Angels Demons Chapter 64-65

64Langdon and Vittorias taxi completed the unity-mile sprint up the wide Via della Scrofa in just all over a minute. They skidded to a gag rule on the s extincth side of the Piazza del Popolo just before eight. Not having any lire, Langdon overpaid the driver in U.S. dollars. He and Vittoria jumped proscribed. The piazza was quiet except for the joke of a handful of locals seated step forwardside the popular Rosati Cafe a hot spot of the Italian literati. The breeze smelled of espresso and pastry.Langdon was sleek over in shock over his mistake at the Pantheon. With a cursory glance at this squ atomic number 18, however, his sixth sense was already tingling. The piazza seemed subtly filled with Illuminati significance. Not just now was it primed(p) out in a perfectly elliptical shape, further dead center s in additiond a towering Egyptian obelisk a square anchor of stone with a distinctively pyramidal tip. Spoils of Romes imperial pl to a lower placeing, obelisks were sc attered across Rome and referred to by symbologists as Lofty Pyramids skyward extensions of the sacred pyramidal form.As Langdons eyes move up the monolith, though, his sight was shortly drawn to something else in the background. Something even more than remarkable.Were in the right place, he said quietly, feeling a sudden exposed wariness. Have a look at that. Langdon pointed to the imposing Porta del Popolo the high stone arch track at the far end of the piazza. The bound structure had been overlooking the piazza for centuries. departed center of the archways highest point was a symbolic engraving. Look familiar?Vittoria looked up at the huge carving. A emit star over a triangular pile of stones?Langdon shook his take. A source of Illumination over a pyramid.Vittoria turned, her eyes suddenly wide. Like the peachy Seal of the United States?Exactly. The Masonic symbol on the one-dollar bill.Vittoria took a boneheaded breath and scanned the piazza. So wheres this damn ch urch?The Church of Santa Maria del Popolo stood out wish well a misplaced battleship, askew at the subject of a hill on the southeast corner of the piazza. The eleventh-century stone aerie was made even more clumsy by the tower of scaffolding covering the faade.Langdons thoughts were a blur as they raced toward the edifice. He stared up at the church in wonder. Could a put to death really be about to take place inside? He wished Olivetti would hurry. The gun felt awkward in his pocket.The churchs front stairs were ventaglio a welcoming, trend fan ironic in this case because they were blocked with scaffolding, construction equipment, and a sign warningConstruzzione.Non EntrareLangdon realized that a church closed for renovation meant fundamental privacy for a killer. Not interchangeable the Pantheon. No fancy tricks needed here. Only to find a way in.Vittoria slipped without hesitation between the sawhorses and headed up the staircase.Vittoria, Langdon cautioned. If hes still in thereVittoria did not seem to adjudicate. She ascended the main portico to the churchs sole wooden door. Langdon hurried up the stairs shtup her. Before he could say a word she had grasped the handle and overstretched. Langdon held his breath. The door did not budge. at that place must be another adit, Vittoria said.Probably, Langdon said, exhaling, but Olivetti will be here in a minute. Its too dangerous to go in. We should cover the church from out here until Vittoria turned, her eyes blazing. If theres another way in, theres another way out. If this guy disappears, were fungito.Langdon knew enough Italian to jockey she was right.The alley on the right side of the church was pinched and dark, with high walls on both sides. It smelled of urine a common aroma in a city where nix outnumbered public rest rooms twenty dollar bill to one.Langdon and Vittoria hurried into the fetid dimness. They had gone about fifteen yards cut down when Vittoria tugged Langdons arm and poin ted.Langdon saw it too. Up ahead was an unassuming wooden door with heavy hinges. Langdon recognized it as the standard porta sacra a private entrance for clergy. Most of these entrances had gone out of use years ago as encroaching buildings and limited real estate relegated side entrances to inconvenient alleyways.Vittoria hurried to the door. She arrived and stared down at the