Sophie wondered how long it would take Fache to figure out she had not left the building. Seeing
that Langdon was clearly overwhelmed, Sophie questioned whether she had done the right thing by
cornering him here in the men's room.
What else was I supposed to do?
She pictured her grandfather's body, naked and spread-eagle on the floor. There was a time when
he had meant the world to her, yet tonight, Sophie was surprised to feel almost no sadness for the
man. Jacques Saunière was a stranger to her now. Their relationship had evaporated in a single
instant one March night when she was twenty-two. Ten years ago.Sophie had come home a few
days early from graduate university in England and mistakenly witnessed her grandfather engaged
in something Sophie was obviously not supposed to see. It was an image she barely could believe
to this day.
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...
Too ashamed and stunned to endure her grandfather's pained attempts to explain, Sophie
immediately moved out on her own, taking money she had saved, and getting a small flat with
some roommates. She vowed never to speak to anyone about what she had seen. Her grandfather
tried desperately to reach her, sending cards and letters, begging Sophie to meet him so he could
explain. Explain how!?Sophie never responded except once—to forbid him ever to call her or try
to meet her in public. She was afraid his explanation would be more terrifying than the incident
itself.
Incredibly, Saunière had never given up on her, and Sophie now possessed a decade's worth of
correspondence unopened in a dresser drawer. To her grandfather's credit, he had never once
disobeyed her request and phoned her.
法希什么时候才能揣度出自己并没有离开卢浮宫，索菲不得而知。看着兰登的窘态，她也开始怀疑把他逼到男厕所的一角，是否是恰当之举。
她的脑海中浮现出祖父尸体的样子，像一只展翅的老鹰而又一丝不挂。曾几何时，祖父是她生活中最重要的人，但奇怪的是，她现在却并不为祖父之死感到悲伤。他们已成了陌路人，他们的关系在一个三月的夜晚就决裂了。那件事发生在十年前，当时索菲二十二岁。正在英国一所研究生院读书的索菲提前几天回到了家，目睹了祖父所做的一些事情，而这些事是她不应看到的。那天她几乎无法相信自己的眼睛。
如果不是我亲眼所见……
震惊而蒙羞的索菲不接受祖父煞费苦心的辩解，立即带着自己的积蓄搬了出去，找了间小公寓与几个人合住在一起。她发誓永远也不向别人提起她的所见所闻。祖父又是寄明信片又是寄信，想尽一切办法要与她取得联系，乞求索菲给他一个当面解释的机会。如何解释？
索菲仅做了一次回复———让祖父不要再打电话给她，也不要在公众场合等她。索菲担心他的解释会比事情本身更可怕。
令人难以置信的是，祖父一直没有放弃努力。如今，索菲衣橱抽屉里还原封不动地存放着十年来祖父写给她的信。祖父恪守承诺，满足索菲的要求，再也没有打电话给她。
Until this afternoon.
"Sophie?" His voice had sounded startlingly old on her answering machine. "I have abided by your
wishes for so long... and it pains me to call, but I must speak to you. Something terrible has
happened."
Standing in the kitchen of her Paris flat, Sophie felt a chill to hear him again after all these years.
His gentle voice brought back a flood of fond childhood memories.
"Sophie, please listen." He was speaking English to her, as he always did when she was a little girl.
Practice French at school. Practice English at home."You cannot be mad forever. Have you not
read the letters that I've sent all these years? Do you not yet understand?" He paused. "We must
speak at once. Please grant your grandfather this one wish. Call me at the Louvre. Right away. I
believe you and I are in grave danger." Sophie stared at the answering machine. Danger?What
was he talking about?
"Princess..." Her grandfather's voice cracked with an emotion Sophie could not place. "I know I've
kept things from you, and I know it has cost me your love. But it was for your own safety. Now
you must know the truth. Please, I must tell you the truth about your family."
