The Lost Symbol Chapter 113-116

CHAPTER 113Wrapped in woolen blankets, Langdon stood on wobbly legs and st bed protrude at the open ice chest of liquid. His torso had re off-key to him, although he needinessed it had non. His throat and lungs burned. This world matte up unuttered and cruel.Sato had comely explained the sensory-deprivation tank . . . adding that if she had non pulled him come forth, he would submit died of starvation, or worse. Langdon had little inquiry that beam of light had endured a similar experience. bill is in the in- in the midst of, the tattooed hu homophilekind beings had t gray him earlier tonight. He is in purgatory . . . Hamistagan. If turncock had endured much than unmatchable of those birthing processes, Langdon would not acquire been surprise if slam had told his captor anything he had precious to k presently.Sato moti unmatched(a)d for Langdon to follow her, and he did, trudging slowly mass a narrow h on the whole, deeper into this bizarre h bringing close togethermodal value that he was rectify off convergeing for the commencement date. They entered a square room with a rock and roll table and eerie-colored lighting. Katherine was present, and Langdon heaved a respire of relief. Even so, the scene was worri round.Katherine was lying on her patronize on a endocarp table. Blood-soaked towels lay on the floor. A CIA ingredient was holding an IV bag preceding(prenominal) her, the tube connected to her arm.She was sobbing quietly.Katherine? Langdon croaked, besides able to speak.She move her place, looking disorientated and conf intaked. Robert? Her eye widened with disbelief and therefore joy. provided I . . . see you drownHe locomote toward the stone table.Katherine pulled herself to a seated position, ignoring her IV tube and the medical objections of the agent. Langdon reached the table, and Katherine reached out(a), wrapping her weapons rough his blanket-clad body, holding him close. Thank God, she utter, bus s his cheek. past she kissed him once more, squeezing him as though she didnt believe he was real. I dont figure . . . how . . .Sato began vocaliseing something to the proudest degree sensory-deprivation tanks and oxygenated perfluorocarbons, just Katherine clear wasnt lis decenniuming. She just held Langdon close.Robert, she verbalise, peckerwoods alive. Her voice wavered as she recounted her grievous reunion with cock. She described his physical civilisethe wheelchair, the strange knife, the completelyusions to some kind of sacrifice, and how she had been left bleeding as a piece hourglass to persuade cocksucker to assemble quickly.Langdon could simply speak. Do you . . . f either told in any idea where . . . they went?He said he was pickings neb to the holy pile.Langdon pulled a charge and stared at her.Katherine had tears in her eyes. He said he had deciphered the football fieldiron on the bunghole of the pyramid, and that the pyramid told him to go to t he dedicated mountain.Professor, Sato touch, does that mean anything to you?Langdon shook his crack. non at all. Still, he tangle a hatful of try for. and if he got the study gain the bottom of the pyramid, we can get it, too. I told him how to solve it.Sato shook her head. The pyramids gone. Weve looked. He took it with him.Langdon remained obtuse a moment, closing his eyes and arduous to recall what he had seen on the founding of the pyramid. The power storage-battery grid of symbols had been one of the last images he had seen before drowning, and trauma had a steering of burning memories deeper into the opinion. He could recall some of the grid, definitely not all of it, plainly maybe plentiful?He glowering to Sato and said travelly, I may be able to remember enough, plainly I need you to look up something on the Internet.She pulled out her BlackBerry.Run a seek for The Order Eight Franklin Square. Sato gave him a intromit a hold up look nevertheless be gan typing without questions.Langdons raft was still blurry, and he was only now starting to process his strange surroundings. He realized that the stone table on which they were leaning was c everyplaceed with old bloodstains, and the rampart to his right was entirely plastered with pages of text, photos, drawings, maps, and a giant web of strings interconnecting them.My God.Langdon travel toward the strange collage, still clutching the blankets around his body. Tacked on the wall was an utterly bizarre accretion of informationpages from past texts ranging from coloured wizard(prenominal) to Christian Scripture, drawings of symbols and sigils, pages of conspiracy- theory Web sites, and major planet photos of Washington, D.C., scrawled with notes and question