“Something secret, covert, intimate”

Martin resumes speaking for a time, back to English, unaccented. “Internet arms race, wireless signals, countersurveillance. Data breaches, cryptocurrencies…”

He speaks this last term looking directly at Diane.

Cryptocurrencies. She builds the word in her mind, unhyphenated.

They are looking at each other now. She says, “Cryptocurrencies.” She doesn’t have to ask him what this means. He says, “Money running wild. Not a new development. No government standard, financial mayhem.”

“And it is happening when?”

“Now. Has been happening. Will continue to happen.”

“Cryp-to-currencies.”

“Now.”

“Crypto,” she says, pausing, keeping her eyes on Martin, “Currencies.”

Somewhere within all those syllables something secret, covert, intimate.

— Don Delillo, The Silence (2020)