CHAPTER 45

“Done, Commander.”

“And you got Jeremy?”

No answer. Silence. Assent. Nik looks out the car window at the drizzle, the playground at the park, a mother pushing a boy. Nik’s heart picks up, adrenaline, then something so beyond sadness. He’s glad he didn’t hear the sound of bullets.

“What next, Nik?”

Nik doesn’t answer.

“Nik?”

“Janine, call me Perry.” Perry, known to so many as Nik, PeaceNik, looks at the boy on the swing. Hopefully destined for a better place. Nik wonders if it would solace the boy to know that Nik himself will join the pile of ashes and dust. The price, the promise, of being Neturei-Karta. The price of being not just a Guardian, but, for this operation, the Guardian, the sentry at the top of this show.

They know where the meeting is now, the target. What made Nik think they’d be able to execute the plan without terrible bloodshed? And, yet, a few deaths somehow feels more painful than the impending apocalypse. Each life an expired spark.

“We need to make sure we get the code,” he says absently. “Lose the body.”

He hears his voice. This is not how he ever talks aloud, just online, in World of Warcraft. Where he’s Commander Perry. An alter ego, or his real ego. What’s the difference? Online he can connect with other Guardians, command, collect other believers, help manage and guide, unseen and unnoticed in an online world filled with code and conflict.

“Of course.” There’s a pause; Nik hears a phone ring. “Hang on,” says Janine, then, “Uh-huh.”

“Perry.”

“What?”

“Small hiccup.”

“What?”

“Small. We’ll take care of it.”

Click.

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