Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 The peculiar word COACH on Natalie's plane ticket had conjured up images of leather benches, uniformed coachmen, and fine horses. Not tiny, hard seats and a pig. It wasn't so much the babysitter's attitude. Which was horrid. Or the tattoos and piercings. Which someday would cause the girl such embarrassment at her job— that is, should she ever find a real one. It wasn't even the girl's rudeness upon seeing Natalie and her brother. Granted, a warm hello and hugs were not warranted under the circumstances, but the stream of barnyard epithets was a bit… well, unseemly. To say the least. Yet all of the above was to be expected from a person of Nellie's station. And Natalie and Ian

第四章纳塔利飞机票上奇特的“马车”二字使人联想到皮革长椅、穿制服的马夫和骏马。 不是小的，硬座和猪。 这倒不是保姆的态度。 这太可怕了。还有纹身和穿孔。 总有一天，这会让这个女孩在工作中感到尴尬——也就是说，她是否会找到一份真正的工作。 这甚至不是女孩看到娜塔莉和她哥哥时的粗鲁。 当然，在这种情况下，一个温暖的问候和拥抱是没有必要的，但一连串的谷仓绰号有点……嗯，不太得体。 至少可以这么说。然而，这一切都是内莉这种地位的人应该做的。 娜塔莉和伊恩

could withstand the crudeness. Some sacrifices were necessary in order to get the information they needed. No, the worst part was the sloppiness. The candy wrappers and potato chip shards on the seats to either side of her, the backpack plopped on the floor between her feet instead of tucked under the seat in front. The nervous habit of shoveling fistfuls of snack mix into her mouth and chewing while speaking. Dreadful. Sloppy habits make a sloppy mind, according to the old Kabra family saying. Or maybe that was from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Natalie wasn't quite sure. She winced as the loathsome babysitter spoke with a mouthful of food. "Soffy, unca wassoosa, y'nah gongahwawee!" Nellie said, spitting bits of peanut and Chex from the corners of her mouth. Natalie's brother, Ian, picked a fleck of Rice Krispie from his otherwise flawless jet-black hair. "Swallow, please, and repeat?" Nellie gulped. "Sorry, I don't care what you say, you're not going to get away with this."

能承受这种粗鲁。 为了得到他们需要的信息，一些牺牲是必要的。 不，最糟糕的是马虎。 她两边的座位上都是糖果包装纸和薯片碎片，背包落在她两脚之间的地板上，而不是塞在前面的座位下面。 她有一种紧张的习惯，把一大把零食放进嘴里，边说边嚼。 可怕的。根据古老的卡布拉家族的说法，懒散的习惯会导致懒散的头脑。 或者这句话出自巴特利特的名言。 娜塔莉不太确定。 当讨厌的保姆嘴里含着食物说话时，她畏缩了一下。 “Soffy, unca wassoosa, you 'nah gongahwawee!”内莉说着，从嘴角吐出了花生和巧克力。 娜塔莉的哥哥伊恩（Ian）从他乌黑无瑕的头发上挑了一点米花糖。 “请吞下去，再说一遍？”内莉一饮而尽。 “对不起，我不管你说什么，你逃不掉的。”

"Oh?" Ian looked over his shoulder, up and down the crowded jetliner. "Do I see anyone sympathizing with your plight? No? What do you say, Natalie— did we get away with it?" "You can do this the easy way, you know, by answering one simple question…" Natalie pressed. They had asked Nellie a dozen times, and each answer had been sassier than the last. She would learn, though. If she knew what was good for her. And if not, well, the Kabras had other ways. "So. One last time— why are you going to Japan?" Nellie yanked a magazine out of the seat pocket in front of her, sending a set of earphones and some used tissues flying toward Ian, who leaped with a barely concealed yeep of disgust. "Because I love sudoku," Nellie said. "You can get the best sudoku puzzles on a flight to Japan, duh. Don't you know anything?" "Coffee, tea, complimentary snack packet, or anything else I can assist you with to make this your best flight ever?" a flight attendant piped up, walking slowly up the aisle.

“哦?”伊恩回头看了看拥挤的飞机。 “我看到有人同情你的困境吗？” 没有?你说呢，纳塔利——我们侥幸逃脱了吗？”“你知道，你可以用最简单的方法，回答一个简单的问题……”娜塔莉追问道。 他们问了内莉十几次，每次回答都比上一次更无礼。 不过，她会学习的。如果她知道什么对她有好处。 如果不行，卡布拉还有别的办法。 “所以。最后问一次——你为什么要去日本？”内莉从她前面的座位口袋里抽出一本杂志，一副耳机和一些用过的纸巾飞向伊恩，伊恩跳了起来，几乎掩饰不住厌恶的尖叫。 “因为我喜欢数独，”内莉说。 “你可以在飞往日本的航班上得到最好的数独游戏。 你什么都不知道吗？”“咖啡、茶、免费零食包，还是其他我能帮助您的东西，让您度过最愉快的旅程？”一名空乘在过道上缓缓走来。

"A Diet Coke and a restraining order, please?" Nellie said. "Because these two are not supposed to be in these seats, and they are harassing me." Ian let out a hearty laugh. "Ha-ha! Oh, Cousin Nell, you always crack me up with your jokes and whatnot— doesn't she, uh, Amy?" "Yes, Daniel," Natalie replied. "Just like back home. In… Homedale." "Oh, that's convincing," Nellie said. "Is there a cop on board? Because if there's not, I want to make a citizen's arrest. Can you do that in Italy, or wherever we are?" Smiling uneasily, the flight attendant placed a Diet Coke on Nellie's tray. As she stood back up, Natalie turned to the baffled woman and circled her finger by her ear in a subtle cuckoo gesture. Outside the window, lightning flashed. The plane suddenly began to lurch. "Heh-heh, well, looks like we're experiencing just a bit of bumpiness here…" the pilot said over the PA. The flight attendant began pushing her cart back up the aisle, calling out, "Please return your seats to the upright position."