doorknob, apparently perplexed. Langdon arrived behind her and eyed the peculiar donut-shaped hoop hanging where the doorknob should go been.An annulus, he whispered. Langdon reached out and quietly lifted the ring in his hand. He pulled the ring toward him. The stationariness clicked. Vittoria shifted, looking suddenly uneasy. Quietly, Langdon twisted the ring clockwise. It spun loosely 360 degrees, not engaging. Langdon frowned and tried the other direction with the same result.Vittoria looked down the remainder of the alley. You think theres another entrance?Langdon doubted it. Most Renaissance cathedr als were designed as makeshift fortresses in the event a city was stormed. They had as few entrances as possible. If there is another way in, he said, its probably recessed in the rear bastion more of an escape route than an entrance.Vittoria was already on the move.Langdon followed deeper into the alley. The walls shot skyward on both sides of him. Somewhere a bell began ringing eight oclockRobert Langdon did not hear Vittoria the first time she called to him. He had slowed at a stained-glass window covered with bars and was trying to peer inside the church.Robert Her voice was a loud whisper.Langdon looked up. Vittoria was at the end of the alley. She was pointing slightly the back of the church and waving to him. Langdon jogged reluctantly toward her. At the base of the rear wall, a stone bulwark jutted out concealing a narrow grotto a kind of compressed passageway cutting straightway into the foundation of the church.An entrance? Vittoria asked.Langdon nodded. Actually an ex it, but we wont get technical.Vittoria knelt and peered into the tunnel. Lets check the door. See if its open.Langdon undetermined his mouth to bearing, but Vittoria took his hand and pulled him into the opening.Wait, Langdon said.She turned impatiently toward him.Langdon sighed. Ill go first.Vittoria looked surprised. more(prenominal) chivalry?Age before beauty.Was that a compliment?Langdon smiled and go past her into the dark. Careful on the stairs.He inched slowly into the darkness, keeping one hand on the wall. The stone felt sharp on his fingertips. For an instant Langdon recalled the ancient myth of Daedelus, how the boy kept one hand on the wall as he moved done and through the Minotaurs labyrinth, knowing he was guaranteed to find the end if he never broke contact with the wall. Langdon moved forward, not entirely certain he wanted to find the end.The tunnel narrowed slightly, and Langdon slowed his pace. He sensed Vittoria close behind him. As the wall curved go forth , the tunnel opened into a semicircular alcove. Oddly, there was faint light here. In the dimness Langdon saw the outline of a heavy wooden door.Uh oh, he said.Locked?It was.Was? Vittoria arrived at his side.Langdon pointed. Lit by a shaft of light coming from within, the door hung ajar its hinges splintered by a wrecking bar still lodged in the wood.They stood a moment in silence. Then, in the dark, Langdon felt Vittorias hands on his chest, groping, sliding beneath his jacket.Relax, professor, she said. Im just getting the gun.At that moment, inside the Vatican Museums, a task force of Swiss Guards spread out in all directions. The museum was dark, and the guards wore U.S. Marine issue infrared goggles. The goggles made everything appear an eerie shade of green. Every guard wore headphones connected to an antenna bid detector that he waved rhythmically in front of him the same devices they used twice a week to sweep for electronic bugs inside the Vatican. They moved methodically, checking behind statues, inside niches, closets, under furniture. The antennae would sound if they detected even the tiniest magnetic field.Tonight, however, they were getting no readings at all.65The interior of Santa Maria del Popolo was a murky cave in the dimming light. It looked more like a half-finished subway station than a cathedral. The main sanctuary was an obstacle course of torn-up flooring, brick pallets, mounds of dirt, wheelbarrows, and even a rusty backhoe. Mammoth columns rose through the floor, supporting a vaulted roof. In the air, silt drifted lazily in the muted glow of the stained glass. Langdon stood with Vittoria beneath a sprawling Pinturicchio fresco and scanned the gutted shrine. zero moved. Dead silence.Vittoria held the gun