第二节：烂摊子
Section 2: A Mess
我上了一个厕所，屋里安静得让人发毛，只有窗外隐约的警笛声。我把烟头扔进垃圾桶，走到书桌前，从抽屉里翻出一块警徽——三级警官，卢卡斯·维尔纳。这玩意儿我平时不爱亮出来，不是怕丢人，而是嫌麻烦。要知道自由记者只是个幌子，方便我混在人群里挖消息，真正的活儿是替市政警察局干脏活儿——极端犯罪和舆情监控。说白了，就是盯着那些可能炸锅的案子和管不住嘴的家伙。我手底下有个小组，一共两个人，他叫安德烈。
I went to the bathroom, and the house was eerily quiet, with only faint sirens outside the window. I tossed the cigarette butt into the trash can, walked to the desk, and dug out a police badge from the drawer—Level Three Officer, Lucas Werner. I don't like to show this thing off normally, not because I'm afraid of embarrassment, but because it's troublesome. You see, being a freelance journalist is just a cover, making it convenient for me to blend into crowds and dig up information. My real job is doing the dirty work for the Municipal Police Bureau—extreme crime and public opinion monitoring. Simply put, I keep an eye on cases that might blow up and people who can't keep their mouths shut. I have a small team under me, with a total of two people, him being Andrey.
这次任务本来挺简单：局里怀疑新闻界混进了"内鬼"，有人在给帮派和某些政客通风报报，顺便往外捅点不该捅的料。上面让我假扮记者，盯着几个可疑的同行，挖出是谁在背后搞鬼。我挑了个叫《梅罗德晨报》的破报社当掩护，天天跑市政厅，装出一副八卦兮兮的样子。计划进行得还算顺利，前两天我刚锁定了一个目标，一个晨报的编辑兼摄影师，叫马丁，长得跟只瘦猴似的，拍照片时总爱偷瞄别人的笔记本。我从他那里知道了他的一些机密，他曾经联系到警方内部的线人，秘密参与警方的扫黄行动，拍到了一些政客、企业家和明星的"婚礼派对"的照片，抓住他们的把柄并要求他们没完没了的给晨报投资。至于是怎么知道的，人酒后都会吐真言，他喜欢唠叨，所以言多必失。但是他很守道上的规矩，一问具体的人时，他立刻谨慎起来，并转移话题。但反正我做好逮捕他的准备了。
This mission was quite simple originally: the bureau suspected that there was a "mole" in the press, someone who was tipping off gangs and certain politicians, while also leaking information that shouldn't be leaked. The higher-ups had me pose as a journalist, keeping an eye on several suspicious colleagues, digging out who was behind the mischief. I chose a shabby newspaper called "Melrod Morning Post" as my cover, running to the City Hall every day, putting on a gossipy appearance. The plan was going smoothly. A couple of days ago, I had just locked onto a target, an editor and photographer for the Morning Post named Martin, who looked like a skinny monkey and always liked to peek at other people's notebooks when taking photos. I learned some confidential information from him. He had previously contacted an informant within the police, secretly participated in police anti-vice operations, and taken photographs of "wedding parties" involving politicians, businessmen, and celebrities, using these as leverage to demand endless investments into the Morning Post. As for how I knew this, people spill truths when drunk. He likes to ramble, so he talks too much. But he's very observant of underworld rules. When asked about specific individuals, he immediately becomes cautious and changes the subject. But anyway, I was ready to arrest him.
可今晚这爆炸案一出，我估计我的计划得泡汤了。手机又响了，这次是队里的一个警督，是别的区的警员，计划抓捕马丁的专案组成员，也是我的大学同学，和我关系不错。他声音压得低，像怕被人听见："卢卡斯，你在哪儿？港口炸了，听说南区警察局外面的街口被炸了，那边现在乱成一锅粥。操了，你的任务大概要终止。"
But with tonight's explosion case, I guess my plan is ruined. My phone rang again. This time it was a police superintendent from the team, an officer from another district, a member of the special team planning to arrest Martin, and also my college classmate with whom I had a good relationship. His voice was low, as if afraid of being heard: "Lucas, where are you? The port has been bombed, and I heard that the street corner outside the South District Police Station was bombed. It's chaos over there now. Damn it, your mission will probably be terminated."
"家里，"我一边回话，一边从柜子里掏出配枪塞进腰带，"你那边什么情况？"
"At home," I replied, while pulling out my service weapon from the cabinet and tucking it into my belt. "What's the situation on your end?"
"北区刚开完紧急会，听说联邦安全局、海关局、税务局的人已经到市政厅了，估计马上要接管。上面要求所有警员小组立刻待命，但我觉得事情不对劲——爆炸前一小时，我的手下在北区盯梢，看到几个穿黑夹克的家伙鬼鬼祟祟进了安全局的临时据点。按说有人盯着不应该发生这种操蛋的事情！"
"The North District just finished an emergency meeting. I heard that people from the Federal Security Bureau, Customs Bureau, and Tax Bureau have already arrived at City Hall, and will probably take over soon. The higher-ups require all police teams to stand by immediately, but I feel something's not right—an hour before the explosion, my subordinates were conducting surveillance in the North District and saw several guys in black jackets sneaking into the Security Bureau's temporary outpost. With someone watching, this kind of mess shouldn't have happened!"
我皱眉，脑子里飞快转了一圈。南区那帮黑夹克，多半是帮派战争，这帮人专干勒索和走私的勾当，跟港口脱不了干系。安全局的人挑这时候去南区，八成是知道爆炸案的线索去的，结果反被灭口了？这可不是巧合，是有人急着把水搅浑。
I frowned, my mind racing. Those black jackets in the South District, most likely a gang war. These guys specialize in extortion and smuggling operations, inextricably linked to the port. The Security Bureau people choosing this time to go to the South District, they probably went there knowing about clues to the explosion case, but ended up being silenced? This couldn't be a coincidence; someone was in a hurry to muddy the waters.
"我现在就回警局，看看能不能捞点消息。"我抓起外套往外走，顺手把警徽塞进兜里——今晚这身份牌，怕是用得上的时候多，用不上的时候少。
"I'm heading back to the police station now, to see if I can gather some information." I grabbed my coat and headed out, slipping the police badge into my pocket—tonight, this ID would likely be needed more often than not.
出门前，我又看了眼窗外，火光还没散，枪声倒是密了些。梅罗德这地方，像个烂泥坑，你越挣扎越陷得深。
Before leaving, I glanced outside the window again. The flames hadn't dispersed, but the gunshots had become more frequent. This place called Melrod was like a muddy pit; the more you struggled, the deeper you sank.