Chapter 102

I had to say goodbye to Jamilla Hughes again, and each time it was a little harder. We’d been through so much together in such a short time. I made her promise to be extremely careful, even paranoid, for the next few days. She promised. Finally I got on another plane out of San Francisco International.
The mysterious phone calls had stopped, but that was scary and unsettling too. I didn’t know where Kyle was, or what he was doing.  Was he still watching me? Had he somehow followed me back to Washington? I shouldn’t be having thoughts like that, but I was, and I couldn’t stop them from coming.
Did he have binoculars¹ focused on me as I walked up the sidewalk to myAuntTia’s house in Chapel² Gate, Maryland, about fifteen miles from Baltimore? How could he know I was here? Why, because that’s what he did for a living. Could he get past Sampson and me? I didn’t think so. But how could I know with complete certainty.  The kids were enjoying their short vacation with AuntTia. She had always spoiled them, just as she had spoiled me as a kid. ‘Same old, same old’ she liked to say when she served you a piece of hot pie in the middle of the afternoon, or gave you an unexpected present.  Nana was more understanding than I thought she would be. I think she liked being with her ‘little sister’. Tia was younger than Nana, ‘only seventy-eight’, but she was spry, very contemporary in her outlook, and she was a fabulous³ cook. That night, she and Nana made penne with gorgonzola cheese, broccoli⁴ rabe, and sock-it tome cake. I ate as if it were my last meal.
Then the kids and I played and talked until the outrageous⁵ hour of eleven o’clock, way past their usual bedtime. They are by no means perfect, but the good times with them certainly outweigh⁶ the bad. I tend to talk more about the good, and why not. I’m a father and I love Damon, Jannie and little Alex more than life itself. Maybe that says something, too.
I went back to Washington the following morning. A team of FBI agents had been assigned to my family. It was the kind of attention I’d hoped we would never need. Frankly⁷, it scared the hell out of me.  That afternoon, I attended a meeting at the FBI building and learned that more than four hundred agents were assigned to finding and capturing Kyle Craig. So far, nothing had gotten out to the press, and Director Burns wanted to keep it that way. So did I. More than that, I wanted to catch Kyle quickly, hopefully before he killed again.  But who would he kill? Who might Kyle go after next?

1 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

2 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

3 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

4 broccoli   

n.绿菜花，花椰菜

参考例句：

• She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
• They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的，而菜花都是白色的。

5 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

6 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

7 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。