Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 The echo of the door slam faded. Irina stared at the phone. She would have to call the Fixer. He could be out of the country on a job, but that would be too much to hope for. There was one in every city, she supposed, a person who could get anything you needed. Passports, cars, explosives, poisons. The Lucians found such contacts valuable. The Fixer was one of the best. He did not balk at anything, he could get anything, and he asked no questions. She had used him herself. What would Isabel need from him this time? What was she planning? Restlessly, Irina paced the room. She had lost Isabel's confidence. She no longer knew the plan, only parts of it. She ran her fingers over the cool green stones of the necklace. Isabel's insults had washed over her

第十二章摔门的回声渐渐消失了。 伊琳娜盯着电话。 她得打电话给调停者。 他可能出国办事了，但那也太奢望了。 她想，每个城市都有这样一个人，他能给你任何你需要的东西。 护照，汽车，炸药，毒药。 卢西亚人发现这种联系很有价值。 修理工是最好的之一。 他什么都不犹豫，什么都能得到，也不问问题。 她自己也利用过他。伊莎贝尔这次需要他做什么？ 她在计划什么？伊琳娜不安地在房间里踱来踱去。 她失去了伊莎贝尔的信任。 她不再知道这个计划，只知道其中的一部分。 她用手指抚摸着项链上冰凉的绿色宝石。 伊莎贝尔的侮辱已经把她冲昏了头脑

like water. They hadn't stung. She slid the necklace into the pocket of her black jacket and zipped the pocket shut. She never felt sentimental. Ever. Yet she understood sentiment. Having something a loved one had touched. Keeping it near. When she had finally made herself clean out Nikolai's room all those years ago, she had folded his favorite pair of pants and found something in the pocket. Her own school medal for First Place Vaulting Championship. The metal was tarnished, the ribbon tattered and faded. But Nikolai had carried it with him. He had touched it every day. A reminder of his mother. She was away so much. He needed something real to keep her with him. She hadn't known. She hadn't known. That had been the moment she had broken. She had held the pants against herself and sobbed. She had screamed out her agony. She had put herself back together slowly, but she was never the same. She was still broken. She had lost her son. She slid her hand into her other pocket and

像水一样。它们没有蜇人。 她把项链塞进黑色夹克的口袋里，拉上拉链。 她从不多愁善感。 永远。然而她懂得感情。 有心爱的人碰过的东西。 把它放在附近。多年前，当她终于强迫自己打扫尼古拉的房间时，她折好了他最喜欢的一条裤子，在口袋里找到了什么东西。 她在学校获得的跳马锦标赛第一名的奖牌。 金属已经失去了光泽，丝带也已经破烂褪色。 但是尼古拉随身带着它。 他每天都碰它。 让人想起他的母亲。她总是不在家。 他需要一些真实的东西来留住她。 她不知道。她不知道。 就在那一刻，她崩溃了。 她把裤子捂在身上，抽泣起来。 她尖叫着说出了她的痛苦。 她慢慢地重新振作起来，但她再也不一样了。 她仍然很伤心。她失去了儿子。 她把手伸进另一个口袋，然后

touched the medal. Now it was her turn to keep something close as a reminder. To touch something he had touched. Irina, the problem in Helsinki needs your attention. My son is sick. It's not a good time. She still remembered Isabel's brittle laugh. Children are sick all the time. No, it is more than that. The doctor said… Don't bore me with details. Do your job. The tickets are waiting for you at the airport. So she had kissed him, kissed his golden curls. She had whispered that she would be gone for only two days. Anna, her neighbor who watched him, whom he adored, Anna would be by his side. Irina would bring him back anything he wanted. A monkey, he said, and she had laughed. She had to go undercover. No communication, no phones, nothing. So she did not collect Anna's increasingly frantic messages. She did not get the doctor's call. She touched down in Moscow two days later and discovered that her nine-year-old

摸了摸奖章。现在轮到她在身边留点东西作为提醒了。 去碰他碰过的东西。 伊琳娜，赫尔辛基的问题需要你的关注。 我儿子病了。现在不是时候。 她还记得伊莎贝尔那刺耳的笑声。 孩子们总是生病。 不，不止于此。医生说…别跟我讲细节烦我。 做好你的工作。机票在机场等着你。 于是她吻了他，吻了他的金色卷发。 她低声说她只离开两天。 安娜，她的邻居，看着他，他崇拜的人，安娜会在他身边。 艾瑞娜会给他带回任何他想要的东西。 一只猴子，他说，她笑了。 她不得不去卧底。没有通讯，没有电话，什么都没有。 所以她没有收集安娜越来越疯狂的信息。 她没有接到医生的电话。 两天后，她抵达莫斯科，发现她九岁的儿子

son was dead. She was holding the stuffed monkey, an expectant smile on her face, when a weeping Anna told her the news. Now Irina rose. Once Isabel had forced her to do something that she regretted with every waking breath. It would not happen again.

儿子死了。当哭泣的安娜告诉她这个消息时，她抱着毛绒猴，脸上带着期待的微笑。 伊琳娜站了起来。有一次，伊莎贝尔强迫她做了一件让她每次醒来都后悔的事。 这种事不会再发生了。