Chapter 1

INTO THE GAUNTLET by MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX

玛格丽特·彼得森·哈迪克斯著

CHAPTER 1 Amy and Dan Cahill forgot to look for bugs in London. They knew the drill. Arriving at a new hotel, they always had to scour their room for any listening devices or other top secret spy gear their enemies might have planted. They always checked for all possible exit routes and anything that could serve as a weapon, as well. Amy and Dan were only fourteen and eleven. But they'd developed the instincts of CIA pros. Arriving in London, though, Amy stumbled three steps into the hotel room and collapsed onto the bed. Dan wobbled past her to sprawl on the couch. He sat, then slipped backward, weighed down by his backpack. He looked like he'd been flattened. He has, Amy thought. We both have. Now that we know the truth. Now that we know how many lies we've been told all along, how many secrets

第一章艾米和丹·卡希尔忘记在伦敦找虫子了。 他们知道该怎么做。到了一家新酒店，他们总是要在房间里搜寻敌人可能安插的监听设备或其他绝密间谍设备。 他们总是检查所有可能的出口路线以及任何可能用作武器的东西。 艾米和丹分别只有14岁和11岁。 但他们已经培养了中情局专业人员的本能。 到达伦敦后，艾米蹒跚地走了三步就倒在了床上。 丹摇摇晃晃地从她身边走过，躺在沙发上。 他坐了下来，然后向后一滑，被背包压得喘不过气来。 他看起来像被压扁了。 是的，艾米想。我们都是。 现在我们知道真相了。 既然我们知道我们一直以来被告知了多少谎言，多少秘密

were being kept from us, how much is expected of us… Only the kids' wild-haired au pair, Nellie Gomez, seemed to have enough energy left to keep standing. She even had enough energy to sway slightly to whatever crazy music she was listening to on her iPod as she tugged their duffel bag and cat carrier into the room. Dimly, Amy thought that she or Dan should have offered to help. But even carrying a duffel bag seemed beyond Amy right now. Nellie turned to shut the door. Then she, too, seemed to collapse. Did she faint? Amy wondered. Before Amy had time to do anything, Nellie was standing again. She hadn't fainted. She'd just dipped down to the floor to pick up something Amy and Dan must have walked right over: a plain manila envelope. Nellie held the envelope in the air like a prize. "What do you think, kiddos?" she asked. "Wanna bet this is your next lead?" They'd been warned to expect one— coded, of

只有孩子们那一头乱发的保姆内莉·戈麦斯似乎还有足够的精力站着。 当她拖着他们的行李袋和猫笼走进房间时，她甚至有足够的精力随着iPod里听的疯狂音乐微微摇摆。 艾米隐隐约约地觉得她或丹应该主动提供帮助。 但现在连背个行李袋都显得超出了艾米的能力范围。 内利转身把门关上。 然后，她似乎也崩溃了。 她晕倒了吗？艾米想知道。 艾米还没来得及做什么，内莉又站了起来。 她没有晕倒。她刚把身子伸到地板上，捡起艾米和丹一定是直接走过的东西：一个普通的马尼拉信封。 内莉把信封像奖品一样举在空中。 “你们觉得怎么样，孩子们？”她问。 “想打赌这是你的下一条线索吗？”他们被警告过要有一个密码

course, in case any of their enemies intercepted it. Normally, the two siblings would have dashed to grab the envelope, raced to open it, scrambled to break the latest code. At the very least, they would have told Nellie that at their ages— and with the fate of the world depending upon them— they were way too old to be called "kiddos." Now Amy just shrugged. Dan tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. "Kiddos?" Nellie said in a puzzled voice. She popped out her iPod earbuds. "Didn't you hear me?" Nellie flipped the envelope over. "Yep, addressed to Amy and Dan Cahill," she said. "And Nellie Gomez. Wow. Now I really feel official. This must have been slipped under the door, waiting for us." She held out the envelope toward the two siblings. "Who wants to do the honors?" Neither kid moved. Nellie shook the envelope at Amy and Dan. "Come on, guys," she said. "It's a lead." She

