Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 "Watch out!" Amy screamed. "Hunh!" Alistair gasped, heaving himself upward. Clanggggg! Dan felt the ladder jolt. He hung on tight, staring at the amazing sight below. With a sharp, precise movement, Alistair had brought his walking stick down hard, knocking the blade from the attacker's hand. Then, on the backswing, Alistair caught the yakuza on the side of the head, sending him spinning downward to the track. "Get out, Dan!" Alistair commanded, shouting upward. "How did you learn to do that?" Dan asked.

第八章“小心！”艾米尖叫。 “唉!”阿利斯泰尔喘着气，吃力地往上爬。 Clanggggg !丹感到梯子摇晃了一下。 他紧紧抓着，凝视着下面令人惊叹的景象。 阿利斯泰尔敏捷而精准地将他的手杖狠狠地击倒在地，把攻击者手中的刀刃打飞了。 然后，在后挥杆时，阿利斯泰尔击中了那个流氓的头部，使他旋转着倒在跑道上。 “出去，丹！”阿利斯泰尔向上喊道。 “你是怎么学会那样做的？”丹问道。

"I'm full of surprises— now move!" Alistair said. Amy had managed to push aside the grating at the top of the ladder. Dan scrambled to the street, pulling up the objects behind him. A moment later, with a loud grunt, Alistair heaved himself up onto the sidewalk. A mother pushing a baby in a stroller swerved around them. Dan quickly began shoving the grating back, getting it over three- quarters of the hole before Alistair yanked him away. "No time for that!" he said, pulling Dan with him as he stepped into the street. "Wait!" Dan protested. "What about Amy?" Amy was trying to catch up, limping over the curb in their direction. Shiiiink… SHIIIINK! Soot-stained fingers, reaching up from underground, were sliding the grate open. "Pardon me, please," Alistair said, rushing over to the hole. Like a golf pro, he drew back his walking stick and swung it down toward the fingers. Hard.

“我充满了惊喜——现在行动吧！”阿利斯泰尔说。 艾米已经把梯子顶上的栅栏推开了。 丹急忙跑到街上，拉起身后的东西。 过了一会儿，阿利斯泰尔哼了一声，爬上了人行道。 一位推着婴儿车的母亲从他们身边转过身来。 丹迅速地把铁栅栏往后推，把铁栅栏推到了洞口的四分之三处，然后阿利斯泰尔就把他拉开了。 “没时间了！”他边说边拉着丹走到街上。 “等等!”丹抗议。“那艾米呢？”艾米试图追上他们，一瘸一拐地走过路边，朝他们的方向走去。 Shiiiink…Shiiiink !沾满煤烟的手指从地下伸出来，滑开了炉栅。 “请原谅我，”阿利斯泰尔说着，冲到洞边。 他像职业高尔夫球手一样，收回手杖，朝手指方向挥去。 难以实现。

"AAAAAAAGHHH!" came a tortured shout. Dan heard the thumping of multiple bodies hitting the ground below the ladder. Alistair knelt, his back to Amy. "Climb on." She leaped onto him and he locked his arms under her knees, grimacing as he limped across the street behind Dan. Their shadows were elongated in the setting sun, making them look like some misshapen beast. HONNNNK! A car swerved out of the way, its driver shouting at them. "The objects—" Alistair called out through gritted teeth. "Drop them in that alleyway. We will come back for them!" Dan spotted a dark, narrow space between buildings and threw Alistair's tightly packed jacket into it. They raced around the corner, up a hill between low brick buildings where the smell of soy sauce and fried shrimp belched out of ground- floor windows in steamy wisps. Alistair darted right at the top of the hill, into the open gate at the back of a vast, empty playground. "Where are

“啊——啊——啊——”传来一声痛苦的喊叫。 丹听到梯子下面多具尸体撞击地面的声音。 阿利斯泰尔跪了下来，背对着艾米。 “爬上”。她跳到他身上，他把胳膊锁在她的膝盖下，跟在丹后面一瘸一拐地穿过街道，做了个鬼脸。 在夕阳的映衬下，他们的影子被拉长了，使他们看起来像某种畸形的野兽。 HONNNNK !一辆汽车突然闪开，司机朝他们大喊大叫。 “那些东西——”阿利斯泰尔咬牙切齿地喊道。 “把他们丢在那条小巷里。 我们会回来找他们的！”丹在两幢楼之间发现了一个阴暗狭窄的地方，就把阿利斯泰尔包得紧紧的夹克扔了进去。 他们跑过街角，爬上低矮砖房之间的一座小山上，酱油和炸虾的味道从一楼的窗户里冒出来。 阿利斯泰尔冲到山顶，冲进一个空旷的大操场后面敞开的大门。 “在哪里

we going?" Dan cried out. "I have friends!" Alistair said. "All we need to do is get a taxi—" As if by magic, a cab sped toward them up the street. Alistair let go of Amy with one hand and waved frantically, shouting in Japanese. But as the taxi swerved at him, it picked up speed, its engine roaring. "Look out!" Dan screamed. Alistair jumped away. Amy went flying off onto the blacktop as the cab hopped the curb, missing them by an inch. It squealed to a stop and spun around. At once, all four doors opened. "Yakuza!" Alistair shouted. Now even Amy was moving fast. As Dan ran after her, he heard a high whistling sound. "DUCK, AMY!" A jagged-edged silver metal disk sliced the air. It whizzed over Dan's head as he leaped for his sister, grabbing her by the waist. She screamed as they tumbled to the ground

