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Back 36 Righteous Men Save as PDF
Chapters (43)
  1. Cover
  2. BOOK ONE
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. BOOK TWO
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. BOOK THREE
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. BOOK FOUR
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. BOOK FIVE
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. BOOK SIX
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. BOOK SEVEN
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. BOOK EIGHT
  41. 32
  42. SPECIAL THANKS
  43. ALSO BY STEVEN PRESSFIELD
  1. Our mystery woman sent the lamed-vav text and made the follow-up call.
  2. We don’t know who she is or where she lives, if she in fact lives anywhere, except that . . .
  3. She is off the grid, invisible, and . . .
  4. She’s tech-savvy.

We have also learned, incidentally, that “lamed vav” has something to do with the Jewish legend of the Thirty-Six Righteous Men, whatever the hell that is.

Is this Manning’s assessment? What is he thinking? I turn to him as his gaze settles on the Bank of New York time-and-temp display across the neck of the bay in Canarsie.

MANNING

April nineteenth and it’s a hundred and fourteen in the shade.

BOOK TWO

image

LAMED VAV

9

THE DAKOTA

I DON’T KNOW WHY I worry so much about Manning. Technically he’s not even my boss. Like everyone else in DivSix, I work for Gleason. Gleason is the one I should be sucking up to.

Manning doesn’t even particularly like me. Sometimes when he’s phrasing an order or an instruction to me, I can tell he’s forgotten my name. He’s running some mnemonic in his head; I can practically see the wheels turning behind his eyes.

Do I like him? Does it matter? I respect him. By miles he’s the savviest detective in the division. Any junior with ambition would kill to be in my place. You want to be around Manning just to see how his mind works.

Driving back from Little Hong Kong, Manning gives me an assignment—what he calls an “interpretive.” I’m to find out everything I can about the legend of the Thirty-Six Righteous Men. Where does it come from? What does it mean? What did the sweatshop boss mean when he said, “When they’re gone, God destroys everything”?

And I’m to dig into the backgrounds of the four victims, including the two from Russia, with this question in mind:

Could they in any sense be considered “righteous”?

What Manning wants to know in legend terms is, What does “righteous” mean?

MANNING

Is it religious? Ethical? What qualities, specifically moral qualities, do the victims have in common?

Manning instructs me to keep my mind open. Don’t “pre-load.” Follow where the facts, and your instincts, lead you.

Another of Manning’s mantras is, “Pay attention to your unconscious.”

My first week working with him, only a few days after he had rejoined the division, he said, “Let’s go to a movie.” I couldn’t believe he was serious. We went in the middle of the day to the Beacon at Forty-Second and Eighth, a revival house. The film was Double Indemnity. I’d heard of it but never seen it. It was damn good. On the sidewalk afterward (no sit-down dinners or tête-à-têtes with Manning) he asks me what I took from the picture. I stammer something moronic.

MANNING

The “little man.”