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Across town, a cell tower was attempting to contact a phone that lay in pieces on Massachusetts Avenue. Finding no signal, it redirected the call to voice mail.

 

"Robert!" Warren Bellamy's panicked voice shouted. "Where are you?! Call me! Something terrible is happening!"

 

 

 

CHAPTER 86

 

In the cerulean glow of his basement lights, Mal'akh stood at the stone table and continued his preparations. As he worked, his empty stomach growled. He paid no heed. His days of servitude to the whims of his flesh were behind him.

 

Transformation requires sacrifice.

 

Like many of history's most spiritually evolved men, Mal'akh had committed to his path by making the noblest of flesh sacrifices. Castration had been less painful than he had imagined. And, he had learned, far more common. Every year, thousands of men underwent surgical gelding--orchiectomy, as the process was known--their motivations ranging from transgender issues, to curbing sexual addictions, to deep-seated spiritual beliefs. For Mal'akh, the reasons were of the highest nature. Like the mythological self-castrated Attis, Mal'akh knew that achieving immortality required a clean break with the material world of male and female.

 

The androgyne is one.

 

Nowadays, eunuchs were shunned, although the ancients understood the inherent power of this transmutational sacrifice. Even the early Christians had heard Jesus Himself extol its virtues in Matthew 19:12: "There are those who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it."

 

Peter Solomon had made a flesh sacrifice, although a single hand was a small price in the grand scheme. By night's end, however, Solomon would be sacrificing much, much more.

 

In order to create, I must destroy.

 

Such was the nature of polarity.

 

Peter Solomon, of course, deserved the fate that awaited him tonight. It would be a fitting end. Long ago, he had played the pivotal role in Mal'akh's mortal life path. For this reason, Peter had been chosen to play the pivotal role in Mal'akh's great transformation. This man had earned all the horror and pain he was about to endure. Peter Solomon was not the man the world believed he was.

 

He sacrificed his own son.

 

Peter Solomon had once presented his son, Zachary, with an impossible choice--wealth or wisdom. Zachary chose poorly. The boy's decision had begun a chain of events that eventually dragged the young man into the depths of hell. Soganlik Prison. Zachary Solomon had died in that Turkish prison. The whole world knew the story . . . but what they didn't know was that Peter Solomon could have saved his son.

 

I was there, Mal'akh thought. I heard it all.

 

Mal'akh had never forgotten that night. Solomon's brutal decision had meant the end of his son, Zach, but it had been the birth of Mal'akh.

 

Some must die that others may live. As the light over Mal'akh's head began changing color again, he realized the hour was late. He completed his preparations and headed back up the ramp. It was time to attend to matters of the mortal world.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 87

 

All is revealed at the thirty-third degree, Katherine thought as she ran. I know how to transform the pyramid! The answer had been right in front of them all night.

 

Katherine and Langdon were alone now, dashing through the cathedral's annex, following signs for "The Garth." Now, exactly as the dean had promised, they burst out of the cathedral into a massive, walled-in courtyard.

 

The cathedral garth was a cloistered, pentagonal garden with a bronze postmodern fountain. Katherine was amazed how loudly the fountain's flowing water seemed to be reverberating in the courtyard. Then she realized it was not the fountain she was hearing.

 

"Helicopter!" she shouted as a beam of light pierced the night sky above them. "Get under that portico!"

 

The dazzling glare of a searchlight flooded the garth just as Langdon and Katherine reached the other side, slipping beneath a Gothic arch into a tunnel that led to the outside lawn. They waited, huddled in the tunnel, as the helicopter passed overhead and began circling the cathedral in wide arcs.

 

"I guess Galloway was right about hearing visitors," Katherine said, impressed. Bad eyes make for great ears. Her own ears now pounded rhythmically with her racing pulse.

 

"This way," Langdon said, clutching his daybag and moving through the passage.

 

Dean Galloway had given them a single key and a clear set of directions. Unfortunately, when they reached the end of the short tunnel, they found themselves separated from their destination by a wide-open expanse of lawn, currently flooded with light from the helicopter overhead.

 

"We can't get across," Katherine said.

 

"Hold on . . . look." Langdon pointed to a black shadow that was materializing on the lawn to their left. The shadow began as an amorphous blob, but it was growing quickly, moving in their direction, becoming more defined, rushing at them faster and faster, stretching, and finally transforming itself into a massive black rectangle crowned by two impossibly tall spires.

 

"The cathedral facade is blocking the searchlight," Langdon said.

 

"They're landing out in front!"

 

Langdon grabbed Katherine's hand. "Run! Now!"

 

Inside the cathedral, Dean Galloway felt a lightness in his step that he had not felt in years. He moved through the Great Crossing, down the nave toward the narthex and the front doors.

 

He could hear the helicopter hovering in front of the cathedral now, and he imagined its lights coming through the rose window in front of him, throwing spectacular colors all over the sanctuary. He recalled the days when he could see color. Ironically, the lightless void that had become his world had illuminated many things for him. I see more clearly now than ever.

 

Galloway had been called to God as a young man and over his lifetime had loved the church as much as any man could. Like many of his colleagues who had given their lives in earnest to God, Galloway was weary. He had spent his life straining to be heard above the din of ignorance.

 

What did I expect?

 

From the Crusades, to the Inquisition, to American politics--the name Jesus had been hijacked as an ally in all kinds of power struggles. Since the beginning of time, the ignorant had always screamed the loudest, herding the unsuspecting masses and forcing them to do their bidding. They defended their worldly desires by citing Scripture they did not understand. They celebrated their intolerance as proof of their convictions. Now, after all these years, mankind had finally managed to utterly erode everything that had once been so beautiful about Jesus.

 

Tonight, encountering the symbol of the Rose Cross had fueled him with great hope, reminding him of the prophecies written in the Rosicrucian manifestos, which Galloway had read countless times in the past and could still recall.

 

Chapter One: Jehova will redeem humanity by revealing those secrets which he previously reserved only for the elect.

 

Chapter Four: The whole world shall become as one book and all the contradictions of science and theology shall be reconciled.

 

Chapter Seven: Before the end of the world, God shall create a great flood of spiritual light to alleviate the suffering of humankind.

 

Chapter Eight: Before this revelation is possible, the world must sleep away the intoxication of her poisoned chalice, which was filled with the false life of the theological vine.

 

Galloway knew the church had long ago lost her way, and he had dedicated his life to righting her course. Now, he realized, the moment was fast approaching.

 

It is always darkest before the dawn.

 

CIA field agent Turner Simkins was perched on the strut of the Sikorsky helicopter as it touched down on the frosty grass. He leaped off, joined by his men, and immediately waved the chopper back up into the air to keep an eye on all the exits.

 

Nobody leaves this building.

 

As the chopper rose back into the night sky, Simkins and his team ran up the stairs to the cathedral's main entrance. Before he could decide which of the six doors to pound on, one of them swung open.

 

"Yes?" a calm voice said from the shadows.

 

Simkins could barely make out the hunched figure in priest's robes. "Are you Dean Colin Galloway?"

 

"I am," the old man replied.

 

"I'm looking for Robert Langdon. Have you seen him?"

 

The old man stepped forward now, staring past Simkins with eerie blank eyes. "Now, wouldn't that be a miracle."

 

 

 

CHAPTER 88

 

Time is running out.

 

Security analyst Nola Kaye was already on edge, and the third mug of coffee she was now drinking had begun coursing through her like an electric current.

 

No word yet from Sato.

 

Finally, her phone rang, and Nola leaped on it. "OS," she answered. "Nola here."

 

"Nola, it's Rick Parrish in systems security."

 

Nola slumped. No Sato. "Hi, Rick. What can I do for you?" "I wanted to give you a heads-up--our department may have information relevant to what you're working on tonight."

 

Nola set down her coffee. How the hell do you know what I'm working on tonight? "I beg your pardon?"

 

"Sorry, it's the new CI program we're beta-testing," Parrish said. "It keeps flagging your workstation number."

 

Nola now realized what he was talking about. The Agency was currently running a new piece of "collaborative integration" software designed to provide real-time alerts to disparate CIA departments when they happened to be processing related data fields. In an era of time-sensitive terrorist threats, the key to thwarting disaster was often as simple as a heads-up telling you that the guy down the hall was analyzing the very data you needed. As far as Nola was concerned, this CI software had proven more of a distraction than any real help--constant interruption software, she called it.

 

"Right, I forgot," Nola said. "What have you got?" She was positive that nobody else in the building knew about this crisis, much less could be working on it. The only computer work Nola had done tonight was historical research for Sato on esoteric Masonic topics. Nonetheless, she was obliged to play the game.

 

"Well, it's probably nothing," Parrish said, "but we stopped a hacker tonight, and the CI program keeps suggesting I share the information with you."

 

A hacker? Nola sipped her coffee. "I'm listening."

 

"About an hour ago," Parrish said, "we snagged a guy named Zoubianis trying to access a file on one of our internal databases. This guy claims it was a job for hire and that he has no idea why he was being paid to access this particular file or even that it was on a CIA server."

 

"Okay."

 

"We finished questioning him, and he's clean. But here's the weird thing--the same file he was targeting had been flagged earlier tonight by an internal search engine. It looks like someone piggybacked into our system, ran a specific keyword search, and generated a redaction. The thing is, the keywords they used are really strange. And there's one in particular that the CI flagged as a high-priority match--one that's unique to both of our data sets." He paused. "Do you know the word . . . symbolon?"

 

Nola jolted upright, spilling coffee on her desk.

 

"The other keywords are just as unusual," Parrish continued. "Pyramid, portal--"

 

"Get down here," Nola commanded, mopping up her desk. "And bring everything you've got!" "These words actually mean something to you?"

 

"NOW!"

 

 

 

CHAPTER 89

 

Cathedral College is an elegant, castlelike edifice located adjacent to the National Cathedral. The College of Preachers, as it was originally envisioned by the first Episcopal bishop of Washington, was founded to provide ongoing education for clergy after their ordination. Today, the college offers a wide variety of programs on theology, global justice, healing, and spirituality.

 

Langdon and Katherine had made the dash across the lawn and used Galloway's key to slip inside just as the helicopter rose back over the cathedral, its floodlights turning night back into day. Now, standing breathless inside the foyer, they surveyed their surroundings. The windows provided sufficient illumination, and Langdon saw no reason to turn the lights on and take a chance of broadcasting their whereabouts to the helicopter overhead. As they moved down the central hallway, they passed a series of conference halls, classrooms, and sitting areas. The interior reminded Langdon of the neo-Gothic buildings of Yale University--breathtaking on the outside, and yet surprisingly utilitarian on the inside, their period elegance having been retrofitted to endure heavy foot traffic.

 

"Down here," Katherine said, motioning toward the far end of the hall.

 

Katherine had yet to share with Langdon her new revelation regarding the pyramid, but apparently the reference to Isaacus Neutonuus had sparked it. All she had said as they crossed the lawn was that the pyramid could be transformed using simple science. Everything she needed, she believed, could probably be found in this building. Langdon had no idea what she needed or how Katherine intended to transform a solid piece of granite or gold, but considering he had just witnessed a cube metamorphose into a Rosicrucian cross, he was willing to have faith.

 

They reached the end of the hall and Katherine frowned, apparently not seeing what she wanted. "You said this building has dormitory facilities?"

 

"Yes, for residential conferences."

 

"So they must have a kitchen in here somewhere, right?" "You're hungry?"

 

She frowned back at him. "No, I need a lab."

 

Of course you do. Langdon spotted a descending staircase that bore a promising symbol. America's favorite pictogram.

 

 

The basement kitchen was industrial looking--lots of stainless steel and big bowls--clearly designed to cook for large groups. The kitchen had no windows. Katherine closed the door and flipped on the lights. The exhaust fans came on automatically.

 

She began rooting around in the cupboards for whatever it was she needed. "Robert," she directed, "put the pyramid out on the island, if you would."

 

Feeling like the novice sous chef taking orders from Daniel Boulud, Langdon did as he was told, removing the pyramid from his bag and placing the gold capstone on top of it. When he finished, Katherine was busy filling an enormous pot with hot tap water.

 

"Would you please lift this to the stove for me?"

 

Langdon heaved the sloshing pot onto the stove as Katherine turned on the gas burner and cranked up the flame.

 

"Are we doing lobsters?" he asked hopefully.

 

"Very funny. No, we're doing alchemy. And for the record, this is a pasta pot, not a lobster pot." She pointed to the perforated strainer insert that she had removed from the pot and placed on the island beside the pyramid.

 

Silly me. "And boiling pasta is going to help us decipher the pyramid?"

 

Katherine ignored the comment, her tone turning serious. "As I'm sure you know, there is a historical and symbolic reason the Masons chose thirty-three as their highest degree."

