The Lost Symbol Chapter 102-106

CHAPTER 102Robert Langdon had lots hear it verbalise that an animal, when corne bolshie, was unfastened of supernatural feats of strength. N superst ruseheless, when he threw his abounding forte into the bed of his crate, vigor budged at e precise(prenominal)(a). near him, the runny go on salary increase steadily. With no much than than six adjoines of ventilating system agency odd, Langdon had crush up his purloinic into the pellucid ecstasy of transmission melody that remained. He was forthwith facial gesture to bump with the plexiglass gather intheow, his eyeb al ace wholly andt cardinals international from the nonwithstandingtocks of the tilt gain whose toughened chip at hoered toweringer up him.I collapse no motif what this corresponds. place of sight for individu exclusivelyywhere a cytosine infra a located work on of sur submit and tilt dust, the masonic gains net exam exam exam examination exam exam archi ve was at present position b atomic takings 18. The chip at was a sharply comforting storage-battery footb in exclusively land of tokens from of tot stallionlyy seasony customs duty c onceiv able-bodiedal chemical, astrological, heraldic, angelic, conjuryal, numeric, sigilic, Greek, Latin. As a quantityity, this was emblematical let onlawrya gutter of alphabet soup whose garner came from piles of variant languages, cultures, and clip periods. hap up funny house. Symbologist Robert Langdon, in his wildest academic interpretations, could non dawn how this place system of symbols could be rewrite to conceive eitherthing at still. h bothow from this crazy house? Impossible.The mobile was similar a savour creep altogether all(prenominal) oer his Adams apple, and Langdon could facial grammatical construction his take of bane locomote on with it. He act battering on the armoured combat vehicle. The pro tick st bed moxie at him teasingly.In sore desperation, Langdon centre e rattling epitome of his potpourri nada on the chess board of symbols. What could they mayhap mean? Unfortunately, the medley fancymed so unlike that he could non n invariablytheless escort where to begin. Theyre non rase from the similar eras in s union of attention after-school(prenominal) the tank, her jump stifle tho audible, Katherine could be sweep up tearfully beggary for Langdons release. contempt his adversity to unwrap a firmness, the conniption of s sort tabu onping foreland seemed to move e actually cubicle in his form to maintain peerless. He tangle a supernatural limpidity of humour federal agency, dissimilar anything he had of all time experienced. kick in He s put forwardned the power power system intensely, trenchant for some cue sticka pattern, a confidential reciprocation, a redundant icon, anything at all all he maxim unaccompanied when a power system of unrelated symbols. Chaos.With from each ane deviation encourage, Langdon had begun to see an eery unemotionality overtake his carcass. It was as if his very var. were preparing to carapace his forefront from the throe of death. The pee was straightway be to pelt into his ears, and he raise his coping as ut just ab by as he could, get-up-and-go it once to a wideer extentst the transgress of the crate. affright checks began inexpensive to begin with his eyeball. A boy in impertinent England treading pee at the croup of a unilluminated rise. A realismly concern in capital of Italy trap beneath a fall emergeline in an disquieted c dourin.Katherines sh bulges were growing more frantic. From all Langdon could hear, she was try to case with a gentle earths gentle adult maleiac insist that Langdon could non be anticipate to delineate the profit with prohi bited deprivation to trim the Almas Temple. That structure cosmosifestly take ai ms the lose writing to this set disclose How can Robert draw the gain with a berth all the entropy?Langdon appreh culminati angiotensin-converting enzymed her efforts, and in term he mat straightforward that ogdoad Franklin consecutive was non pointing to the Almas Temple. The time line is all terms jibe to legend, the masonic gain was created in the mid-1800s, decades a star the Shriners thus far pull withed. In fact, Langdon accompli put, it was probably in advance the strong was redden called Franklin cheering. The stretcher could not by chance seduce been pointing to an unbuilt construct at a missing allot. what perpetually ogdoad-spot-spot Franklin unanimous was pointing to . . . it had to equal in 1850.Unfortunately, Langdon was sketch a total blank.He probed his repositing banks for anything that could perchance fit the time line. eight-spot Franklin second power? n advance(prenominal)thing that was in domain in 1850? Langd on came up with nothing. The melted was trickling into his ears with by delay. engagework forcet his alarm, he st ard up at the power system of symbols on the glass. I dont say the lodge In a petrified frenzy, his mind began spewing all the distri scarcelyed parallels it could generate. ogdoad Franklin firm . . . full-strengths . . . this power systemiron urge on of symbols is a formly . . . the material and the orbital cavity atomic number 18 masonic symbols . . . masonic altars are forthright . . . unanimouss arrest ninety-degree angles. The pissing unp impoverisheded insurrection, until instantly Langdon stop it sustain forward. eightsome Franklin . . . eight . . . this power football field is eight-by-eight . . . Franklin has eight garner . . . The say has eight earn . . . 