直到今天下午。
“索菲吗？”祖父的声音从留言机中传来显得格外苍老。“很久以来，我一直尊重你的意愿……我也不愿打这个电话，但我必须告诉你，可怕的事情发生了。”
这么多年以后，又一次听到祖父的声音，索菲站在公寓的厨房里不寒而栗。祖父温柔的声音带回了许多童年的美好回忆。
“索菲，请听我说。”祖父用英语说道。索菲小时候，祖父就对她说英语。在校练法语，在家练英语。“你应该理智起来。读过我给你写的那些信了吗？你还不明白吗？”他停了一下，接着说，“我们必须立刻谈一谈。请满足祖父的这个愿望。立刻打电话到卢浮宫来找我。我认为你我的处境都极其危险。”
索菲目不转睛地望着留言机。危险？他在说什么？
“公主……”不知是出于什么样的感情，祖父的声音哽咽了。“我知道我对你隐瞒了一些事情，这让我失去了你的爱。但这次是为了你自身的安全。现在，你必须知道真相。求你了，我必须告诉你关于你家庭的事实。”
Sophie suddenly could hear her own heart. My family?Sophie's parents had died when she was
only four. Their car went off a bridge into fast-moving water. Her grandmother and younger
brother had also been in the car, and Sophie's entire family had been erased in an instant. She had a
box of newspaper clippings to confirm it.
His words had sent an unexpected surge of longing through her bones. My family!In that fleeting
instant, Sophie saw images from the dream that had awoken her countless times when she was a
little girl: My family is alive! They are coming home!But, as in her dream, the pictures evaporated
into oblivion.
Your family is dead, Sophie. They are not coming home.
"Sophie..." her grandfather said on the machine. "I have been waiting for years to tell you. Waiting
for the right moment, but now time has run out. Call me at the Louvre. As soon as you get this. I'll
wait here all night. I fear we both may be in danger. There's so much you need to know."
The message ended.
In the silence, Sophie stood trembling for what felt like minutes. As she considered her
grandfather's message, only one possibility made sense, and his true intent dawned.
It was bait.
Obviously, her grandfather wanted desperately to see her. He was trying anything. Her disgust for
the man deepened. Sophie wondered if maybe he had fallen terminally ill and had decided to
attempt any ploy he could think of to get Sophie to visit him one last time. If so, he had chosen
wisely.
My family.
突然，索菲紧张得可以听见自己的心跳。我的家庭？索菲四岁的时候就失去了双亲。他们乘坐的汽车从桥上掉入水流湍急的河里。索菲的祖母和弟弟也在车上。这样，索菲的整个家庭在刹那间就不复存在了。她有一箱的剪报可以证明这件事。
索菲没有料到，祖父的话在她内心深处激起了一阵渴望。我的家庭！转瞬间，无数次将儿时的索菲惊醒的梦又浮现在她眼前：我的家人还活着！他们要回家了！但这个梦已经渐渐地消失，渐渐地被淡忘了。
索菲，你的家人死了。他们再也不会回来了。
“索菲……”留言机中传来祖父的声音，“为了告诉你真相，我等了很久。我等待着一个合适的时机，可是现在不能再等了。你听到留言后，立即打电话到卢浮宫来找我。一整晚我都会在这里等你。我担心我们的处境都很危险。你需要知道很多东西。”
留言结束了。
索菲默默地站在那里，几分钟后才停止了颤抖。她琢磨着祖父的留言，猜测着他的真正意图，想到了一种可能：这是个圈套。
显然，祖父迫切地想见到她，并动用了一切伎俩。索菲对他更加厌恶起来。索菲怀疑是因为他患了绝症，而不择手段地让索菲去见他最后一面。如果真是这样，他找这样的理由倒是很聪明。
Now, standing in the darkness of the Louvre men's room, Sophie could hear the echoes of this
afternoon's phone message. Sophie, we both may be in danger. Call me.
She had not called him. Nor had she planned to. Now, however, her skepticism had been deeply
challenged. Her grandfather lay murdered inside his own museum. And he had written a code on
the floor.
A code for her.Of this, she was certain.