 

"Of course," Langdon said. In the days of Pythagoras, six centuries before Christ, the tradition of numerology hailed the number 33 as the highest of all the Master Numbers. It was the most sacred figure, symbolizing Divine Truth. The tradition lived on within the Masons . . . and elsewhere. It was no coincidence that Christians were taught that Jesus was crucified at age thirty-three, despite no real historical evidence to that effect. Nor was it coincidence that Joseph was said to have been thirty-three when he married the Virgin Mary, or that Jesus accomplished thirty-three miracles, or that God's name was mentioned thirty-three times in Genesis, or that, in Islam, all the dwellers of heaven were permanently thirty-three years old.

 

"Thirty-three," Katherine said, "is a sacred number in many mystical traditions."

 

"Correct." Langdon still had no idea what this had to do with a pasta pot.

 

"So it should come as no surprise to you that an early alchemist, Rosicrucian, and mystic like Isaac Newton also considered the number thirty-three special."

 

"I'm sure he did," Langdon replied. "Newton was deep into numerology, prophecy, and astrology, but what does--"

 

"All is revealed at the thirty-third degree."

 

Langdon pulled Peter's ring from his pocket and read the inscription. Then he glanced back at the pot of water. "Sorry, you lost me."

 

"Robert, earlier tonight, we all assumed `thirty-third degree' referred to the Masonic degree, and yet when we rotated that ring thirty-three degrees, the cube transformed and revealed a cross. At that moment, we realized the word degree was being used in another sense."

 

"Yes. Degrees of arc."

 

"Exactly. But degree has a third meaning as well."

 

Langdon eyed the pot of water on the stove. "Temperature."

 

"Exactly!" she said. "It was right in front of us all night. `All is revealed at the thirty-third degree.' If we bring this pyramid's temperature to thirty-three degrees . . . it may just reveal something."

 

Langdon knew Katherine Solomon was exceptionally bright, and yet she seemed to be missing a rather obvious point. "If I'm not mistaken, thirty-three degrees is almost freezing. Shouldn't we be putting the pyramid in the freezer?"

 

Katherine smiled. "Not if we want to follow the recipe written by the great alchemist and Rosicrucian mystic who signed his papers Jeova Sanctus Unus."

 

Isaacus Neutonuus wrote recipes?

 

"Robert, temperature is the fundamental alchemical catalyst, and it was not always measured in Fahrenheit and Celsius. There are far older temperature scales, one of them invented by Isaac--"

 

"The Newton Scale!" Langdon said, realizing she was right.

 

"Yes! Isaac Newton invented an entire system of quantifying temperature based entirely on natural phenomena. The temperature of melting ice was Newton's base point, and he called it `the zeroth degree.' " She paused. "I suppose you can guess what degree he assigned the temperature of boiling water--the king of all alchemical processes?"

 

"Thirty-three."

 

"Yes, thirty-three! The thirty-third degree. On the Newton Scale, the temperature of boiling water is thirty-three degrees. I remember asking my brother once why Newton chose that number. I mean, it seemed so random. Boiling water is the most fundamental alchemical process, and he chose thirty-three? Why not a hundred? Why not something more elegant? Peter explained that, to a mystic like Isaac Newton, there was no number more elegant than thirty- three."

 

All is revealed at the thirty-third degree. Langdon glanced at the pot of water and then over at the pyramid. "Katherine, the pyramid is made out of solid granite and solid gold. Do you really think boiling water is hot enough to transform it?"

 

The smile on her face told Langdon that Katherine knew something he did not know. Confidently, she walked over to the island, lifted the gold-capped, granite pyramid, and set it in the strainer. Then she carefully lowered it into the bubbling water. "Let's find out, shall we?"

 

High above the National Cathedral, the CIA pilot locked the helicopter in auto-hover mode and surveyed the perimeter of the building and the grounds. No movement. His thermal imaging couldn't penetrate the cathedral stone, and so he couldn't tell what the team was doing inside, but if anyone tried to slip out, the thermal would pick it up.

 

It was sixty seconds later that a thermal sensor pinged. Working on the same principle as home- security systems, the detector had identified a strong temperature differential. Usually this meant a human form moving through a cool space, but what appeared on the monitor was more of a thermal cloud, a patch of hot air drifting across the lawn. The pilot found the source, an active vent on the side of Cathedral College.

 

Probably nothing, he thought. He saw these kinds of gradients all the time. Someone cooking or doing laundry. As he was about to turn away, though, he realized something odd. There were no cars in the parking lot and no lights on anywhere in the building.

 

He studied the UH-60's imaging system for a long moment. Then he radioed down to his team leader. "Simkins, it's probably nothing, but . . ."

 

"Incandescent temperature indicator!" Langdon had to admit, it was clever. "It's simple science," Katherine said. "Different substances incandesce at different temperatures. We call them thermal markers. Science uses these markers all the time."

 

Langdon gazed down at the submerged pyramid and capstone. Wisps of steam were beginning to curl over the bubbling water, although he was not feeling hopeful. He glanced at his watch, and his heart rate accelerated: 11:45 P.M. "You believe something here will luminesce as it heats up?"

 

"Not luminesce, Robert. Incandesce. There's a big difference. Incandescence is caused by heat, and it occurs at a specific temperature. For example, when steel manufacturers temper beams, they spray a grid on them with a transparent coating that incandesces at a specific target temperature so they know when the beams are done. Think of a mood ring. Just put it on your finger, and it changes color from body heat."

 

"Katherine, this pyramid was built in the 1800s! I can understand a craftsman making hidden release hinges in a stone box, but applying some kind of transparent thermal coating?"

 

"Perfectly feasible," she said, glancing hopefully at the submerged pyramid. "The early alchemists used organic phosphors all the time as thermal markers. The Chinese made colored fireworks, and even the Egyptians--" Katherine stopped midsentence, staring intently into the roiling water.

 

"What?" Langdon followed her gaze into the turbulent water but saw nothing at all.

 

Katherine leaned in, staring more intently into the water. Suddenly she turned and ran across the kitchen toward the door.

 

"Where are you going?" Langdon shouted.

 

She slid to a stop at the kitchen light switch, flipped it off. The lights and exhaust fan went off, plunging the room into total darkness and silence. Langdon turned back to the pyramid and peered through the steam at the capstone beneath the water. By the time Katherine made it back to his side, his mouth had fallen open in disbelief.

 

Exactly as Katherine had predicted, a small section of the metal capstone was starting to glow beneath the water. Letters were starting to appear, and they were getting brighter as the water heated up.

 

"Text!" Katherine whispered.

 

Langdon nodded, dumbstruck. The glowing words were materializing just beneath the engraved inscription on the capstone. It looked like only three words, and although Langdon could not yet read what the words said, he wondered if they would unveil everything they had been looking for tonight. The pyramid is a real map, Galloway had told them, and it points to a real location. As the letters shone brighter, Katherine turned off the gas, and the water slowly stopped churning. The capstone now came into focus beneath the water's calm surface.

 

Three shining words were clearly legible.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 90

 

In the dim light of the Cathedral College kitchen, Langdon and Katherine stood over the pot of water and stared at the transformed capstone beneath the surface. On the side of the golden capstone, an incandescent message was glowing.

 

Langdon read the shining text, scarcely able to believe his eyes. He knew the pyramid was rumored to reveal a specific location . . . but he had never imagined that the location would be quite this specific.

 

Eight Franklin Square

 

 

"A street address," he whispered, stunned.

 

Katherine looked equally amazed. "I don't know what's there, do you?"

 

Langdon shook his head. He knew Franklin Square was one of the older sections of Washington, but he wasn't familiar with the address. He looked at the tip of the capstone, and read downward, taking in the entire text.

 

The

 

secret hides

 

within The Order

 

Eight Franklin Square

 

 

Is there some kind of Order on Franklin Square?

 

Is there a building that hides the opening to a deep spiral staircase?

 

Whether or not there was actually something buried at that address, Langdon had no idea. The important issue at this point was that he and Katherine had deciphered the pyramid and now possessed the information required to negotiate Peter's release.

 

And not a moment too soon.

 

The glowing arms on Langdon's Mickey Mouse watch indicated that they had less than ten minutes to spare.

 

"Make the call," Katherine said, motioning to a phone on the wall in the kitchen. "Now!"

 

The sudden arrival of this moment startled Langdon, and he found himself hesitating.

 

"Are we sure about this?"

 

"I most certainly am."

 

"I'm not telling him anything until we know Peter is safe."

 

"Of course not. You remember the number, right?"

 

Langdon nodded and made his way over to the kitchen phone. He lifted the receiver and dialed the man's cell-phone number. Katherine came over and placed her head next to his so she could listen in. As the line began to ring, Langdon prepared himself for the eerie whisper of the man who had tricked him earlier tonight.

 

Finally, the call connected.

 

There was no greeting, though. No voice. Only the sound of breathing at the other end.

 

Langdon waited and then finally spoke. "I have the information you want, but if you want it, you'll have to give us Peter."

 

"Who is this?" a woman's voice replied.

 

Langdon jumped. "Robert Langdon," he said reflexively. "Who are you?" For an instant he thought he must have dialed incorrectly.

 

"Your name is Langdon?" The woman sounded surprised. "There's someone here asking for you."

 

What? "I'm sorry, who is this?"

 

"Officer Paige Montgomery with Preferred Security." Her voice seemed shaky. "Maybe you can help us with this. About an hour ago, my partner responded to a 911 call in Kalorama Heights . . . a possible hostage situation. I lost all contact with her, and so I called backup and came to check the residence. We found my partner dead in the backyard. The home owner was gone, and so we broke in. A cell phone was ringing on the hall table, and I--" "You're inside?" Langdon demanded.

 

"Yes, and the 911 tip . . . was a good one," the woman stammered. "Sorry if I sound rattled, but my partner's dead, and we found a man being held here against his will. He's in bad shape, and we're working on him now. He's been asking for two people--one named Langdon and one named Katherine."

 

"That's my brother!" Katherine blurted into the receiver, pressing her head closer to Langdon's. "I made the 911 call! Is he okay?!"

 

"Actually, ma'am, he's . . ." The woman's voice cracked. "He's in bad shape. He's missing his right hand . . ."

 

"Please," Katherine urged. "I want to talk to him!"

 

"They're working on him at the moment. He's in and out of consciousness. If you're anywhere in the area, you should get over here. He obviously wants to see you."

 

"We're about six minutes away!" Katherine said.

 

"Then I suggest you hurry." There was a muffled noise in the background, and the woman then returned to the line. "Sorry, it looks like I'm needed. I'll speak to you when you arrive."

 

The line went dead.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 91

 

Inside Cathedral College, Langdon and Katherine bounded up the basement stairs and hurried down a darkened hallway looking for a front exit. No longer did they hear the sounds of helicopter blades overhead, and Langdon felt hopeful they could slip out unseen and find their way up to Kalorama Heights to see Peter.

 

They found him. He's alive.

 

Thirty seconds earlier, when they'd hung up with the female security guard, Katherine had hurriedly hoisted the steaming pyramid and capstone out of the water. The pyramid was still dripping when she lowered it into Langdon's leather bag. Now he could feel the heat radiating through the leather. Excitement over Peter's discovery had temporarily trumped any further reflection on the capstone's glowing message--Eight Franklin Square-- but there would be time for that once they got to Peter.

 

As they rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, Katherine stopped short and pointed into a sitting room across the hall. Through the bay window, Langdon could see a sleek black helicopter sitting silent on the lawn. A lone pilot stood beside it, facing away from them and talking on his radio. There was also a black Escalade with tinted windows parked nearby.

 

Staying in the shadows, Langdon and Katherine moved into the sitting room, and peered out the window to see if they could see the rest of the field team. Thankfully, the huge lawn outside the National Cathedral was empty.

 

"They must be inside the cathedral," Langdon said.

 

"They're not," a deep voice said behind them.

 

Langdon and Katherine wheeled around to see who had spoken. In the doorway of the sitting room, two black-clad figures aimed laser-sighted rifles at them. Langdon could see a glowing red dot dancing on his chest.

 

"Nice to see you again, Professor," said a familiar raspy voice. The agents parted, and the tiny form of Director Sato sliced effortlessly through, crossing the sitting room and stopping directly in front of Langdon. "You've made some exceedingly poor choices tonight."

 

"The police found Peter Solomon," Langdon declared forcefully. "He's in bad shape, but he'll live. It's over."

 

If Sato was surprised Peter had been found, she did not show it. Her eyes were unflinching as she walked to Langdon and stopped only inches away. "Professor, I can assure you, this is nowhere near over. And if the police are now involved, it has only become more serious. As I told you earlier this evening, this is an extremely delicate situation. You never should have run away with that pyramid."

 

"Ma'am," Katherine blurted, "I need to see my brother. You can have the pyramid, but you must let--"

 

"I must?" Sato demanded, spinning to Katherine. "Ms. Solomon, I assume?" She stared at Katherine with fire in her eyes and then turned back to Langdon. "Put the leather bag on the table."

