AS CORKY SLID FROM THE CENTER OF HIS BENCH toward the port side of the gondola1, Trotter said, “Easy, easy.”
The sudden shift of Corky’s 170 pounds could cause the mini-blimp to wallow, perhaps even bobble, which was a risk they couldn’t take this close to the roof.
While Corky moved slowly, balancing breast-down on the gunwale, one leg in and one leg out of the gondola, Trotter employed his own body as a counterweight, shifting starboard on his bench, and he used the controls to fine-tune2 the attitude of the vessel3.
The blimp wallowed but not dangerously.
At a signal from Trotter, Corky slid the rest of the way out of the gondola, though he did not at once drop free of it. First he hung by both hands from the gunwale, while the pilot compensated4 for this further shift of weight.
As the airship steadied, Corky lowered his left hand from the gunwale to a ballast-tank bracket, then his right. The metal was cold and wet, but with his leather-and-nylon gloves, he got a firm grip.
Peering down, he saw that his dangling5 feet were still eighteen or twenty inches from the roof.
He dared not drop that far. Though he would most likely keep his [538] balance, he would land with too much noise, alerting the two guards who were in the security office that occupied half the second floor of the groundskeeper’s building.
Evidently, Trotter recognized the problem. He vented6 a whisper of helium, and the vessel sank until Corky felt the roof under him.
Straddling the ridge8 line, one foot on the south slope of the roof, one foot on the north slope, he let go of the ballast-tank bracket. He had touched down almost as softly as Peter Pan.
Freed of his weight, the blimp at once soared ten feet, fifteen. The tail began to rise, which wasn’t good, but with an adjustment of the rudders, Trotter raised the nose and recovered even as he brought the vessel around for the return trip to the knoll9, which he would be making alone.
With the boy in his control, Corky would leave Palazzo Rospo in style, using one of the automobiles10 in Manheim’s first-rate collection.
Back at the ruined chateau12, once the three tethering lines were well anchored to truck and trees, Trotter would shoot the two men who served as ground crew. Although the abandonment of the airship would be a wound to his heart, he would leave it behind and walk to a car that earlier today he’d parked two blocks away.
Immediately upon returning to his canyon13 home in Malibu, he would switch vehicles and hit the road, leaving behind forever his life as Jack14 Trotter. Perhaps he would never realize that he’d been duped into believing that a genuine NSA agent had made a deal with him to erase15 him from every government record and to allow him to live hereafter as a ghost in the machinery16 of America; because he intended to live like a ghost anyway, he might actually escape all official notice entirely17 by his own efforts.
Authorities investigating the kidnapping of Aelfric Manheim would probably stall out when they traced the blimp back to Trotter in Malibu. They would have no way of discovering what new identity he had assumed, what his new appearance might be, or where he had gone.
[539] If someday, against all odds18, they caught up with Trotter, he would have no collaborator’s name to give them except that of Robin19 Goodfellow, secret agent extraordinaire.
Still straddling the ridge line, Corky took two cautious steps forward. His boots had been made for true winter conditions, for snow and treacherous20 ice. Mere21 rain-slicked slate22 tiles should be easily negotiated.
Nevertheless, a slip now would be disastrous23 even if he avoided or survived a fall. With the estate guards in rooms directly under him, the rain would do little to mask any sounds he made, and silence remained essential.
The vent7 pipe that he sought stood where the blueprints24 had shown it, less than eighteen inches down the south slope from the peak of the roof.
Feeling like a gremlin engaged in naughty work, Corky would have liked to murmur25 a suitable gremlin song or to entertain himself with other antics. He recognized that on this occasion, however, he must as never before restrain his natural exuberance26.
Uphill to the east, Captain Queeg von Hindenburg and his Jules Vernesian contraption tunneled through the thickening fog, which closed in his wake, granting him concealment27 as completely as the sea had conspired28 to hide Nemo and the Nautilus.
Corky sat on the ridge line, facing the pipe. This vent, which penetrated29 the roof to a height of one foot, led through the attic30 and to the bathroom in the security office.
Reaching over his shoulder, Corky unzipped the top compartment31 on the backpack. He fished out a ten-gallon plastic trash bag and a roll of all-weather tape.
A peaked and flared32 metal cap had been mounted on four-inch legs to the top of the pipe itself. This prevented rain and windblown debris33 from getting into the vent, while allowing air to be cycled out of the room below.
Corky pulled the trash bag over the flared cap and with one hand snugged34 it as tight as possible around the pipe.
