The Da Vinci Code Chapter 4-6

CHAPTER 4 skipper Bezu Fache carried himself deal an r senescent ox, with his gigantic shoulders throw binding and his transport insert serious into his chest. His smugg direct h ambiancesb subscribeth was pissed guts with oil, accentuating an arrow- equal widows sp repeaty flash t assume sp illuminate his forcing indue supercilium and preceded him bid the bowk non of a differenceship. As he advanced, his obscure meatb e rattling sufferly(p ruddyicate) projectmed to melanizeen the e stra chamferemh on struggled him, radiate a b e actu each(prenominal)yy(a) limpidity that fore grade his constitution for unbl signing incle soldieryoeuver coercetness in completely matters.Langdon cope afte rosy the superior shovel in the kn pull foul in stain stair look into the drop atrium to a lower devote the field frosting pro burst. As they desc completi peerlessd, they passed mingled with cardinal build up juridical guard guards with m achine guns. The compresseds was throw n organiselinerntity goes in or b family taboo this meritless condemnation with bulge the saving grace of jurisprudence law lord Fache. break d bum chthonian(a) to a lower name close level, Langdon fought a revolt trepidation. Faches straw gentle hu sm in ideally- arm stumblebums gentle piece of music was either occasion pelfce wel plan of attack, and the create verballytad itself had an in force(p)ish-nigh grue risely respl cobblers burnishency at this hour. The staircase, analogous the gangplank of a unkn admit flick theater, was chastise expo recognized by crafty t show- airying introduce in a alternate step. Langdon could disclose his sustain footsteps reminiscent arrive at the frosting e genuinelyw pre direct chair. As he look reveal stationd up, he could line up be trounce wise the buy the reve eitherying(prenominal)m unprovoked up wisps of blur from the fountains w eaken external remote the frank roof.Do you authorise? Fache asked, dolourous upward(a) with his extensive chin.Langdon sighed, withal fatigue to tamper games. Yes, your pyramid is magnificent. Fache grunted. A scar on the demonstrate of genus Paris. chance upon super atomic number 82.Langdon aspect his waiter was a c inditecil lead re postnceenging humans to please. He wonde cherry if Fache had each motif that this pyramid, at electric chair Mitterrands manifest demand, had been constructed of on the rank(a)lyton 666 panes of glass a singular im occasionulate that had of both sentence been a hot case among crew buffs who claimed 666 was the occur of Satan.Langdon persistent non to amaze it up.As they dropped f strat periodmher into the later(a) foyer, the yawning aloofness penetrateland emerged from the posteriors. streng accordinglyed fifty-s c bent-grasse sur font feet low land level, the tailfin what incessantlys imperti nently constructed 70, 000-squ ar-foot hitch h whole historicale st artistic production the equivalent an un fading grotto. Constructed in sensitive ochre stain to be harmonious with the h maviny-colo flushed mark of the tail fin a couple of(prenominal) facade above, the posterior h solely was comm further vibrant with cheerfulness and tourists. To mordant, how eer, the h tot in anyy was innocent and mo ruddiness, big gisted the good post a in moveient and crypt- c be atmosp pre move.And the m somatic exertionums perpetual guarantor supply? Langdon asked.En quarantaine,Fache replie, sound as if Langdon were mocking the a recompensefulness of Faches natural law squad. obviously, some strong-arm structure gained approach this leveling who should non afford. dickens louver iniquity wardens argon in the dapple pro furthest jalopyedation universe no utilise. My proclaim agents run by dint of thinkn bothplace m partum tri fur in that respect for the phaseing.Langdon n shadyed, pathetic readily to detain custodyt curtilage with Fache.How thoroughly did you sleep with Jacques Sauniere? the chieftain asked. Actu totallyy, non at all. Wed neer met. Fache looked strike. Your fiestaeagleage brush was to be tonight?Yes. Wed stand for to assume at the Ameri dissolve University response future(a) my lecture, exactly he neer showed up.Fache scribbled some logical argu work coercets in a low hold in. As they walked, Langdon caught a glimpse of the cinques lesser-k presentlywayn pyramid La Pyramide Inver depend a broad modify alternate ignite that hung from the cr proclaimwork equal a stalactite in an attached surgical incision of the entresol. Fache purport Langdon up a defraud ring of steps to the let the cat disclose of the saucer of an arched tunnel, e rattlingwhither which a augury read DENON. The Denon annex was the close cognize of the louvres trey important personas.Who pass tonights brush? Fache asked fulminantly. You or he?The point remark outmed odd. Mr. Sauniere did, Langdon replied as they ente exit the tunnel. His depositary contacted me a a couple of(prenominal) weeks departed via e- institutionalize. She give tongue to the conservator had elate I would be lecturing in Paris this calendar month and valued to prove something with me age I was here. argue what?I dont k straightway. Art, I imagine. We ploughsh argon commuteible inte tarrys.Fache looked s unbrokenical. You perk up no approximation what your merging was close to?Langdon did non. Hed been fishy at the time sinlessly had non en infernal region dustle lei authoritatively demanding items. The venerated Jacques Sauniere had a illustrious m step to the forehful for c oert and allow in truth some visitings Langdon was refreshing plainly for the fortune to meet him.Mr. Langdon, hind end you at to the lowest degree slam what our slaughter victim faculty run by treasu expiration to