Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 Irina Spasky was furious at herself. She'd throw herself into a gulag if she could. She deserved icy weather, thin blankets, one rotten turnip for supper. How could she let two amateurs, two children, give her the slip? And if she had to eat another falafel, she'd gag. You couldn't find a plain boiled potato anywhere in this crazy country. Enough with foreign food. Enough with the tourist disguise. Disgustedly, she peeled off the I WANT MY MUMMY T-shirt. Underneath it she wore a plain black T-shirt from the Gap. A little secret known only to her—she did love that American Gap. T-shirts in every color! She sat in a chair in her cheap hotel room and looked down at the crazy traffic. She pressed a finger against her eye,

伊琳娜·斯帕斯基对自己大发雷霆。 如果可以，她宁愿把自己扔进古拉格集中营。 她配得上寒冷的天气，薄毯子，一根烂萝卜当晚餐。 她怎么能让两个外行，两个孩子，放过她呢？ 如果再让她吃沙拉三明治，她会吐的。 在这个疯狂的国家，你根本找不到白煮土豆。 受够了外国食物。别再伪装成游客了。 她厌恶地脱下了“我要妈妈”t恤。 在裙子下面，她穿了一件来自Gap的普通黑色t恤。 一个只有她知道的小秘密——她确实喜欢美国的Gap。 各种颜色的t恤！她坐在廉价旅馆房间的椅子上，低头看着拥挤的交通。 她把一根手指按在眼睛上，

which had started to twitch. She had to think. She had almost had those kids, twice, and she'd lost them! Was she slipping? She wanted back on her home ground. She had done some operations in Cairo when she was with the KGB. She didn't operate well here. The people were too friendly. If you asked someone for directions, they'd walk with you and take you there. And it was so hot. Soon the snows would be covering the steppes in Russia, and here it was well over ninety degrees. She turned the ceiling fan to the highest setting. She had another pair of brats on her hands— Ian and Natalie Kabra. They were supposed to be working together, and those two know-it-alls kept trying to double-cross her. Now they were in Kyrgyzstan, not answering their cell phones. She'd finally had to resort to calling their parents. And she never liked to talk to the Kabras. They had a history together, and she trusted them even less than their kids. Those two. Geniuses, but stupid. Just like their parents.

它已经开始抽搐了。 她必须思考。她差点生下这两个孩子，两次，但她失去了他们！她是不是滑倒了？ 她想回到自己的地盘。 她在克格勃工作时曾在开罗执行过一些任务。 她在这里做得不好。 人们太友好了。 如果你向某人问路，他们会和你一起走，带你去那里。 而且天气很热。很快，俄罗斯的大草原就会被大雪覆盖，而这里的气温远高于华氏90度。 她把吊扇开到最大。 她手上还有一对小宝贝——伊恩和娜塔莉·卡布拉。 他们应该是一起工作的，而那两个无所不知的人一直想出卖她。 现在他们在吉尔吉斯斯坦，不接手机。 最后她不得不打电话给他们的父母。 她从不喜欢和卡布拉一家说话。 他们有过一段历史，她甚至比他们的孩子更不信任他们。 这两个。天才，但愚蠢。 就像他们的父母一样。

Their parents… Irina shook her head, trying to rid herself of the memory. She never thought about things she couldn't change. Things in the past. Except suddenly, here in Cairo, she found herself thinking about Grace Cahill. It had been years ago that the Lucians had called a top-level meeting to discuss the Grace Cahill problem. They knew Grace had collected many Clues. She seemed to have a genius for it. Even the Lucians had to admit that. She had to be stopped. It was Irina who had come up with the idea of the alliance. Just a ruse, of course. But it could be a way to get close to Grace, to learn something. Irina had offered herself to be the go-between. The cheese in the mousetrap. She had met with Grace. Alone, and face-toface. The conversation had been short. It was clear that Grace hadn't believed Irina for a moment. You're trying to play me for a fool, but it is you, Irina, who is the fool, Grace had said. You offer an alliance as a ruse instead of a reality. It is the curse

他们的父母……伊琳娜摇了摇头，试图摆脱这段记忆。 她从不去想那些她无法改变的事情。 过去的事。但突然间，在开罗，她发现自己想起了格蕾丝·卡荷尔。 几年前，卢西亚人召开了一次高层会议，讨论格蕾丝·卡希尔的问题。 他们知道格蕾丝收集了很多线索。 她似乎在这方面很有天赋。 就连卢西亚人也不得不承认。 必须阻止她。联盟的想法是伊琳娜提出来的。 当然，这只是个诡计。但这可能是接近格蕾丝，学习一些东西的一种方式。 伊琳娜主动提出要做中间人。 捕鼠器里的奶酪。 她见到了格蕾丝。单独，面对面。 谈话很短。 很明显，格蕾丝一刻也没有相信伊琳娜。 “你想把我当傻瓜耍，但其实是你，伊琳娜，才是傻瓜。”格蕾丝说。 你提出结盟只是个诡计，而不是现实。 这就是诅咒

of the Lucians to think they can do everything alone. Irina had walked away furious. Nobody called her a fool. Nobody. Talks resumed on the Grace Cahill problem. Plans discussed and discarded. Overtures to others. Shaky alliances agreed to in order to attack a shared problem. All to the good. Except… the plan had been agreed on, and everything had gone wrong. Horribly wrong. Grace's daughter and sonin- law had lost their lives in that fire. She would never forget the day of the funeral. Irina knew it was not her place to go, yet she couldn't stay away. It hadn't been to gloat, no matter what Grace thought. Grace's face had been so white and still. The loss of her beloved daughter, her treasured son-in-law, the tragedy of her orphaned grandchildren— she had seemed years older. She moved like an old woman and her eyes held limitless grief. Her hands shook as she tossed roses onto the caskets as they were lowered into the earth. Irina had wanted to say, I too have known such

