Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 "Sugar maple!" Mary-Todd Holt knelt over her husband. "Are you all right?" Eisenhower sat up, an egg-size lump blooming on his crown. "Of course I'm all right!" he managed, his words slurred. "You think a little insect can stop me?" Reagan was unconvinced. "I don't know, Dad. She brained you with a baseball bat!" "Hockey stick," Dan corrected. "Those could be your last words, brat—" The victim leaped to his feet, then reeled and almost went down again. His wife reached out to steady him, but Eisenhower shook her off. "I'm fine. It's just the motion of the train. You think I can't take a shot? They said that at the Point, and look at me now!" "What do you want?" Amy demanded.

第二章“糖枫！”玛丽·托德·霍尔特跪在丈夫面前。 “你没事吧？”艾森豪威尔坐了起来，头顶上长了一个鸡蛋大小的肿块。 “我当然没事！”他勉强说了一句含混的话。 “你以为一只小虫子能阻止我吗？”里根并不服气。 “我不知道，爸爸。她用棒球棒打爆了你的头！”“曲棍球棍。”丹纠正道。 “这可能是你的最后一句话，小子——”受害者跳了起来，然后摇摇晃晃，几乎又摔倒了。 他的妻子伸手扶住他，但艾森豪威尔把她甩开了。 “我很好。这只是火车的运动。 你以为我不会开枪吗？ 他们在岬角上是这么说的，看看我现在的样子！”“你想要什么？”艾米要求。

"That's putting on your thinking cap," Mary- Todd approved. "Give us the clue from Paris, and nothing will happen to you." "It's better than you deserve," her husband added, rubbing his head gingerly. "We don't have it," Amy told them. "The Kabras took it." "They took the bottle," Madison corrected. "Don't worry, they'll pay soon enough. You've got the paper." "What paper?" Dan asked defiantly. In reply, Eisenhower grasped Dan by the collar and lifted him as easily as he might have raised his arm to signal a waiter. "Listen, you little stinkbug. You think you're hot stuff because you two were Grace's favorites. But to me, the pair of you mean less than what gets cleaned out of the bottom of a birdcage!" His massive paw closed on Dan's neck, squeezing like an industrial-strength vise. Dan gasped for breath and realized he had none. He was being strangled. His eyes sought his sister's, but he found no

“那就是戴上你的思考帽，”玛丽-托德赞同道。 “把巴黎的线索给我们，你就不会出事了。” “这比你应得的要好，”她丈夫小心翼翼地揉着头补充说。 “我们没有，”艾米告诉他们。 “卡布拉人拿走了。”“他们拿走了瓶子，”麦迪逊纠正道。 “别担心，他们很快就会付钱的。 你拿到了报纸。”“什么纸吗?”丹挑衅地问。 作为回答，艾森豪威尔抓住丹的衣领，把他举起来，就像他举起手臂示意服务员一样轻松。 “听着，你这个小臭虫。 你觉得自己很性感因为你俩是格蕾丝的最爱。 但对我来说，你们俩的意义还不如从鸟笼底部清理出来的东西！”他那巨大的爪子紧抓着丹的脖子，像工业用虎钳一样用力挤压。 丹喘着气，意识到自己已经喘不过气来了。 他是被勒死的。他的眼睛在寻找妹妹的眼睛，但没有找到

help there, only a mirror image of his own horror. It was easy to laugh at the Holts, with their bodybuilder physiques, their gung ho coaching jargon, and their matching warm-up suits. This was the chilling wake-up call. They were dangerous enemies. And with the stakes so high, they were capable of— Of what? Amy wasn't willing to find out. "Stop it! We'll give you anything you want!" Madison was triumphant. "I told you they'd fold under the full-court press." "Now, Madison," her mother admonished. "Amy did the smart thing. Not all Cahills have what it takes." Amy ran to help Dan, who had been dropped unceremoniously onto a lumpy mailbag. With relief, she noted that normal color was returning to his cheeks. He was upset. "You shouldn't have done that!" "Grace wouldn't want us to get killed," she whispered. "We'll find another way." The Holts began marching them toward the

帮助那里，只是他自己恐惧的镜像。 人们很容易嘲笑霍尔特夫妇，因为他们有着健美运动员的体格，他们的健身教练行话，以及他们配套的热身服。 这是一个令人不寒而栗的警钟。 他们是危险的敌人。 赌注如此之高，他们有能力-做什么？ 艾米不愿意知道。 “住手!你要什么我们就给你什么！”麦迪逊胜利了。 “我告诉过你，他们会在全场压力下屈服的。” “好了，麦迪逊，”她母亲告诫她。 “艾米做了件聪明的事。并不是所有卡希尔家族的人都有这样的能力。” 艾米跑过去帮助丹，因为他被随意地扔到了一个凹凸不平的邮袋上。 她松了一口气，注意到他的脸颊恢复了正常的颜色。 他很沮丧。“你不应该那样做！”“格蕾丝不会希望我们被杀的。”她低声说。 “我们会找到别的办法的。”霍尔特夫妇开始带领他们朝

back of the train. "Don't get any ideas," Eisenhower muttered as a porter sidled past them. Reluctantly, they approached their seats. Hamilton sat with Nellie, his bodybuilder bulk pressing her painfully against the train window. But the au pair's discomfort was instantly forgotten at the sight of Amy and Dan. "Did they hurt you?" she asked anxiously. "Are you all right?" "We're fine," Amy said glumly. To Eisenhower, she added, "It's in the overhead." The Holts very nearly trampled one another in their eagerness to get the luggage bin open. With a yowl, Saladin dropped to the floor. In his wake fluttered a blizzard of shredded paper — all that remained of the original sheet music penned by Mozart himself. "Our clue!" Nellie wailed. "Your clue?" The roar that came from Eisenhower was barely human. He grabbed Saladin, held him upside down, and shook him. With a feline gulp that sounded more like a