我们去哪里?”丹喊道。“我有朋友！”阿利斯泰尔说。 “我们需要做的就是叫一辆出租车——”就像变魔术一样，一辆出租车沿着街道向他们疾驰而来。 阿利斯泰尔用一只手放开艾米，疯狂地挥着手，用日语大喊。 但当出租车转向他时，它加快了速度，发动机轰鸣着。 “当心!”丹尖叫。阿利斯泰尔跳开了。 艾米飞奔到柏油路上，出租车在路边一跳，差一英寸就撞上了他们。 它尖叫着停了下来，转过身来。 四扇门立刻都打开了。 “山口组!”Alistair喊道。 现在，就连艾米也走得很快。 当丹追着她跑的时候，他听到一声刺耳的口哨。 “鸭,艾米!”一个边缘参差不齐的银色金属圆盘划破了空气。 当丹扑向他的妹妹，抓住她的腰时，它从他的头上呼啸而过。 他们倒在地上时，她尖叫起来

again. "What was that?" Amy gasped. "A shuriken," Dan shouted. "A ninja throwing star!" "This way!" Alistair cried out. Dan felt the old man's hand clasp his wrist, yanking him upward. In a split second they were racing into a large steel tunnel, part of the playground. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunkthunk! Dan flinched as each throwing star hit the outside of the tunnel, inches from their heads. They emerged from the other end into a complex of thick wooden climbing equipment. Alistair was running, crouched, his head low and his walking stick tucked under his arm. Splinters flew around their heads like hailstones. Barking, angry Japanese instructions rang out behind them. Car doors slammed. Tires screeched. Dan, Amy, and Alistair ran blindly out of the playground, across a lawn, into a backyard, over a small fence. "Yeowww!" Amy shouted, her foot jamming in the fence's links.

再一次。“那是什么？”艾米气喘吁吁地说。 “一把飞刀。”丹喊道。 “忍者飞镖！”“这样!”阿利斯泰尔喊道。 丹感到老人的手抓住了他的手腕，把他往上拉。 顷刻间，他们冲进了一个巨大的钢铁隧道，这是操场的一部分。 铛!铛!Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunkthunk !当每个飞镖击中隧道外，离他们的头只有几英寸时，丹畏缩了。 他们从另一端出来，进入了一个由厚厚的木制攀登设备组成的建筑群。 阿利斯泰尔跑着，蹲着，低着头，拐杖夹在胳膊下。 碎片像冰雹一样在他们头上飞来飞去。 身后传来日本人愤怒的吼叫指令。 车门砰地关上了。轮胎发出刺耳。 丹、艾米和阿利斯泰尔盲目地跑出操场，穿过草坪，进入后院，越过一个小篱笆。 “Yeowww !”艾米喊道，她的脚卡在了栅栏的链环里。

"Keep up!" Alistair retorted. The throwing stars had stopped, Dan realized. The yakuza wouldn't use them in a residential neighborhood— would they? They emerged at the other end of a block, this one with a line of stores on either side. To their right, Dan could hear a speeding engine. "Go left!" The street sloped downward to a big, open market area. Inside, vendors were packing up, cleaning out stalls. Dan realized that he, Amy, and Alistair could get safely lost in there. The yakuza would be asking for chaos if they followed. VRRROOOOOM! Dan stopped in his tracks. A red Porsche was turning into the road in front of them. Blocking their way to the market. Rounding the corner, the Porsche flashed its brights. Dan cowered, momentarily blinded. Grabbing his sister, he sprang away from the street. "Jump— jump!" They leaped onto the sidewalk, rolling past a metal mailbox as odd noises rang out. Thwip! Thwip-thwip!

“跟上!”Alistair反驳道。 丹意识到，流星已经停止了。 黑帮不会在居民区使用它们的，对吧？ 他们出现在一个街区的另一端，这条街两边都是一排商店。 在他们的右边，丹可以听到高速行驶的引擎声。 “走了!”这条街向下倾斜，通向一个开放的大市场。 在里面，小贩们正在收拾东西，清理摊位。 丹意识到他、艾米和阿利斯泰尔在里面迷路很安全。 如果他们跟着他们，那就是自找麻烦。 VRRROOOOOM !丹停住了脚步。 一辆红色的保时捷正在他们前面的路上转弯。 阻止他们进入市场。 转过街角，那辆保时捷闪出了亮光。 丹畏缩了一下，一时失明了。 他一把抓住妹妹，从街上跳了出来。 “跳一跳!”他们跳上人行道，滚过一个金属信箱，突然传来奇怪的声音。 Thwip !Thwip-thwip !