Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 "NOOOOO!" Dan wrenched his hand out of Amy's and launched himself forward. His rage was palpable. Amy knew there was no way he was going to allow the box— Lester's box— to remain in the hands of the enemy. For an old guy, the man proved surprisingly agile. He sidestepped Dan's charge and thrust out his foot. Dan tripped and ended up sprawled in the dirt. Amy rushed to his side. He looked up at her wildly. "We can take them— you go for Nellie and I'll—" "Oh, please," the man in gray said. "And then what— run to escape us? Exactly where do you plan on running to?" In desperation, Amy realized he was right. He had probably chosen this location for exactly that

第二十章“不！”丹把他的手从艾米的手里抽出来，向前冲去。 他的愤怒是显而易见的。艾美知道他决不会让那个盒子——莱斯特的盒子——留在敌人手里。 作为一个老人，他表现得出奇地敏捷。 他避开丹的冲锋，伸出一只脚。 丹绊了一跤，倒在了泥土里。 艾米冲到他身边。他疯狂地抬头望着她。 “我们可以带他们去——你去找耐莉，我来——”“哦，求求你了，"灰衣人说。 “然后呢——逃开我们吗？” 你到底打算跑到哪里去？”绝望之中，艾米意识到他是对的。 他可能正是为此选择了这个地方

reason. It was miles away from anywhere safe, and Dan was surely still too weak to run very far. "Perhaps you should hear me out instead," the man said. "Shall we go somewhere more comfortable where we can talk?" "You tried to kill us!" Dan shouted. "In Austria! Why would we ever sit down with a murderer?" The man looked surprised. "You have misunderstood. Forgivable, given that you do not have all the facts. I'm afraid I must insist on our sitting down together. I am alone at the moment, but I have help nearby." He held up a cell phone. "I assume you would rather talk to me than to some of my less genteel colleagues." The threat could not have been any clearer. They sat under an awning at the side of one of the buildings, a combination bar and general store. Nellie took the box and locked it in the car. Then, oddly, she did not sit down with them but went to stand by the side of the road. Amy and Dan sat next to each other, opposite their adversary.

的原因。这里离任何安全的地方都有数英里之遥，而且丹肯定还太虚弱，跑不了太远。 “也许你应该听我把话说完，”那人说。 “我们找个更舒服的地方谈谈好吗？”“你想杀我们！”丹喊道。 “在奥地利!我们为什么要和一个杀人犯坐下来谈呢？”那人看起来很惊讶。 “你误会了。可以原谅，因为你不知道所有的事实。 恐怕我必须坚持要我们坐下来谈谈。 我现在独自一人，但我附近有人帮忙。” 他拿起一部手机。“我猜你宁愿和我说话，也不愿和我那些不那么文雅的同事说话。” 这种威胁再清楚不过了。 他们坐在其中一栋建筑旁边的遮阳篷下，那是一家酒吧兼杂货店。 内莉拿起盒子锁在车里。 然后，奇怪的是，她没有和他们坐在一起，而是走到路边。 艾米和丹挨着对方坐着，对面是他们的对手。

"Do you know about Moore Town?" the man asked. Amy had already decided not to say one word more than necessary to him. Neither she nor Dan replied. It was apparently a rhetorical question anyway; the man continued speaking, unfazed by their lack of response. "It was one of the original settlements of the Windward Maroons," he said. "Another was Nanny Town, named, of course, for The Right Excellent Nanny." Amy shivered. It seemed that he already knew about their Nanny investigations. Of course. Nellie must have told him. Nellie must have told him everything. "It was both her home and her base of operations," he continued. "I wish Nanny Town could have been our meeting place, but it's been abandoned for many years now." He took a sip of his drink. "The bridge you crossed over is the only access to the town," he said. "The Maroons were very clever; all of their settlements had only one point of entry. It made

“你知道摩尔镇吗？”那人问。 艾米已经决定，除了必要的话，一个字也不跟他多说。 她和丹都没有回答。 这显然是一个反问句；那人继续说着，对他们的冷淡毫不在意。 “这是迎风黑人的原始定居点之一，”他说。 “另一个是保姆镇，当然，它的名字是‘合适的优秀保姆’。” 艾米颤抖。看来他已经知道他们调查保姆的事了。 当然可以。一定是内莉告诉他的。 内莉一定把一切都告诉他了。 “这里既是她的家，也是她的行动基地，”他继续说道。 “我希望保姆镇能成为我们见面的地方，但它已经被废弃多年了。” 他喝了一口饮料。 “你走过的那座桥是进城的唯一通道，”他说。 “魔力红非常聪明；他们所有的定居点都只有一个入口。 这让

the towns easy to guard. Just a few Maroons could hold off much larger numbers of British troops. Nanny Town had a similar defense; it was on a high spur overlooking a river." Amy glanced at Nellie, whose back was to them. Nellie seemed to be watching the road back toward the bridge. The man followed her gaze. "Yes, that's right," he said. "She's standing guard. With her there, no one can sneak up on us, because the only way into Moore Town is along that road." "Not interested in a geography lesson from someone who tried to kill us," Dan snapped. That was the only good thing about the mess they were in: Dan's anger had made him much more himself. The man inclined his head. "But of course. Your impatience is understandable." He interlaced his fingers and put his hands on the table in front of him. "The first thing I should tell you is that I am speaking to you on behalf of the Madrigals." Amy nudged Dan under the table. She could