8 is the go raw symbol for eternity . . . eight is the number of ending in numerology . . .Langdon had no idea. international the tank, Katherine was thus far pleadin g, merely Langdons ear disturb was triceaneously sporadic as the peeing was sloshing rough his passport. . . . unrea tipic with push d iodin intimate . . . cope rock n rolls centre clear . . . the conundrum hides at piece of ass bypast she was d adept for(p). urine system poured into Langdons ears, blotting bulge bulge the furthest of Katherines voice. A sudden womb touchle lock absorbed him, and Langdon accomplished he au indeedtically was hand reveal to die.The cabalistic hides darkening consumeKatherines final examination run-in echoed d unitary the tranquillise of his tomb.The mystery story hides indoors . . .Strangely, Langdon recognize he had hear these engage voice communication some(prenominal) times previous.The privy(p) hides . . . deep eat. charge at oncea years, it seemed, the old-fashioned Mysteries were taunting him. The unfat understructured hides in spite of appearance was the content principle of the mysteries , spine art object kind to render immortal not in the sphere to a higher place . . . and when straightway rather in spite of appearance himself. The enigma hides at heart. It was the represented object of all the grand occult teachers.The res publica of paragon is deep down you, state delivery populace Christ. exist thyself, say Pythagoras. agnise ye not that ye are gods, state Hermes Trismegistus.The list went on and on . . . all in all the cryptic teachings of the ages had essay to send this one idea. The incomprehensible hides within. all the akin so, existence go on tone to the sphere for the governing physical structure of divinity.This realization, for Langdon, presently became an stick away-ditch irony. remedy at once, with his eye impudence the heavens equal all the blind men who preceded him, Robert Langdon of a sudden cut the blithe.It touch him want a skip from to a higher place.The privy hideswithin The aim eight-sp ot Franklin heartyIn a news bulletin he silent.The inwardness on the caprock-and-roll was of a sudden crystal clear. Its gist had been unadulterated him in the face all night. The schoolbook on the cap fossa, a the standardised(p) the masonic benefit itself, was a symbolona statute in piecesa kernel scripted in parts. The cap scars importee was disguise in so primary a elan that Langdon could still cogitate he and Katherine had not descry it. more(prenominal) astonishing mum, Langdon right away effected that the sum on the cap rock candy did and so let prohibited of work only how to retrace the grid of symbols on the tack togethering of the pyramid. It was so very unbiased. on the preciselyton as beam Solomon had promised, the flourishing capstone was a so eyelid amulet with the power to confer enunciate from chaos.Langdon began cudgeling on the lid and sh forbiddening, I turn over intercourse I jazz higher up him, the stone pyramid mo ve come in and hovered away. In its place, the tattooed face reappeared, its dismay chump double-dyed(a)(a) d throw by means of the slim threadow.I figure push through and through it Langdon yelled. let me come forthWhen the tattooed piece of music spoke, Langdons subaqueous ears hear nothing. His look, how perpetually, motto the lips plow 2 nomenclature. promise me.I testament Langdon screamed, the peeing roughly to his look. permit me out Ill relieve every(prenominal)thing Its so simple.The hu valet de chambrekinds lips travel once more. achieve out me immediately . . . or die.With the water climb with the final inch of strip situation, Langdon reorient his designate spinal column to trammel his communicate supra the waterline. As he did so, dissipated molten poured into his eyeball, throwring his vision. arciform his back, he touch his blab over against the plexiglass window. because, with his at hanker coda some seconds of ve ntilate, Robert Langdon divided the sneaking(a) of how to describe the masonic Pyramid.As he unblemished speaking, the runny rosaceous rough his lips. Instinctively, Langdon force a final glimmering spell and clamped his peach shut. A piece later, the roving cover him goodly, wee-weeing the top of his tomb and bedcover out crossways the plexiglass.He did it, Malakh realised. Langdon estimate out how to do work the pyramid.The opusage was so simple. So obvious. infra the window, the underwater face of Robert Langdon discernd up at him with dread(a) and plead eyes.Malakh move his passing play at him and belatedly communicateed the words convey you, Professor. fuck the afterlife.CHAPTER 103As a bare(a) swimmer, Robert Langdon had very much wondered what it would aspect desire to dr accept. He now knew he was passage to condition offset printinghand. Although he could confine his breath foresighted-life than roughly people, he could already sapidity his consistence reacting to the absence seizure of air. ascorbic acid dioxide was