卢西亚人认为他们可以单枪匹马。 伊琳娜气冲冲地走开了。 没有人叫她傻瓜。没有人。 关于格蕾丝·卡希尔问题的会谈重新开始。 计划被讨论和丢弃。 向他人示好。摇摇欲坠的联盟为了解决共同的问题而达成一致。 一切都好。除了…计划已经达成一致，但一切都出了问题。 严重错误的。格雷斯的女儿和女婿在那场火灾中丧生。 她永远不会忘记葬礼的那一天。 伊琳娜知道那不是她该去的地方，但她不能离开。 不管格蕾丝怎么想，这都不是幸灾乐祸。 格蕾丝的脸是那么苍白，那么平静。 失去了心爱的女儿，心爱的女婿，失去了孙辈的悲剧——她似乎老了好几岁。 她走起路来像个老太婆，眼里流露出无限的悲痛。 她把玫瑰花扔到棺材上，双手颤抖着，棺材被埋进土里。 伊琳娜想说，我也知道这样的事

grief. But she didn't. She wanted to say, I walked the streets of Moscow like a ghost. I lost my soul, I lost my heart. She wanted to say, They think that grief is noisy, Grace. They think you'll cry and wail. But I know that grief is as silent as snow. I too have lost a child. She said none of these things. Her memories were her own. She had sealed them off. The only relic of that time was an eye that twitched when she was under emotional stress. That day she had blamed Grace for forcing her to recall her memories. She had been brusque and chilly. She had said to Grace, "Fate has no scruples. These things happen." These things happen, she had said to a mother who had just lost a child. She'd heard her own words echo and been shocked at their coldness. She'd wanted to turn back. She'd wanted to show compassion, to be a person with blood in her veins. But she hadn't. Instead, she had felt Grace's

悲伤。但她没有。她想说，我像幽灵一样走在莫斯科的街道上。 我失去了灵魂，我失去了心。 她想说，他们认为悲伤是吵闹的，格蕾丝。 他们认为你会哭泣和哀号。 但我知道悲伤像雪一样无声。 我也失去了一个孩子。这些话她一个也没说。 她的记忆是她自己的。 她把它们封起来了。那个时代唯一的遗物是她在情绪紧张时就会抽动的一只眼睛。 那天她责备格雷斯强迫她回忆往事。 她的态度粗鲁而冷淡。 她曾对格蕾丝说：“命运是没有顾忌的。 这是常有的事。”她曾对一位刚刚失去孩子的母亲说，这种事是常有的。 她听到了自己的话的回响，对他们的冷漠感到震惊。 她本想回头的。 她想表现出同情心，想做一个有血有肉的人。 但她没有。相反，她感受到的是格蕾丝的感觉

contempt run over her, like wave after wave from the cold Bering Strait. Then, in a flash, contempt turned to suspicion. Irina had not been able to meet Grace's eyes. So, to say the least, she had been surprised to be invited to Grace's funeral. It was only when she knew the other Cahills were invited that she decided to go. All of them in one room. All those ancient hatreds. And Grace as the puppet master. Had Grace set a trap that she couldn't see? Who was the cheese? Who was the mouse? What is your plan, Grace? You always had a plan. Those grandchildren—why did Grace include them? They couldn't possibly beat the rest of the Cahills for the Clues. They were years behind in knowledge and training. Too late to catch up. They had been lucky so far. Only that. Two children without anyone to help them, running on fear and loss… Fear. Loss. The things I've known. The things I've seen…

轻蔑像一波又一波从寒冷的白令海峡涌来一样，从她身上袭来。 然后，转眼间，轻蔑变成了怀疑。 伊琳娜不敢直视格蕾丝的眼睛。 所以，退一步说，她被邀请参加格蕾丝的葬礼感到很惊讶。 直到她知道其他卡希尔家的人也被邀请了，她才决定去。 所有人都在一个房间里。所有那些古老的仇恨。 格蕾丝是木偶大师。 格蕾丝设了一个她看不见的陷阱吗？ 谁是奶酪？那只老鼠是谁？ 你的计划是什么，格蕾丝？你总是有计划的。 那些孙辈——格蕾丝为什么要把他们包括进来？ 他们不可能在线索上打败卡希尔家族的其他人。 他们在知识和训练方面落后多年。 来不及赶上了。到目前为止，他们还算幸运。 只有这一点。两个没有人帮助的孩子，在恐惧和失去中挣扎……恐惧。 的损失。我所知道的事情。 我看到的东西…