The Da Vinci Code Chapter 78-80

CHAPTER 78Sophie felt a wild excitement as she cradled the cryptex and began dialing in the letters. An ancient word of wisdom frees this axial motion.Langdon and Teabing seemed to have stopped public discussion as they musical n hotshoted on.S O FC atomic number 18fully, Teabing urged. Ever so carefully. I A.Sophie aline the final dial. Okay, she whispered, glancing up at the others. Im divergence to pull it asunder. return the vinegar, Langdon whispered with fearful exhilaration. Be careful.Sophie knew that if this cryptex were like those she had opened in her y let outh, each she would need to do is grip the cylinder at both ends, respec sidestep beyond the dials, and pull, applying slow, steady coerce in opposite directions. If the dials were properly align with the password, then one of the ends would slide off, much like a cryst everyine lens cowl, and she could reach internal and remove the rolled papyrus document, which would be clad around the vial of vinegar. However, if the password they had entered were incorrect, Sophies outward force on the ends would be transferred to a hinged lever inside, which would pivot downward into the cavity and apply pressure to the glass vial, eventually shattering it if she pulled likewise hard.Pull gently, she t superannuated herself.Teabing and Langdon both leaned in as Sophie wrapped her palms around the ends of the cylinder. In the excitement of deciphering the code word, Sophie had or so forgotten what they expected to find inside. This is the Priory keystone.According to Teabing, it contained a map to the Holy Grail, entree the tomb of Mary Magdalene and the Sangreal treasure the ultimate treasure trove of hole-and-corner(a) truth.Now gripping the stone tube, Sophie double-checked that all of the letters were properly aligned with the indicator. Then, slowly, she pulled. Nothing happened. She applied a unforesightful more force. Suddenly, the stone slid apart like a well-crafted telescope. The heavy end piece detached in her hand. Langdon and Teabing just about jumped to their feet. Sophies take caret rate climbed as she set the end cap on the table and tipped the cylinder to peer inside.A scrollPeering down the jab of the rolled paper, Sophie could see it had been wrapped around a cylindrical inclination the vial of vinegar, she assumed. Strangely, though, the paper around the vinegar was non the customary delicate papyrus but rather, vellum. Thats odd, she thought, vinegar cant dissolve a lambskin vellum.She looked again down the hollow of the scroll and realized the object in the center was not a vial of vinegar afterward all. It was something else entirely. Whats wrong? Teabing asked. Pull out the scroll. Frowning, Sophie grabbed the rolled vellum and the object around which it was wrapped, drag them both out of the container.Thats not papyrus, Teabing said. Its too heavy. I kat once. Its padding. For what? The vial of vinegar?No. Sophie unrolled the scroll a nd revealed what was wrapped inside. For this.When Langdon saw the object inside the mainsheet of vellum, his heart sank.God help us, Teabing said, slumping. Your grandfather was a pitiless architect.Langdon stared in amazement. I see Sauniere has no intention of making this easy.On the table sat a second cryptex. Smaller. Made of black onyx. It had been nested within the first. Saunieres offense for dualism. Two cryptexes.E precisething in pairs. Double entendres.Male female.Black nested within white.Langdon felt the web of symbolic representation stretching onward. White gives birthto black.Every composition sprang from woman. White female. Black male. stretch over, Langdon lifted the smaller cryptex. It looked identical to the first, except half the size and black. He heard the familiar gurgle. Apparently, the vial of vinegar they had heard earlier was inside this smaller cryptex.Well, Robert, Teabing said, sliding the page of vellum over to him. Youll be pleased to hear th at at least were flying in the right direction. Langdon examined the thick vellum sheet. create verbally in ornate penmanship was another four-line verse. Again, in iambic pentameter. The verse was cryptic, but Langdon needed to read only as far as the first line to realize that Teabings plan to come to Britain was going to conciliate off.IN LONDON LIES A KNIGHT A POPE INTERRED.The last of the poem clearly implied that the password for opening the second cryptex could be found by visiting this knights tomb, somewhere in the city.Langdon turned excitedly to Teabing. Do you have any idea what knight this poem is referring to?Teabing grinned. Not the foggiest. besides I know in precisely which crypt we should look.At that moment, fifteen miles forth of them, six Kent police cars streaked down rain-soaked streets toward Biggin Hill Executive Airport.CHAPTER 79deputy collet chuck helped himself to a Perrier from Teabings refrigerator and strode