by Dan Brown
“That’s ridiculous! My uncle was a Rhodes Scholar!”
Glick winked. “So was Bill Clinton.”
Macri was getting mad now. She had never had tolerance for shoddy, alarmist reporting. Still, she knew enough about the BBC to know that every story they ran was carefully researched and confirmed.
“Here’s one you’ll remember,” Glick said. “BBC, March 5, 1998. Parliament Committee Chair, Chris Mullin, required all members of British Parliament who were Masons to declare their affiliation.”
Macri remembered it. The decree had eventually extended to include policemen and judges as well. “Why was it again?”
Glick read. “… concern that secret factions within the Masons exerted considerable control over political and financial systems.”
“That’s right.”
“Caused quite a bustle. The Masons in parliament were furious. Had a right to be. The vast majority turned out to be innocent men who joined the Masons for networking and charity work. They had no clue about the brotherhood’s past affiliations.”
“Alleged affiliations.”
“Whatever.” Glick scanned the articles. “Look at this stuff. Accounts tracing the Illuminati back to Galileo, the Guerenets of France, the Alumbrados of Spain. Even Karl Marx and the Russian Revolution.”
“History has a way of rewriting itself.”
“Fine, you want something current? Have a look at this. Here’s an Illuminati reference from a recent Wall Street Journal.”
This caught Macri’s ear. “The Journal?”
“Guess what the most popular Internet computer game in America is right now?”
“Pin the tail on Pamela Anderson.”
“Close. It’s called, Illuminati: New World Order.”
Macri looked over his shoulder at the blurb. “Steve Jackson Games has a runaway hit… a quasi-historical adventure in which an ancient satanic brotherhood from Bavaria sets out to take over the world. You can find them on-line at…” Macri looked up, feeling ill. “What do these Illuminati guys have against Christianity?”
“Not just Christianity,” Glick said. “Religion in general.” Glick cocked his head and grinned. “Although from the phone call we just got, it appears they do have a special spot in their hearts for the Vatican.”
“Oh, come on. You don’t really think that guy who called is who he claims to be, do you?”
“A messenger of the Illuminati? Preparing to kill four cardinals?” Glick smiled. “I sure hope so.”
64
Langdon and Vittoria’s taxi completed the one-mile sprint up the wide Via della Scrofa in just over a minute. They skidded to a stop on the south 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 out. The piazza was quiet except for the laughter of a handful of locals seated outside the popular Rosati Café—a hot spot of the Italian literati. The breeze smelled of espresso and pastry.
Langdon was still in shock over his mistake at the Pantheon. With a cursory glance at this square, however, his sixth sense was already tingling. The piazza seemed subtly filled with Illuminati significance. Not only was it laid out in a perfectly elliptical shape, but dead center stood a towering Egyptian obelisk—a square pillar of stone with a distinctively pyramidal tip. Spoils of Rome’s imperial plundering, obelisks were scattered across Rome and referred to by symbologists as “Lofty Pyramids”—skyward extensions of the sacred pyramidal form.
As Langdon’s eyes moved up the monolith, though, his sight was suddenly drawn to something else in the background. Something even more remarkable.
“We’re 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 archway at the far end of the piazza. The vaulted structure had been overlooking the piazza for centuries. Dead center of the archway’s highest point was a symbolic engraving. “Look familiar?”
Vittoria looked up at the huge carving. “A shining star over a triangular pile of stones?”
Langdon shook his head. “A source of Illumination over a pyramid.”
Vittoria turned, her eyes suddenly wide. “Like… the Great Seal of the United States?”
“Exactly. The Masonic symbol on the one-dollar bill.”
Vittoria took a deep breath and scanned the piazza. “So where’s this damn church?”
The Church of Santa Maria del Popolo stood out like a misplaced battleship, askew at the base 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 façade.
Langdon’s thoughts were a blur as they raced toward the edifice. He stared up at the church in wonder. Could a murder really be about to take place inside? He wished Olivetti would hurry. The gun felt awkward in his pocket.
The church’s front stairs were ventaglio–a welcoming, curved fan—ironic in this case because they were blocked with scaffolding, construction equipment, and a sign warning:
Construzzione.
Non Entrare
Langdon realized that a church closed for renovation meant total privacy for a killer. Not like 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 he’s still in there…”
Vittoria did not seem to hear. She ascended the main portico to the church’s sole wooden door. Langdon hurried up the stairs behind her. Before he could say a word she had grasped the handle and pulled. Langdon held his breath. The door did not budge.
“There must be another entrance,” Vittoria said.
“Probably,” Langdon said, exhaling, “but Olivetti will be here in a minute. It’s too dangerous to go in. We should cover the church from out here until—”
Vittoria turned, her eyes blazing. “If there’s another way in, there’s another way out. If this guy disappears, we’re fungito.”
Langdon knew enough Italian to know 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 bars outnumbered public rest rooms twenty to one.
Langdon and Vittoria hurried into the fetid dimness. They had gone about fifteen yards down when Vittoria tugged Langdon’s arm and pointed.
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 have been.
“An annulus,” he whispered. Langdon reached out and quietly lifted the ring in his hand. He pulled the ring toward him. The fixture 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 there’s another entrance?”
Langdon doubted it. Most Renaissance cathedrals 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, “it’s 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 o’clock…
Robert 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 i
nside the church.
“Robert!” Her voice was a loud whisper.
Langdon looked up. Vittoria was at the end of the alley. She was pointing around 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 directly into the foundation of the church.
“An entrance?” Vittoria asked.
Langdon nodded. Actually an exit, but we won’t get technical.
Vittoria knelt and peered into the tunnel. “Let’s check the door. See if it’s open.”
Langdon opened his mouth to object, but Vittoria took his hand and pulled him into the opening.
“Wait,” Langdon said.
She turned impatiently toward him.
Langdon sighed. “I’ll go first.”
Vittoria looked surprised. “More chivalry?”
“Age before beauty.”
“Was that a compliment?”
Langdon smiled and moved 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 through the Minotaur’s 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 left, 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 Vittoria’s hands on his chest, groping, sliding beneath his jacket.
“Relax, professor,” she said. “I’m 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 antennalike 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.
65
The 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.
Nothing moved. Dead silence.
Vittoria held the gun out in front of her with both hands. Langdon checked his watch: 8:04 P.M. We’re crazy to be in here, he thought. It’s too dangerous. Still he knew if the killer were inside, the man could leave through any door he wanted, making a one-gun 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 position 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 studied 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 church’s 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 overwhelming number, all eight openings were covered with huge sheets of clear polyurethane 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 read:
Coat of arms of Alexander Chigi whose tomb is located in the secondary left apse of this Cathedral
Langdon nodded. Chigi’s 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 floor 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 long moment down the barrel of Vittoria’s 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 composure. Langdon peered around the side of the column to see a workman’s lunchbox splayed on the floor, apparently knocked off a sawhorse by the resourceful rodent.
Langdon scanned the basilica for movement and whispered, “If this guy’s here, he sure as hell heard that. You sure you don’t 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 faced 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. “I’ll go first.”
“Forget it.”
“I’m the one who screwed up at the Pantheon.”
She turned. “But I’m the one with the gun.”
In her eyes Langdon could see what she was really thinking… I’m the one who lost my father. I’m the one who helped build a weapon of mass destruction. This guy’s kneecaps are mine…
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 8:06 P.M. Had the killer been punctual 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:
Capella Chigi
Langdon 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 peered through the narrow slit. Langdon looked over her shoulder.
For a moment, neither one of them breathed.
“Empty,” Vittoria finally said, lowering the gun. “We’re 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. Langdon’s 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.