 

Langdon glanced down at the pair of laser sights on his chest. He set the leather bag on the coffee table. An agent approached cautiously, unzipped the bag, and pulled the two sides apart. A little puff of trapped steam billowed up out of the bag. He aimed his light inside, stared for a long, puzzled moment, and then nodded to Sato. Sato walked over and peered into the bag. The wet pyramid and capstone glistened in the beam of the flashlight. Sato crouched down, looking very closely at the golden capstone, which Langdon realized she had only seen in X-ray.

 

"The inscription," Sato demanded. "Does it mean anything to you? `The secret hides within The Order'?"

 

"We're not sure, ma'am."

 

"Why is the pyramid steaming hot?"

 

"We submerged it in boiling water," Katherine said without hesitation. "It was part of the process of deciphering the code. We'll tell you everything, but please let us go see my brother. He's been through--"

 

"You boiled the pyramid?" Sato demanded.

 

"Turn off the flashlight," Katherine said. "Look at the capstone. You can probably still see."

 

The agent flicked off his light, and Sato knelt down before the capstone. Even from where Langdon was standing, he could see that the text on the capstone was still glowing slightly.

 

"Eight Franklin Square?" Sato said, sounding amazed.

 

"Yes, ma'am. That text was written with an incandescent lacquer or something. The thirty-third degree was actually--"

 

"And the address?" Sato demanded. "Is this what this guy wants?"

 

"Yes," Langdon said. "He believes the pyramid is a map that will tell him the location of a great treasure--the key to unlocking the Ancient Mysteries."

 

Sato looked again at the capstone, her expression one of disbelief. "Tell me," she said, fear creeping into her voice, "have you contacted this man yet? Have you already given him this address?"

 

"We tried." Langdon explained what had happened when they called the man's cell phone.

 

Sato listened, running her tongue over her yellow teeth as he spoke. Despite looking ready to erupt with anger over the situation, she turned to one of her agents and spoke in a restrained whisper. "Send him in. He's in the SUV."

 

The agent nodded and spoke into his transceiver.

 

"Send who in?" Langdon said. "The only person who has any hope of fixing the goddamn mess you made!"

 

"What mess?" Langdon fired back. "Now that Peter is safe, everything is--"

 

"For Christ's sake!" Sato exploded. "This is not about Peter! I tried to tell you that at the Capitol Building, Professor, but you chose to work against me rather than with me! Now you've made an ungodly mess! When you destroyed your cell phone, which, by the way, we were tracking, you cut off your communication with this man. And this address you uncovered--whatever the hell it is--this address was our one chance to catch this lunatic. I needed you to play his game, to provide him with this address so we would know where the hell to catch him!"

 

Before Langdon could reply, Sato directed the remainder of her wrath at Katherine.

 

"And you, Ms. Solomon! You knew where this maniac lived? Why didn't you tell me? You sent a rent-a-cop to this man's house? Don't you see you've ruined any chance we had of catching him there? I'm glad your brother is safe, but let me tell you this, we are facing a crisis tonight whose ramifications far outreach your family. They will be felt all around the world. The man who took your brother has enormous power, and we need to catch him immediately."

 

As she finished her tirade, the tall, elegant silhouette of Warren Bellamy emerged from the shadows and stepped into the sitting room. He looked rumpled, bruised, and shaken . . . like he'd been through hell.

 

"Warren!" Langdon stood up. "Are you okay?"

 

"No," he replied. "Not really."

 

"Did you hear? Peter is safe!"

 

Bellamy nodded, looking dazed, as if nothing mattered anymore. "Yes, I just heard your conversation. I'm glad."

 

"Warren, what the hell is going on?"

 

Sato intervened. "You boys can catch up in a minute. Right now, Mr. Bellamy is going to reach out to this lunatic and communicate with him. Just like he's been doing all night."

 

Langdon felt lost. "Bellamy hasn't been communicating with this guy tonight! This guy doesn't even know Bellamy is involved!"

 

Sato turned to Bellamy and raised her eyebrows.

 

Bellamy sighed. "Robert, I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest with you this evening." Langdon could only stare. "I thought I was doing the right thing . . ." Bellamy said, looking frightened. "Well," Sato said, "now you will do the right thing . . . and we'd all better pray to God it works." As if to substantiate Sato's portentous tone, the mantel clock began chiming the hour. Sato took out a Ziploc bag of items and tossed it to Bellamy. "Here's your stuff. Does your cell phone take photos?"

 

"Yes, ma'am."

 

"Good. Hold up the capstone."

 

The message Mal'akh had just received was from his contact--Warren Bellamy--the Mason he had sent to the Capitol Building earlier tonight to assist Robert Langdon. Bellamy, like Langdon, wanted Peter Solomon back alive and had assured Mal'akh he would help Langdon acquire and decipher the pyramid. All night, Mal'akh had been receiving e-mail updates, which had been automatically forwarded to his cell phone.

 

This should be interesting, Mal'akh thought, opening the message.

 

From: Warren Bellamy

 

got separated from langdon

 

but finally have info you

 

demanded. proof attached.

 

call for missing piece. --wb

 

--one attachment (jpeg)--

 

Call for missing piece? Mal'akh wondered, opening the attachment.

 

The attachment was a photo.

 

When Mal'akh saw it, he gasped out loud, and he could feel his heart start pounding with excitement. He was looking at a close-up of a tiny golden pyramid. The legendary capstone! The ornate engraving on the face carried a promising message: The secret hides within The Order.

 

Beneath the inscription, Mal'akh now saw something that stunned him. The capstone seemed to be glowing. In disbelief, he stared at the faintly radiant text and realized that the legend was literally true: The Masonic Pyramid transforms itself to reveal its secret to the worthy.

 

How this magical transformation had occurred, Mal'akh had no idea, and he didn't care. The glowing text was clearly pointing to a specific location in D.C., exactly as prophesied. Franklin Square. Unfortunately, the photo of the capstone also included Warren Bellamy's index finger, which was strategically positioned on the capstone to block out a critical piece of information. The

 

secret hides

 

within The Order

 

Franklin Square

 

 

Call for missing piece. Mal'akh now understood Bellamy's meaning.

 

The Architect of the Capitol had been cooperative all night, but now he had chosen to play a very dangerous game.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 92

 

Beneath the watchful gaze of several armed CIA agents, Langdon, Katherine, and Bellamy waited with Sato in the Cathedral College sitting room. On the coffee table before them, Langdon's leather bag was still open, the golden capstone peeking out the top. The words Eight Franklin Square had now faded away, leaving no evidence that they had ever existed.

 

Katherine had pleaded with Sato to let her go see her brother, but Sato had simply shaken her head, eyes fixed on Bellamy's cell phone. It sat on the coffee table and had yet to ring.

 

Why didn't Bellamy just tell me the truth? Langdon wondered. Apparently, the Architect had been in contact with Peter's captor all night, reassuring him that Langdon was making progress deciphering the pyramid. It was a bluff, an attempt to buy time for Peter. In fact, Bellamy was doing all he could to interfere with anyone who threatened to unveil the pyramid's secret. Now, however, it seemed that Bellamy had switched sides. He and Sato were now prepared to risk the pyramid's secret in hopes of catching this man.

 

"Take your hands off me!" shouted an elderly voice in the hall. "I'm blind, not inept! I know my way through the college!" Dean Galloway was still protesting loudly as a CIA agent manhandled him into the sitting room and forced him into one of the chairs.

 

"Who's here?" Galloway demanded, his blank eyes staring dead ahead. "It sounds like a lot of you. How many do you need to detain an old man? Really now!"

 

"There are seven of us," Sato declared. "Including Robert Langdon, Katherine Solomon, and your Masonic brother Warren Bellamy."

 

Galloway slumped, all his bluster gone.

 

"We're okay," Langdon said. "And we just heard that Peter is safe. He's in bad shape, but the police are with him."

 

"Thank heavens," Galloway said. "And the--"

 

A loud rattling caused everyone in the room to jump. It was Bellamy's cell phone vibrating against the coffee table. Everyone fell silent.

 

"Okay, Mr. Bellamy," Sato said. "Don't blow it. You know the stakes."

 

Bellamy took a deep breath and exhaled. Then he reached down and pressed the speakerphone button to connect the call.

 

"Bellamy here," he said, speaking loudly toward the phone on the coffee table.

 

The voice that crackled back through the speaker was familiar, an airy whisper. It sounded like he was calling from a hands-free speakerphone inside a car. "It's past midnight, Mr. Bellamy. I was about to put Peter out of his misery."

 

There was an uneasy silence in the room. "Let me talk to him."

 

"Impossible," the man replied. "We're driving. He's tied up in the trunk."

 

Langdon and Katherine exchanged looks and then began shaking their heads at everyone. He's bluffing! He no longer has Peter!

 

Sato motioned for Bellamy to keep pressing.

 

"I want proof that Peter's alive," Bellamy said. "I'm not giving you the rest of--"

 

"Your Worshipful Master needs a doctor. Don't waste time with negotiations. Tell me the street number on Franklin Square, and I'll bring Peter to you there."

 

"I told you, I want--"

 

"Now!" the man exploded. "Or I will pull over and Peter Solomon dies this instant!"

 

"You listen to me," Bellamy said forcefully. "If you want the rest of the address, you'll play by my rules. Meet me at Franklin Square. Once you deliver Peter alive, I'll tell you the number of the building."

 

"How do I know you won't bring the authorities?" "Because I can't risk double-crossing you. Peter's life is not the only card you hold. I know what's really at stake tonight."

 

"You do realize," the man on the phone said, "that if I sense so much as a hint of anyone other than you at Franklin Square, I will keep driving, and you will never find even a trace of Peter Solomon. And of course . . . that will be the least of your worries."

 

"I'll come alone," Bellamy replied somberly. "When you turn over Peter, I'll give you everything you need."

 

"Center of the square," the man said. "It will take me at least twenty minutes to get there. I suggest you wait for me as long as it takes."

 

The line went dead.

 

Instantly, the room sprang to life. Sato began shouting orders. Several field agents grabbed their radios and headed for the door. "Move! Move!"

 

In the chaos, Langdon looked to Bellamy for some kind of explanation as to what was actually going on tonight, but the older man was already being hurried out the door.

 

"I need to see my brother!" Katherine shouted. "You have to let us go!"

 

Sato walked over to Katherine. "I don't have to do anything, Ms. Solomon. Is that clear?"

 

Katherine stood her ground and looked desperately into Sato's small eyes.

 

"Ms. Solomon, my top priority is apprehending the man at Franklin Square, and you will sit here with one of my men until I accomplish that task. Then, and only then, will we deal with your brother."

 

"You're missing the point," Katherine said. "I know exactly where this man lives! It's literally five minutes up the road in Kalorama Heights, and there will be evidence there that will help you! Besides, you said you want to keep this quiet. Who knows what Peter will start telling the authorities once he's stabilized."

 

Sato pursed her lips, apparently registering Katherine's point. Outside, the chopper blades began winding up. Sato frowned and then turned to one of her men. "Hartmann, you take the Escalade. Transport Ms. Solomon and Mr. Langdon to Kalorama Heights. Peter Solomon is not to speak to anyone. Is that understood?"

 

"Yes, ma'am," the agent said.

 

"Call me when you get there. Tell me what you find. And don't let these two out of your sight." Agent Hartmann gave a quick nod, pulled out the Escalade keys, and headed for the door.

 

Katherine was right behind him.

 

Sato turned to Langdon. "I'll see you shortly, Professor. I know you think I'm the enemy, but I can assure you that's not the case. Get to Peter at once. This isn't over yet."

 

Off to one side of Langdon, Dean Galloway was sitting quietly at the coffee table. His hands had found the stone pyramid, which was still sitting in Langdon's open leather bag on the table in front of him. The old man was running his hands over the stone's warm surface.

 

Langdon said, "Father, are you coming to see Peter?"

 

"I'd just slow you down." Galloway removed his hands from the bag and zipped it up around the pyramid. "I'll stay right here and pray for Peter's recovery. We can all speak later. But when you show Peter the pyramid, would you please tell him something for me?"

 

"Of course." Langdon hoisted the bag onto his shoulder.

 

"Tell him this." Galloway cleared his throat. "The Masonic Pyramid has always kept her secret . . . sincerely."

 

"I don't understand."

 

The old man winked. "Just tell Peter that. He will understand."

 

With that, Dean Galloway bowed his head and began praying.

 

Perplexed, Langdon left him there and hurried outside. Katherine was already in the front seat of the SUV giving the agent directions. Langdon climbed in back and had barely closed the door before the giant vehicle was rocketing across the lawn, racing northward to Kalorama Heights.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 93

 

Franklin Square is located in the northwest quadrant of downtown Washington, bordered by K and Thirteenth streets. It is home to many historic buildings, most notably the Franklin School, from which Alexander Graham Bell sent the world's first wireless message in 1880.

 

High above the square, a fast-moving UH-60 helicopter approached from the west, having completed its journey from the National Cathedral in a matter of minutes. Plenty of time, Sato thought, peering down at the square below. She knew it was critical that her men got into position undetected before their target arrived. He said he wouldn't be here for at least twenty minutes.

