Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 Ian Kabra had been in the back of a limousine hundreds of times but never when covered in meat pies. "The Holts are barbarians," he said disgustedly. He was sitting in the backseat, wiping beef stains off his five-thousand-dollar Armani suit. "Here comes Hamilton!" said Natalie. She had fared better in the parking lot fight, retreating into the car at the first sign of flying food. She was never one to risk her Gucci. "Driver, follow that piece of junk," said Ian. He pointed to the beat-up white van that Hamilton Holt had just dove into. The van rumbled to life and tore out of the lot. Ian dialed his cell phone. The mere mention of the competition heading into Russia at such a sensitive juncture had sent his father into a panic. Now was not the time to take chances.

第五章伊恩·卡布拉坐过几百次豪华轿车的后座，但从来没有被肉馅饼覆盖过。 “霍尔特一家是野蛮人，”他厌恶地说。 他坐在后座上，擦去他那件价值5000美元的阿玛尼西装上的牛肉渍。 “汉密尔顿来了！”娜塔莉说。 她在停车场的那次打斗中表现得更好，一看到飞来的食物就退到车里。 她从不拿自己的古驰冒险。 “司机，跟着那艘破船。”伊恩说。 他指着汉密尔顿·霍尔特刚刚钻进去的那辆破旧的白色货车。 货车隆隆地发动起来，冲出了停车场。 伊恩拨通了手机。 在这样一个敏感的时刻，只要一提到进入俄罗斯的比赛，他的父亲就陷入了恐慌。 现在不是冒险的时候。

"What do you want?" The voice on the other end of the line belonged to Irina Spasky, the only Russian citizen on any of the teams. She, like Ian, was part of the Lucian branch. One rung under Ian and Natalie's parents, a fact that had long infuriated her. "I don't know how you managed to let everyone into your country," said Ian. "But it's making my father nervous. And when he's nervous, I'm nervous. My father will have both our heads if we let another team capture one of our clues." "They will not get anything!" snapped Irina. "It will be for them a wild geese chase." Ian smirked. He could picture her eye twitching, as it always did when she was angry. "I don't like all this activity so close to some very important secrets. It's your country. Deal with it." "I suggest you hold your tongue. The line is not secure," said Irina. "You follow Dan and Amy Cahill. I think they're on to something," Ian ordered. "We'll stay with the Holts." "Agreed. You babysit the idiots. I will get the

“你想要什么？”电话另一端的声音来自伊琳娜·斯帕斯基（Irina Spasky），她是两支球队中唯一的俄罗斯公民。 她和伊恩一样，是卢西恩分支的一员。 在伊恩和娜塔莉的父母下面一个梯级，这一事实长期以来一直激怒着她。 “我不知道你是怎么让所有人都进入你的国家的，”伊恩说。 “但这让我父亲很紧张。 当他紧张时，我也会紧张。 如果我们让另一队抓住我们的线索，我父亲会把我们俩的头都砍下来的。” “他们什么也得不到！”伊琳娜厉声说。 “对他们来说，这将是一场徒劳的追逐。” 伊恩傻笑。他能想象出她的眼睛在抽动，她生气时总是这样。 “我不喜欢所有这些活动都如此接近一些非常重要的秘密。 这是你的国家。处理它。” “我建议你住嘴。 线路不安全。”伊琳娜说道。 “你跟着丹和艾米·卡希尔。 我想他们是对的。”伊恩命令道。 “我们和霍尔特一家住在一起。” “同意了。你照顾那些白痴。 我去拿

real work done." Irina clicked off her cell phone and brooded in the backseat of a dingy Volkswagen van, the very one Dan and Amy had ridden from the airport. The bearded Russian was on the Lucian payroll, like hundreds of other informants spread across the homeland. Who's helping Dan and Amy Cahill? she wondered. Could there be a double agent within the ranks of the Lucians? The idea had crossed her mind before, but with the death of Grace Cahill, her suspicions had grown. There were secrets in Russia— secrets that had to be protected at all cost. Dan and Amy had stumbled into a hornet's nest. "They're on the move," said the bearded Russian in the front seat. "Follow them," ordered Irina. The driver merged into traffic and tracked a blinking dot on his screen. "He's pretty good on that bike," said the driver, laughing despite the ultraserious agent sitting in the backseat of his van.

真正的工作完成了。”伊琳娜关掉手机，坐在一辆破旧的大众面包车后座上沉思，丹和艾米就是从机场坐这辆车来的。 那个留着胡子的俄罗斯人是卢西恩的工资单上的人，就像其他散布在美国各地的数百名线人一样。 谁在帮助丹和艾米·卡荷尔？ 她想知道。卢西亚人内部会不会有双面间谍？ 她以前也有过这种想法，但随着格蕾丝·卡希尔的死，她的怀疑加深了。 俄国有秘密——必须不惜一切代价保护的秘密。 丹和艾米跌进了马蜂窝。 “他们在行动，”坐在前座的大胡子俄罗斯人说。 “跟着他们。”伊琳娜命令道。 司机驶入车流，追踪着屏幕上一个闪烁的点。 “他骑得很好，”司机笑着说，尽管他的货车后座上坐着一个极其严肃的特工。

