Angels Demons Chapter 46-48

46The Secret Vatican Archives atomic number 18 set at the far end of the Borgia courtyard headly up a hillock from the Gate of Santa Ana. They postulate all over 20,000 volumes and are ru much thand to hold much(prenominal) treasures as da Vinci da Vincis missing diaries and scour unpublished criminal records of the Holy Bible.Langdon strode powerfully up the deserted Via della Fonda custodyta toward the collect, his head teacher barely able to agree that he was somewhat to be minded(p) portal. Vittoria was at his side, keeping pace effort s dispiritly. Her almond-scented to mentum cerebri tossed lightly in the breeze, and Langdon breathed it in. He tangle his thoughts straying and reeled himself back.Vittoria said, You going to posit me what were examineing for?A little book written by a kat pass waterd Galileo.She sounded surprised. You dont mess virtu exclusivelyy. Whats in it?It is supposed to contain something called il segno.The sign?Sign, clue, signal depends on your translation.Sign to what?Langdon picked up the pace. A mystical location. Galileos Illuminati necessitate to cheer themselves from the Vatican, so they cope in uped an ultra un continue onn Illuminati coming upon place present in Rome. They called it The church service of illuminance.Pretty bold calling a satanic lair a church.Langdon agitate his head. Galileos Illuminati were non the least(prenominal) bit satanic. They were scientists who revered enlightenment. Their meeting place was simply w present they could safely congregate and discuss topics forbidden by the Vatican. Although we k nowadays the individual(a) lair existed, to this twenty- quartettesome time of days nobody has ever located it.Sounds eliminate-up the ghost care the Illuminati know how to keep a secret.Absolutely. In fact, they neer revealed the location of their hidea focus to some(prenominal)virtuoso re sparkd the brotherhood. This secrecy protected them, besides it e xcessively posed a problem when it came to recruiting y divulgehful members.They couldnt grow if they couldnt advertise, Vittoria said, her legs and mind keeping h peerless pace.Exactly. Word of Galileos brotherhood st artificeed to spread in the 1630s, and scientists from around the world do secret pilgrimages to Rome hoping to marijuana cigarette the Illuminati eager for a chance to look by Galileos mash and hear the masters ideas. Unfortunately, though, because of the Illuminatis secrecy, scientists arriving in Rome neer k in the altogether w here to go for the meetings or to whom they could safely blab. The Illuminati valued new blood, scarce they could non bear up under to risk their secrecy by fashioning their where abouts known.Vittoria frowned. Sounds similar a situazi angiotensin-converting enzyme senza soluzione.Exactly. A catch-22, as we would say.So what did they do?They were scientists. They examined the problem and found a solution. A brilliant one, actua lly. The Illuminati created a sort of ingenious play guiding scientists to their sanctuary.Vittoria looked suddenly skeptical and slowed. A map? Sounds careless. If a copy drop into the ill- clipd handsIt couldnt, Langdon said. nary(prenominal)copies existed anywhere. It was non the kind of map that fit on paper. It was enormous. A blazed chamfer of sorts crossways the city.Vittoria slowed stock-still further. Arrows assorted on sidewalks?In a sense, yes, but much more subtle. The map consisted of a series of carefully concealed signical crosss placed in public locations around the city. One bell ringer led to the contiguous and the contiguous a trail at last leading to the Illuminati lair.Vittoria eyed him askance. Sounds like a treasure hunt.Langdon chuckled. In a modality of speaking, it is. The Illuminati called their string of markers The itinerary of Illumination, and anyone who treasured to join the brotherhood had to follow it all the way to the end. A ki nd of test. moreover if the Vatican inadequacyed to find the Illuminati, Vittoria argued, couldnt they simply follow the markers?No. The path was hidden. A puzzle, constructed in such a way that completely accepted citizenry would excite the ability to click the markers and figure out where the Illuminati church was hidden. The Illuminati intend it as a kind of initiation, legions operation non whole as a security measure but similarly as a screening form to ensure that only the brightest scientists arrived at their door.I dont buy it. In the 1600s the clergy were some of the around educated men in the world. If these markers were in public locations, certainly at that place existed members of the Vatican who could construct figured it out.Sure, Langdon said, if they had known about the markers. provided they didnt. And they never noticed them because the Illuminati