21 Over My Dead Body

Chapter 21 OVER MY DEAD BODY 'HANDS UP!" Coke and Pep spun around to see themselves surrounded by five guys wearing black ski masks. They didn't appear to be armed, but they were all poised like ninjas, as if they were about to do martial arts moves. Three elderly tourists backed against the walls of the room, panic in their eyes. "What?!" Coke shouted. "Who are you?" "We're with the Washington, D.C., Police Department," one of the SWAT team barked. "You're under arrest!" The voice sounded familiar, but Coke couldn't place it. And then the guy started whistling "The Yellow Rose of Texas." Coke looked down. He noticed that the "policeman" was wearing cowboy boots. This had to be the guy at the rest stop, the guy

第21章除非我死了，否则举起手来！”可口可乐和佩普转过身来，发现自己被五个戴着黑色滑雪面罩的人包围了。 他们似乎没有武装，但他们都像忍者一样摆好姿势，好像要做武术动作。 三个上了年纪的游客背靠着房间的墙壁，眼中充满了恐慌。 “什么? !”可口可乐喊道。“你是谁？”“我们是华盛顿特区警察局的，”一名特警吼道。 “你被捕了！”这个声音听起来很熟悉，但可口可乐不知道是谁。 然后那家伙就吹起了《德州的黄玫瑰》 可口可乐低下头。他注意到那个“警察”穿着牛仔靴。 这一定是休息站的那个人，那个人

who'd been sending them all those ciphers. "What did we do?" Pep asked, trembling. "We didn't do anything!" "Attempted robbery," said the guy wearing cowboy boots. "We know you were about to steal Dorothy's ruby slippers." "That's ridiculous!" Coke said. "We would never—" "SHUT UP!" said the guy with the cowboy boots. "I don't want to hear your lame excuses. Take 'em, boys." "Sure thing, boss," one of the SWAT team guys said, grabbing Coke roughly by the arm. Another grabbed Pep. The three old ladies who had been looking on, shocked, now appeared to be angry. "Kids!" one of them said, sneering. "They're a couple of juvenile delinquents." "Imagine," the second old lady said, "stealing Dorothy's slippers. Shameful!" "And where are their parents?" asked the third old lady. "That's the problem with children these

一直给他们发密码的人。 “我们做了什么？”佩普颤抖着问道。 “我们什么也没做！”“抢劫未遂，”穿牛仔靴的人说。 “我们知道你要去偷多萝西的红宝石拖鞋。” “这简直是可笑!”可口可乐表示。 “我们永远不会——”“闭嘴！”穿牛仔靴的人说。 “我不想听你那些蹩脚的借口。 拿去吧，孩子们。”“当然可以，老大，”一个特警队员粗暴地抓住可口可乐的胳膊说。 另一个抓住了佩普。三位老妇人一直在一旁看着，惊呆了，现在却显得很生气。 “孩子们！”其中一个讥讽地说。 “他们是一对少年犯。” “想象一下，”第二位老妇人说，“偷多萝茜的拖鞋。 可耻的!”“他们的父母在哪里？”第三个老太太问。 “这就是孩子们的问题

days. No adult supervision. They just run wild in the streets." "We didn't—," Coke tried to explain, but a black-gloved hand clapped over his mouth. "Excuse us, folks," the guy in cowboy boots said as they made their way with the twins toward an emergency exit. "Sorry for the disturbance. Gotta keep young creeps like this off the streets. Just doing our job, you understand. Enjoy your day." "Thank you, officers!" one of the old ladies said gratefully. "Thank you for keeping us safe." "No problem, ma'am." The SWAT team dragged the twins out the exit and into the dingy stairwell, locking the emergency exit door behind them. No alarms had sounded. There was no sign of Mya or Bones coming to the rescue. Coke and Pep were on their own. There were stairs leading up from that point, presumably to the roof of the museum. Pep was trying to bite the guy holding her, but it was no use. Coke couldn't move his hands to get to any of the stuff in his backpack.

天。没有成人监督。 它们在街上乱窜。” “我们没有——”可口可乐试图解释，但一只戴着黑色手套的手捂住了他的嘴。 “对不起，伙计们，”穿着牛仔靴的人说，他们和双胞胎一起向紧急出口走去。 “很抱歉打扰你了。 我得让这样的年轻人远离街头。 这是我们的工作，你懂的。 享受你的一天。”“谢谢你们，警官们！”一位老太太感激地说。 “谢谢你保护我们的安全。” “没问题，夫人。”特警队把这对双胞胎拖出了出口，进入了昏暗的楼梯间，并锁上了紧急出口的门。 没有警报响起。没有米娅或骨头前来救援的迹象。 可口可乐和佩普只能靠自己了。 从那里有楼梯通向上面，大概是博物馆的屋顶。 佩普想咬抱着她的人，但没用。 科克无法移动他的手去拿背包里的任何东西。

