Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 Alistair's father had always said that in every Oh there was an element of surprise. Not that Alistair remembered him actually saying it, considering Alistair had been a child when he died. But it was an Oh family trait to mix truth with a touch of wit. Alas, the Cahill children's hostile silence perplexed Alistair. He would have thought they'd have enjoyed this particular surprise. Screeee… screeeee… As Serge yanked the steering wheel left and right, forcing the car into spaces no normal human would dare to go, the children lurched from side to side. They seemed loathe to touch Alistair or even look at him, as if he were some distasteful substance, like boiled asparagus. As if he had not

阿利斯泰尔的父亲总是说，每一次“哦”都有惊喜的成分。 阿利斯泰尔并不记得他说过这句话，因为阿利斯泰尔死的时候还是个孩子。 不过，把真相与机智相结合是欧氏家族的一个特点。 唉，卡希尔家的孩子们充满敌意的沉默使阿利斯泰尔感到困惑。 他本以为他们会喜欢这个特别的惊喜。 当塞尔日左右猛拉方向盘，迫使汽车进入常人不敢进入的空间时，孩子们摇摇晃晃地从一边到另一边。 他们似乎不愿碰阿利斯泰尔，甚至不愿看他一眼，好像他是某种令人讨厌的东西，就像煮芦笋一样。 好像他没有

just snatched them from the jaws of chaos to deliver them back to their chosen path. He tried to smile reassuringly at them. He felt for them. They looked so small, so scared, so lonely. He understood the feeling. More than they knew. "Gyess what?" shouted Serge over the noise of furious honking. "I chave keeds, too— gerrl fourteen, boy elyeven! Yes! True. They leeve in Moscow!" Alistair kept an eye on Dan, who was looking quite sick. The boy tried the door handle for what must have been the twentieth time in the last two minutes. Luckily, Alistair had made sure the safety locks had been activated. "Do not bother, please," he said. "You will only give yourself carpal tunnel problems later in life. And besides that, you are making me nervous for your safety." "So you were behind all this, huh?" Dan said. "With the Kabras and Irina. And the bomb scare. You're working with them now." Alistair's face twitched. He knew it would be difficult to earn their trust. Wild accusations were

把他们从混乱的魔爪中解救出来送回他们选择的道路。 他试图对他们露出安慰的微笑。 他同情他们。他们看起来那么小，那么害怕，那么孤独。 他理解这种感觉。 比他们知道的还要多。“吉斯什么？”谢尔盖喊道，盖过了狂怒的汽车喇叭声。 “我也有需要——盖勒尔十四岁，小男孩！”是的!真实的。 他们从莫斯科出发了！”阿利斯泰尔照看着丹，他看上去病得很重。 在过去的两分钟里，这孩子已经试了二十次门把手了。 幸运的是，阿利斯泰尔确保安全锁被激活了。 “请不要麻烦了，”他说。 “你只会在以后的生活中给自己带来腕管问题。 除此之外，你让我担心你的安全。” “所以你是这一切的幕后主使，是吗？”丹说。 “跟卡布拉家族和伊琳娜一起。 还有炸弹恐慌。你现在和他们一起工作。” 阿利斯泰尔的脸抽搐了一下。他知道很难赢得他们的信任。 疯狂的指责

to be expected. He knew there would be resentment, and understandably so. Leaving them in a burning house on the day of the will reading had been an unfortunate necessity— but a personal and strategic mistake. One he regretted deeply. "Believe me, my dear nephew, I don't have the slightest idea—" "Believe you?" Dan replied, spinning around to face him eye to eye. "Let's see. You abandoned us when Grace's house was collapsing around us. You planted a tracking device on Saladin—" "Tracking device? This?" Alistair reached into his pocket and pulled out an electronic device the size of a lapel pin. "I believe you planted it on me. At the museum in Salzburg, while I was dozing." "You d-d-deserved that, Uncle Alistair," Amy said uneasily, "after having hidden it in Saladin's collar in the f-f-first place." "No again, darling girl," Alistair replied with a warm smile, hoping to calm the girl's nerves. "Someone else was keeping tabs on you. Not I. Remember, many others in the family are competing for the clues. I am on your side. I, as

这是意料之中的。他知道会有怨恨，这是可以理解的。 在宣读遗嘱的那天，把他们留在燃烧着的房子里，这是一种不幸的必要性——但这是一个个人和战略上的错误。 他对此深感遗憾。“相信我，我亲爱的侄儿，我一点也不知道——”“相信你？”丹回答道，转过身来，眼睛对着他。 “让我们看看。格蕾丝家倒塌的时候你抛弃了我们。 你在萨拉丁身上安了个追踪装置——”“追踪装置？ 这个吗?”阿利斯泰尔把手伸进口袋，拿出一个衣领别针大小的电子设备。 “我相信是你栽赃给我的。 在萨尔茨堡的博物馆，当时我正在打瞌睡。” “你——你——活该，阿利斯泰尔叔叔，”艾米不安地说，“因为你——你——一开始就把它藏在萨拉丁的衣领里。” “不，亲爱的，”阿利斯泰尔微笑着回答，希望能让女孩的神经平静下来。 “有人一直在监视你。 别忘了，家里还有很多人在抢线索。 我站在你这边。我作为

you know, believe in cooperation." "Oh, that's hilarious," Dan shot back. "Tell it to Comedy Central." Patience. Ever patience. Alistair folded his white-gloved hands over his lap. "Consider exactly who rescued you today," he said. "And who, in a very short time, managed not only to find you but to devise a method of escape. Consider also that as an added bonus, I am about to take you wherever it is you need to go. By private plane. All of this, and I ask only one thing in return— the location of where you are headed. Which, under the circumstances, is rather a necessity." "You have your own p-plane?" Amy asked. Alistair smiled modestly. "Well, not mine. But I still have business connections, favors I can call in during times of emergency. There are some financial advantages to being the inventor of microwavable burritos." "Ve stock zem on ze plane!" Serge said. "Biff, cheecken, cheese…" Good old Serge. Experience had taught them both the value of the Oh company motto: The

