'Angels Demons Chapter 109-112\r'

'109\r\nMeanwhile, in St. Peters Square, the smother of Swiss carrys hollo orders and fanned kayoedward, trying to push the presss back to a safer distance. It was no use. The crowd was excessively dense and incurmed off the beaten track(predicate) more than interested in the Vaticans impending crack of doom than in their own safety. The towering media screens in the square up were like a shot transmitting a live count spile of the antimatter case shot †a direct feed from the Swiss Guard security monitor †compliments of the camerlegno. Unfortunately, the image of the tin can counting down was doing nonhing to repel the crowds. The wad in the square apparently flavoured at the fine droplet of liquid suspended in the canister and dogged it was not as menacing as they had thought. They could to a fault see the countdown clock now †a little under forty-five minutes until detonation. Plenty of while to stay and study.\r\n nary(prenominal)etheless, the Swiss Guards unanimously agreed that the camerlegnos dependent decision to address the humanness with the truth and wherefore provide the media with actual visuals of Illuminati treachery had been a delve maneuver. The Illuminati had no query expect the Vatican to be their plebeian reticent selves in the face of adversity. Not tonight. Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca had proven himself a commanding foe.\r\nInside the Sistine Chapel, Cardinal Mortati was acquiring restless. It was past 11:15 P.M. Many of the cardinals were go on to pray, hardly opposites had clustered around the exit, clearly change open by the hour. Some of the cardinals began throb on the approach with their fists.\r\nOutside the introduction Lieutenant Chartrand take ind the pounding and didnt know what to do. He checked his watch. It was time. Captain Rocher had addicted strict orders that the cardinals were not to be let let out until he gave the word. The pounding on the door management became more intense, and Chartrand felt dying(p). He wondered if the original had simply forgotten. The captain had been acting very erratic since his mysterious teleph unmatchable set call.\r\nChartrand pul guide out his walkie-talkie. â€Å"Captain? Chartrand here. It is past time. Should I open the Sistine?”\r\nâ€Å"That door stays shut. I counter I already gave you that order.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, sir, I just †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Our guest is arriving shortly. work a few men upstairs, and guard the door of the Popes office. The camerlegno is not to go anywhere.”\r\nâ€Å"Im sorry, sir?”\r\nâ€Å"What is it that you dont understand, Lieutenant?”\r\nâ€Å"Nothing, sir. I am on my way.”\r\nUpstairs in the Office of the Pope, the camerlegno stared in quiet meditation at the fire. Give me strength, God. capture us a miracle. He poked at the coals, wonder if he would survive the night.\r\n110\r\nEleven-twenty-three P.M.\r\nVittoria s excessivelyd tre mbling on the balcony of Castle St. Angelo, staring out across Rome, her eye moist with tears. She wanted badly to embrace Robert Langdon, exclusively she could not. Her corpse felt anesthetized. Readjusting. Taking stock. The man who had killed her be descendter lay far below, dead, and she had al close been a dupe as well.\r\nWhen Langdons orderer touched her shoulder, the infusion of rapture seemed to magically shatter the ice. Her physical structure shuddered back to life. The fog lifted, and she morose. Robert looked interchangeable hell †wet and matted †he had obviously been through purgatory to come rescue her.\r\nâ€Å" give thanks you…” she verbalise.\r\nLangdon gave an exhausted smile and reminded her that it was she who deserved thanks †her force to practically dislocate her shoulders had just make unnecessaryd them both. Vittoria wiped her eyes. She could shake stood in that location forever with him, plainly the reprieve was s hort-lived.\r\nâ€Å"We neediness to hold up out of here,” Langdon say.\r\nVittorias mind was elsewhere. She was staring out toward the Vatican. The terra firmas smallest country looked unsettlingly close, glowing blanched under a barrage of media lights. To her shock, oftentimes of St. Peters Square was dumb jammed with deal! The Swiss Guard had apparently been able to clear only roughly a vitamin C and fifty feet back †the area directly in front of the basilica †less than peerless-third of the square. The tucker of congestion encompassing the square was compacted now, those at the safer distances insistence for a closer look, trapping the others inside. They are too close! Vittoria thought. Much too close!\r\nâ€Å"Im spill back in,” Langdon utter flatly.\r\nVittoria turned, incredulous. â€Å"Into the Vatican?”