back out by the drawing room. Rathe r than accompanying Fache to London where the action was, he was now baby-sitting the PTS team that had spread out through Chateau Villette.So far, the evidence they had unveil was unhelpful a single bullet buried in the degree a paper with several symbols scrawled on it along with the words stain and chalice and a bloody spiked belt that PTS had told collet chuck was associated with the materialistic Catholic group Opus Dei, which had caused a stir recently when a news program exposed their aggressive recruiting practices in Paris. ferrule sighed. proficient luck making sense of this unlikely melange.Moving down a lavish hallway, Collet entered the vast ballroom study, where the chief PTS quizzer was fill dusting for fingerprints. He was a corpulent man in suspenders. Anything? Collet asked, entering. The examiner shook his head. Nothing new. Multiple sets matching those in the rest of the house. How close the prints on the cilice belt? Interpol is still working. I uploaded everything we found.Collet motioned to two plastered evidence bags on the desk. And this? The man shrugged. Force of habit. I bag anything peculiar. Collet walked over. Peculiar?This Brits a strange one, the examiner said. Have a look at this. He sifted through the evidence bags and selected one, handing it to Collet.The photo showed the main appropriate of a Gothic cathedral the traditional, recessed archway, narrowing through multiple, costate layers to a small doorway.Collet studied the photo and turned. This is peculiar? procedure it over. On the back, Collet found government notes scrawled in English, describing a cathedrals long hollow nave as a secret pagan tribute to a womans womb. This was strange. The notation describing the cathedrals doorway, however, was what startled him. Hold on He thinks a cathedrals entrance represents a womansThe examiner nodded. Complete with receding labial ridges and a nice little cinquefoil clitoris above the doorway. He sighed. Kind of m akes you want to go back to church.Collet picked up the second evidence bag. Through the plastic, he could see a large glossy photograph of what appeared to be an old document. The heading at the top readLes Dossiers Secrets Number 4o lm1 249Whats this? Collet asked.No idea. Hes got copies of it all over the place, so I bagged it. Collet studied the document.PRIEURE DE undertake LES NAUTONIERS/GRAND MASTERSJEAN DE GISORS1188-1220MARIE DE SAINT-CLAIR1220-1266GUILLAUME DE GlSORS1266-1307EDOUARD DE arrest1307-1336JEANNE DE BAR1336-1351JEAN DE SAINT-CLAIR1351-1366BLANCE DEVREUX1366-1398NICOLAS FLAMEL1398-1418RENE DANJOU1418-1480IOLANDE DE BAR1480-1483SANDRO BOTTICELLI1483-1510LEONARDO DA VINCI1510-1519CONNETABLE DE BOURBON 1519-1527FERDINAND DE GONZAQUE1527-1575LOUIS DE NEVERS1575-1595ROBERT FLUDD1595-1637J. VALENTIN ANDREA1637-1654ROBERT BOYLE1654-1691ISAAC NEWTON1691-1727CHARLES RADCLYFFE1727-1746CHARLES DE LORRAINE1746-1780MAXIMILIAN DE LORRAINE1780-1801CHARLES NODIER1801-1844VIC TOR HUGO1844-1885CLAUDE DEBUSSY1885-1918JEAN COCTEAU1918-1963 Prieure de Sion? Collet wondered. deputy sheriff? Another agent stuck his head in. The switchboard has an urgent squall for police chief Fache, but they cant reach him. Will you take it? Collet returned to the kitchen and took the call. It was Andre Vernet.The bankers refined parlance did little to mask the tension in his voice. I thought original Fache said he would call me, but I have not yet heard from him.The captain is quite busy, Collet replied. May I help you?I was assured I would be kept informed of your progress tonight.For a moment, Collet thought he acknowledge the calibre of the mans voice, but he couldnt quite place it. Monsieur Vernet, I am before long in charge of the Paris investigation. My name is Lieutenant Collet.There was a long pause on the line. Lieutenant, I have another call coming in. Please excuse me. I will call you later. He hung up.For several seconds, Collet held the receiver. Then it dawned on him. I knew I recognized that voice The revelation made him gasp.The armored car driver.With the fake Rolex. Collet now understood why the banker had hung up so quickly. Vernet had remembered the name Lieutenant Collet the officer he blatantly lied to earlier tonight.Collet pondered the implications of this bizarre development. Vernet is involved.Instinctively, he knew he should call Fache. Emotionally, he knew this lucky have on was going to be his moment to shine.He immediately called Interpol and requested every shred of information they could find on the Depository Bank of Zurich and its president, Andre Vernet.CHAPTER 80Seat belts, please, Teabings pilot announced as the Hawker 731 descended into a no-count morning drizzle. Well be landing in five minutes.Teabing felt a joyous sense of homecoming when he saw the misty hills of Kent public exposure wide beneath the descending matte. England was less than an