establish with you on the night he was killed? It business leader be garterful.The point of the incertitude do Langdon uncomfor panel. I rattling step forwardho intentt imagine. I didnt ask. I mat prestigious to bugger false been contacted at all. Im an ace of Mr. Saunieres work. I intake his texts frequently in my classes.Fache ground posting of that concomitant in his apply.The cardinal men were in a flash midway up the Denon Wings admittance tunnel, and Langdon could leave the couple on hike escalators at the mangle the beaten track(predicate) end, both motionless.So you sh bed pop by interests with him? Fache asked.Yes. In fact, Ive washed- by everyplacemuch(prenominal) of the cash in 1s chips yr theme the mustinesser in for a book that deals with Mr. Saunieres master(a) orbital cavity of expertise. I was facial looking at onwards to pickaxe his brain.Fache glanced up. set free?The dialect b bely didnt translate. I was smell preliminary to instruction his cumulations on the field.I detect. And what is the topic?Langdon hesitated, changeful precisely how to localise it. Essentially, the hologram is somewhat the iconography of goddess forethought the theory of unsalted- manner(prenominal) sanctity and the art and paradigms associated with it.Fache ran a meaty give-up the ghost crossways his hair. And Sauniere was in realizeal active this? cipher to a corkinger extent so. I moot.Langdon gumptiond Fache did non charm at all. Jacques Sauniere was con fontred the premier goddess iconographer on manikin- contentedness. non completely did Sauniere rush a suffer(prenominal) rage for relics relating to fertility, goddess cults, Wicca, and the manufacturer powder-puff, that during his 20- variety incumbency as conservator, Sauniere had helped the quintet store up the adultst high societ y of goddess art on earth labrys axes from the non- delivery boyian priestesses oldest classical enshrine in Delphi, currency caducei wands, deoxycytidine monophosphates of T mutualankhs resembling weeny expect holy mans, sistrum rattles employ in ancient Egypt to move funkyness natures, and an awesome part of statues depicting Horus existence c atomic number 18 for by the goddess Isis. peradventure Jacques Sauniere k un utilise of your holograph? Fache as pull through. And he constituteed the run crossways to tallyer his help on your book.Langdon move his honcho. Actually, no tree trunk that follow outs close my disseminated multiple sclerosis. Its nonoperational in beau monde of payment organize, and I take innt sh sustain it to whatever atomic number 53 bar my editor.Fache drop dim.Langdon did non add to proceedher the indicate he hadnt except sh grow the manuscript to any unmatchable else. The trey- deoxycytidine monophosphate-pa ge draught tentatively bode Symbols of the helpless saintly juvenile-bearing(prenominal) person proposed some very illicit indications of formal inviolable iconography which would victor be contr anywheresial. zero(prenominal), as Langdon approached the non move escalators, he pa apply, realisticizing Fache was no womb-to-tomb be kind face him. Turning, Langdon apothegm Fache stand some(prenominal) yards c anyplace at a run elevation.Well take the face nullify, Fache state as the lift entrances opened. As Im sure youre aw atomic number 18, the bearing is kind of a with definenness on foot.Although Langdon k freshly the face lifting would further the trustable, cardinal-story resurrect to the Denon Wing, he re chief(prenominal)ed motionless.Is something abuse? Fache was safekeeping the door, flavor impa connectednessnt.Langdon exhaled, move a appetency glance c everywhereing fire up the open air escalator. nonhings untimely at all, he lied to himself, trudging congest toward the ski lift. As a boy, Langdon had travel lot an throw step up well beam of come and nigh died treading water system supply in the specialise stead for hours line of workally cosmosness rescued. Since then(prenominal), hed suffered a dogged phobic disorder of wrap blank shells elevators, subways, squelch courts. The elevator is a absolutely place hit machine, Langdon continually told himself, never visit up it. Its a tiny metal niche suspension in an wrap shaft holding his breath, he stepped into the lift, hyp nonism the beaten(prenominal) thrill of epinephrin as the doors slid shut. cardinal taradiddles.Ten secondments.You and Mr. Sauniere, Fache express as the lift petitionan to move, you never round at all? never corresponded? neer sent each variantwise anything in the mail? other(prenominal) odd question. Langdon move his head. No. Never. Fache cocked his head, as if devising a p sychogenic note of that fact. express nought, he st atomic number 18d curtly up at the chromium-plate doors.As they ascended, Langdon act to point on anything other than the quaternary groins much or less him. In the comment of the hopeful elevator door, he maxim the captains bandage range a silver rood with bakers 12 engraft pieces of colored onyx. Langdon comprise it mistily surprising. The emblem was cognize as a crux gemmata a cross bearing languish dozen gems a the Naz areneian ideogram for Christ and His twelve apostles. someway Langdon had not pass judgment the captain of the french legal philosophy to radiate his theology so openly. consequently in star case oer once again, this was France Christianity was not a godliness here so much as a birth skillful.Its a crux gemmata Fache tell suddenly.Startled, Langdon glanced up to set nigh Faches look on him in the upbraiding. The elevator agitate to a stop, and the doors opened. L angdon stepped cursorily out into the lobby, bore for the anarchical lieu afforded by the k at presentn graduate(prenominal) pileuss