out in front of her with both hands. Langdon checked his watch 804 P.M. Were crazy to be in here, he thought. Its too dangerous. suave he knew if the killer were inside, the man could leave through any door he wanted, making a one-g un outside stakeout totally fruitless. Catching him inside was the only way that was, if he was even still here. Langdon felt guilt-ridden over the blunder that had cost everyone their chance at the Pantheon. He was in no go down to insist on precaution now he was the one who had backed them into this corner.Vittoria looked harrowed as she scanned the church. So, she whispered. Where is this Chigi chapel?Langdon gazed through the dusky ghostliness toward the back of the cathedral and canvas the outer walls. Contrary to common perception, Renaissance cathedrals invariably contained multiple chapels, huge cathedrals like Notre Dame having dozens. Chapels were less rooms than they were hollows semicircular niches holding tombs around a churchs perimeter wall.Bad news, Langdon thought, seeing the four recesses on each side wall. there were eight chapels in all. Although eight was not a particularly consuming number, all eight openings were covered with huge sheets of clear polyure thane due to the construction, the translucent curtains apparently intended to keep dust off the tombs inside the alcoves.It could be any of those draped recesses, Langdon said. No way to know which is the Chigi without looking inside every one. Could be a good reason to wait for Oliv Which is the secondary left apse? she asked.Langdon studied her, surprised by her command of architectural terminology. Secondary left apse?Vittoria pointed at the wall behind him. A decorative tile was embedded in the stone. It was engraved with the same symbol they had seen outside a pyramid beneath a shining star. The grime-covered plaque beside it readCoat of mail of Alexander Chigi whose tomb is located in the secondary left apse of this CathedralLangdon nodded. Chigis coat of arms was a pyramid and star? He suddenly found himself wondering if the wealthy patron Chigi had been an Illuminatus. He nodded to Vittoria. Nice work, Nancy Drew. What?Never mind. I A piece of metal clattered to the fl oor only yards away. The clang echoed through the entire church. Langdon pulled Vittoria behind a pillar as she whipped the gun toward the sound and held it there. Silence. They waited. Again there was sound, this time a rustling. Langdon held his breath. I never should have let us come in here The sound moved closer, an intermittent scuffling, like a man with a limp. Suddenly around the base of the pillar, an object came into view.Figlio di puttana Vittoria cursed under her breath, jumping back. Langdon fell back with her.Beside the pillar, dragging a half-eaten sandwich in paper, was an enormous rat. The creature paused when it saw them, staring a farsighted moment down the barrel of Vittorias weapon, and then, apparently unmoved, continued dragging its prize off to the recesses of the church.Son of a Langdon gasped, his heart racing.Vittoria lowered the gun, quickly regaining her compo accredited. Langdon peered around the side of the column to see a workmans lunchbox splayed on the floor, apparently knocked off a sawhorse by the resourceful rodent.Langdon scanned the basilica for movement and whispered, If this guys here, he sure as underworld heard that. You sure you dont want to wait for Olivetti?Secondary left apse, Vittoria repeated. Where is it?Reluctantly Langdon turned and tried to get his bearings. Cathedral terminology was like stage directions totally counterintuitive. He feelingd the main altar. Stage center. Then he pointed with his thumb backward over his shoulder.They both turned and looked where he was pointing.It seemed the Chigi Chapel was located in the third of four recessed alcoves to their right. The good news was that Langdon and Vittoria were on the correct side of the church. The bad news was that they were at the wrong end. They would have to traverse the length of the cathedral, passing three other chapels, each of them, like the Chigi Chapel, covered with translucent plastic shrouds.Wait, Langdon said. Ill go first.Forget it. Im the one who screwed up at the Pantheon.She turned. But Im the one with the gun.In her eyes Langdon could see what she was really thinking Im the one