All those years of black bag work for CIA and the final place I ever hit was also the nicest, even if I didn’t ever confirm the rumoured Vermeer. That job was a villa outside Rome, and it was really more of a palace. The analyst’s report had hinted at the Vermeer, but a man like that might have a half dozen safes littered around the house, not to mention vaults in a few freeports around the globe, so he had plenty of other places to stash his art. The safe we were after was in his office, so admittedly I only stole a few brief peeks at the living quarters. That was fine. We weren’t there for the art.
在中央情报局干了这么多年的黑包(black bag)工作，我最后去的地方也是最好的，尽管我没有亲眼看到传闻中的维米尔画作。那份工作是在罗马郊外的一座别墅，更像是一座宫殿。分析师的报告暗示了这幅维米尔的作品，但像他这样的人家里可能有六个保险箱，更不用说世界各地几个自由港的保险库了，所以他有很多地方可以藏他的艺术品。我们要找的保险箱在他的办公室里，所以不得不承认我只偷瞄了几眼生活区。这没关系。我们不是为了艺术品而来的。