Despite not understanding the meaning of his message, Sophie was certain its cryptic nature was
additional proof that the words were intended for her. Sophie's passion and aptitude for
cryptography were a product of growing up with Jacques Saunière—a fanatic himself for codes,
word games, and puzzles. How many Sundays did we spend doing the cryptograms and crosswords
in the newspaper?
At the age of twelve, Sophie could finish the Le Mondecrossword without any help, and her
grandfather graduated her to crosswords in English, mathematical puzzles, and substitution ciphers.
Sophie devoured them all. Eventually she turned her passion into a profession by becoming a
codebreaker for the Judicial Police.
Tonight, the cryptographer in Sophie was forced to respect the efficiency with which her
grandfather had used a simple code to unite two total strangers—Sophie Neveu and Robert
Langdon.
The question was why?
Unfortunately, from the bewildered look in Langdon's eyes, Sophie sensed the American had no
more idea than she did why her grandfather had thrown them together.
She pressed again. "You and my grandfather had planned to meet tonight. What about?"
Langdon looked truly perplexed. "His secretary set the meeting and didn't offer any specific reason,
and I didn't ask. I assumed he'd heard I would be lecturing on the pagan iconography of French
cathedrals, was interested in the topic, and thought it would be fun to meet for drinks after the
talk."
Sophie didn't buy it. The connection was flimsy. Her grandfather knew more about pagan
iconography than anyone else on earth. Moreover, he an exceptionally private man, not someone
prone to chatting with random American professors unless there were an important reason.
Sophie took a deep breath and probed further. "My grandfather called me this afternoon and told
me he and I were in grave danger. Does thatmean anything to you?"
Langdon's blue eyes now clouded with concern. "No, but considering what just happened..."
索菲没有打电话，也根本没有这个打算。但是现在，她的想法受到了质疑。祖父在其掌管的博物馆里被谋杀了，还在地板上写下了一串密码。
她可以肯定，这是为她留下的密码。
索菲虽然还不清楚密码的含义，但她肯定密码的神秘性本身就可以证明这是为她而留的。雅克·索尼埃是个密码、拼字游戏和谜语的爱好者，由他抚养长大的索菲自然对密码学充满了热情，并且在这方面颇具天赋。无数个星期天，他们曾在一起做报纸上的密码游戏和拼字游戏。十二岁的时候，索菲已经可以独立地完成《世界报》上的拼字游戏了。祖父让她做更难的英语拼字游戏、数字谜语和密码替换，索菲也将它们统统完成。后来，索菲将她的爱好变成了职业，成为了司法部门的一名密码破译员。
今晚，作为密码破译员，索菲佩服祖父仅用一个简单的密码就把两个完全陌生的人联系在了一起—他们就是索菲·奈芙和罗伯特·兰登。
可他为什么要这样做呢？
不幸的是，从兰登那迷惑的眼神中，索菲看得出这个美国人也和她一样，为此大惑不解。
她再次逼问道：“你和祖父计划在今晚会面，你们打算谈些什么？”
兰登摸不着头脑。“他的秘书安排了这次会面，但没有告诉我有什么特别的原因，我也没问。”
索菲不接受这样的解释。这样的联系太牵强。祖父比任何人都了解异教圣像。再说，他是个注重隐私的人，不会随便找个美国教授就聊上天，除非有什么重要的原因。
索菲深深地吸了一口气，进一步试探道："今天下午祖父打电话给我，说他和我的处境都极其危险。你知道这是什么意思吗？"
兰登那双蔚蓝的眼睛笼罩上了一层忧虑。"我不知道，但从已经发生的事情看来……"
Sophie nodded. Considering tonight's events, she would be a fool not to be frightened. Feeling
drained, she walked to the small plate-glass window at the far end of the bathroom and gazed out in
silence through the mesh of alarm tape embedded in the glass. They were high up—forty feet at
least.