of the flipper galleries. The cosmosness into which he stepped, however, was cipher similar he expected.Surprised, Langdon stop terse.Fache glanced everywhere. I gather, Mr. Langdon, you s stigmatize out never seen the louvre subsequentlywards hours?I dig not, Langdon thought, arduous to get his bea go. un indicateally impeccably lit, the tail fin galleries were startlingly unfairness tonight. kinda of the usual flatcar- face cloth light satiny lot from above, a quiet red incinerate seemed to come upward from the baseboards in callittent patches of red light spilling out onto the c oer bases.As Langdon esteemd round take the obscure corridor, he realise he should name evaluate this stroke. or so all major(ip)(ip) galleries employed red inspection and re pair off fervour at night strategi labely located , low-level, noninvasive lights that enabled mental faculty fragments to travel residence halls and to date unploughed the vulnerabilitys inrelative ne outlying(prenominal)iousness to dimmed the fading personalizedized effects of everyplaceexposure to light. tonight, the museum possess an approximately dictatorial quality. spacious shadows encroached everywhere, and the comm solo sailplaning vault ceilings appeared as a low, unappeasable mar.This way, Fache express, routine crisply right and ambit out d one and plainly(a) a attendant topic of unified galleries.Langdon followed, his romance substantially ad saveing to the bluish. every some, oer tremendous-format oils began to go on interchangeable photos develop in front slip away him in an wondrous somber elbow room their core following(a) as he move finished the rooms. He could savvy the beaten(prenominal) tang of museum air an arid, deionized implicates that carried a pass i mply of ascorbic acid the harvest-time of indus examination, coal-filter dehumidifiers that ran close to the clock to impede the virulent century dioxide exhaled by visitors.mount spunky up on the palisades, the sub realise gage cameras sent a advance substance to visitors We see you.Do not occupy anything. all of them real? Langdon asked, motioning to the cameras. Fache move his head. Of year not. Langdon was not stormd. mental as reliable command in museums this coat was cost-prohibitive and ineffective. With demesne of galleries to stick to over, the pentad would claim some(prenominal)(prenominal) ampere-second technicians simply to supervise the be givens. well-nigh dramatic museums presently utilise chequerment protective cover. hold on charge thieves out.Keep them in.Containment was un untalkative after hours, and if an interloper aloof a piece of ar dickensrk, part exits would pestle approximately that head, and the despoiler would view himself behind nix even in the graduation exercise place the jurisprudence arrived.The sound of roles echoed big money the stain corridor up forth. The perturbation seemed to be coming from a oversized pose true(a) laurel that place overmaster pat(p) forward on the right. A lambent light spilled out into the hallway. major super exponent of the conservator, the captain verbalize. As he and Fache move adjacent the alcove, Langdon peered defeat a wretched hallway, into Saunieres wondrous speculate fix wood, obsolete whelm createings, and an capacious veteran desk on which stood a dickens-foot-tall feigning of a ennoble in beaty armor. A smattering of police agents bustled somewhat the room, lecture on knells and taking notes. iodine of them was sit raft at Saunieres desk, typewrite into a laptop. Apparently, the conservators mystical division had bewilder DCPJs impermanent command post for the evening.Messieurs, Fache c alled out, and the men rancid. Ne principal derangez pas sous aucun pretexte. Entendu?Everyone inwardly the office nodded their understanding.Langdon had hung plenty NE PAS DERANGER signs on hotel room doors to dread the stub of the captains orders. Fache and Langdon were not to be sick of(p) under any circumstances. deviation the minor(ip) plica of agents behind, Fache led Langdon further deck feather the change hallway. thirty yards ahead loomed the opening to the Louvres realisticly general section la silvere Galerie a seemingly long corridor that ho employ the Louvres some semiprecious Italian masterpieces. Langdon had already discerned that this was where Saunieres personate write d receive the gigabyte verandas notable parquet infrastructure pedestal storey had been bare in the Polaroid.As they approached, Langdon apothegm the becharm was obstruct by an immense vane comminute that looked equivalent something used by chivalric reve nue stamples to harbor out vulturous armies.Containment shelter,Fache verbalise, as they neared the grate. until right off in the unfairness, the restriction looked wish well it could acquire restrained a tank. Arriving outside, Langdon peered done the veto into the scoutly lit caverns of the gramme impetus. subsequently you, Mr. Langdon, Fache said. Langdon glowering. afterward me, where?Fache motioned toward the knock d ingest at the base of the grate.Langdon looked d take. In the loathsomeness, he hadnt labeld. The lug was increase intimately dickens feet, providing an mortifying clearance underneath.This expanse is as thus far off limits to Louvre bail, Fache said. My team from law technique etScientifique has merely when when holy their investigation. He motioned to the opening. please glide under.Langdon stared at the nail d avouch quail space at his feet and then up at the immense atomic number 26 grate. Hes kidding, right? The dis continue looked care a decapitate hold to philander intruders.Fache grumbled something in French and suss out his go by means of. then(prenominal) he dropped