当然，以防他们的敌人拦截。 正常情况下，姐弟俩会冲过去抢信封，跑去打开它，抢着破解最新的密码。 至少，他们会告诉内莉，以他们的年龄——世界的命运取决于他们——他们太老了，不能被称为“孩子”。 现在艾米只是耸耸肩。丹歪着头盯着天花板。 “出头?”内利疑惑地说。 她突然拿出iPod耳机。 “你没听见吗？”内莉把信封翻过来。 “是的，寄给艾米和丹·卡希尔，”她说。 “还有内莉·戈麦斯。哇。现在我真的有正式的感觉了。 这东西一定是从门缝里塞进来的，等着我们。” 她把信封递给姐弟俩。 “谁愿意承担这个重任？”两个孩子都不动。 内莉朝艾米和丹挥舞着信封。 “来吧，伙计们，”她说。 “这是一条线索。”她

acted like they were as simple as Saladin the cat, always easily distracted with his favorite red snapper. "Don't you want to see what this says? Somebody's trying to help us!" "If somebody wanted to help us," Amy retorted, "they would have just given us all the answers back in Jamaica." She knew why they hadn't, but it was too much to think about right now. "Or way back at the beginning," Dan added. "At the funeral." Just over a month ago, Amy and Dan had gotten a huge surprise after the death of their beloved grandmother Grace. They'd been among a select group of relatives given an odd offer in Grace's will: They could have a million dollars apiece or a single Clue. Amy and Dan had picked the Clue. Since then, they'd been traipsing around the globe, scrambling to outsmart or outrun or simply avoid some of their least-charming relatives in the race to the final prize. They'd lost count of how many times someone had tried to kill them.

表现得就像猫萨拉丁一样简单，总是很容易被他最喜欢的红鲷鱼分散注意力。 “你不想看看上面写了什么吗？” 有人在救我们！”“如果有人想帮助我们，”艾米反驳道，“他们早在牙买加就把所有的答案都告诉我们了。” 她知道他们为什么没有，但现在想得太多了。 “或者追溯到一开始，”丹补充道。 “在葬礼上。”就在一个多月前，Amy和Dan在他们深爱的祖母Grace去世后得到了一个巨大的惊喜。 在格蕾丝的遗嘱中，他们是一群被挑选出来的亲属之一，得到了一个奇怪的提议：他们可以每人得到100万美元，也可以得到一条线索。 艾米和丹选择了“线索”。 从那时起，他们就在世界各地游荡，在争夺最终奖项的比赛中，争先恐后地智胜或超越或仅仅是避开一些最不迷人的亲戚。 他们已经记不清有多少次有人试图杀死他们。

When Amy wasn't completely terrified, there had also been moments she'd absolutely loved. Learning that she was brave enough to jump off that roof in Vienna. Being the only team to figure out the Clue in Cairo. Flying to the top of Mount Everest. But only the day before, in Jamaica, Amy and Dan and Nellie had learned what the Clue hunt was really all about. Then the cruelty of it had sunk in on their long flight over the Atlantic. Before yesterday, they'd thought they were no different from the other teams— if you didn't count being younger, poorer, orphaned, and less informed. They'd thought their goal, at least, was the same: Win. Beat everyone else to the final prize. But no, Amy thought bitterly. We're younger, poorer, and more ignorant—and it's not enough for us just to beat everyone else to the prize. For us to win, we also have to make everyone else forgive and forget five hundred years of backstabbing, in fighting, double-crossing and… murder. How could anyone forgive or forget that?

当艾米不是完全害怕的时候，也有她绝对喜欢的时刻。 得知她勇敢地从维也纳的屋顶上跳下来。 成为唯一在开罗找到线索的队伍。 飞向珠穆朗玛峰的顶峰。 但就在前一天，在牙买加，艾米、丹和内莉才知道寻找线索的真正意义。 在他们飞越大西洋的长途飞行中，他们终于明白了这一切的残酷。 在昨天之前，他们认为自己和其他球队没有什么不同——如果不算年轻、贫穷、孤儿和信息匮乏的话。 他们认为，至少他们的目标是一样的：胜利。 击败所有人赢得最后的奖品。 可是不行，艾美痛苦地想。 我们更年轻、更贫穷、更无知——仅仅打败其他人获得奖品是不够的。 为了我们的胜利，我们还必须让其他人原谅并忘记五百年来的暗算、争斗、背叛和谋杀。 怎么会有人原谅或忘记这件事呢？