牛津書蟲《誰謀殺了總統(tǒng)》01：第一天
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The First Day
'Run!' the man thought. 'Move! Faster! I can't stop now.'Over the man's head the night sky was black and cold, and in front of him were the trees. Tall, dark trees... five hundred metres away.
'I can hide there,' the man thought. 'I can hide in those trees. They can't see me in the trees.'
He looked behind him. He could see the lights. There were five or six men. They ran fast, and their lights moved up and down. They were not far away now. He could hear their feet on the ground.
The man ran faster. His legs were tired, his body was tired. There were noises in his head, he could not see. The trees were two hundred metres away. He wanted to stop running. He wanted to lie down and sleep.
Then he heard a new noise. Dogs.
'They've got dogs!' he thought. 'Oh no! Not dogs! I can't run faster.'
But he did. Faster and faster. The trees were a hundred metres away... fifty... twenty...
And then he was there. The trees opened their dark arms to him. But he did not stop running. It was dark and quiet under the trees. He ran first to the left, and then to the right. He came to a hill, and for a second or two he stopped and listened.
Nothing. Then he heard the dogs again, but he could not see the lights.
'Don't stop now,' he thought. 'Dogs don't need eyes. They can find you in the dark.'
Quickly he ran down the hill. It was very dark here, and he could not see very well. He ran into a tree and nearly broke his arm.
'Careful!' he thought. 'Careful.' He put his hands out in front of him, and ran more slowly. Then he heard a new noise. Water.
'A river!' he thought. 'The dogs can't follow me across water. Where is it? Quick!'
Soon he found the river. It was not very big, but it ran quickly. The water was cold on his tired legs. He walked and ran up the river, through the water, for about two kilometres. Then he stopped and listened again.
He could hear nothing. He stood there and waited. The trees watched him with dark, secret eyes.
Nothing. No dogs, no lights, no noises.
The man was cold now, and very, very tired. 'I need sleep,' he thought. 'Where can I hide?' He looked up at the trees.
'Up there,' he thought. 'The dogs can't follow me up a tree.'
He found a tall tree and went up it. He could not see the ground now. He half-sat, half-stood in the tree, and listened. Nothing.
'An hour,' he thought. 'Sleep for an hour. Then go on. Go south. Hide in the day, and move at night. I can get there in five days, perhaps six.'
The man put his head down on his arms, and slept.
* * *
'What are you saying? You lost him?' the Chief of Police said angrily.
The young police inspector in front of her was tired. Very tired. He wanted to sit down, but people did not sit down in the Chief's office. They stood and waited, and perhaps the Chief said 'Sit down'. Then they sat down—but not before.
So the inspector stood. 'I'm sorry, Chief,' he said. 'We couldn't find him in the trees. We looked all night, but it was dark and...'
The Chief of Police put her hands on the desk in front of her. 'You had five men with you, Inspector, and two dogs. And you couldn't find him!'
Eva Hine, the Chief of Police, was a tall woman of about fifty. Her eyes were grey and very cold. Dangerous eyes. When Eva Hine said 'Jump!', people jumped. They did not ask questions first.
The inspector waited, and the Chief of Police looked at him coldly. 'What are you waiting for?' she asked. 'Go out and find him! Three months ago this man—Alex Dinon—killed the President of our country. He's a murderer—a dangerous man. Twenty-four hours ago he escaped from prison, and our new President wants him back in prison—today! Now! At once!'
The inspector quickly left the room.
His name was Felix, and he was thirty-three years old. That was young for an inspector, but he was a good policeman. He liked his job, and worked long hours, but he was sometimes afraid of Eva Hine, the Chief of Police.
Ten minutes later he was back in his office, and Adam came into his room. Adam was twenty-five, and usually worked with Felix on important jobs.
'What did the Chief say?' Adam asked.
'Find Dinon quickly,' Felix said. 'So, let's begin. Have we got photographs of Dinon? And what about his family?'
Adam put some photographs on the desk. 'He's got a wife and two young children,' he said.
'Right. I want photographs on television and in all the newspapers. Four men can watch his house and family, day and night—four hours on, and four hours off. Next, I want policemen at all the airports and...'
Telephones rang, and people came and went in the office. Felix and Adam worked on, late into the night.
