waves, leaving behind nothing but scorched stones. But whoever made such decisions had opted to rebuild the city much as it had been, and the town had a feel very different from the Russian citiesClarkhad visited before. It made him think of Germany somehow, though he couldnt imagine why. That was his last frivolous thought of the night. He was now thirty feet behind them, just another man walking home on a cold February night, his face lowered to avoid the wind and a fur hat pulled down over his head. ray ban sunglasses gunmetal He could hear their voices now, and they were speaking Russian. Time. Russkiy,Clarksaid with aMoscowa ray ban sunglasses gunmetal ccent. You mean not everyone in this city is an arrogant Balt ? Page 383 This is an old and lovely city, Comrade, the older woman answered. Show some respect. Here we go . . .Clark told
to light. Tonight, the museum possessed an almost oppressive quality. Long shadows encroached everywhere, and the usually soaring vaulted ceilings appeared as a low, black void. This way, Fache said, turning sharply right and setting out through a series of interconnected galleries. Langdon followed, his vision slowly adjusting to the dark. All around, large-format oils began to materialize like photos developing ray ban sunglasses gunmetal before him in an enormous darkroom... their eyes following as he moved through the rooms. He could taste the familiar tang of museum airan arid, deionized essence that carried a faint hint of carbonthe product of industrial, coal-filter dehumidifiers that ran around the cl ray ban sunglasses gunmetal ock to counteract the corrosive carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors. Mounted high on the walls, the visible
Collet could think of only one scenario to explain the troubling developments: Saunière had written a numeric code on the floor in hopes Fache would involve cryptographers in the investigation, and therefore involve his own granddaughter. As for the rest of the message, was Saunière communicating in some way with his granddaughter? If so, what did the ray ban sunglasses gunmetal message tell her? And how did Langdon fit in? Before Collet could ponder it any further, the silence of the deserted museum was shattered by an alarm. The bell sounded like it was coming from inside the Grand Gallery. Alarme! one of the agents yelled, eyeing his feed from the Louvre security center. Grande Galerie! Toilettes Messieurs! Fache wh ray ban sunglasses gunmetal eeled to Collet. Wheres Langdon? Still in the mens room! Collet pointed to the blinking red dot on
seemed to be singing, or... chanting? She was frightened. Almost more eerie than the sound itself was the realization that this house did not even have a basement. At least ray ban sunglasses gunmetal none Ive ever seen. Turning now and scanning the living room, Sophies eyes fell to the only object in the entire house that seemed out of placeher grandfathers favorite antique, a sprawling Aubusson tapestry. It usually hung on the east wall beside the fireplace, but tonight it had been pulled aside on its brass rod, exposing the wall behind it. Walking toward the bare wooden wall, Sophie sensed the chanting getting louder. Hesitant, she leaned her ear against the wood. The voices were clearer now. People were ray ban sunglasses gunmetal definitely chanting... intoning words Sophie could not discern. The space behind this wall is hollow! Feeling
talented craftsman who spent hours in his wood and metal shop, Jacques Saunière enjoyed imitating master craftsmenFabergé, assorted cloisonne artisans, and the less artistic, but far more practical, Leonardo da Vinci. Even a cursory glance through Da Vincis journals revealed why the luminary was as notorious for his lack ray ban sunglasses gunmetal of follow-through as he was famous for his brilli ray ban sunglasses gunmetal ance. Da Vinci had drawn up blueprints for hundreds of inventions he had never built. One of Jacques Saunières favorite pastimes was bringing Da Vincis more obscure brainstorms to lifetimepieces, water pumps, cryptexes, and even a fully articulated model of a medieval French knight, which now stood proudly on the desk in his office. Designed by Da Vinci in 1495 as an outgrowth of his earliest anatomy and kinesiology
a moment as Teabing gathered himself. So much about her grandfather was still not making sense. Members of the Priory, she finally said, all these years have answered the charge of protecting the Sangreal documents and the tomb of Mary Magdalene? Yes, but the brotherhood had another, more important duty as wellto protect the bloodline itself. Christs lineage was ray ban sunglasses gunmetal in per ray ban sunglasses gunmetal petual danger. The early Church feared that if the lineage were permitted to grow, the secret of Jesus and Magdalene would eventually surface and challenge the fundamental Catholic doctrinethat of a divine Messiah who did not consort with women or engage in sexual union. He paused. Nonetheless, Christs line grew quietly under cover in France until making a bold move in the fifth century, when it intermarried with French royal
god associated with the creative force of reproduction. Baphomets head was represented as that of a ram or goat, a common symbol of procreation and fecundity. The Templars honored Baphomet by encircling a stone replica of his head and chanting prayers. Baphomet, Teabing tittered. The ceremony honore ray ban sunglasses gunmetal d the creative magic of sexual union, but Pope Clement convinced everyone that Baphomets head was in fact that of the devil. The Pope used the head of Baphomet as the linchpin in his case against the Templars. Langdon concurred. The modern belief in a horned devil known as Satan could be traced back to Baphomet and the Churchs attempts to recast the horned fertility god as a symbol of evil. The Church had obviously succeeded, although not ent ray ban sunglasses gunmetal irely. Traditional American Thanksgiving tables still
rhyme, a knight did something that incurred displeasure with God, and yet a Pope was kind enough to bury him in London. Langdon nodded. Does it ring any bells? Gettum moved toward one of the workstations. Not offhand, but lets see what we can pull up in the database. Over the past two decades, Kings College Research Institute in Systematic Theology had used optical character recognition software in unison with linguistic translation devices to digitize and catalog an enormous collection of textsencyclopedias of religion, religious biographies, sacred scriptures in dozens of languages, histories, Vatican letters, diaries of clerics, anything at all that qualified as writings on human sp ray ban sunglasses gunmetal irituality. Because the massive collection was now in the form of bits and bytes rather than physic ray ban sunglasses gunmetal al