Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 When Amy ran away behind the tree, Dan knew she was vomiting. And it didn't gross him out at all, because he was doing the same thing. Alistair had died— inches away from them. Right underneath. He had given them his trust, his money, his advice, his comfort. And finally, his life. It didn't seem real. He should be behind a bush now, brushing himself off, strolling toward them, his pants somehow still crisply pressed. Well, that was an adventure. But all that Dan could see was dust. Dust and tourists and mounds of rubble and the flashing lights of police vehicles. And the feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had been through this before. That his whole life

当艾米跑到树后时，丹知道她在呕吐。 他一点也不觉得恶心，因为他也在做同样的事情。 阿利斯泰尔已经死了——离他们只有几英寸远。 正确的下面。他给了他们信任、金钱、建议和安慰。 最后，他的生活。这似乎不真实。 他现在应该在灌木丛后面，掸掉身上的毛，朝他们走来，不知怎么的，他的裤子还熨得很紧。 嗯，那是一次冒险。 但丹能看到的只有灰尘。 尘土、游客、成堆的瓦砾和警车闪烁的灯光。 他的内心深处有一种感觉，他以前也经历过这种情况。 他的一生

had been all about loss. That he had vowed never to get close to grown-ups, because it was so painful to lose them. And it had happened again. He was vaguely aware of his sister putting her arm around him. A cop was talking in accented English, but Dan couldn't put together the meaning. "His name is…" Amy was saying. "Was… Alistair Oh." "Age?" the cop said. The word "sixty-four" came out of Dan's mouth. He didn't know how he knew that, but it occurred to him that Alistair would never be sixty-five. That someday he, Dan, would be older than Alistair would ever be. "His clothing?" the policeman pressed, which seemed like a colossally stupid question under the circumstances. "Silk jacket… really nice shirt," Dan said. "Um, he always had these white gloves, too. And like a round-ish hat—" "Bo…" Amy said. Her lip was quivering. "Bo

都是关于失去的。他曾发誓永远不会接近成年人，因为失去他们太痛苦了。 这种事又发生了。 他模模糊糊地意识到妹妹正用胳膊搂着他。 一个警察用带口音的英语说话，但丹不明白他在说什么。 “他的名字是……”艾米说。 “是……阿利斯泰尔哦。”“年龄？”警察问。 “六十四”这个词从丹嘴里说出来。 他不知道自己是怎么知道的，但他突然想到，阿利斯泰尔永远也活不到65岁。 总有一天，他，丹，会比阿利斯泰尔还老。 “他的衣服？”警察追问，在这种情况下，这似乎是一个非常愚蠢的问题。 “丝绸夹克……真不错的衬衫，”丹说。 “嗯，他也总是戴着白手套。 像一顶圆帽子——”“波……”艾美说。 她的嘴唇在颤抖。“博

"Bowler," Dan said quietly. The cop took notes, but Dan knew he couldn't be treating this as a rescue operation. It was recovery. No one could have survived that collapse. As he walked away, murmuring a few words of sympathy, Amy stared out over the wreckage. "Dan…?" she said. "Look…" Off to the right, a small entourage had just arrived. They didn't look like the other hikers and park visitors. Most of them were dressed in navy- blue suits with black sunglasses and black shoes, and their ears were plugged with headsets attached to squiggly cords. In the center was an elderly, thin man with an overcoat draped over his shoulders, a silk ascot tucked into an expensive-looking shirt, and a dark fedora tilted slightly to one side of his head. He moved with a lively step, using a walking stick that was encrusted with jewels. "That's the guy…" Dan said. "The one we saw in Tokyo, outside the subway."

“保龄球，”丹平静地说。 警察做了笔记，但丹知道他不能把这当成营救行动。 这是恢复。没有人能在那次崩溃中幸存下来。 当他走开，低声说了几句同情的话时，艾米凝视着窗外的残骸。 “丹……？”她说。“看……”在右边，一小队随从刚刚到达。 他们看起来不像其他徒步旅行者和公园游客。 他们中的大多数人都穿着深蓝色的西装，戴着黑色的太阳镜和黑色的鞋子，他们的耳朵被用弯曲的绳子连接的耳机堵住了。 中间是一个瘦弱的老人，肩上披着一件大衣，一条丝绸宽领巾塞在一件看起来很贵的衬衫里，一顶黑色软呢帽微微向头的一侧倾斜。 他拄着一根镶满珠宝的手杖，迈着轻快的步子走着。 “就是他……”丹说。 “就是我们在东京地铁外看到的那个。”

"What's he doing here?" Amy asked. Dan's eyes widened at the sight of someone behind the old man— a person he and Amy were even more familiar with. He had been there at the fire that consumed Grace's house. In Paris and Salzburg. He had never spoken a word, but somehow he was always there. Amy didn't need to be shown. She saw him, too. "The Man in Black…" she muttered, shrinking away. Keeping low to the ground, she and Dan skittered behind a bush. "Can you hear what the old man is saying to him?" Amy asked. Dan stood. He pulled his hood over his head and edged closer, making sure to stay among the ever-growing crowd of gawkers. They were yakking away, too, but as he neared the old man, Dan could see him exchanging bows with the cop who had just spoken to them. But the Man in Black didn't seem interested in talking. He was walking slowly toward the collapsed rock, his back to Dan.