 

On Sato's command, the pilot performed a "touch-hover" on the roof of the tallest building around--the renowned One Franklin Square--a towering and prestigious office building with two gold spires on top. The maneuver was illegal, of course, but the chopper was there only a few seconds, and its skids barely touched the gravel rooftop. Once everyone had jumped out, the pilot immediately lifted off, banking to the east, where he would climb to "silent altitude" and provide invisible support from above.

 

Sato waited as her field team collected their things and prepared Bellamy for his task. The Architect was still looking dazed from having seen the file on Sato's secure laptop. As I said . . . an issue of national security. Bellamy had quickly understood Sato's meaning and was now fully cooperative.

 

"All set, ma'am," Agent Simkins said.

 

On Sato's command, the agents ushered Bellamy across the rooftop and disappeared down a stairwell, heading for ground level to take up their positions.

 

Sato walked to the edge of the building and gazed down. The rectangular wooded park below filled the entire block. Plenty of cover. Sato's team fully understood the importance of making an undetected intercept. If their target sensed a presence here and decided just to slip away . . . the director didn't even want to think about it.

 

The wind up here was gusty and cold. Sato wrapped her arms around herself, and planted her feet firmly to avoid getting blown over the edge. From this high vantage point, Franklin Square looked smaller than she recalled, with fewer buildings. She wondered which building was Eight Franklin Square. This was information she had requested from her analyst Nola, from whom she expected word at any moment.

 

Bellamy and the agents now appeared, looking like ants fanning out into the darkness of the wooded area. Simkins positioned Bellamy in a clearing near the center of the deserted park. Then Simkins and his team melted into the natural cover, disappearing from view. Within seconds, Bellamy was alone, pacing and shivering in the light of a streetlamp near the center of the park.

 

Sato felt no pity.

 

She lit a cigarette and took a long drag, savoring the warmth as it permeated her lungs. Satisfied that everything below was in order, she stepped back from the edge to await her two phone calls--one from her analyst Nola and one from Agent Hartmann, whom she had sent to Kalorama Heights. CHAPTER 94

 

Slow down! Langdon gripped the backseat of the Escalade as it flew around a corner, threatening to tip up on two tires. CIA agent Hartmann was either eager to show off his driving skills to Katherine, or he had orders to get to Peter Solomon before Solomon recuperated enough to say anything he shouldn't say to the local authorities.

 

The high-speed game of beat-the-red-light on Embassy Row had been worrisome enough, but now they were racing through the winding residential neighborhood of Kalorama Heights. Katherine shouted directions as they went, having been to this man's house earlier that afternoon.

 

With every turn, the leather bag at Langdon's feet rocked back and forth, and Langdon could hear the clank of the capstone, which had clearly been jarred from the top of the pyramid and was now bouncing around in the bottom of his bag. Fearing it might get damaged, he fished around inside until he found it. It was still warm, but the glowing text had now faded and disappeared, returning to its original engraving:

 

The secret hides within The Order.

 

As Langdon was about to place the capstone in a side pocket, he noticed its elegant surface was covered with tiny white gobs of something. Puzzled, he tried to wipe them off, but they were stuck on and hard to the touch . . . like plastic. What in the world? He could now see that the surface of the stone pyramid itself was also covered with the little white dots. Langdon used his fingernail and picked one off, rolling it between his fingers.

 

"Wax?" he blurted.

 

Katherine glanced over her shoulder. "What?"

 

"There are bits of wax all over the pyramid and capstone. I don't understand it. Where could that possibly have come from?"

 

"Something in your bag, maybe?"

 

"I don't think so."

 

As they rounded a corner, Katherine pointed through the windshield and turned to Agent Hartmann. "That's it! We're here."

 

Langdon glanced up and saw the spinning lights of a security vehicle parked in a driveway up ahead. The driveway gate was pulled aside and the agent gunned the SUV inside the compound. The house was a spectacular mansion. Every light inside was ablaze, and the front door was wide open. A half-dozen vehicles were parked haphazardly in the driveway and on the lawn, apparently having arrived in a hurry. Some of the cars were still running and had their headlights shining, most on the house, but one askew, practically blinding them as they drove in.

 

Agent Hartmann skidded to a stop on the lawn beside a white sedan with a brightly colored decal: PREFERRED SECURITY. The spinning lights and the high beams in their face made it hard to see.

 

Katherine immediately jumped out and raced for the house. Langdon heaved his bag onto his shoulder without taking the time to zip it up. He followed Katherine at a jog across the lawn toward the open front door. The sounds of voices echoed within. Behind Langdon, the SUV chirped as Agent Hartmann locked the vehicle and hurried after them.

 

Katherine bounded up the porch stairs, through the main door, and disappeared into the entryway. Langdon crossed the threshold behind her and could see Katherine was already moving across the foyer and down the main hallway toward the sound of voices. Beyond her, visible at the end of the hall, was a dining-room table where a woman in a security uniform was sitting with her back to them.

 

"Officer!" Katherine shouted as she ran. "Where is Peter Solomon?"

 

Langdon rushed after her, but as he did so, an unexpected movement caught his eye. To his left, through the living-room window, he could see the driveway gate was now swinging shut. Odd. Something else caught his eye . . . something that had been hidden from him by the glare of the spinning lights and the blinding high beams when they drove in. The half-dozen cars parked haphazardly in the driveway looked nothing like the police cars and emergency vehicles Langdon had imagined they were.

 

A Mercedes? . . . a Hummer? . . . a Tesla Roadster?

 

In that instant, Langdon also realized the voices he heard in the house were nothing but a television blaring in the direction of the dining room.

 

Wheeling in slow motion, Langdon shouted down the hallway. "Katherine, wait!"

 

But as he turned, he could see that Katherine Solomon was no longer running.

 

She was airborne.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 95 Katherine Solomon knew she was falling . . . but she couldn't figure out why.

 

She had been running down the hall toward the security guard in the dining room when suddenly her feet had become entangled in an invisible obstacle, and her entire body had lurched forward, sailing through the air.

 

Now she was returning to earth . . . in this case, a hardwood floor.

 

Katherine crashed down on her stomach, the wind driven violently from her lungs. Above her, a heavy coat tree teetered precariously and then toppled over, barely missing her on the floor. She raised her head, still gasping for breath, puzzled to see that the female security guard in the chair had not moved a muscle. Stranger still, the toppled coat tree appeared to have a thin wire attached to the bottom, which had been stretched across the hallway.

 

Why in the world would someone . . . ?

 

"Katherine!" Langdon was shouting to her, and as Katherine rolled onto her side and looked back at him, she felt her blood turn to ice. Robert! Behind you! She tried to scream, but she was still gasping for breath. All she could do was watch in terrifying slow motion as Langdon rushed down the hall to help her, completely unaware that behind him, Agent Hartmann was staggering across the threshold and clutching his throat. Blood sprayed through Hartmann's hands as he groped at the handle of a long screwdriver that protruded from his neck.

 

As the agent pitched forward, his attacker came into full view.

 

My God . . . no!

 

Naked except for a strange undergarment that looked like a loincloth, the massive man had apparently been hiding in the foyer. His muscular body was covered from head to toe with strange tattoos. The front door was swinging closed, and he was rushing down the hall after Langdon.

 

Agent Hartmann hit the floor just as the front door slammed shut. Langdon looked startled and whirled around, but the tattooed man was already on him, thrusting some kind of device into his back. There was a flash of light and a sharp electrical sizzle, and Katherine saw Langdon go rigid. Eyes frozen wide, Langdon lurched forward, collapsing down in a paralyzed heap. He fell hard on top of his leather bag, the pyramid tumbling out onto the floor.

 

Without so much as a glance down at his victim, the tattooed man stepped over Langdon and headed directly for Katherine. She was already crawling backward into the dining room, where she collided with a chair. The female security guard, who had been propped in that chair, now wobbled and dropped to the floor in a heap beside her. The woman's lifeless expression was one of terror. Her mouth was stuffed with a rag. The enormous man had reached her before Katherine had time to react. He seized her by the shoulders with impossible strength. His face, no longer covered by makeup, was an utterly terrifying sight. His muscles flexed, and she felt herself being flipped over onto her stomach like a rag doll. A heavy knee ground into her back, and for a moment, she thought she would break in two. He grabbed her arms and pulled them backward.

 

With her head now turned to one side and her cheek pressed into the carpet, Katherine could see Langdon, his body still jerking, facing away from her. Beyond that, Agent Hartmann lay motionless in the foyer.

 

Cold metal pinched Katherine's wrists, and she realized she was being bound with wire. In terror, she tried to pull away, but doing so sent searing pain into her hands.

 

"This wire will cut you if you move," the man said, finishing with her wrists and moving down to her ankles with frightening efficiency.

 

Katherine kicked at him, and he threw a powerful fist into the back of her right thigh, crippling her leg. Within seconds, her ankles were bound.

 

"Robert!" she now managed to call out.

 

Langdon was groaning on the floor in the hallway. He lay crumpled on his leather bag with the stone pyramid lying on its side near his head. Katherine realized the pyramid was her last hope.

 

"We deciphered the pyramid!" she told her attacker. "I'll tell you everything!"

 

"Yes, you will." With that, he pulled the cloth from the dead woman's mouth and firmly stuffed it into Katherine's.

 

It tasted like death.

 

Robert Langdon's body was not his own. He lay, numb and immobile, his cheek pressed against the hardwood floor. He had heard enough about stun guns to know they crippled their victims by temporarily overloading the nervous system. Their action--something called electromuscular disruption--might as well have been a bolt of lightning. The excruciating jolt of pain seemed to penetrate every molecule of his body. Now, despite his mind's focused intention, his muscles refused to obey the command he was sending them.

 

Get up!

 

Facedown, paralyzed on the floor, Langdon was gulping shallow breaths, scarcely able to inhale. He had yet to lay eyes on the man who had attacked him, but he could see Agent Hartmann lying in an expanding pool of blood. Langdon had heard Katherine struggling and arguing, but moments ago her voice had become muffled, as if the man had stuffed something in her mouth.

 

Get up, Robert! You've got to help her! Langdon's legs were tingling now, a fiery and painful recovery of feeling, but still they refused to cooperate. Move! His arms twitched as sensation started to come back, along with feeling in his face and neck. With great effort, he managed to rotate his head, dragging his cheek roughly across the hardwood floor as he turned his head to look down into the dining room.

 

Langdon's sight line was impeded--by the stone pyramid, which had toppled out of his bag and was lying sideways on the floor, its base inches from his face.

 

For an instant, Langdon didn't understand what he was looking at. The square of stone before him was obviously the base of the pyramid, and yet it looked somehow different. Very different. It was still square, and still stone . . . but it was no longer flat and smooth. The base of the pyramid was covered with engraved markings. How is this possible? He stared for several seconds, wondering if he was hallucinating. I looked at the base of this pyramid a dozen times . . . and there were no markings!

 

Langdon now realized why.

 

His breathing reflex kick-started, and he drew a sudden gasp of air, realizing that the Masonic Pyramid had secrets yet to share. I have witnessed another transformation.

 

In a flash, Langdon understood the meaning of Galloway's last request. Tell Peter this: The Masonic Pyramid has always kept her secret . . . sincerely. The words had seemed strange at the time, but now Langdon understood that Dean Galloway was sending Peter a code. Ironically, this same code had been a plot twist in a mediocre thriller Langdon had read years ago.

 

Sin-cere.

 

Since the days of Michelangelo, sculptors had been hiding the flaws in their work by smearing hot wax into the cracks and then dabbing the wax with stone dust. The method was considered cheating, and therefore, any sculpture "without wax"--literally sine cera--was considered a "sincere" piece of art. The phrase stuck. To this day we still sign our letters "sincerely" as a promise that we have written "without wax" and that our words are true.

 

The engravings on the base of this pyramid had been concealed by the same method. When Katherine followed the capstone's directions and boiled the pyramid, the wax melted away, revealing the writing on the base. Galloway had run his hands over the pyramid in the sitting room, apparently feeling the markings exposed on the bottom.

 

Now, if only for an instant, Langdon had forgotten all the danger he and Katherine faced. He stared at the incredible array of symbols on the base of the pyramid. He had no idea what they meant . . . or what they would ultimately reveal, but one thing was for certain. The Masonic Pyramid has secrets left to tell. Eight Franklin Square is not the final answer.

 

Whether it was this adrenaline-filled revelation or simply the extra few seconds lying there, Langdon did not know, but he suddenly felt control returning to his body. Painfully, he swept an arm to one side, pushing the leather bag out of the way to clear his sight line into the dining room.

 

To his horror, he saw that Katherine had been tied up, and a large rag had been stuffed deep into her mouth. Langdon flexed his muscles, trying to climb to his knees, but a moment later, he froze in utter disbelief. The dining-room doorway had just filled with a chilling sight--a human form unlike anything Langdon had ever seen.