[540] If the bathroom exhaust fan had been in operation, it would have pumped the trash bag full of air, and he would have been forced to delay this critical phase of the mission until the fan was switched off. The limp plastic did not swell35 into a balloon.
With the all-weather tape, he quietly fixed36 the mouth of the bag to the pipe shaft37, creating a relatively38 airtight seal.
Reaching over his shoulder once more, he withdrew a hairspray-size can from the backpack. This was not an ordinary spray can, but a “weaponized aerosol39-dispersal unit (ADU) with a super-accelerant feature,” which had been designed by one of his university colleagues working under a generous grant from the Chinese military.
The ADU would release its entire highly pressurized contents in six seconds. The molecules40 of the active ingredients were bonded41 to a gas that boasted such a highly efficient expansion factor that both floors of the groundskeeper’s building would be contaminated in fifty to seventy seconds.
The ADU had been designed to contain anything from a sedative42 to a deadly nerve toxin43 that killed upon first inhalation.
Corky had been unable to get his hands on a unit containing the nerve toxin. He’d had to be satisfied with the sedative gas.
Sedating44 the two guards suited him well enough. Although deeply committed to societal collapse45 and its rebirth, he was not a man who killed indiscriminately. Lately, of course, more murder than usual had been required to advance his noble cause. But he liked to think of himself as one who could exercise restraint as easily as he could, in a pinch, let loose the beast within.
With one finger, he poked46 a hole in the plastic sack, widened it, and slipped the upper half of the aerosol can into the bag. Using the all-weather tape, he created a seal where can and trash bag met.
Holding the exposed end of the can in his left hand, he felt through the plastic with his right hand until, between thumb and forefinger47, he was able to get a firm grip on the ring-pull, which functioned [541] much like that on a grenade. He plucked out the ring and let it slide down the inside of the bag.
The ten-second delay between activation48 and dispersal of the contents allowed the can to be thrown through an open door or window. Corky held fast to it and waited.
When the contents erupted out of the revolutionary nozzle, the can vibrated in his left hand and instantly turned so icy cold that he could feel the radical49 temperature change through his glove. If he had been holding it barehanded, his skin would have frozen to the aluminum50.
Whoosh51! The trash bag inflated52 as abruptly53 as an automobile11 air bag in a head-on collision. Corky thought it might pop in his face, bathing him in sedative gas.
The vent offered a route for expansion, however, so instead of stretching the plastic to the bursting point, the gas traveled down the pipe, past the stilled exhaust fan that would have blown it out if activated54, into the security-office bathroom, and from there into the entire building.
Closed doors would not inhibit55 dispersal. The sleep-inducing vapors56 would rush between door and threshold, between door and jamb, through any tiniest crack and crevice57, through heating vents58 and plumbing59 chases.
Prior to the scheduled nine o’clock foot patrol of the grounds, both guards were in the office below Corky. The sedative was so fast-acting that in ten seconds from the time the ADU emptied, the two men would have collapsed60 unconscious.
He waited more than half a minute before departing the ridge line for the north slope of slate. The roof was not steeply pitched, and he descended61 it with ease.
At the front of the building, which was as large as an upscale suburban62 house, a loggia was covered by a sturdy redwood trellis entwined for decades by a trumpet63 vine. He jumped from the roof onto the trellis.
[542] From the trellis, he leaped to the lawn, allowed his knees to buckle64 as would a parachutist, fell, rolled, and sprang to his feet.
He felt like Vin Diesel65.
After shrugging out of his backpack, he withdrew from it a gas mask. He tossed the pack aside and put on the mask.
The central entrance to the groundskeeper’s building was not locked. He stepped into a service foyer.
Just like the blueprints.
To his right: a door into a gardening-supplies storeroom large enough also to garage the three riding lawnmowers as well as the two electric carts with which Yorn and his day crew moved fertilizer and other materials around the immense grounds.
To his left: a door to Yorn’s spacious66 office, another door to the bathroom used by gardeners.
Directly ahead were stairs to the second floor.
Upstairs, Corky found the two evening-shift guards unconscious in the main monitoring room. One sprawled67 on the floor, and the other slumped68 in a chair in front of a bank of video monitors.
They would be profoundly unconscious for between sixty to eighty minutes. That was plenty of time for Corky to do his job and be gone.
He pulled up a chair in front of a computer. Neither the power supply nor the estate-specific networking arrangements had been affected69 by the careful severance70 of outgoing and incoming phone service.
