THEO
“WHAT THE HELL is this about?” Bud asked.
“He’s talking about the Book of Enoch.”
“E who?”
“Not widely read . . . Anyway, in addition to wanting to save Tula, he’s also after Solomon. This quest of his has become real religious warfare.”
“So what is this e-noch?” Bud asked.
“It’s an ancient book of text, not considered part of scripture to most, but his Jewish mother no doubt taught him bits and pieces of her ragged gypsy religion as she remembered it: confused, broken, twisted . . . not so unlike his father’s snake-yielding creed.”
“In my experience a religious nut is far more dangerous than your run-a-the-mill con.”
“Yeah. Mine, too,” I said.
“That’s funny comin’ from you. You know, the whole priest thing and all—”
“Yeah, I get it. Funny. Anyway.”
“Well, I’d say you’re more the expert on religious fanatics, so what do we do?”
“We need a plan,” I said. “We need to anticipate his next move. It’s important to not become the evil we abhor, to not react to him, or engage in his battle. We need to pull him in where we can get at him, because right now he’s a ghost. And a ghost has all the advantage.”
“I need to write that down,” Bud said. “To not become the evil we abhor. Jeez, man, I need that framed and hangin’ over my desk. Anyway, for now I’ll hang posters of his ugly—”
“No, never telegraph a punch. It gives the counter-puncher an opportunity to create a good offense. Get them out discreetly. Don’t look worried—he’ll feed on that. We need to figure out what he’s planning for this last stand, and where the hell he’s hiding.”
“So that’s our plan . . . Be discreet, don’t look vexed, don’t upset him, and then figure out every next step he may make? Okay Sherlock, if you can do that, then I need you to come work for me. We’ll have those pesky FBI Most Wanted thugs behind bars in no time.”
“Again, funny,” I said. “What I mean is if we generate a circus and scare everyone in town, it’ll distract him. We don’t want that. We need his eyes on me, or Solomon. If he’s engaged in this imaginary religious battle, and we’re the enemy he’s focused on, we have a better chance of catching him when he trips up. And he will. But if he gets caught up in the thrill of scaring an entire valley, we won’t know where to look. At least now we know where he’s looking and will inevitably miss a punch or drop his guard. Using his own weaknesses we can draw him out.”
“Always the counter-puncher,” Bud said. “Okay, a defensive fight it is. So we’ll rely on our opponent’s mistakes to catch him. Discreet. I get it.”