Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Irina Spasky's thumb hovered over the SEND button on her phone. She couldn't seem to bring herself to make the call. She took a deep breath and put the phone back in the pocket of her thin black coat. The Kabras can wait, she thought, turning away from Alexander Palace. Irina began to walk, alone as usual, toward the pond at the other side of the palace grounds. She had watched Dan and Amy enter the palace, seen them run out toward that wreck of a car they'd purchased. They had been laughing. That bothered her. They were happy, these two. They would get into their tiny automobile and continue on until, eventually, they would lead Irina to trouble of the worst kind. A Lucian double agent. Perhaps a Madrigal. They'd found something in the palace, this much was obvious. They were in deeper trouble

伊琳娜·斯帕斯基的拇指悬停在手机的发送按钮上。 她似乎无法让自己打那个电话。 她深吸了一口气，把手机放回她那件薄薄的黑外套的口袋里。 卡布拉一家可以等，她想，转身离开亚历山大宫。 伊琳娜像往常一样，独自一人向宫殿场地另一边的池塘走去。 她看着丹和艾米走进宫殿，看着他们跑向他们买的那辆汽车的残骸。 他们一直在笑。这让她很困扰。 他们俩很幸福。 他们会钻进他们的小汽车，继续前进，直到最后，他们会给伊琳娜带来最糟糕的麻烦。 卢西恩的双面间谍。也许是一首牧歌。 他们在宫殿里发现了什么，这是显而易见的。 他们的麻烦更大了

than they realized. It doesn't have to end badly, she tried to convince herself. Another child flashed before her eyes, younger, blonder. Why do I remember him best as a toddler? She remembered little of the last days, and almost nothing about the funeral. Almost everything had faded away but the weather. She would never forget the low, oppressive clouds and soft snow as they lowered the casket into the ground. Since then, there had been too many days and nights alone, too much time to think, and far too much compromised. Lose a child, and you lose your soul. Irina took the phone in her hand again and this time she didn't hesitate to press the button. "Finally," snapped Ian Kabra. "Have we got anything to worry about?" "Yes," said Irina. She'd arrived at the pond and stood staring into the algae-covered water. "Someone helps them. Someone high up in the Lucian branch. It must be." "What makes you think so?" Ian asked. "They've just left Alexei's Playroom. They must

比他们意识到的要多。她试着说服自己，这并不一定会有糟糕的结局。 另一个孩子在她眼前闪过，更年轻，金发碧眼。 为什么我对他蹒跚学步时的印象最深？ 她几乎不记得最后几天的事，更不记得葬礼的事了。 除了天气，几乎所有的东西都消失了。 她永远不会忘记，当他们把棺材放进地下时，低低的、压抑的云层和柔软的雪。 从那时起，有太多的日日夜夜独自一人，太多的时间去思考，太多的妥协。 失去一个孩子，你就失去了灵魂。 伊琳娜又把电话拿在手里，这次她毫不犹豫地按下了按钮。 “终于，”伊恩·卡布拉厉声说道。 “我们有什么要担心的吗？”“是的，”伊琳娜说。 她来到池塘边，站在那里凝视着满是水藻的水面。 “有人帮助他们。卢西恩分部的高层。 一定是。”“你为什么这么想？”伊恩问道。 “他们刚离开阿列克谢的游戏室。 他们必须

know about the Lucian connection to the Romanovs." "Make sure they don't find themselves in possession of sensitive material. You know what's at stake. One step closer and you'll have to remove them." "I know." Irina paused, but the temptation to goad was too strong. "It won't be just me your father punishes," she warned softly, and clicked off her phone. At least she wasn't being asked to do anything too drastic to the children yet. She took a device out of her pocket and turned it on. A small screen came to life. "Where are you off to now, Dan and Amy Cahill?" she said. Irina had already placed the coordinates from the parking lot into the device. A distant satellite beamed images onto her screen, zooming in closer and closer until the top of a blue car came into view. "Not bad," Irina said, pleased with the clever device the Lucians had only recently put into use

知道卢西恩和罗曼诺夫家族的关系 “确保他们不会发现自己拥有敏感材料。 你知道什么是危险的。再靠近一步，你就得把它们拿掉。” “我知道。”伊琳娜停顿了一下，但刺激的诱惑太强烈了。 “你父亲惩罚的可不止我一个人。”她轻声警告道，然后关掉了手机。 至少她还没有被要求对孩子们做任何过激的事情。 她从口袋里拿出一个设备，打开了电源。 一个小屏幕活了起来。 “你们现在要去哪儿，丹和艾米·卡希尔？”她说。 艾瑞娜已经把停车场的坐标输入了这个装置。 一颗遥远的卫星将图像传送到她的屏幕上，越来越近，直到一辆蓝色汽车的顶部出现在她的视野中。 “还不错，”伊琳娜说，她对卢西亚人最近才投入使用的这个聪明的装置很满意

in the field. The car was blurry and lacking detail on the screen, but the tiny blue top was unmistakable. This will be easier than I thought. Irina got in her own car, keeping the blue on- screen as she took chase. Two minutes later, the small car turned right. "Off the main road," she mumbled, seeing Dan and Amy turn off the highway. "You two are full of surprises." A few minutes later, Irina had unexpectedly caught up, finding herself on a one-lane dirt road. She no longer needed the satellite viewer because she was quickly overtaking the small car. She hadn't intended to get so close to Amy and Dan, and she certainly didn't want them spotting her. But the road was narrow, with plowed-over fields on both sides, and she had a big car. What was worse, the blue car had stopped and was turning around. This will be complicated, thought Irina as the little car zoomed closer. It was going way too fast, as if the driver was planning to slam right into her front grill. Irina threw her car into reverse and