Sighing, she raised her eyes and gazed out at Paris's dazzling landscape. On her left, across the
Seine, the illuminated Eiffel Tower. Straight ahead, the Arc de Triomphe. And to the right, high
atop the sloping rise of Montmartre, the graceful arabesque dome of Sacré-Coeur, its polished
stone glowing white like a resplendent sanctuary.
Here at the westernmost tip of the Denon Wing, the north-south thoroughfare of Place du Carrousel
ran almost flush with the building with only a narrow sidewalk separating it from the Louvre's
outer wall. Far below, the usual caravan of the city's nighttime delivery trucks sat idling, waiting
for the signals to change, their running lights seeming to twinkle mockingly up at Sophie.
"I don't know what to say," Langdon said, coming up behind her. "Your grandfather is obviously
trying to tell us something. I'm sorry I'm so little help."
Sophie turned from the window, sensing a sincere regret in Langdon's deep voice. Even with all the
trouble around him, he obviously wanted to help her. The teacher in him,she thought, having read
DCPJ's workup on their suspect. This was an academic who clearly despised not understanding.
We have that in common,she thought.
As a codebreaker, Sophie made her living extracting meaning from seemingly senseless data.
Tonight, her best guess was that Robert Langdon, whether he knew it or not, possessed information
that she desperately needed. Princesse Sophie, Find Robert Langdon.How much clearer could her
grandfather's message be? Sophie needed more time with Langdon. Time to think. Time to sort out
this mystery together. Unfortunately, time was running out.
Gazing up at Langdon, Sophie made the only play she could think of. "Bezu Fache will be taking
you into custody at any minute. I can get you out of this museum. But we need to act now."
Langdon's eyes went wide. "You want me to run?"
"It's the smartest thing you could do. If you let Fache take you into custody now, you'll spend
weeks in a French jail while DCPJ and the U.S. Embassy fight over which courts try your case. But
if we get you out of here, and make it to your embassy, then your government will protect your
rights while you and I prove you had nothing to do with this murder."
Langdon looked not even vaguely convinced. "Forget it! Fache has armed guards on every single
exit! Even if we escape without being shot, running away only makes me look guilty. You need to
tell Fache that the message on the floor was for you,and that my name is not there as an
accusation."
索菲点了点头。想到今晚发生的事情，她当然会很害怕。她绞尽脑汁，也不能理解今晚发生的一切。她向厕所尽头那扇装着小块平板玻璃的窗户走去，默默地透过嵌在玻璃中的警报网向外望去。他们离地面很远—至少有四十英尺。
她叹了口气，举目凝望窗外巴黎眩目的景色。左边，在赛纳河的对岸，耸立着灯光闪耀的埃菲尔铁塔；正前方，是凯旋门；右边，在蒙马特山丘的上方，可以看见圣心堂别致的圆形屋顶，那光滑的石头闪耀着白色的光芒，使整个建筑看上去像一座华丽的圣殿。
这里是德农馆的最西端。卡尔赛广场上南北向的交通干线与这里平行，它们与卢浮宫的外墙之间只隔着一条人行道。德农馆下方的街道上，夜间送货的卡车队停在那里，悠闲地等候着信号灯变色。那些闪亮的车灯似乎在用嘲弄的眼神冲索菲眨眼。
“我不知道该说些什么，”兰登说着，走到她的身后，“很显然，你的祖父试图告诉我们些什么。很遗憾，我帮不上什么忙。”
索菲从兰登低沉的声音中感觉到了他内心的遗憾。虽然他遇到了许多麻烦，但很显然，他希望助索菲一臂之力。索菲转过身来，想道：他果然具备教师的素养。索菲是从警署的嫌疑人调查记录中了解到他的基本情况的。他是尊重事实的学者。
我们有共同点，索菲想道。
作为一名密码破译员，索菲的工作就是从那些看似杂乱无章的数据中提取出含义。今晚，索菲所能作出的最好猜测就是兰登拥有她迫切想得到的信息，无论兰登本人是否意识到这一点。索菲公主，去找罗伯特·兰登。祖父所传达的信息非常明了。索菲需要更多与兰登共处的时间，需要思考问题的时间，需要与他一起破解这个谜团的时间。不幸的是，没有时间了。
索菲凝视着兰登，终于想出了个主意。“贝祖·法希随时都可能将你逮捕。我能帮你逃出博物馆。但我们必须现在就行动。”
兰登吃惊地睁大眼睛：“你想让我逃跑？”
“这是明智之举。如果现在法希逮捕了你，你就得在法国监狱呆上几个星期。与此同时，法国警署和美国大使馆会开始争论由哪个国家来审判你。但如果我们现在逃出去，设法逃到美国大使馆，美国政府就可以保护你的权利。与此同时，我们可以想办法证明你与这桩谋杀案无关。”
兰登毫不动摇。“算了吧！法希在每个出口都布下了警卫！就算我们不被打死，逃了出去，这也只会更让人觉得我是有罪的。你应该告诉法希，地上的信息是为你而留的，你祖父写下我的名字并不是为了告发我。”
"I willdo that," Sophie said, speaking hurriedly, "but after you're safely inside the U.S. Embassy.