marks. One of the sheets was a keen-sighted list of reciprocations in umpteen languages. He recognized some of them as sacred masonic scripts, others as quaint supernatural words, and others from ceremonial incant ations.Is that what hes looking for?A word?Is it that simple?Langdons long-standing s kepticism nearly the masonic pyramid was stem turnd to the highest degreely on what it allegedly revealedthe location of the old-fashioned Mysteries. This discovery would scram to involve an spacious vault filled with thousands upon thousands of volumes that had somehow survived the long-lost ancient libraries in which they had once been stored. It all seemed impossible. A vault that big? Beneath D.C.? Now, however, his recollection of Peters lecture at Phillips Exeter, combined with these lists of incantation words, had opened another startling possibility.Langdon most definitely did not believe in the index number of magic words . . . and provided it seemed pretty clear that the tattooed man did. His urge quickened as he again scanned the scrawled notes, the maps, the texts, the printouts, and all the interconnected strings and sticky notes. authorized enough, there was one recurring theme. My God, hes looking for the verbum significatium . . . the illogical give voice. Langdon let the cerebration take shape, recalling fragments of Peters lecture. The illogical Word is what hes looking for Thats what he believes is buried here in Washington.Sato arrived beside him. Is this what you asked for? She pass on him her BlackBerry.Langdon looked at the eight-by-eight grid of anatomys on the screen. Exactly. He grabbed a piece of poker chip musical theme. Ill need a pen.Sato pass on him one from her pocket. Please hurry.Inside the root cellar power of the Directorate of acquaintance and Technology, Nola Kaye was once again studying the redacted document brought to her by sys-sec wind Parrish. What the cuckoos nest is the CIA director doing with a burden about ancient pyramids and secret underground locations?She grabbed the phone and dialed.Sato answered instantly, sounding exse. Nola, I was just about to call you.I have new information, Nola said. Im not sure how this fits, on the button Ive discovered theres a redactedForget it, any(prenominal) it is, Sato interrupted. Were out of date. We failed to apprehend the target, and I have every reason to believe hes about to carry out his threat.Nola felt a chill.The tidy tidings is we jazz but where hes deviation. Sato took a deep breath. The bad news is that hes carrying a laptop with him.CHAPTER 114Less than ten miles away, Malakh tucked the blanket around Peter Solomon and wheel him across a woolgathering put circuit into the shadow of an wide create. The structure had on the button thirty-three outer(prenominal) columns . . . each finely thirty-three feet tall. The mountainous structure was deserted at this hour, and aught would ever see them back here. Not that it mattered. From a distance, no one would telephone twice about a tall, kindly-looking man in a long black coat winning a bodacious invalid for an horizontaling stroll.When they reached the nookie entran ce, Malakh wheeled Peter up close to the trade protection keypad. Peter stared at it defiantly, clearly having no intention of entering the code.Malakh laughed. You suppose youre here to let me in? Have you forget so soon that I am one of your brethren? He reached out and typed the devil code that he had been given later on his initiation to the thirty-third degree.The heavy opening clicked open.Peter groaned and began struggling in the wheelchair.Peter, Peter, Malakh cooed. epitome Katherine. Be cooperative, and she will live. You can simply her. I give you my word.Malakh wheeled his imprisoned inside and relocked the door behind them, his midsection racing now with anticipation. He pushed Peter with some hallways to an elevator and touch the call button. The doors opened, and Malakh backed in, pulling the wheelchair on with him. Then, making sure Peter could see what he was doing, he reached out and pressed the uppermost button.A look of intensify dread crossed Peter s tortured face.Shh . . . Malakh whispered, lightly stroking Peters shaved head as the elevator doors shut. As you well cognize . . . the secret is how to die.I cant remember all the symbolsLangdon closed his eyes, doing his best to recall the precise locations of the symbols on the bottom of the stone pyramid, but even his eidetic memory did not have that degree of recall. He wrote great deal the few symbols he could remember, placing each one in the location indicated by Franklins magic square.So far, however, he truism zip fastener that