Chapter 89

The immaculate cabin of Teabing's Hawker was now covered with steel shavings and smelled ofcompressed air and propane. Bezu Fache had sent everyone away and sat alone with his drink andthe heavy wooden box found in Teabing's safe.

　　Running his finger across the inlaid Rose, he lifted the ornate lid. Inside he found a stone cylinderwith lettered dials. The five dials were arranged to spell SOFIA. Fache stared at the word a longmoment and then lifted the cylinder¹ from its padded resting place and examined every inch. Then,pulling slowly on the ends, Fache slid off one of the end caps. The cylinder was empty.

　　Fache set it back in the box and gazed absently out the jet's window at the hangar, pondering hisbrief conversation with Sophie, as well as the information he'd received from PTS in ChateauVillette. The sound of his phone shook him from his daydream².

　　It was the DCPJ switchboard. The dispatcher was apologetic. The president of the Depository Bankof Zurich had been calling repeatedly, and although he had been told several times that the captainwas in London on business, he just kept calling. Begrudgingly³ Fache told the operator to forwardthe call.

　　"Monsieur Vernet," Fache said, before the man could even speak, "I am sorry I did not call youearlier. I have been busy. As promised, the name of your bank has not appeared in the media. Sowhat precisely⁴ is your concern?"Vernet's voice was anxious as he told Fache how Langdon and Sophie had extracted a smallwooden box from the bank and then persuaded Vernet to help them escape. "Then when I heard onthe radio that they were criminals," Vernet said, "I pulled over and demanded the box back, butthey attacked me and stole the truck.""You are concerned for a wooden box," Fache said, eyeing the Rose inlay on the cover and againgently opening the lid to reveal the white cylinder. "Can you tell me what was in the box?""The contents are immaterial," Vernet fired back. "I am concerned with the reputation of my bank.

　　We have never had a robbery. Ever. It will ruin us if I cannot recover this property on behalf of myclient.""You said Agent Neveu and Robert Langdon had a password and a key. What makes you say theystole the box?""They murdered people tonight. Including Sophie Neveu's grandfather. The key and passwordwere obviously ill-gotten.""Mr. Vernet, my men have done some checking into your background and your interests. You areobviously a man of great culture and refinement⁵. I would imagine you are a man of honor, as well.

　　As am I. That said, I give you my word as commanding officer of the Police Judiciaire that yourbox, along with your bank's reputation, are in the safest of hands."

提彬的"猎鹰者"号飞机那几乎称得上完美的机舱，此刻已被覆盖了一层薄薄的钢片。

空气被压缩了，散发出一股丙烷的味道。贝祖。法希将所有人都打发走，他独自一人坐着，手拿着饮料以及在提彬保险柜里找到的沉重的木盒。

他的手指滑过那朵镶嵌的玫瑰，并把那装饰精美的盖子举起来。他在里头发现了一个上面标有字母转盘的圆石筒。这五个字母拼起来就是SOFIA.法希盯着那五个字母，看了很长时间，然后把那圆柱体从衬垫上拿起来仔细的检查，生怕漏掉其中的某个部分。

法希将圆柱体放回了木盒，然后透过飞机的窗口，茫然地看着外面的停机库，脑子里还在想刚才跟索菲进行的简短谈话，以及刚从维莱特庄园PTS 那里发来的消息。突然一阵电话铃响，才将他从白日梦中惊醒过来。

电话是法国中央警署的接线总机转过来的。调度员一上来就不停地道歉，说苏黎世储蓄银行的总裁不断地打电话过来，尽管他们反复地告诉他中尉出差到伦敦去了，但他仍旧打电话来。法希很不情愿地让接线员把电话接过来。

"韦尔内先生。"法希还没等那人开口，就先说道："我很抱歉刚才没打电话给你。我总是很忙。我已经答应过你，不会让你银行的名字出现在各家媒体上。所以，你还有什么放心不下的呢？"

听得出韦尔内的语气里有些不安，他告诉法希，兰登与索菲如何将木盒子从银行里弄出来，又是怎样说服他协助他们逃跑。"然而当我听说他俩有罪在身时，我就把车开到路边，要他们把盒子还给我，但他们却攻击我，并开着我的车走了。""原来你还在关心紫檀木盒子啊。"法希看了看镶嵌在盖子上的玫瑰，然后又轻轻地揭开盖子，露出那白色的圆柱体。"那你告诉我，里面都放了些什么东西？"

"里面倒没有什么好东西。"韦尔内情绪激动起来："我只是担心银行的名声会受到损害。此前我们银行还从没遇到过抢劫事件，从来没有。如果我不能帮客户找回这件东西，我们的名声就会毁了。""你刚才说索菲和兰登有密码，也有钥匙，那你凭什么说他们盗走了盒子呢？"

"他们今晚杀了人，也包括索菲。奈芙的祖父在内。他们的钥匙和密码，很明显是通过非正当手段得到的。""韦尔内先生，你的背景资料和兴趣爱好我手下的人都已经调查的很清楚了。显然你是位颇有教养并且情趣高雅的人。我也想象得出，你跟我一样，是一位很讲信义的正派人。

这样吧，我以警察局上尉的名义向你保证，不单是你的盒子，就连你银行的信誉问题，都不会有丝毫的损失。"

1 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

2 daydream   

v.做白日梦，幻想

参考例句：

• Boys and girls daydream about what they want to be.孩子们遐想着他们将来要干什么。
• He drifted off into another daydream.他飘飘然又做了一个白日梦。

3 begrudgingly   

小气地，吝啬地

参考例句：

• Then, begrudgingly, I clean up – which doesn't really take that much time. 于是，为了省钱，我打扫干净－－那也不需要花很多时间。
• His terrible directness made me feel peeved, and begrudgingly I conceded that he was right. 他的坦率让我恼火。我承认他是对的，但十分不甘心。

4 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

5 refinement   

n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼

参考例句：

• Sally is a woman of great refinement and beauty. 莎莉是个温文尔雅又很漂亮的女士。
• Good manners and correct speech are marks of refinement.彬彬有礼和谈吐得体是文雅的标志。