 

What in the name of God . . . ?!

 

Langdon rolled, kicking with his legs, trying to back away, but the huge tattooed man grabbed him, flipping him onto his back and straddling his chest. He placed his knees on Langdon's biceps, pinning Langdon pain fully to the floor. The man's chest bore a rippling double-headed phoenix. His neck, face, and shaved head were covered with a dazzling array of unusually intricate symbols--sigils, Langdon knew--which were used in the rituals of dark ceremonial magic.

 

Before Langdon could process anything more, the huge man clasped Langdon's ears between his palms, lifted his head up off the floor, and, with incredible force, smashed it back down onto the hardwood.

 

Everything went black.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 96

 

Mal'akh stood in his hallway and surveyed the carnage around him. His home looked like a battlefield.

 

Robert Langdon lay unconscious at his feet.

 

Katherine Solomon was bound and gagged on the dining-room floor.

 

The corpse of a female security guard lay crumpled nearby, having toppled off the chair where she was propped. This female guard, eager to save her own life, had done exactly as Mal'akh commanded. With a knife to her throat, she had answered Mal'akh's cell phone and told the lie that had coaxed Langdon and Katherine to come racing out here. She had no partner, and Peter Solomon was certainly not okay. As soon as the woman had given her performance, Mal'akh had quietly strangled her. To complete the illusion that Mal'akh was not home, he had phoned Bellamy using the hands- free speaker in one of his cars. I'm on the road, he had told Bellamy and whoever else had been listening. Peter is in my trunk. In fact, Mal'akh was driving only between his garage and his front yard, where he had left several of his myriad cars parked askew with the headlights on and the engines running.

 

The deception had worked perfectly.

 

Almost.

 

The only wrinkle was the bloody black-clad heap in the foyer with a screwdriver protruding from his neck. Mal'akh searched the corpse and had to chuckle when he found a high-tech transceiver and cell phone with a CIA logo. It seems even they are aware of my power. He removed the batteries and crushed both devices with a heavy bronze doorstop.

 

Mal'akh knew he had to move quickly now, especially if the CIA was involved. He strode back over to Langdon. The professor was out cold and would be for a while. Mal'akh's eyes moved with trepidation now to the stone pyramid on the floor beside the professor's open bag. His breath caught, and his heart pounded.

 

I have waited for years . . .

 

His hands trembled slightly as he reached down and picked up the Masonic Pyramid. As he ran his fingers slowly across the engravings, he felt awed by their promise. Before he became too entranced, he put the pyramid back in Langdon's bag with the capstone and zipped it up.

 

I will assemble the pyramid soon . . . in a much safer location.

 

He threw Langdon's bag over his shoulder and then tried to hoist Langdon himself, but the professor's toned physique weighed much more than anticipated. Mal'akh settled on grabbing him beneath the armpits and dragging him across the floor. He's not going to like where he ends up, Mal'akh thought.

 

As he dragged Langdon off, the television in the kitchen blared. The sound of voices from the TV had been part of the deception, and Mal'akh had yet to turn it off. The station was now broadcasting a televangelist leading his congregation in the Lord's Prayer. Mal'akh wondered if any of his hypnotized viewers had any idea where this prayer really came from.

 

" . . . On earth as it is in heaven . . ." the group intoned.

 

Yes, Mal'akh thought. As above, so below.

 

" . . . And lead us not into temptation . . ."

 

Help us master the weakness of our flesh. " . . . Deliver us from evil . . ." they all beseeched.

 

Mal'akh smiled. That could be difficult. The darkness is growing. Even so, he had to give them credit for trying. Humans who spoke to invisible forces and requested help were a dying breed in this modern world.

 

Mal'akh was dragging Langdon across the living room when the congregation declared, "Amen!"

 

Amon, Mal'akh corrected. Egypt is the cradle of your religion. The god Amon was the prototype for Zeus . . . for Jupiter . . . and for every modern face of God. To this day, every religion on earth shouted out a variation of his name. Amen! Amin! Aum!

 

The televangelist began quoting verses from the Bible describing hierarchies of angels, demons, and spirits that ruled in heaven and hell. "Protect your souls from evil forces!" he warned them. "Lift your hearts in prayer! God and his angels will hear you!"

 

He's right, Mal'akh knew. But so will the demons.

 

Mal'akh had learned long ago that through proper application of the Art, a practitioner could open a portal to the spiritual realm. The invisible forces that existed there, much like man himself, came in many forms, both good and evil. Those of Light healed, protected, and sought to bring order to the universe. Those of Dark functioned oppositely . . . bringing destruction and chaos.

 

If properly summoned, the invisible forces could be persuaded to do a practitioner's bidding on earth . . . thus instilling him with seemingly supernatural power. In exchange for helping the summoner, these forces required offerings--prayers and praise for those of Light . . . and the spilling of blood for those of Dark.

 

The greater the sacrifice, the greater the power that is transferred. Mal'akh had begun his practice with the blood of inconsequential animals. Over time, however, his choices for sacrifice had become more bold. Tonight, I take the final step.

 

"Beware!" the preacher shouted, warning of the coming Apocalypse. "The final battle for the souls of man will soon be fought!"

 

Indeed, Mal'akh thought. And I shall become its greatest warrior.

 

This battle, of course, had begun long, long ago. In ancient Egypt, those who perfected the Art had become the great Adepts of history, evolving beyond the masses to become true practitioners of Light. They moved as gods on earth. They built great temples of initiation to which neophytes traveled from around the world to partake of the wisdom. There arose a race of golden men. For a brief span of time, mankind seemed poised to elevate himself and transcend his earthly bonds.

 

The golden age of the Ancient Mysteries. And yet man, being of the flesh, was susceptible to the sins of hubris, hatred, impatience, and greed. Over time, there were those who corrupted the Art, perverting it and abusing its power for personal gain. They began using this perverted version to summon dark forces. A different Art evolved . . . a more potent, immediate, and intoxicating influence.

 

Such is my Art.

 

Such is my Great Work.

 

The illuminated Adepts and their esoteric fraternities witnessed the rising evil and saw that man was not using his newfound knowledge for the good of his species. And so they hid their wisdom to keep it from the eyes of the unworthy. Eventually, it was lost to history.

 

With this came the Great Fall of Man.

 

And a lasting darkness.

 

To this day, the noble descendants of the Adepts soldiered on, grasping blindly for the Light, trying to recapture the lost power of their past, trying to keep the darkness at bay. They were the priests and priestesses of the churches, temples, and shrines of all the religions on earth. Time had erased the memories . . . detached them from their past. They no longer knew the Source from which their potent wisdom had once flowed. When they were asked about the divine mysteries of their forebears, the new custodians of faith vociferously disowned them, condemning them as heresy.

 

Have they truly forgotten? Mal'akh wondered.

 

Echoes of the ancient Art still resonated in every corner of the globe, from the mystical Kabbalists of Judaism to the esoteric Sufis of Islam. Vestiges remained in the arcane rituals of Christianity, in its god-eating rites of Holy Communion, its hierarchies of saints, angels, and demons, its chanting and incantation, its holy calendar's astrological underpinnings, its consecrated robes, and in its promise of everlasting life. Even now, its priests dispelled evil spirits by swinging smoke-filled censers, ringing sacred bells, and sprinkling holy water. Christians still practiced the supernatural craft of exorcism--an early practice of their faith that required the ability not only to cast out demons but to summon them.

 

And yet they cannot see their past?

 

Nowhere was the church's mystical past more evident than at her epicenter. In Vatican City, at the heart of St. Peter's Square, stood the great Egyptian obelisk. Carved thirteen hundred years before Jesus took his first breath--this numinous monolith had no relevance there, no link to modern Christianity. And yet there it was. At the core of Christ's church. A stone beacon, screaming to be heard. A reminder to those few sages who remembered where it all began. This church, born of the womb of the Ancient Mysteries, still bore her rites and symbols. One symbol above all.

 

Adorning her altars, vestments, spires, and Scripture was the singular image of Christianity--that of a precious, sacrificed human being. Christianity, more than any other faith, understood the transformative power of sacrifice. Even now, to honor the sacrifice made by Jesus, his followers proffered their own feeble gestures of personal sacrifice . . . fasting, Lenten renunciation, tithing.

 

All of those offerings are impotent, of course. Without blood . . . there is no true sacrifice.

 

The powers of darkness had long embraced blood sacrifice, and in doing so, they had grown so strong that the powers of goodness now struggled to keep them in check. Soon the Light would be entirely consumed, and the practitioners of darkness would move freely through the minds of men.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 97

 

"Eight Franklin Square must exist," Sato insisted. "Look it up again!"

 

Nola Kaye sat at her desk and adjusted her headset. "Ma'am, I've checked everywhere . . . that address doesn't exist in D.C."

 

"But I'm on the roof of One Franklin Square," Sato said. "There has to be an Eight!"

 

Director Sato's on a roof? "Hold on." Nola began running a new search. She was considering telling the OS director about the hacker, but Sato seemed fixated on Eight Franklin Square at the moment. Besides, Nola still didn't have all the information. Where's that damned sys-sec, anyway?

 

"Okay," Nola said, eyeing her screen, "I see the problem. One Franklin Square is the name of the building . . . not the address. The address is actually 1301 K Street."

 

The news seemed to confound the director. "Nola, I don't have time to explain--the pyramid clearly points to the address Eight Franklin Square."

 

Nola sat bolt upright. The pyramid points to a specific location?

 

"The inscription," Sato continued, "reads: `The secret hides within The Order--Eight Franklin Square.'"

 

Nola could scarcely imagine. "An order like . . . a Masonic or fraternal order?" "I assume so," Sato replied.

 

Nola thought a moment, and then began typing again. "Ma'am, maybe the street numbers on the square changed over the years? I mean, if this pyramid is as old as legend claims, maybe the numbers on Franklin Square were different when the pyramid was built? I'm now running a search without the number eight . . . for . . . `the order' . . . `Franklin Square' . . . and `Washington, D.C.' . . . and this way, we might get some idea if there's--" She stalled midsentence as the search results appeared.

 

"What have you got?" Sato demanded.

 

Nola stared at the first result on the list--a spectacular image of the Great Pyramid of Egypt-- which served as the thematic backdrop for the home page dedicated to a building on Franklin Square. The building was unlike any other building on the square.

 

Or in the entire city, for that matter.

 

What stopped Nola cold was not the building's bizarre architecture, but rather the description of its purpose. According to the Web site, this unusual edifice was built as a sacred mystical shrine, designed by . . . and designed for . . . an ancient secret order.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 98

 

Robert Langdon regained consciousness with a crippling headache.

 

Where am I?

 

Wherever he was, it was dark. Deep-cave dark, and deathly silent.

 

He was lying on his back with his arms at his side. Confused, he tried moving his fingers and toes, relieved to find they moved freely with no pain. What happened? With the exception of his headache and the profound darkness, everything seemed more or less normal.

 

Almost everything.

 

Langdon realized he was lying on a hard floor that felt unusually smooth, like a sheet of glass. Stranger still, he could feel that the slick surface was in direct contact with his bare flesh . . . shoulders, back, buttocks, thighs, calves. Am I naked? Puzzled, he ran his hands over his body. Jesus! Where the hell are my clothes?

 

In the darkness, the cobwebs began to lift, and Langdon saw flashes of memory . . . frightening snapshots . . . a dead CIA agent . . . the face of a tattooed beast . . . Langdon's head smashing into the floor. The images came faster . . . and now he recalled the sickening image of Katherine Solomon bound and gagged on the dining-room floor.

 

My God!

 

Langdon sat bolt upright, and as he did, his forehead smashed into something suspended only inches above him. Pain exploded through his skull and he fell back, teetering near unconsciousness. Groggy, he reached up with his hands, groping in the darkness to find the obstacle. What he found made no sense to him. It seemed this room's ceiling was less than a foot above him. What in the world? As he spread his arms to his sides in an attempt to roll over, both of his hands hit sidewalls.

 

The truth now dawned on him. Robert Langdon was not in a room at all.

 

I'm in a box!

 

In the darkness of his small, coffinlike container, Langdon began pounding wildly with his fist. He shouted over and over for help. The terror that gripped him deepened with each passing instant until it was intolerable.

 

I have been buried alive.

 

The lid of Langdon's strange coffin refused to budge, even with the full force of his arms and legs pushing upward in wild panic. The box, from all he could tell, was made of heavy fiberglass. Airtight. Soundproof. Lightproof. Escape-proof.

 

I am going to suffocate alone in this box.

 

He thought of the deep well into which he had fallen as a young boy, and of the terrifying night he spent treading water alone in the darkness of a bottomless pit. That trauma had scarred Langdon's psyche, burdening him with an overwhelming phobia of enclosed spaces.

 

Tonight, buried alive, Robert Langdon was living his ultimate nightmare.

