Gods of Manhattan Read Online Free PDF Page B

the barrel of one of his twin automatics into the centre of the Nazi emblem on the boy's chest.
    " For show? "
    The boy let out another whimper, eyes wide and wet. He tried to find any sign of mercy in that cold, red metal mask, any humanity shining back at him from those eight monstrous lenses.
    He saw nothing at all.
    The masked man hissed again, softly.
    " You should start mixing with a better class of people. "
    Then he turned his back. The boy stood for a moment, face white, hands still raised, swaying gently in the air like balloons on strings. Then the spell was broken, and he ran back the way he came, sobbing like a child.
    The man in the mask bent down and began to help Johann to his feet. The Rabbi flinched at his touch, surprised by the gentleness of it. He swallowed, and spoke softly: "Thank you. I think they would have killed me."
    He stood, the adrenaline making him quiver, unsteady on his feet. His clothes were sticky with blood. He looked down at the two dead young men - boys, children - and then up at the blank mask. "Please. I am grateful, you saved my life, but..." He swallowed. "Was there no other way?"
    There was a chuckle from behind the mask, dry as kindling.
    " Not for them. "
    Johann swallowed, and nodded, feeling like a coward. He wanted to go home and wash the blood from himself, to be far away from this terrible creature that had saved his life. He wanted to be sick, to sleep for a hundred years, to feel something besides the cold weight of horror coiling in his gut.
    "Well. Thank you again." he said, quietly, and turned away. He wondered whether he should call the police.
    The man in the mask laid a hand on his shoulder.
    " A moment. "
    Johann's blood froze.
    The man's grip on his shoulder was soft, almost gentle. "Did you think you could escape me, Rabbi Labinowicz?"
    "What? What are you talking about?" Johann swallowed, feeling a cold trickle of sweat at the base of his neck. Helplessly, he tried to jerk away from the hand, but the grip on his shoulder was suddenly like a steel vice.
    The other hand still held a squat, smoking automatic pistol.
    " Did you think I came here by accident? That I don't know every detail about you?" The laughter came again, and the eight blank lenses reflected the terrified, sweating face of the Rabbi back at him. " You take a special interest in the children of the neighbourhood, don't you, Johann?"
    Johann licked dry lips. "What of it? The schooling here - they need to learn! I teach them!" His voice sounded hollow in his ears, like a murderer pleading for clemency. Oh God, how had it come to this? "Mathematics, and sciences..."
    The masked man hissed slowly, dangerously, like a snake about to strike. The blank, emotionless lenses seemed to bore into Johann's soul, uncovering his every secret.
    " I know exactly what you teach them. " The voice was cold, mocking, deadly. " You take pleasure in small things, don't you, Rabbi Labinowicz? "
    Johann cried out as if he'd been struck, trying to struggle free again. "Please," he begged, his voice hoarse, "whatever I've... whatever you think I've done, please. You don't have to do this. I'll do what you want, I'll, I'll go to the police-"
    The man in the mask laughed again, a low, throaty cackle, redolent of cobwebs and deep graves. He raised his pistol to Johann's face. " I have a surer way of dealing with your kind. Open your mouth, Rabbi. I have another small thing for you, but this time I doubt you will take much pleasure in it at all. "
    "Please-" begged Johann, but he got no further. The bullet entered his mouth and blew the back of his head out across the brickwork. He slumped to the floor and the man in the mask put another into his head for good measure.
    In the street beyond, the men and women still walked to and fro. They paid no heed to the sound of gunfire, nor did they notice the trickle of blood running from the alley across the sidewalk and into the gutter. They knew better.
    In the alley, Johann's corpse,