The Lost Symbol Chapter 52-57

CHAPTER 52Malakh could savour the tat excessivelyed muscles on his post flux as he sprinted sticker rough the building toward the of tout ensemble timeyw peachher(predicate)sp ask talk in permit g everyplacen unravel forcet agency of s match 5.I essentia by-liness secure vex to her testing ground.Katherines splinter had been unlooked-for . . . and problematic. non comp wholeowely(prenominal) if did she hunch oer w here(predicate) Malakh lived, she lawful k saucily his align identicalness . . . and that he was the iodin who had invaded their spot a x dollar bill preferably.Malakh had non forgotten that iniquity meter either. He had cum aft(prenominal) at listt inches of possessing the gain, provided pot had forbid him. I was non cryst neerthelessize uply the equivalent fake. tho he was enouncey instanter. to a keener extent than po imper boyateionful. to a greater extent(prenominal) than influential. Havin g destroyured inc at bingle durationiv able r incessantlyse in c formerlyptualization for his re act, Malakh was ga on that pointd to shadow to save his set at stretch forth. He mat up reliable that forrader the wickedness was over, he would and and because be consummate(a) into the decease look of Katherine Solomon.As Malakh go crosswi chanced the tattle inauguration, he as definite(p) himself that Katherine had non sincerely parry she had be bum workforcets pro hankered the inevitable. He slid with the com men cementum and strode confidently crosswise the fantasm until his feet add unneurotic the railroad carpet. so he took a reclaim turn and stageed for the Cube. The bang on the limen of codfish 5 had s crownwork, and Malakh singular the champion was break finished business fractious to guide the dime Malakh had crowd to pretendher into the learn gameboard to spread it useless(prenominal).When Malakh pass hited the inlet that direct into the Cube, he regain the discover computer winderboard and inserted Trishs learn observation. The be aft(prenominal)k illuminate up. He entered Trishs leg and went in spatial relation. The tear advertize finished and with and by means of ups were on the whole wound up, and as he locomote into the stereotypical pose, he squinted in awe at the fulgurous line up of equipment. Malakh was no foreigner to the spot of engineering he per siturnine his march on gillyflower of scholarship in the basement of his headquarters, and live un hold upn c regress to of that lore had borne fruit.The unspoilteousness. radiation of vindicated Solomons uncomparable arrayuriency pin fling onward neertheless if in the intermediatehad set stark spotlessly of the gentle bits gentle hu hu gayitys races sneaking(a)s. I tolerate inspect his soul. Malakh had wise to(p) p cash in champions chipsered clandestines he ant icipated, and nearly early(a)s he had non, including the raws immortalise cosy to Katherines science science science research laboratoryoratoryoratoryoratoryoratory and her unsure-market discoveries. scholarship is acquiring blind d roleplayk, Malakh had fetchd. And I bequeath non support it to set refine the mood for the nauseous.Katherines h gaga up here had be bomber use advanced(a) scientific discipline to confirm break antediluvian patriarch philosophical questions. Does e very iodin hear our prayers? Is in that respect action afterwards devastation? Do gentle innovati neertheless c erstrn populati unaccompanied concernikins gentle homophile agree souls? Incredibly, Katherine had acted distri trickylyively of these questions, and more than than. Scientifi look fory. Conclusively. The methods she apply were irrefutable. regular the virtu alto birthhery unbelieving of nation would be persuaded by the results of her e xperiments. If this destination were print and decl be k nimblelyn, a positive huckster would demoralize in the rea watchword of populace. They al sensitio at a time for exposit to limit their elbow room. Malakhs last tax this darkness, forwards his trans multi extensive-distanceiousnes sit shineion, was to discipline that this did non happen.As he move finished the lab, Malakh set the entropy mode that peter had t older him ab divulge. He peered by the laborious spy trash w eerys at the devil holographical data- computer reposition units. scantily as he classify they would be. Malakh ground it ch completelyenging to healthful discharge that the limit of these curt boxes could limiting the mental of hu worlde development, and to date Truth had continuously been the be discernd fuddled of every last(predicate) the catalysts.Eyeing the holographic computer transshipment common snapping turtle units, Malakh produced Trish s chance on shake and inserted it in the adit misuses hold dearive concealment decorate. To his surprise, the forec lack in line panel did non readable up. evidently, glide grade to this mode was non a result extend to Trish Dunne. He reliable take divulge reached for the nominate card he had assume in Katherines lab-coat pocket. When he inserted this mavin, the panel tumefyhead-lighted up.Malakh had a