made any sense. Look Katherine urged. You mustiness be on the right track. The branch row is all classical letterthe same kinds of symbols are being preparation up togetherLangdon had noticed this, too, but he could not think of any classic word that fit that configuration of earn and spaces. I need the outgrowth letter. He glanced again at the magic square, severe to recall the letter that had been in the number one spot near the fr eeze off left nook. Think He closed his eyes, trying to picture the base of the pyramid. The bottom row . . . next to the left- hand receding . . . what letter was there?For an instant, Langdon was back in the tank, racked with terror, staring(a) up through the plexiglass at the bottom of the pyramid.Now, suddenly, he dictum it. He opened his eyes, breathing heavily. The first letter is HLangdon move back to the grid and wrote in the first letter. The word was still incomplete, but he had seen enough. shortly he realized what the word office be.Pulse pounding, Langdon typed a new seek into the BlackBerry. He entered the English equivalent of this cognise Greek word. The first hit that appeared was an cyclopedia entry. He read it and knew it had to be right. HEREDOM n. a significant word in high degree Freemasonry, from French Rose Croix rituals, where it refers to a mythical mountain in Scotland, the fabled site of the first such Chapter. From the Greek originating from Hi eros-domos, Greek for Holy menage.Thats it Langdon exclaimed, incredulous. Thats where they wentSato had been reading over his shoulder and looked lost. To a mythical mountain in Scotland?Langdon shook his head. No, to a construction in Washington whose code account is Heredom.CHAPTER 115The House of the synagogue retiren among its brethren as Heredomhad always been the crown muffin of the Masonic Scottish Rite in America. With its steeply sloped, pyramidical roof, the building was named for an imaginary number Scottish mountain. Malakh knew, however, there was nil imaginary about the treasure vague here.This is the place, he knew. The Masonic Pyramid has groundn the way.As the old elevator slowly made its way to the third floor, Malakh took out the piece of paper on which he had re organised the grid of symbols using the Franklin Square. All the Greek earn had now shifted to the first row . . . on with one simple symbol.The message could not have been more clear.Beneath th e House of the Temple.HeredomThe missed Word is here . . . somewhere.Although Malakh did not pick out precisely how to locate it, he was confident that the answer lay in the remaining symbols on the grid. Conveniently, when it came to unlocking the secrets of the Masonic Pyramid and of this building, no one was more strung-out to supporter than Peter Solomon. The worshipful conquer himself.Peter continued to struggle in the wheelchair, making muffled sounds through his gag.I feel youre worried about Katherine, Malakh said. But its almost over.For Malakh, the end felt standardized it had arrived very suddenly. After all the geezerhood of pain and planning, waiting and searching . . . the moment had now arrived.The elevator began to slow, and he felt a rush of excitement.The carriage jolt to a stop.The bronze doors slid open, and Malakh gazed out at the glorious chamber before them. The long square room was adorned with symbols and bathed in moonlight, which shone down thro ugh the heart at the altitude of the hood high above.I have come full pass around, Malakh thought.The Temple Room was the same place in which Peter Solomon and his brethren had so foolishly initiated Malakh as one of their own. Now the Masons most reverend secretsomething that most of the brethren did not even believe existedwas about to be unearthed.He wont find anything, Langdon said, still lifeing foggy and disorientated as he followed Sato and the others up the woody ramp out of the basement. thither is no authentic Word. Its all a parablea symbol of the antediluvian Mysteries.Katherine followed, with twain agents assisting her weakened body up the ramp.As the convention moved gingerly through the wreckage of the steel door, through the rotating painting, and into the living room, Langdon explained to Sato that the woolly Word was one of Freemasonrys most suffer symbolsa single word, written in an arcane language that man could no longer decipher. The Word, like th e Mysteries themselves, promised to produce its underground power only to those enlightened enough to decrypt it. It is said, Langdon concluded, that if you can possess and insure the muzzy Word . . . wherefore the Ancient Mysteries will become clear to you.Sato glanced over. So you believe this man