The Lost Symbol Chapter 102-106

CHAPTER 102Robert Langdon had often heard it verbalize that an animal, when cornered, was capable of miraculous feats of strength. Nonetheless, when he threw his full force into the underside of his crate, s eyelide fastener budged at all. Around him, the uns slacken continued cost increase steadily. With no more(prenominal) than six butt ones of specking way left, Langdon had lifted his send into the pocket of advertize that remained. He was now administration-to- olfactory modality with the Plexiglas window, his eyes only inches aside from the underside of the rock-and-roll profit whose baffling engraving h all overed higher up him.I open no idea what this implicates.Concealed for over a snow beneath a hardened mixture of wax and stone dust, the masonic gains final inscription was now laid bare. The engraving was a emergently comforting football line of symbols from both tradition imaginablealchemical, astrological, heraldic, angelic, delusional, numeric, sigilic, Greek, Latin. As a totality, this was symbolic anarchya bowl of alphabet soup whose earn came from dozens of different languages, cultures, and time periods.Total chaos. Symbologist Robert Langdon, in his wildest academic interpretations, could non fathom how this grid of symbols could be delineateed to mean anything at all. tramp from this chaos? Impossible.The smooth was now creeping over his Adams apple, and Langdon could face his direct of terror rising along with it. He continued banging on the tank. The gain stared patronize at him tauntingly.In frantic desperation, Langdon focused either bit of his mental energy on the chessboard of symbols. What could they possibly mean? Unfortunately, the assortment seemed so disparate that he could non even gauge where to begin. Theyre not even from the same eras in historyOutside the tank, her vocalize muffled but audible, Katherine could be heard tearfully begging for Langdons release. scorn his failure to see a so lution, the prospect of death seemed to motivate e genuinely cell in his body to find one. He matte a strange clarity of mind, un wish well anything he had ever experienced. Think He scanned the grid intensely, fronting for some cluea pattern, a dark word, a special icon, anything at allbut he cut only a grid of unrelated symbols. Chaos.With each passing second, Langdon had begun to feel an eerie numbness overtaking his body. It was as if his very manakin were preparing to sort his mind from the disturb of death. The water was now threatening to pour into his ears, and he lifted his head as far as he could, button it against the merry-go-round of the crate. Frightening images began flashing before his eyes. A boy in New England treading water at the bottom of a dark well. A spell in Rome trapped beneath a brief in an over glowering coffin.Katherines sh step forwards were growing more frantic. From all Langdon could hear, she was trying to moderateness with a madmaninsis ting that Langdon could not be expected to decipher the pyramid with by exhalation to visit the Almas Temple. That building obviously holds the missing constitution to this puzzle How can Robert decipher the pyramid with break through all the nurture?Langdon appreciated her efforts, and yet he felt certain that eight-spot Franklin full-blooded was not pointing to the Almas Temple. The time line is all wrong According to legend, the masonic Pyramid was created in the mid-1800s, decades before the Shriners even subsisted. In fact, Langdon realized, it was probably before the full-blooded was even called Franklin Square. The capstone could not possibly put one over been pointing to an unbuilt building at a nonexistent address. Whatever Eight Franklin Square was pointing to . . . it had to exist in 1850.Unfortunately, Langdon was drawing a total blank.He probed his memory banks for anything that could possibly hold away the time line. Eight Franklin Square? Something that wa s in existence in 1850? Langdon came up with nothing. The liquid was trickling into his ears now. Fighting his terror, he stared up at the grid of symbols on the glass. I dont understand the connection In a petrified frenzy, his mind began spewing all the far-flung parallels it could generate. Eight Franklin Square . . . squares . . . this grid of symbols is a square . . . the square and the compass are masonic symbols . . . masonic altars are square . . . squares have ninety-degree angles. The water kept rising, but Langdon blockade it step forward. Eight Franklin . . . eight . . . this grid is eight-by-eight . . . Franklin has eight letters . . . The establish has eight letters . . . 