“他在这儿干什么？”艾米问。 丹的眼睛睁大了，因为他看到了老人身后的人——一个他和艾米更熟悉的人。 他目睹了烧毁格蕾丝家的那场大火。 在巴黎和萨尔茨堡。他从来没有说过一句话，但不知何故，他总是在那里。 艾米不需要被展示。 她也看见他了。“黑衣人……”她嘟囔着，缩了回去。 她和丹低着身子躲在灌木丛后面。 “你能听到老人在对他说什么吗？”艾米问。 丹站。他把兜帽套在头上，侧身靠近，确保自己不被越来越多的看热闹的人挡住。 他们也在喋喋不休，但当他走近老人时，丹看到他和刚刚和他们说话的警察互相鞠躬。 但是黑衣人似乎对谈话不感兴趣。 他背对着丹，慢慢地朝坍塌的岩石走去。

The old man and the cop were talking now, and Dan could hear snatches of conversation, but it was all in Korean. They didn't say much, and the old man seemed angry and impatient. Finally, after some more bows, the cop left. With a sharp gesture to his entourage, indicating they should stay put, the old man began striding alone toward the mysterious black-clad stranger. The two men stood silent, facing the rubble. Dan glanced back at Amy, who had a look of terror on her face, gesturing for him to come back. But the men were turned away, so he moved closer. When the old man spoke up, his words were clear. And in English. "My nephew was in there," he said. The Man in Black moved his head, a slight shift of his mouth registering just a shadow of a reaction— what? Sympathy? Triumph? It was impossible to read. They seemed to be arguing about something, but Dan could not make out the words. Then the old man turned, walking briskly back

老人和警察正在谈话，丹能听到谈话的片段，但都是用韩语说的。 他们没有多说什么，老人似乎又生气又不耐烦。 最后，在又鞠躬之后，警察离开了。 老人向他的随从做了一个尖锐的手势，示意他们不要动，然后开始独自向那个神秘的黑衣陌生人大步走去。 那两个人面对着废墟，一言不发地站着。 丹回头看了艾米一眼，艾米脸上露出恐惧的表情，示意他回来。 但那些人都转过身去，于是他走近了。 老人说话时，他的话很清楚。 而且是用英语。“我的侄子在里面，”他说。 黑衣人摇了摇头，他的嘴微微动了动，这只是一个反应的影子——什么？ 同情吗?胜利?根本看不懂。 他们似乎在争论什么，但丹听不清他们在说什么。 然后老人转过身来，轻快地走了回来

to his cohort. He nodded to no one in particular, but they all fell in step beside him. Together, the whole posse walked away from the site in the direction of the park entrance. As Dan slipped back toward Amy, he could see the Man in Black approaching the ruins. As he walked through the rubble, he stopped and leaned down. He seemed to have found something— maybe one of Hideyoshi's relics, Dan thought. Before long, when the rocks were cleared, everyone would know about the treasures. There would be looting, maybe, fights about who the stuff belonged to. All the usual things you saw in the news whenever lots of money was involved. But for now, the whole thing looked like a big pile of rock. And what the Man in Black was pulling up from the debris didn't belong to Hideyoshi at all. When Dan saw what it was, a cry snarled in his throat. It was a bowler hat, crushed and misshapen.

致他的同伴。他没有特别向谁点头，但他们都站在他旁边，步调一致。 整个队伍一起离开现场，朝公园入口的方向走去。 当丹溜回艾米身边时，他看见黑衣人正走近废墟。 当他穿过废墟时，他停了下来，俯下身来。 他似乎找到了什么东西——也许是丰臣秀吉的遗物，丹想。 不久，当岩石被清理干净时，每个人都会知道宝藏的存在。 可能会有抢劫，可能会为这些东西属于谁而争吵。 这些都是你在新闻上看到的，只要涉及到很多钱。 但现在，整个东西看起来就像一大堆石头。 黑衣人从废墟中挖出来的东西根本不属于丰臣秀吉。 当丹看到这是什么，他的喉咙里咆哮着。 那是一顶圆顶硬礼帽，压扁了，变形了。