Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23 Nellie ran her hands through her hair groggily. She looked at the clock. She couldn't believe that she'd slept for twelve hours. Naturally, Dan and Amy were gone. And this time, they hadn't even left a note. She checked her e-mail, and sure enough, there were two messages from clashgrrl. She typed in the code and sighed. KEEP THEM CLOSE. RED ALERT. ARRANGE IMMEDIATE DEPARTURE. "Now you tell me," Nellie said out loud. Saladin mewed plaintively. "You, too?" Nellie asked. She scooped him up and petted him absentmindedly. She couldn't believe she'd lost Amy and Dan again. She'd give them an hour or so before she started to tear her hair out. Saladin squirmed out of her arms. She was holding him too tight. It was because she was worried. Something didn't feel right.

第二十三章内莉用手迷迷糊糊地梳理着头发。 她看了看钟。她简直不敢相信自己已经睡了十二个小时。 当然，丹和艾米都走了。 而这一次，他们甚至连字条都没有留下。 她查看了邮箱，果然收到了两条来自“冲突女孩”的信息。 她输入密码，叹了口气。 让他们靠近。红色警报。 安排立即出发。 “现在你告诉我，”耐莉大声说。 萨拉丁哀怨地叫道。 “你呢?”内莉问道。她把他抱起来，心不在焉地抚摸着他。 她不敢相信她又失去了艾米和丹。 她会给他们一个小时左右的时间，然后才开始抓狂。 萨拉丁从她怀里挣脱出来。 她把他抱得太紧了。 那是因为她很担心。 有些地方感觉不对劲。

They were usually good about letting her know when they split. But she'd caught the looks between them when they'd found out she could fly a plane. They were starting to suspect her. Poor little dudes. They couldn't trust anybody. Another message popped up from clashgrrl. The subject line read don't b lame! That meant the message was of the utmost urgency. Nellie shut the laptop with one bare foot. She wasn't going to check in until she found them. She had a bad feeling about this. Irina stayed behind as Isabel entered the shop. Isabel had hired a car, but Irina had been able to keep up on a motorcycle. She wore a disguise, but Isabel hadn't taken any of the usual precautions, which meant that she felt safe in Jakarta. Isabel had a canvas shopping bag that had started out empty and was now bulging with items. Irina had been able to get close enough with the scope in her camera to see what Isabel was buying.

他们分手的时候通常都会告诉她。 但当他们发现她会开飞机时，她抓住了他们之间的目光。 他们开始怀疑她了。 可怜的小家伙们。他们不能相信任何人。 另一条消息从“冲突女孩”那里跳出来。 邮件的主题是“不要太差劲！”这意味着这条信息是极其紧急的。 内莉光着一只脚关上了笔记本电脑。 她不找到他们是不会来报到的。 她对此有不好的预感。 伊莎贝尔走进店里时，伊琳娜留了下来。 伊莎贝尔租了一辆汽车，但伊琳娜骑着一辆摩托车跟上了伊莎贝尔。 她伪装了一下，但伊莎贝尔没有采取任何通常的预防措施，这意味着她在雅加达感到安全。 伊莎贝尔有一个帆布购物袋，一开始是空的，现在塞满了东西。 伊琳娜用相机的瞄准镜近距离观察伊莎贝尔在买什么。

This last item sent a chill through Irina. It was just as she suspected. Isabel had cunning, but not much imagination. And so here it was. Her last stand would take place here. The power of the 39 Clues could not rest in Lucian hands if Isabel Kabra was the head of the branch. What would the consequences be if she acted against her leader? She knew very well. She would be cast out. Every Lucian would know that she had betrayed the branch. Isabel and Vikram would make sure of that. They would make up a story, slant things their way. Everything she knew would be gone— money, connections, purpose. The world would become an empty place, and she would become a ghost. She had no choice. She had to try. What is the difference between you? Amy had asked. This is the difference, Amy. There are some things I will not do. And there are some things I will not allow to happen. She turned and ran into Ian and Natalie. Natalie smiled. Irina couldn't see her eyes

最后一件事让伊琳娜感到一阵寒意。 正如她所怀疑的那样。 伊莎贝尔很狡猾，但缺乏想象力。 就在这里。她的最后一战将在这里打响。 如果伊莎贝尔·卡布拉是39条线索的首领，那么它的力量就不可能掌握在卢西恩手中。 如果她违背她的领导会有什么后果？ 她知道得很清楚。她会被赶出去的。 每个卢西安人都会知道她背叛了分局。 伊莎贝尔和维克拉姆会确保这一点。 他们会编个故事，让事情朝着他们的方向发展。 她所知道的一切——金钱、关系、目标——都将不复存在。 世界将变成一个空洞的地方，她将变成一个幽灵。 她别无选择。她必须尝试一下。 你们之间有什么不同？ 艾米问。这就是区别，艾米。 有些事我不会做。 有些事我是不会允许发生的。 她转过身，撞见了伊恩和娜塔莉。 娜塔莉笑了。伊琳娜看不见她的眼睛

