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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

Instancer regards us without the slightest measure of surprise or alarm.

INSTANCER

(to Manning)

“The evildoer doesn’t want to be caught. He wants to be known. He wants to be understood. He wants his suffering to be appreciated and his point of view to be granted respect.”

Instancer dumps Manning back into the room’s single chair. Its legs splinter. Manning crashes to the floor.

I’m frozen. My finger is on the trigger but I can’t make myself move.

Instancer reaches to Manning’s jacket. From the lapel he tugs the lens and mini-mike of the recorder.

INSTANCER

Got it all for your report, Dewey?

He tosses me the device.

INSTANCER

See you next, you know where.

Instancer strides, absent all haste, between Rachel and Ben-David and me toward the door.

INSTANCER

(to Rachel, as he passes)

Hello, dear.

BOOK SIX

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ARMAGEDDON

23

THIS IS HOW THE WORLD ENDS, PART ONE

OUR EL AL 797 bangs down onto the tarmac at Ben Gurion International in the most ungodly crosswind I have ever experienced. Before the aircraft’s undercarriage has even touched down, the starboard wing starts ballooning under a gust that we’ll learn later hits seventy-one knots (the maximum crosswind a plane of that size is permitted to land in is twenty-five), which means the tip of the opposite wing, with its fuel tanks and fuel lines, not to mention its two port-side engines, is plunging toward the tarmac.

Passengers are screaming. My window seat is right above the starboard wing. I can see the ailerons screw-driving up up up as all engines fire on full thrust. The plane slams down, bounces twice, and stabilizes. Passengers are hanging on to each other and every surface they can catch hold of. The engines scream into reverse; brakes come up howling. The pilots finally wrestle the jet to a halt so close to the end of the runway that the aircraft has no room to execute a reversion under its own power; it has to be towed back onto the tarmac not by one tug but by three. It takes more than an hour to reach the gate, with gale-force winds scouring the field and gust-blown grit abrading the jet’s skin like a sandblaster.

Date is Friday, April 28, four days after Manning’s migraine encounter with Instancer.

Rachel has bolted.

Day One. Telling no one, not even her brother. She got on a plane somehow and fled to Israel.

Manning is beyond furious, not just at her but at himself for not arresting her immediately after the migraine incident.

Has Manning slept in the past ninety-six hours? If he has, it’s been in snatches only, despite me staying glued to him and forcing him to lie down and close his eyes at every interval where his participation is not absolutely essential.