在火车后面。“别胡思乱想，”当一个搬运工从他们身边走过时，艾森豪威尔嘟囔道。 他们不情愿地走向自己的座位。 汉密尔顿和内莉坐在一起，他那健美的大块头痛苦地把她紧贴在火车的窗户上。 但看到艾米和丹，互惠生的不安立刻被抛在脑后。 “他们伤害你了吗？”她焦急地问。 “你没事吧？”“我们很好，”艾米闷闷不乐地说。 她又对艾森豪威尔说，“它就在头顶上。” 霍尔特夫妇急于打开行李箱，几乎把彼此踩在了一起。 随着一声嚎叫，萨拉丁倒在地上。 在他身后飘动着一大堆碎纸——这是莫扎特自己写的原始乐谱所剩下的一切。 “我们的线索!”内莉恸哭。 “你知道?”艾森豪威尔发出的吼声几乎没有人情味。 他抓住萨拉丁，把他倒立着，摇晃他。 像猫一样吞咽，听起来更像是

hiccup, Saladin burped up a hairball liberally sprinkled with musical notes. There was nothing that could be salvaged. It was confetti. Eisenhower Holt's explosion of temper proved that his muscles extended all the way to his vocal cords. The outburst sent passengers scurrying for adjoining cars. A moment later, a uniformed conductor rushed up the aisle, picking his way through the agitated travelers. "What is going on here?" demanded the man in a heavy French accent. "You will show me your ticket for this train." "You call this a train?" roared Eisenhower. "If this was back in the States, I wouldn't let my gerbil ride this rattletrap!" The conductor flushed red. "You will surrender your passport, monsieur! At the next station, you will talk to the authorities!" "Why wait?" Eisenhower thrust the cat into Amy's hands. "Take your rat. Holts — fast break!" All five members of the family raced out the connecting door and hurled themselves from the moving train.

打嗝的时候，萨拉丁打了一个毛球，上面撒满了音符。 没有什么可以挽救的了。 那是五彩纸屑。艾森豪威尔·霍尔特的大发脾气证明了他的肌肉一直延伸到声带。 这次突发事件让乘客们纷纷跑向相邻的车厢。 过了一会儿，一个穿制服的售票员从过道上冲过来，在激动的旅客中挑着路。 “这是怎么回事？”那人带着浓重的法国口音问道。 “给我看看你的火车票。” “你管这叫火车？”艾森豪威尔吼道。 “如果这是在美国，我不会让我的沙鼠骑这个响尾蛇！”售票员的脸涨得通红。 “您得交出护照，先生！”到下一站，你要向当局报告！”“为什么要等?”艾森豪威尔把猫塞到艾米手里。 “带上你的老鼠。霍尔特——快攻！”这家人五口都跑出了相连的门，从正在行驶的火车上跳了下去。

Amy and Dan stared out the window at the sight of their cousins rolling down the hillside in tight formation. "Wow!" Nellie breathed. "That's something you don't see every day." Amy was close to tears. "I hate them! Now we've lost our only lead!" "It wasn't much of a lead, Amy," Dan said softly. "Just music. Even if it was by Mozart — big whoop." "It is a big whoop," his sister lamented. "Just because we couldn't find what was hidden in the piece doesn't mean it wasn't there. At least I wanted to play the notes on a piano. Maybe it would have told us something." Her brother looked surprised. "You want the notes? That's easy enough." He folded down a tray table, opened a fresh napkin, and began to work. Amy watched in amazement as he drew the five-line staff and began to place notes on it. "You can't write music!" "Maybe not," he agreed without looking up. "But I've been staring at that sheet since Paris.

艾米和丹凝视着窗外，看到他们的堂兄弟们整齐划一地从山坡上滚下来。 “哇!”内莉呼吸。“这可不是每天都能看到的。” 艾米几乎要哭了。“我恨他们！”现在我们失去了唯一的线索！”“这算不上什么线索，艾米。”丹轻声说。 “只是音乐。即使是莫扎特的曲子——太棒了。” “这是一个很大的欢呼声，”他的妹妹哀叹道。 “我们找不到藏在里面的东西，并不意味着它不存在。 至少我想在钢琴上弹奏音符。 也许它会告诉我们一些事情。” 她哥哥看起来很惊讶。 “你想要笔记吗？”这很容易。” 他折好一张小桌板，打开一张新餐巾，开始工作。 艾米惊奇地看着他画出五线谱，并开始在上面记笔记。 “你不会写音乐！”“也许不是。”他头也不抬地同意了。 “可自从巴黎以来，我就一直盯着那张单子。