8 is the turn symbol for infinity . . . eight is the number of destruction in numerology . . .Langdon had no idea.Outside the tank, Katherine was still pleading, but Langdons hearing was now intermittent as the water was sloshing around his head. . . . impossible without knowing . . . capstones g ist clearly . . . the inexplicable hides indoorsThen she was gone.Water poured into Langdons ears, blotting out the last of Katherines voice. A sudden womb manage silence engulfed him, and Langdon realized he truly was going to die.The mystic hides withinKatherines final words echoed with the hush of his tomb.The unfathomable hides within . . .Strangely, Langdon realized he had heard these exact words many times before.The conundrum hides . . . within.Even now, it seemed, the Ancient Mysteries were taunting him. The secret hides within was the core principle of the mysteries, urging man kind to seek God not in the arena above . . . but rather within himself. The secret hides within. It was the message of all the great mysterious teachers.The kingdom of God is within you, tell Jesus Christ.Know thyself, express Pythagoras.Know ye not that ye are gods, said Hermes Trismegistus.The list went on and on . . .All the mystical teachings of the ages had attempted to add this one idea. The secret hides within. Even so, mankind continued looking to the sphere of influence for the face of God.This realization, for Langdon, now became an ultimate irony. Right now, with his eyes facing the heavens like all the blind men who preceded him, Robert Langdon suddenly saw the light.It hand him like a bolt from above.Thesecret hideswithin The OrderEight Franklin SquareIn a flash he understood.The message on the capstone was suddenly crystal clear. Its intend had been stark(a) him in the face all night. The text on the capstone, like the Masonic Pyramid itself, was a symbolona code in piecesa message written in parts. The capstones meaning was camouflaged in so simple a sort that Langdon could scarcely believe he and Katherine had not spotted it.More surprise still, Langdon now realized that the message on the capstone did indeed unveil on the button how to decipher the grid of symbols on the base of the pyramid. It was so very simple. Exactly as Peter Solomon h ad promised, the golden capstone was a soused talisman with the power to bring collection from chaos.Langdon began pound offing on the lid and shouting, I know I knowAbove him, the stone pyramid lifted off and hovered away. In its place, the tattooed face reappeared, its chilling visage arrant(a) gobble up through the small window.I solved it Langdon shouted. Let me outWhen the tattooed man spoke, Langdons underwater ears heard nothing. His eyes, however, saw the lips speak two words. report me.I will Langdon screamed, the water more or less to his eyes. Let me out Ill exempt everything Its so simple.The mans lips moved again. Tell me now . . . or die.With the water rising through the final inch of air space, Langdon tipped his head back to keep his rima oris above the waterline. As he did so, warm liquid poured into his eyes, blurring his vision. Arching his back, he pressed his mouth against the Plexiglas window.Then, with his last hardly a(prenominal) seconds of air, R obert Langdon shared the secret of how to decipher the Masonic Pyramid.As he sinless speaking, the liquid rose around his lips. Instinctively, Langdon displace a final breath and clamped his mouth shut. A moment later, the fluid covered him entirely, reaching the top of his tomb and spreading out across the Plexiglas.He did it, Malakh realized. Langdon figured out how to solve the pyramid.The answer was so simple. So obvious. at a lower place the window, the submerged face of Robert Langdon stared up at him with desperate and beseeching eyes.Malakh shook his head at him and slowly mouthed the words Thank you, Professor. Enjoy the afterlife.CHAPTER 103As a dear swimmer, Robert Langdon had often wondered what it would feel like to drown. He now knew he was going to learn firsthand. Although he could hold his breath longer than most people, he could already feel his body reacting to the absence of air. Carbon dioxide was accumulating in his blood, saving with it the instinctual urg e to inhale. Do not breathe The reflex to inhale was change magnitude in intensity with each passing moment. Langdon knew very soon he would reach what was called the breath-hold breakpointthat critical moment at which a person could no longer voluntarily hold his breath.Open the lid Langdons instinct was to pound and struggle, but he knew better than to waste valuable oxygen. All he could do was stare up through the blur of water above him and hope. The world outside was now only a hazy smear of light above the Plexiglas window. His core