"I do not pay you for small talk," Irina fired back. The bearded driver clammed up, and not another word was spoken during the drive through Volgograd. Irina felt the twitch in her eye return, soft at first but growing more violent. Twenty minutes passed before the driver spoke again. "They've stopped. We're near the train station." "Let me out," said Irina. A wad of bills rolled past the driver and landed at his feet. "I may need you again," said Irina as she opened the door. "Keep your phone on and don't leave the city." The driver nodded. He leaned down and picked the roll of bills off the floor. When he turned around again, Irina Spasky was gone. "Are you positive we're going to the right place?" asked Amy. "Yup," said Dan. Amy sighed, still not convinced they should have boarded the high- speed train. But Dan had been adamant about keeping the lead he'd found hidden until they were safely out of town. He was learning to be

“我付你钱不是让你闲聊的，”伊琳娜回击道。 蓄着胡子的司机一言不发，在穿过伏尔加格勒的路上，他没有再说一句话。 伊琳娜觉得她的眼睛又抽搐了一下，起初很轻，但越来越剧烈。 二十分钟过去了，车夫才开口说话。 “他们已经停止了。我们在火车站附近。” “放我出去，”伊琳娜说。一叠钞票从司机身边滚过，落在他的脚边。 “我可能还会需要你，”伊琳娜一边开门一边说。 “开着手机，不要离开城市。” 司机点点头。他俯下身，从地板上捡起一卷钞票。 当他再次转身时，伊琳娜·斯帕斯基不见了。 “你确定我们去对地方了吗？”艾米问。 “是的，”丹说。艾米叹了口气，仍然不相信他们应该登上高铁。 但丹一直坚持要把他找到的线索藏起来，直到他们安全出城。 他正在学着做人

careful about who might be watching. "Let's have a look at it," said Amy. "You've been holding out on me long enough." Dan pulled the object he'd found in The Motherland Calls out of his front pocket. He glanced both ways down the center aisle of the train, then held it out to Amy. "You can do the honors," said Dan. "I'm too tired to open it up." Instead, he fished around in the backpack for some chips and pulled out Amy's Russian guidebook. "This thing is crushing my snacks." He set the book between them, cracked open a bag of pulverized Doritos, and disgusted his sister by tipping his head back and pouring the broken chips into his mouth. Amy rolled her eyes and got back to the cylinder. It was wrapped in a tremendous amount of twine, so it was awhile before she finally parted the paper and held the secret object in her hand. It was a tiny statue intricately carved out of a hard orange substance, showing a bearded monk with wild eyes, standing with his arms folded in front of

小心可能被监视的人。 “我们去看看吧，”艾米说。 “你瞒我的时间够长了。” 丹把他在《祖国的呼唤》里找到的东西从前口袋里拿出来。 他朝火车中间的过道两边扫了一眼，然后递给艾米。 “你来做吧，”丹说。 “我太累了，不想打开它。” 相反，他在背包里摸索着找些薯片，拿出艾米的俄罗斯旅游指南。 “这东西把我的零食压碎了。” 他把书放在他们中间，打开一袋磨碎的多力多滋（Doritos），把碎薯片倒进嘴里，这让他妹妹感到恶心。 艾米翻了个白眼，回到汽缸旁。 它被大量的麻绳包裹着，所以她过了好一会儿才把纸拆开，把这个秘密的东西拿在手里。 这是一个用坚硬的橙色材料雕刻而成的小雕像，上面有一个留着胡子的和尚，眼神狂野，双臂交叉站在前面

him. Amy brightened. "I think I know who this is!" "It's that dude who got us the motorcycle!" said Dan, peering over. He frowned. "Or maybe it's his brother." Amy wasn't sure what to do with the precious carving. She was itching to refer to a certain page in the guidebook, but if she gave the carved monk to Dan, she worried he might drop it. "Hold this," she said, succumbing to her desire for information. "And be careful. It's fragile." "Got it covered," said Dan, snatching the carving from her and holding it up to the light. "It's almost see-through," he said as Amy riffled through the book. "And there's something hidden inside." "What?" asked Amy, reaching out for the carving. "Whoa, there! Take it easy. This thing is fragile, remember?" "What's in there? What do you see?" "It's one of those pop-top games. I'm good at these. There's a little shoe, then two letters, a V and an A, then a heart."

他。艾米明亮了。“我想我知道这是谁了！”“是那个给我们买摩托车的家伙！”丹说着，朝后面看了看。 他皱起了眉头。“也许是他的兄弟。” 艾米不知道该怎么处理这些珍贵的雕刻。 她很想看看旅游指南中的某一页，但如果她把那个雕刻的和尚给丹，她担心他会把它弄掉。 “拿着这个，”她说，屈从于自己想要了解的欲望。 “小心点。这是脆弱的。” “把它盖好了，”丹说着，从她手里抢过雕刻，把它举到灯光下。 “它几乎是透明的，”他在艾米翻阅这本书的时候说。 “里面藏着什么东西。” “什么？”艾米问，伸手去拿雕刻。 “哇,那里!别紧张。 这东西很脆弱，记得吗？”“里面有什么？” 你看到了什么？”“这是一款流行游戏。 我很擅长这些。上面有一只小鞋，然后是两个字母，一个V和一个a，然后是一个心。”