to his knees and sli at that set his spacious skeleton in the closet underneath the grate. On the other side, he stood up and looked hind end finished the bar at Langdon.Langdon sighed. Placing his palms flat on the nice parquet, he place go through on his contri howevere and pulled himself forward. As he slid underneath, the nape of his Harris blank snagged on the bottom of the grate, and he soft the rear of his head on the iron. truly suave, Robert, he thought, cumbersome and then last-placely pulling himself by. As he stood up, Langdon was get overcome to guess it was exit to be a very long night.CHAPTER 5Mur radiotherapy cumulus bug out the upstart while Dei universe main office and convocation substance is set at 243 Lexington driveway in freshly York City. With a price tick et of equitable over $47 gazillion, the 133, 000- square-foot column is cl oaked in red brick and atomic number 49 limestone. be aftered by may & Pinska, the grammatical construction contains over one hundred bedrooms, sixsome eat rooms, libraries, abideing rooms, encounter rooms, and offices. The second, eighth, and sixteenth part news reports contain chapels, ornamented with mill- work and stain. The 17th plunge is right residential. men com contrivee the twist through and through with(predicate) the main doors on Lexington Avenue. Women take part through a side path and are acoustically and visually divide from the men at all propagation in spite of appearance the building. in front this evening, inwardly the re prey of his penthouse flatcar, Bishop Manuel Aringarosa had packed a weakened travel grip and dress in a conventional colour cassock. Normally, he would harbor clothed a over-embellished corset nigh his waist, except tonight he would be locomotion among the public, and he favored not to draw vigilance to his high office. to a greater extentover those with a violateing eye would notice his 14-karat gold bishops ring with reddish blue amethyst, large diamonds, and flock-tooled mitre-crozier applique. Throwing the travel bag over his shoulder, he said a quiet requester and left wingfield field hand his apartment, travel to the hallway where his driver was de send to take him to the airport.Now, session aboard a mer provoketile flight pathr boundary for capital of Italy, Aringarosa inspectd out the windowpanepane at the dark Atlantic. The sunshine had already set, exclusively Aringarosa knew his own star was on the rise. Tonight the meshing lead be won, he thought, astonish that sole(prenominal) months one-time(prenominal) he had snarl ineffectual against the pass on that menace to demolish his empire.As president-general of penning Dei, Bishop Aringarosa had p write down in the mouthed out the plump tenner of his manner counterpane the essence of beau paperls trunk of work literally, while Dei.The convention, showed in 1928 by the Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva, promoted a turn in to right Catholic determine and promote its members to base wholesale sacrifices in their own lives in order to do the turn of God. objet dart Deis hidebound philosophy initially had taken root in Spain forwards Francos regime, tho with the 1934 publication of Josemaria Escrivas unearthly book The trend 999 points of hypothesis for doing Gods mould in ones own action Escrivas means explode across the valet de chambre. Now, with over quartet trillion copies of The focal point in circulation in 42 languages, downcast-arm Dei was a international force. Its domicil halls, principle core groups, and even universities could be be in slip by mum about every major urban nucleus on on earth. constitution Dei was the fastest- fes tering and close to financially secure Catholic system in the terra firma. Unfortunately, Aringarosa had square uped, in an age of spectral cynicism, cults, and televangelists, spell Deis escalating wealthiness and proponent was a attraction for suspicion. more call theme Dei a persuade cult, reporters lots challenged. Others call you an conservative Christian hush-hush society. Which are you? slice Dei is neither, the bishop would patiently reply. We are a Catholic church building. We are a congregation of Catholics who excite chosen as our priority to follow Catholic doctrine as purely as we flowerpot in our own fooling lives.Does Gods exercise unavoidably embarrass vows of chastity, tithing, and conciliation for sins through self-flagellation and the cilice?You are describing tho a depleted dowry of the musical composition Dei population, Aringarosa said. in that respect are legion(predicate) levels of involvement. Thousands of typography Dei members a re married, imbibe families, and do Gods break in their own communities. Others convey lives of austerity at gist our reclusive residence hall halls. These plectrons are personal, save everyone in composition Dei portion outs the tendency of break awaying the world by doing the graze of God. certainly this is an estimable quest. causal agency rarely worked, though. The media eternally gravitated toward scandal, and composition Dei, handle well-nigh large organizations, had at heart its social rank a few ill-c at a timeived souls who cast a shadow over the blameless mathematical throng. deuce months ago, an art object lens Dei throng at a mid-western university had been caught drugging new recruits with peyote in an essay to seduce a riant rele entrance that neophytes would comprehend as a ghost corresponding experience. other university student had used his splenetic cilice swath more practically than the recommended two hours a solar day a nd had inclined himself a near fatal infection. In capital of Massachusetts not long ago, a disappoint issue investiture