The Rumpus features an exclusive excerpt of Jaye Viner’s book JANE OF BATTERY PARK!

The Libertines trial was announced at 8 a.m. Eastern. By the time Jane’s alarm went off at 4 p.m. Pacific, the media was consumed with it. Drivers stranded with Jane on the freeway killed the time by calling in to “Share Your Five O’clock Drive with Clive” and speculating. Who was the defendant? Would the FBI catch the Vanguard in the act this time? As always, what people seemed most interested in was if it would be the last one, the one where the terrorists were finally unmasked, the great mystery of their identities solved. No one ever described the end of the Vanguard as an end to crime or terror.