Ber Lusim’s big finale was also his homecoming. Where else would one of the chosen expect the Messiah to descend? So now Kennedy had found Ginat’Dania twice — and this time she hadn’t even been looking for it. It was one more problem that would have to be faced at some point: whether there was any way the three of them could get out of this alive, knowing what they now did.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘And you’ve got the street traffic covered. Air dispersal seems like the best bet — maybe the only bet — but there’s no way he’s going to get in close by diverting a commercial flight. Nine/eleven closed that loophole.’
‘And we’ve got effective lockdowns on all private airfields,’ Alus said. ‘Nothing can get into the air without our Elohim seeing it. And if they don’t like what they see, they’ll swat it down before it even gets off the runway.’
‘Subway trains.’ Kennedy didn’t even believe it as she said it, but there was no point in missing the obvious.
‘There’s only one station in what we think is the target zone,’ Diema told her. ‘207th Street, at the top of Broadway. It’s the northern terminus for one of the main underground lines, so there’s no through traffic to worry about. But Kuutma has stationed Messengers on the platforms and in the streets around, just in case Ber Lusim tries to bring anything in that way.’
‘That way? Meaning in a train? Okay, but suppose he’s setting something up in the tunnels? Maybe it’s worth sending a team in to check.’
‘You’re not thinking of the numbers,’ Nahir told Kennedy scornfully. ‘At the end of the line, there will be the lowest concentration of people. The whole New York subway and Metropolitan transit network — across all the boroughs and outlying areas — handles about four million passengers in the space of a day. Perhaps more, but not many more. What percentage of those do you think will visit 207th Street and Broadway, rhaka? I guarantee you that it’s not a quarter of them.’
Kennedy did her best to ignore the anger that rose inside her. It didn’t help that Nahir was right.
‘Maybe we should forget about the maps, for a while,’ she suggested.
‘And do what?’ Nahir’s politeness was even more scathing than his contempt.
‘And go back to the book. Rush, could you give us the last prophecy again?’
Rush glanced at her, nodded, and turned to the final page of the typescript. She wondered what page he’d been reading, if it wasn’t that one. He began to read aloud. ‘And the stone shall be rolled away from the tomb, as it was the time before—’
‘We know what it says,’ Diema said. Her tone was tense, strained. They were all getting close to the ragged edge.
‘Sure,’ Kennedy agreed. ‘But have we accounted for all the variables? The stone and the tomb, and the voice crying out — yes. That all happened when Shekolni died. And presumably “the time before”, when the stone was first rolled away, is the time of Jesus’s death and resurrection. Toller seems to be saying that at least some of the circumstances of Christ’s second coming will be like the first one.’
‘Obviously,’ Nahir said.
‘And then there’s the breath. “He will condemn a great multitude with a single breath.” If Ber Lusim is as literal-minded with this as he’s been with the other prophecies, he’ll have turned the ricin into some kind of gas.’
‘That’s what we’re assuming,’ Diema said. There was still an edge to her voice, as if this were a distraction from more important things.
‘How high does he have to be to get the stuff out on the wind?’ Kennedy wondered. ‘Has anyone done the maths?’
‘It’s not a question of height,’ Nahir said. ‘With a microlight aircraft, he could cover an area of—’
‘I’m not thinking of aircraft. I’m thinking of window ledges. Rooftops. Terraces. Suppose he’s just relying on the wind? Ricin spreads best as a powder. If he’s refined it into that form, he could have tons of the stuff ready to shovel out into the air. You’re thinking crop sprayers and microlights, but maybe he’ll use a low-tech solution.’
Diema had already picked up her phone. A second later, she was having a conversation, either with Kuutma or with someone else in the hierarchy.
Locked out again, Kennedy gave the typescript back to Rush.
‘I think we may be about to hit the road,’ she said. ‘Get ready.’
Diema lowered her phone. ‘The prevailing wind is westerly,’ she said. ‘But only for the last couple of hours. It’s predicted to be from the north, which is where it’s been for most of the last three days. Kuutma is sending spotters up to the tops of the tallest buildings. They’ll look for suspicious movement. But we’re talking about thousands of windows and hundreds of rooftops. He’s…’ She hesitated, picking her words with care. ‘He’s going to try to draft in some additional Elohim.’
‘He’s asking for volunteers,’ Tillman translated. ‘Raising a posse of concerned citizens.’
There was another pause. Diema nodded.
Nahir muttered something savage and Diema shut him up with a terse ‘Ve rahi!’ She’d just confirmed that Ginat’Dania was right here and the fact had not gone unnoticed by the other Messengers.
Kennedy tried not to think about that. ‘Correct me if I’m wrong,’ she said. ‘But a wind out of the north will be passing right through here, won’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Diema confirmed. ‘Kuutma already made that point. He’ll send some people — as many as he can. But we’re stretched very thin now. It’s possible that we can’t check every possible location in time.’
‘Then let’s get started,’ Kennedy said. ‘We can work outward from this place in semi-circular sweeps, doubling back on ourselves every time we hit the river.’
‘Two hours left,’ Tillman mused. ‘I’m not saying you’re wrong, Heather, but maybe this is the wrong time to be putting all our eggs in one basket.’
‘The only basket we have,’ Diema countered. ‘Unless anyone can think of anything better, that’s what we’re going to do.’
She waited, looking from face to face. Nobody spoke.
‘Then it’s agreed. We pair up, with a Messenger in each pair, so that we can stay in touch with each other and with Kuutma.’
‘Can I be paired with you?’ Rush asked her.
‘No,’ Diema said.
Rush tried again, tentative but stubborn. ‘I’d like … I need to talk to you about some stuff. Please. Let me go with you.’
‘We’ll talk later, Rush. For now, you go with Taria. Alus, you’re with Kennedy. I’ll go with—’
‘I’m staying here,’ Tillman said. ‘This is a tall building. If I can find my way up to the roof, I can get the lay of the land from here. I’ll just slow you down, in any case. You’ll get twice as much done without me, and I can keep in touch with you by phone. If anything else occurs to me, I’ll pass it along.’
‘He’ll need to be guarded,’ Nahir said, ignoring Tillman and speaking directly to Diema. ‘More than ever now, after your incautious words. He can’t be left alone, to speak to others of his kind, or leave messages. Someone has to watch him, from now until—’
‘Then watch him,’ Diema snapped.
‘Yeah,’ Rush said. ‘That’ll work.’ He stood up, whacking the rolled typescript against the side of the truck and producing a bass-drum boom. They all looked at him — much as they’d looked at Taria when she’d proved she had a voice. His face was full of anger and confusion and hurt pride. ‘I mean, it’s not like your friend there will kill us as soon as your back is turned. It’s not like he was trying to persuade your boss to finish us off back in Budapest. He’s a reasonable man. I bet he’d never even dream of sharpening his knife on Leo’s kidneys.’