Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Charlie, Mohsen, Wogan and Flora shot through the open gate and towards the Van der Gruyne Industries building. 'Which way?' shouted Charlie, relieved to be human again, the lingering taste of egg sandwich in his mouth a reminder of how close he had come to getting stuck as a pigeon forever. Wogan pointed. 'That's the front door, but it's probably locked. If we go round the back, though, there's an entrance into the basement that we might be able to sneak in through.' His three friends turned to look at Wogan. 'And how on earth do you know that?' asked Flora, eyes narrowed with suspicion. 'Because I came here a couple of years ago on a school trip,' said Wogan matter-of-factly. 'You've been here on a school trip?' said Flora, staring at Wogan. 'And you didn't think of mentioning that before now?'

查理、莫森、沃根和弗洛拉快步穿过敞开的大门，朝范德格鲁恩工业大楼走去。 “哪条路?查理叫道，松了一口气，又成了人类了，嘴里挥之不去的鸡蛋三明治的味道提醒着他，他差一点就永远被困在鸽子里了。 Wogan指出。“那是前门，但可能是锁着的。 不过，如果我们从后面绕过去，那里有个通往地下室的入口，也许可以溜进去。”他的三个朋友转过身来看着沃根。 “你究竟是怎么知道的？”弗洛拉问，怀疑地眯起眼睛。 “因为几年前我参加学校组织的旅行来过这里。”沃根若无其事地说。 “你是参加学校组织的旅行来的？”弗洛拉盯着沃根说。 “在此之前你没有想到要提这件事吗？ ”

'I didn't think it was important,' protested Wogan. 'You didn't think it was important?! Sometimes I– Never mind. Let's go!' They skirted round the building until they found some stairs, which led down to a door. 'You don't think the door will be alarmed, do you?' asked Mohsen nervously. 'Definitely not,' replied Wogan, pushing it open. An ear-splitting alarm shrieked through the whole building. Wogan shrugged. 'It was a guess, OK?' he yelled above the noise. 'Not the best guess, I admit.' 'Charlie? Can you do something?' shouted Mohsen, hands over his ears. 'What do you mean, can I do something?' bellowed Charlie. 'What?' replied Mohsen. 'TAKE. YOUR. HANDS. OFF. YOUR. EARS.' 'WHAT?' 'I said,' replied Charlie, pulling Mohsen's hands away from his ears, '"What do you mean, can I do something?"'

“我不认为这很重要，”沃根抗议道。 “你不认为这很重要吗？”有时我-算了。 我们走吧!”他们绕着大楼走了一圈，直到找到了一些楼梯，楼梯通向一扇门。 “你不认为门会被敲响，是吗？”莫森紧张地问。 “绝对不会。”沃根回答，推开门。 一声震耳欲聋的警报声响彻整个大楼。 Wogan耸耸肩。“那只是猜测，好吗？”他在喧闹声中喊道。 “我承认，这不是最好的猜测。“查理? 你能做点什么吗？莫森双手捂着耳朵喊道。 “你什么意思，我能做点什么吗？”查理吼道。 “什么?莫森回答。”。 你的。的手。掉了。你的。的耳朵。“什么?“我说，”查理回答道，一边把莫森的手从他耳朵上拉开，“‘你说我能做点什么是什么意思？’”

'You know, change into an animal and stop the alarm?' 'What sort of animal?' asked Charlie incredulously. 'An alarm-fixing zebra?' 'OK, fair point, I guess not.' And then, just as suddenly as the alarm had started ringing, it stopped. 'Wow, that is SUCH a relief,' said Wogan. 'Isn't it? I thought my head was going to explode,' said Charlie, grinning. 'What?' said Wogan. 'You can take your fingers out of your ears now, Wogan.' 'But why would the alarm just switch off like that?' asked Flora. 'No idea!' said Charlie. 'Maybe it ran out of batteries.'

“你知道，变成一只动物，然后关掉闹钟？”“什么动物？”查理怀疑地问。 “一只会报警的斑马？”“好吧，说得有理，我想没有。”然后，就像警报响起一样突然，它停了下来。 “哇，真是松了口气。”沃根说。 “不是吗?“我想我的头都要爆炸了，”查理笑着说。 “什么?沃根说。“现在你可以把手指从耳朵上拿开了，沃根。“但是为什么闹钟就这样关掉了呢？”弗洛拉问。 “不知道!”查理说。“可能是没电了。”

'Maybe…' Flora didn't sound particularly convinced. 'Where are we?' The four looked around. They were in a dark low- ceilinged basement. Huge banks of computers snaked round the room, all glowing and humming. Some tinsel hung limply on the walls. 'Oh!' said Wogan. 'I remember this room. These are the servers for Van der Gruyne Industries– the computers that store all the important information for the company.' 'OK, then we know where we are, but where do we go?' Flora said. 'I don't know. Wherever they keep their safe, I suppose,' Charlie replied. 'Their safe?' asked Mohsen. 'Well, where else do you think they'd keep the gold?' 'I guess,' Mohsen agreed. 'And how on earth are we going to break in to a safe if we do find it?' 'Charlie's just going to have to use animal strength to bust it open,' Flora replied. 'And my theory is they'd keep a safe in Dylan's dad's office.'