“一杯健怡可乐和一张限制令，好吗？”内莉说。 “因为这两个人不应该坐在这些座位上，他们在骚扰我。” 伊恩发出一声爽朗的笑声。 “哈哈!唔，耐儿表妹，你总是用你的笑话之类的东西把我逗乐——她是不是，呃，艾米？”“是的，丹尼尔，”娜塔莉回答。 “就像在家里一样。在……Homedale。” “哦，这很有说服力，”内莉说。 “船上有警察吗？”因为如果没有，我想以公民身份逮捕你。 你能在意大利或者我们所在的任何地方做到这一点吗？”空姐不安地微笑着，在奈莉的托盘上放了一杯健怡可乐。 当她站起来的时候，娜塔莉转向那个困惑的女人，用她的耳朵绕着她的手指做了一个微妙的布谷鸟手势。 窗外电闪雷鸣。 飞机突然开始倾斜。 “嘿嘿，好吧，看起来我们正在经历一点颠簸……”飞行员通过扩音器说。 空姐开始把她的手推车推回过道，并喊道：“请把你们的座位放回直立位置。”

Ian groaned. "I— I'm not feeling too well…." As he keeled forward, face turning green, it was Nellie's turn to look alarmed. Natalie smiled. She and Ian had planned this. Certain signals for certain contingencies. Kabras were masters of tight planning. Ian's act meant one thing only, and Natalie knew just what to do. Still, she couldn't help but feel pity for the girl. Underneath the raffishness there was a bit of spunk and spirit. In another circumstance, another time, she would make a good Kabra employee. "Uh, you're not going to be sick, are you?" Nellie said. "Because I hate the sight of puke." She leaned forward to sift through all the detritus on the floor, looking for an air-sickness bag. There. While Nellie was turned away, Natalie reached into her pocket and extracted a small vial of dark liquid. With a deft motion, she lifted the vial to Nellie's soda. Two drops was all that was needed. The plane jumped again, causing Natalie to flinch, and the entire contents of the vial spilled inside the Coke.

伊恩呻吟着。“我——我不太舒服....” 当他摇摇晃晃地往前走，脸色发青时，轮到耐莉露出惊恐的神色了。 娜塔莉笑了。这是她和伊恩计划好的。 某些偶然事件的某些信号。 卡布拉是周密计划的大师。 伊恩的行为只意味着一件事，娜塔莉知道该怎么做。 尽管如此，她还是忍不住同情这个女孩。 在这种粗鄙的外表下，有一点勇气和精神。 在另一种情况下，另一个时间，她会成为卡布拉的好员工。 “呃，你不会生病吧？”内莉说。 “因为我讨厌看到呕吐物。” 她身体前倾，在地板上的碎屑中仔细筛选，寻找晕机袋。 在那里。当内利被转身离开时，娜塔莉把手伸进口袋，拿出一小瓶黑色液体。 她灵巧地把小瓶举到内莉的苏打水里。 两滴就够了。 飞机又跳了起来，娜塔莉吓了一跳，瓶子里的东西都洒在可乐里了。

Oops. The beeping of the phone woke Dan up from a deep sleep. The first thing he noticed was Amy's hand, bone-white and clenching the armrest. "I don't know how you can sleep at a time like this…" she said through gritted teeth. The little jet banked to the left, causing Amy to let out a scream. "Sweet!" Dan said. "Do that again, Serge!" Serge laughed. "You like?" "No!" Amy blurted. Alistair was straining to hear the phone. "This is who?" he said, gesturing for everyone to be quiet. "Irina?" Amy groaned. "Yes, they did get away," Alistair said loudly. "They are with me, quite safe and sound… what? Did you say Japan?" Alistair let out a big laugh. "Oh, dear. You thought… you really believed that Dan and Amy didn't let the Kabra children take

哦。电话的哔哔声把丹从沉睡中惊醒。 他首先注意到的是艾米的手，骨瘦如柴，紧抓着扶手。 “我不知道你在这种时候怎么能睡得着……”她咬牙切齿地说。 那架小喷气式飞机向左倾斜，弄得艾米尖叫起来。 “甜!”丹说。“再来一次，谢尔盖！”哔叽笑了。 “你喜欢?”“不!”艾米脱口而出。 阿利斯泰尔竭力想听到电话铃声。 “这是谁？”他说，示意大家安静。 “伊琳娜?”艾米呻吟着。“是的，他们逃走了。”阿利斯泰尔大声说。 “他们和我在一起，安然无恙……怎么了？” 你是说日本吗？”阿利斯泰尔大笑起来。 “哦,亲爱的。你以为你真的相信丹和艾米没有让卡布拉家的孩子带走