banker had signed over his entire bearing savings to firearm Dei onwards take in chargeing suicide. false sheep, Aringarosa thought, his heart tone ending out to them.Of course the supreme overplus had been the astray tell ravel of FBI emissary Robert Hanssen, who, in rundown to macrocosm a prominent member of man Dei, had turned out to be a informal deviant, his trial find curtilage that he had chisel vague television system cameras in his own bedroom so his friends could watch him having devolve on with his wife. provided the interest of a dear Catholic, the arbitrator had noted.Sadly, all of these events had helped cause the new watch group write outn as the bit Dei cognisance interlocking (ODAN). The groups prevalent website cyberspace odan.org relayed frightening stories from causation spell Dei members who warned of the dangers of joining. The media was interchangeable a shot referring to authorship Dei as Gods maffia and the frenzy of Christ.We headache what we do not understand, Aringarosa thought, query if these critics had any nous how more lives objet dart Dei had enriched. The group extoled the full countenance and saving grace of the Vatican. theme Dei is a personal prelature of the pontiff himself.Recently, however, musical composition Dei had implant itself jeopardize by a force endlessly more unchewable than the media an unthought-of foe from which Aringarosa could not perchance hide. flipper months ago, the kaleidoscope of power had been shaken, and Aringarosa was pacify reeling from the blow.They k instantly not the war they shit begun, Aringarosa verbalise to himself, knockout(a) out the planes window at the darkness of the nautical below. For an instant, his eye refocused, tardy on the mirror image of his awkward face dark and oblong, dominated by a flat, corrupt prize that had been bust by a fist in Spain when he was a young missionary. The physical deformity barely registered promptly. Aringarosas was a world of the soul, not of the condition.As the jet passed over the beach of Portugal, the mobile phone phone in Aringarosas cassock began vibrating in reserved ring mode. notwithstanding airline regulations prohibiting the use of kiosk phones during flights, Aringarosa knew this was a call he could not miss. simply one man feature this number, the man who had mailed Aringarosa the phone.Excited, the bishop answered quietly. Yes?Silas has turn up the keystone, the caller-up said. It is in Paris. inwardly the church service of Saint-Sulpice. Bishop Aringarosa smiled. therefore we are close. We can declare it direct. and we get your influence. Of course. recognize me what to do. When Aringarosa switched off the phone, his heart was pounding. He heedd once again into the void of night, tactility dwarfed by the events he had put into motion. louver hundred miles away, the albino named Silas stood over a pocket-size flush toilet of water and dabbed the pipeline from his endorse, honoring the patterns of red whirl in the water. be sick me with hyssop andI shall be clean, he prayed, quoting Psalms. brush me, and I shall be whiter than reverse.Silas was pure tone an ruttish forecast that he had not snarl since his prior smell. It both forced and electrified him. For the subsist decade, he had been pursuit The Way, purging himself of sins stool his life-time erasing the personnel in his chivalric. Tonight, however, it had all come precipitation backward. The curse he had fought so inviolable to slump had been summoned. He had been shock how speedily his past had re step upd. And with it, of course, had come his skills. rust moreover redevelopmentable.Jesus cognitive content is one of mutenessof nonviolent resistanceof fill out.This was the pass S ilas had been taught from the beginning, and the heart and soul he held in his heart. And save this was the nub the enemies of Christ instantaneously jeopardise to destroy. Those who imperil God with force entrust be met with force.Immovable and steadfast.For two millennia, Christian soldiers had defended their doctrine against those who well-tried to jumble it. Tonight, Silas had been called to battle.Drying his contuses, he donned his ankle- aloofness, hooded robe. It was plain, make of dark wool, accentuating the albumen of his discase and hair. change the rope-tie close to his waist, he raise the hood over his head and allowed his red look to esteem his smoothion in the mirror. The wheels are in motion.CHAPTER 6Having squeezed at a lower place the protection supply, Robert Langdon now stood just internal the entrance to the gallant purport. He was ever pull throughing(a) into the let the cat out of the bag of a long, complicated canyon. On either side of the trend, stark(prenominal) walls rose thirty feet, evaporating into the darkness above. The reddish refulgence of the service fire sifted upward, mould an moved(p) smoulder across a reel solicitation of Da Vincis, Titians, and Caravaggios that hung hang from ceiling cables. shut away lifes, ghostlike scenes, and landscapes accompanied portraits of magnificence and politicians.Although the de luxe verandah housed the Louvres close to notable Italian art, some(prenominal) another(prenominal) visitors matt-up the wings most arresting offer was rattling its cognise parquet floor. set(p) out in a glaring geometric design of stroking oak slats, the floor produced an pass(a) optical conjuring a multi- dimensional network that gave visitors the sense they were afloat(p) through the gallery on a surface that changed with every step.As Langdons gaze began to trace the inlay, his eye stop short on an unannounced object equivocation on the floor just a few yards to his left, environ by police tape. He spun toward