who lost my father. Im the one who helped build a weapon of mass destruction. This guys kneecaps are mineLangdon sensed the futility and let her go. He moved beside her, cautiously, down the east side of the basilica. As they passed the first shrouded alcove, Langdon felt taut, like a contestant on some surreal game show. Ill take curtain number three, he thought.The church was quiet, the thick stone walls blocking out all hints of the outside world. As they hurried past one chapel after the other, pale humanoid forms wavered like ghosts behind the rustling plastic. Carved marble, Langdon told himself, hoping he was right. It was 806 P.M. Had the killer been prompt and slipped out before Langdon and Vittoria had entered? Or was he still here? Langdon was unsure which scenario he preferred.They passed the second apse, ominous in the slowly darkening cathedral. Night seemed to be falling quickly now, accentuated by the musty tint of the stained-glass windows. As they pressed on, the plastic curtain beside them billowed suddenly, as if caught in a draft. Langdon wondered if someone somewhere had opened a door.Vittoria slowed as the third niche loomed before them. She held the gun before her, motioning with her head to the stele beside the apse. Carved in the granite block were two words genus Gallinago ChigiLangdon nodded. Without a sound they moved to the corner of the opening, positioning themselves behind a wide pillar. Vittoria leveled the gun around a corner at the plastic. Then she signaled for Langdon to pull back the shroud.A good time to start praying, he thought. Reluctantly, he reached over her shoulder. As carefully as possible, he began to pull the plastic aside. It moved an inch and then crinkled loudly. They both froze. Silence. After a moment, moving in slow motion, Vittoria leaned forward and pee red through the narrow slit. Langdon looked over her shoulder.For a moment, neither one of them breathed.Empty, Vittoria finally said, lowering the gun. Were too late.Langdon did not hear. He was in awe, transported for an instant to another world. In his life, he had never imagined a chapel that looked like this. Finished entirely in chestnut marble, the Chigi Chapel was breathtaking. Langdons trained eye devoured it in gulps. It was as earthly a chapel as Langdon could fathom, almost as if Galileo and the Illuminati had designed it themselves.Overhead, the domed cupola shone with a field of illuminated stars and the seven astronomical planets. Below that the twelve signs of the zodiac pagan, earthly symbols rooted in astronomy. The zodiac was also tied straightway to Earth, Air, Fire, Water the quadrants representing power, intellect, ardor, emotion. Earth is for power, Langdon recalled.Farther down the wall, Langdon saw tributes to the Earths four temporal seasons primavera, e state, autunno, inverno. But far more incredible than any of this were the two huge structures grand the room. Langdon stared at them in silent wonder. It cant be, he thought. It just cant be But it was. On either side of the chapel, in perfect symmetry, were two ten-foot-high marble pyramids.I dont see a cardinal, Vittoria whispered. Or an assassin. She pulled aside the plastic and stepped in.Langdons eyes were transfixed on the pyramids. What are pyramids doing inside a Christian chapel? And incredibly, there was more. Dead center of each pyramid, embedded in their anterior faades, were gold medallions medallions like few Langdon had ever seen perfect ellipses. The burnished disks glimmered in the setting sun as it sifted through the cupola. Galileos ellipses? Pyramids? A cupola of stars? The room had more Illuminati significance than any room Langdon could have fabricated in his mind.Robert, Vittoria blurted, her voice cracking. LookLangdon wheeled, reality returning as his eyes dropped to where she was pointing. Bloody hell he shouted, jumping backward.Sneering up at them from the floor was the image of a skeleton an intricately detailed, marble mosaic depicting death in flight. The skeleton was carrying a tablet portraying the same pyramid and stars they had seen outside. It was not the image, however, that had turned Langdons blood cold. It was the fact that the mosaic was attach on a circular stone a cupermento that had been lifted out of the floor like a manhole cover and was now sitting off