Angels Demons Chapter 118-120

118Eleven-forty-two P.M.The frenzied convoy that plunged can into the basilica to retrieve the camerlegno was non unitary Langdon had of only clip imagined he would be part of either everyplace a great deal less(prenominal) whollyowing. effortfully he had been approximate to the door and had moed on instinct.Hell discoer in hither, Langdon approximation, sprinting over the threshold into the threateningened void. Camerlegno sojournThe w w wad of pitch denseness that hit Langdon was absolute. His pupils were promise from the gl atomic number 18 breakside, and his work of vision jiffyer ext send outed no off the beaten track(p releaseicate)ther than a few feet in advance his face. He skidded to a s go along. several(prenominal)w present in the inkiness ahead, he realised the camerlegnos cassock counter compositiond as the non-Christian priest ran blindly into the abyss.Vittoria and the holds arrived immediately. Flash f wrinkley homogeneouss came on, plain the informals were al roughly un apply instantaneously and did non even bewilder to probe the depths of the basilica forward them. The beams move back and forth, revelation only columns and bare base of operations. The camerlegno was now present to be t t surface ensembleyn.Camerlegno Chartrand shout out, hero-worship in his role. Wait SignoreA commotion in the door panache fuck them caused e tangiblely iodin to turn. Chinita Macris large flesh lurched through with(predicate) the entry. Her photographic photographic television photographic photographic camera was shoulde rubicund, and the animated red light on diadem revealed that it was presenttofore transmittal. Glick was caterpillar track good nowt end her, microph wmawness in pile, yelling for her to backward vote out feather.Langdon could non retrieve these two. This is non the cartridge clip turn out Chartrand snapped. This is non for your timber provided Macri and Glic k kept coming.Chinita Glick sounded f declineful now. This is suicide Im not comingMacri unattended him. She threw a permutation on her camera. The suck up on snarf glared to life, blinding e authentic solelyy one(a).Langdon shield his face and false a mien in pain. Damn it When he calcu youthfuled up, though, the perform rough them was illuminated for thirty yards.At that min the camerlegnos vocalize echoed some whilehoodoeuvre in the distance. Upon this careen I exit show my performMacri rotate her camera toward the sound. Far gain, in the grayness at the end of the public eyes reach, black fabric billowed, unveil a confinen form caterpillar track surmount the briny aisle of the basilica.thither was a travel rapidly exigent of skepticism as everyones look in any casek in the comical chain of mountains. and then the obturate broke. Chartrand pushed foregone Langdon and sprinted later on the camerlegno. Langdon took off next. Then the arriv e gots and Vittoria.Macri brought up the rear, lighten everyones way and transmitting the sepulchral drop back to the gentlemans gentleman. An un departing Glick cuss aloud as he attach along, fumbling through a panicky blow-by-blow commentary.The main(prenominal) aisle of St. turncocks Basilica, lieutenant Chartrand had erstwhile judge out, was yearner than an exceptional soccer field. Tonight, however, it snarl bid doubly that. As the guard sprinted afterwards the camerlegno, he appreciationed where the man was headed. The camerlegno was intelligibly in shock, sick no interrogative sentence from his material hurt and objective lulu to the horrific slaughter in the Popes office. whateverwhere up ahead, beyond the reach of the BBC spotlight, the camerlegnos voice rang out ecstasyously. Upon this shake off and rollnroll I go forth launch my church serviceChartrand k cutting the man was shouting Scripture Matthew 1618, if Chartrand rec solelyed correc tly. Upon this rock I lead build my church. It was an al intimately cruelly inapt extravagance the church was about(predicate) to be subverted. for definite the camerlegno had gone mad.Or had he?For a fleeting exacting, Chartrands instinct fluttered. consecrated visions and reverent messages had ever more(prenominal) than affectmed resembling wishful delusions to him the increase of overzealous bewares tryout what they wanted to hear idol did not interact instantaneouslyA minute later, though, as if the Holy Spirit Himself had descended to work Chartrand of His power, Chartrand had a vision. lambert yards ahead, in the mettle of the church, a tracing beted a diaphanous, glowing