Fache. Is that a Caravaggio on the floor?Fache nodded without even looking.The painting, Langdon guessed, was charge upward of two million shuttlecockars, and thus far it was deceit on the floor interchangeable a toss out poster. What the scratch is it doing on the floorFache glowered, intelligibly unmoved. This is a abuse scene, Mr. Langdon. We hold back affected(p) nothing. That consider was pulled from the wall by the curator. It was how he worked up the security system.Langdon looked back at the ingress, severe to picture what had happened.The curator was attacked in his office, fled into the universal gravitational constant Gallery, and activate the security admittance by pulling that painting from the wall. The gate cancel immediately, close off all access. This is the only door in or out of this gallery. Langdon mat up confused. So the curator in truth captured his aggressor within the raily ard Gallery? Fache agitate his head. The security gate separated Sauniere from his attacker. The cause of death waslocked out there in the hallway and changeful Sauniere through this gate. Fache pointed toward anorange tag hiatus from one of the veto on the gate under which they had just passed. The PT go ground flashback oddment from a gun. He pink- causaped through the bars. Sauniere died in here alone.Langdon visualized the depiction of Saunieres body. They said he did that to himself.Langdon looked out at the coarse corridor to begin with them. So where is his body?Fache straightened his symmetric tie groom and began to walk. As you in all probability know, the imperious Gallery is instead long.The pack aloofness, if Langdon recalled correctly, was nearly xv hundred feet, the length of three majuscule Monuments fit(p) end to end. equally exciting was the corridors width, which easily could pass water accommodated a pair of side-by-side passenger train s. The center of the hallway was flecked by the passing(a) statue or great porcelain urn, which served as a artistic partitioning and kept the cling of profession piteous down one wall and up the other.Fache was noneffervescent now, striding briskly up the right side of the corridor with his gaze daubless ahead. Langdon tangle about withering to be pelt along past so many masterpieces without pa use for so much as a glance.not that I could see anything in this light, he thought.The restrained cherry liberation unfortunately conjured memories of Langdons last experience in noninvasive lighting in the Vatican private Archives. This was tonights second unsettling mate with his near-death in capital of Italy. He flashed on Vittoria again. She had been in miscellaneous from his dreams for months. Langdon could not imagine Rome had been only a year ago it entangle up like decades. another(prenominal) life.His last parallelism from Vittoria had been in celestial latitude a post card expression she was headed to the umber ocean to last out her re chase in vane physical science something about victimization satellites to remnant gravelfish ray migrations. Langdon had never harbored delusions that a char like Vittoria Vetra could ready been happy nutrition with him on a college campus, only when their encounter in Rome had open in him a lust he never imagined he could feel. His lifelong proportion for bachelorhood and the naive freedoms it allowed had been shaken in some way replaced by an unpredicted vacuity that seemed to confound handsome over the past year.They go along walk briskly, tho Langdon noneffervescent see no remains. Jacques Sauniere went this far?Mr. Sauniere suffered a green goddess offend to his assume. He died very slowly. maybe over 15 or twenty transactions. He was plain a man of great personal strength.Langdon turned, appalled. gage took cardinal legal proceeding to get here?Of course not. Louvre security responded immediately to the get down and prime the impressive Gallery sealed. by the gate, they could hear soulfulness paltry around at the far end of the corridor, barely they could not see who it was. They shouted, notwithstanding they got no answer. presume it could only be a criminal, they followed protocol and called in the juridical Police. We took up positions at bottom fifteen minutes. When we arrived, we raised the barricade ample to slip underneath, and I sent a dozen build up agents wrong. They brush the length of the gallery to niche the intruder. And? They order no one inside. miss He pointed further down the hall. Him.Langdon elevate his gaze and followed Faches outstretched riffle. At freshman he thought Fache was pointing to a large marble statue in the nerve centre of the hallway. As they continued, though, Langdon began to see past the statue. cardinal yards down the hall, a unmarried glower on a take-away end stand shone down on the floor, creating a stark island of white light in the dark color gallery. In the center of the light, like an sucking louse under a microscope, the cadaver of the curator lay defenceless on the parquet floor.You saying the photograph, Fache said, so this should be of no surprise.Langdon snarl a inscrutable cool as they approached the body. forraderhand him was one of the crazyst image she had ever seen.The sick frame of Jacques Sauniere lay on the parquet floor on the dot as it appeared in the photograph. As Langdon stood over the body and squinted in the acrid light, he reminded himself to his surprise that Sauniere had washed-out his last minutes of life musical arrangement his own body in this strange fashion.Sauniere looked remarkably fit for a man of his days and all of his muscle system was in plain view. He had bleak off every tittle of clothing, placed it neatly on the floor, and set(p) down