Seeing Is Believing : The Whispering 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

time. In the moment of silence, the dark mass flickered for a
moment and hissed. Only the lightest of echoes of its hiss was
heard. The malice behind it was thick in the air, almost palpable
to choke on.
    "I don't like this," Erickson said, leveling his
gun at Buffliro.
    Eli almost wanted to go ahead and let Erickson
shoot, save the world from a poison that it did not need. But
morals won again. With his back ramrod-straight and his fists
clenched, he managed to get the words out in a calmer manner than
he felt.
    "How do you know about that?" Eli asked.
    "Simple. The whispering thing told me. It tells
me a lot of interesting things. Which reminds me..." Buffliro
paused long enough to look up at Erickson, who winced at the man's
gaze. "Do you really think you should be one to be handling a gun?
It's a bit of a temptation for you to pull the trigger, isn't it?
Not that it makes you any different from everyone else in this
room. What concerns me more is that you've lost to your temptations
before. I don't blame you for pulling the trigger. He was a
sicko."
    "Shut up!" Erickson hissed.
    Frowning, Eli glanced over at Erickson. The
younger man was shaking already. Whether from being unnerved or
angry, Eli wasn't sure. He foresaw a problem either way.
    "Maybe you should leave," Eli said.
    "Yet, you battle with yourself constantly over
what you did. Conscience gets to the best of us, I guess," Buffliro
continued.
    "I said shut up!"
    "Erickson, stand down!" Eli ordered.
    Erickson ignored the order and kept his gun
aimed at Buffliro, even though that aim was shaky. Buffliro clearly
knew he was in danger but kept his gaze on Erickson and kept
talking.
    "So, are you going to pull the trigger now? We
all know you want to."
    Whatever self-control Erickson had left was
gone. Ignoring Eli and Rhodes, who now made a move to stop him,
Erickson started to pull the trigger.
    Suddenly his grip loosened on the gun and he was
staring in the dark with wide eyes.
    "What is that thing?" Eli heard Erickson
whisper.
    Eli saw nothing but the dark. Yet, he knew hell
was about to break loose.
    And it did.

Chapter Ten
    ERICKSON SCREAMED SUDDENLY, his hands reaching
out to his neck. If not for that action Eli might not have noticed
the pin-prick bites that just appeared in Erickson's neck. Though
small, any man could see the green venom droplets oozing from the
wounds.
    "Shit!" Eli heard Rhodes exclaim as Erickson
dropped to the ground and started to convulse.
    Only minutes later, Erickson stopped thrashing
and it was clear he was dead. Already, his skin was turning that
odd green tone. There was no time to mourn the man before a gunshot
was heard and Rhodes went down.
    Buffliro stood holding the gun Erickson had
dropped only moments ago. And it was now aimed at Eli.
    "Nothing personal," Buffliro said. "But I really
need to have a talk with my son. And since he won't come here...
well, you get the idea."
    Eli said nothing.
    Not even when he thought he glimpsed the
whispering thing just moments before he was shot.

    THE CHILDREN'S ROOM in the library was blessedly
silent and empty that afternoon. Tony felt more at ease when
searching the web without prying eyes. Not that anyone would see
what he was looking up as wrong, or even know why he was looking it
up.
    From what the librarian had told Tony, there
were not many copies of the book that had brought Bruce into
existence. Only three libraries in the area carried it. Two, if he
kept in mind the fact he had ended up keeping the copy he had
gotten from his library.
    Finding contact information for Miss Deborah was
easier than Tony had anticipated. Her website, though appearing to
have been set up during the nineties and not updated much since
then, was informative.
    Her picture showed a woman in her fifties with a
large dog sitting next to her. An expression of amusement was on
her face. Even the dog seemed to have a glimmer of something that
suggested a mischievous nature. As if both knew something he
didn't.