 

Katherine Solomon trembled in silence on the floor of Mal'akh's dining room. The sharp wire around her wrists and ankles had already cut into her, and the slightest movements seemed only to tighten her bonds.

 

The tattooed man had brutally knocked Langdon unconscious and dragged his limp body across the floor along with his leather bag and the stone pyramid. Where they had gone, Katherine had no idea. The agent who had accompanied them was dead. She had not heard a sound in many minutes, and she wondered if the tattooed man and Langdon were still inside the house. She had been trying to scream for help, but with each attempt, the rag in her mouth crept back dangerously closer to her windpipe.

 

Now she felt approaching footsteps on the floor, and she turned her head, hoping against hope that someone was coming to help. The massive silhouette of her captor materialized in the hallway. Katherine recoiled as she flashed on the image of him standing in her family home ten years earlier.

 

He killed my family.

 

Now he strode toward her. Langdon was nowhere to be seen. The man crouched down and gripped her around the waist, hoisting her roughly onto his shoulder. The wire sliced into her wrists, and the rag muffled her muted cries of pain. He carried her down the hallway toward the living room, where, earlier today, the two of them had calmly sipped tea together.

 

Where is he taking me?!

 

He carried Katherine across the living room and stopped directly in front of the large oil painting of the Three Graces that she had admired this afternoon.

 

"You mentioned you liked this painting," the man whispered, his lips practically touching her ear. "I'm glad. It may be the last thing of beauty you see."

 

With that, he reached out and pressed his palm into the right side of the enormous frame. To Katherine's shock, the painting rotated into the wall, turning on a central pivot like a revolving door. A hidden doorway.

 

Katherine tried to wriggle free, but the man held her firmly, carrying her through the opening behind the canvas. As the Three Graces pivoted shut behind them, she could see heavy insulation on the back of the canvas. Whatever sounds were made back here were apparently not meant to be heard by the outside world.

 

The space behind the painting was cramped, more like a hallway than a room. The man carried her to the far side and opened a heavy door, carrying her through it onto a small landing. Katherine found herself looking down a narrow ramp into a deep basement. She drew a breath to scream, but the rag was choking her.

 

The incline was steep and narrow. The walls on either side were made of cement, awash in a bluish light that seemed to emanate from below. The air that wafted up was warm and pungent, laden with an eerie blend of smells . . . the sharp bite of chemicals, the smooth calm of incense, the earthy musk of human sweat, and, pervading it all, a distinct aura of visceral, animal fear.

 

"Your science impressed me," the man whispered as they reached the bottom of the ramp. "I hope mine impresses you." CHAPTER 99

 

CIA field agent Turner Simkins crouched in the darkness of Franklin Park and kept his steady gaze on Warren Bellamy. Nobody had taken the bait yet, but it was still early.

 

Simkins's transceiver beeped, and he activated it, hoping one of his men had spotted something. But it was Sato. She had new information.

 

Simkins listened and agreed with her concern. "Hold on," he said. "I'll see if I can get a visual." He crawled through the bushes in which he was hiding and peered back in the direction from which he had entered the square. After some maneuvering, he finally opened a sight line.

 

Holy shit.

 

He was staring at a building that looked like an Old World mosque. Nestled between two much larger buildings, the Moorish facade was made of gleaming terra-cotta tile laid in intricate multicolored designs. Above the three massive doors, two tiers of lancet windows looked as if Arabian archers might appear and open fire if anyone approached uninvited.

 

"I see it," Simkins said.

 

"Any activity?"

 

"Nothing."

 

"Good. I need you to reposition and watch it very carefully. It's called the Almas Shrine Temple, and it's the headquarters of a mystical order."

 

Simkins had worked in the D.C. area for a long time but was not familiar with this temple or any ancient mystical order headquartered on Franklin Square.

 

"This building," Sato said, "belongs to a group called the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine."

 

"Never heard of them."

 

"I think you have," Sato said. "They're an appendant body of the Masons, more commonly known as the Shriners."

 

Simkins shot a dubious glance at the ornate building. The Shriners? The guys who build hospitals for kids? He could imagine no "order" less ominous sounding than a fraternity of philanthropists who wore little red fezzes and marched in parades.

 

Even so, Sato's concerns were valid. "Ma'am, if our target realizes that this building is in fact `The Order' on Franklin Square, he won't need the address. He'll simply bypass the rendezvous and go directly to the correct location."

 

"My thoughts exactly. Keep an eye on the entrance."

 

"Yes, ma'am."

 

"Any word from Agent Hartmann in Kalorama Heights?"

 

"No, ma'am. You asked him to phone you directly."

 

"Well, he hasn't."

 

Odd, Simkins thought, checking his watch. He's overdue.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 100

 

Robert Langdon lay shivering, naked and alone in total blackness. Paralyzed by fear, he was no longer pounding or shouting. Instead, he had closed his eyes and was doing his best to control his hammering heart and his panicked breathing.

 

You are lying beneath a vast, nighttime sky, he tried to convince himself. There is nothing above you but miles of wide-open space.

 

This calming visualization had been the only way he had managed to survive a recent stint in an enclosed MRI machine . . . that and a triple dose of Valium. Tonight, however, the visualization was having no effect whatsoever.

 

The rag in Katherine Solomon's mouth had shifted backward and was all but choking her. Her captor had carried her down a narrow ramp and into a dark basement corridor. At the far end of the hall, she had glimpsed a room lit with an eerie reddish-purple light, but they'd never made it that far. The man had stopped instead at a small side room, carried her inside, and placed her on a wooden chair. He had set her down with her bound wrists behind the chair back so she could not move.

 

Now Katherine could feel the wire on her wrists slicing deeper into her flesh. The pain barely registered next to the rising panic she was feeling over being unable to breathe. The cloth in her mouth was slipping deeper into her throat, and she felt herself gagging reflexively. Her vision started to tunnel.

 

Behind her, the tattooed man closed the room's lone door and flipped on the light. Katherine's eyes were watering profusely now, and she could no longer differentiate objects in her immediate surroundings. Everything had become a blur.

 

A distorted vision of colorful flesh appeared before her, and Katherine felt her eyes starting to flutter as she teetered on the brink of unconsciousness. A scale-covered arm reached out and yanked the rag from her mouth.

 

Katherine gasped, inhaling deep breaths, coughing and choking as her lungs flooded with precious air. Slowly, her vision began to clear, and she found herself looking into the demon's face. The visage was barely human. Blanketing his neck, face, and shaved head was an astounding pattern of bizarre tattooed symbols. With the exception of a small circle on top of his head, every inch of his body appeared to be decorated. A massive double-headed phoenix on his chest glared at her through nipple eyes like some kind of ravenous vulture, patiently waiting for her death.

 

"Open your mouth," the man whispered.

 

Katherine stared at the monster with total revulsion. What?

 

"Open your mouth," the man repeated. "Or the cloth goes back in."

 

Trembling, Katherine opened her mouth. The man extended his thick, tattooed index finger, inserting it between her lips. When he touched her tongue, Katherine thought she would vomit. He extracted his wet finger and raised it to the top of his shaved head. Closing his eyes, he massaged her saliva into his small circular patch of untattooed flesh.

 

Repulsed, Katherine looked away.

 

The room in which she was sitting appeared to be a boiler room of some sort--pipes on the walls, gurgling sounds, fluorescent lights. Before she could take in her surroundings, though, her gaze stopped dead on something beside her on the floor. A pile of clothing--turtleneck, tweed sport coat, loafers, Mickey Mouse watch.

 

"My God!" She wheeled back to the tattooed animal before her. "What have you done with Robert?!"

 

"Shh," the man whispered. "Or he'll hear you." He stepped to one side and motioned behind him.

 

Langdon was not there. All Katherine saw was a huge black fiberglass box. Its shape bore an unsettling resemblance to the heavy crates in which corpses were shipped back from war. Two massive clasps firmly locked the box shut.

 

"He's inside?!" Katherine blurted. "But . . . he'll suffocate!"

 

"No, he won't," the man said, pointing to a series of transparent pipes that ran along the wall into the bottom of the crate. "He'll only wish he could."

 

In total darkness, Langdon listened intently to the muffled vibrations he now heard from the outside world. Voices? He began pounding on the box and shouting at the top of his lungs. "Help! Can anyone hear me?!"

 

Far off, a muted voice called out. "Robert! My God, no! NO!"

 

He knew the voice. It was Katherine, and she sounded terrified. Even so, it was a welcome sound. Langdon drew a breath to call out to her, but he stopped short, feeling an unexpected sensation at the back of his neck. A faint breeze seemed to be emanating from the bottom of the box. How is that possible? He lay very still, taking stock. Yes, definitely. He could feel the tiny hairs on the back of his neck being tickled by air movement.

 

Instinctively, Langdon began feeling along the floor of the box, searching for the source of the air. It took only a moment to locate. There's a tiny vent! The small perforated opening felt similar to a drain plate on a sink or tub, except that a soft, steady breeze was now coming up through it.

 

He's pumping air in for me. He doesn't want me to suffocate.

 

Langdon's relief was short-lived. A terrifying sound was now emanating up through the holes in the vent. It was the unmistakable gurgle of flowing liquid . . . coming his way.

 

Katherine stared in disbelief at the clear shaft of liquid that was progressing down one of the pipes toward Langdon's crate. The scene looked like some kind of twisted stage magician's act.

 

He's pumping water into the crate?!

 

Katherine strained at her bonds, ignoring the deep bite of the wires around her wrists. All she could do was look on in panic. She could hear Langdon pounding in desperation, but as the water reached the underside of the container, the pounding stopped. There was a moment of terrified silence. Then the pounding started again with renewed desperation.

 

"Let him out!" Katherine begged. "Please! You can't do this!"

 

"Drowning is a terrible death, you know." The man spoke calmly as he paced around her in circles. "Your assistant, Trish, could tell you that."

 

Katherine heard his words, but she could barely process them. "You may remember that I almost drowned once," the man whispered. "It was on your family's estate in Potomac. Your brother shot me, and I fell through the ice, out at Zach's bridge."

 

Katherine glared at him, filled with loathing. The night you killed my mother.

 

"The gods protected me that night," he said. "And they showed me the way . . . to become one of them."

 

The water gurgling into the box behind Langdon's head felt warm . . . body temperature. The fluid was already several inches deep and had completely swallowed the back of his naked body. As it began creeping up his rib cage, Langdon felt a stark reality closing in fast.

 

I'm going to die.

 

With renewed panic, he raised his arms and began pounding wildly again.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 101

 

"You've got to let him out!" Katherine begged, crying now. "We'll do whatever you want!" She could hear Langdon pounding more frantically as the water flowed into his container.

 

The tattooed man just smiled. "You're easier than your brother. The things I had to do to get Peter to tell me his secrets . . ."

 

"Where is he?!" she demanded. "Where is Peter?! Tell me! We did exactly what you wanted! We solved the pyramid and--"

 

"No, you did not solve the pyramid. You played a game. You withheld information and brought a government agent to my home. Hardly behavior I intend to reward."

 

"We didn't have a choice," she replied, choking back the tears. "The CIA is looking for you. They made us travel with an agent. I'll tell you everything. Just let Robert out!" Katherine could hear Langdon shouting and pounding in the crate, and she could see the water flowing through the pipe. She knew he didn't have a lot of time.

 

In front of her, the tattooed man spoke calmly, stroking his chin. "I assume there are agents waiting for me at Franklin Square?"

 

Katherine said nothing, and the man placed his massive palms on her shoulders, slowly pulling her forward. With her arms still wire-bound be hind the chair back, her shoulders strained, burning with pain, threatening to dislocate.

 

"Yes!" Katherine said. "There are agents at Franklin Square!"

 

He pulled harder. "What is the address on the capstone?"

 

The pain in her wrists and shoulders grew unbearable, but Katherine said nothing.

 

"You can tell me now, Katherine, or I'll break your arms and ask you again."

 

"Eight!" she gasped in pain. "The missing number is eight! The capstone says: `The secret hides within The Order--Eight Franklin Square!' I swear it. I don't know what else to tell you! It's Eight Franklin Square!"

 

The man still did not release her shoulders.

 

"That's all I know!" Katherine said. "That's the address! Let go of me! Let Robert out of that tank!"

 

"I would . . ." the man said, "but there's one problem. I can't go to Eight Franklin Square without being caught. Tell me, what's at that address?"

 

"I don't know!"

 

"And the symbols on the base of the pyramid? On the underside? Do you know their meaning?"

 

"What symbols on the base?" Katherine had no idea what he was talking about. "The bottom has no symbols. It's smooth, blank stone!"

 

Apparently immune to the muffled cries for help emanating from the coffinlike crate, the tattooed man calmly padded over to Langdon's day-bag and retrieved the stone pyramid. Then he returned to Katherine and held it up before her eyes so she could see the base.

 

When Katherine saw the engraved symbols, she gasped in bewilderment.