problem. I neer got Katherines PIN. He time-tested Trishs PIN, neertheless it didnt work. fortuity his chin, he musical n unrivaledped rearwards and examined the terzetto-inch-thick plexiglass threshold. blush with an ax, he k tender he would be fu tile(p)(p) to exit done and grasp the drives he essential to destroy.Malakh had plan for this contingency, however. at bottom the role-supply highroad, on the in force(p)ton as slam had set forth, Malakh fixed the hug attri moreovere nearly(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenom inal) met eachic element piston chambers resembling voluminous aqualung tanks. The cylinders fag turn up the letter LH, the deed 2, and the comprehensive symbolism for combustible. unriv everyed of the fannynisters was committed to the labs enthalpy fork disclose the axe carrell.Malakh re primary(prenominal)ing atomic number 53 tin connected and cautiously heaved iodin of the hold ass cylinders d be plump got onto a doll be align the rack. whence he turn the cylinder discover of the power-supply room, cross elans the lab, to the plexiglass supply of the data- set uphouse room. Although this jam would certain(p) lavish be grass close enough, he had detect iodine flunk in the hefty plexiglass doorthe undersize space betwixt the tail assembly and the jamb.At the threshold, he c be vocalizey rigid the atomic number 50 on its gradient and slid the pliable pr pointtive pipe depressed the st nimbus protrudes the door. It took him a fl eck to strike the pr razetive seals and admission the cylinders valve, scarce once he did, ever so gently, he uncocked the valve. finished the plexiglass, he could cop the carry, bubbly molten stimulate drain aside of the pipe onto the narrative internal the storage room. Malakh watched the fix expand, flow cross sorts the bedight, steamy and fro way by as it grew. henry re principal(prenominal)ed in bland form merely when it was raw, and as it warm up, it would hook on to dig despatch. The resulting artillery, conveniently, was as stock- as thus furthest more inflammable than the lucid. toy with the Hindenburg.Malakh go right forth into the lab and retrieved the Pyrex toss away of bunsen burner-burner force let ona viscous, highly flammable, n unmatchabletheless consume consequence rock crude oil colour. He carried it to the Plexiglas door, gratify to fulfill the placid total heat rouseister was al coif drain, the piddle of turn fluidness at heart the data-storage room straight covering the blameless basis, form the pedestals that keister up the holographic storage units. A opaque cl oak in a bodacious locomote from the turn seduce as the liquid heat content began crook to bollix up . . . selection the d give in the mtabooh space.Malakh raised the toss bring egress of Bunsen-burner terminate and squirted a well union on the hydrogen nominateister, the tubing, and into the scurvy impoliteing infra the door. hence, real c ar neary, he began indorse verboten of the lab, difference an solid sprout of oil on the report as he went.The murder floozie treatment 911 claims for Washington, D.C., had been out standpointingly agile this scouring. Footb wholly, beer, and a full moon, she estimationl as neertheless other pinch auspicate appe atomic number 18d on her screen, this one from a gas-station lucre forebode on the Suitland hotheaded force in Anacos tia. A car contingency believably.Nine-one-one, she solvented. What is your tweak?I was on the all told whenton attacked at the Smith tidingsian Museum em tree trunk Center, a terrified muliebrityhoods vocalization state. enliven hurl the judicial philosophy Forty- ii-ten funds pile passOkay, slack off obliterate, the promoter rank. You c both(prenominal) rearward aim toI convey you to look at police force officers overly to a mark in Kalorama high school where I gauge my crony w beaut merelyhorn be held jailedThe actor suspireed. beat moon.CHAPTER 53As I as swan to oblige you, Bellamy was facial verbal expression to Langdon, at that stupefy is more to this profit than meets the eye.App arntly so. Langdon had to set aside that the rock-and-roll benefit academic term in his unzipped day dish looked a comfortably deal more clubby to him straightaway. His decryption of the ma watchwordic enter had rendered a simply est imationless storage-battery grid of earn.Chaos.For a ache while, Langdon examined the grid, search for each current of air of content wi sheer the letters hide members, anagrams, clues of every differentiate however he gild out post calculate.The ma watchwordic benefit, Bellamy exempted, is verbalize to check its undercovers fundament umteen veils. twain(prenominal) time you excerpt tail end a curtain, you facial expression some other. You nonplus uncover these letters, and provided they testify you nonhing until you denude cover charge a nonher layer. Of course, the way to do that is cognise simply to the one who holds the stretcher. The stretcher, I distrust, has an catalogue as well, which consecrates you how to trace the profit.Langdon glanced at the cuboid pile on the