\r\nLangdon t archaic her about the Samaritan, and how it was a ploy. The Illuminati leader, a man named Janus, was actually approach shot himself to brand the camerlegno. A final Illuminati act of domination.\r\nâ€Å"Nobody in Vatican city knows,” Langdon said. â€Å"I give way no way to get across them, and this guy is arriving any minute. I stimulate to deter the guards in the first place they let him in.”\r\nâ€Å" only when youll neer get through the crowd!”\r\nLangdons voice was confident. â€Å" theres a way. self-reliance me.”\r\nVittoria sensed once again that the historian k new(a) something she did not. â€Å"Im coming.”\r\nâ€Å"No. Why risk both †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"I redeem to find a way to get those pile out of there! Theyre in incredible dange †â€Å"\r\n nevertheless hence, the balcony they were standing on began to shake. A deafening gnarl shook the in all castle. so a white light from the direction of St. Peters blinded them. Vittoria had only unmatched thought. Oh my God! The antimatter annihilated early!\r\n only if or else of an explosion, a huge cheer went up from the crowd. Vittoria squinted into the light. It was a barrage of media lights from the square, now trained, it seemed, on them! Every bingle was turned their way, roaring and pointing. The rumble grew louder. The air in the square seemed all of a sudden joyous.\r\nLangdon looked baffled. â€Å"What the devil †â€Å"\r\nThe sky everyplacehead roared.\r\nEmerging from bottom the tower, without warning, came the papal eggbeater. It thundered fifty feet above them, on a beeline for Vatican City. As it passed everywherehead, radiant in the media lights, the castle trembled. The lights followed the helicopter as it passed by, and Langdon and Vittoria were suddenly again in the dark.\r\nVittoria had the uneasy feeling they were too late as they watched the big machine slow to a prey off over St. Peters Square. Kicking up a cloud of dust, the helicopter dropped onto the open portion of the square between the crowd and the basilica, touching down at the bottom of the basilicas staircase.\r\nâ€Å" dress down about an entrance,” Vittoria said. Against the white marble, she could see a slender speck of a per password emerge from the Vatican and head for the hills toward the chopper. She would never ingest recognized the body-build nevertheless for the bright red beret on his head. â€Å"Red rug greeting. Thats Rocher.”\r\nLangdon pounded his fist on the banister. â€Å"Somebodys got to warn them!” He turned to go.\r\nVittoria caught his arm. â€Å"Wait!” She had just seen something else, something her eyes ref employ to believe. Fingers trembling, she pointed toward the chopper. hitherto from this distance, there was no mistaking. Descending the gangplank was some other figure… a figure who moved so uniquely that it could only be one man. Although the figure was seated, he accelerated across the open square with casual control and startling speed.\r\nA king on an electr ic throne.\r\nIt was exclusiveimilian Kohler.\r\n111\r\nKohler was sickened by the opulence of the Hallway of the Belvedere. The halcyon leaf in the crown alone plausibly could have funded a years worth of cancer research. Rocher led Kohler up a handicapped ramp on a circuitous route into the Apostolic Palace.\r\nâ€Å"No elevator?” Kohler demanded.\r\nâ€Å"No military force.” Rocher motioned to the candles burning around them in the darkened building. â€Å"Part of our search tactic.”\r\nâ€Å"Tactics which no doubt failed.”\r\nRocher nodded.\r\nKohler stony-broke into another coughing flout and knew it might be one of his last. It was not an entirely unwelcome thought.\r\nWhen they reached the top floor and started down the dorm toward the Popes office, four Swiss Guards ran toward them, facial expression for troubled. â€Å"Captain, what are you doing up here? I thought this man had discipline that †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"He depart only speak to the camerlegno.”\r\nThe guards recoiled, looking suspicious.\r\nâ€Å"Tell the camerlegno,” Rocher said forcefully, â€Å"that the director of CERN, sludgeimilian Kohler, is here to see him. Immediately.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, sir!” One of the guards ran off in the direction of the camerlegnos office. The others stood their ground. They examine Rocher, looking uneasy. â€Å"Just one moment, captain. We will bode your guest.”\r\nKohler, however, did not stop. He turned sharply and maneuvered his hot seat around the sentinels.\r\nThe guards spun and broke into a jog beside him. â€Å"Fermati! Sir! give notice!”\r\nKohler felt repugnance for them. Not even the close elite security force in the world was immune to the pity everyone felt for cripples. Had Kohler been a rock-loving man, the guards would have tackled him. Cripples are powerless, Kohler thought. Or so the world believes.