Tek Secret by William Shatner

Author:William Shatner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781453286814
Published: 2012-10-12T20:20:00+00:00

22

JOE CHATMAN ASKED, “WELL?”

After a few seconds Jake answered, “I’m not the best one to give advice on how to lead an exemplary life.”

The black man said, “Georgia says it’s because I’m still looking for pity.”

“She’s a very direct person.”

They were sitting in the newsman’s small, uncluttered parlor, Jake in the windowless room’s only armchair, Chatman in his silvery wheelchair.

“Has been awhile,” admitted Chatman. “I could be, you know, fitted for legs.”

“Do it when you feel ready.”

“I might never feel ready.”

Jake said, “Suppose we switch back to my problems for awhile?”

“Sure, sorry.” He touched a button on the arm of his chair and came rolling nearer to Jake. “First off, Sharon Harker’s legit. I did suggest that she contact you.”

“So you don’t think she set me up, huh?”

“No, I don’t, but there’s no way to be sure right now,” he said. “She and her kid don’t seem to be around anyplace. I got some people hunting, though.”

“Someone grab her, or is she hiding out?”

“I’m afraid, Jake, it’s the former.”

“Who else knew she was going to get in touch with me?”

“I did, she did,” answered Chatman. “I didn’t confide in anybody.”

“Did she give you details about what she knew?”

“Only that there was something going on wrong at the Mentor setup, something that bothered her,” he said. “When you showed up, I suggested that Sharon talk to you. She’d heard of you and was impressed by—”

“Hell of a lot of good it did her.”

“Jake, hey. Every time a lady gets in trouble, it ain’t your fault.”

“How long ago was it she told you she was uneasy about something at the center?”

“Few days.”

“That’s since Alicia Bower disappeared, so this could tie in with her.”

“Sharon didn’t come right out and say so, but I’m near sure that it must.”

Jake leaned forward. “I’m going to have to get inside that place, Joe.”

“A very tough thing to accomplish. Dr. Isaac Spearman runs a very secure—”

“Damn it, I’m going to see Chatman!”

Someone had started yelling out in the hallway.

A robot guard warned, “Buddy, stand back or we’ll use force to—”

“Chatman! You son of a bitch, where is she?”

“Watch it now, buddy.”

“Where’s Sharon Harker?” A fist hit the door. “Where is she, damn you!”

Chatman nodded at the door. “Maybe this is somebody we ought to meet.”

Getting up, Jake moved to the door. “Yeah, sounds like,” he said.

The frail, greyhaired woman reached out, very carefully, to touch the edge of the doctor’s huge offwhite desk. “No one has been able to help him,” she confessed in a faint, faraway voice.

Dr. Spearman smiled. “That’s because no one has truly tried, Mrs. Emers.” He was a plump, pink man of fifty and his curly hair and crinkly beard were a golden blond. “But here at the Mentor Psych Centre we’re most certainly going to try.” He left his offwhite chair, walked around his large desk and stood beside the pale young man who was seated, hunched in on himself, next to Mrs. Emers. “And I can assure you that your son is going to want to help, too.

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