傑弗裏·阿切爾（Jeffrey Archer）畢業於牛津大學，1969年成為英國當時最年輕的國會議員，後曾任保守黨副主席，1992年成為上院終身議員。從1974年第一部長篇小說《一分不多，一分不少》問世起，阿切爾陸續發錶瞭10多部作品，包括長篇小說、短篇小說和劇本多種體裁，題材則不離政壇風雲、國際衝突、傢族爭鬥，巧妙的懸念設置、情節推進和適度穿插的情色描寫則助阿切爾榮登最暢銷作傢的寶座。

April 18th, t9o6 Slonim, Poland

She only stopped screaming when she died. It was then that

he started to scream.

The young boy who was hunting rabbits in the forest was

not sure whether it had been the woman s last cry or the

child s first that alerted him. He turned suddenly, sensing

the possible danger, his eyes searching for an animal that

was so obviously in pain. He had never known any animal

to scream in quite that way before. He edged towards the

noise cautiously; the scream had now turned to a whine,

but it still did not sound like any animal he knew. He hoped

it would be small enough to kill; at least that would make a

change from rabbit for dinner.

The young boy moved stealthily towards the fiver, where

the strange noise came from, running from tree to tree, feel-

ing the protection of the bark against his shoulder blades,

so/nething to touch. Never stay in the open, his father had

taught him. When he reached the edge of the forest, he had

a dear line of vision all the way down the valley to the

river, and even then it took him some time to realise that the

strange cry emanated from no ordinary animal. He con-

tinued to creep towards the whining, but he was out in the

open on his own now. Then suddenly he saw the woman,

with her dress above her waist, her bare legs splayed wide

apart. He had never seen a woman like that before. He ran

quickly to her side and stared down at her belly, quite

frightened to touch. There, lying between the woman s legs,

was the body of a small, damp, pink animal, attached by