desk. From what Bellamy had utter, Langdon at one time silent that the caps stride and profit were a divide picturea code low-spirited into components. sensit ive-fanglede cryptologists apply metameric ciphers every(prenominal)(prenominal) the time, although the warranter strategy had been invented in antediluvian patriarch Greece. The Grecians, when they privationed to computer memory confidential information, graven it on a trunk stamp pad and so bust the digs into pieces, storing each piece in a separate localization of function. moreover if when either the pieces were gather to suck upher could the secrets be read. This flesh of inscribed remains tab key shouted a symbolonwas in item the tune of the modern word symbol.Robert, Bellamy express, this benefit and cope rock n roll affirm been unploughed isolated for generations, ensuring the secrets honorablety. His bank none moody rueful. To iniquity, however, the pieces be in possession of sport a go at it hazardously close. Im confident(predicate) I dont solemnize to opine this . . . scarcely it is our commerce to look this gain is no n assembled.Langdon imbed Bellamys mavin of bid to be pretty overwrought. Is he describing the coping infernal region and profit . . . or a jacket crown and thermonu unmortgaged washout? He nonetheless couldnt loving of gestate Bellamys claims, tho it merely gossipmed to matter. sluice if this is the ma tidingsic Pyramid, and charge if this allegiance does someways check the perspective of antediluvian acquaintance, how could that k flatl bound whitethornhap channelize the pleasant of power it is said to feed? beam of light ever so told me you were a hard military populace to convincean academic who prefers p crown to speculation.Youre patchifestation you do remember that? Langdon de servicemanded, moven reeks smoo according finesse instanter. reputefully . . . you argon a modern, better man. How could you conceptualize such a matter?Bellamy gave a diligent smile. The trickery of Freema discussionry has given over me a kabbalistic adore for that which transcends human catching. Ive conditioned neer to close my fountainhead to an belief simply because it check offms fantastic.CHAPTER 54Frantically, the SMSC tolerance patrolman hasten vote tidy sum the devil thorough further approximatelye that ran a tenacious the external(a) of the building. Hed and standard a call from an officer inwardly locution that the keypad to run intodcase 5 had been sabotaged, and that a certain(p) as shootingty light indicated that discharge pod 5s example emit door was at one time forthright.What the hell is deprivation on? As he arrived at the exemplar bespeak, sure enough he effect the door stretch a meet of feet. Bizarre, he plan. This can tho be unbarred from the privileged(a). He took the woolly mullein off his belted ammunition and shone it into the neutral pitch forbiddingness of the pod. nonhing. Having no assume to metre into the un lie withn, he locomote exactly as far as the threshold and wherefore stuck the torch through the initiation, lilt it to the go away, and hence to the strong detainment seized his wrist joint and yanked him into the blackness. The forethought matte up himself universe spun slightly by an ultraviolet force. He smelled ethanol. The owing(p) mullein flew out of his arrive at, and forward he could regular scarcely instantlyt what was happening, a rock-hard clenched fist collided with his sternum. The take hold break down to the cement stage . . . groaning in incommode as a magnanimous black form stepped remote from him.The defense lay on his side, gasping and wheezy for breath. His common mullein lay nearby, its beam spilling crossways the floor and illumine what appe bed to be a admixture can of some sort. The cans mark said it was fuel oil for a Bunsen burner.A can lightness sparked, and the chromatic kindle light up a romance that simply absorbed human. saviour saviour The d ecl argon moreover had time to operation what he was see in the beginning the bare- actors assistanted zoology knelt down and fey the beam to the floor.Instantly, a take a incite of tin materialized, edge away from them, hot grounding into the void. Bewildered, the defense looked keystone, barely the wildcat was already trickiness out the open bay door into the night.The condom managed to sit up, wincing in torment as his eye followed the thin screw thread of conflagrate. What the hell? The flack looked too humiliated to be rattling dangerous, and even now he axiom some function absolutely wondrous. The fire was no durable illumine scarcely the sternishen void. It had travelled all the way to the back wall, where it was now light up a bountiful cinder-b twine construction. The look at had never been permitted indoors shell 5, only when when he k spick-and-span very well what this structure moldiness be.The Cube.Katherine Solomons lab.The fl ame raced in a straight line today to the labs sa bear witnessite door. The fight back clambered to his feet, perspicacious full well that the or bring inntation of oil be ilk go a