Chapter 1

BEYOND THE GRAVE JUDE WATSON

坟墓之外的裘德·沃森

CHAPTER 1 If Amy Cahill had to list what was wrong with eleven-year-old brothers, their habit of disappearing would be numero uno. Or maybe the fact that they existed in the first place. And then there was the whole burping the alphabet thing…. Amy stood in the middle of the Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo, her head swiveling frantically, trying to find her brother, Dan. The blur of jet lag was interfering with normal brain function. Dan had just been at her side a moment ago. Then she turned for two seconds to buy a Nefertiti pencil, and when she turned back, Dan was gone. The air was thick with heat and music and the calls of shopkeepers. Bright banners waved

第一章如果艾米·卡希尔要列出11岁的小弟弟们的毛病，那么他们爱消失的习惯将排在第一位。 或者是他们一开始就存在的事实。 然后是整个打嗝字母的事情.... 艾米站在开罗可汗哈利利市场的中央，她的头疯狂地旋转着，试图找到她的哥哥丹。 时差的模糊影响了正常的大脑功能。 丹刚才还在她身边。 然后她转过身去买了一支纳芙蒂蒂铅笔，当她转过身时，丹已经不见了。 空气中弥漫着热气、音乐和店主的叫卖声。 鲜艳的横幅挥舞着

overhead. Tourists weaved through the streets, wearing their backpacks on their chests to safeguard against pickpockets and stopping to take pictures every few minutes. A woman in a head scarf dodged a row of turquoise chairs to follow after her two boys. A man with a crate full of oranges balanced them on his head with one hand. A tourist in a baseball cap and a T-shirt proclaiming I WANT MY MUMMY strolled past Amy, her camera held up in front of her face. Amy felt the heat like waves against her skin. She hoped she wouldn't faint. Colors swarmed, faces dissolved, unfamiliar noises pounded against her ears. She had never liked crowds, and Cairo seemed like the city that had invented them. She turned, her hand on her waist pack. Their au pair, Nellie Gomez, was just down the alley, bargaining over spices. Amy could just catch a glimpse of her crazy half-blond, half-black hair. Less than an hour ago, they'd been in a taxi, riding into Cairo from the airport. Then when the cabdriver had casually pointed out the window and said, "The Khan market starts here, very good place," Nellie had suddenly yelled, "Stop!" Before

开销。游客们穿梭在街道上，胸前背着背包以防扒手，每隔几分钟就停下来拍照。 一个戴头巾的女人躲开一排绿松石色的椅子，跟着她的两个儿子。 一个人拿着一箱橙子，用一只手把它们顶在头上。 一个游客戴着棒球帽，穿着写着“我要妈妈”的t恤，从艾米身边走过，她的相机举在面前。 艾米感到热浪像波浪一样拍打着她的皮肤。 她希望自己不会晕倒。 色彩纷飞，面孔消失，陌生的声音在她耳边回响。 她从来都不喜欢人群，而开罗似乎是这个城市创造了这些人。 她转过身来，手放在腰袋上。 他们的保姆内莉·戈麦斯（Nellie Gomez）就在巷子那头，为香料讨价还价。 艾米只能瞥见她那半黄半黑的头发。 不到一小时前，他们还在一辆出租车上，从机场开往开罗。 然后，当出租车司机漫不经心地指着窗外说：“可汗市场从这里开始，非常好的地方。”内莉突然喊道：“停下！”之前

they knew what was happening, they'd landed in the market with luggage and cat carrier. Saladin had meowed furiously when Nellie promised, "Just ten minutes, that's all I need, and then we'll go straight to the hotel…. Cool! Cardamom pods!" For Nellie, every new city was just another opportunity for weird food. Finally, Amy spotted Dan through the crowd. He was pressed against a shop window crowded with souvenirs. She had a feeling he was captivated by the King Tutankhamen pencil sharpener, but it could have been the flashlight in the shape of a mummy. As she crossed the alley, Dan kept appearing and disappearing through the meandering crowd. The hot sun was blinding. She hoped that air- conditioning was in her future. The tourist in the I WANT MY MUMMY T-shirt drifted closer to Dan. She pushed her white sunglasses down her nose. Some small alarm chimed inside Amy. A man in a straw hat blocked her view, and she dodged to one side. The tourist bent her index finger back at the