behind the black sunglasses. "Good news. My countersurveillance indicates that your mother has not been tailed," Irina said. Not by a flicker of an eyelash would she allow these two hooligans to see they'd unnerved her. "I have more good news," Natalie said. "Mother received new orders this morning." "And?" Stealthily, Irina shot out a needle from each index finger. It would be easier to operate if these two were out of commission for a nice long while. Natalie moved with such speed that Irina had time for only a flicker of astonishment. She'd always thought of the sulky girl as incapable of zeal. Natalie's hand shot forward, grabbed Irina's finger, and bent it back almost all the way. Irina felt white pain as her finger joint popped. And then the needle sank in. Amy and Dan dropped the boxes on the beach and trudged up toward the path. "Why did we let Darma go?" Amy asked. "If we don't find anybody, we'll have to spend the night

在黑色太阳镜后面。 “好消息。我的反监视显示你母亲没有被跟踪，”伊琳娜说。 她连眨一下眼睫毛都不让这两个流氓看出他们让她感到不安。 “我有更多的好消息，”娜塔莉说。 “妈妈今天早上接到了新订单。” “然后呢?”伊琳娜悄悄地从每个食指上射出一根针。 如果这两家公司在很长一段时间内停用，操作起来会容易一些。 纳塔利移动得如此之快，以致伊琳娜只感到一阵惊讶。 她一直认为这个闷闷不乐的女孩没有热情。 娜塔莉的手猛地向前，抓住伊琳娜的手指，几乎把它向后弯了一弯。 伊琳娜的手指关节裂开，她感到一阵剧痛。 然后针就扎进去了。 艾米和丹把箱子扔在沙滩上，然后艰难地朝小路走去。 “我们为什么要放达玛走？”艾米问。 “如果找不到人，我们就得过夜了

here." "That would totally rock," Dan said. "Like Robinson Cruise-o." "Robinson Crusoe," Amy corrected. They reached the lush tropical forest and struck out on the path. "I bet Troppo will be glad to see us," Dan said. "We're just one big happy family, right?" Amy was filled with foreboding. The sun had gone down behind the hill, so the shadows were lengthening. She was suddenly afraid of what they would find. Dan stepped out into a clearing. "Whoa," he said. "Look at this." The shell of a large building stood by a stand of palms. Construction equipment still littered the ground, big concrete blocks, thick coils of wire, clay tiles. "It looks like they were going to build a hotel," Dan said. "Look, there are more buildings down there." "Dan," Amy said. "Look." She pointed to the sand. Footprints were clearly outlined. Dan put his own foot next to one. The

在这里。”丹说：“那绝对会很棒。” “就像鲁滨逊·克鲁斯一样。”“鲁滨逊漂流记，”艾米纠正道。 他们到达了茂密的热带森林，踏上了小路。 “我敢打赌Troppo见到我们会很高兴的，”丹说。 “我们就是一个幸福的大家庭，对吧？”艾美心里充满了不祥的预感。 太阳已经落在山后了，所以影子越来越长。 她突然害怕他们会发现什么。 丹走到一块空地上。 “哇，”他说。“看看这个。” 一幢大楼的外壳矗立在一片棕榈树旁。 建筑设备仍然散落在地上，大块的混凝土块，厚线圈，粘土瓦。 “看起来他们要建一家酒店，”丹说。 “看，下面有更多的建筑。” “丹，”艾米说。“看。”她指着沙子。 脚印被清晰地勾勒出来。 丹把自己的脚放在一只脚旁边。 的

footprint was much larger, the footprint of a man. Amy's doubts about Dan's theory were suddenly crowded out by her fear. They followed the footprints past the abandoned hotel and through the clearing. Down the path they could see a small crescent beach, the sand colored pink by the setting sun. Tall palms surrounded it. The footprints disappeared, melded into the dimples of the soft sand. Amy caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. A hammock was strung between two palm trees. It swayed back and forth gently. She couldn't see the person lying in it, just one bare foot gently pushing the ground to keep it rocking. They walked closer, hardly breathing. As they reached the hammock, they could see a pair of perfectly pressed lemon-yellow linen shorts. A crisp white shirt. And, his eyes closed, a smile on his face… their cousin Alistair Oh.

脚印要大得多，一个人的脚印。 艾米对丹的理论的怀疑突然被她的恐惧淹没了。 他们跟着脚印走过废弃的旅馆，穿过空地。 沿着小路走下去，他们可以看到一个新月形的小海滩，夕阳把沙滩染成了粉红色。 高大的棕榈树环绕着它。脚印消失了，融化在柔软的沙滩上。 艾米的眼角瞥见了一丝动静。 吊床挂在两棵棕榈树之间。 它轻轻地前后摇晃着。 她看不见躺在里面的人，只有一只光着的脚轻轻地推着地面，让地面晃动。 他们走近了，几乎喘不过气来。 他们走到吊床前，看见一条熨得整整齐齐的柠檬黄亚麻短裤。 一件挺括的白衬衫。还有，他闭着眼睛，脸上带着微笑……他们的堂兄阿利斯泰尔哦。