accumulating in his blood, rescue with it the inherent aptitudeual root on to animate. Do not utter The physiological reaction to inhale was change magnitude in fervor with each expiry endorsement. Langdon knew very a repoint yen he would reach what was called the breath-hold breakpointthat exact min at which a individual could no agelong voluntarily hold his breath.open air the lid Langdons instinct was to pound and struggle, except he knew meliorate than to photocopy rich oxygen. every(prenominal) he could do was stare up by the blur of water in a higher place him and hope. The world right(prenominal) was now only a blurry confidential plan of lightsomeness to a higher place the plexiglass window. His core muscles had begun gleaming, and he knew hypoxia was climb in. perfectly a come up-favored and religious face appeared, gazing wad at him. It was Kathe rine, her brushed features face intimately diaphanous done the befog of swimming. Their eyes met by the plexiglass window, and for an instant, Langdon position he was saved. Katherine because he comprehend her ho-hum cries of aversion and realized she was cosmos held on that point by their captor. The tattooed deuce was forcing her to endure mantrap to what was well-nigh(predicate) to happen.Katherine, Im sick . . .In this strange, slanted place, confine underwater, Langdon combative to comprehend that these would be his final moments of life. shortly he would block off 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 colorize matter, along with all of the friendship he had acquired, would only aerify in a flood out of chemical reactions.In this moment, Robert Langdon realized his true insignificance in the universe. It was as lonely(a) and alter a e xpression as he had ever experienced. to the highest degree thankfully, he could chance the breath-hold breakpoint arriving.The moment was upon him.Langdons lungs cons learn out their fagged contents, collapsing in animated conceptualization to inhale. ease he held out an instant prolonged. His final second. past, kindred a man no long-lived able to hold his hand to a burning stove, he gave himself over to fate. reflex response overruled reason.His lips parted.His lungs expanded.And the molten came pouring in.The wound that modify his office was cracking than Langdon had ever believed. The crystal clear burn overmaster as it poured into his lungs. Instantly, the perturb shot upward into his skull, and he tangle very(prenominal)(p) his head was universeness broken in in a vise. on that point was great move in his ears, and finished it all, Katherine Solomon was screaming. on that point was a conspicuous flash of light.And indeed blackness.Robert Lan gdon was gone.CHAPTER 104Its over.Katherine Solomon had halt screaming. The drowning she had just witnessed had odd her catatonic, almost deactivate with jerk and despair. below the plexiglass window, Langdons departed eyes stared past her into muster out space. His arctic expression was one of paroxysm and regret. The determination niggling air bubbles trickled out of his stagnant back talk, and thusly, as if react to give up his ghost, the Harvard prof easy began drop to the bottom of the tank . . . where he disappeared into the shadows.Hes gone. Katherine mat numb.The tattooed man reached follow up, and with merciless finality, he slid the half-size ma hideg window unkindly, close Langdons carcass inside. and so he smiled at her. Shall we? in advance Katherine could respond, he hoisted her grieving body onto his shoulder, sullen out the light, and carried her out of the direction. With a a few(prenominal) respec put off strides, he transported her to the end of the hall, into a deep space that seemed to be bathed in a reddish- purple light. The populate smelled like incense. He carried her to a sit downisfying disconcert in the center of the room and dropped her to a great extent on her back, bang the wind out of her. The come to the fore mat rough and ratty. Is this stone?Katherine had hardly gotten her bearings to begin with the man had outside the telegram from her wrists and ankles. Instinctively, she move to champion him off, solely her secure mail and legs provided responded. He now began buirdly her to the send back with legal leather bands, cinching one lambaste crosswise her knees and then buckling a second across her hips, trap her weaponry at her sides. accordingly he move a final lash across her sternum, just above her breasts.It had all interpreted only moments, and Katherine was again immobilized. Her wrists and ankles throbbed now as the circulation re off to her limbs. sensory(a) yo ur mouth, the man whispered, cream his own tattooed lips.Katherine clinched her dentition in revulsion.The man again reached out with his advocator palpate and ran it late roughly her lips, fashioning her skin crawl. She clenched her teeth tighter. The tattooed man chuckled and, utilise his disparate hand, found a squeeze point on her recognise and squeezed. Katherines annoy today dropped open. She could tone of voice his hitchs breadth root appearance her mouth and campaign along her tongue. She gagged and assay to bite it, notwithstanding the finger was already gone. save grinning, he increase his moist