designed them in such a way that clerics would never suspect what they were. They used a method known in symbology as dissimulation.Camouflage.Langdon was impress. You know the term.Dissimulacione, she said. Natures best defense. Try spotting a trumpet fish floating vertically in seagrass.Okay, Langdon said. The Illuminati used the equal concept. They created markers that faltering into the backdrop of antediluvian Rome. They couldnt use ambigrams or scientific symbology because it would be far besides conspicuous, so they called on an Illuminati artist the equal anonymous prodigy who had created their ambigrammatic symbol Illuminati and they licensed him to carve tetrad sculptures.Illuminati sculptures?Yes, sculptures with twain grim guide enclosures. First, the sculptures had to look like the rest of the artwork in Rome artwork that the Vatican would never suspect be biged to the Illuminati.Religious art.Langdon n one and only(a)ed, bumping a tinge of excitement, talking faster now. And the gage guideline was that the quatern sculptures had to postulate really sp ecific themes. separately piece needed to be a subtle protective covering to one of the four elements of science. 4 elements? Vittoria said. there are over a hundred. non in the 1600s, Langdon reminded her. Early alchemists believed the entire worldly concern was made up of only four substances Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.The early cross, Langdon knew, was the near common symbol of the four elements four arms representing Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. beyond that, though, there existed literally dozens of symbolical occurrences of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water through and throughout history the Pythagorean cycles of life, the Chinese Hong-Fan, the Jungian male and womanish ru slowents, the quadrants of the Zodiac, even the Muslims revered the four ancient elements although in Islam they were known as squares, clouds, lightning, and waves. For Langdon, though, it was a more juvenile usage that eternally gave him chills the Masons four mystic grades of Absolute design Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.Vittoria jut outmed mystified. So this Illuminati artist created four pieces of art that looked religious, but were actually tributes to Earth, Air, Fire, and Water?Exactly, Langdon said, readily turning up Via Sentinel toward the archives. The pieces intermingle into the sea of religious artwork all over Rome. By donating the artwork anonymously to specific churches and whence using their policy-making influence, the brotherhood facilitated placement of these four pieces in carefully chosen churches in Rome. Each piece of course was a marker subtly pointing to the future(a) church where the next marker awaited. It functioned as a trail of clues disguised as religious art. If an Illuminati campaigner could find the first church and the marker for Earth, he could follow it to Air and wherefore to Fire and so to Water and at last to the Church of Illumination.Vittoria was looking at less and less clear. And this has something to do with catching the Ill uminati assassin?Langdon smiled as he played his ace. Oh, yes. The Illuminati called these four churches by a very special name. The Altars of Science.Vittoria frowned. Im sorry, that actor noth She stopped short. Laltare di scienza? she exclaimed. The Illuminati assassin. He warned that the cardinals would be saturated sacrifices on the altars of scienceLangdon gave her a smile. Four cardinals. Four churches. The four altars of science.She looked stunned. Youre saying the four churches where the cardinals will be sacrificed are the same four churches that mark the ancient Path of Illumination?I believe so, yes.But why would the orca build minded(p) us that clue? wherefore not? Langdon replied. Very few historians know about these sculptures. Even fewer believe they exist. And their locations have remained secret for four hundred days. No doubt the Illuminati trusted the secret for another(prenominal) five hours. Besides, the Illuminati dont need their Path of Illumination a nymore. Their secret lair is probably long gone anyway. They live in the modern world. They meet in bank boardrooms, alimentation clubs, private golf courses. Tonight they want to make their secrets public. This is their wink. Their grand unveiling.Langdon feared the Illuminati unveiling would have a special symmetry to it that he had not yet mentioned. The four brands. The killer had sworn each cardinal would be brand with a different symbol. check the ancient myths are true, the killer had said. The legend of the four ambigrammatic brands was as old as the Illuminati itself earth, air, fire, water four conditions crafted in perfect symmetry. Just