Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 When the elevator door rolled open, both Cahills were running so hard that they almost blasted straight past it. Amy put the brakes on first, grabbed her brother, and hauled him aboard. She pressed L. They stood, chests heaving, as the car descended. Their anxious eyes followed the readout as the numbers counted down from sixteen. Suddenly, Dan's hand snaked out and pressed 2. "They could be waiting for us in the lobby," he explained tensely. "But that's where the exit is!" Amy shrilled. "You can't leave from the second floor!" "Sure you can." The doors opened, and Dan pulled her out onto 2, amid ballrooms and meeting facilities. She was nearly hysterical. "How?"

当电梯门打开的时候，两个卡希尔都在拼命地跑，几乎从电梯门旁边冲了过去。 艾米先踩刹车，抓住她弟弟，把他拖上了船。 她按了l一下。车下来时，他们站在那里，胸口起伏。 当数字从16开始倒数时，他们焦虑的眼睛盯着读出的数字。 突然，丹的手伸了出来，按了下去。 “他们可能在大厅里等我们，”他紧张地解释道。 “但出口就在那儿啊！”艾米会。颤栗 “你不能从二楼离开！”“当然可以。” 门开了，丹把她拉到2号楼，中间是舞厅和会议设施。 她几乎歇斯底里了。 “如何?”

"By jumping." Amy stared at him. "Have you lost your—" They snaked around a bend in the corridor, and the hotel's front drive appeared before them through floor-to-ceiling glass. Dan pushed open the French doors, and the two stepped out onto a narrow stone balcony. "No way, Dan! I'm not jumping! We'll break our legs!" "Look down!" he commanded. Six feet below stretched a canvas awning that ran across the front entrance. He swung a leg over the stone railing. "Piece of cake," he said, trying to sound more certain than he felt. "A shorter drop than the high diving board." "But no water!" He dropped. Amy watched in horror, expecting him to tear through the fabric and be dashed to pieces on the concrete. Instead, the awning held. Grinning up at her, he crawled to the edge of the canvas, found a steel support, and shinnied to

“跳”。艾米盯着他。 “你是不是丢了——”他们在走廊拐了个弯，透过落地玻璃，旅馆的前车道出现在他们面前。 丹推开法式门，两人走到一个狭窄的石头阳台上。 “不可能，丹！”我不跳！我们会摔断腿的！”“往下看！”他命令道。 下面六英尺处有一个帆布遮阳篷，横亘在前门入口处。 他把一条腿甩在石栏杆上。 “小菜一碟。”他说，努力让自己的语气听起来比实际感觉更有把握。 “比高台跳水还要短。” “但是没有水！”他放弃了。 艾米惊恐地看着，以为他会撕破布料，摔在水泥地上摔得粉碎。 相反，遮阳篷撑了下来。他朝她咧嘴一笑，爬到帆布边缘，找到一个钢支架，然后爬了上去

the sidewalk. He waved at her with Nannerl's diary. Never had Amy experienced fear on so many different levels all at the same time — fear of capture; fear for Nellie; fear for her crazy brother, who was too stupid to know what couldn't be done; and a very real fear of stepping off a second- story balcony onto a fragile piece of cloth. "Hurry up!" came an impatient call from below. I can't do it … I just can't … The flood of shame was almost as overwhelming as her terror. Some Cahill she turned out to be! The future of the entire world was at stake, and she couldn't cajole herself into a six-foot drop — not even after seeing her eleven-year-old brother do it. She might as well let Jonah have the diary. Or the Holts or the Kabras. Her grandmother had been wrong about her. She didn't have what it took. Sorry, Grace … It was this thought that jolted Amy into sudden explosive action. She was already falling through the air before she'd actually come to the decision

人行道上。他拿着南内尔的日记向她挥了挥手。 艾米从来没有同时经历过这么多不同层次的恐惧——害怕被捕；为内莉担心；为她那疯狂的哥哥担心，他太笨了，不知道什么是办不到的；还有从二楼阳台走到一块易碎的布上的真实恐惧。 “快点！”下面传来一声不耐烦的呼唤。 我做不到……我就是做不到……潮水般的羞愧几乎和她的恐惧一样势不可挡。 原来她是卡荷尔家的人！整个世界的未来岌岌可危，而她却无法哄骗自己从6英尺高的地方跳下——甚至在看到她11岁的哥哥这么做之后。 她还不如把日记给乔纳。 或者霍尔特家，或者卡布拉家。 祖母看错了她。 她不具备成功的条件。 对不起，格蕾丝，正是这个想法使艾米突然采取了爆炸性的行动。 在她真正做出决定之前，她已经在空中坠落了

to do it. She hit the fabric like an errant trapeze artist into a safety net. Seconds later, Dan was hauling her down to the street. They were in a taxi and blocks away before either of them dared to speak. "Nellie—" Dan began. "I know …" Their little room at the Hotel Franz Josef seemed dingy and even smaller after the accommodations at the Royal Hapsburg. The greeting they received from Saladin didn't help their general mood. The Egyptian Mau still refused cat food, and, in fact, had spread his dinner all over the carpet. A fishy smell hung in the air. In addition, the scratching had gotten worse than ever and was beginning to wear away the fur around his collar. Both Cahills were exhausted, but neither thought of sleep. Nellie was all that was important now. They'd been so focused on the 39 Clues that they hadn't considered how much their au pair was giving up to stick with them and their quest. She had put her life on hold, traveled thousands of