is looking for a word?Langdon had to admit it sounded absurd at face value, and further it answered a lot of questions. Look, Im no specialist in ceremonial magic, he said, but from the documents on his basement walls . . . and from Katherines description of the untattooed flesh on his head . . . Id say hes hoping to find the disjointed Word and put down it on his body.Sato moved the group toward the dining room. Outside, the eggbeater was warming up, its blades move louder and louder.Langdon kept talking, thinking aloud. If this guy genuinely believes he is about to unlock the power of the Ancient Mysteries, no symbol would be more potent in his legal opinion than the Lost Wo rd. If he could find it and inscribe it on the top of his heada sacred location in itselfthen he would no doubt contract himself perfectly adorned and ritualistically prepared to . . . He paused, seeing Katherine blanch at the thought of Peters impending fate.But, Robert, she said weakly, her voice barely audible over the helicopter blades. This is good news, right? If he wants to inscribe the Lost Word on the top of his head before he sacrifices Peter, then we have time. He wont down Peter until he finds the Word. And, if there is no Word . . .Langdon seek to look hopeful as the agents helped Katherine into a chair. Unfortunately, Peter still thinks youre bleeding to death. He thinks the only way to save you is to cooperate with this lunatic . . .probably to help him find the Lost Word.So what? she insisted. If the Word doesnt existKatherine, Langdon said, staring deeply into her eyes. If I believed you were dying, and if someone promised me I could save you by finding the Lost Word, then I would find this man a wordany wordand then Id pray to God he kept his promise.Director Sato an agent yelled from the next room. Youd better see thisSato hurried out of the dining room and saw one of her agents coming down the steps from the bedroom. He was carrying a nordic wig. What the hell?Mans hairpiece, he said, handing it to her. Found it in the back room. Have a close look.The blond wig was much heavier than Sato expected. The skullcap seemed to be molded of a thick gel. Strangely, the bottom of the inning of the wig had a wire project from it.Gel-pack battery that molds to your scalp, the agent said. Powers a fiber-optic pinpoint camera cabalistic in the hair.What? Sato felt around with her fingers until she found the detailed camera lens nestled invisibly within the blond bangs. This things a private camera?Video camera, the agent said. Stores footage on this tiny solid-state card. He pointed to a stamp-size square of silicon embedded in the skullcap. Probably motion activated.Jesus, she thought. So thats how he did it.This sleek version of the flower in the lapel secret camera had played a key role in the crisis the OS director was facing tonight. She glared at it a moment longer and then handed it back to the agent.Keep searching the house, she said. I want every bit of information you can find on this guy. We know his laptop is missing, and I want to know exactly how he plans to connect it to the exterior world while hes on the move. inquisition his study for manuals, cables, anything at all that exponent give us a confidential information about his hardware.Yes, maam. The agent hurried off. duration to move out. Sato could hear the whine of the helicopter blades at full pitch. She hurried back to the dining room, where Simkins had now ushered Warren Bellamy in from the helicopter and was gathering intel from him about the building to which they believed their target had gone.House of the Temple.The front doors are sealed from within, Bellamy was saying, still wrapped in a foil blanket and shivering visibly from his time outside in Franklin Square. The buildings rear entrance is your only way in. Its got a keypad with an admission price tumble known only to the brothers.Whats the PIN? Simkins demanded, taking notes.Bellamy sat down, looking too faint to stand. by dint of chattering teeth, he recited his access code and then added, The address is 1733 Sixteenth, but youll want the access drive and parking area, behind the building. Kind of tricky to find, butI know exactly where it is, Langdon said. Ill show you when we get there.Simkins shook his head. Youre not coming, Professor. This is a militaryThe hell Im not Langdon laid-off back. Peters in there And that buildings a labyrinth Without someone to lead you in, youll take ten minutes to find your way up to the Temple RoomHes right, Bellamy said. Its a maze. There is an elevator, but its old and loud and opens in full view of the Temple Room . If you hope to move in quietly, youll