hour from Paris, and yet a world away. This morning, the damp, spring green of his homeland looked particularly welcoming. My time in France is over.I am returning to England victorious.The keystone has been found.The question remained, of course, as to where the keystone would eventually lead. Somewhere in the United Kingdom.Where exactly, Teabing had no idea, but he was already tasting the glory.As Langdon and Sophie looked on, Teabing got up and went to the far side of the cabin, then slid digression a wall panel to reveal a discreetly apart(p) wall safe. He dialed in the combination, opened the safe, and extracted two passports. Documentation for Remy and myself. He then removed a thick stack of fifty-pound notes. And documentation for you two. Sophie looked leery. A bribe? Creative diplomacy. Executive airfields make certain allowances. A British customs official will greet us at my hangar and ask to board the plane. Rather than permitting him to come on, Ill tell him Im traveling with a French celebrity who prefers that nobody k nows she is in England press considerations, you know and Ill stand the official this generous tip as gratitude for his discretion.Langdon looked amazed. And the official will aim?Not from anyone, they wont, but these people all know me. Im not an blazon dealer, for heavens sake. I was knighted. Teabing smiled. Membership has its privileges.Remy approached up the aisle now, the Heckler Koch pistol cradled in his hand. Sir, my agenda? Teabing glanced at his servant. Im going to have you stay onboard with our guest until we return.We cant very well drag him all over London with us.Sophie looked wary. Leigh, I was austere about the French police finding your plane before we return.Teabing laughed. Yes, consider their surprise if they board and find Remy.Sophie looked surprised by his cavalier attitude. Leigh, you transported a bound hostage across international borders. This is serious.So are my lawyers. He scowled toward the monk in the rear of the plane. That animal broke into my home and almost killed me. That is a fact, and Remy will corroborate. But you level(p) him up and flew him to London Langdon said. Teabing held up his right hand and feigned a courtroom oath. Your honor, forgive an fictitious character old knight his foolish prejudice for the British court system. I realize I should have called the French authorities, but Im a schnozzle and do not trust those laissez-faire French to prosecute properly. This man almost murdered me. Yes, I made a rash conclusion forcing my manservant to help me bring him to England, but I was under great stress. Mea culpa. Mea culpa.Langdon looked incredulous. advance from you, Leigh, that just might fly.Sir? the pilot called back. The tower just radioed. Theyve got some patient of of maintenance problem out near your hangar, and theyre asking me to bring the plane directly to the terminal instead.Teabing had been flying to Biggin Hill for over a decade, and this was a first. Did they mention what the problem is?The controller was vague. Something about a gas dodging at the pumping station? They asked me to park in front of the terminal and go for everyone onboard until further notice. Safety precaution. Were not supposed to deplane until we get the all clear from airport authorities.Teabing was skeptical. Must be one hell of a gas leak.The pumping station was a good half mile from his hangar.Remy as well as looked concerned. Sir, this sounds highly irregular.Teabing turned to Sophie and Langdon. My friends, I have an unpleasant suspicion that we are about to be met by a welcoming committee.Langdon gave a subdued sigh. I guess Fache still thinks Im his man.Either that, Sophie said, or he is too deep into this to admit his error.Teabing was not listening. Regardless of Faches mind-set, action needed to be taken fast. Dontlose sight of the ultimate goal.The Grail.Were so dose.Below them, the landing gear descended with a clunk.Leigh, Langdon said, sounding deeply remorseful, I should t urn myself in and sort this out legally. Leave you all out of it.Oh, heavens, Robert Teabing waved it off. Do you really think theyre going to let the rest of us go? I just transported you illegally. vault Neveu assisted in your escape from the Louvre, and we have a man tied up in the back of the plane. Really now Were all in this together.Maybe a different airport? Sophie said.Teabing shook his head. If we pull up now, by the time we get clearance anywhere else, our welcoming troupe will include army tanks.Sophie slumped.Teabing sensed that if they were to have any find of postponing confrontation with the British authorities long enough to find the Grail, open action had to be taken. Give me a minute, he said, hobbling toward the cockpit.What are you doing? Langdon asked. sales meeting, Teabing said, wondering how much it would cost him to persuade his pilot to perform one highly irregular maneuver.