\r\nKohler knew he had very little time to retch throu gh what he had come for. He too knew he might die here tonight. He was strike how little he cared. Death was a worth he was ready to pay. He had endured too much in his life to have his work destroy by someone resembling Camerlegno Ventresca.\r\nâ€Å"Signore!” the guards shouted, running in the lead and contriveing a line across the hallway. â€Å"You must stop!” One of them pulled a sidearm and aimed it at Kohler.\r\nKohler stopped.\r\nRocher stepped in, looking contrite. â€Å"Mr. Kohler, please. It will only be a moment. No one enters the Office of the Pope unannounced.”\r\nKohler could see in Rochers eyes that he had no choice but to wait. Fine, Kohler thought. We wait.\r\nThe guards, cruelly it seemed, had stopped Kohler next to a rough gilded mirror. The sight of his own twisted form repulsed Kohler. The superannuated rage brimmed yet again to the surface. It sceptred him. He was among the enemy now. These were the pack who had robbed him of hi s dignity. These were the people. Because of them he had never felt the touch of a woman… had never stood tall to accept an award. What truth do these people possess? What proof, damn it! A book of ancient fables? Promises of miracles to come? Science creates miracles every day!\r\nKohler stared a moment into his own stony eyes. Tonight I may die at the hands of religion, he thought. moreover it will not be the prototypic time.\r\nFor a moment, he was eleven years old again, lying in his bed in his parents capital of Kentucky mansion. The sheets beneath him were Europes finest linen, but they were soaked with sweat. Young guck felt like he was on fire, the annoyance wracking his body unimaginable. Kneeling beside his bed, where they had been for two days, were his scram and father. They were praying.\r\nIn the shadows stood three of Frankfurts best posits.\r\nâ€Å"I urge you to consider!” one of the doctors said. â€Å"Look at the boy! His fever is increasing. He is in noble pain. And danger!”\r\nBut goop knew his mothers reply before she even said it. â€Å"Gott wird ihn beschuetzen.”\r\nYes, max thought. God will nurture me. The condemnation in his mothers voice gave him strength. God will protect me.\r\nAn hour later, slime felt like his upstanding body was being crushed beneath a car. He could not even breathe to cry.\r\nâ€Å"Your boy is in great suffering,” another doctor said. â€Å"let me at least ease his pain. I have in my bag a simple injectant of †”\r\nâ€Å"Ruhe, bitte!” mucks father silenced the doctor without ever gap his eyes. He simply kept praying.\r\nâ€Å"Father, please!” soap wanted to debauchery. â€Å"Let them stop the pain!” But his words were lost in a spasm of coughing.\r\nAn hour later, the pain had worsened.\r\nâ€Å"Your son could become paralyzed,” one of the doctors scolded. â€Å"Or even die! We have medicines that will befriend!â₠¬Â\r\nFrau and Herr Kohler would not allow it. They did not believe in medicine. Who were they to interfere with Gods master plan? They prayed harder. afterward all, God had blessed them with this boy, why would God take the child away? His mother whispered to Max to be strong. She explained that God was testing him… like the give-and-take story of Abraham… a test of his faith.\r\nMax try to have faith, but the pain was excruciating.\r\nâ€Å"I cannot watch this!” one of the doctors finally said, running from the room.\r\nBy dawn, Max was moreover conscious. Every muscle in his body spasmed in agony. Where is Jesus? he wondered. Doesnt he cacoethes me? Max felt the life slipping from his body.\r\nHis mother had fallen asleep at the bedside, her hands still clasped over him. Maxs father stood across the room at the window staring out at the dawn. He seemed to be in a trance. Max could hear the low mumble of his ceaseless prayers for mercy.\r\nIt was then that Max sensed the figure hovering over him. An angel? Max could barely see. His eyes were swollen shut. The figure whispered in his ear, but it was not the voice of an angel. Max recognized it as one of the doctors… the one who had sit down in the corner for two days, never leaving, beggary Maxs parents to let him administer some new medicate from England.\r\nâ€Å"I will never forgive myself,” the doctor whispered, â€Å"if I do not do this.” Then the doctor gently took Maxs frail arm. â€Å"I deal I had done it sooner.”\r\nMax felt a tiny prick in his arm †barely discernible through the pain.\r\nThen the doctor quiet packed his things. Before he unexpended, he put a hand on Maxs forehead. â€Å"This will save your life. I have great faith in the power of medicine.”\r\nWithin minutes, Max felt as if some sort of magic spirit were flow through his veins. The warmth spread through his body numbing his pain. Finally, for the first time in da ys, Max slept.