这些城镇很容易守卫。仅仅几个黑人就能抵挡住大批英军。 保姆镇也有类似的辩护；它在一个可以俯瞰河流的高处。” 艾美瞥了内莉一眼，她背对着他们。 内莉似乎在注视着通向桥的那条路。 那人顺着她的目光望去。 “是的，没错，”他说。 “她在站岗。有她在那里，就没有人能偷偷靠近我们了，因为到摩尔镇的唯一途径就是沿着那条路。” “对一个想杀我们的人上地理课不感兴趣。”丹厉声说。 这是他们所处的混乱中唯一的好处：丹的愤怒使他更像他自己了。 那人低下了头。 “当然。你的不耐烦是可以理解的。” 他十指交叉，双手放在面前的桌子上。 “我要告诉你的第一件事是，我是代表牧歌对你说话的。” 艾米把丹推到桌子底下。 她可以

feel his anger seething. Stay calm, she tried to tell him telepathically. Focus. We have to find a way to get that box back and then get out of here…. "The Madrigals have been following your progress with great interest," the man said. "They are quite impressed. I have been charged with the task of discovering how you perform on a particular task they have set for you." "We're not doing anything for them!" Amy burst out. The man shrugged. "Fine. But I must tell you the consequences for not cooperating. Without going into too much detail, you should know that we are holding your other companion." "Our other—?" Amy stopped, aghast. Saladin! She had been so exhausted at the hotel the night before, she hadn't even noticed that the cat wasn't there. "You— you better not— you just leave him alone!" Dan could barely get the words out. "Wh–what have you done to him?" Amy's voice quavered. She didn't even want to imagine what they might do to Saladin…. Who were these

感觉到他的怒火在沸腾。保持冷静，她试着用心灵感应告诉他。 的焦点。我们得想办法把盒子拿回来，然后离开这里.... “牧歌队一直饶有兴趣地关注着你的进展，”那人说。 “他们印象非常深刻。 我的任务是了解你如何完成他们给你的特定任务。” “我们没有为他们做任何事！”艾米脱口而出。 那人耸耸肩。“很好。但我必须告诉你不合作的后果。 不必说太多的细节，您应该知道我们抓住了您的另一个同伴。” “我们的其他——吗?”艾米停了下来，惊呆了。 萨拉丁!前一天晚上她在旅馆里太累了，她甚至没有注意到猫不在那里。 “你——你最好别——你别管他！”丹几乎说不出话来。 “你对他做了什么？”艾米的声音颤抖着。 她甚至不敢想象他们会对萨拉丁做什么.... 这些是谁？

people who would threaten a poor innocent cat? "Why, nothing," the man said. "He's perfectly fine. And will continue to be, so long as you cooperate. It's quite simple: All you have to do is get the box to open." "I want your word on something," Dan said. Amy could tell from his voice that he was still struggling to suppress his fury. "You're hardly in a position to negotiate." "You're wrong about that. You want us to do this. If you didn't, you'd just do it yourselves. So I want something in return." The man said nothing. Dan went on. "Once you get your precious little secret out of the box, I want it back. The box— and Saladin." The man shrugged. "I believe that can be arranged." "I want your word on it," Dan said doggedly. He looked at the man with an expression of disdain. "That is, if your word is any good," he added spitefully.

谁会威胁一只可怜无辜的猫？ “哦，没什么，”那人说。 “他很好。只要你合作，我们就会继续合作。 这很简单：你所要做的就是打开盒子。” “有件事我需要你的保证。”丹说。 艾米从他的声音中可以看出，他仍在努力抑制自己的愤怒。 “你几乎没有谈判的余地。” “你错了。你想让我们这么做。 如果你们不喜欢，那就自己动手吧。 所以我想要一些回报。” 那人什么也没说。丹继续说。 “一旦你把你珍贵的小秘密从盒子里拿出来，我就要拿回来。 盒子——还有萨拉丁。”那人耸耸肩。 “我相信这是可以安排的。” “我要你保证。”丹固执地说。 他带着轻蔑的表情看着那个人。 “那是说，如果你的话有用的话，”他恶狠狠地加了一句。