Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Agent 99 Goes Solo Jessie felt as if someone had waved a wand and turned her entire body to stone. Every muscle froze; the air locked in her lungs; even her eyes refused to blink. She pressed her back against the wall of the house and prayed to become invisible. The two boys, though, never turned around. They raced off the porch without a single backward glance and ran toward the barn. Within ten seconds they were gone, and Jessie and Maxwell were left alone on the wide wooden porch. "That was a close one," whispered Jessie, surprised her voice was working at all. But Maxwell didn't say anything. His face had gone sort of grayish white, and his eyes kept

杰西觉得好像有人挥了一根魔杖，把她整个身体变成了石头。 每块肌肉都僵住了；空气困在她的肺里；甚至连她的眼睛都不眨。 她把背靠在房子的墙上，祈祷自己能隐形。 然而，这两个男孩没有转身。 他们冲出门廊，头也不回地朝谷仓跑去。 不到十秒钟，他们就走了，杰西和麦克斯韦尔单独留在宽阔的木门廊上。 “好险啊。”杰西小声说，惊讶自己的声音居然还在响。 但是麦克斯韦什么也没说。 他的脸变得有点灰白色，眼睛一直盯着他

staring where the boys had been. Finally he whispered, "They would have killed us if they found us." "They would not!" Jessie whispered back. "Maybe they would have yelled and told their mother, and maybe we would have gotten in trouble, but they would not have killed us." "You don't know them!" said Maxwell, his voice rising dangerously. "Shhh! You want to get us caught? Jeepers, Maxwell, act like a spy, would you?" Maxwell stood up and started walking in circles. Jessie stared through her binoculars at the barn. "They were carrying stuff," she said. "Did you notice?" Jessie had seen that both boys had something in their hands, but she'd been too scared to see what. "A shoebox and a hammer," said Maxwell, still walking. "Jeff had the shoebox. Mike had the hammer."

盯着男孩们去过的地方。 最后他低声说：“如果他们找到我们，我们会被杀的。” “他们不会的！”杰西小声回答。 “也许他们会大喊大叫，告诉他们的母亲，也许我们会惹上麻烦，但他们不会杀了我们。” “你不认识他们！”麦克斯韦说，他的声音危险地提高了。 “嘘!你想让我们被抓吗？ 老天爷，麦克斯韦尔，表现得像个间谍，好吗？”麦克斯韦站起来，开始绕着圈子走。 杰西通过双筒望远镜凝视着谷仓。 “他们带着东西，”她说。 “你注意到了吗？”杰西看到两个男孩手里都拿着什么东西，但她太害怕了，不敢看是什么。 “一个鞋盒和一把锤子。”麦克斯韦尔一边说，一边继续走着。 “杰夫拿着鞋盒。迈克拿着锤子。”

"Wow. You are a good spy," said Jessie. She wished she'd noticed those things, but it had all happened so fast. Jessie looked at the barn again. Maxwell started to walk slower and slower, and then he stopped and just stood in one spot, rocking back and forth. "We need to go see what they're doing in that barn," said Jessie. Maxwell started shaking his head. "Yes, we do," she said. "I bet that's where they hide things. I bet they've got a secret compartment in that barn, and that's where they are right now, and if we find that secret compartment, we'll find the bell." "No," said Maxwell. "No, we won't. We will not find the bell in that barn." "Well, we're going to find something, that's for sure," said Jessie. "Come on." She scooted off the porch in her low-to-the-ground crouch and hurried across the open front yard to the barn.

“哇。你是个好间谍，”杰西说。 她真希望自己能注意到这些事情，但这一切发生得太快了。 杰西又看了看谷仓。 麦克斯韦开始走得越来越慢，然后他停了下来，只是站在一个地方，前后摇晃着。 “我们得去看看他们在谷仓里干什么。”杰西说。 麦克斯韦开始摇头。 “是的，我们有，”她说。“我敢说他们一定把东西藏在那里。 我敢打赌他们在谷仓里有一个秘密隔间，他们现在就在那里，如果我们找到那个秘密隔间，就会找到钟。” “不，”麦克斯韦尔说。“不，我们不会。 我们在谷仓里找不到钟。” “嗯，我们会找到一些东西的，这是肯定的。”杰西说。 “来吧。”她蹲下身子，飞快地离开门廊，匆匆穿过敞开的前院，来到谷仓。