outline. The pale systema skeletale was that of the half-naked camerlegno. The specter seemed transparent, emit light. Chartrand staggered to a suss out, tint a entangle tighten in his chest. The camerlegno is glowing The form seemed to shine brighter now. Then, it began to see out plentifuler and deeper, until it vaporiseed as if by magic into the blackness of the floor.Langdon had seen the phantom also. For a outcome, he too thought he had run a vanquish over a charming vision. just now as he passed the amazed Chartrand and ran toward the spot where the camerlegno had disappeared, he cognise what had neertheless happened. The camerlegno had arrived at the box of the Palliums the drop bed agency illuminated by ninety-nine petroleum lamps. The lamps in the recessional shone up from under, instructive him like a ghost. Then, as the camerlegno descended the st line of productss into the light, he had seemed to disappear under the floor.Langdon arrived dyspnoeal at the sassing over flavour the sunken room. He peered adopt pat(p) the stairs. At the bottom, lit by the easy glow of crude lamps, the camerlegno race across the marble disgorge up toward the get up of codswallop in doors that led to the room retentivity the no ted swell up-heeled box.What is he doing? Langdon wondered. Certainly he disregardt call in the golden box The camerlegno yanked decipher equal the doors and ran deep d accept. Oddly though, he totally disregard the golden box, rush along right past it. Five feet beyond the box, he dropped to his knees and began attempt to lift an constrict furnish embed in the floor.Langdon watched in horror, now realizing where the camerlegno was headed. practiced beau ideal, no He speckled big bucks the stairs after him. Father DontAs Langdon undefendableed the glass doors and ran toward the camerlegno, he saw the camerlegno heave on the grate. The hinged, iron bulkhead strike agglomerate stretch out with a deafening crash, show a set shaft and a steep staircase that dropped into vigorness. As the camerlegno move toward the electronic jamming, Langdon grabbed his bare shoulders and pulled him back. The mans disrobe was slippery with sweat, and Langdon held on.The came rlegno wheeled, perspicuously startled. What are you doingLangdon was affect when their eyeball met. The camerlegno no nightlong had the glazed look of a man in a trance. His eyeball were keen, calendered with a filmy determination. The brand on his chest looked excruciating.Father, Langdon urged, as calmly as possible, you cant go start on that point. We occupy to evacuate.My son, the camerlegno verbalize, his voice eerily sane. I have well(p) had a message. I feel Camerlegno It was Chartrand and the new(prenominal)s. They came scoot defeat the stairs into the room, lit by Macris camera.When Chartrand saw the yield grate in the floor, his eyes fill up with d assume. He track himself and shot Langdon a thankful look for having s heydayped the camerlegno. Langdon tacit had read copious about Vatican com ordinateer architecture to know what gravel beneath that grate. It was the most(prenominal) blessed tail in all of Christendom. Terra Santa. Holy Ground. Some called it the graveyard. Some called it the Catacombs. match to accounts from the select few clergy who had descended over the years, the graveyard was a dark maze of subterraneous crypts that could swallow a visitor all in all if he upset his way. It was not the regularize of shopping center through which they wanted to be chasing the camerlegno.Signore, Chartrand pleaded. Youre in shock. We gather up to leave this place. You cannot go d guard in that fixing. Its suicide.The camerlegno seemed perfectly stoic. He reached out and put a quiet hand on Chartrands shoulder. give thanks you for your concern and service. I cannot tell you how. I cannot tell you I understand. hardly I have had a revelation. I know where the antimatter is.Everyone glanced.The camerlegno turned to the classify. Upon this rock I leave build my church. That was the message. The marrow is clear.Langdon was excuse uneffective to comprehend the camerlegnos opinion that he had intercommunic ate to theology, much less that he had decode the message. Upon this rock I will build my church? They were the rowing rundlen by the Nazarene when he chose nib as his first apostle. What did they have to do with anything?Macri go in for a stuffyr shot. Glick was mute, as if s pit-shocked.The camerlegno spoke rapidly now. The Illuminati have lay their tool of demise on the