第一天
“跑!”那人想，“跑!再快點兒!我現在不能停下。”在那人的頭頂上方，夜空漆黑一片，寒氣逼人。他的前面是樹林，高高的，黑壓壓的樹……足有500米遠。
“我可以藏在那兒。”那人想，“我可以藏在樹林里，那樣的話，他們就看不到我了。”
他回頭看了看。他能看到燈光，還有五六個人。他們跑得很快，手里的燈上下掃著?，F在，他們已經離他不遠了。他甚至能聽到他們的腳步聲。
那人跑得更快了。他的腿很累，有點體力不支。他的腦袋里充斥著各種聲音，什么也看不見。樹林只有200米遠了。他想停下來，想躺下，睡上一覺。
正在這時，他聽到另外一種聲音。狗。
“他們帶狗了!”他想，“噢，不!可別是狗，我沒法跑得更快了。”
但是他做到了，他跑得越來越快。樹林在100米的遠處……50米……20米……
他終于跑到了。樹林向他張開了黑色的臂膀。但他沒有停下來。樹底下很暗，也很安靜。他先跑到左邊，又跑向右邊。他來到了一座小山丘前，在那里停了一兩秒鐘，聽聽有無動靜。
什么也沒有。而后他又聽到了狗的叫聲，卻看不到燈光。
“現在不要停下。”他想，“狗不需要眼睛，它們能在黑暗中找到你。”
他很快地跑下了山丘。這里非常暗，他看不太清楚。他撞到了一棵樹上，險些折斷了胳膊。
“小心!”他心里想，“小心。”他把雙手向前伸去，跑得稍微慢了一些。這時，他又聽到一種聲音。流水聲。
“一條河!”他想，“那些狗追不到河對面。河在哪兒?快點!”
他很快找到了河。河不大，水流卻很急。河水冰冷冰冷的，沒過了他疲憊的雙腿。然后，他涉水向河的上游走著、跑著。走了大約兩公里之后，他停下來，又聽了聽。
他什么也沒有聽到。他站在那兒，等待著。那些樹，用黝黑的眼睛，偷偷地注視著他。
什么也沒有。沒有狗，沒有燈光，也沒有聲音。
他現在覺得很冷，而且精疲力竭。“我需要睡覺。”他想，“我能藏在哪兒呢?”他抬頭看看樹。
“就藏在那上面，”他想，“狗總不能跟著我上樹吧。”
他找到了一棵高大的樹，爬了上去?，F在，他看不到地面了。他在樹上半蹲著，聽著。什么動靜也沒有。
“一個小時，”他想，“就睡一個小時。然后繼續(xù)走。朝南走，晝伏夜行。五天后我就能到那兒了，也許要六天吧。”
那人把頭支在胳膊上，睡了。
* * *
“你說什么?你讓他跑了?”警長生氣地說。
站在她面前的年輕警員看起來很疲憊，非常的疲憊。他想坐下，但是沒有人敢在警長的辦公室里坐下。他們站著，等待著，也許警長會說“坐下”，然后他們才坐下——而不是在警長發(fā)話之前。
因此，警員一直站著。“對不起，警長，”他說，“我們在樹林里找不到他，我們找了整整一個晚上，但是光線太暗，而且……”
警長把手放在她身前的辦公桌上。“警員，你帶了五個人，還有兩條狗。而你竟然找不到他!”
伊娃·海因警長是個大約50歲的高個子女人。她長著一雙灰色的眼睛，目光冷峻。危險的眼睛。要是伊娃·海因說“跳!”，大家就會跳，事先什么也不問。
警員等待著，警長冷冷地看著他。“你還等什么?”她問，“出去找他!三個月前，這個人——亞歷克斯·迪農——殺害了我們國家的總統(tǒng)。他是個謀殺犯——一個危險的人物。24小時前，他從監(jiān)獄逃走了，而我們的新總統(tǒng)要求把他抓回來——就在今天!現在!立刻去辦!”
警員很快地離開了。
他的名字叫費利克斯，33歲。這樣的年齡，對于一個警員來說還很年輕，但他是一個好警察。他喜歡自己的工作，而且經常長時間地工作。但是，他有時懼怕伊娃·海因警長。
十分鐘后，他回到了自己的辦公室，亞當也走了進來。亞當25歲，常常和費利克斯在重要的案件上合作。
“警長怎么說?”亞當問。
“立刻抓獲迪農。”費利克斯說，“所以，我們開始吧。咱們有迪農的照片嗎?他的家庭情況怎樣?”
亞當把幾張照片放在桌子上。“他有一個妻子和兩個年幼的孩子。”他說。
“好的。把這些照片登在電視和各種報紙上。派四個人輪班全天候地監(jiān)視他的家和家人——四個小時輪一班。然后，在所有的機場都安排上警察，還有……”
電話響了。人們從辦公室里進進出出。費利克斯和亞當一直工作到深夜。
