Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 "Dan, you have to come now! Nellie, too!" Amy raced into the Ubuhlalu Electronics employee lounge, looking unbelievably excited. "Where were you?" Nellie blurted. "Don't tell me," Dan said. "You found a library." "Where's the guard?" Amy said, looking around. Dan gestured toward Mr. Bhekisisa, who was standing in a corner, talking into a cell phone. Amy grabbed Nellie's hand. "Quickly!" Dan followed them across the floor. Amy led them to a door hidden behind a stack of boxes. He leaned in toward the door's sign. "'Radioactive'?" he said. "This should lead outside, to those buildings."

第21章“丹，你必须现在就来！内莉!”艾米冲进了ubuhallu电子公司的员工休息室，看起来异常兴奋。 “你去哪儿了？”内莉脱口而出。 “别告诉我，”丹说。 “你找到了一个图书馆。”“警卫在哪儿？”艾米说，环顾四周。 丹指了指站在角落里对着手机讲话的贝基萨。 艾米抓住内利的手。 “快!”丹跟着他们穿过地板。 艾米把他们带到一堆箱子后面的一扇门前。 他向门牌探了探身子。 “‘放射性’？”他说。“这条路应该通向外面的那些建筑。”

"Exactly," Amy said. "Okay, remember Irina's wallet, with all the IDs? She had one for each of the Holts." Looking left and right, she pulled out three plastic ID cards, one each for Hamilton, Reagan, and Madison. "When I put Reagan's card against the screen on this door, her name registered." "It's a Tomas hiding place," Dan said. "I knew it! And we have access!" Amy shook her head. "It needs a fingerprint, Dan." "Dang, I knew we should have amputated when we had the chance," Nellie said. Dan frowned. "Wait— the door is just here? Unhidden?" "If this company is a front," Amy said, "then there are a lot of Tomas here. Maybe everybody is. So hiding it wouldn't be necessary. People probably come in and out of this door all the time." "Let me see that wallet," Dan said. Amy handed it to him, and he dug around, taking out the three small zipped plastic bags, each containing a

“没错，”艾米说。“好吧，还记得艾琳娜的钱包吗，里面有所有的身份证？” 她给霍尔特家的每个人都准备了一个。” 她左看右看，拿出三张塑料身份证，分别是汉密尔顿、里根和麦迪逊。 “当我把里根的名片贴在这扇门的屏幕上时，她的名字出现了。” “这是托马斯的藏身处，”丹说。 “我就知道！”我们有办法！”艾米摇了摇头。 “它需要指纹，丹。” “该死，我知道我们应该在有机会的时候截肢，”内莉说。 丹皱起了眉头。“等等——门就在这儿？” 开除?”“如果这家公司是一个幌子，”艾米说，“那么这里有很多托马斯。 也许每个人都是。所以没必要藏起来。 人们可能一直在进出这扇门。” “让我看看那个钱包，”丹说。 艾米递给他，他在周围翻了翻，拿出三个带拉链的小塑料袋，每个袋子里都有一个

microscope slide. On each bag, an initial had been written in black marker. Dan carefully opened the one marked H and took out the slide. He held it up to the light. "It's impossible to see anything," Amy said. "Someone left a smudge smack in the middle." Smudge. Smudge meant handling. Handling meant hands. Hands meant… "It's not a smudge," Dan said. He separated the two pieces of Plexiglas comprising the slide. Inside it was a moist, shriveled-up membrane in the shape of a cap. "It's a fingerprint." "What?" Amy said. Dan reached into the wallet again and extracted Hamilton Holt's ID card. "Hold this," he said, handing the ID to Amy. As delicately as he could, Dan snapped the membrane cap over his right index finger. It felt a little slimy, more substantial than he expected. He nodded at his sister. "Now." Amy waved the card over the plate.

显微镜幻灯片。每个袋子上都用黑色记号笔写了一个名字的首字母。 丹小心翼翼地打开标有H的那个，拿出滑梯。 他把它举到灯光下。 “什么也看不见，”艾米说。 “有人在中间留下了一个污点。” 涂抹。污迹意味着处理。 处理意味着双手。“这不是污迹。”丹说。 他把构成幻灯片的两块有机玻璃分开。 里面是一层潮湿、干瘪的帽状薄膜。 “这是指纹。”“什么?”艾米说。 丹又把手伸进钱包，拿出汉密尔顿·霍尔特的身份证。 “拿着这个，”他说着，把身份证递给艾米。 丹尽可能小心翼翼地把薄膜帽扣在右手食指上。 感觉有点黏糊糊的，比他想象的要结实。 他朝妹妹点了点头。“现在。” 艾米在盘子上挥动卡片。

HOLT, H. PLACE FINGER IN SENSOR NOW. A round disk glowed red, just below the words. Dan pressed his capped finger to it firmly and waited. "Nothing," he murmured. "What did I do wrong?" He pulled it away to look at the membrane. The red disk sputtered and turned green. The door emitted a beep. CLEARANCE SECURED! WELCOME, HAMILTON HOLT. With a click, the door opened. "Now, this rocks…" Dan said. As he stepped onto an escalator, he turned toward Nellie and Amy. One by one, they had cleared the sensor. The door had sealed shut behind them and they were now in the connected building.