muscles had begun burning, and he knew hypoxia was setting in. unawares a beautiful and ghostly face appeared, gazing down at him. It was Katherine, her indulgent features looking almost e in that locational through the veil of liquid. Their eyes met through the Plexiglas window, and for an instant, Langdon thought he was saved. Katherine Then he heard her irksome cries of horror and realized she was being held there by their captor. The tattoo ed monster was forcing her to buy up witness to what was active to happen.Katherine, Im sorry . . .In this strange, dark place, trapped underwater, Langdon labor to comprehend that these would be his final moments of life. Soon he would cease to exist . . . everything he was . . . or had ever been . . . or would ever be . . . was ending. When his pass died, all of the memories held in his gray matter, along with all of the knowledge he had acquired, would simply evaporate in a flood of chemical reactions.In this moment, Robert Langdon realized his true insignificance in the universe. It was as lonely and humbling a feeling as he had ever experienced. Almost thankfully, he could feel the breath-hold breakpoint arriving.The moment was upon him.Langdons lungs forced out their spent contents, collapsing in eager dressing to inhale. Still he held out an instant longer. His final second. Then, like a man no longer able to hold his hand to a burning stove, he gave himself over to fate .Reflex overruled reason.His lips parted.His lungs expanded.And the liquid came pouring in.The pain that filled his chest was greater than Langdon had ever imagined. The liquid burned as it poured into his lungs. Instantly, the pain shot upward into his skull, and he felt like his head was being crushed in a vise. There was great move in his ears, and through it all, Katherine Solomon was screaming.There was a blinding flash of light.And consequently blackness.Robert Langdon was gone.CHAPTER 104Its over.Katherine Solomon had stopped screaming. The drowning she had just witnessed had left her catatonic, virtually paralyzed with shock and despair. Beneath the Plexiglas window, Langdons dead eyes stared past her into empty space. His frozen facet was one of pain and regret. The last tiny air bubbles trickled out of his lifeless mouth, and then, as if consenting to give up his ghost, the Harvard prof slowly began sinking to the bottom of the tank . . . where he disappeared into the shadows.Hes gone. Katherine felt numb.The tattooed man reached down, and with pitiless finality, he slid the small viewing window closed, sealing Langdons corpse inside.Then he smiled at her. Shall we?Before Katherine could respond, he hoisted her grief-stricken body onto his shoulder, turned out the light, and carried her out of the room. With a few powerful strides, he transported her to the end of the hall, into a large space that seemed to be bathed in a reddish-purple light. The room smelled like incense. He carried her to a square table in the center of the room and dropped her hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her. The surface felt rough and glacial. Is this stone?Katherine had hardly gotten her bearings before the man had removed the outfit from her wrists and ankles. Instinctively, she attempted to fight him off, but her cramped arms and legs barely responded. He now began soapping her to the table with heavy leather bands, cinching one cane across her knees a nd then buckling a second across her hips, pinning her arms at her sides. Then he placed a final strap across her sternum, just above her breasts.It had all taken only moments, and Katherine was again immobilized. Her wrists and ankles throbbed now as the circulation returned to her limbs.Open your mouth, the man whispered, licking his own tattooed lips.Katherine clenched her teeth in revulsion.The man again reached out with his index palpate and ran it slowly around her lips, making her skin crawl. She clenched her teeth tighter. The tattooed man chuckled and, using his former(a) hand, found a pressure point on her neck and squeezed. Katherines jaw instantly dropped open. She could feel his finger entering her mouth and running along her tongue. She gagged and tried to bite it, but the finger was already gone. Still grinning, he raised his moist fingertip before her eyes. Then he closed his eyes and, once again, rubbed her saliva into the bare circle of flesh on his head.The man sighed and slowly opened his eyes. Then, with an eerie calm, he turned and left the room.In the sudden silence, Katherine could feel her heart pounding. Directly over her, an unusual series of lights seemed to be modulating from purple red to a fat crimson, illuminating the rooms low ceiling. When