"This is exactly the kind of high-tech1 nonsense that never, ever worked when we tried it in Vietnam," Uncle Enzo says.
"Your point is well taken. But technology has come a long way since then," says Ky, the surveillance man from Ng Security Industries. Ky is talking to Uncle Enzo over a radio headset, his van, full of electronic gear, is lurking2 a quarter of a mile away in the shadows next to a LAX cargo3 warehouse4. "I am monitoring the entire airport, and all its approaches, with a three-dimensional Metaverse display. For example, I know that your dog tags, which you customarily wear around your neck, are missing. I know that you are carrying one Kongbuck and eighty-five Kong-pence in change in your left pocket. I know that you have a straight razor in your other pocket. Looks like a nice one, too."
"Never underestimate the importance of good grooming," Uncle Enzo says.
"But I do not understand why you are carrying a skateboard."
"It's a replacement5 for the one Y.T. lost in front of EBGOC," Uncle Enzo says. "It's a long story."
"Sir, we have a report from one of our franchulates," says a young lieutenant6 in a Mafia windbreaker, jogging across the apron7 with a black walkie-talkie in one hand. He is not really a lieutenant; the Mafia is not very keen on the use of military ranks. But for some reason, Uncle Enzo thinks of him as the lieutenant. "The second chopper set down in a strip-mall parking lot about ten miles from here and met the pizza car and picked up Rife8, then took off again. They are on their way in now."
"Send someone out to pick up the abandoned pizza car. And give the driver a day off," Uncle Enzo says.
The lieutenant looks somewhat taken aback that Uncle Enzo is concerning himself with such a tiny detail It is as if the don were going up and down highways picking up litter or something. But he nods respectfully, having just learned something: details matter. He turns away and begins talking into his radio. Uncle Enzo has serious doubts about this fellow. He is a blazer person, adept9 at running the small-time bureaucracy of a Nova Sicilia franchulate, but lacking in the kind of flexibility10 that, for example, Y.T. has. A classic case of what is wrong with the Mafia today. The only reason the lieutenant is even here is because the situation has been changing so rapidly, and, of course, because of all the fine men they lost on the Kowloon.
Ky comes in over the radio again. "Y.T. has just contacted her mother and asked for a ride," he says. "Would you like to hear their conversation?"
"Not unless it has tactical significance," Uncle Enzo says briskly. This is one more thing to check off his list; he has been worried about Y.T's relationship with her mother and was meaning to speak with her about it.
Rife's jet sits on the tarmac, engines idling, waiting to taxi out onto the runway. In the cockpit are a pilot and copilot. Until half an hour ago, they were loyal employees of L. Bob Rife. Then they sat and watched out the windshield as the dozen Rife security drones who were stationed around the hangar variously got their heads blown off, their throats slit11, or else just plain dropped their weapons and fell to their knees and surrendered. Now the pilot and copilot have taken lifelong oaths of loyalty12 to Uncle Enzo's organization. Uncle Enzo could have just dragged them out and replaced them with his own pilots, but this way is better. If Rife should, somehow, actually make it onto the plane, he will recognize his own pilots and think that everything is fine. And the fact that the pilots are alone there in the cockpit without any direct Mafia supervision13 will merely emphasize the great trust that Uncle Enzo has placed in them and the oath that they have taken. It will actually enhance their sense of duty. It will amplify14 Uncle Enzo's displeasure if they should break their oaths. Uncle Enzo has no doubt about the pilots at all.
He is less happy with the arrangements here, which were made rather hastily. The problem is, as usual, the unpredictable Y.T. He was not expecting her to jump out of a moving helicopter and get free from L. Bob Rife. He was, in other words, expecting a hostage negotiation15 somewhat later on, after Rife had flown Y.T. back to his headquarters in Houston.
But the hostage situation no longer obtains, and so Uncle Enzo feels it is important to stop Rife now, before he gets back to his home turf in Houston. He has called for a major realignment of Mafia forces, and right now, dozens of helicopters and tactical units are hastily replotting their courses and trying to converge16 on LAX as quickly as they can. But in the meantime, Enzo is here with a small number of his own personal bodyguards17, and this technical surveillance man from Ng's organization.
They have shut down the airport. This was easy to do: they just pulled Lincoln Town Cars onto all the runways, for starters, and then went into the control tower and announced that in a few minutes they would be going to war. Now, LAX is probably quieter than it has been at any point since it was built. Uncle Enzo can actually hear the faint crashing of surf on the beach, half a mile away. It is almost pleasant here. Weenie-roasting weather.
Uncle Enzo is cooperating with Mr. Lee, which means working with Ng, and Ng, while highly competent, has a technological18 bias19 that Uncle Enzo distrusts. He would prefer a single good soldier in polished shoes, armed with a nine, to a hundred of Ng's gizmos and portable radar20 units.
When they came out here, he was expecting a broad open space in which to confront Rife. Instead, the environment is cluttered21. Several dozen corporate22 jets and helicopters are parked on the apron. Nearby is an assortment23 of private hangars, each with its own fenced-in parking area containing a number of cars and utility vehicles. And they are rather close to the tank farm where the airport's supply of jet fuel is stored. That means lots of pipes and pumping stations and hydraulic24 folderol sprouting25 out of the ground. Tactically, the area has more in common with a jungle than with a desert. The apron and runway themselves are, of course, more desertlike, although they have drainage ditches where any number of men could be concealed26. So a better analogy would be beach warfare27 in Vietnam: a broad open area that abruptly28 turns into jungle. Not Uncle Enzo's favorite place.
收听单词发音 |
1
high-tech
|
|
| adj.高科技的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
lurking
|
|
| 潜在 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
cargo
|
|
| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
warehouse
|
|
| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
replacement
|
|
| n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
rife
|
|
| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
adept
|
|
| adj.老练的，精通的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
flexibility
|
|
| n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
slit
|
|
| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
supervision
|
|
| n.监督，管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
amplify
|
|
| vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
negotiation
|
|
| n.谈判，协商 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
converge
|
|
| vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
bodyguards
|
|
| n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
technological
|
|
| adj.技术的；工艺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bias
|
|
| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
radar
|
|
| n.雷达，无线电探测器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
cluttered
|
|
| v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满… | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
corporate
|
|
| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
assortment
|
|
| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
hydraulic
|
|
| adj.水力的；水压的，液压的；水力学的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
sprouting
|
|
| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
warfare
|
|
| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |