Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 True to his word, Dan phoned Hamilton to tell him what they had found. This time, the connection was terrible, which turned out to work in their favor; it was clear that Hamilton couldn't make heads or tails of the conversation. But Amy agreed with Dan that they had held up their side of the deal. Now they were in the car, examining the gold strip with a magnifying mirror that Nellie produced from her luggage. "First four letters e–k–t–o," Dan said. "Ekto," Nellie said. "That's from Greek. It

丹信守诺言，打电话给汉密尔顿，告诉他他们的发现。 这一次，联系很糟糕，结果对他们有利；很明显，汉密尔顿听不懂这场谈话的意思。 但艾米同意丹的看法，他们履行了自己的承诺。 现在他们在车里，用内莉从行李里拿出的放大镜检查那条金条。 “前四个字母e-k-t-o，”丹说。 “艾克托，”内莉说。这句话来自希腊语。 它

means 'outer,' or 'outside.' Then m–a–l, right? 'Mal,' French, with Latin roots, meaning 'bad.'" She frowned. "After that, 'u–j–a,' and the whole thing starts over again. But I don't know what 'uja' means." "J–A for Jamaica?" Dan proposed. "And U, short for Y–O–U. Outside, bad, you, Jamaica?" "Too late," Amy said. "We've already been outside a lot here." Something about the letters seemed vaguely familiar to her…. What was it? "'Ekto' and 'mal' do sound like some kind of warning," Nellie said. "It would probably make sense if we knew what 'uja' meant." Amy felt a sharp pang. The three of us working together— that's what it was like before. And now it's all different, and we'll never be able to trust her again, not like before…. SCRRREEEEEECH! Amy jerked her head up. A big SUV was pulling into the parking lot much too fast. Dan started yelling. "GO, NELLIE! DRIVE— GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"

意思是“外面”或“外面”。然后是m-a-l，对吧？ Mal，法语，有拉丁词根，意思是“坏的”。’”她皱起眉头。 “然后，‘u-j-a’，整个过程又重新开始。 但我不知道‘uja’是什么意思。” “J-A代表牙买加？”丹提议。 还有U， Y-O-U的缩写。 出去，好吗，你，牙买加？”“太晚了，”艾米说。 “我们已经在外面待了很多次了。” 她对这些信似乎有些模糊的熟悉.... 是什么？“‘Ekto’和‘mal’听起来确实像是某种警告，”内莉说。 “如果我们知道‘uja’是什么意思，可能就说得通了。” 艾米感到一阵剧痛。我们三个一起工作，这就是以前的样子。 现在一切都不一样了，我们再也不能信任她了，不像以前.... SCRRREEEEEECH !艾米猛地抬起头。 一辆大型SUV开进停车场的速度太快了。 丹开始大喊大叫。“去,内莉!开车——马上离开这儿！”

Nellie obeyed instantly, jerking the car into gear and heading for the lot's exit. She peeled out into traffic, causing cars going both ways to slam on their brakes. The driver of the SUV had to wait for the traffic to untangle before making the turn behind them. "What—?" Amy said. "Cobras," Dan said grimly. The Kabras had followed them to Jamaica. By dint of very creative driving, some of which may not have been entirely legal, Nellie managed to lose the SUV in downtown Kingston. Now they were in an alley behind a sporting goods store, hiding out. "I've had it up to here with them!" Dan said angrily. "It's always them chasing us. Why can't it be us chasing them, just for once?" Amy's lips were pale. "We— we have to stay away from them," she whispered. "Especially Isabel." "I'm with you there," Nellie said. "Let's see"— she started ticking off on her fingers —"Amy and

内莉立刻服从了命令，猛地把车挂上档，朝停车场的出口驶去。 她突然冲进车流中，导致来往的车辆都猛踩刹车。 那辆SUV的司机不得不等交通畅通后才在他们身后转弯。 “——什么?”艾米说。“眼镜蛇，”丹冷酷地说。 卡布拉一家跟踪他们到了牙买加。 由于非常有创意的驾驶，其中一些可能并不完全合法，内莉设法在金斯敦市中心失去了SUV。 现在他们躲在一家体育用品店后面的巷子里。 “我受够他们了！”丹生气地说。 “他们总是在追我们。 为什么我们就不能去追他们呢，哪怕一次也好？”艾米的嘴唇发白。 “我们——我们必须离他们远点。”她小声说。 “特别是伊莎贝尔。”“我同意你的看法，”内莉说。 “让我看看，”她开始用手指嘀嗒嘀嗒地说，“艾米和

the sharks, snakes in the mine, the fire in Indonesia, all three of us in the airplane hangar. What do you think she'll do for an encore?" Amy hesitated. Then she said quietly, "You forgot one." Nellie saw the expression on Dan's face change from anger to anguish. Amy closed her eyes. Their parents, Nellie thought. Years ago, when Amy was seven and Dan only four, Isabel Kabra had deliberately, coldheartedly, started the fire in which Hope Cahill and Arthur Trent had died. Of course, Nellie had known this for ages. But it was only at certain moments that it really hit her. She tried to imagine what it would be like to know that the person who murdered your parents was free in the world— and gunning for you as well. "That witch," she said bitterly. "I mean, anyone who would threaten to throw a kid into an ocean full of sharks—" Suddenly, Amy opened her eyes, and Nellie could almost feel the electricity of excitement crackling from her.

鲨鱼，矿井里的蛇，印度尼西亚的大火，我们三个人都在飞机库里。 你觉得她会再来一曲吗？”艾米犹豫了一下。 然后她平静地说：“你忘了一个。” 内莉看到丹脸上的表情从愤怒变成了痛苦。 艾米闭上了眼睛。他们的父母，内莉想。 多年前，当艾米七岁，丹只有四岁的时候，伊莎贝尔·卡布拉故意地、冷酷地点燃了一场大火，致使霍普·卡希尔和阿瑟·特伦特丧生。 当然，内莉早就知道这一点了。 但只有在某些时刻，她才真正意识到这一点。 她试着想象，如果知道杀害你父母的人还逍遥法外，而且还在向你开枪，那会是什么感觉。 “那个女巫。”她痛苦地说。 “我的意思是，任何威胁要把孩子扔进满是鲨鱼的海洋的人——”突然，艾米睁开了眼睛，内利几乎能感觉到她兴奋的电流在噼啪作响。

"She has it," Amy announced. "The Janus icon." When Amy had closed her eyes, she was doing her best to block out the image of her parents' death. Even the memory of being on that boat in Australia with Isabel was better than thinking about how Mom and Dad had died…. It was a sound, not a picture, that came to her first. A small metallic sound, like something rattling, almost tinkling. Isabel's bracelet. It was sliding around her wrist as she gestured at the water. A gold bracelet. Amy hadn't thought anything of it at the time, of course; she'd been too busy being terrified. But now the image grew clearer. The charms… Like a camera lens zooming in, Amy's memory homed in on one charm in particular. Triangular, with a sharp point… She could see it in her mind's eye with perfect clarity. She blinked in sudden realization. "We were

“她拿到了，”艾米宣布。 “两面神的图标。”当艾米闭上眼睛时，她尽力不去想她父母去世的情景。 即使是和伊莎贝尔在澳大利亚的那条船上的记忆也比爸爸妈妈是怎么死的要好.... 她首先想到的是声音，而不是画面。 一种微小的金属声，像是什么东西在格格作响，几乎是丁当作响。 伊莎贝尔的手镯。当她指着水的时候，它在她的手腕上滑动。 一个金手镯。当然，当时艾米根本没想过这件事；她太忙了，被吓坏了。 但现在，画面变得更清晰了。 就像照相机镜头放大一样，艾米的记忆集中在一个特别的魅力上。 三角形的，尖尖的……她可以用心灵之眼清晰地看到它。 她突然意识到这一点，眨了眨眼睛。 “我们是

right," she said. "Remember the manifest? The animal bones?" "It's a jawbone?" Dan said in amazement. "A wolf's jaw?" Amy shook her head. "Not the whole jaw," she said. "One tooth— a fang, just like you wanted. And we're going to steal it from her." Planning an ambush was hard work. "Excellent Nanny probably had weeks to work out her ambushes," Dan complained. "We could definitely use her help." The Cahills got busy. They chose the location after a quick stop at the tourist information office: a forested park outside Kingston, where a ropes course was being constructed near a waterfall. They spent the afternoon checking out the park and buying a little equipment. Over her (very loud) protests, Nellie was made to stay in the car during the reconnaissance of the park. Amy had been firm about this. "This has nothing to do with Grace's letter, so you're out of the loop again. We'll need you

对，”她说。“还记得舱单吗？ 动物的骨头？”“这是一块颚骨？”丹惊奇地说。 “狼的下巴？”艾米摇了摇头。 “不是整个下巴，”她说。 “一颗牙——一根尖牙，就像你想要的。 我们要把它从她那里偷走。” 计划伏击是一项艰苦的工作。 “优秀的保姆可能有好几个星期的时间来安排她的伏击。”丹抱怨道。 “我们肯定需要她的帮助。” 卡希尔一家忙起来了。他们在旅游信息办公室短暂停留后选择了这个地点：金斯敦郊外的一个森林公园，那里的瀑布附近正在修建一条绳索课程。 他们花了一下午的时间参观了公园，还买了一些设备。 在她（大声）抗议的情况下，在对公园进行侦察时，内莉被要求留在车里。 艾米对此一直很坚决。 “这和格蕾丝的信没有关系，所以你又被排除在外了。 我们需要你