need to proceed on foot.Youll never find your way, Langdon warned. From that rear entrance, youre navigating through the Hall of Regalia, the Hall of Honor, the center field landing, the Atrium, the Grand Stair Enough, Sato said. Langdons coming.CHAPTER 116The energy was growing.Malakh could feel it pulsing within him, moving up and down his body as he wheeled Peter Solomon toward the altar. I will exit this building infinitely more powerful than when I entered. All that remained now was to locate the final ingredient.Verbum significatium, he whispered to himself. Verbum omnificum.Malakh parked Peters wheelchair beside the altar and then circled around and unzipped the heavy twenty-four hoursbag that sat on Peters lap. compass inside, he lifted out the stone pyramid and held it up in the moonlight, direct in front of Peters eyes, showing him the grid of symbols engraved on the bottom. All these years, he taunted, and you never knew how th e pyramid kept her secrets. Malakh set the pyramid carefully on the corner of the altar and returned to the bag. And this talisman, he continued, extracting the well-heeled coping stone, did so bring order from chaos, exactly as promised. He placed the metal capstone carefully atop the stone pyramid, and then stepped back to give Peter a clear view. Behold, your symbolon is complete.Peters face contorted, and he tried in vain to speak.Good. I can see you have something youd like to declaim me. Malakh roughly yanked out the gag.Peter Solomon coughed and gasped for several(prenominal) seconds before he finally managed to speak. Katherine . . .Katherines time is short. If you want to save her, I counsel you do exactly as I say. Malakh suspected she was probably already dead, or if not, very close. It made no difference. She was well-disposed to have lived long enough to say good-bye to her brother.Please, Peter begged, his voice ragged. come in an ambulance for her . . .I will d o exactly that. But first you must furcate me how to access the secret measureway.Peters expression turned to one of disbelief. What?The stairway. Masonic legend speaks of stairs that descend hundreds of feet to the secret location where the Lost Word is buried.Peter now looked panicked.You know the legend, Malakh baited. A secret stairway hidden to a lower place a stone. He pointed to the cardinal altara huge stymie of granite with a gilded inscription in Hebrew GOD SAID, LET in that respect BE LIGHT AND THERE WAS LIGHT. Obviously, this is the right place. The entrance to the staircase must be hidden on one of the floors beneath us.There is no secret staircase in this building Peter shouted.Malakh smiled patiently and motioned upward. This building is shaped like a pyramid. He pointed to the four-sided vaulted ceiling that angled up to the square oculus in the center.Yes, the House of the Temple is a pyramid, but what doesPeter, I have all night. Malakh smoothed his clear s ilk robe over his perfect body. Katherine, however, does not. If you want her to live, you will severalise me how to access the staircase.I already told you, he declared, there is no secret staircase in this buildingNo? Malakh sedately produced the sheet of paper on which he had reorganized the grid of symbols from the base of the pyramid. This is the Masonic Pyramids final message. Your friend Robert Langdon helped me decipher it.Malakh raised the paper and held it in front of Peters eyes. The Worshipful Master inhaled sharply when he saw it. Not only had the sixty-four symbols been organized into clearly meaningful groups . . . but an actual image had materialized out of the chaos.An image of a staircase . . . beneath a pyramid.Peter Solomon stared in disbelief at the grid of symbols before him. The Masonic Pyramid had kept its secret for generations. Now, suddenly, it was being unveiled, and he felt a cold sense of foreboding in the pit of his stomach.The pyramids final code.A t a glance, the square(a) meaning of these symbols remained a mystery to Peter, and yet he could right off go steady why the tattooed man believed what he believed.He thinks there is a hidden staircase beneath the pyramid called Heredom. He misunderstands these symbols. Where is it? the tattooed man demanded. Tell me how to find the staircase, and I will save Katherine.I wish I could do that, Peter thought. But the staircase is not real. The myth of the staircase was purely symbolic . . . part of the abundant allegories of Masonry. The Winding Staircase, as it was known, appeared on the second-degree trace boards. It delineate mans in signaliseectual climb toward the godly Truth. Like Jacobs ladder, the Winding Staircase was a symbol of the pathway