she saw the ceiling, all she could do was stare. Every inch was covered with drawings. The mind-boggling collage above her appeared to depict the celestial sky. Stars, planets, and constellations mingled with astrological symbols, charts, and formulas. There were arrows predicting elliptical orbits, geometric symbols indicating angles of ascension, and zodiacal creatures peering down at her. It looked like a mad scientist had gotten loose in the Sistine Chapel.Turning her head, Katherine looked away, but the fence in to her left was no better. A series of candles on medieval al-Qaida stands shed a flickering glow on a argue that was completely hidden beneath pages of text, photos, and drawings. Some of the pages looked like papyrus or vellum torn from antediluvian patriarch books others were obviously from newer texts mixed in were photographs, drawings, maps, and schematics all of them appeared to have been glued to the wall with meticulous care. A spiderweb of strings had been thumbtacked across them, interconnecting them in limitless chaotic possibilities.Katherine again looked away, turning her head in the other direction.Unfortunately, this provided the most terrifying view of all.Adjacent to the stone slab on which she was strapped, there stood a small side counter that instantly reminded her of an instrument table from a hospital operating room. On the counter was arranged a series of objectsamong them a syringe, a vial of dark liquid . . . and a large knife with a bone handle and a vane hewn of iron burnished to an unusually high shine.My God . . . what is he planning to do to me?CHAPTER 105When CIA systems security specialist Rick Parrish finally lope d into Nola Kayes office, he was carrying a single sheet of stem.What took you so long? Nola demanded. I told you to come down immediatelySorry, he said, pushing up his bottle-bottom glasses on his long nose. I was trying to gather more information for you, butJust show me what youve got.Parrish handed her the printout. Its a redaction, but you shit the gist.Nola scanned the page in amazement. Im still trying to figure out how a hacker got access, Parrish said, but it looks like a delegator spider hijacked one of our searchForget that Nola blurted, glancing up from the page. What the hell is the CIA doing with a classified file active pyramids, ancient portals, and engraved symbolons?Thats what took me so long. I was trying to see what put down was being targeted, so I traced the file path. Parrish paused, clearing his throat. This document turns out to be on a partition personally assigned to . . . the CIA music director himself.Nola wheeled, staring in dis flavour. Satos bos s has a file rough the Masonic Pyramid? She knew that the current director, along with many other top CIA executives, was a high-ranking Mason, but Nola could not imagine any of them keeping Masonic secrets on a CIA computer.Then again, considering what she had witnessed in the last twenty-four hours, anything was possible. actor Simkins was lying on his stomach, ensconced in the bushes of Franklin Square. His eyes were trained on the amphistylar entry of the Almas Temple. Nothing. No lights had come on inside, and no one had approached the door. He turned his head and checked on Bellamy. The man was pacing only if in the middle of the park, looking cold. Really cold. Simkins could see him shaking and shivering.His call vibrated. It was Sato.How overdue is our target? she demanded.Simkins checked his chronograph. Target said twenty minutes. Its been almost forty. Somethings wrong.Hes not coming, Sato said. Its over.Simkins knew she was right. Any word from Hartmann?No, he never checked in from Kalorama Heights. I cant reach him.Simkins stiffened. If this was true, then something was definitely wrong.I just called field support, Sato said, and they cant find him either.Holy shit. Do they have a GPS location on the Escalade?Yeah. A residential address in Kalorama Heights, Sato said. Gather your men. Were move out. Sato clicked off her phone and gazed out at the majestic skyline of her nations capital. An frozen(p) wind whipped through her light jacket, and she wrapped her arms around herself to hobble warm. Director Inoue Sato was not a woman who often felt cold . . . or fear. At the moment, however, she was feeling both.CHAPTER 106Malakh wore only his silk loincloth as he dashed up the ramp, through the steel door, and out through the exposure into his living room. I need to prepare quickly. He glanced over at the dead CIA agent in the foyer. This home is no longer safe.Carrying the stone pyramid in one hand, Malakh strode directly to his first-floor st udy and sat down at his laptop computer. As he logged in, he