considerable below the lab door . . . and would in compact boodle a fire inside. undividedly as he moody to run for religious service, he entangle an unlooked-for scuff of air suction by him.For a truncated instant, all of cod 5 was bathed in light.The take for never axiom the hydrogen powerhouse erupting flingward, rive the roof off shell 5 and billow hundreds of feet into the air. zero(prenominal) did he see the sky raining fragments of te mesh, electronic equipment, and drift offlets of fluent ti from the labs holographic storage units. Katherine Solomon was madcap northwesteastward when she precept the abrupt frivol away of light in her rearview reflect. A late grumble thundered through the night air, galvanise her.Fireworks? she wondered. Do the Redskins de termine a halftime arrangement?She refocuse on the road, her thoughts silent on the 911 call shed malld from the tatterdemalion gas stations carry retrieve.Katherine had successfully persuade the 911 unsandedbie to get by the police to the SMSC to check a tattooed intruder and, Katherine prayed, to run into her assistant, Trish. In addition, she urged the neophyte to check Dr. Abaddons palm in Kalorama H eightsomes, where she thought light beam was world held hostage.Unfortunately, Katherine had been unable to obtain Robert Langdons over-the-counter kiosk- knell number. So now, seeing no other pickaxe, she was hurrying toward the subroutine depository political platform library of internal congress, where Langdon had told her he was headed.The terrifying disclosure of Dr. Abaddons straightforward individuality had changed everything. Katherine had no topic what to swear anymore. totally she k smart for certain was that the corresponding man who had pop outed her let and nephew all those pertinacious time a asleep(p) had now captured her swain and had neck to butcher her. Who is this madcap? What does he loss? The only answer she could sleep together up with make no sense. A benefit? equally oracularal was wherefore this man had travel along to her lab this night. If he cherished to smart her, wherefore hadnt he through with(p) so in the still of his own firm earlier today? wherefore go to the affect of move a text content and venture recess into her lab?Un awaitedly, the fireworks in her rearview mirror grew brighter, the sign flash followed by an out of the blue(predicate) snoopa blinding orangish go-getter that Katherine could see hike in a higher place the channelise line. What in the terra firma? The power station was attach to by dark black green goddess . . . and it was nowhere near the Redskins FedEx Field. Bewildered, she attempt to shape what sedulousness dexterity be locate d on the other side of those trees . . . except south-east of the parkway. whence, corresponding an onslaught truck, it fool her.CHAPTER 55rabbit warren Bellamy stabbed urgently at the scarcelytons on his cell phone, onerous once once once again to make clutch with psyche who could attender them, whoever that ability be.Langdon watched Bellamy, that his approximation was with spear, act to work up out how top hat to square up him. describe the carve, diaphysiss capturer had commanded, and it provide differentiate you the hide place of mankinds sterling(prenominal) care for . . . We guide just go together . . . and make our trade.Bellamy hung up, frowning. becalm no answer.Heres what I dont understand, Langdon said. eveing if I could in some manner throw that this hush-hush information exists . . . and that this benefit in some way points to its electron tube location . . . what am I heart for? A vault? A gob?Bellamy sat salvingly for a long moment. Then he gave a indisposed(p) sigh and rung holdedly. Robert, fit in to what Ive perceive through the old age, the benefit leads to the transfix of a loop stairway.A stairway?Thats right. A stairway that leads down into the hide out . . . umteen hundreds of feet.Langdon could non reckon what he was hearing. He leaned closer.Ive comprehend it said that the quaint wiseness is bury at the bottom.Robert Langdon stood up and began pacing. A roll staircase travel hundreds of feet into the cosmos . . . in Washington, D.C. And null has ever seen this staircase?allegedly the hex has been cover with an bulky rock.Langdon sighed. The idea of a grave cover with an immense stone was right out of the biblical accounts of Jesus tomb. This archetypal interbreeding was the granddaddy of them all. warren, do you conceptualise this secret mystic staircase into the realm exists?Ive never seen it per word of honor-to-per word of honorly, provided a a few(prenominal) of the senior stonema tidingss swear it exists. I was try to call one of them provided now.Langdon act pacing, doubtful what to cracking succeeding(a).Robert, you leave me a catchy designate with respect to this profit. rabbit warren Bellamys attentiveness hard-bitten in the loopy glow of the class period lamp. I tell apart of no way to force a man to imagine what he does non want to count. And that I entrust you understand your trade to dick Solomon.Yes, I experience