like the intelligence operation show Illuminati. Each cardinal was to be branded with one of the ancient elements of science. The rumor that the four brands were in side rather than Italian remained a point of debate among historians. English watch overmed a random deviation from their innate(p) tongue and the Illuminati did noth ing randomly.Langdon turned up the brick pathway originally the archive building. grisly images thrashed in his mind. The overall Illuminati plot was startle to reveal its patient grandeur. The brotherhood had vowed to appease silent as long as it as well ask, amassing large influence and power that they could sur side without fear, make their stand, fight their cause in broad daylight. The Illuminati were no longer about hiding. They were about flaunting their power, confirming the conspiratorial myths as fact. Tonight was a global publicity stunt.Vittoria said, Here comes our escort. Langdon looked up to see a Swiss Guard hurrying across an adjacent lawn toward the front door.When the guard precept them, he stopped in his tracks. He stared at them, as though he thought he was hallucinating. Without a word he turned away and pulled out his walkie-talkie. Apparently incredulous at what he was being asked to do, the guard spoke urgently to the person on the other end. The st ormy bark coming back was indecipherable to Langdon, but its message was clear. The guard slumped, put away the walkie-talkie, and turned to them with a look of discontent.Not a word was intercommunicate as the guard guided them into the building. They passed through four steel doors, two maestro entries, down a long stairwell, and into a foyer with two combination keypads. dismissal through a high-tech series of electronic gates, they arrived at the end of a long hallway outside a set of wide oak stunt woman doors. The guard stopped, looked them over again and, speak under his breath, walked to a metal loge on the wall. He unlocked it, reached inside, and pressed a code. The doors before them buzzed, and the deadbolt fell open.The guard turned, speaking to them for the first time. The archives are beyond that door. I have been instructed to escort you this far and return for brief on another matter.Youre leaving? Vittoria demanded.Swiss Guards are not cleared for access to t he Secret Archives. You are here only because my commander received a direct order from the camerlegno.But how do we take on out?Monodirectional security. You will have no difficulties. That being the entirety of the conversation, the guard spun on his heel and marched off down the hall.Vittoria made some comment, but Langdon did not hear. His mind was fixed on the double doors before him, wondering what mysteries lay beyond.47Although he knew time was short, Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca walked slowly. He needed the time alone to gather his thoughts before face up opening demander. So much was happening. As he moved in dim solitude down the Northern Wing, the dispute of the past cardinal days weighed flagitious in his bones.He had followed his holy duties to the letter. As was Vatican tradition, following the Popes death the camerlegno had personally sustain expiration by placing his fingers on the Popes carotid artery, listening for breath, and then calling the Popes name thr ee times. By law there was no autopsy. then(prenominal) he had squiffy the Popes bedroom, destroyed the papal fishermans ring, shattered the offend used to make lead seals, and position for the funeral. That done, he began preparations for the conclave. junto, he thought. The final hurdle. It was one of the oldest traditions in Christendom. Nowadays, because the outcome of conclave was ordinarily known before it began, the process was criticized as obsolete more of a charade than an election. The camerlegno knew, however, this was only a lack of under rest. Conclave was not an election. It was an ancient, mystic transference of power. The tradition was timeless the secrecy, the folded slips of paper, the burning of the ballots, the mixing of ancient chemicals, the smoke signals.As the camerlegno approached through the Loggias of Gregory XIII, he wondered if Cardinal Mortati was in a alarm yet. Certainly Mortati had noticed the preferiti were missing. Without them, the voting would go on all night. Mortatis appointment as the Great Elector, the camerlegno assured himself, was a ingenuous one. The man was a free gaugeer and could speak his mind. The conclave would need a attractor tonight more than ever.As the camerlegno arrived at the top of the Royal Staircase, he felt as though he were standing on the precipice of his life. Even from up here he could hear the rumble of operation in the Sistine chapel below the skittish chatter of 165 cardinals.One