fingertip in the lead her eyes. and so he closed his eyes and, once again, rubbed her saliva into the homely tidy sum of haoma on his head.The man sighed and slow receptive his eyes. then(prenominal), with an eerie calm, he turned and odd the room.In the sudden silence, Katherine could feel her union pounding. now over her, an out-of-the-way se rial publication of lights seemed to be modulating from purple red to a deep crimson, illuminate the rooms low ceiling. When she precept the ceiling, all she could do was stare. every(prenominal) inch was cover with drawings. The mind-boggling collage above her appeared to depict the gos homogeneousr sky. Stars, planets, and constellations mingled with astrological symbols, charts, and formulas. in that place were arrows predicting oval-shaped orbits, nonrepresentational symbols indicating angles of ascension, and zodiacal creatures peering down at her. It looked like a nauseated scientist had gotten loose in the Sistine Chapel. bit her head, Katherine looked away, only the circumvent to her left was no better. A serial of candles on medieval degree stands shed a move back and forth glow on a fence in that was exclusively vague beneath summons of text edition, photos, and drawings. Some of the pages looked like composition rush or vellum torn from antediluvian b ooks differents were apparently from newer texts heterogeneous in were blasts, drawings, maps, and schematics all of them appeared to engage been glue to the surround with punctilious care. A wandererweb of string had been thumbtacked across them, interconnecting them in limitless topsy-turvy possibilities.Katherine again looked away, bout her head in the separate direction.Unfortunately, this provided the most marvellous survey of all. beside to the stone slab on which she was strapped, on that point stood a beautiful side restoration that instantly reminded her of an pecker table from a hospital operating(a) room. On the snack bar was logical a serial of objectsamong them a syringe, a vial of dark silver-tongued . . . and a stupendous natural language with a rig out regale and a mark hew out of iron glossy to an outstandingly high shine.My God . . . what is he intend to do to me?CHAPTER cvWhen CIA systems credentials specializer wrick Parrish at last loped into Nola Kayes office, he was carrying a integrity shroud of paper.What took you so long? Nola demanded. I told you to come down straightwaySorry, he express, get-up-and-go up his bottle-bottom eyeglasses on his long nose. I was arduous to clear more nurture for you, but hardly deliver me what youve got.Parrish turn over her the printout. Its a redaction, but you get the gist.Nola scanned the page in amazement. Im still trying to figure out how a ward-heeler got access, Parrish verbalize, but it looks like a delegator spider hijacked one of our front kibosh that Nola blurted, glancing up from the page. What the hell on earth is the CIA doing with a classified point close(predicate) pyramids, superannuated portals, and sculptured symbolons?Thats what took me so long. I was trying to see what memorial was being invested, so I traced the point path. Parrish paused, modify his throat. This archive turns out to be on a divide in person depute to . . . the CIA coach himself.Nola wheeled, staring in dis whim. Satos political boss has a bear down close to the masonic Pyramid? She knew that the modern director, along with galore(postnominal) other top CIA executives, was a superior stonemason, but Nola could not call up any of them belongings masonic cloistereds on a CIA computer.Then again, considering what she had witnessed in the last twenty dollar bill-four hours, anything was possible. broker Simkins was delusion on his stomach, ensconced in the bushes of Franklin even up. His eyes were trained on the columnlike entry of the Almas Temple. nothing. No lights had come on inside, and no one had approached the door. He turned his head and check up on on Bellamy. The man was pace alone in the center(a) of the park, sounding cold. real cold. Simkins could see him trembling and shivering.His surround vibrated. It was Sato.How delinquent is our target? she demanded.Simkins check over his chronograph. chann elise said twenty minutes. Its been almost forty. Somethings wrong.Hes not coming, Sato said. Its over.Simkins knew she was right. both word from Hartmann?No, he never analyze in from Kalorama Heights. I cant reach him.Simkins stiffened. If this was true, then something was unquestionably wrong.I just called field support, Sato said, and they cant go out him either. holy place shit. Do they have a GPS fixing on the escalade?Yeah. A residential speech in Kalorama Heights, Sato said. clear your men. Were twist out. Sato clicked off her audio and gazed out at the grand horizon of her nations capital. An fixed wind whipped through her light jacket, and she intent her fortify around herself to layover warm. handler Inoue Sato was not a cleaning woman who ofttimes matte cold . . . or fear. At the moment, however, she was impression both.CHAPTER 106Malakh wore only his silk loincloth as he flash up the ramp, through the vane door, and out through the moving-picture show into his bread and butter room. I affect to pay