"Terence West - Phantoms" - читать интересную книгу автора (West Terence)

black suit was hanging loosely off his thin, muscular frame. "I do, Chairman Weiss," he answered in a firm
voice.

Thomas Weiss set the folder down on his desk and rubbed his bearded chin. He was sometimes called
"the Old Man" of the firm because of his gray hair, but in actuality, he wasn't even close to being the
oldest member there. "Why did you want to join the Office of Paranormal Investigation?" Weiss asked
after a moment.

Bishop pointed to the yellow folder, "It's all there in my files."

"Yes," Weiss said with a nod, "it is, but I want to hear it from you."

"Is there a problem with my application, sir?" Bishop asked.
A smile crossed WeissтАЩ face. "A little defensive, aren't we?"

"I'm sorry." Bishop looked away from Weiss as he ran his hand through his hair. "This is very important
to me."

"I can see that." Weiss pulled off his glasses and set them down next to the folder. He rubbed the bridge
of his nose with his finger and thumb, massaging the two small red indentations caused by the glasses.
Looking back up at Bishop, he started to run his fingers over his beard again. "I just want to know a little
more about who Nick Bishop is," Weiss confessed. "I do this with all the new recruits."

Bishop breathed a sigh of relief and slipped back into his seat. "I'm sorry, Chairman," he said again.
"You wanted to know why I want to join the Office of Paranormal Investigation?"

Weiss nodded.

"I guess to use a popular phrase, I am a тАШbeliever'," Bishop said with a smile. "I just want to know this
kind of stuff is real."

"What," Weiss hated to use the word, "'Stuff'?"

"The paranormal." Bishop sat forward again. "I know these occurrences are happening, and I want to be
part of the organization that proves it. I want to take the paranormal out of the domain of science fiction
and tabloid magazines, and shout to the world that this is real."

"Those are very high ideals, Mr. Bishop, and something we here at the OPR haven't been able to do in
thirty years." Weiss lifted his glasses off the desk and slipped them back on.

Bishop shook his head, "But, sir, I've read some of the OPR's files. You have documented proof of the
paranormal. How can the scientific community not recognize that?"

"Easily," Weiss stated with a bit of disdain in his voice. "Unless something can be repeated or quantified
under laboratory conditions, scientists won't accept the findings." Weiss leaned forward on his desk.
"When I started this organization, I had the very same ideals you have right now. I was hell bent to prove
to the entire world this kind of phenomenon was real, but over the years, this company's, as well as my
own, ideals have changed. We're not here to change the world, Mr. Bishop, just to study it." He lifted a
small blue coffee mug from the side of his desk and took a sip from the warm liquid inside. "We've
become the guardians at the gate, so to speak. We have the knowledge, and when the scientific