你知道，相信合作。” “哦，太搞笑了，”丹反驳道。 “告诉喜剧中心吧。” 耐心。有没有耐心。阿利斯泰尔把戴着白手套的双手交叉放在膝盖上。 “想想今天是谁救了你，”他说。 “他不仅在很短的时间内找到了您，而且还想出了逃跑的办法。 你还要考虑到，作为额外的奖励，我要带你去你要去的任何地方。 乘私人飞机。所有这一切，我只要求一件事作为回报——你前进的方向。 在这种情况下，这是很必要的。” “你有自己的p平面？”艾米问。 阿利斯泰尔谦虚地笑了。“嗯，不是我的。 但我还有生意上的关系，在紧急情况下可以求助。 成为微波炉卷饼的发明者有一些经济上的优势。” “我把它们放在飞机上了！”Serge说。 “比夫，芝士，芝士……” 经验教会了他们两个人公司座右铭的价值

way to a young person's heart is through microwavable meals. Amy exhaled. "Okay, once we're on this plane— if we agree— what assurances do we have that—" "Amy!" Dan blurted. "Uh, no way, Goldfinger. If we're going to do this, we're doing it ourselves." Amy glared at him. "So I guess we're swimming to Japan? Drop us off at a mall, Uncle Alistair. I need flippers. The really big kind? With mad shark repellent?" Dan groaned. "You said the J word, Amy! You told him!" "What are our choices, Dan?" Amy said. "They have Nellie and Saladin and our s—" Amy stopped short, and Alistair glanced at her encouragingly. The poor thing had been making such great progress with her shyness. "Your…?" he said. "S-s-suitcases," she replied. Alistair nodded. Japan. Excellent. So that was where the next Clue would be. A fruitful turn of events. He leaned forward to his driver. "Can we

要抓住年轻人的心，就得吃微波食品。 艾米呼出。“好吧，一旦我们上了飞机——如果我们同意——我们有什么保证——”“艾米！”丹脱口而出。 “哦，不可能，金手指。如果我们要做这件事，我们就要自己做。” 艾米瞪着他。“所以我猜我们要游到日本去了？” 让我们在商场下车，阿利斯泰尔叔叔。 我需要脚蹼。真正大的那种？ 用防鲨剂吗？”丹呻吟着。 “你说了脏话，艾米！”你告诉他了！”“我们有什么选择，丹？”艾米说。 “他们有内莉和萨拉丁，还有我们的——”艾米突然停住了，阿利斯泰尔鼓励地瞥了她一眼。 这个可怜的东西在她的羞怯中取得了很大的进步。 “你的……？”他说。“行李箱，”她回答。 Alistair点点头。日本。太好了。 所以下一条线索就在那里。 一个富有成效的转折。 他向司机倾过身去。 “我们可以

handle Japan, Serge?" The driver shrugged. "Vell, eez long treep. Ve must stop for refueling halfvay. In Moscow. I call ahead. Vhen ve stop, you can meet my keeds— Kolya and Tinatchka!" "Serge, please," Alistair said. "This is not a social trip." Serge let out a deep belly laugh. "Kolya and Tinatchka not socialists!" Dan glared at his sister. Swords, she'd been about to say. They have Nellie and Saladin and our swords. At least she corked herself on that one. Giving away their destination to the slippery dude was one thing. Giving away their Clue was another. Some things had to stay secret. Even sisterus dorkus knew that. He recognized the look in Amy's eyes right now. It was more than the usual disgust, more than her usual variations of You dweeb and No, it's not time to eat. This one said, If you screw this up, I will kill you. Which was exactly how he was feeling.

对付日本，谢尔盖？”司机耸耸肩。 “嗯，好长一棵树。我们必须中途停下来加油。 在莫斯科。我提前打了电话。当我停下来的时候，你可以见见我的仆人——柯莉亚和蒂娜奇卡！”“谢尔盖，求你了。”阿利斯泰尔说。 “这不是一次社交之旅。” 谢尔盖发出一阵深沉的捧腹大笑。 “柯利亚和蒂娜奇卡不是社会主义者！”丹怒视着他的妹妹。 剑，她刚想说。 他们有内莉，萨拉丁和我们的剑。 至少她喝了那杯酒。 把目的地告诉那个狡猾的家伙是一回事。 泄露他们的线索是另一回事。 有些事必须保密。 就连傻姐姐都知道。 他认出了艾米此刻的眼神。 这比通常的厌恶更强烈，比她通常的“你这个笨蛋”和“不，还没到吃饭的时候”更强烈。 这个说，如果你搞砸了，我就杀了你。 这正是他当时的感受。