It's only about a mile from here, and my car is parked just outside the museum. Dealing with Fache
from here is too much of a gamble. Don't you see? Fache has made it his mission tonight to prove
you are guilty. The only reason he postponed your arrest was to run this observance in hopes you
did something that made his case stronger."
"Exactly. Like running!"
The cell phone in Sophie's sweater pocket suddenly began ringing. Fache probably.She reached in
her sweater and turned off the phone.
"Mr. Langdon," she said hurriedly, "I need to ask you one last question." And your entire future
may depend on it."The writing on the floor is obviously not proof of your guilt, and yet Fache told
our team he is certainyou are his man. Can you think of any other reason he might be convinced
you're guilty?"
Langdon was silent for several seconds. "None whatsoever."
Sophie sighed. Which means Fache is lying.Why, Sophie could not begin to imagine, but that was
hardly the issue at this point. The fact remained that Bezu Fache was determined to put Robert
Langdon behind bars tonight, at any cost. Sophie needed Langdon for herself, and it was this
dilemma that left Sophie only one logical conclusion.
I need to get Langdon to the U.S. Embassy.
Turning toward the window, Sophie gazed through the alarm mesh embedded in the plate glass,
down the dizzying forty feet to the pavement below. A leap from this height would leave Langdon
with a couple of broken legs. At best.
Nonetheless, Sophie made her decision.
Robert Langdon was about to escape the Louvre, whether he wanted to or not.
“我会这样做，”索菲急切地说，“不过那要等你安全地进入美国使馆。使馆距这里只有一英里，我的车就停在博物馆外面。在这里与法希周旋几乎没有胜算。你没看到吗？法希将找出你的罪证作为今晚的任务。他之所以推迟逮捕，是想观察你的行为，希望你的某些言行能让他的指控更有力。"
“不错。就比如说逃跑！”
索菲毛衣口袋里的手机突然响了起来。可能是法希。她把手伸进口袋，关掉了手机。
“兰登先生，”她急切地说，“我问你最后一个问题。它将决定你的整个未来。地板上的文字显然不是你的罪证，但法希已经宣称你就是他要抓的人。你能找出他为你定罪的理由吗？”
兰登沉默了片刻，说道：“不能。”
索菲叹了口气，显然法希故意说谎。索菲无法想象这是为什么，但这不是眼前的问题。事实就是贝祖·法希决定不惜一切代价，要在今晚将兰登投入大牢。
但是，索菲需要兰登。这样的两难境遇使索菲得出了一个结论：我得让兰登去美国大使馆。
索菲转向窗户，透过平板玻璃中镶嵌的警报网，从令人晕眩的四十英尺高处俯视马路。要是兰登从这么高的地方跳下去，至少也会摔断腿。
但不管怎样，索菲已经做了决定。
无论兰登是否情愿，他必须逃出卢浮宫。