The righteous men

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Monday, 7.28pm, Crown Heights, Brooklyn

The sounds of ne'eilah were drifting through, not just from the synagogue but from houses along the street — intense prayer at this, the most climactic hour of the holiest day of the year.

'Here?' Will said. 'You mean…' He stared at Rabbi Freilich himself.

'No, Will, it's not me.'

Will looked around. There were no other men in the room; no other men in the house. His stomach began to turn over.

Was it even possible? 'No, it can't be. You can't mean-'

'No, Will,' said the rabbi, his smile stretching wider. 'It's not you.' And then, with only the slightest tilt of his head, he nodded towards Beth.

'Beth? But I thought the thirty-six were all men. You told me they were all men.

'They are. And your wife is carrying inside her the thirty sixth righteous man. She is pregnant, Will, with a boy.'

'You've made a mistake. We've been trying-' Will stopped himself when he saw Beth's face. She was smiling and crying at the same time.

'It's true, Will. I finally got to use that tester I've carried around in my bag for so long. It's true. We're going to have a baby.'

'You see,' said Rabbi Freilich. 'Your wife didn't know she was pregnant. But the Torah knew. The Torah told us. It was the Rebbe's last message, given to Yosef Yitzhok in his dying hours. Nobody realized it at the time but his last words led us to the thirty-sixth verse — from the Book of Genesis, the book of new beginnings. This one verse — the tenth verse of the eighteenth chapter — was kept separate from all the others; not written down in any of the Rebbe's papers or speeches.

No one could have picked it up from our computers. But we counted off the letters in the usual way and it brought us a location: your home. At first we assumed that meant the tzaddik was you. But then Yosef Yitzhok looked closer at the words themselves. That verse describes the moment when God speaks to Abraham and tells him his wife, Sarah, is to have a son. She had been childless so long, yet she was to have a child. Yosef Yitzhok understood what the Rebbe was telling us. We weren't to look at you, but your wife. We found the hidden of the hidden, Will. And he is your son.'

Will pulled Beth towards him. But as they hugged, he felt something dig into his chest through the bandages. He heard the words of the vicar, repeated in his ears. We've bound your wounds. I hope your pain is easing.

Will ripped open his shirt and tore off the bandages underneath.

He cursed himself. How could he have been so stupid!

He had followed the script exactly as the vicar had laid it out for him. Try instead to light the way — and that was exactly what he had done. Sure enough, there it was, concealed between the bandages: a simple wire, tipped at one end by a microphone and at the other by a tiny transmitter.

A second, maybe two, passed before they knocked down the door. As it smashed against the wall, Will saw a blur with only two distinct features: a pair of laser-blue eyes and the barrel of a revolver, sheathed in a silencer. Instinct rather than judgment made Will shield Beth. He stole a glance at his watch. Nine minutes to go.

Rabbi Freilich and the woman of the house froze, petrified.

Laser Eyes barely looked at them.

Thank you, William. You did what we asked.'

The voice was not the gunman's, but belonged to the figure behind him, now stepping into the room. The sound of it made Will's brain flood. He realized he was looking at the head of the Church of the Reborn Jesus, the man behind the murder of thirty-five of the most virtuous people on earth, the man who wanted to bring about nothing less than the end of the world. And yet the face he was staring at was one he had known forever.