Conspiracy Theory (46 page)

He sat up a little again—God, that
hurt
; was he ever going to get to the point where that didn't
hurt
?—and rummaged around in the tote bag that still lay on the bed near his knees for the thing he had seen in there earlier, but not wanted to bring to Tibor's attention. He pulled it out and lay back to read it—not a newsletter this time, or a magazine, but a book, a well-printed book too. Most people would not be able to tell the difference between it and a mainstream book produced by a mainstream publisher. This publisher was called Feral House, and Bennis had stuck a Post-it note to the glossy cover of the book that said:
publisher seems to be post office box in California
.

Gregor looked at the book.
Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History
, edited by Jim Keith. He flipped open to the table of contents. “AIDS—Act of God or of the Pentagon?” “An Open Letter to the Swedish Prime Minister from a Survivor of Electromagnetic Terror.” Gregor blinked. Sweden? He opened to the essay called “My Father is a Clone,” by Gary Stoll-man. There was a brief biographical sketch, which was not promising. Then the essay started.

“The man who has appeared on KNBC for the last three years is not my biological father,” it said. “He is a clone, a double created by the Central Intelligence Agency and alien forces. It is only a small part of a greater plot to overthrow the United States government, and possibly the human race itself. The CIA has replaced and tried to destroy part of my family, and those of my friends.”