their background.”
    “How do we do that?” Shanti asks.
    “By researching how the company came to be,” Paula replies. “I wouldn’t mind helping in that area.”
    “Really?” I ask, astounded. It’s hard to imagine Paula taking an active role. “Can you talk John into helping?”
    Paula catches my eye. “Let’s not bring him into this.”
    “Our time would be better spent helping Charlie build and stock a laboratory so he can alter the vaccine,” Matt says. “Let’s not take our eye off the immediate threat. X6X6 is what will destroy humanity. It’s all that matters. We have to discover how to stop it.”
    “It’s just as important to stop the people who invented it,” Seymour says. “Your focus is on the virus, Matt. That’s good, you should follow your heart. Stick with Charlie. The girls and I can go after the IIC.”
    Matt shakes his head. “I don’t want Teri getting near those people.”
    “That’s Teri’s decision to make,” Seymour says.
    Again, doubt appears to flicker across Matt’s face as he studies me. His gaze is so intense, I feel as if he literally peels away layers of skin, tissue, and bone until he reaches my psyche. I feel him inside, probing, and I can only pray that our lovemaking the previous night has deflected any misgivings he has about me.
    “Teri?” he says.
    I lower my head. I don’t have the strength to look him in the eye.
    “I want to go with the others,” I say.

SIX
     
    I call several of my old-time associates in the detective field to help research the origins of the IIC. To my surprise, they are not enthusiastic to hear from me. The problem is simple; I should have anticipated it. They’re not sure it’s me they’re talking to. Teri and I look more alike than we sound. As a result, on the phone, I’m far from convincing. A couple of my trusted allies actually threaten to investigate me instead of the IIC. I’m off to a great start.
    But with Paula’s help, we start to make our own progress. The IIC is controlled by a board of directors made up of five people: Thomas Brutran; his wife, Cynthia Brutran; Noel Brent and his wife, Wendy Brent; Fredrick Wild. These five have been with the company since its inception, forty years ago.
    It’s interesting that, before founding the company, the board members attended a graduate program at the Universityof California, Berkeley. Their curriculum was taught by a Professor John Sharp. On the surface it seemed to be connected to the psychology department. But a closer examination reveals that it was focused almost exclusively on parapsychology, on proving the existence of ESP, or extrasensory perception.
    That was pretty much all we could learn about the program, other than the fact that it had lasted three years before suddenly being canceled when Berkeley decided Professor Sharp was performing studies of “questionable moral value.”
    The four of us, Seymour, Paula, Shanti, and myself, are intrigued. We find an address for Professor Sharp online. He appears to be living in the Bay Area, in San Mateo. He’s retired, and based on how long ago he taught, we assume the man must be in his eighties.
    We decide to visit without calling ahead. If he’s still friendly with Ms. Brutran, she might invoke the Array before we can reach him, and God only knows what will happen to us. Yet it’s not a big worry. Professor Sharp appears to be living in a modest apartment, and if he’s connected to the IIC in any way then they are not paying him.
    Before leaving Denver for the Bay Area, the police question me about the disappearance of Ken. They come the afternoon after our war council, when I’m alone in