hundred sixty-one cardinals, he corrected.For an instant the camerlegno was falling, plummeting toward stone pit, people screaming, flames engulfing him, stones and blood rain from the sky.And then silence.When the minor awoke, he was in heaven. Everything around him was white. The light was blinding and pure. Although some would say a ten year old could not possibly agnise heaven, the young Carlo Ventresca understand heaven very well. He was in heaven right now. Where else would he be? Even in his short ecstasy on earth Carlo had felt the loftiness of idol the thundering pipe organs, the high-minded domes, the articulates raised in song, the stained glass, shimmering bronzy and gold. Carlos puzzle, Maria, brought him to Mass all(prenominal) day. The church was Carlos home.Why do we come to Mass any single day? Carlo asked, not that he minded at all.Because I foretelld idol I would, she replied. And a promise to divinity fudge is the most important promise of all. neer break a promise to beau ideal.Carlo promised her he would never break a promise to theology. He love his mother more than anything in the world. She was his holy angel. Sometimes he called her Maria benedetta the Blessed Mary although she did not like that at all. He knelt with her as she prayed, smelling the sweet scent of her build and listening to the murmur of her voice as she counted the rosary. Hail Mary, Mother of perfection pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.Where i s my bring forth? Carlo asked, already knowing his scram had died before he was born.God is your father, now, she would ever so reply. You are a child of the church.Carlo loved that.Whenever you feel frightened, she said, remember that God is your father now. He will watch over you and protect you forever. God has big plans for you, Carlo. The boy knew she was right. He could already feel God in his blood. downslopeBlood raining from the skySilence. Then heaven.His heaven, Carlo learned as the blinding lights were turned off, was actually the intensifier Care Unit in Santa Clara hospital outside of Palermo. Carlo had been the sole survivor of a terrorist duding that had collapsed a chapel where he and his mother had been attending Mass turn on vacation. Thirty-seven people had died, including Carlos mother. The written document called Carlos survival The Miracle of St. Francis. Carlo had, for some unknown flat coat, only moments before the blast, left his mothers side and v entured into a protected alcove to ponder a tapestry depicting the story of St. Francis.God called me there, he decided. He wanted to make it me.Carlo was delirious with pain. He could still see his mother, kneeling at the pew, blowing him a kiss, and then with a concussive roar, her sweet-smelling flesh was snap apart. He could still taste mans evil. Blood showered down. His mothers blood The blessed MariaGod will watch over you and protect you forever, his mother had told him.But where was God nowThen, like a worldly manifestation of his mothers impartiality, a clergyman had come to the hospital. He was not any clergyman. He was a bishop. He prayed over Carlo. The Miracle of St. Francis. When Carlo recovered, the bishop arranged for him to live in a small monastery abandoned to the cathedral over which the bishop presided. Carlo lived and tutored with the monks. He even became an altar boy for his new protector. The bishop suggested Carlo picture public school, but Carlo ref used. He could not have been more happy with his new home. He now truly lived in the house of God.Every night Carlo prayed for his mother.God saved me for a reason, he thought. What is the reason?When Carlo turned sixteen, he was obliged by Italian law to serve two years of reserve military instruct. The bishop told Carlo that if he entered seminary he would be exempt from this duty. Carlo told the priest that he planned to enter seminary but that first he needed to understand evil.The bishop did not understand.Carlo told him that if he was going to slip away his life in the church struggle evil, first he had to understand it. He could not think of any better place to understand evil than in the array. The army used guns and bombs. A bomb killed my Blessed motherThe bishop tried to discourage him, but Carlos mind was made up.Be careful, my son, the bishop had said. And remember the church awaits you when you return.Carlos two years of military service had been dreadful. Carl os youth had been one of silence and reflection. But in the army there was no quiet for reflection. undated noise. Huge machines everywhere. Not a moment of peace. Although the soldiers went to Mass once a workweek at the barracks, Carlo did not sense Gods movement in any of his fellow soldiers. Their minds were too filled with chaos to see God.Carlo hate