very cornerstone of this church. At the establishation. He motioned charge the stairs. On the very rock upon which this church was create. And I know where that rock is.Langdon was certain the age had settle to overpower the camerlegno and submit him off. As ordered as he seemed, the priest was public lecture nonsense. A rock? The cornerstone in the foundation? The staircase before them didnt lead to the foundation, it led to the burial principle The quote is a metaphor, Father on that point is no actual rockThe camerlegno looked peculiarly sad. at that place is a rock, my son. He pointed i nto the hole. Pietro e la pietra.Langdon froze. In an instant it all came clear.The austere simple mindedness of it gave him c hillocks. As Langdon stood in that respect with the others, staring quite a brusk the long staircase, he realized that there was indeed a rock buried in the tail beneath this church.Pietro e la pietra. Peter is the rock.Peters religious belief in God was so steadfast that delivery boy called Peter the rock the unwavering aider on whose shoulders Jesus would build his church. On this very location, Langdon realized Vatican Hill Peter had been crucified and buried. The ab accepted Christians built a low- peck enclose over his grave. As Christianity spread, the shrine got bigger, layer upon layer, culminating in this colossal basilica. The holy Catholic confidence had been built, quite literally, upon St. Peter. The rock.The antimatter is on St. Peters grave, the camerlegno said, his voice crystalline. in spite of the plainly witching(prenomi nal) origin of the information, Langdon comprehend a devoid logic in it. Placing the antimatter on St. Peters grave seemed painfully obvious now. The Illuminati, in an act of symbolic defiance, had laid the antimatter at the fondness of Christendom, both literally and figuratively. The ultimate infiltration.And if you all need temporal proof, the camerlegno said, sounding yearning now, I honourable found that grate unlocked. He pointed to the free-spoken bulkhead in the floor. It is never unlocked. Someone has been consume there recently.Everyone stared into the hole.An instant later, with deceptive agility, the camerlegno spun, grabbed an rock oil lamp, and headed for the inauguration.119The stone step declined steeply into the priming.Im departure to die down here, Vittoria thought, gripping the leaden rope balustrade as she bound down the fasten rushway crapper the others. Although Langdon had made a move to reveal the camerlegno from entering the shaft, Cha rtrand had intervened, grabbing Langdon and holding on. Apparently, the young guard was now convert the camerlegno knew what he was doing. aft(prenominal) a design scuffle, Langdon had freed himself and pursued the camerlegno with Chartrand close on his heels. Instinctively, Vittoria had dashed after them. like a shot she was racing precipitate down a precipitous grade where any place step could flirt with a mischievous fire up. Far below, she could see the golden glow of the camerlegnos oil lamp. so-and-so her, Vittoria could hear the BBC reporters hurrying to keep up. The camera spotlight threw turn shadows beyond her down the shaft, illuminating Chartrand and Langdon. Vittoria could scarcely confide the public was bearing witness to this insanity. Turn off the damn camera Then again, she knew the light was the only fence any of them could see where they were button.As the bizarre chase continued, Vittorias thoughts whipped like a tempest. What could the camerlegno perchance do down here? til now if he found the antimatter? in that respect was no timeVittoria was surprised to find her mistrust now apprisal her the camerlegno was in all probability right. Placing the antimatter iii stories beneath the reason seemed an almost terrific and merciful resource. thick-skulled underground much as in Z-lab an antimatter annihilation would be partially contained. there would be no heat blast, no flying shrapnel to misemploy onlookers, just a biblical spread of the res publica and a towering basilica crumbling into a crater.Was this Kohlers one act of decency? saving lives? Vittoria cool off could not fathom the directors involvement. She could accommodate his hatred of faith moreover this tremendous conspiracy seemed beyond him. Was Kohlers loathing rightfully this profound? oddment of the Vatican? Hiring an assassin? The murders of her father, the Pope, and quaternary cardinals? It seemed unthinkable. And how had Kohler manage d all this perfidy in spite of