In his gas mask, his breathing sounded like that of Darth Vader.
At the start of the shift, as always, one of the guards had earlier accessed the security system with a personal password. To Corky, the elaborate status display on the screen revealed, among many other things, that the house-perimeter71 alarm had been activated, making it impossible to enter Palazzo Rospo by window or door without triggering sirens.
According to Ned Hokenberry, the three-eyed freak—now the [543] two-eyed freak, now the dead two-eyed freak—the perimeter alarm usually wasn’t engaged until eleven o’clock or even midnight. This evening they had closed up early.
Corky wondered why.
Perhaps they had been spooked by certain black boxes and the contents thereof.
Delighted to have made them uneasy and yet still have slipped this far past their defenses, Corky began to sing the Grinch’s theme from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The gas mask lent the tune a wonderfully spooky, even savage72 quality.
Mick Sachatone, poor dead Mick in his Bart Simpson pajamas73, had hacked74 the Manheim security system by linking to it via the computer of the off-site armed-response company that maintained a 24/7 line to this room. He’d given Corky some rudimentary instruction in its operation.
First, Corky checked the status of the two panic rooms in the mansion75. Neither was in use.
Using the computer, he put the two panic rooms in siege mode, engaging their locks by remote. They could no longer be opened using their hidden on-site lock releases. No one could take refuge in them.
The house-perimeter alarm could be armed or disarmed76 simply by selecting from a YES-NO option. Currently the YES was lit on the screen. Corky used the mouse to click the NO.
Now, with a door key, he could enter Palazzo Rospo as though it were his own sweet home. Keys dangled77 from the belt of each sleeping guard. He unclipped one set, jingled78 them, and smiled.
When he picked up a phone, he heard no dial tone. He tried one of the guard’s cell phones. It didn’t function. Reliable Mick.
Leaving the guards to their dreams, Corky descended the stairs and returned to the loggia under the trellis and the trumpet vine. He stripped off the gas mask and threw it away.
Through a screen of trees and darkling rain, the great house could be seen perhaps two hundred yards to the north. With only Ethan [544] Truman and the boy in residence, not many windows were lighted, yet the mansion nonetheless reminded Corky of an enormous luxury liner making way on a night sea. And he was the iceberg79.
He unzipped the deepest pocket on his storm suit and withdrew the Glock that previously80 he had fitted with a sound suppressor.
收听单词发音 |
1
gondola
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| n.威尼斯的平底轻舟；飞船的吊船 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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compensated
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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vented
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| 表达，发泄（感情，尤指愤怒）( vent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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8
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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10
automobiles
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| n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
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automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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14
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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15
erase
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| v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹 | |
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16
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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18
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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blueprints
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| n.蓝图，设计图( blueprint的名词复数 ) | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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conspired
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| 密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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29
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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32
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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snugged
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| v.整洁的( snug的过去式和过去分词 )；温暖而舒适的；非常舒适的；紧身的 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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aerosol
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| n.悬浮尘粒，气溶胶，烟雾剂，喷雾器 | |
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molecules
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| 分子( molecule的名词复数 ) | |
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bonded
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| n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的 | |
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42
sedative
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| adj.使安静的，使镇静的；n. 镇静剂，能使安静的东西 | |
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toxin
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| n.毒素，毒质 | |
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sedating
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| v.使昏昏入睡，使镇静( sedate的现在分词 ) | |
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45
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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46
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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47
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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48
activation
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| n. 激活，催化作用 | |
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49
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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50
aluminum
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| n.(aluminium)铝 | |
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51
whoosh
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| v.飞快地移动，呼 | |
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52
inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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53
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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54
activated
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| adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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55
inhibit
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| vt.阻止，妨碍，抑制 | |
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56
vapors
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| n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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57
crevice
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| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
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58
vents
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| （气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩 | |
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59
plumbing
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| n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究 | |
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60
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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61
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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62
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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63
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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64
buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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diesel
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| n.柴油发动机，内燃机 | |
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66
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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67
sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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68
slumped
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| 大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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69
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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70
severance
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| n.离职金；切断 | |
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71
perimeter
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| n.周边，周长，周界 | |
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72
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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73
pajamas
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| n.睡衣裤 | |
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74
hacked
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| 生气 | |
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75
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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76
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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77
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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78
jingled
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| 喝醉的 | |
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79
iceberg
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| n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人 | |
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80
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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