霍尔特，h，把手指放在传感器上。 就在字的下面，一个圆圆盘发出红光。 丹把戴着帽子的手指紧紧按在上面，等待着。 “没什么，”他喃喃地说。“我做错了什么？”他把它拉开，看了看薄膜。 红色的圆盘噼啪作响，变成了绿色。 门发出哔的一声。清除了!欢迎你，汉密尔顿·霍尔特。 咔哒一声，门开了。 “现在，这太棒了……”丹说。 当他走上自动扶梯时，他转向内莉和艾米。 他们一个接一个地清除了传感器。 门在他们身后关上了，他们现在进入了相连的大楼。

Like the tip of an iceberg, the solar-paneled structure was only the top of a gargantuan headquarters that seemed to stretch out forever. It was as if the entire hill had been hollowed out. The place was alive with natural light. There must have been windows strategically placed among the solar panels— maybe even windows embedded in the grassy surface of the hill beyond. As the escalator descended, Dan could see the arrangement of the place. It was shaped like a vast hive— interconnected hexagonal chambers with glass walls, each chamber filled with people. The strangest part was the voices— grunts, cries of anguish, shrieks for mercy, triumphant bellowing. Like a torture chamber with an unlimited budget. Some chambers contained two people, some groups— wrestling, boxing, forms of combat he had never seen before. Some of the glass walls were smeared with red. "What are they doing in there?" Amy asked, her face contorted in dismay. "It's not ballroom dance class," Nellie said. As the escalator reached bottom, a trim, gray

就像冰山一角，太阳能板结构只是一个庞大的总部的顶部，似乎永远延伸下去。 仿佛整座山都被挖空了。 这个地方充满了自然光。 在太阳能电池板之间一定有一些窗户——甚至可能是嵌在小山的草地上的窗户。 随着电梯下降，丹可以看到这个地方的布局。 它的形状像一个巨大的蜂巢——六角形的房间相互连接，有玻璃墙，每个房间都挤满了人。 最奇怪的是那些声音——咕哝声、痛苦的呼喊、求饶的尖叫、胜利的咆哮。 就像一个预算无限的刑讯室。 有些房间里有两个人，有些房间里有摔跤、拳击等他从未见过的格斗形式。 一些玻璃墙被涂上了红色。 “他们在里面干什么？”艾米问，她的脸因沮丧而扭曲。 “这不是交际舞课，”内莉说。 当电梯到达底部时，一个修剪，灰色

haired man bustled toward them. "Holt," he said, eyeing them impassively. "The United States?" "Yes," Dan replied. "Mr. Malusi," the man said efficiently. "Follow me." "EEAAARRRGHHH— STOP!" a voice screamed as they walked past a chamber marked COMBAT FREESTYLE. "It is quieter in my office," Mr. Malusi said over his shoulder. He led them into a spacious room, frigid with air-conditioning. He gestured toward a set of leather chairs as he sat behind a dark polished-wood desk. "Holt… Holt…" he said, fingers tapping on his phone. "Not much information here. Oh! Oh, my goodness. Ha! Eisenhower…" Despite himself, Dan felt the pang of insult. "Our family has been loyal for generations—" "Yes, yes, the sins of the father, et cetera," Mr. Malusi said, vaguely waving the thought away. "It is still very good you have volunteered for the training." "Training?" Nellie said.

一个头发蓬乱的男人匆匆向他们走来。 “霍尔特，”他说，面无表情地看着他们。 “美国？”丹回答说：“是的。” “马鲁西先生，”那人有效率地说。 “跟我来。”“EEAAARRRGHHH——停!”一个声音尖叫当他们走过一室战斗自由泳。 “在我的办公室里更安静，”马鲁西回过头说。 他把他们领进一间宽敞的房间，房间里装着空调，很冷。 他坐在一张深色擦亮的木桌后面，指着一套皮椅。 “霍尔特……霍尔特……”他边说边用手指敲打着手机。 “这里没有太多信息。 哦!哦，我的天哪。哈!艾森豪威尔……”丹不由自主地感到了被侮辱的痛苦。 “我们家族几代人都很忠诚——”“是的，是的，父亲的罪过，等等，”马鲁西说，模糊地挥了挥手，把这个念头抛在脑后。 “你自愿参加培训还是很好的。” “训练?”内莉说。