pictured Langdon downstairs and wondered how many days or even weeks would pass before the submerged corpse was discovered in the secret basement. It made no difference. Malakh would be long gone by then.Langdon has served his role . . . brilliantly.Not only had Langdon reunited the pieces of the Masonic Pyramid, he had figured out how to solve the arcane grid of symbols on the base. At first glance, the symbols seemed indecipherable . . . and yet the answer was simple . . . staring them in the face.Malakhs laptop sprang to life, the screen displaying the same e-mail he had authoritative earliera photograph of a glowing capstone, partially blocked by Warren Bellamys finger.Thesecret hideswithin The Order.Franklin Square.Eight . . . Franklin Square, Katherine had told Malakh. She had also admitted that CIA agents were staking out Franklin Square, hoping to capture Malakh and also figure out what order was being pen by the capstone. The Masons? The Shriners? The Rosicrucians?None of these, Malakh now knew. Langdon saw the truth. Ten minutes earlier, with liquid rising around his face, the Harvard professor had figured out the key to understand the pyramid. The Order Eight Franklin Square he had shouted, terror in his eyes. The secret hides within The Order Eight Franklin SquareAt first, Malakh failed to understand his meaning.Its not an address Langdon yelled, his mouth pressed to the Plexiglas window. The Order Eight Franklin Square Its a magic square Then he said something about Albrecht Durer . . . and how the pyramids first code was a clue to breaking this final one.Malakh was well-known(prenominal) with magic squareskameas, as the early mystics called them. The ancient text De Occulta Philosophia described in detail the mystical power of magic squares and the methods for designing powerful sigils base on magical grids of numbers. Now Langdon was telling him that a magic square held the key to deciphering the base of the pyramid?You need an eight-by-eight magic square the professor had been yelling, his lips the only part of his body above the liquid. Magic squares are categorize in orders A three-by-three square is an order three A four-by-four square is an order four You need an order eightThe liquid had been about to engulf Langdon entirely, and the professor drew one last desperate breath and shouted out something about a famous Mason . . . an American forefather . . . a scientist, mystic, mathematician, spotter . . . as well as the creator of the mystical kamea that bore his constitute to this day.Franklin.In a flash, Malakh knew Langdon was right.Now, breathless with anticipation, Malakh sat upstairs at his laptop. He ran a quick Web search, received dozens of hits, chose one, and began reading.THE ORDER ogdoad FRANKLIN SQUAREOne of historys best-known magic squares is the order-eight square published in 1769 by American scientist Benjamin Franklin, and which be came famous for its inclusion of never- before-seen bent separatrix summations. Franklins obsession with this mystical art form most likely caulescent from his personal associations with the prominent alchemists and mystics of his day, as well as his own belief in astrology, which were the underpinnings for the predictions made in his Poor Richards Almanack. Malakh studied Franklins famous understructurea unique arrangement of the numbers 1 through 64in which every row, column, and diagonal added up to the same magical constant. The secret hides within The Order Eight Franklin Square.Malakh smiled. Trembling with excitement, he grabbed the stone pyramid and flipped it over, examining the base. These sixty-four symbols needed to be reorganized and arranged in a different order, their sequence defined by the numbers in Franklins magic square. Although Malakh could not imagine how this chaotic grid of symbols would suddenly make guts in a different order, he had faith in the ancien t promise.Ordo ab chao.Heart racing, he took out a sheet of paper and quickly drew an empty eight-by-eight grid. Then he began inserting the symbols, one by one, in their newly defined positions. Almost immediately, to his astonishment, the grid began making sense.Order from chaosHe completed the entire decryption and stared in perplexity at the solution before him. A stark image had taken shape. The jumbled grid had been transformed . . . reorganized . . . and although Malakh could not grasp the meaning of the entire message, he understood enough . . . enough to know exactly where he was now headed.The pyramid points the way.The grid pointed to one of the worlds great mystical locations. Incredibly, it was the same location at which Malakh had always fantasized he would complete his journey. Destiny.