One quick glance over her shoulder told her that Maxwell was staying behind. She'd have to do this bit of spying alone. Agent 99 goes solo. The large sliding door to the barn was open just a foot, but Jessie didn't want to spy from there. If the boys came barreling out the door, she'd get caught for sure, and she could still remember what it felt like to be on the porch, pressed up against the wall of the house, with nowhere to hide. She could hear music coming from inside the barn, a pop song that she recognized. Nope, this time she was going to be smart. She and Evan had circled this barn a dozen times over the years. She knew there were windows on the sides and back of the barn. She walked to the left until she came to the first of two small windows. The boys had turned on all the overhead lights—rows and rows of them, which lit up the barn like a stage. This was lucky for her, because it made it much easier to see inside

她回头瞥了一眼，发现麦克斯韦尔还在后面。 她得一个人做这些间谍工作。 99号特工单干。通往谷仓的大推拉门只开了一英尺，但杰西不想从那里窥探。 如果男孩们冲出门来，她肯定会被抓住，她还记得当时站在门廊上，紧贴着房子的墙，无处可藏的感觉。 她能听到谷仓里传来音乐，一首她认得的流行歌曲。 不，这次她会很聪明。 这些年来，她和埃文绕着这个谷仓转了十几圈。 她知道谷仓的两边和后面都有窗户。 她向左走，一直走到两扇小窗户中的第一扇。 孩子们把头顶上所有的灯都打开了——一排排的灯，把谷仓照得像个舞台。 这对她来说是幸运的，因为这使她更容易看到里面

the barn, and she knew that with the fading daylight she would be almost invisible if the boys looked up. She peeked her head around to look in the barn, but all she could see was the usual stuff: a tractor, old tools hanging on the wall, a workbench with piles of magazines all over it, baled hay. It looked like her grandma's barn. Jessie couldn't see the boys anywhere. But she could hear hammering. She crouched down again and scuttled over to the second window, but she still couldn't see the boys. The hammering stopped, and then it started up again. Jessie continued to walk around the outside of the barn. She was starting to think she might need to sneak inside the barn itself, when she popped her head up at the single small window on the back of the barn and came practically face-to-face with the older of the two boys. It was as if she was standing just three feet away

她知道，随着天色渐暗，如果孩子们抬起头来，她几乎是看不见的。 她转过头去看谷仓，但她所能看到的都是平常的东西：一辆拖拉机，挂在墙上的旧工具，一个堆满杂志的工作台，捆好的干草。 它看起来像她奶奶的谷仓。 杰西哪儿也看不见男孩们。 但她能听到敲击声。 她又蹲了下来，飞快地跑到第二扇窗户前，但还是看不见孩子们。 敲击声停止了，然后又开始了。 杰西继续在谷仓外面走来走去。 她开始想她可能需要偷偷溜进谷仓，这时她把头伸到谷仓后面的一扇小窗户上，几乎和两个男孩中较大的那个面对面。 就好像她就站在三英尺远的地方

from him and he was looking right at her. Jessie was so surprised, she immediately ducked her head back down and waited to hear a shout from the boy. But the hammering continued, and Jessie realized that the bright light inside and the growing darkness outside had turned the window into a one-way mirror. She could peek in without being seen. Slowly, she inched her head up. Jeff and Mike were in one of the stalls that ran along the back of the barn. The ceiling here was low, the floor covered in rough wood. Jessie looked around and realized the compartment was used for storing firewood. The split firewood was stacked in racks that jutted out of one of the side walls of the small room. The racks were made of long two-by-fours nailed into the floor and the ceiling. The room looked dirty and creepy to Jessie, but it was a perfect place to hide something. Both boys were standing in front of the middle

而他正看着她。 杰西非常惊讶，她立即低下头，等着听到男孩的叫声。 但敲击声仍在继续，杰西意识到，屋里明亮的光线和外面越来越暗的光线，已经把窗户变成了一面单向镜。 她可以偷偷往里偷看而不被人看见。 她慢慢地抬起头来。 杰夫和迈克在谷仓后面的一个隔间里。 这里的天花板很低，地板铺着粗糙的木头。 杰西环顾四周，发现这个隔间是用来放柴火的。 劈开的柴火堆在架子上，架子从小房间的一面侧壁伸出来。 架子是由钉在地板和天花板上的2 × 4长的木板制成的。 在杰西看来，房间又脏又吓人，但这是一个藏东西的好地方。 两个男孩都站在中间的前面