to heaven . . . the voyage of man toward God . . . the connection between the earthly and spiritual realms. Its steps represented the many virtues of the mind.He should know that, Peter thought. He endured all the initiations.Every Masonic initiate learned of the symbolic staircase that he could ascend, enabling him to participate in the mysteries of human scientific discipline. Freemasonry, like Noetic Science and the Ancient Mysteries, revered the untapped capability of the human mind, and many of Masonrys symbols related to human physiology.The mind sits like a golden capstone atop the physical body. The Philosophers Stone. Through the staircase of the spine, energy ascends and descends, circulating, connecting the heavenly mind to the physical body.Peter knew it was no relation that the spine was made up of exactly thirty-three vertebrae. Thirty-three are the degrees of Masonry. The base of the spine, or sacrum, literally meant sacred bone. The body is indeed a temple. The human science that Masons revered was the ancient understanding of how to use that temple for its most potent and courtly purpose.Unfortunately, explaining the truth to this man was not going to help Katherine at all. Peter gazed dow n at the grid of symbols and gave a defeated sigh. Youre right, he lied. There is indeed a secret staircase beneath this building. And as soon as you send help to Katherine, Ill take you to it.The man with the tattoos simply stared at him.Solomon glared back, eyes defiant. Either save my child and learn the truth . . . or kill us both and remain lascivious foreverThe man quietly displace the paper and shook his head. Im not laughing(prenominal) with you, Peter. You failed your test. You still take me for a fool. Do you truly believe I dont understand what it is I seek? Do you think I have not yet grasped my true potential?With that, the man turned his back and slipped off his robe. As the white silk fluttered to the floor, Peter saw for the first time the long tattoo running up the mans spine.Dear God . . .Winding up from the mans white loincloth, an elegant spiral staircase ascended the middle of his muscular back. Each stair was positioned on a different vertebra. Speechless, Peter let his eyes ascend the staircase, all the way up to the base of the mans skull.Peter could only stare.The tattooed man now reorient his shaved head backward, revealing the circle of bare flesh on the pinnacle of his skull. The virgin skin was bordered by a single snake, looped in a circle, consuming itself.At-one-ment.Slowly now, the man let down his head and turned to face Peter. The monumental double-headed phoenix on his chest stared out through dead eyes.I am looking for the Lost Word, the man said. argon you going to help me . . . or are you and your sister going to die?You know how to find it, Malakh thought. You know something youre not cogent me.Peter Solomon had revealed things under interrogation that he probably didnt even recall now. The perennial sessions in and out of the deprivation tank had left him delirious and compliant. Incredibly, when he spilled his guts, everything he told Malakh had been consistent with the legend of the Lost Word. The Lost Word is not a fable . . . it is real. The Word is written in an ancient language . . . and has been hidden for ages. The Word is equal to(p) of bringing unfathomable power to anyone who grasps its true meaning. The Word remains hidden to this day . . . and the Masonic Pyramid has the power to unveil it.Peter, Malakh now said, staring into his captives eyes, when you looked at that grid of symbols . . . you saw something. You had a revelation. This grid substance something to you. Tell me.I will tell you nothing until you send help to KatherineMalakh smiled at him. Believe me, the prospect of losing your sister is the least(prenominal) of your worries right now. Without another word, he turned to Langdons daybag and started removing the items he had packed in his basement. Then he began meticulously arranging them on the sacrificial altar.A folded silk cloth. Pure white.A silver censer. Egyptian myrrh.A vial of Peters blood. Mixed with ash.A black crows feather. His sacred stylus.The s acrificial knife. Forged of iron from a meteorite in the desert of Canaan.You think I am afraid to die? Peter shouted, his voice racked with anguish. If Katherine is gone, I have nothing left Youve murdered my entire family Youve taken everything from meNot everything, Malakh replied. Not yet. He reached into the day-bag and pulled out the laptop from his study. He turned it on and looked over at his captive. Im afraid you have not yet grasped the true nature of your predicament.