Chapter 38

BACK AT MY DESK, there was a message from Chief Trac-chio waiting for me, and one from Jill.

"And the Chronicle's waiting for you," my secretary Brenda called.

"The Chronicle?"

I looked up and saw Cindy, sitting knock-kneed on a stack¹ of files outside my office. She pulled herself up as I approached, but I just didn't have the time for her.

"Cindy, I can't meet right now. I'm sorry. There's a briefing scheduled -"

"No," she cut in, stopping me, "I have something to show you, Lindsay. This takes precedence."

"Is everything all right?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

We shut the door to my office behind us, and Cindy re-moved a piece of paper from her knapsack. It looked like e-mail.

"Sit down," she said. She put the page in front of me and sat next to me. "Read."

One look at Cindy's eyes and I knew this wasn't good.

"It came in my morning e-mail," she explained. "I'm listed on the Chronicle website. I don't know who it's from. Or why they sent it to me. It's just that I'm a little freaked right now."

I started to read. Don't ask how we got your name or why we're contacting you.... The more I read, the worse it got. We are prepared to kill one prominent² bloodsucking pig every three days.... I looked up.

"Keep reading," Cindy said.

I looked back down and read the rest of the page. I was trying to decide if it was real. I reached the bottom, and knew that it was.

August Spies.

My chest was building up pressure. Suddenly, it was clear where all this was headed. They were holding the city hostage³. This was a statement of terror⁴. The G-8. Their target. It was scheduled for the tenth - in nine days. The finance⁵ ministers of the top industrial states around the world would be in San Francisco.

"Who knows about this?" I asked.

"You and me," Cindy said. "And them."

"They want you to publish their demands," I said. "They want to use the Chronicle as a soapbox." I was thinking of all the possible scenarios⁶. "This is gonna make Tracchio shit."

The countdown had already started. Every three days. Today was Thursday. I knew this e-mail had to be turned over. And once I did, I knew it would no longer be my case. But there was something I needed to do first.

"We can try and trace⁷ the address," Cindy said. "I know a hacker⁸ -"

"It won't lead anywhere," I said. "Think," I pressed her. "Why did they contact you? There are plenty of other reporters at the Chronicle. There's got to be a good reason."

"Maybe because my byline's on the story. Maybe because I have roots in Berkeley. But that was ten years ago, Lindsay."

"Could it be someone from back then? Someone you knew? That asshole Lemouz?"

We looked at each other. "What do you want me to do?" Cindy finally asked.

"I don't know...." They had made contact. I knew killers⁹ enough to know that when they want a dialogue with you, when there's anything you can do to put off the next grisly act, you talk.

"I think I want you to answer it," I said.

1 stack   

n.堆叠，堆；vt.堆积，成叠放在；vi.堆成一堆

参考例句：

• There's a whole stack of bills waiting to be paid.有一大堆账要付呢。
• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。

2 prominent   

adj.突出的；显著的；杰出的；重要的

参考例句：

• He is prominent in science.他是科学界杰出的人物。
• That school is prominent in baseball.那个学校以棒球著称。

3 hostage   

n.人质，抵押品

参考例句：

• One group claimed to have executed the American hostage.一个组织声称已经处决了那名美国人质。
• Have you read the article about the rescue of the hostage?你看了关于营救人质的文章了吗？

4 terror   

n.恐怖；可怖的人(事)

参考例句：

• We were in mortal terror of being found out. 我们非常害怕被发现。
• That guy is a proper terror. 那家伙真是讨厌。

5 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

6 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 trace   

n.痕迹，踪迹，微量；vt.追踪，找出根源，描绘；vi.追踪

参考例句：

• There isn't a trace of a smile on her face.她脸上没有一丝笑容。
• We have lost all trace of him.我们找不到他的踪迹。

8 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

9 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。