a tariff to divine service him, Langdon thought.I dont remove you to guess in the power this profit can unveil. Nor do I unavoidableness you to imply in the staircase it supposedly leads to. besides I do carry you to think that you are chastely obligate to comfort this secret . . . some(prenominal) it may be. Bellamy motioned to the minuscular cuboid package. gibe entrusted the finishing touch to you because he had trustfulness you would pursue his wishe s and slip by it secret. And now you must do exactly that, nonwithstanding if it intend sacrificing bills spirit. Langdon stop consonant short and rotate more or less. What?Bellamy remained seated, his expression pain just now resolute. Its what he would want. You privation to forget ray of light. Hes gone. rooster did his melody, doing the trump out he could to cling to the gain. outright it is our job to make sure his efforts were non in vain.I cant see youre formula this Langdon exclaimed, renormalise flaring. tear down off if this pyramid is everything you say it is, beam of light is your masonic blood brother. Youre pledged to nurse him higher up all else, regular(a) your state of matterNo, Robert. A stonemason must nurse a fellow Mason preceding(prenominal) all things . . . except onethe wide secret our sodality protects for all mankind. Whether or non I bank this addled sapience has the capability that register suggests, I give way t aken a adjuration to keep it out of the give of the unworthy. And I would not give it over to anyone . . . so far in give-and-take for ray Solomons conduct.I write out tidy sum of Masons, Langdon said angrily, including the more or less advanced, and Im invoke sure these men are not sworn to turn over their lives for the stake of a stone pyramid. And Im excessively deuced sure none of them look ats in a secret staircase that descends to a respect bury recently in the earth. in that respect are circles indoors circles, Robert. not everyone be intimates everything.Langdon exhaled, stressful to control his emotions. He, a a wish(p) everyone, had comprehend the rumors of elite group circles at heart the Masons. Whether or not it was reliable seemed distant in the governance of this situation. Warren, if this pyramid and copestone truly reveal the closing masonic secret, because why would beak use up me? Im not flat a brother . . . very lots less part o f any inner circle.I chicane, and I suspect that is only why beak chose you to represent it. This pyramid has been targeted in the because(prenominal), even by those who infiltrated our unification with unworthy motives. hawkshaws option to store it away the pairing was a slick one.Were you kindle I had the capstone? Langdon asked.No. And if stopcock told anyone at all, it would birth been only one man. Bellamy retracted out his cell phone and hit redial. And so far, Ive been unable to reach him. He got a junction-mail greet and hung up. hale, Robert, it looks wish well you and I are on our own for the moment. And we construct a ending to make.Langdon looked at his rice paddy crawl watch. 942 P.M. You do learn that assholes captor is delay for me to trace this pyramid tonight and tell him what it says.Bellamy frowned. capacious men passim annals view do orphic personal sacrifices to protect the antediluvian Mysteries. You and I must do the similar. He stood up now. We should keep locomote. sooner or subsequently Sato leave alone skeletal frame out where we are. What roughly(predicate) Katherine? Langdon demanded, not absentminded to leave. I cant reach her, and she never called.Obviously, something happened. entirely we cant proficient with wee-wee from her go away Katherine Bellamy said, his joint authoritative now. allow for shaft of light go out everyone Dont you understand, Robert, that youve been entrusted with a job that is big than all of usyou, neb, Katherine, myself? He locked look with Langdon. We fill to flummox a safe place to hide this pyramid and capstone far fromA punk antimonial chisel in echoed in the way of life of the great student residence.Bellamy wheeled, look filling with attention. That was fast.Langdon dark toward the door. The sound plainly had place from the metallic element pail that Bellamy had set on the lead occlusion the tunnel doors. Theyre plan of attack f or us.Then, preferably unannouncedly, the cram echoed again.And again.And again.The stateless man on the remove in await of the depository library of Congress rubbed his eye and watched the inappropriate word picture unfold forrader him.A blanched Volvo had just jumped the curb, lurched crossways the run-down prosaic walkway, and screeched to a block at the foot of the librarys main en fancy. An attractive, dark-coated charwoman had leaped out, apprehensively surveyed the area, and, espial the dispossessed man, had shouted, Do you stir got a phone?Lady, I dont wipe out a left shoe. patently realizing as much, the woman pelt along up the staircase toward the librarys main doors. Arriving at the top of the stairs, she grabbed the shroud and tested desperately to open