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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

Manning yanks the door open. He plunges in. I pile in behind him.

No one inside.

The patrol officers scramble up, flashlights in fists. Manning commandeers one. He’s fully aboard now. So am I. Manning calls through the open driver’s door to the two officers who hold the woman.

MANNING

Lock her up! Get a bus and get her to the hospital.

A bus is an ambulance.

Manning shouts to the other officers to call in for the crime lab. He wants the Hi-Top combed for prints ASAP.

Manning himself pushes farther into the vehicle. The interior is as compact as a submarine—stowage space forward, sleeping berth above the cab. The right flank holds a fold-down table with two banquette seats and a galley kitchen with fridge, sink, and cooktop.

A homemade corkboard covers the left wall across from the table. The vertical surface takes up a quarter of the length of the vehicle, as tall as a standing man. Every square inch is plastered with typed and handwritten notes, photos, documents, maps, and index cards.

MANNING

What the fuck is this?

He takes a step back and aims the 750-lumen SureFire tac light at the corkboard. I shine mine too.

In the gleam of both our lamps, Manning glimpses what appear to be scriptural passages in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, whatever, side by side with photos of at least two dozen men arrayed in some order that seems to be deliberate and definitive. Numbers of the men’s pix are X’d out. Esoteric-looking mathematical formulas cover a quarter of the Obsession Wall (which is what it apparently is), along with phone numbers and addresses, satellite-photo maps, occult signs, and arcane markings.

Dead center on the wall, with broad black Sharpie arrows pointing to it from all directions, is a poster-sized photo of our murderer and self-described associate professor of Judaic studies—Jake Instancer.

14

INTENSIVE CARE

ANY INDIVIDUAL ADMITTED to a medical facility while in the custody of the NYPD becomes by law the responsibility of the city of New York, specifically the Office of the District Attorney for the borough in which he or she was apprehended. The person is no longer under his or her own insurance. The city picks up the tab. There’s an elaborate procedure for checking a suspect into a hospital, which I’ve never done but fortunately the paramedics have down cold and so do the admitting clerks. Nor can you take an individual in custody to just any hospital. The facility must be approved; it must operate under a contract with the city. That means Maimonides Medical Center in this case, thank goodness, which is a beautiful modern hospital with clean floors and nurses who speak English.

Manning has been required to return to the murder scene of the Rebbe. His orders to me as he packs me aboard the ambulance evacuating our runaway female are delivered with an intensity I’ve never seen from him before.

MANNING