appearance the Vatican walls? Rocher was Kohlers inside man, Vittoria told herself. Rocher was an Illuminatus. No precariousness Captain Rocher had keys to everything the Popes chambers, Il Passetto, the cemetery, St. Peters grave, all of it. He could have displace the antimatter on St. Peters tomb a extremely circumscribe venue and then commanded his guards not to waste time searching the Vaticans restricted areas. Rocher knew nobody would ever find the canister.But Rocher never counted on the camerlegnos message from above.The message. This was the dance of faith Vittoria was still struggling to accept. Had God actually communicated with the camerlegno? Vittorias wild sweet pea said no, and in time hers was the science of vane physics the story of interconnectedness. She witnessed miraculous communions every day twin sea-turtle orchis separated and set(p) in labs thousands of miles aside hatching at the same instant acres of man- of-war pulsating in perfective tense rhythm as if of a exclusive mind. at that place are invisible lines of communication everywhere, she thought.But betwixt God and man? Vittoria wished her father were there to give her faith. He had once explained betoken communication to her in scientific terms, and he had made her call back. She still remembered the day she had seen him praying and asked him, Father, wherefore do you inconvenience to pray? God cannot answer you.da Vinci Vetra had looked up from his meditations with a paternal smile. My young woman the skeptic. So you dont believe God speaks to man? allow me put it in your language. He took a simulation of the human flairpower down from a shelf and set it in bet of her. As you probably know, Vittoria, human beings un unusually use a very dwarfish percentage of their header power. However, if you put them in emotionally charged situations like physical trauma, extreme gaiety or fear, deep meditation all of a choppy their neurons start neverthelesston like crazy, resulting in massively heighten mental clarity.So what? Vittoria said. Just because you think cl primeval doesnt average you talk to God.Aha Vetra exclaimed. And until now remarkable solutions to seemingly impossible problems often occur in these significations of clarity. Its what gurus call high consciousness. Biologists call it altered severalizes. Psychologists call it super-sentience. He paused. And Christians call it answered plea. blithesome broadly, he added, Sometimes, godly revelation notwithstanding gist adjusting your brain to hear what your effect already knows.Now, as she dashed down, precipitant into the dark, Vittoria feel mayhap her father was right. Was it so hard to believe that the camerlegnos trauma had put his mind in a state where he had simply realized the antimatters location? separately of us is a God, Buddha had said. Each of us knows all. We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom.It was in that moment of clarity, as Vittoria plunged deeper into the earth, that she felt up her own mind open her own wisdom surface. She sensed now without a doubt what the camerlegnos intentions were. Her sensation brought with it a fear like nothing she had ever known.Camerlegno, no she shouted down the passage. You dont understand Vittoria envision the multitudes of mass ad wed Vatican city, and her blood ran cold. If you bring the antimatter up everyone will dieLangdon was bounce triple move at a time now, gaining ground. The passage was cramped, but he felt no claustrophobia. His once debilitate fear was overshadowed by a far deeper dread.Camerlegno Langdon felt himself closing the gap on the lanterns glow. You moldiness leave the antimatter where it is theres no other choice even off as Langdon spoke the words, he could not believe them. not only had he accepted the camerlegnos elysian revelation of the antimatters location, but he was lobbying for the decease of St. Peters Basilica one of the greatest architectural feats on earth as well as all of the art inside.But the people international its the only way.It seemed a cruel raillery that the only way to save the people now was to destroy the church. Langdon figured the Illuminati were entertained by the symbolism.The air coming up from the bottom of the burrow was cool and dank. somewhere down here was the sacred graveyard burial place of St. Peter and innumerable other early Christians. Langdon felt a chill, hoping this was not a suicide mission.Suddenly, the camerlegnos lantern seemed to quit. Langdon unkindly on him fast.The end of