to one side of a dark opening in the floor.Demons hole, Langdon gasped. He had been so taken with the ceiling he had not even seen it. Tentatively he moved toward the pit. The stench coming up was overwhelming.Vittoria put a hand over her mouth. Che puzzo.Effluvium, Langdon said. Vapors from decaying bone. He breathed through his sleeve as he leaned out over the hole, peering down. Blackness. I cant see a thing.You think anybodys down there?No way to know.Vit toria motioned to the far side of the hole where a rotting, wooden race descended into the depths.Langdon shook his head. Like hell.Maybe theres a flashlight outside in those tools. She sounded eager for an excuse to escape the smell. Ill look.Careful Langdon warned. We dont know for sure that the Hassassin But Vittoria was already gone.One strong-willed woman, Langdon thought.As he turned back to the pit, he felt light-headed from the fumes. Holding his breath, he dropped his head below the rim and peered deep into the darkness. Slowly, as his eyes adjusted, he began to see faint shapes below. The pit appeared to open into a small chamber. Demons hole. He wondered how many generations of Chigis had been unceremoniously dumped in. Langdon closed his eyes and waited, forcing his pupils to fat so he could see better in the dark. When he opened his eyes again, a pale muted figure hovered below in the darkness. Langdon shivered but fought the instinct to pull out. Am I seeing things? Is that a body? The figure faded. Langdon closed his eyes again and waited, longer this time, so his eyes would plump up the faintest light.Dizziness started to set in, and his thoughts wandered in the blackness. Just a few more seconds. He wasnt sure if it was breathing the fumes or holding his head at a low inclination, but Langdon was definitely starting to feel squeamish. When he finally opened his eyes again, the image before him was totally inexplicable.He was now staring at a crypt bathed in an eerie bluish light. A faint hissing sound reverberated in his ears. Light flickered on the noble walls of the shaft. Suddenly, a long shadow materialized over him. Startled, Langdon scrambled up.Look out someone exclaimed behind him.Before Langdon could turn, he felt a sharp pain in the neck on the back of his neck. He spun to see Vittoria twisting a lit blowtorch away from him, the hissing flame throwing blue light around the chapel.Langdon grabbed his neck. What the hell are you doing?I was giving you some light, she said. You backed right into me.Langdon glared at the portable blowtorch in her hand.Best I could do, she said. No flashlights.Langdon rubbed his neck. I didnt hear you come in.Vittoria handed him the torch, wincing again at the stench of the crypt. You think those fumes are combustible?Lets hope not.He took the torch and moved slowly toward the hole. Cautiously, he advanced to the rim and pointed the flame down into the hole, lighting the side wall. As he directed the light, his eyes traced the outline of the wall downward. The crypt was circular and about twenty feet across. Thirty feet down, the glow found the floor. The ground was dark and mottled. Earthy. Then Langdon saw the body.His instinct was to recoil. Hes here, Langdon said, forcing himself not to turn away. The figure was a pallid outline against the earthen floor. I think hes been stripped naked. Langdon flashed on the nude corpse of Leonardo Vetra.Is it one of the cardinals?Langdo n had no idea, but he couldnt imagine who the hell else it would be. He stared down at the pale blob. Unmoving. Lifeless. And yet Langdon hesitated. There was something very strange about the way the figure was positioned. He seemed to beLangdon called out. Hello?You think hes alive?There was no response from below.Hes not moving, Langdon said. But he looks No, impossible.He looks what? Vittoria was peering over the edge now too.Langdon squinted into the darkness. He looks like hes standing up.Vittoria held her breath and lowered her face over the edge for a better look. After a moment, she pulled back. Youre right. Hes standing up Maybe hes alive and needs help She called into the hole. Hello? Mi puo sentire?There was no echo off the mossy interior. Only silence.Vittoria headed for the rickety ladder. Im going down.Langdon caught her arm. No. Its dangerous. Ill go.This time Vittoria didnt argue.