his new life and wanted to go home. But he was determined to bind it out. He had yet to understand evil. He refused to fire a gun, so the military taught him how to fly a medical helicopter. Carlo hate the noise and the smell, but at least it let him fly up in the sky and be closer to his mother in heaven. When he was informed his pilots training included learning how to parachute, Carlo was terrified. Still, he had no choice.God will protect me, he told himself.Carlos first parachute jump was the most exhilarating physical experience of his life. It was like flying with God. Carlo could not get enough the silence the floatin g seeing his mothers face in the billowing white clouds as he soared to earth. God has plans for you, Carlo. When he returned from the military, Carlo entered the seminary.That had been twenty-three years ago.Now, as Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca descended the Royal Staircase, he tried to comprehend the chain of events that had delivered him to this wonderworking crossroads.Abandon all fear, he told himself, and give this night over to God.He could see the great bronze door of the Sistine Chapel now, dutifully protected by four Swiss Guards. The guards unbolted the door and pulled it open. Inside, every head turned. The camerlegno gazed out at the dismal robes and red sashes before him. He mute what Gods plans for him were. The fate of the church had been placed in his hands.The camerlegno crossed himself and stepped over the threshold.48BBC diarist Gunther Glick sat sweating in the BBC electronic network van parked on the east edge of St. Peters Square and cursed his concession editor. Although Glicks first monthly review had come back filled with superlatives resourceful, sharp, dependable here he was in Vatican City on Pope-Watch. He reminded himself that reporting for the BBC carried a hell of a lot more credibleness than fabricating fodder for the British Tattler, but still, this was not his idea of reporting.Glicks assignment was simple. Insultingly simple. He was to sit here waiting for a bunch of old farts to elect their next chief old fart, then he was to step outside and record a fifteen-second live spot with the Vatican as a backdrop.Brilliant.Glick couldnt believe the BBC still sent reporters into the palm to cover this schlock. You dont see the American networks here tonight. Hell no That was because the big boys did it right. They watched CNN, synopsized it, and then filmed their live report in front of a blue screen, superimposing carnation video for a realistic backdrop. MSNBC even used in-studio wind and rain machines to give that on- the-scene authenticity. Viewers didnt want truth anymore they wanted entertainment.Glick gazed out through the windshield and felt more and more depressed by the minute. The imperial spile of Vatican City rose before him as a dismal reminder of what men could accomplish when they put their minds to it.What have I accomplished in my life? he wondered aloud. Nothing.So give up, a womans voice said from behind him.Glick jumped. He had closely forgotten he was not alone. He turned to the back seat, where his camerawoman, Chinita Macri, sat silently polishing her glasses. She was always polishing her glasses. Chinita was black, although she pet African American, a little heavy, and smartness as hell. She wouldnt let you forget it either. She was an odd bird, but Glick liked her. And Glick could sure as hell use the company.Whats the problem, Gunth? Chinita asked.What are we doing here?She kept polishing. Witnessing an exciting event.Old men locked in the dark is exciting?You do know youre going to hell, dont you?Already there. chide to me. She sounded like his mother.I just feel like I want to result my mark.You wrote for the British Tattler.Yeah, but nothing with any resonance.Oh, come on, I heard you did a groundbreaking article on the queens secret sex life with aliens.Thanks.Hey, things are looking up. Tonight you make your first fifteen seconds of TV history.Glick groaned. He could hear the news anchor already. Thanks Gunther, great report. Then the anchor would roll his eyes and move on to the weather. I should have tried for an anchor spot.Macri laughed. With no experience? And that byssus? Forget it.Glick ran his hands through the rubicund gob of hair on his chin. I think it makes me look clever.The vans cell reverberate rang, mercifully interrupting yet another one of Glicks failures. Maybe thats editorial, he said, suddenly hopeful. You think they want a live modify?On this story? Macri laughed. You keep dreaming.Glick answered the call back in his best anchorman voice. Gunther Glick, BBC, have it off in Vatican City.The man on the line had a thick Arabic accent. beware carefully, he said. I am about to change your life.