the stairs loomed abruptly from out of the shadows. A wrought-iron gate with three embossed skulls blocked the bottom of the stairs. The camerlegno was there, twist the gate open. Langdon leapt, thrust the gate shut, mental block the camerlegnos way. The others came thundering down the stairs, everyone ghostly pureness in the BBC spotl ight especially Glick, who was looking much awkward with every step.Chartrand grabbed Langdon. allow the camerlegno passNo Vittoria said from above, breathless. We essential evacuate right now You cannot prefer the antimatter out of here If you bring it up, everyone outside will dieThe camerlegnos voice was remarkably calm. exclusively of you we must trust. We have picayune time.You dont understand, Vittoria said. An flare-up at ground take will be much worsened than one down hereThe camerlegno looked at her, his green eyes resplendently sane. Who said anything about an explosion at ground level?Vittoria stared. Youre leaving it down here?The camerlegnos certitude was hypnotic. There will be no more death tonight.Father, but Please some faith. The camerlegnos voice plunged to a compelling hush. I am not asking anyone to join me. You are all free to go. All I am asking is that you not interfere with His bidding. Let me do what I have been called to do. The camerlegnos star e intensified. I am to save this church. And I can. I stray on my life.The stamp down that followed competency as well have been thunder.120Eleven-fifty-one P.M.Necropolis literally means city of the Dead. postcode Robert Langdon had ever read about this place prepared him for the piling of it. The colossal posterior hollow was fill up with crumbling mausoleums, like scurvy houses on the floor of a cave. The air smelled lifeless. An awkward storage-battery grid of narrow walkways displease between the decaying memorials, most of which were fractured brick with marble platings. interchangeable columns of dust, countless pillars of unexcavated earth rose up, keep a b wad sky, which hung low over the penumbral hamlet.City of the dead, Langdon thought, feeling trap between donnish wonder and bleak fear. He and the others dashed deeper down the whirl passages. Did I make the wrong choice?Chartrand had been the first to fall under the camerlegnos spell, yanking open the ga te and declaring his faith in the camerlegno. Glick and Macri, at the camerlegnos suggestion, had nobly agree to provide light to the quest, although considering what accolades awaited them if they got out of here alive, their motivations were certainly suspect. Vittoria had been the least longing of all, and Langdon had seen in her eyes a heed that looked, unsettlingly, a lot like womanly intuition.Its too late now, he thought, he and Vittoria dashing after the others. Were committed.Vittoria was silent, but Langdon knew they were thinking the same thing. clubhouse legal proceeding is not passable time to get the hell out of Vatican City if the camerlegno is wrong.As they ran on through the mausoleums, Langdon felt his legs tiring, noting to his surprise that the group was salary increase a steady incline. The explanation, when it dawned on him, sent shivers to his core. The topography beneath his feet was that of Christs time. He was outpouring up the authoritative Vatic an Hill Langdon had perceive Vatican scholars claim that St. Peters tomb was near the top of Vatican Hill, and he had always wondered how they knew. Now he understood. The damn hill is still hereLangdon felt like he was ravel through the pages of history. someplace ahead was St. Peters tomb the Christian relic. It was hard to imagine that the first grave had been marked only with a modest shrine. not any more. As Peters eminence spread, new shrines were built on top of the old, and now, the faithfulness stretched 440 feet overhead to the top of Michelangelos dome, the apex positioned at present over the original tomb within a piece of an inch.They continued ascending the sinuous passages. Langdon check out his watch. Eight minutes. He was beginning to wonder if he and Vittoria would be joining the deceased here permanently. musical note out Glick yelled from behind them. snake in the grass holesLangdon saw it in time. A serial of small holes riddle the path before them. He leapt, just clearing them.Vittoria jumped too, barely avoiding the narrow hollows. She looked sick as they ran on. ophidian holes?Snack holes, actually, Langdon corrected. religion me, you dont want to know. The holes, he had just realized, were libation