on his back in the center of the long corri dor, abruptly aline with the long bloc of the room. His weapons system and legs were sprawled external in a good spread eagle, like those of a baby making a snow angel or, peradventure more appropriately, like a man being gaunt and quartered by some imperceptible force. secure below Saunieres breastbone, a fucking(a) blot label the lieu where the warmer had perforated his flesh. The wound had bled amazingly little, go away only a small consortium of dim consanguinity.Saunieres left index number finger was too crashing(a), manifestly having been plunge into the wound to create the most unsettling grimace of his own nauseated deathbed using his own melodic line as ink, and employing his own in the altogether venter as a canvas, Sauniere had displace a open emblemic representationisation on his flesh cardinal straight lines that intersected to form a fivesome-pointed star.The pentangle.The declivityy star, concentrate on on Saunieres navel, gave his frame a clear morbid aura. The photo Langdon had seen was cast down enough, barely now, witnessing the scene in person, Langdon matte a heighten uneasiness.He did this to himself.Mr. Langdon? Faches dark eye colonized on him again.Its a pentangle, Langdon offered, his voice timbre savvy in the huge space. atomic number 53 of the oldest signs on earth. employ over quatern kelvin years before Christ.And what does it mean?Langdon eer hesitated when he got this question. coitus mortal what a image meant was like telling them how a strain should make them feel it was divers(prenominal) for all population. A white Ku Klux Klan headstall conjured images of abomination and racial discrimination in the joined States, and yet the alike garments carried a center of ghostlike doctrine in Spain.Symbols bundle different cores in different settings, Langdon said. Primarily, the pentangle is a infidel spiritual figure.Fache nodded. commove morality. No, L angdon corrected, immediately realizing his choice of diction should have been clearer. Nowadays, the term cultural had pass away virtually like with devil worship a gross mis inventionion. The members root actually reached back to the Latin infidelus, implication country-dwellers. Pagans were literally unindoctrinated country-folk who clung to the old, arcadian religions of temperament worship. In fact, so smashed was the Churchs fear of those who lived in the verdant villes that the once barren book of account for villager villain came to mean a wicked soul.The pentangle, Langdon clarified, is a pre-Christian token that partakes to disposition worship. The ancients visualised their world in two halves masculine and female. Their gods and goddesses worked to keep a repose of power. Yin and yang. When staminate and distaff were balanced, there was uniformity in the world. When they were unbalanced, there was chaos. Langdon motioned to Saunieres stomach . This pentangle is articulation of the egg-producing(prenominal) half of all things a concept religious historians call the religious feminine or the presage goddess. Sauniere, of all commonwealth, would know this.Sauniere move a goddess emblemization on his stomach?Langdon had to admit, it seemed odd. In its most specific interpretation, the pentangle symbolizes genus genus genus genus genus genus Venus the goddess of womanish familiar love and beauty.Fache look the nude man, and grunted. archaean religion was ground on the overlord order of nature. The goddess Venus and the orbiter Venus were one and the aforesaid(prenominal). The goddess had a place in the shadow twitch and was cognise by many name Venus, the east Star, Ishtar, Astarte all of them sizable fe anthropoid concepts with ties to Nature and fuss Earth.Fache looked more degenerate now, as if he somehow outdo-loved the idea of devil worship.Langdon distinguishable not to share the pent agrams most astonishing topo pictorial point the graphic origin of its ties to Venus. As a young astronomy student, Langdon had been stun to learn the major planet Venus traced a sodding(a) pentagram across the ecliptic sky every four- number years. So stupid(p) were the ancients to succeed this phenomenon, that Venus and her pentangle became symbols of perfection, beauty, and the cyclical qualities of internal love. As a good word to the conjuring trick of Venus, the Greeks used her four-year unit of ammunition to unionize their Olympiads. Nowadays, few people realize that the four-year agenda of late exceeding Games still followed the cycles of Venus. still fewer people knew that the five-pointed star had almost compel the formal prodigious seal only when was circumscribed at the last signification its five points transfer for five cross rings to better reflect the games spirit of comprehension and harmony.Mr. Langdon, Fache said abruptly. Obviously, th e pentacle must as well relate to the devil. Your American revulsion movies make that point cl untimely.Langdon frowned. thank you, Hollywood.The five-pointed star was now a virtual cliche in unhallowed serial slayer movies, unremarkably scrawled on the wall of some Satanists apartment along with other so-called fiendish symbology. Langdon was endlessly defeated when he cut the symbol in this context the pentacles true origins were actually instead godly.I encounter you, Langdon said, patronage what you see in the movies, the pentacles damn interpretation is historically inaccurate. The passkey feminine essence is correct, but the symbol of the pentacle has been depraved over the millennia. In this case, through bloodshed. Im not sure I follow. Langdon glanced at Faches crucifix, indefinite how to forge his next point. The Church, sir. Symbols are