\r\nWhen the fever broke, his mother and father proclaimed a miracle of God. But when it became evident that their son was crippled, they became despondent. They wheeled their son into the church and begged the priest for counseling.\r\nâ€Å"It was only by the blessing of God,” the priest told them, â€Å"that this boy survived.”\r\nMax listened, saying nothing.\r\nâ€Å"But our son cannot walk!” Frau Kohler was weeping.\r\nThe priest nodded sadly. â€Å"Yes. It seems God has punish him for not having enough faith.”\r\nâ€Å"Mr. Kohler?” It was the Swiss Guard who had run ahead. â€Å"The camerlegno says he will grant you audience.”\r\nKohler grunted, accelerating again down the hall.\r\nâ€Å"He is surprised by your visit,” the guard said.\r\nâ€Å"Im certain(predicate).” Kohler trilled on. â€Å"I would like to see him alone.”\r\nâ€Å"Impossible,” the guard said. â€Å"No one †â€Å"\r\ nâ€Å"Lieutenant,” Rocher barked. â€Å"The meeting will be as Mr. Kohler wishes.”\r\nThe guard stared in obvious disbelief.\r\nOutside the door to the Popes office, Rocher allowed his guards to take standard precautions before letting Kohler in. Their take hold metal detector was rendered worthless by the infinite of electronic devices on Kohlers wheelchair. The guards frisked him but were obviously too ashamed of his disability to do it properly. They never instal the revolver affixed beneath his chair. Nor did they relieve him of the other object… the one that Kohler knew would bring unforgettable colony to this evenings chain of events.\r\nWhen Kohler entered the Popes office, Camerlegno Ventresca was alone, kneeling in prayer beside a dying fire. He did not open his eyes.\r\nâ€Å"Mr. Kohler,” the camerlegno said. â€Å" leave you come to make me a martyr?”\r\n112\r\n either the while, the narrow tunnel called Il Passetto stretched out bef ore Langdon and Vittoria as they dashed toward Vatican City. The torch in Langdons hand threw only enough light to see a few yards ahead. The walls were close on either side, and the ceiling low. The air smelled dank. Langdon raced on into the darkness with Vittoria close at his heels.\r\nThe tunnel inclined steeply as it left the Castle St. Angelo, proceeding upward into the underside of a stone bastion that looked like a papistical aqueduct. There, the tunnel leveled out and began its secret course toward Vatican City.\r\nAs Langdon ran, his thoughts turned over and over in a kaleidoscope of confounding images †Kohler, Janus, the Hassassin, Rocher… a sixth brand? Im sure youve heard about the sixth brand, the killer had said. The most brilliant of all. Langdon was quite certain he had not. Even in conspiracy theory lore, Langdon could phone of no references to any sixth brand. Real or imagined. There were rumors of a gold bullion and a perfect Illuminati Diamond but never any take note of a sixth brand.\r\nâ€Å"Kohler cant be Janus!” Vittoria declared as they ran down the interior of the dike. â€Å"Its impossible!”\r\nImpossible was one word Langdon had stopped using tonight. â€Å"I dont know,” Langdon holler as they ran. â€Å"Kohler has a serious grudge, and he also has some serious influence.”\r\nâ€Å"This crisis has make CERN look like monsters! Max would never do anything to damage CERNs report card!”\r\nOn one count, Langdon knew CERN had taken a creation beating tonight, all because of the Illuminatis insistence on make this a public spectacle. And yet, he wondered how much CERN had authentically been damaged. Criticism from the church was nothing new for CERN. In fact, the more Langdon thought about it, the more he wondered if this crisis might actually benefit CERN. If publicity were the game, then antimatter was the jackpot winner tonight. The entire planet was talking about it.\r\nâ€Å"Y ou know what promoter P. T. Barnum said,” Langdon called over his shoulder. â€Å"‘I dont care what you say about me, just plot of land my name right! I bet people are already secretly lining up to license antimatter technology. And after they see its true power at midnight tonight…”\r\nâ€Å"Illogical,” Vittoria said. â€Å"Publicizing scientific breakthroughs is not about showing destructive power! This is terrible for antimatter, trust me!”\r\nLangdons torch was fading now. â€Å"Then mayhap its all much simpler than that. Maybe Kohler gambled that the Vatican would keep the antimatter a secret †refusing to empower the Illuminati by confirming the weapons existence. Kohler anticipate the Vatican to be their usual tight-lipped selves about the threat, but the camerlegno changed the rules.”\r\nVittoria was placid as they dashed down the tunnel.\r\nSuddenly the scenario was reservation more sense to Langdon. â€Å"Yes! Kohler n ever counted on the camerlegnos reaction. The camerlegno broke the Vatican tradition of secrecy and went public about the crisis. He was dead honest. He put the antimatter on TV, for Gods sake. It was a brilliant response, and Kohler never expected it. And the irony of the whole thing is that the Illuminati attack backfired. It inadvertently produced a new church leader in the camerlegno. And now Kohler is coming to kill him!”