Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Alistair Oh was just leaving customs when his enemies ambushed him. "Bonjour, Uncle." Ian Kabra appeared on his right. "Have a good flight?" Alistair turned to the left but Natalie Kabra cut off his escape. "I wouldn't try to get away, Uncle Alistair," she said sweetly. "It's amazing how many weapons I can carry through an airport." She held up a china doll in a blue satin dress. Natalie was too old to be carrying something like that, but no doubt she could charm the security guards into thinking otherwise. "What is that?" Alistair asked, trying to stay calm. "A gun? A bomb?" Natalie smiled. "I hope you don't have to find

阿利斯泰尔·吴刚要离开海关，他的敌人就伏击了他。 “你好,叔叔。”伊恩·卡布拉出现在他的右边。 “旅途愉快吗？”阿利斯泰尔向左转，但娜塔莉·卡布拉切断了他的逃跑之路。 “我不会试图逃跑的，阿利斯泰尔叔叔。”她温柔地说。 “我能在机场携带这么多武器，真是令人惊讶。” 她举起一个穿着蓝色缎子连衣裙的瓷娃娃。 娜塔莉年纪太大了，不可能拿着那样的东西，但毫无疑问，她能让保安们改变主意。 “那是什么？”阿利斯泰尔问，试图保持冷静。 “一把枪?一个炸弹吗?”娜塔莉笑了。 “我希望你不用去找

out. It would be quite messy." "Keep walking, Uncle." Ian put as much sarcasm into the word as possible. "We don't want to arouse suspicion." They strode through the terminal. Alistair's heart pounded. He could feel the Poor Richard's Almanack in his jacket pocket, slapping against his chest with every step. "So," Alistair said. "When did you get in?" "Oh, we took our own jet," Ian said. "We use a private airstrip where the security is much more … relaxed. We just thought we'd come welcome you!" "How nice," Alistair said. "But I don't have anything you want." "That's not what we've heard," Natalie said. "Hand over the book." Alistair's throat went dry. "How … how could you possibly know—" "News travels fast," Natalie said. "We have informants—" "Natalie," Ian snapped. "I'll do the talking, thank you very much. You hold the doll." She scowled, which made her face not nearly

出去了。那会很乱的。” “继续走，叔叔。”伊恩在这个词里尽可能多地加入了讽刺。 “我们不想引起怀疑。” 他们大步穿过终点站。 阿利斯泰尔的心怦怦直跳。他能感觉到夹克口袋里的《穷理查年鉴》每走一步都拍打着他的胸膛。 “所以，”阿利斯泰尔说。“你什么时候进来的？”“哦，我们坐自己的飞机，”伊恩说。 “我们使用私人飞机跑道，那里的安全要宽松得多。 我们只是想过来欢迎你！”“太好了，”阿利斯泰尔说。 “但是我没有你想要的东西。” “这不是我们听说的，”娜塔莉说。 “把书给我。”阿利斯泰尔的喉咙发干。 “你怎么……你怎么可能知道——”“消息传得很快，”娜塔莉说。 “我们有线人——”“娜塔莉，”伊恩厉声说。 “我来谈，非常感谢。 你抱着娃娃。”她皱起了眉头，这使她的脸显得不像

as pretty. "I can talk if I want to, Ian! Mother and Father said—" "Blast what they said! I'm in charge!" Natalie looked ready to yell back at him, but she swallowed her rage. Alistair didn't like the tight grip she was keeping on her doll. He imagined the thing must have a trigger somewhere, and he didn't want to find out what it did. "Surely you don't want another war between our branches," Alistair said, trying to sound diplomatic. "One phone call and I can mobilize help from Tokyo to Rio de Janeiro." "As can we," Ian said. "And I've read my family history, Alistair. The last time our branches fought, it didn't go very well for your lot, did it?" Alistair kept walking, thinking hard. A gendarme was standing by a security checkpoint up ahead — about twenty meters. If Alistair could create a distraction … "The 1908 explosion in Siberia," he said to Ian. "Yes, that was impressive. But we have more at stake this time." "Exactly," Ian agreed. "So hand over the book,

一样漂亮。“我想说就说，伊恩！”妈妈和爸爸说——”“该死，他们说什么！我说了算！”纳塔利似乎准备对他大吼大叫，但她忍住了愤怒。 阿利斯泰尔不喜欢她紧紧抓着她的娃娃。 他想象这东西一定在什么地方有一个触发器，他不想知道它是做什么的。 “你肯定不希望我们的分支机构之间再发生一场战争吧，”阿利斯泰尔说，试图用外交手段说话。 “一个电话，我就可以动员从东京到里约热内卢的援助。” “我们也可以，”伊恩说。“我读过我的家族史，阿利斯泰尔。 上次我们的分行打起来的时候，你们的情况不太好，是吗？”阿利斯泰尔继续走着，苦思冥想。 一名宪兵站在前方大约20米处的一个安全检查站旁。 如果阿利斯泰尔能转移注意力……“1908年西伯利亚的爆炸，”他对伊恩说。 “是的，令人印象深刻。 但这次我们面临的风险更大。” “没错，”伊恩同意道。“把书递过来，

old man, before we have to hurt you." Natalie laughed. "If you could hear yourself, Ian. Honestly." Her brother frowned. "Excuse me?" Five meters to the gendarme, Alistair thought. Stay calm. "Oh, nothing," Natalie told her brother airily. "Just that you're a terrible bore. Without me, you couldn't even frighten this pathetic old man." Ian's expression hardened. "I most certainly could, you useless little—" Natalie stepped in front of Alistair, intent on confronting her brother, and Alistair saw his chance. He stepped backwards, then sideways, and before the Kabras could regroup, Alistair was standing next to the gendarme, talking as loudly as he could in French. "Merci, niece and nephew!" he shouted at the Kabras. "But your parents will be worried. Run along now, and tell them I'll be out in a few moments. I have some questions for this officer. I may have forgotten to declare my fresh fruits in customs!" "Fresh fruits?" the officer said. "Sir, that's very