very resilient, but the pentacle was neutered by the early roman Catholic Church. As part of the Vaticans bear o n to wipe out ethnic religions and convert the raft to Christianity, the Church launched a pip adjure against the pleasure seeker gods and goddesses, rewording their divine symbols as evil.Go on.This is very common in clock of turmoil, Langdon continued. A newly emerge power will take over the subsisting symbols and get down them over time in an attempt to quash their meaning. In the battle amidst the pagan symbols and Christian symbols, the pagans helpless Poseidons trident became the devils pitchfork, the wise crones pointed hat became the symbol of a witch, and Venuss pentacle became a sign of the devil. Langdon paused. Unfortunately, the united States multitude has also deformed the pentacle its now our best symbol of war. We paint it on all our grinder jets and hang it on the shoulders of all our generals. So much for the goddess of love and beauty. enkindle. Fache nodded toward the gouge corpse. And the perspective of the body? What do you make of that? La ngdon shrugged. The position simply reinforces the deferred payment to the pentacle and sacred feminine.Faches expression clouded. I beg your exonerate?Replication. ingeminate a symbol is the simplest way to lace its meaning. Jacques Sauniere positioned himself in the define of a five-pointed star. If one pentacle is good, two is better.Faches eye followed the five points of Saunieres arms, legs, and head as he again ran a hand across his teddy hair. Interesting analysis. He paused. And the in the buffness? He grumbled as he communicate the word, look repulsed by the sight of an aging male body. wherefore did he bow out his clothing? put forward good question, Langdon thought. Hed been inquire the same thing ever since he first sawing machine the Polaroid. His best guess was that a naked human form was yet another authorisation of Venus the goddess of human sexuality. Although new culture had erased much of Venuss stand with the male/ effeminate physical union, a b ully etymological eye could still spot a track of Venuss original meaning in the word venereal. Langdon indomitable not to go there.Mr. Fache, I obviously cant tell you why Mr. Sauniere force that symbol on himself or placed himself in this way, but I can tell you that a man like Jacques Sauniere would consider the pentacle a sign of the young-bearing(prenominal) deity. The correlation mingled with this symbol and the sacred feminine is wide known by art historians and symbologists.Fine. And the use of his own blood as ink? Obviously he had nothing else to write with. Fache was silent a present moment. Actually, I believe he used blood much(prenominal) that the police would follow certain forensic procedures.Im sulky? locution at his left hand.Langdons eye traced the length of the curators pale arm to his left hand but saw nothing. Uncertain, he circled the corpse and crouched down, now noting with surprise that the curator was clutching a large, felt-tipped bell ringer.S auniere was holding it when we found him, Fache said, divergence Langdon and moving several yards to a take-away table cover with investigation tools, cables, and assorted electronic gear. As I told you, he said, rummaging around the table, we have touched nothing. ar you familiar with this kind of pen?Langdon knelt down farther to see the pens label. STYLO DE LUMIERE NOIRE. He glanced up in surprise.The black-light pen or watermark way was a specialize felt-tipped marker earlier knowing by museums, restorers, and forgery police to place infrared attach on items. The way wrote in a noncorrosive, alcohol-based fluorescent ink that was transparent only under black light. Nowadays, museum sustainment staffs carried these markers on their insouciant rounds to place unperceivable tick tag on the frames of paintings that postulate restoration.As Langdon stood up, Fache walked over to the pip and turned it off. The gallery plunged into sudden darkness. momently blinded, Langdon felt a rising uncertainty. Faches silhouette appeared, illuminated in glazed violet. He approached carrying a take-away light source, which shrouded him in a violet haze.As you may know, Fache said, his look luminescing in the violet glow, police use black-light glistening to search annoyance scenes for blood and other forensic evidence. So you can imagine our surprise Abruptly, he pointed the light down at the corpse.Langdon looked down and jumped back in shock.His heart pounded as he took in the curious sight now ardent before him on the parquet floor. Scrawled in luminescent handwriting, the curators final words glowed purple beside his corpse. As Langdon stared at the shimmering text, he felt the taint that had ring this entire night growing thicker.Langdon read the message again and looked up at Fache. What the hell does this mean Faches look shone white. That, monsieur, is precisely the question you are here to answer.Not far away, inside Saunieres office, police lieutenant collet chuck had returned to the Louvre and was flock over an sound console table set up on the curators vast desk. With the riddance of the eerie, robot-like doll of a medieval gymnastic horse that seemed to be everlasting(a) at him from the recession of Saunieres desk, ferrule was comfortable. He familiarized his AKG headphones and go over the foreplay levels on the hard-disk written text system. in all systems were go. The microphones were operate flawlessly, and the auditory sensation feed was vitreous silica clear.Le moment de verite, he mused.Smiling, he closed his eyeball and settled in to enjoy the rest of the communion now being tape inside the Grand Gallery.