他们知道发生了什么，他们带着行李和猫架降落在市场上。 当内莉保证说：“只要十分钟，我只需要十分钟，然后我们就直接去旅馆....”时，萨拉丁愤怒地叫了起来 太酷了!小豆蔻!”对内莉来说，每到一个新城市，都有机会吃到奇怪的食物。 最后，艾米在人群中认出了丹。 他被挤在摆满纪念品的商店橱窗上。 她有一种感觉，他被图坦卡蒙国王的卷笔刀迷住了，但它可能是木乃伊形状的手电筒。 当她穿过小巷时，丹在蜿蜒的人群中出现又消失。 烈日刺眼。她希望将来会有空调。 穿着“我要妈妈”t恤的游客慢慢靠近丹。 她把她的白色太阳镜往下推。 艾米心里响起了小小的警报。 一个戴草帽的男人挡住了她的视线，她躲到了一边。 游客弯了弯食指

first joint, as if she had a cramp. The hot sun glinted on something protruding from her nail. "Dan!" Amy screamed. The music and the calls of the shopkeepers— Five dollars, five dollars!— drowned her out. She darted past a man balancing a dozen neon-colored soccer balls in a net. The hypodermic needle protruded out of the tourist's clawlike finger. Dan leaned closer to the window…. "Dan!" She screamed the name. In her head. But it came out like a strangled croak. Amy threw herself forward. At the very last second, she flung out her hand. The needle jammed into the Nefertiti pencil and stuck. For one swift second, all Amy could do was stare down at the glint of sunlight on metal. In slow motion, a drop of something lethal fell from the tip and hit the dust. Amy looked into the face of Irina Spasky. Former KGB agent. Spy. Cousin. Irina's left eye twitched. "Blin!" She twisted her hand, but the needle remained stuck in the pencil. The shopkeeper hurried over. "Beautiful lady, it

第一次，她好像抽筋了。 炙热的阳光照在她指甲外突出的东西上。 “丹!”艾米尖叫。音乐和店主的叫卖声——五美元，五美元！-淹没了她的声音。 她从一名男子身边飞奔而过，他正在一个网里平衡着十几个霓虹色的足球。 皮下注射针从游客爪状的手指中伸出来。 丹靠得更靠近窗户.... “丹!”她尖叫着那个名字。 在她的脑海里。但它发出来就像被勒死的呱呱声。 艾米向前扑去。 在最后一秒，她伸出了手。 针卡进了娜芙蒂蒂的铅笔，卡住了。 在那一瞬间，艾米所能做的就是低头盯着金属上闪烁的阳光。 在慢镜头中，一滴致命的东西从尖端落下，落在了尘土上。 艾米看着伊琳娜·斯帕斯基的脸。 前克格勃特工。间谍。表妹。 伊琳娜的左眼抽动了一下。 “俄式薄煎饼!”她扭了扭手，但针仍然卡在铅笔上。 店主匆匆赶了过来。 “真漂亮

is stuck on you. Here, I have more pencils for you!" Irina turned on him fiercely. "I don't want your fancy pencils, shopkeeper of things!" Amy and Dan didn't wait another second. Dan moved like a midfielder through the crowd, and Amy followed in his wake. Legs pumping, they ran until their lungs burned, dashing through the maze of twisting alleys. Finally they stopped, bent over at the waist, and tried to catch their breath. When they looked up, Amy realized they were lost. Badly, stupidly, irredeemably lost. "Nellie will be looking for us," Amy said. She flipped open her cell phone. "No signal. We'll have to find our way back." "And hope we don't bump into Comrade Irina," Dan said. "I can skip the family reunion." By now they were used to meeting family members with mayhem on their minds. Just weeks ago they'd had a hard time coping with the fact of their grandmother's death. After their parents died, Grace had been the most important person

粘在你身上了。这里，我有更多的铅笔给你！”伊琳娜猛烈地转向他。 “我不要你的花式铅笔，店主！”艾米和丹一秒钟也没等。 丹像中场球员一样穿过人群，艾米紧随其后。 他们在迷宫般蜿蜒的小巷里奔跑，双腿怦怦直跳，直到肺都烧着了。 最后，他们停了下来，弯下腰，试着喘口气。 当他们抬起头时，艾米意识到他们迷路了。 严重地、愚蠢地、无可挽回地失去了。 “内莉会来找我们的，”艾米说。 她打开手机。 “没有信号。我们得想办法回去。” “希望我们不会碰到伊琳娜同志。”丹说。 “我可以不参加家庭聚会。” 到现在为止，他们已经习惯了带着混乱的心情去见家人。 就在几周前，他们还很难接受祖母去世的事实。 在他们的父母去世后，格蕾丝一直是最重要的人