 

But . . . that's impossible! The bottom of the pyramid was entirely covered with intricate carvings. There was nothing there before! I'm sure of it! She had no idea what these symbols could possibly mean. They seemed to span every mystical tradition, including many she could not even place.

 

Total chaos.

 

"I . . . have no idea what this means," she said.

 

"Nor do I," her captor said. "Fortunately, we have a specialist at our disposal." He glanced at the crate. "Let's ask him, shall we?" He carried the pyramid toward the crate.

 

For a brief instant of hope, Katherine thought he was going to unclasp the lid. Instead, he sat calmly on top of the box, reached down, and slid a small panel to one side, revealing a Plexiglas window in the top of the tank.

 

Light!

 

Langdon covered his eyes, squinting into the ray of light that now streamed in from above. As his eyes adjusted, hope turned to confusion. He was looking up through what appeared to be a window in the top of his crate. Through the window, he saw a white ceiling and a fluorescent light.

 

Without warning, the tattooed face appeared above him, peering down. "Where is Katherine?!" Langdon shouted. "Let me out!"

 

The man smiled. "Your friend Katherine is here with me," the man said. "I have the power to spare her life. Your life as well. But your time is short, so I suggest you listen carefully."

 

Langdon could barely hear him through the glass, and the water had risen higher, creeping across his chest.

 

"Are you aware," the man asked, "that there are symbols on the base of the pyramid?"

 

"Yes!" Langdon shouted, having seen the extensive array of symbols when the pyramid had lain on the floor upstairs. "But I have no idea what they mean! You need to go to Eight Franklin Square! The answer is there! That's what the capstone--"

 

"Professor, you and I both know the CIA is waiting for me there. I have no intention of walking into a trap. Besides, I didn't need the street number. There is only one building on that square that could possibly be relevant--the Almas Shrine Temple." He paused, staring down at Langdon. "The Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine."

 

Langdon was confused. He was familiar with the Almas Temple, but he had forgotten it was on Franklin Square. The Shriners are . . . "The Order"? Their temple sits atop a secret staircase? It made no historical sense whatsoever, but Langdon was in no position at the moment to debate history. "Yes!" he shouted. "That must be it! The secret hides within The Order!"

 

"You're familiar with the building?"

 

"Absolutely!" Langdon raised his throbbing head to keep his ears above the quickly rising liquid. "I can help you! Let me out!"

 

"So you believe you can tell me what this temple has to do with the symbols on the base of the pyramid?"

 

"Yes! Let me just look at the symbols!"

 

"Very well, then. Let's see what you come up with."

 

Hurry! With the warm liquid rising around him, Langdon pushed up on the lid, willing the man to unclasp it. Please! Hurry! But the lid never opened. Instead, the base of the pyramid suddenly appeared, hovering above the Plexiglas window.

 

Langdon stared up in panic.

 

"I trust this view is close enough for you?"The man held the pyramid in his tattooed hands. "Think fast, Professor. I'm guessing you have less than sixty seconds." CHAPTER 102

 

Robert Langdon had often heard it said that an animal, when cornered, was capable of miraculous feats of strength. Nonetheless, when he threw his full force into the underside of his crate, nothing budged at all. Around him, the liquid continued rising steadily. With no more than six inches of breathing room left, Langdon had lifted his head into the pocket of air that remained. He was now face-to-face with the Plexiglas window, his eyes only inches away from the underside of the stone pyramid whose baffling engraving hovered above him.

 

I have no idea what this means.

 

Concealed for over a century beneath a hardened mixture of wax and stone dust, the Masonic Pyramid's final inscription was now laid bare. The engraving was a perfectly square grid of symbols from every tradition imaginable--alchemical, astrological, heraldic, angelic, magical, numeric, sigilic, Greek, Latin. As a totality, this was symbolic anarchy--a bowl of alphabet soup whose letters came from dozens of different languages, cultures, and time periods.

 

Total chaos. Symbologist Robert Langdon, in his wildest academic interpretations, could not fathom how this grid of symbols could be deciphered to mean anything at all. Order from this chaos? Impossible.

 

The liquid was now creeping over his Adam's apple, and Langdon could feel his level of terror rising along with it. He continued banging on the tank. The pyramid stared back at him tauntingly.

 

In frantic desperation, Langdon focused every bit of his mental energy on the chessboard of symbols. What could they possibly mean? Unfortunately, the assortment seemed so disparate that he could not even imagine where to begin. They're not even from the same eras in history!

 

Outside the tank, her voice muffled but audible, Katherine could be heard tearfully begging for Langdon's release. Despite his failure to see a solution, the prospect of death seemed to motivate every cell in his body to find one. He felt a strange clarity of mind, unlike anything he had ever experienced. Think! He scanned the grid intensely, searching for some clue--a pattern, a hidden word, a special icon, anything at all--but he saw only a grid of unrelated symbols. Chaos.

 

With each passing second, Langdon had begun to feel an eerie numbness overtaking his body. It was as if his very flesh were preparing to shield his mind from the pain of death. The water was now threatening to pour into his ears, and he lifted his head as far as he could, pushing it against the top of the crate. Frightening images began flashing before his eyes. A boy in New England treading water at the bottom of a dark well. A man in Rome trapped beneath a skeleton in an overturned coffin.

 

Katherine's shouts were growing more frantic. From all Langdon could hear, she was trying to reason with a madman--insisting that Langdon could not be expected to decipher the pyramid without going to visit the Almas Temple. "That building obviously holds the missing piece to this puzzle! How can Robert decipher the pyramid without all the information?!"

 

Langdon appreciated her efforts, and yet he felt certain that "Eight Franklin Square" was not pointing to the Almas Temple. The time line is all wrong! According to legend, the Masonic Pyramid was created in the mid-1800s, decades before the Shriners even existed. In fact, Langdon realized, it was probably before the square was even called Franklin Square. The capstone could not possibly have been pointing to an unbuilt building at a nonexistent address. Whatever "Eight Franklin Square" was pointing to . . . it had to exist in 1850.

 

Unfortunately, Langdon was drawing a total blank.

 

He probed his memory banks for anything that could possibly fit the time line. Eight Franklin Square? Something that was in existence in 1850? Langdon came up with nothing. The liquid was trickling into his ears now. Fighting his terror, he stared up at the grid of symbols on the glass. I don't understand the connection! In a petrified frenzy, his mind began spewing all the far-flung parallels it could generate. Eight Franklin Square . . . squares . . . this grid of symbols is a square . . . the square and the compass are Masonic symbols . . . Masonic altars are square . . . squares have ninety-degree angles. The water kept rising, but Langdon blocked it out. Eight Franklin . . . eight . . . this grid is eight-by-eight . . . Franklin has eight letters . . . "The Order" has eight letters . . . 8 is the rotated symbol for infinity . . . eight is the number of destruction in numerology . . .

 

Langdon had no idea.

 

Outside the tank, Katherine was still pleading, but Langdon's hearing was now intermittent as the water was sloshing around his head.

 

" . . . impossible without knowing . . . capstone's message clearly . . . the secret hides within--"

 

Then she was gone.

 

Water poured into Langdon's ears, blotting out the last of Katherine's voice. A sudden womblike silence engulfed him, and Langdon realized he truly was going to die.

 

The secret hides within--

 

Katherine's final words echoed through the hush of his tomb.

 

The secret hides within . . .

 

Strangely, Langdon realized he had heard these exact words many times before.

 

The secret hides . . . within.

 

Even now, it seemed, the Ancient Mysteries were taunting him. "The secret hides within" was the core tenet of the mysteries, urging man kind to seek God not in the heavens above . . . but rather within himself. The secret hides within. It was the message of all the great mystical teachers.

 

The kingdom of God is within you, said Jesus Christ.

 

Know thyself, said Pythagoras.

 

Know ye not that ye are gods, said Hermes Trismegistus.

 

The list went on and on . . .

 

All the mystical teachings of the ages had attempted to convey this one idea. The secret hides within. Even so, mankind continued looking to the heavens for the face of God.

 

This realization, for Langdon, now became an ultimate irony. Right now, with his eyes facing the heavens like all the blind men who preceded him, Robert Langdon suddenly saw the light.

 

It hit him like a bolt from above.

 

The

 

secret hides

 

within The Order

 

Eight Franklin Square

 

 

In a flash he understood.

 

The message on the capstone was suddenly crystal clear. Its meaning had been staring him in the face all night. The text on the capstone, like the Masonic Pyramid itself, was a symbolon--a code in pieces--a message written in parts. The capstone's meaning was camouflaged in so simple a manner that Langdon could scarcely believe he and Katherine had not spotted it.

 

More astonishing still, Langdon now realized that the message on the capstone did indeed reveal exactly how to decipher the grid of symbols on the base of the pyramid. It was so very simple. Exactly as Peter Solomon had promised, the golden capstone was a potent talisman with the power to bring order from chaos.

 

Langdon began pounding on the lid and shouting, "I know! I know!"

 

Above him, the stone pyramid lifted off and hovered away. In its place, the tattooed face reappeared, its chilling visage staring down through the small window.

 

"I solved it!" Langdon shouted. "Let me out!"

 

When the tattooed man spoke, Langdon's submerged ears heard nothing. His eyes, however, saw the lips speak two words. "Tell me."

 

"I will!" Langdon screamed, the water almost to his eyes. "Let me out! I'll explain everything!" It's so simple.

 

The man's lips moved again. "Tell me now . . . or die."

 

With the water rising through the final inch of air space, Langdon tipped his head back to keep his mouth above the waterline. As he did so, warm liquid poured into his eyes, blurring his vision. Arching his back, he pressed his mouth against the Plexiglas window.

 

Then, with his last few seconds of air, Robert Langdon shared the secret of how to decipher the Masonic Pyramid.

 

As he finished speaking, the liquid rose around his lips. Instinctively, Langdon drew a final breath and clamped his mouth shut. A moment later, the fluid covered him entirely, reaching the top of his tomb and spreading out across the Plexiglas.

 

He did it, Mal'akh realized. Langdon figured out how to solve the pyramid.

 

The answer was so simple. So obvious.

 

Beneath the window, the submerged face of Robert Langdon stared up at him with desperate and beseeching eyes.

 

Mal'akh shook his head at him and slowly mouthed the words: "Thank you, Professor. Enjoy the afterlife."

 

 

 

CHAPTER 103

 

As a serious swimmer, Robert Langdon had often wondered what it would feel like to drown. He now knew he was going to learn firsthand. Although he could hold his breath longer than most people, he could already feel his body reacting to the absence of air. Carbon dioxide was accumulating in his blood, bringing with it the instinctual urge to inhale. Do not breathe! The reflex to inhale was increasing in intensity with each passing moment. Langdon knew very soon he would reach what was called the breath-hold breakpoint--that critical moment at which a person could no longer voluntarily hold his breath.

 

Open the lid! Langdon's instinct was to pound and struggle, but he knew better than to waste valuable oxygen. All he could do was stare up through the blur of water above him and hope. The world outside was now only a hazy patch of light above the Plexiglas window. His core muscles had begun burning, and he knew hypoxia was setting in.

 

Suddenly a beautiful and ghostly face appeared, gazing down at him. It was Katherine, her soft features looking almost ethereal through the veil of liquid. Their eyes met through the Plexiglas window, and for an instant, Langdon thought he was saved. Katherine! Then he heard her muted cries of horror and realized she was being held there by their captor. The tattooed monster was forcing her to bear witness to what was about to happen.

 

Katherine, I'm sorry . . .

 

In this strange, dark place, trapped underwater, Langdon strained to comprehend that these would be his final moments of life. Soon he would cease to exist . . . everything he was . . . or had ever been . . . or would ever be . . . was ending. When his brain died, all of the memories held in his gray matter, along with all of the knowledge he had acquired, would simply evaporate in a flood of chemical reactions.

 

In this moment, Robert Langdon realized his true insignificance in the universe. It was as lonely and humbling a feeling as he had ever experienced. Almost thankfully, he could feel the breath-hold breakpoint arriving.

 

The moment was upon him.

 

Langdon's lungs forced out their spent contents, collapsing in eager preparation to inhale. Still he held out an instant longer. His final second. Then, like a man no longer able to hold his hand to a burning stove, he gave himself over to fate.

 

Reflex overruled reason.

 

His lips parted.

 

His lungs expanded.

 

And the liquid came pouring in.

 

The pain that filled his chest was greater than Langdon had ever imagined. The liquid burned as it poured into his lungs. Instantly, the pain shot upward into his skull, and he felt like his head was being crushed in a vise. There was great thundering in his ears, and through it all, Katherine Solomon was screaming.

 

There was a blinding flash of light.

 

And then blackness.

 

Robert Langdon was gone.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 104

 

It's over.

 

Katherine Solomon had stopped screaming. The drowning she had just witnessed had left her catatonic, virtually paralyzed with shock and despair. Beneath the Plexiglas window, Langdon's dead eyes stared past her into empty space. His frozen expression was one of pain and regret. The last tiny air bubbles trickled out of his lifeless mouth, and then, as if consenting to give up his ghost, the Harvard professor slowly began sinking to the bottom of the tank . . . where he disappeared into the shadows.

