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.Connecting the gospel to the hideous thing he had seen done was the worst kind of blasphemy, and he struggled to get the word out of his mind.He finally found Jesse at the Times Square station, standing beneath a clock, looking up at it as if he expected it to tell him something more than the time, for of what use was time to skells? "Jesse," Rags panted as he scuttled up to the man, then stopped.Jesse's eyes were more intense than Rags had ever seen them.There was something else too.If he could have put this Jesse Gordon beside the Jesse Gordon he first met down here months ago, he doubted if he could have told that they were the same man.It was not so much a matter of physical appearance as it was of attitude.The man who stood before him now was a creature of the tunnels, but not a skell.There was none of the secretiveness, the shabbiness, the sense of subservience, of being something less than human, about Jesse Gordon.Rather there was a sense of place, there was purpose, there was mission in the lines of his face, in the set of his shoulders.This was a man who was home, who was where he was always meant to be.Jesse was no longer wearing a white T-shirt.Instead he had on his black turtleneck.But despite the heat of the station, there were no signs of perspiration on his face.He looked cool and ready and unafraid.He looked, thought Rags, like a Deliverer."Jesse," Rags said again."What is it, Rags? Is it Enoch?"How did he know? "Yeah, oh sweet Jesus, it sure is.I seen Baggie, that old woman, she had a baby, Jesse.She took somebody's baby, and she killed it, she killed it right in front of Enoch, like they done for Baal in the Bible.""What did you do, Rags?" Jesse's voice was quiet and still."What did I do?""Did you try and stop her?""I… I didn't know for sure till it was too late.I seen her on the train and she.she had a knife, Jesse.""Find her, Rags.Take her knife.Stop her.”“Stop her? I can't.she got a knife, Jesse.”“This is your chance, Rags.The chance to make up for what you did, why you came down here.Children, Rags.To save children.""Jesse, I…""You think she'll stop now? You think Enoch will stop, will say that's enough, that's fine, go and kill no more?""Jesse…""Find her, Rags.Stop her.""You're telling me to kill her.""Yes.""But.but even if I do, that won't stop Enoch.Somebody else'll do for him, bring him babies.”“I'll stop Enoch.""You?""I'll stop Enoch," Jesse said again.Rags looked into Jesse's face for a long time before he spoke again."You been sent, Jesse? That it? You been sent?"For the first time, Jesse looked down, and a touch of humanity in the form of confusion and uncertainty crossed his face."Something sent me.Something." He paused, then said, "Walk with me."It seemed to Rags that they walked hundreds of yards through a honeycomb of tunnels before Jesse spoke again.When he did, his words were slow and measured, as if he had never before dared to think the words, let alone speak them."I think I was sent, Rags.By what I don't know.Maybe it was by God." He smiled bitterly."After it happened, I thought there was no God, that there could be no purpose in it, that a god wouldn't let such things happen.But I think I was wrong.There was a purpose.Sit with me."They sat together on a bench at the end of an uptown platform.Jesse leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs.His eyes looked at the edge of the platform, but Rags knew he was seeing far more."Random violence.That's what I couldn't accept, what nobody can really accept.It means an unstructured universe, Rags.It means that there's no reason for anything.Why go on living and struggling when a random act can kill us in an instant? What's the point? But the longer I've been down here, the more I've seen.And the more I've thought about it, the more I see patterns.Reasons.Reasons for everything.And there are reasons we can't see, and those are the ones that drive us mad, that make us think the world is a madhouse."Rags shook his head wearily."I see what you mean, Jesse, but I don't know what difference it makes.It's just a way of looking at things."Jesse put a hand on Rags's shoulder."All life is a way of looking at things.And how we look at things makes us who we are, makes us do what we do.""But what's the reason for your wife? And for your little girl? For the boy you killed?""To bring me down here.Nothing less would have brought me here.But that chain of events—their deaths leading to my killing the boy who tried to help me—that was enough.They were sacrifices, Rags.As horrible as that seems, they were necessary sacrifices to the final purpose."His eyes were alive now.Rags did not want to ask the question, but he had no choice."What.what's that purpose then?""To kill Enoch.""Jesse.""The evil that comes from him is unbelievable, Rags.I don't know what hold he has over people, but I do know it's incredibly strong.You've just seen it with Baggie, and I've seen it several times.These tunnels stink with his power.""It ain't no earthly power, Jesse," Rags said."I don't know about that, Rags, but if it isn't, then no earthly power sent me down here to deal with him.""How you gonna find him, Jesse?""I can find him.I can do whatever it is that I have to do.And so can you, Rags.Find Baggie.Stop her.With whatever it takes.Bring me the knife.""Jesse…""Rags," Jesse said, laying a hand on his friend's shoulder, "You're going to die soon.Nothing is going to stop that from happening.That growth is going to kill you.If you stop Baggie, that will mean something.It's good you're doing, Rags.Good."Rags began to raise a hand to his neck, but stopped before he touched the hard swelling beneath the cloths.The hand closed into a fist."I'd be doing… good?""Yes, Rags.Good.Go.Stop her.I'll find Enoch." Jesse walked away.Rags looked down at his feet.Jesse's words had hurt him, but in a strange way they had also given him hope.Maybe, he thought, Jesse was right.Maybe the way for Rags to redeem himself was to kill Baggie, just as Jesse wanted to redeem himself by killing Enoch.All right then.All right [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]