The guy wearing cowboy boots pulled off his ski mask. "Archie Clone!" Pep said, gasping. Yes, it was evil Archie, the lunatic who had already tried to boil the twins in oil and drown them in ice cream. "You can take off your masks now, boys," he said. "It's safe here." The other members of the SWAT team pulled off their masks. Coke and Pep recognized two of them as the bowler dudes who had been terrorizing them all the way across the country. The other two were pimply teenagers whose faces were not familiar. The five had posed as a legitimate SWAT team, and all of them had big, evil grins on their faces because they had pulled it off. "It's so nice to see you two again," Archie Clone said with false sincerity. "I hope you enjoyed the museum. Did you get the chance to see Albert Einstein's pipe? Warren Harding's pajamas?" "No, we were trying to—" "Shut up!" Archie Clone said. "They were

那个穿牛仔靴的人摘下了他的滑雪面罩。 “阿奇克隆!”佩普喘着气说。 是的，那是邪恶的阿尔奇，那个曾试图把双胞胎用油煮，再用冰淇淋淹死他们的疯子。 “你们现在可以摘下面具了，孩子们，”他说。 “这里很安全。”特警队的其他成员都摘下了面具。 可口可乐和佩普认出了其中的两个人，他们是在全国各地恐吓他们的保龄球手。 另外两个是长着青春痘的青少年，他们的面孔并不熟悉。 这五个人假装成一个合法的特警队，他们脸上都挂着邪恶的笑容，因为他们成功了。 “又见到你们两个真是太好了，"阿奇克隆装出一副真诚的样子说。 “我希望你喜欢这个博物馆。 你有机会看到阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦的烟斗吗？ 沃伦·哈丁的睡衣？”“不，我们是想——”“闭嘴！”阿奇克隆说。 “他们

rhetorical questions." "What does that mean, boss?" asked one of the bowler dudes. "None of your business!" barked Archie Clone irritably. Then he turned back to the twins, rolling his eyes. "Please excuse my dim-witted assistants," he whispered. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hire geniuses, like us. These are the guys who used to beat me up at school. Now they work for me." "Leave us alone!" Pep shouted, trying to pull away from the bowler dude who was holding her. "You have a sickness, do you realize that? You should get help." "Pep, Pep, Pep," Archie Clone said, shaking his head sadly. "I thought you and I had an understanding. Actually, I kinda thought you liked me. I was hoping we could watch the Fourth of July fireworks together." "Over my dead body!" Pep shouted, causing the fake SWAT team to giggle uncontrollably. "It's not even the Fourth of July," Coke

修辞问题。”“这是什么意思，老板？”其中一个伙计问。 “不关你的事！”克隆阿奇生气地吼道。 然后他转过头来看着那对双胞胎，翻了个白眼。 “请原谅我那些愚蠢的助手，”他低声说。 “不幸的是，我不能雇佣像我们这样的天才。 他们就是以前在学校打我的人。 现在他们为我工作。”“别烦我们！”佩普喊道，试图挣脱那个抱着她的保龄球手。 “你有病，你知道吗？” 你应该寻求帮助。”“佩普，佩普，佩普。”克隆阿奇悲哀地摇着头说。 “我以为我们已经达成了共识。 其实，我还以为你喜欢我呢。 我希望我们能一起看7月4日的烟火。” “除非我死了！”佩普大吼一声，假特警队员们忍不住咯咯笑了起来。 “今天都不是独立日，”可乐

informed Archie Clone. "That's tomorrow." "Don't you think I know that, Coke?" Archie Clone asked. "I sent out a series of fake texts talking about a robbery in Washington on the Fourth of July. I hoped your friends Mya and Bones would intercept them. And they did. Now everyone is expecting the big robbery tomorrow. That's why I'm doing it today! Hahahahaha!" "Hahahahahaha" went the fake SWAT team. They sounded like they had been programmed to laugh whenever he did. "What are you going to steal?" Pep asked. "Well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," said Archie Clone. "Oh, wait! I almost forgot. I'm going to kill you anyway! Hahahahaha!" "Hahahahahaha" went the SWAT team. "You're going to steal the Star-Spangled Banner from the museum, aren't you?" Coke guessed. "It's the symbol of America." "Of course not," Archie Clone replied. "That's way too obvious. And besides, that flag wouldn't fit on my bedroom wall. Hahahahaha!"

阿奇·克隆说。“明天。” “你以为我不知道吗，可乐？”克隆阿奇问。 “我发了一系列假短信，说7月4日华盛顿发生了一起抢劫案。 我希望你的朋友米亚和骨头能截住他们。 他们做到了。现在每个人都在期待明天的大抢劫。 这就是为什么我今天要这么做！Hahahahaha !”“哈哈哈，哈哈哈，”假特警队说。 他们听起来就像是被设定好了，只要他一笑，他们就会笑。 “你要偷什么？”Pep问道。 “好吧，我可以告诉你，但那样我就得杀了你。”阿奇·克隆说。 “哦,等等!我差点忘了。 反正我也要杀了你！Hahahahaha !”“哈哈哈，哈哈哈，”特警队说。 “你要从博物馆里偷走《星条旗永不落》，是不是？”可口可乐猜。 “这是美国的象征。” “当然不是。”阿奇·克隆回答。 “这太明显了。再说，那面旗帜也挂不上我卧室的墙。 Hahahahaha !”