去做。她撞在织物上，就像一个误入歧途的空中飞人掉进了安全网。 几秒钟后，丹把她拖到了街上。 他们坐上出租车，走了几个街区，才敢说话。 “内莉——”丹开始说。“我知道……”他们在弗朗茨·约瑟夫旅馆的小房间显得又脏又小，比在皇家哈布斯堡旅馆的房间还要小。 他们从萨拉丁那里得到的问候并没有改善他们的总体情绪。 这只埃及猫仍然拒绝猫食，事实上，它把它的食物撒得地毯上到处都是。 空气中弥漫着鱼腥味。 此外，他的抓挠比以前更厉害了，衣领周围的毛都开始磨损了。 卡希尔夫妇都筋疲力尽了，但谁也不想睡觉。 现在最重要的是内莉。 他们一直专注于39条线索，没有考虑到他们的互惠生为了坚持他们和他们的探索而放弃了多少。 她暂停了自己的生活，游历了数千个

miles from home, and even charged many of their expenses on her personal credit card. Sure, they planned to pay her back. Amy and Dan had jewelry from Grace that was probably worth a lot of money. But jewelry could be lost or stolen, and there was no guarantee that they would win the contest. There was no guarantee that they would even survive it. Now Nellie was missing — caught, probably under arrest. And there was nothing Amy and Dan could do about it. Nothing but wait. At two A.M., they were still sitting, staring at the TV, which featured a Gilligan's Island episode dubbed in German. The sudden knocking was such a jolt to their frayed nerves that they almost tackled each other running to answer the door. "Nellie!" Amy cried. "Thank—" There in the hall stood Irina Spasky, a Russian Cahill cousin. Another competitor in the search for the 39 Clues, and no joke. Irina was rumored to be an ex-KGB agent, ruthless, efficient, and potentially deadly.

离家几英里，甚至用她的个人信用卡支付了许多费用。 当然，他们打算还给她。 艾米和丹有格蕾丝送的珠宝可能值很多钱。 但珠宝可能会丢失或被盗，而且他们也不能保证会赢得比赛。 甚至不能保证他们能活下来。 现在内莉失踪了——被抓住了，可能被捕了。 艾米和丹对此无能为力。 只有等待。凌晨两点，他们还坐在那里，盯着电视，电视上播放着用德语配音的《吉利根岛》（Gilligan’s Island）。 突然的敲门声使他们紧张的神经受到了极大的震动，他们跑着去应门时几乎抱在一起。 “内莉!”艾米哭了。“谢谢——”大厅里站着伊丽娜·斯帕斯基，她是卡希尔家族的俄国表亲。 另一个寻找39条线索的竞争者，不是开玩笑。 据传伊琳娜是前克格勃特工，冷酷无情，效率高，而且可能致命。

She got right to the point. "Your nanny has been detained by Viennese authorities." Dan bristled. "How do you know that?" Irina's face contorted into the closest she ever came to a smile. "I have accompanied weapons- grade plutonium through a secret tunnel under the Berlin Wall. I believe I am capable of looking through the window of a police car. But if you do not need my help—" Amy seized on this. "You can help Nellie? How?" Irina looked annoyed. "What is it your business, so long as she is returned to you?" "It's not our business at all!" Amy agreed swiftly. "Just get her out! Thank you!" "I require better thanks than just words. Shall we say the item you removed from the hotel room of our obnoxious cousin Jonah Wizard?" "No deal!" Dan barked. "A word of advice," Irina told Amy. "You should not let this impetuous little boy speak for you. Perhaps you should not let him speak at all. In the KGB, we found duct tape to be both effective and

她说到点子上了。 “你的保姆被维也纳当局拘留了” 丹直立。“你怎么知道的？”伊琳娜的脸扭曲成最接近微笑的样子。 “我曾陪同武器级钚通过柏林墙下的秘密隧道。 我相信我有能力透过警车的窗户向外看。 但如果你不需要我的帮助——”艾米抓住了这一点。 “你能帮助内莉吗？”如何?”伊琳娜看起来很恼火。 “只要她回到你身边，你又有什么事呢？”“这根本不关我们的事！”艾米很快同意了。 “快把她弄出来！”谢谢你!”“我需要比言语更好的感谢。 我们是不是该说说你从我们讨厌的表哥巫师约拿的旅馆房间里拿走的东西？”“不交易!”丹吠叫。 “一个忠告，”伊琳娜告诉艾米。 “你不应该让这个浮躁的小男孩替你说话。 也许你根本不应该让他说话。 在克格勃，我们发现管道胶带既有效又