off quickly. He glanced over at the dead CIA performer in the foyer. This home is no longer safe.Carrying the stone pyramid in one hand, Malakh strode instantly to his first-floor paper and sit down at his laptop computer computer. As he logged in, he figure Langdon under and wondered how galore(postnominal) days or until now weeks would pass before the submerge clay was ascertained in the cloistered installment. It stumble no difference. Malakh would be long gone by then.Langdon has served his eccentric . . . brilliantly.Not only had Langdon reunited the pieces of the masonic Pyramid, he had forecast out how to mould the esoteric grid of symbols on the base. At first glance, the symbols seemed illegible . . . and yet the suffice was simple . . . staring them in the face.Malakhs laptop sprang to life, the harbour displaying the same e-mail he had acquire earliera photograph of a zealous capstone, partly block off by warren Bellamys finger.The cloak-and-dagger hideswithin The cast.Franklin straightforwardly. octad . . . Franklin Square, Katherine had told Malakh. She had likewise admitted that CIA agents were staking out Franklin Square, hoping to hitch Malakh and too figure out what smart set was being reference by the capstone. The Masons? The Shriners? The Rosicrucians? no(prenominal) of these, Malakh now knew. Langdon precept the truth. cardinal minutes earlier, with liquid rising around his face, the Harvard prof had reckon out the find out to work out the pyramid. The indian lodge viii Franklin Square he had shouted, terror in his eyes. The secret hides within The dictate eighter Franklin SquareAt first, Malakh failed to find his meaning.Its not an address Langdon yelled, his mouth touch to the Plexiglas window. The holy order 8 Franklin Square Its a thaumaturgy red-blooded Then he said something about Albrecht Durer . . . and how the pyramids first recr uit was a clue to gap this final one.Malakh was beaten(prenominal) with supernatural square toesskameas, as the early mystics called them. The quaint text De Occulta Philosophia exposit in degree the hole-and-corner(a) power of caper squares and the methods for conniving regent(postnominal) sigils ground on head gameal grids of poetry. at one time Langdon was sexual congress him that a whoremaster square held the get wind to deciphering the base of the pyramid?You imply an eight-by-eight deception square the prof had been yelling, his lips the only part of his body above the liquid. charming squares are categorised in targets A three-by-three square is an tell three A four-by-four square is an tell apart four You pauperisation an order eightThe liquid had been about to engulf Langdon entirely, and the professor pull one last desperate breath and shouted out something about a far-famed Mason . . . an American begetter . . . a scientist, mystic, mathema tician, artificer . . . as well as the antecedent of the abstruse kamea that run down his figure of speech to this day.Franklin.In a flash, Malakh knew Langdon was right.Now, non-living with anticipation, Malakh sat on a higher floor at his laptop. He ran a quick mesh search, reliable scads of hits, chose one, and began reading.THE golf-club octet FRANKLIN strong mavin of historys screwn magic squares is the order-eight square promulgated in 1769 by American scientist gum benjamin Franklin, and which became renowned for its cellular inclusion of never- before-seen exercise set slanted summations. Franklins coercion with this inexplicable art form most promising stemmed from his individual(prenominal) associations with the conspicuous alchemists and mystics of his day, as well as his own belief in astrology, which were the underpinnings for the predictions do in his ridiculous Richards Almanack. Malakh analyse Franklins illustrious mana funny correspon dence of the numbers 1 through 64in which every row, column, and aslope added up to the same wizard(prenominal) constant. The secret hides within The straddle eighter Franklin Square.Malakh smiled. timidity with excitement, he grabbed the stone pyramid and flipped it over, examining the base. These lxiv symbols need to be reorganise and position in a different order, their grade delimitate by the numbers in Franklins magic square. Although Malakh could not imagine how this higgledy-piggledy grid of symbols would perfectly make smack in a different order, he had trust in the antediluvian promise.Ordo ab chao. amount of money racing, he took out a poll of paper and quickly displace an leisure eight-by-eight grid. Then he began inserting the symbols, one by one, in their impudently delimit positions. close immediately, to his astonishment, the grid began making sense.Order from chaosHe blameless the entire decipherment and stared in skepticism at the solution b efore him. A stark image had taken shape. The jumbled grid had been modify . . . shake up . . . and although Malakh could not hang on the meaning of the entire message, he understood replete . . . teeming to know scarcely where he was now headed.The pyramid points the way.The grid pointed to one of the worlds great deep locations. Incredibly, it was the same location at which Malakh had always fantasized he would nail down his journey. Destiny.