Smiley's People汉译56

agent124

Strickland was lighting himself a fresh cigarette.
“Whoever heard of Moscow Rules in the middle of bloody Hampstead anyway?” Strickland asked, waving out the match.
“Bloody Hampstead is right,” Smiley said quietly.
“Mostyn, wrap the story up,” Lacon commanded, blushing scarlet.
They had agreed a time, Mostyn resumed woodenly, now staring at his left palm as if he were reading his own fortune in it: “Ten-twenty, sir.”
They had agreed Moscow Rules, he said, and the usual contact procedures, which Mostyn had established earlier in the afternoon by consulting the Oddbins encounter index.
“And what were the contact procedures exactly?” Smiley asked.
“A copy-book rendezvous, sir,” Mostyn replied. “The Sarratt training course all over again, sir.”
Smiley felt suddenly crowded by the intimacy of Mostyn’s respectfulness. He did not wish to be this boy’s hero, or to be caressed by his voice, his gaze, his “sir”s. He was not prepared for the claustrophobic admiration of this stranger.
“There’s a tin pavilion on Hampstead Heath, ten minutes’ walk from East Heath Road, overlooking a games field on the south side of the avenue, sir. The safety signal was one new drawing-pin shoved high in the first wood support on the left as you entered.”
“And the counter-signal?” Smiley asked.
But he knew the answer already.
斯屈克兰正点上一支烟。
“在该死的汉普斯特德，谁听说过莫斯科规则？” 斯屈克兰边把火柴挥灭，边问道。
“没错，汉普斯特德真的死了人。”斯迈利低声说。
“莫斯廷，把事情说完。”雷肯红着脸命令道。
他们约定了时间，莫斯廷木然地说道。现在他盯着自己的左手掌，好像在看自己的运势： “10点20分见面，长官。”
他说，他们商定了莫斯科规则和常规的联络程序，这是莫斯廷下午早些时候通过查阅打折酒科的联络手册确定的。
“具体的联络程序是什么？” 斯迈利问道。
“照本宣科的会面，长官。”莫斯廷回答。“又是萨拉特训练课程的那套，长官。”
斯迈利突然觉得莫斯廷的恭敬让他感到有点压抑。他不想被这个男孩视作英雄，这个男孩说话的声音、目光、和一口一个“长官”，都让斯迈利觉得过于殷勤。这个陌生人对他的仰慕简直使他有幽闭恐惧症的感觉，他一下子有些受不了。
“汉普斯特德石南园有一个铁皮亭子，离石南东路步行十分钟，可以俯视路南的运动场，长官。安全信号是插在进门左手边第一个木支架高处的一枚新图钉。”
“反信号呢？斯迈利问道。
其实他已经知道答案了。

“A yellow chalk line,” said Mostyn. “I gather yellow was the sort of Group trade mark from the old days.” He had adopted a tone of ending. “I put up the pin and came back here and waited. When he didn’t show up, I thought, ‘Well, if he’s secrecy-mad I’ll have to go up to the hut again and check out his counter-signal, then I’ll know whether he’s around and proposes to try the fallback.’ ”
“Which was what?”
“A car pick-up near Swiss Cottage underground at eleven-forty, sir. I was about to go out and take a look when Mr. Strickland rang through and ordered me to sit tight until further orders.” Smiley assumed he had finished but this was not quite true. Seeming to forget everyone but himself, Mostyn slowly shook his handsome head. “I never met him,” he said, in amazement. “He was my first agent, I never met him, I’ll never know what he was trying to tell me,” he said. “My first agent, and he’s dead. It’s incredible. I feel like a complete Jonah.” His head continued shaking long after he had finished speaking.
Lacon added a brisk postscript: “Yes, well, Scotland Yard has a computer these days, George. The Heath Patrol found the body and cordoned off the area and the moment the name was fed into the computer a light came up or a lot of digits or something, and immediately they knew he was on our special watch list. From then on it went like clockwork. The Commissioner phoned the Home Office, the Home Office phoned the Circus—”
“And you phoned me,” said Smiley. “Why, Oliver? Who suggested you bring me in on this?”
“用黄色粉笔划的线，”莫斯廷说。“我猜想黄色是小组以前用的标记。”他说话的口气意味着这个话题他已经说完了。“我按上图钉，回到这里等着。当他没有出现时，我想，'好吧，如果他是个保密狂，我就得再去亭子看看他的反信号，然后就知道他是否在附近，并提议尝试后备方案。“
“后备方案是什么？”
“11点40分，在瑞士度假屋地铁站附近用一部小车把人接上，长官。我正准备出去看看，斯屈克兰先生打来电话，命令我在接到进一步指示之前留在原地，不要采取任何行动。”。斯迈利以为他已经说完了，但他却没有。说着，莫斯廷似乎忘记了其他人的存在，他缓缓地摇了摇英俊的脑袋。“我从没见过他，”他自言自语地说着，感到不可思议。“他是我经手的第一位特工。我从没见过他，我将永远不知道他想告诉我什么，”他说。“我的第一位特工，他却死了。这太不可思议了。我觉得自己像个十足的约拿（约拿是《圣经》里的人物，人们认为约拿不服从上帝的命令，给船上的水手带来了灾难——译注）。说完，他的头还摇了很长时间。
雷肯三言两语作了些补充：“好的，这个，现在苏格兰场都有电脑了，乔治。石南园巡逻队发现了尸体，并封锁了现场。当名字输入电脑的那一刻，屏幕上某个指示灯亮了，或者出现了很多数字之类的东西，他们立刻就知道他在我们的特别监视名单上。从那时起，一切就像上了发条一样有条不紊地进行。警察总监给内政部打电话，内政部又给圆场打电话......”
“而你打电话给我，”斯迈利说。“为什么，奥利弗？谁建议你把我扯进来的？”