Chapter 113

I picked up the jangling phone, then hit my knee hard against the kitchen table.
‘I’ve been looking all over for you, Alex.’Kyle was so very calm and cocksure. He had no conscience, no guilt¹ whatsoever². His arrogance³ was stunning⁴ to me, even now. I wished he was here, so I could pound his face.
‘Well, I guess you found me. Congratulations. I can’t hide from you. You’re so impressive. You are the Mastermind, Kyle.’ ‘You know, I am. You had me concerned, worried there, partner. I wanted to say goodbye in a proper and civil fashion. I’m leaving after this little adventure of ours is ended. It’s almost over. Whew. Isn’t that a relief?’
‘Want to tell me where you are?’I asked him.
He paused for a half-second, and I could feel a fast river of adrenaline rushing through me. My legs were unsteady. Suddenly I was afraid of what Kyle might have already done.  ‘I suppose it couldn’t hurt to tell you. Let me think about it.  Hmmm. There’s blood everywhere, Alex. I will tell you that much. It’s stunning, a masterpiece of carnage. I’ve outdone myself this time.  Outdone Gary Soneji, Shafer, Casanova. This is my best work. I think it is, and I should know. I’m very objective about these things, but of course you know that.’
My heart was pounding and I felt dizzy. I could feel the blood rushing from my brain. I steadied myself against the kitchen counter.  ‘Where, Kyle? Tell me where you are. Where the hell are you?’
‘Perhaps I’m at your Aunt Tia’s outside Bai’more,’ he said. Then he laughed like a madman. ‘Chapell Gate. Such a pretty little town.’
A moan escaped from my mouth and my knees buckled⁵. I flashed
an image of my family - Nana, Jannie, Damon, Alex. I needed to be there with them. How could he have gotten past the FBI teams? And
Sampson? He couldn’t have. It wasn’t possible.
‘You’re lying, Kyle.’
‘Oh, am I now? Why would I lie? Think about it. What would be the point?’
The worst is yet to come. I needed to call Tia’s. I should never have left them.
I heard a terrifying high-pitched scream above me in the kitchen.
What in hell?
I looked up. Couldn’t believe my eyes. Kyle leaped out of the trapdoor to the attic⁶. He was still screaming. He had an ice pick clasped in his right hand, cell phone in the other.  I tried to get an arm up to shield myself. I wasn’t fast enough. He’d taken me by surprise. I hadn’t thought to look up there.  He plunged⁷ the blade into my chest at an odd angle. A shock of pain traveled through me. I went down hard on the kitchen floor.  Had he struck my heart? Was I going to die? Was this the way it ended?
With his free hand, Kyle punched me in the face. I felt bone crunch⁸. The left side of my face, my cheek seemed to cave in.  Kyle raised his fist to strike again. He was madman-strong, and he wanted to punish me. I was such an important character in his fantasy. He was so sick, so insane. I couldn’t believe the things he’d done.
A voice inside screamed. Take him out, find a way!  A second punch glanced off the side of my forehead. I moved just enough to make him miss. I was in a living nightmare. This was almost surreal. The stainless⁹ steel handle of the ice pick was sticking out of my chest.
I grabbed the hood¹⁰ and collar of Kyle’s windbreaker with one hand, his black hair with the other. I yanked him sideways, got him off me for a moment.
Somehow I managed to get up and pull Kyle with me. We were both grunting¹¹, gasping¹² loudly for breath. I felt myself getting weaker.  Blood was spreading on my shirt from the wound.  Still, I carried him forward, headfirst, right into Kate’s well-organized glass kitchen cabinet. It shattered on impact. Splinters of glass and wood flew everywhere.
I pulled his head back out of the cabinet, cutting his face on nasty shards¹³ of the glass. I wanted to hurt him too. For Betsey Cavalierre, for Zachary and Liz Taylor, for all the others he had murdered along the way. So many dead at the hands of this heartless monster. The Mastermind. Kyle Craig.
He screamed/My eyes! My eyes!’I’d hurt him - finally.  I crunched¹⁴ a looping roundhouse right into his forehead. I moved in closer. I hit him again and again, then I held him up so I could hit him some more. I wouldn’t let him go down. I kept body-punching Kyle Craig, body-punishing him. I don’t know where I got the strength. I wanted to keep hitting Kyle, for everything he’d done, the murders, the cruel betrayals, for stalking me all these months, the terrible hurt he’d inflicted¹⁵ on my family, on other families like mine.  He was out on his feet, so I finally let him drop to the kitchen floor.  I stood over the unconscious body, exhausted¹⁶, winded, afraid, and in pain. Now what? I felt as if I weren’t myself anymore. Who was I?  What was I becoming? What had all the brutal¹⁷ murders I’d seen done to me?
I stepped away from the crumpled¹⁸ body. The spike¹⁹ of the ice pick was still imbedded in my chest. It had to come out. I knew I couldn’t, shouldn’t, do it myself. I needed to get to a hospital. Maybe Dr Kate McTieman would take care of me.
I made a phone call. A very important call.
This was just the beginning, wasn’t it? Sure it was.  The Mastermind and I were alone at last. We had so much to talk about. I’d been waiting so long for this, and maybe so had he.

1 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

2 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

3 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

4 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

5 buckled   

a. 有带扣的

参考例句：

• She buckled her belt. 她扣上了腰带。
• The accident buckled the wheel of my bicycle. 我自行车的轮子在事故中弄弯了。

6 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

7 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

8 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

9 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

10 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

11 grunting   

咕哝的，呼噜的

参考例句：

• He pulled harder on the rope, grunting with the effort. 他边用力边哼声，使出更大的力气拉绳子。
• Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard. 猪在院子里哼哼地叫个不停。

12 gasping   

adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词

参考例句：

• He was gasping for breath. 他在喘气。
• "Did you need a drink?""Yes, I'm gasping!” “你要喝点什么吗？”“我巴不得能喝点！”

13 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

14 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

15 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

16 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

17 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

18 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

19 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。