在野外。那辆车在屏幕上显得模糊，缺乏细节，但那小小的蓝色车顶却不容置疑。 这比我想象的要简单。 伊琳娜上了自己的车，在追赶的过程中一直保持着蓝色的画面。 两分钟后，小车向右拐。 “驶离大路。”她看着丹和艾米驶离高速公路，喃喃自语道。 “你们俩真是充满了惊喜。” 几分钟后，伊琳娜意外地赶上了，发现自己在一条单车道的土路上。 她不再需要卫星观测仪了，因为她正在迅速超越那辆小车。 她没打算跟艾米和丹走得这么近，她当然也不想让他们发现她。 但路很窄，两边都是犁过的田地，她有一辆大车。 更糟糕的是，那辆蓝色的汽车停了下来，正在掉头。 这将会很复杂，当小车驶近时，伊琳娜想。 车开得太快了，好像司机正打算撞到她的前格栅上。 伊琳娜把车倒档，然后

began backing down the dirt road. "Stop, you maniacs!" she screamed. Her car fishtailed violently, caught the edge of a big rock, and spun out into the thick, tilled farmland. The blue car buzzed up to Irina and screeched to a halt. Its driver was a gray-bearded man whose smile revealed a missing front tooth. "Who gave you this car? Where did they go?" Irina screeched in Russian, rolling down her window. The man nodded with some enthusiasm, which made Irina wonder if he had understood her questions. She peered into the empty backseat. "Tell me, you idiot!" Irina screamed. The name-calling seemed to upset the driver and his smile evaporated. "Americans," he began. "Gave me ten thousand rubles plus the car in exchange." "Exchange for what?" yelled Irina. "My truck," said the man. "What color was the truck? Which way did they go? Skazhi!" Irina should have known better than to hound an old Russian farmer. He was not amused by her

开始倒在土路上。 “站住，你们这些疯子！”她尖叫道。 她的车猛地甩了个鱼尾，撞上了一块大石头的边缘，然后飞快地驶进了厚厚的耕地里。 那辆蓝色的汽车嗡嗡地向伊琳娜驶来，然后嘎吱一声停了下来。 它的司机是一个胡子花白的男人，他的微笑露出了一颗缺了的门牙。 “谁给你的这辆车？”他们去哪儿了？”伊琳娜用俄语尖叫着，摇下车窗。 那个男人热情地点了点头，这让伊琳娜怀疑他是否理解了她的问题。 她朝空着的后座里看了看。 “告诉我，你这个白痴！”Irina尖叫。 这种辱骂似乎使司机心烦意乱，他的笑容消失了。 “美国人，”他开始说。“给了我一万卢布和那辆车作为交换。” “换什么？”伊琳娜喊道。 “我的卡车，”那人说。“卡车是什么颜色的？” 他们往哪条路走了？Skazhi !”伊琳娜应该知道不该纠缠一个俄罗斯老农民。 他不喜欢她

angry tone, and he stared into the farmland as if he were made of iron. Irina reached into her pocket and pulled out a small revolver. Her eye was twitching furiously, but when she turned back to the car it widened in shock. The old farmer had slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, shooting a plume of dust and mud through her open window. Chunks of farm road flew into Irina's face. She threw her car into gear and hit the gas, but the soft tilled earth she'd backed into gave way and her rear wheels dug in. She was stuck. Irina coughed and spit, trying to clear all the mud from her mouth. The gunk in her eyes and mouth wasn't nearly as bad as the awful truth. I've lost them. "Do you think we've lost her for good?" asked Dan. It had been his idea to enlist the help of the farmer walking along the dirt road. Dan's backpack full of money was coming in handy in more ways than he could have imagined. "I have no idea, but I don't think I can stay in

愤怒的语气，他凝视着农田，好像他是铁做的。 伊琳娜把手伸进口袋，掏出一把小左轮手枪。 她的眼睛疯狂地抽动着，但当她回到车上时，震惊地瞪大了眼睛。 老农把脚重重地踩在油门上，一股尘土和泥浆从她开着的窗户里喷了进来。 大块的农场道路砸到了伊琳娜的脸上。 她把车挂上挡，然后踩下油门，但是她倒车时踩到的松软的泥土让她的后轮卡住了。 她被困住了。伊琳娜一边咳嗽一边吐唾沫，试图把嘴里的泥都清理干净。 她眼睛和嘴巴里的污垢远没有可怕的真相那么糟糕。 我弄丢了。“你认为我们永远失去她了吗？”丹问。 他的主意是找那个沿着土路走的农民帮忙。 丹装满钱的背包在很多方面都派上了用场，这超出了他的想象。 “我不知道，但我想我不能呆在家里