Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 All the doors into the theater were locked, but it was only a few minutes before a maintenance worker emerged, pushing a garbage can on wheels. Dan saw the opportunity they needed and shoved Amy into the man's path. When she hit the cart, Amy caught her foot on the metal wheel and flew forward onto the marble floor. "You little monster!" she said, turning beet red and forgetting for a moment that she was visiting one of the more opulent concert halls in Europe, disguised as an adult. When she got up, the man was wearing a cramped smile, trying not to laugh. He mumbled something in Russian that Amy felt sure meant "hopeless klutz," then wandered down the long corridor, shaking his head. "Dan?" Amy looked every which way, straightening her

所有进入剧院的门都锁上了，但几分钟后，一个维修工人推着一个带轮子的垃圾桶出来了。 丹看到了他们需要的机会，把艾米推到了那个男人的面前。 当艾米撞到手推车时，她的脚被金属轮绊住了，飞到了大理石地板上。 “你这个小怪物！”她说，脸涨得通红，一时忘了自己是在假扮成人参观欧洲最豪华的音乐厅之一。 当她站起来的时候，那个男人脸上带着局促的笑容，努力忍住不笑出来。 他用俄语咕哝了几句，艾米觉得这句话的意思肯定是“无可救药的笨手笨脚的人”，然后摇着头，沿着长长的走廊走去。 “丹?”艾米四面张望，直起身子

ridiculous wig and glasses, but there was no sign of her brother. "Pssst. Over here," said Dan. Amy turned around and saw that a door to the theater was open just far enough for Dan's goatee to poke out at her. "Get in here before someone sees you." Amy backed up slowly as a group of women walked past, chatting quietly in Russian. By the time they'd disappeared, Amy had her back against one of the two doors. Dan grabbed her by the arm and yanked her inside. "What's taking you so long?" Amy scowled at her brother. First he pushes me, then he pulls me. Now he gets all over my case. "You're starting to annoy me," she said, gearing up for an epic brother-sister argument. But when she turned toward the stage, her anger melted away. Amy loved the theater almost as much as she loved books, and the State Kremlin Palace was a stunner if ever she'd seen one. The stage was set with blue lights shining down as night descended on the scene. There were scale model buildings

可笑的假发和眼镜，但没有她哥哥的踪迹。 “Pssst。在这里，”丹说。 艾米转过身来，看到一扇通往剧院的门开着，丹的山羊胡刚好伸到她面前。 “趁没人看见你快进来” 当一群女人走过，用俄语轻声聊天时，艾米慢慢后退。 等他们消失的时候，艾米背靠着两扇门中的一扇。 丹抓住她的胳膊，把她拽了进去。 “你怎么这么久才来？”艾米对她哥哥怒目而视。 他先是推我，然后拉我。 现在他管我的案子。 “你开始惹我生气了，”她说，准备展开一场史诗般的兄妹之争。 但当她转向舞台时，她的愤怒消失了。 艾米对戏剧的喜爱几乎和她对书籍的喜爱一样多，克里姆林宫是她见过的最令人惊叹的地方。 夜幕降临时，舞台上的蓝色灯光闪闪发光。 有比例模型建筑

and a Russian-style church deep in the background. It was breathtaking from where they stood, like a scene from a fairy tale in which Anastasia came back to life and Rasputin roamed the woods. Long rows of seats lined the middle of the theater, all of them empty, awaiting theatergoers who wouldn't arrive until evening. Dan led the way into the darkness along the back wall of the theater. "The balcony's up there, so the stairs can't be too far. This place is gigantic. It must hold at least six thousand people." They could hear a door opening as they crept onto the stairs, which were hidden behind a curtain. Amy put her finger to her lips, then looked back to see that a security guard had entered. And what was worse, he had a giant German shepherd on a leash. Dan waved Amy along and soon they were at the top of the gilded stairway, down a short hall, and standing in Balcony Box 4. Dan began searching for row number 3, then tried to imagine what D1 meant. He hadn't got that far in his thinking before Amy could tell he was stumped.

后面是一座俄罗斯风格的教堂。 从他们站着的地方看，这一幕令人叹为观止，就像童话故事中的一幕：阿纳斯塔西娅复活了，拉斯普京在树林里漫步。 剧院中央排着一长排的座位，全都是空的，等待着晚上才到的观众。 丹带路，沿着剧院的后墙走进黑暗中。 “阳台在上面，所以楼梯不会太远。 这个地方太大了。它至少能容纳六千人。” 当他们爬上隐藏在窗帘后面的楼梯时，他们听到门开了。 艾米把手指放在嘴唇上，然后回头一看，一个保安已经进来了。 更糟糕的是，他还牵着一条巨大的德国牧羊犬。 丹挥手让艾米走，很快他们就到了镀金楼梯的顶端，穿过一条短短的走廊，站在阳台4号包厢里。 丹开始寻找第三行，然后试着想象D1是什么意思。 他还没想那么多，艾米就看出他被难住了。