“也许……”弗洛拉听起来并不是很信服。 “我们在哪儿？”四个人环顾四周。 他们在一间阴暗的地下室里。 一排排巨大的电脑在房间里蜿蜒而行，都在发光，嗡嗡作响。 一些金箔软绵绵地挂在墙上。 “啊!沃根说。“我记得这个房间。 这些是范德格鲁恩工业公司的服务器——存储公司所有重要信息的计算机。“好吧，那么我们知道我们在哪里，但我们要去哪里呢？”植物说。 “我不知道。“我想，他们把自己放在安全的地方。”查理回答。 “他们安全吗?莫森问。 “那么，你认为他们还会把金子放在哪里呢？”“我想是的，”莫森表示同意。 “如果我们真的找到了保险箱，又怎么能撬开它呢？”“查理只能用动物的力量把它敲开，”弗洛拉回答。 我认为他们会在迪伦爸爸的办公室里放个保险箱

'You're probably right,' agreed Charlie. 'But where is that? Wogan– don't suppose you know, do you?' 'No. Sorry,' said Wogan. 'Then we'll just have to search the building,' said Flora. Mohsen gasped. 'The whole building?' he said. 'That'll take forever! This place is huge!' 'Well, we don't have a choice, do we?' snapped Charlie. 'So let's just get going.' 'Or we could look at the map,' suggested Wogan. Once more, the others turned to Wogan in unison. 'What map?' asked Flora, eyes narrowed again. 'I forgot to say I googled Van der Gruyne Industries yesterday and found a floor plan on the council website, so I printed it out.' His three friends stared at Wogan in wide-eyed silence. 'What?' said Wogan. 'Why are you all staring at me like that?' 'Un-be-liev-able,' said Flora. 'Is there anything else you'd like to tell us that you might have forgotten?' she asked. 'How am I supposed to tell you if I've forgotten?' Even Flora couldn't argue with that logic. 'Well, if anything else important pops into your head–' 'Actually, there is one other thing,' said Wogan. 'What?' asked Charlie. 'I need a wee.' Flora put her hands on her hips. 'Really? Now?' Wogan nodded.

“也许你是对的，”查理同意道。 “可那在哪儿呢？”沃根——我想你不知道，对吧？“没有。 “对不起。”沃根说。“那我们就得搜查整座大楼了。”弗洛拉说。 Mohsen气喘吁吁地说。“整栋楼？”他说。 “那要花很长时间！”这地方太大了！“嗯，我们没有选择，不是吗？”查理厉声说。 所以让我们开始吧。“或者我们可以看看地图。”沃根建议道。 其他人又一次齐声转向沃根。 “什么地图吗?弗洛拉问，眼睛又眯了起来。 “我忘了说我昨天在谷歌上搜索了Van der Gruyne Industries，在委员会的网站上找到了一份平面图，所以我把它打印了出来。”他的三个朋友睁大眼睛，沉默地盯着沃根。 “什么?沃根说。“你们为什么都那样盯着我？”“难以置信，”弗洛拉说。 “你还想告诉我们什么你可能忘了的事情吗？”她问。 “如果我忘了，我怎么告诉你呢？”就连弗洛拉也无法反驳这种逻辑。 “嗯，如果你脑子里突然想到什么重要的事情——”“实际上，还有一件事。” “什么?查理问。“我要尿尿。”弗洛拉双手叉腰。 “真的吗?现在呢?”Wogan点点头。

'Can't you wait?' asked Charlie. 'It's just things are a little urgent right now. What with us being in the middle of a robbery.' 'I guess…' said Wogan, sounding very unsure. 'OK, great then,' said Charlie. 'Now, get your map out. Which way?' Wogan examined the map, and pointed to the door they had just come through. 'That way!' 'What?' said Mohsen. 'Back outside? You sure?' Wogan looked at the map again. 'Sorry!' he said, turning the map the right way up. He pointed to a different doorway, which seemed to lead into a long corridor. 'The president's office is on the top floor. The lift is this way.' They ran down the corridor, and then down another, while Wogan looked at his map and called

“你不能等一下吗？”查理问。 “只是现在事情有点紧急。 我们还在忙着抢劫呢。“我想……”沃根说，听起来很不确定。 “好吧，那太好了，”查理说。 “现在，把地图拿出来。哪条路?”沃根仔细看了看地图，指着他们刚刚走过的那扇门。 “这样!”“什么?莫森说。 “外面回来吗?你确定吗?”沃根又看了看地图。 “对不起!他说着，把地图朝上翻过来。 他指了指另一扇门，那扇门似乎通向一条长长的走廊。 总统办公室在顶楼。 电梯在这边。”他们跑过走廊，又跑过另一条走廊，沃根看了看地图，喊了一声