《钱在哪儿》(Where the Money Was)翻译第21

地面上的雪肯定有一英尺厚，而且大雪还在继续下。大大的雪花慢慢的飘下来。不是很冷，但是正是我希望的看不清楚。我们从动力房拐角转过去，一路走到前门，然后我把铜线交给两个守卫，告诉他们将梯子绑在一起。很快其他人也过来了了，特努托和克莱尼（Tenuto and Kliney）弯下腰确定铜线绑紧了。围墙只有30英尺远，虽然我们不是正对着最近的守卫塔，我们偏离的角度也不大。就这糟糕的可见度和动力房的阴暗背景，再加上塔上的守卫，我感觉一切都在照计划进行。

关于梯子，相比绑扎是否牢固，我有个更加担心的事情。麦基最近告诉我的一个信息是。后面的围墙比前面的围墙高5-6英尺，高出来的额外部分是悬垂出来的。换句话说，在围墙顶部平面增加了1尺半宽，这样就可以在上面行走。

如果梯子高度不能到达悬垂处，根本就没有办法出去。

我们要找到出路。三个守卫按照要求带着梯子笔直的走向围墙，即不是朝着塔楼，也不是远离塔楼。我们挤在一群，和守卫靠在一起。直到梯子被举起来靠在墙上，守卫对着我们晃着探照灯并且大叫，"下面在干什么？"

"没有问题，"我大叫回去。"是紧急情况。"立即，他的机关枪响了，一长串的子弹在我们脚边溅起了雪花。"告诉他们一切正常，"我轻声对副巡长说，把他推到我前面。

"一切正常，"他大叫。"不要开枪，我们在做紧急维修。"

守卫听出了副巡长的声音，没再开枪。除了这个，我还有更值得庆幸的事情。虽然我看不到墙顶，从梯子的角度我可以判断它达到了围墙的悬空处。我们5个人，一个挨着一个向上爬。因为我拿着钩子和绳子，所以我是第一个。特努托是最后一个，因为我上去前把枪给了他。钩子很好的固定在悬垂处；我把绳子放下去，掉入深深的大雪中。

现在，我们可以预料，如果我们成功地翻过围墙，射击就会发生。即使机关枪没办法调转方向，每个塔楼的守卫都有一个自动步枪。他要做的就是从塔楼走出来，在环绕着塔楼的栏杆上转圈，就可以向我们射击了。我们挤在一起艰难的跋涉，因为我们脑袋里唯一的念头就是上车。如果有谁刚刚向我们这个方向射击，非常有可能击中某人。

难以置信的是，没有开枪。

毫无疑问，针对塔楼守卫主要的心理计划发挥了完美的作用。事实上，当副巡长被迫表明身份时，我们得到了额外的好处。塔楼守卫曾经质疑过我们，副巡长说过没有问题。他是没有问题的。

我很想知道我们离开后院子里发生了什么，因为更加难以置信的是，没有人追过来。

我可以理解院子里的狱警没有立即大喊。他们无法看到墙顶，记得吧，当你不确定正在发生的事情的时候，你通常假设最糟糕的情况。我有种感觉，当特努托离开很久后，他们还以为特努托的枪在指着他们。但是，塔楼的守卫能够看见我们经过，而且不管副巡长说过什么，他们一定能想到这是逃跑。不过，他们实在搞不清楚院子里正在发生什么事。如果没有报警声音发出来，在某种程度的意识中，他们一定想到了下面一群人中有囚犯。对他们来说，继续相信下面什么事都没有发生，好过离开塔楼的保护成为活靶子。

迟早会有人做些什么。或许有个塔楼守卫最后大叫，"到底在干什么？不管怎样，究竟是什么紧急的事情？"

副巡长回答，"看在上帝的份上，你们怎么能让他们翻过围墙却什么都不做？"
守卫喊回去，"你告诉了我，你告诉我（一切正常），你这个婊子养的。嘿，别想把这个怪到我头上。"

原文：
213-214页

There must have been a foot of snow on the ground, and it was still snowing very hard. Large snowflakes floating down softly. Not really very cold, but visibility every bit as poor as I could have hoped for. We turned the corner of the powerhouse and went all the way around to the front entrance before I handed the copper wire to the two guards and told them to lash the ladders together. As soon as the others joined us, Tenuto and Kliney bent down with them to make certain that the wire was being wound tight. The wall was only about thirty feet away, and while we weren’t directly opposite the closest tower we weren’t at very much of an angle from it either. Given the poor visibility and the dark background provided by the powerhouse, I felt that everything was going according to plan as far as the tower guards were concerned.

As far as the ladder was concerned, I had a worry that went well beyond how well the lashing job was done. One of McGee’s most recent bits of information was that the back wall was five or six feet higher than it was out front, with much of that extra height being in the form of an overhang. In other words, a good foot and a half had been added to the flat surface at the top of the wall to provide a footwalk.

If the ladder failed to reach the overhang, there was going to be absolutely no way of getting over.

We were about to find out. The three guards were ordered to take the ladder in a straight line to the wall, walking neither away from the tower nor toward it. We stayed very close to them, all in a bunch. It wasn’t until the ladder was being raised that the wall guard swung the searchlight toward us and shouted, “What’s going on down there?”

“It’s all right,” I shouted back. “It’s an emergency.”
Immediately, he opened up with his machine gun, a long rat-tat-tatting blast that kicked the snow up all around our legs. “Tell him it’s all right,” I hissed to the captain, pushing him in front of me.

“It’s all right,” he shouted. “Don’t shoot. We’ve got emergency repairs.”
The guard recognized the captain’s voice. There was no more shooting. And that wasn’t all I had to be grateful for. Although I couldn’t see to the top of the wall, I could tell by the angle at which the ladder set that it had reached above the overhang. Up we went, all five of us, one right in back of the other. I went first because I had the hook and the rope. Tenuto went last because before I started up I handed him the gun. The hook fit nicely around the overhang; I swung down the rope and dropped into the deep snow.

Now, we had always anticipated that if we succeeded in getting over the wall, the shooting would start. Although the machine gun couldn’t be turned around, every guard carried an automatic rifle inside the tower. All he would have to do was step out, wheel around the railed platform encircling the tower, and start firing at us. We were slogging and scrambling through the snow in fairly close formation because the only thing on our minds was getting to the car. If anybody had just shot in our general direction there would have been a very good chance of his hitting somebody.

Incredibly, there was not a shot.

There can be no question that the psychological master plan directed at the tower guard worked to perfection. As a matter of fact, we got a bonus when the captain was forced to identify himself. The tower guard had challenged us, and the captain had said it was okay. He was in the clear.

I’d love to know what happened in the yard after we were gone because, even more incredibly, nobody came after us.

I could understand why the officers in the yard wouldn’t yell out immediately. They couldn’t see the top of the wall, remember, and when you’re not sure what is happening you always assume the worst. I have a feeling they felt Tenuto’s gun on them long after he was over and gone. The tower guards could see us as we were going over, though, and no matter what the captain had said, the thought would have to enter their minds that this was an escape. They couldn’t really make out what was happening in the yard, though. If no alarm was being sounded, they would have to be thinking at some level of consciousness that there still must be some prisoners in the group below. It would be better for them to continue to believe that nothing was happening than to leave the protection of the tower and become sitting targets.

Sooner or later somebody would have to do something. Maybe a tower guard finally yelled, “What the hell is going on? What is this emergency supposed to be, anyway?”

The captain says, “For chrissake, how could you let them just drop over the wall without doing anything?”
The guard yells back, “You told me. You told me, you sonofabitch. Hey, you ain’t going to put this on me.”