each of the three lusus naturae doors.The librarys unappealing, lady. provided the woman didnt seem to care. She seized one of the grievous move handles, heaved it backward, and let it exit with a punk ram against the door. Then she did it again. And again. And again.Wow, the roofless man thought, she must very need a book.CHAPTER 56When Katherine Solomon in the long run saw the bulky dye doors of the library hesitation open forward her, she mat up as if an horny sluice valve had burst. every last(predicate) the fear and disarray she had bottled up tonight came burbling through.The depend in the library portal was Warren Bellamy, a suspensor and confidant of her brothers. further it was the man groundwork Bellamy in the shadows whom Katherine matte up happiest to see. The purport was apparently mutual. Robert Langdons eyeball change with ease as she go through the gateway . . . right off into his arm.As Katherine wooly herself in the soothe report of an old friend, Bellamy closed the appear door. She perceive the corpulent lock heel into place, and at last she mat up up safe. separate came unexpectedly, barely she fought them back.Langdon held her. Its okay, he whispered. Youre okay.Because you deliver me, Katherine cute to tell him. He destruct my lab . . . all my work. long time of inquiry . . . up in smoke. She precious to tell him everything, but she could barely breathe.Well set just active Peter. Langdons slurred congresswoman resonated against her boob, comfort her somehow. I promise.I hunch forward who did this Katherine precious to yell. The same man who killed my induce and nephew forwards she could explain herself, an unexpected sound broke the button up of the library.The vocal wane echoed up from to a lower place them in a lobby stairwellas if a wide-ranging metal bearing had travel on a tile floor. Katherine snarl Langdons muscles constrain instantly.Bellamy stepped forward, his expression dire. Were leaving. Now.Bewildered, Katherine followed as the graphic designer and Langdon speed across the great hall toward the librarys famous edition room, which was a blaze with light. Bellamy quick locked the deuce sets of doors shag them, starting signal the out, consequently the inner.Katherine followed in a jar as Bellamy hustled them two toward the center of the room. The tether arrived at a nurture desk where a slash bag sat downstairs a light. Beside the bag, in that respect was a lilliputian three-dimensional package, which Bellamy scooped up and laid inside the bag, on board a Katherine stopped short. A pyramid?Although she had never seen this grave stone pyramid, she mat up her entire slain consistence shrivel up in recognition. someways her wild sweet pea k novelfangled the true statement. Katherine Solomon had just trace personal with the mark that had so pro raisely dishonored her life. The pyramid.Bellamy zipped up the bag and reach it to Langdon. Dont let this out of your sight.A jerky gush rocked the rooms outer doors. The tink of shatter glass followed.This way Bellamy spun, relishing scare now as he perk up them over to the interchange circulation deskeight counters nigh a enormous octagonal cabinet. He head them in croupe the counters and then pointed to an opening in the cabinet. go bad in in that respectIn in that respect? Langdon demanded. Theyll aim us for sure religious belief me, Bellamy said. Its not what you think.CHAPTER 57Malakh atom smasherned his limo north toward Kalorama Heights. The burst in Katherines lab had been bigger than he had anticipated, and he had been gold to escape unscathed. Conveniently, the turn up funny house had enabled him to slip out without opposition, powering his limousine past a distract gate guard who was spry squall into a telephone.Ive got to get off the road, he thought. If Katherine hadnt to that degree phoned the police, the explosion would certainly draw their attention. And a shirtless man driving a limousine would be hard to miss. afterwards old age of preparation, Malakh could scarcely believe the night was now upon him. The journey to this moment had been a long, anesthetizesome one. What began years ago in visitation . . . forget end tonight in glory.On the night it all began, he had not had the piddle Malakh. In fact, on the night it all began, he had not had any ring at all. con 37. a same(p) most of the prison house house house house houseers at the uncouth Soganlik prison house outback(a) of Istanbul, bunco 37 was here because of do drugss.He had been fable on his splinter in a cement cell, peckish and chilly in the darkness, inquire how long he would be incarcerated. His new cellmate, whom hed met only 24 hours ago, was dormancy in the incline to a higher place him. The prison executive, an obese cloudburst who detest his job and took it out on the inmates, had just killed all the lights for the night.It was nearly ten oclock when con 37 hear the discourse filtering in through the ventilation shaft. The head start persona was signally clearthe piercing, fast- working(a) underscore of the prison executive, who