老人，在我们伤害你之前。” 娜塔莉笑了。“如果你能听到自己的话，伊恩。 老实说。”她哥哥皱起了眉头。 “对不起?”离宪兵只有五米远，阿利斯泰尔想。 保持冷静。“哦，没什么，”娜塔莉轻松地对哥哥说。 “只说你是个讨厌鬼。 没有我，你连这个可怜的老头都吓不倒。” 伊恩的表情变得僵硬了。 “我当然可以，你这个没用的小——”娜塔莉走到阿利斯泰尔面前，一心想和她哥哥对骂，阿利斯泰尔看到了机会。 他向后退了一步，然后又侧过身去，在卡布拉夫妇重新集结之前，阿利斯泰尔已经站在宪兵旁边，用法语尽可能大声地说话。 “谢谢，外甥女和外甥！”他对卡布拉夫妇喊道。 “但是你的父母会担心的。 快去吧，告诉他们我一会儿就出去。 我有些问题要问这位警官。 我可能忘记在海关申报我的新鲜水果了！”“新鲜水果？”警官说。 “先生，这很好

important. Come with me, please!" Alistair shrugged apologetically to the Kabras. "You must excuse me." Ian's eyes were so angry they looked like they might catch fire, but he managed a stiff smile. "Of course, Uncle. Don't worry. We will definitely catch you later. Come, Natalie." He said her name through clenched teeth. "We have to talk." "Ow!" She yelped as he gripped her arm, but he herded her down the hallway and out of sight. Alistair sighed with relief. He followed the gendarme gratefully back to customs, where after twenty minutes of questions and searching bags, Alistair realized — quelle surprise! — he did not have any fresh fruit in his luggage after all. He pretended to be a confused old man, and the irritated customs official let him go. Back in the terminal, Alistair allowed himself a smile. Ian and Natalie Kabra may have been deadly opponents, but they were still children. Alistair would never let himself be outfoxed by youngsters like them — not when his own future and the future of his branch were at stake. He patted the Poor Richard's Almanack, still

重要的。请跟我来！”阿利斯泰尔向卡布拉一家道歉地耸了耸肩。 “请原谅我。”伊恩的眼睛里充满了愤怒，似乎要着火了，但他勉强挤出了一个僵硬的微笑。 “当然，叔叔。别担心。 我们稍后一定会找你的。 来,娜塔莉。”他咬紧牙关说出了她的名字。 “我们必须谈谈。”“噢!”他抓住她的胳膊，她尖叫起来，但他把她赶出了走廊，消失了。 阿利斯泰尔松了口气。 他感激地跟着宪兵回到海关，在经过二十分钟的询问和搜查行李后，阿利斯泰尔意识到——真是惊喜！——他的行李里根本没有任何新鲜水果。 他假装是一个困惑的老人，被激怒的海关官员让他走了。 回到终点站，阿利斯泰尔勉强挤出一个微笑。 伊恩和娜塔莉·卡布拉可能是死对头，但他们还是孩子。 阿利斯泰尔永远不会让自己被这样的年轻人打败——在他自己和他的分支机构的未来岌岌可危的时候。 他仍然拍着《穷理查年鉴》

safe in his jacket pocket. Alistair doubted any other team knew more about the thirty-nine clues than he did. After all, he'd been spying on Grace for years, learning her purpose. There was still a lot he didn't understand — secrets he hoped Grace had given to her grandchildren. But soon he would find out. He was off to an excellent start. He now understood the true meaning of the first clue: Richard S—'s RESOLUTION. He had to chuckle about that. Even Amy and Dan had failed to see what it really meant. He made his way through the terminal, keeping his eyes open for the Kabras, but they seemed to have vanished. He got outside and was dragging his bags toward the taxi stand when a purple van pulled up to the curb. The side door rolled open. A cheerful male voice said, "Hey, there!" The last thing Alistair Oh saw was a large fist hurtling toward his face.

他夹克口袋里的保险箱。 阿利斯泰尔怀疑没有哪个小组比他更了解这39条线索。 毕竟，他多年来一直在监视格蕾丝，了解她的目的。 还有很多事情他不明白——他希望格蕾丝能把秘密告诉她的孙子们。 但他很快就会发现。 他开了个好头。 他现在明白了第一条线索的真正含义：理查德·S的决心。 他不得不对此窃笑。 就连艾米和丹也没能明白这句话的真正含义。 他穿过终点站，睁大眼睛寻找卡布拉一家，但他们似乎已经消失了。 他走到外面，拖着他的行李向出租车站走去，这时一辆紫色的货车停在了路边。 侧门开了。 一个欢快的男声说：“嘿，你们好！”阿利斯泰尔·吴最后看到的是一个大拳头朝他的脸猛扑过来。