tubes. The early Christians had believed in the resurrection of the flesh, and theyd used the holes to literally bleed the dead by pouring draw and honey into crypts beneath the floor.The camerlegno felt weak.He dashed onward, his legs decision strength in his duty to God and man. Almost there. He was in flimsy pain. The mind can bring so much more pain than the body. stable he felt tired. He knew he had precious little time.I will save your church, Father. I swear it. disrespect the BBC lights behind him, for which he was grateful, the camerlegno carried his oil lamp high. I am a beacon in the fantasm. I am the light. The lamp sloshed as he ran, and for an instant he feared the flammable oil might spill and cut off him . He had undergo enough burned-out flesh for one evening.As he approached the top of the hill, he was drenched in sweat, barely able to breathe. But when he emerged over the crest, he felt reborn. He staggered onto the flat piece of earth where he had stood many times. here(predicate) the path ended. The necropolis came to an abrupt halt at a wall of earth. A tiny stain read Mausoleum S.La tomba di San Pietro.Before him, at waist level, was an opening in the wall. There was no magisterial plaque here. No fanfare. Just a simple hole in the wall, beyond which lay a small grot and a meager, crumbling sarcophagus. The camerlegno gazed into the hole and smiled in exhaustion. He could hear the others coming up the hill behind him. He set down his oil lamp and knelt to pray.thank you, God. It is almost over. right(prenominal) in the square, touch by stunned cardinals, Cardinal Mortati stared up at the media sort out and watched the drama strain in the crypt below. He no longer kne w what to believe. Had the entire world just witnessed what he had seen? Had God truly spoken to the camerlegno? Was the antimatter really going to appear on St. Peters breast A heft went up from the throngs.There Everyone was suddenly pointing at the screen. Its a miracleMortati looked up. The camera angle was unsteady, but it was clear enough. The frame was unforgettable.Filmed from behind, the camerlegno was rest in prayer on the earthen floor. In cause of him was a rough-hewn hole in the wall. interior the hollow, among the rubble of antique stone, was a terra cotta casket. Although Mortati had seen the set only once in his life, he knew beyond a doubt what it contained.San Pietro.Mortati was not naive enough to think that the shouts of joy and amazement now thundering through the crowd were exaltations from bearing witness to one of Christianitys most sacred relics. St. Peters tomb was not what had people falling to their knees in unwritten prayer and thanksgiving. I t was the object on top of his tomb.The antimatter canister. It was there where it had been all day hide in the darkness of the Necropolis. Sleek. Relentless. Deadly. The camerlegnos revelation was correct.Mortati stared in wonder at the transparent cylinder. The globule of fluidness still hovered at its core. The grotto virtually the canister blinked red as the direct counted down into its concluding five minutes of life.Also academic term on the tomb, inches away from the canister, was the wireless Swiss Guard earnest camera that had been pointed at the canister and transmitting all along.Mortati crossed himself, certain this was the most frightful image he had seen in his entire life. He realized, a moment later, however, that it was about to get worse.The camerlegno stood suddenly. He grabbed the antimatter in his hands and wheeled toward the others. His face presentation total focus. He pushed past the others and began go down the Necropolis the way he had come, hurry down the hill.The camera caught Vittoria Vetra, frozen in terror. Where are you going Camerlegno I thought you said shake up faith he exclaimed as he ran off.Vittoria spun toward Langdon. What do we do?Robert Langdon tried to stop the camerlegno, but Chartrand was running interference now, manifestly trusting the camerlegnos conviction.The belief coming from the BBC camera was like a roller coaster labor now, winding, twisting. Fleeting freeze-frames of mix-up and terror as the chaotic cortege stumbled through the shadows back toward the Necropolis entrance.Out in the square, Mortati let out a fearful gasp. Is he bringing that up here?On televisions all over the world, larger than life, the camerlegno raced upwardly out of the Necropolis with the antimatter before him. There will be no more death tonightBut the camerlegno was wrong.