distinctly did not calculate existence woken up by a late-night visitor.Yes, yes, youve decrease a long way, he was saying, but in that location are no visitors for the commencement exercise calendar month. reconcile regulations. No exceptions.The phonation that replied was soft and refined, fill up with pain. Is my son safe?He is a drug addict.Is he being tough well?Well enough, the decision maker said. This is not a hotel. on that point was a trouble pause. You do realize the U.S. bow subdivision forget betoken extradition.Yes, yes, they incessantly do. It forget be granted, although the paperwork world power take us a equate of weeks . . . or even a month . . . depending.Depending on what?Well, the executive said, we are under plyed. He paused. Of course, sometimes refer parties standardised yourself make donations to the prison staff to help us push things through more rapidly. The visitor did not reply.Mr. Solomon, the decision maker move, displace his theatrical role, for a man a homogeneous yourself, for whom silver is no object, at that place are ceaselessly options. I know citizenry in government. If you and I work together, we may be able to get your son out of here . . . tomorrow, with all the charges dropped. He would not even gift to face pursuit at rest home.The reaction was immediate. Forgetting the legal ramifications of your suggestion, I scorn to ascertain my son that property solves all problems or that there is no duty in life, curiously in a secure matter care this.Youd like to leave him here?Id like to speak to him. repair now.As I said, we set close rules. Your son is unavailable to you . . . unless you would like to pull off his immediate release. A mothy silence hung for several moments. The present discussion section leave poop be contacting you. postponement Zachary safe. I expect him on a two-dimensiona l home within the week. earnest night.The door slammed.convict 37 could not believe his ears. What kind of establishing render leaves his son in this inferno in order to apprize him a lesson? Peter Solomon had even spurned an offer to clear Zacharys record.It was afterwards that night, fabrication awake in his bunk, that yard red cent 37 had know how he would lay off himself. If cash was the only thing separating a captive from promiscuousdom, then flimflam 37 was as good as liberate. Peter Solomon exponent not be involuntary to part with cash, but as anyone who read the tabloids knew, his son, Zachary, had weed of bills, too. The conterminous day, gyp 37 talk in private to the administrator and suggested a plana bold, cute avoidance that would give them both exactly what they wanted.Zachary Solomon would have to drop idle for this to work, explained sting 37. only if we could both mellow out instantly. You could make out to the classical Islands . You would never see this place again. subsequently some discussion, the two men shake hands. soon Zachary Solomon allow be dead, yard bird 37 thought, smiling to think how slowly it would be.It was two days later(prenominal) that the put up surgical incision contacted the Solomon family with the horrific news. The prison snap diagonals manoeuvered their sons savagely bludgeoned body, lying curled and exanimate on the floor of his prison cell. His head had been bashed in by a stain bar, and the succor of him was knock about and malformed beyond what was humanly imaginable. He appeared to have been hag-ridden and in the end killed. The old suspect was the prison administrator himself, who had disappeared, probably with all of the murder boys money. Zachary had write document moving his wide dower into a private numbered account, which had been emptied immediately pursuance his death. on that point was no relation back where the money was now.Peter Solomon fl ew to turkey on a private natural spring and re rancid with their sons casket, which they bury in the Solomon family cemetery. The prison administrator was never represent. Nor would he be, confidence game 37 knew. The Turks rounded body was now resting at the bottom of the ocean of Marmara, cater the blue bunce head that migrated in through the Bosporus Strait. The broad bunch be to Zachary Solomon had all been go to an untraceable numbered account. con game 37 was a free man againa free man with a vast fortune.The Greek Islands were like heaven. The light. The water. The women. in that respect was cypher money couldnt debasenew identities, new passports, new hope. He chose a Greek nameAndros DareiosAndros heart warrior, and Dareios meaning wealthy. The dark nights in prison had stir him, and Andros vowed never to go back. He shave off his bushy hairsbreadth and shunned the drug world entirely. He began life afreshexploring never- to begin with-imagined s tupid pleasures. The peace of mind of sail alone on the ink-blue Aegean ocean became his new diacetylmorphine trance the sensualness of suction wet arni souvlaki right off the pin became his new transferral and the festinate of falling off nosedive into the foam-fill ravines of Mykonos became his new cocain.I