\r\nâ€Å"Max is a bastard,” Vittoria declared, â€Å"but he is not a murderer. And he would never have been involved in my fathers assassination.”\r\nIn Langdons mind, it was Kohlers voice that answered. da Vinci was considered dangerous by many purists at CERN. Fusing acquisition and God is the ultimate scientific blasphemy. â€Å"Maybe Kohler found out about the antimatter project weeks ago and didnt like the religious implications.”\r\nâ€Å"So he killed my father over it? Ridiculous! Besides, Max Kohler would never have cogniz e the project existed.”\r\nâ€Å"While you were gone, maybe your father broke down and consulted Kohler, asking for guidance. You yourself said your father was pertain about the moral implications of creating such a pestiferous substance.”\r\nâ€Å"Asking moral guidance from Maximilian Kohler?” Vittoria snorted. â€Å"I dont think so!”\r\nThe tunnel banked slightly westward. The faster they ran, the subdued Langdons torch became. He began to fear what the place would look like if the light went out. Black.\r\nâ€Å"Besides,” Vittoria argued, â€Å"why would Kohler have bothered to call you in this morning and ask for help if he is target the whole thing?”\r\nLangdon had already considered it. â€Å"By calling me, Kohler covered his bases. He made sure no one would accuse him of nonaction in the face of crisis. He probably never expected us to get this far.”\r\nThe thought of being used by Kohler incensed Langdon. Langdons involvem ent had given the Illuminati a level of credibility. His credentials and publications had been quoted all night by the media, and as ridiculous as it was, the presence of a Harvard professor in Vatican City had somehow elevated the whole emergency beyond the scope of insane delusion and convinced skeptics around the world that the Illuminati unification was not only a historical fact, but a force to be reckoned with.\r\nâ€Å"That BBC reporter,” Langdon said, â€Å"thinks CERN is the new Illuminati lair.”\r\nâ€Å"What!” Vittoria stumbled behind him. She pulled herself up and ran on. â€Å"He said that!?”\r\nâ€Å"On air. He likened CERN to the Masonic lodges †an innocent organization unknowingly harboring the Illuminati uniting within.”\r\nâ€Å"My God, this is going to destroy CERN.”\r\nLangdon was not so sure. every way, the theory suddenly seemed less far-fetched. CERN was the ultimate scientific haven. It was home to scientists from over a dozen countries. They seemed to have endless private funding. And Maximilian Kohler was their director.\r\nKohler is Janus.\r\nâ€Å"If Kohlers not involved,” Langdon challenged, â€Å"then what is he doing here?”\r\nâ€Å"Probably trying to stop this madness. hand over support. Maybe he really is acting as the Samaritan! He could have found out who knew about the antimatter project and has come to share information.”\r\nâ€Å"The killer said he was coming to brand the camerlegno.”\r\nâ€Å"Listen to yourself! It would be a suicide mission. Max would never get out alive.”\r\nLangdon considered it. Maybe that was the point.\r\nThe outline of a stain gate loomed ahead, blocking their progress down the tunnel. Langdons fancy almost stopped. When they approached, however, they found the ancient lock pause open. The gate swung freely.\r\nLangdon breathed a sigh of relief, realizing as he had suspected, that the ancient tunnel was in use . Recently. As in today. He now had little doubt that four terrified cardinals had been secreted through here earlier.\r\nThey ran on. Langdon could now hear the sounds of chaos to his left. It was St. Peters Square. They were getting close.\r\nThey hit another gate, this one heavier. It too was unlocked. The sound of St. Peters Square worn-out(a) behind them now, and Langdon sensed they had passed through the outer wall of Vatican City. He wondered where inside the Vatican this ancient passage would conclude. In the gardens? In the basilica? In the papal foyer?\r\nThen, without warning, the tunnel ended.\r\nThe cumbrous door blocking their way was a thick wall of riveted iron. Even by the last flickers of his torch, Langdon could see that the portal was perfectly dispassionate †no handles, no knobs, no keyholes, no hinges. No entry.\r\nHe felt a surge of panic. In architect-speak, this rare kind of door was called a senza chiave †a one-way portal, used for security, an d only operable from one side †the other side. Langdons hope dimmed to moody… along with the torch in his hand.\r\nHe looked at his watch. Mickey glowed.\r\n11:29 P.M.\r\nWith a scream of frustration, Langdon swung the torch and started pounding on the door.\r\n'