She crouched down low, peering over the edge of the balcony. The dog was guiding the guard closer toward the stairs. "He's coming this way!" said Amy. She crept over to Dan, and they both looked at the scribble of numbers and letters on the piece of paper again. "There are three Ds— D1, D2, D3. Maybe they refer to doors?" "Could be," said Dan. He whispered all the letters and numbers again. Sometimes it helped to say things out loud. "SKP BAL BOX4 R3 D1 45231 D2 45102 D3 NRR." "Hurry, Dan! That dog is serious business. It looks angry and hungry. You know what that means—" Dan walked along Row 3 and sat down. "What are you doing? This is no time to sit around! Do something!" "I am," said Dan. "I think I got this." "You think you got what?" Amy said nervously. She was searching on the floor for a button or a lock, anything that might get them away from the approaching guard dog. "Look for some dials or a

她蹲下身子，从阳台的边缘往外看。 那只狗正引导警卫向楼梯靠近。 “他朝这边来了！”艾米说。 她蹑手蹑脚地走到丹身边，两人又看了看那张纸上潦草的数字和字母。 “有三个d， D1, D2, D3。 也许它们指的是门？”“有可能，”丹说。 他又低声念了一遍所有的字母和数字。 有时候大声说出来会有帮助。 “ skp bal box4 r3 d1 45231 d2 45102 d3 nrr。” “快点,丹!那只狗可不是闹着玩的。 它看起来又生气又饿。 你知道那是什么意思——”丹沿着第三排走下来。 “你在干什么？”现在不是闲坐的时候！做点什么!”“我是，”丹说。 “我想我知道了。”“你认为你得到了什么？”艾米紧张地说。 她在地板上寻找一个纽扣或一把锁，任何可能让他们远离正在逼近的看门狗的东西。 “找一些表盘或一个

hidden panel. Make yourself useful!" Dan calmly got up and sat in the next seat over, seat number 5 in the row. He'd been in seat number 4. Then he got up again and sat in seat number 2. "Seriously, Dan, you've lost your marbles." "I don't think so," he whispered. "45231 might be the order in which a person has to sit in the seats in Row 3. Let me finish." He sat in seat number 3, then moved right up next to Amy. "If something doesn't happen when I sit down, we're in big trouble." He took a deep breath and plopped down in the seat. There was a soft snick behind a curtained wall at the rear of the balcony. "I think you did something," whispered Amy. She could hear the German shepherd sniffing at the top of the stairs now. Dan and Amy moved quietly to the rear of the balcony and pulled back the red curtain. One of the panels had slid open an inch, revealing a black seam of darkness behind. "Kto tam?"

隐藏的面板。做点有用的事吧！”丹平静地站了起来，坐在旁边的座位上，那排座位是5号。 他坐在4号座位上。 然后他又站起来，坐在2号座位上。 “说真的，丹，你疯了。” “我不这么认为，”他低声说。 “45231”可能是一个人坐在第三排座位上的顺序。 让我说完。”他坐在3号座位上，然后径直走到艾米旁边。 “如果我坐下的时候没有什么变化，我们就有大麻烦了。” 他深吸了一口气，扑通一声坐在座位上。 阳台后面的一堵幕墙后面传来轻轻的窃笑声。 “我想你做了什么，”艾米低声说。 她听见那只德国牧羊犬正在楼梯顶上嗅来嗅去。 丹和艾米悄悄地走到阳台后面，拉开了红色的窗帘。 其中一块嵌板滑开了一英寸，露出后面一条黑色的黑暗缝。 “遗传tam ?”

Amy nearly jumped out of the balcony at the sound of the guard's voice. He was right outside, about to enter, as Dan slid the panel open just enough to glide through. Amy followed and the curtain dropped. She slid the panel shut. The German shepherd whined and sniffed, searching everything in the balcony, including the curtain. But the dog didn't find anything. Dan and Amy had vanished. "I guess we follow the lights," said Amy. They were in a long, narrow corridor with runway lights embedded in the center of the floor. The walls and ceiling were black, so that it felt like walking in the midnight sky along a line of stars. They snaked back and forth for fifty feet and came to the end. "Looks like an elevator," said Dan. "D2— door number two." Amy nodded her agreement in the darkness. A row of five elevator buttons, each round and circled in red, glowed softly against the black wall. "Remember the order?" asked Amy. Dan stepped up to the bank of buttons and began

听到警卫的声音，艾米差点儿跳出阳台。 他就在外面，正要进去，丹把嵌板打开，刚好可以滑进去。 艾米跟在后面，窗帘落下了。 她把嵌板轻轻关上。那只德国牧羊犬呜咽着，嗅着，搜遍了阳台上的一切，包括窗帘。 但是狗什么也没找到。 丹和艾米消失了。“我想我们应该跟着灯光走，”艾米说。 他们在一条狭长的走廊里，跑道上的灯嵌在地板中央。 墙壁和天花板都是黑色的，感觉就像在午夜的天空中沿着一排星星行走。 他们来来回回蜿蜒了五十英尺，来到了尽头。 “看起来像电梯，”丹说。 “D2，二号门。”艾米在黑暗中点头表示同意。 一排五个电梯按钮，每个按钮都是圆形和红色的，在黑色的墙上发出柔和的光芒。 “还记得订单吗？”艾米问。 丹走到一排钮扣前，开始动手了