Whispers by Dean Koontz Read Free Book Online

longer driven by lust or the desire to utterly dominate her. The secret motor that drove him now was darker in design than the one that had powered him just a few minutes ago, and she had the terrible crazy feeling that it would somehow provide him with enough energy to shield him from harm, to let him advance untouched through a hail of bullets.
    He took the large knife from the sheath on his right hip and thrust it in front of him.
    “Back off,” she said desperately.
    “Bitch.”
    “I mean it.”
    He started toward her again.
    “For God’s sake,” she said, “be serious. That knife’s no good against a gun.”
    He was twelve or fifteen feet from the other side of the bed.
    “I’ll blow your goddamned head off.”
    Frye waved the knife at her, drew small rapid circles in the air with the point of the blade, as if it were a talisman and he were chasing off evil spirits that stood between him and Hilary.
    And he took another step.
    She lined up the forward sight with the center of his abdomen, so that no matter how high the recoil kicked her hands and no matter whether the gun pulled to the left or the right, she would hit something vital. She squeezed the trigger.
    Nothing happened.
    Please, God!
    He took two steps.
    She stared at the pistol, stunned. She had forgotten to throw off the safety catches.
    He was maybe eight feet from the other side of the bed. Maybe only six.
    Swearing at herself, she thumbed the two tiny levers on the side of the pistol, and a pair of red dots appeared on the black metal. She aimed and pulled the trigger a second time.
    Nothing.
    Jesus! What? It can’t be jammed!
    Frye was so completely disassociated from reality, so thoroughly possessed by his madness, that he did not realize immediately that she was having problems with the weapon. When he finally saw what was happening, he moved in fast, while the advantage was his. He reached the bed, scrambled onto it, stood up, started straight across the mattress like a man walking a bridge of barrels, swaying on the springy surface.
    She had forgotten to jack a bullet into the chamber. She did that and retreated two steps until she backed into the wall. She squeezed off a shot without taking aim, fired up at him as he loomed directly over her like a demon leaping out of a crack in hell.
    The sound of the shot filled the room. It slapped off the walls and reverberated in the windows.
    She saw the knife shatter, saw the fragments arc out of Frye’s right hand. The sharp steel flew up and back, sparkling for a moment in the shaft of light that escaped through the open top of the bedside lamp.
    Frye howled as the knife spun away from him. He fell backwards and rolled off the far side of the bed. But he was up as soon as he went down, cradling his right hand in his left.
    Hilary didn’t think she had hit him. There wasn’t any blood. The bullet must have struck the knife, breaking it and tearing it out of his grasp. The shock would have stung his fingers worse than the crack of a whip.
    Frye wailed in pain, screamed in rage. It was a wild sound, a jackal’s bark, but it was definitely not the cry of an animal with its tail between its legs. He still intended to come after her.
    She fired again, and he went down again. This time he stayed down.
    With a little whimper of relief, Hilary sagged wearily against the wall, but she did not take her eyes off the place where he had gone down and where he now lay out of sight beyond the bed.
    No sound.
    No movement.
    She was uneasy about not being able to see him. Head cocked, listening intently, she moved cautiously to the foot of the bed, out into the room, then around to the left until she spotted him.
    He was belly-down on the chocolate-brown Edward Fields carpet. His right arm was tucked under him. His left arm was flung straight out in front, the hand curled slightly, the still fingers pointing back toward the top of his head. His face was turned away from her. Because the carpet was so dark and