 

He's gone. Katherine felt numb.

 

The tattooed man reached down, and with pitiless finality, he slid the small viewing window closed, sealing Langdon's corpse inside.

 

Then he smiled at her. "Shall we?"

 

Before Katherine could respond, he hoisted her grief-stricken body onto his shoulder, turned out the light, and carried her out of the room. With a few powerful strides, he transported her to the end of the hall, into a large space that seemed to be bathed in a reddish-purple light. The room smelled like incense. He carried her to a square table in the center of the room and dropped her hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her. The surface felt rough and cold. Is this stone?

 

Katherine had hardly gotten her bearings before the man had removed the wire from her wrists and ankles. Instinctively, she attempted to fight him off, but her cramped arms and legs barely responded. He now began strapping her to the table with heavy leather bands, cinching one strap across her knees and then buckling a second across her hips, pinning her arms at her sides. Then he placed a final strap across her sternum, just above her breasts.

 

It had all taken only moments, and Katherine was again immobilized. Her wrists and ankles throbbed now as the circulation returned to her limbs.

 

"Open your mouth," the man whispered, licking his own tattooed lips.

 

Katherine clenched her teeth in revulsion.

 

The man again reached out with his index finger and ran it slowly around her lips, making her skin crawl. She clenched her teeth tighter. The tattooed man chuckled and, using his other hand, found a pressure point on her neck and squeezed. Katherine's jaw instantly dropped open. She could feel his finger entering her mouth and running along her tongue. She gagged and tried to bite it, but the finger was already gone. Still grinning, he raised his moist fingertip before her eyes. Then he closed his eyes and, once again, rubbed her saliva into the bare circle of flesh on his head.

 

The man sighed and slowly opened his eyes. Then, with an eerie calm, he turned and left the room.

 

In the sudden silence, Katherine could feel her heart pounding. Directly over her, an unusual series of lights seemed to be modulating from purple red to a deep crimson, illuminating the room's low ceiling. When she saw the ceiling, all she could do was stare. Every inch was covered with drawings. The mind-boggling collage above her appeared to depict the celestial sky. Stars, planets, and constellations mingled with astrological symbols, charts, and formulas. There were arrows predicting elliptical orbits, geometric symbols indicating angles of ascension, and zodiacal creatures peering down at her. It looked like a mad scientist had gotten loose in the Sistine Chapel.

 

Turning her head, Katherine looked away, but the wall to her left was no better. A series of candles on medieval floor stands shed a flickering glow on a wall that was completely hidden beneath pages of text, photos, and drawings. Some of the pages looked like papyrus or vellum torn from ancient books; others were obviously from newer texts; mixed in were photographs, drawings, maps, and schematics; all of them appeared to have been glued to the wall with meticulous care. A spiderweb of strings had been thumbtacked across them, interconnecting them in limitless chaotic possibilities.

 

Katherine again looked away, turning her head in the other direction.

 

Unfortunately, this provided the most terrifying view of all.

 

Adjacent to the stone slab on which she was strapped, there stood a small side counter that instantly reminded her of an instrument table from a hospital operating room. On the counter was arranged a series of objects--among them a syringe, a vial of dark liquid . . . and a large knife with a bone handle and a blade hewn of iron burnished to an unusually high shine.

 

My God . . . what is he planning to do to me?

 

 

 

CHAPTER 105

 

When CIA systems security specialist Rick Parrish finally loped into Nola Kaye's office, he was carrying a single sheet of paper.

 

"What took you so long?!" Nola demanded. I told you to come down immediately!

 

"Sorry," he said, pushing up his bottle-bottom glasses on his long nose. "I was trying to gather more information for you, but--"

 

"Just show me what you've got."

 

Parrish handed her the printout. "It's a redaction, but you get the gist."

 

Nola scanned the page in amazement. "I'm still trying to figure out how a hacker got access," Parrish said, "but it looks like a delegator spider hijacked one of our search--"

 

"Forget that!" Nola blurted, glancing up from the page. "What the hell is the CIA doing with a classified file about pyramids, ancient portals, and engraved symbolons?"

 

"That's what took me so long. I was trying to see what document was being targeted, so I traced the file path." Parrish paused, clearing his throat. "This document turns out to be on a partition personally assigned to . . . the CIA director himself."

 

Nola wheeled, staring in disbelief. Sato's boss has a file about the Masonic Pyramid? She knew that the current director, along with many other top CIA executives, was a high-ranking Mason, but Nola could not imagine any of them keeping Masonic secrets on a CIA computer.

 

Then again, considering what she had witnessed in the last twenty-four hours, anything was possible.

 

Agent Simkins was lying on his stomach, ensconced in the bushes of Franklin Square. His eyes were trained on the columned entry of the Almas Temple. Nothing. No lights had come on inside, and no one had approached the door. He turned his head and checked on Bellamy. The man was pacing alone in the middle of the park, looking cold. Really cold. Simkins could see him shaking and shivering.

 

His phone vibrated. It was Sato.

 

"How overdue is our target?" she demanded.

 

Simkins checked his chronograph. "Target said twenty minutes. It's been almost forty. Something's wrong."

 

"He's not coming," Sato said. "It's over."

 

Simkins knew she was right. "Any word from Hartmann?"

 

"No, he never checked in from Kalorama Heights. I can't reach him."

 

Simkins stiffened. If this was true, then something was definitely wrong.

 

"I just called field support," Sato said, "and they can't find him either."

 

Holy shit. "Do they have a GPS location on the Escalade?"

 

"Yeah. A residential address in Kalorama Heights," Sato said. "Gather your men. We're pulling out." Sato clicked off her phone and gazed out at the majestic skyline of her nation's capital. An icy wind whipped through her light jacket, and she wrapped her arms around herself to stay warm. Director Inoue Sato was not a woman who often felt cold . . . or fear. At the moment, however, she was feeling both.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 106

 

Mal'akh wore only his silk loincloth as he dashed up the ramp, through the steel door, and out through the painting into his living room. I need to prepare quickly. He glanced over at the dead CIA agent in the foyer. This home is no longer safe.

 

Carrying the stone pyramid in one hand, Mal'akh strode directly to his first-floor study and sat down at his laptop computer. As he logged in, he pictured Langdon downstairs and wondered how many days or even weeks would pass before the submerged corpse was discovered in the secret basement. It made no difference. Mal'akh would be long gone by then.

 

Langdon has served his role . . . brilliantly.

 

Not only had Langdon reunited the pieces of the Masonic Pyramid, he had figured out how to solve the arcane grid of symbols on the base. At first glance, the symbols seemed indecipherable . . . and yet the answer was simple . . . staring them in the face.

 

Mal'akh's laptop sprang to life, the screen displaying the same e-mail he had received earlier--a photograph of a glowing capstone, partially blocked by Warren Bellamy's finger.

 

The

 

secret hides

 

within The Order.

 

Franklin Square.

 

 

Eight . . . Franklin Square, Katherine had told Mal'akh. She had also admitted that CIA agents were staking out Franklin Square, hoping to capture Mal'akh and also figure out what order was being referenced by the capstone. The Masons? The Shriners? The Rosicrucians?

 

None of these, Mal'akh now knew. Langdon saw the truth. Ten minutes earlier, with liquid rising around his face, the Harvard professor had figured out the key to solving the pyramid. "The Order Eight Franklin Square!" he had shouted, terror in his eyes. "The secret hides within The Order Eight Franklin Square!"

 

At first, Mal'akh failed to understand his meaning.

 

"It's not an address!" Langdon yelled, his mouth pressed to the Plexiglas window. "The Order Eight Franklin Square! It's a magic square!" Then he said something about Albrecht D�rer . . . and how the pyramid's first code was a clue to breaking this final one.

 

Mal'akh was familiar with magic squares--kameas, as the early mystics called them. The ancient text De Occulta Philosophia described in detail the mystical power of magic squares and the methods for designing powerful sigils based on magical grids of numbers. Now Langdon was telling him that a magic square held the key to deciphering the base of the pyramid?

 

"You need an eight-by-eight magic square!" the professor had been yelling, his lips the only part of his body above the liquid. "Magic squares are categorized in orders! A three-by-three square is an `order three'! A four-by-four square is an `order four'! You need an `order eight'!"

 

The liquid had been about to engulf Langdon entirely, and the professor drew one last desperate breath and shouted out something about a famous Mason . . . an American forefather . . . a scientist, mystic, mathematician, inventor . . . as well as the creator of the mystical kamea that bore his name to this day.

 

Franklin.

 

In a flash, Mal'akh knew Langdon was right.

 

Now, breathless with anticipation, Mal'akh sat upstairs at his laptop. He ran a quick Web search, received dozens of hits, chose one, and began reading.

 

THE ORDER EIGHT FRANKLIN SQUARE

 

One of history's best-known magic squares is the order-eight square published in 1769 by American scientist Benjamin Franklin, and which became famous for its inclusion of never- before-seen "bent diagonal summations." Franklin's obsession with this mystical art form most likely stemmed from his personal associations with the prominent alchemists and mystics of his day, as well as his own belief in astrology, which were the underpinnings for the predictions made in his Poor Richard's Almanack. Mal'akh studied Franklin's famous creation--a unique arrangement of the numbers 1 through 64--in which every row, column, and diagonal added up to the same magical constant. The secret hides within The Order Eight Franklin Square.

 

Mal'akh smiled. Trembling with excitement, he grabbed the stone pyramid and flipped it over, examining the base. These sixty-four symbols needed to be reorganized and arranged in a different order, their sequence defined by the numbers in Franklin's magic square. Although Mal'akh could not imagine how this chaotic grid of symbols would suddenly make sense in a different order, he had faith in the ancient promise.

 

Ordo ab chao.

 

Heart racing, he took out a sheet of paper and quickly drew an empty eight-by-eight grid. Then he began inserting the symbols, one by one, in their newly defined positions. Almost immediately, to his astonishment, the grid began making sense.

 

Order from chaos!

 

He completed the entire decryption and stared in disbelief at the solution before him. A stark image had taken shape. The jumbled grid had been transformed . . . reorganized . . . and although Mal'akh could not grasp the meaning of the entire message, he understood enough . . . enough to know exactly where he was now headed.

 

The pyramid points the way.

 

The grid pointed to one of the world's great mystical locations. Incredibly, it was the same location at which Mal'akh had always fantasized he would complete his journey. Destiny.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 107

 

The stone table felt cold beneath Katherine Solomon's back.

 

Horrifying images of Robert's death continued to swirl through her mind, along with thoughts of her brother. Is Peter dead, too? The strange knife on the nearby table kept bringing flashes of what might lie in store for her as well.

 

Is this really the end?

 

Oddly, her thoughts turned abruptly to her research . . . to Noetic Science . . . and to her recent breakthroughs. All of it lost . . . up in smoke. She would never be able to share with the world everything she had learned. Her most shocking discovery had taken place only a few months ago, and the results had the potential to redefine the way humans thought about death. Strangely, thinking now of that experiment . . . was bringing her an unexpected solace.

 

As a young girl, Katherine Solomon had often wondered if there was life after death. Does heaven exist? What happens when we die? As she grew older, her studies in science quickly erased any fanciful notions of heaven, hell, or the afterlife. The concept of "life after death," she came to accept, was a human construct . . . a fairy tale designed to soften the horrifying truth that was our mortality.

 

Or so I believed . . .

 

A year ago, Katherine and her brother had been discussing one of philosophy's most enduring questions--the existence of the human soul--specifically the issue of whether or not humans possessed some kind of consciousness capable of survival outside of the body.

 

They both sensed that such a human soul probably did exist. Most ancient philosophies concurred. Buddhist and Brahminical wisdom endorsed metempsychosis--the transmigration of the soul into a new body after death; Platonists defined the body as a "prison" from which the soul escaped; and the Stoics called the soul apospasma tou theu--"a particle of God"--and believed it was recalled by God upon death.

 

The existence of the human soul, Katherine noted with some frustration, was probably a concept that would never be scientifically proven. Confirming that a consciousness survived outside the human body after death was akin to exhaling a puff of smoke and hoping to find it years later. After their discussion, Katherine had a strange notion. Her brother had mentioned the Book of Genesis and its description of the soul as Neshemah--a kind of spiritual "intelligence" that was separate from the body. It occurred to Katherine that the word intelligence suggested the presence of thought. Noetic Science clearly suggested that thoughts had mass, and so it stood to reason, then, that the human soul might therefore also have mass.

 

Can I weigh a human soul?

 

The notion was impossible, of course . . . foolish even to ponder.

 

It was three days later that Katherine suddenly woke up from a dead sleep and sat bolt upright in bed. She jumped up, drove to her lab, and immediately began work designing an experiment that was both startlingly simple . . . and frighteningly bold.

 

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