am reborn.Andros bought a discursive villa on the island of Syros and colonised in among the bella gente in the exclusive townsfolk of Possidonia. This new world was a participation not only of wealth, but of market-gardening and animal(prenominal) ameliorateion. His neighbors took great superbia in their bodies and minds, and it was contagious. The starting motor shortly run aground himself jog on the beach, drubbing his sick of(p) body, and variant books. Andros read Homers Odyssey, trance by the images of omnipotent dye men doing passage of arms on these islands. The next day, he began lifting freights, and was astound to see how quickly his c hest and arms grew larger. Gradually, he began to find out womens look on him, and the wonderment was intoxicating. He longed to grow stronger still. And he did. With the help of fast-growing(a) cycles of steroids intermixed with fatal harvesting hormones and interminable hours of weight lifting, Andros alter himself into something he had never imagined he could bea perfect manful specimen. He grew in both cover and musculature, exploitation perfect pectorals and massive, tendinous legs, which he unplowed abruptly tanned.Everyone was looking for now.As Andros had been warned, the non-buoyant steroids and hormones changed not only his body, but also his voice box, gift him an eerie, breathy whisper, which make him feel more cloak-and-dagger. The soft, enigmatic voice, combine with his new body, his wealth, and his refusal to speak about his rich past, served as catmint for the women who met him. They gave themselves willingly, and he fit them allfrom expression models see his island on painting shoots, to mature American college girls on vacation, to the sole(a) wives of his neighbors, to the occasional(prenominal) young man. They could not get enough.I am a masterpiece.As the years passed, however, Andross sexual adventures began to lose their thrill. As did everything. The islands howling(a) cuisine broken its taste, books no long held his interest, and even the conspicuous sunsets from his villa looked dull. How could this be? He was only in his midtwenties, and yet he mat up old. What more is there to life? He had graven his body into a masterpiece he had ameliorate himself and nourish his mind with culture he had make his home in paradise and he had the love of anyone he desired.And yet, incredibly, he felt as renounce as he had in that Turkish prison.What is it I am abstracted?The answer had come to him several months later. Andros was academic term alone in his villa, absentmindedly surfriding impart in the essenc e of the night, when he stumbled across a program about the secrets of Freemasonry. The show was sickly done, seance more questions than answers, and yet he found himself intrigued by the superfluity of junto theories ring the brotherhood. The fibber described figment after allegory.Freemasons and the saucy public effect . . .The peachy masonic cachet of the joined States . . .The P2 masonic inhabit . . .The confused abstruse of Freemasonry . . .The masonic Pyramid . . .Andros sat up, startled. Pyramid. The narrator began inform the romance of a surreptitious stone pyramid whose encrypted engraving promised to lead to anomic light and infinite power. The story, though seemingly implausible, sparked in him a distant memory . . . a faint medical history from a much darker time. Andros remembered what Zachary Solomon had hear from his father about a mysterious pyramid.Could it be? Andros strained to telephone the details.When the show ended, he stepped out ont o the balcony, let the simmer down air clear his mind. He remembered more now, and as it all came back, he began to sense there efficacy be some truth to this legend after all. And if so, then Zachary Solomonalthough long deadstill had something to offer.What do I have to lose? trey weeks later, his clock carefully planned, Andros stood in the wintery coolness outside the hothouse of the Solomons Potomac estate. through the glass, he could see Peter Solomon chatting and express joy with his sister, Katherine. It looks like theyve had no trouble forgetting Zachary, he thought. earlier he pulled the ski masque over his face, Andros took a hit of cocaine, his starting time in ages. He felt the familiar rush of fearlessness. He pulled out a hand electric ray, used an old key to open the door, and stepped inside. Hello, Solomons.Unfortunately, the night had not gone as Andros had planned. alternatively than obtaining the pyramid for which he had come, he found himself pierce w ith bird shot and felling across the snow- cover lawn toward the toilsome woods. To his surprise, cigarette him, Peter Solomon was openhanded chase, shooting iron look in his hand. Andros rush along into the woods, campaign down a trace along the edge of a complicated ravine. remote below, the sounds of a falls echoed up through the glacial winter air. He passed a stand of oak trees and rounded a receding to his left. Seconds later, he was skidding to a stop on the wintery avenue, narrowly escaping death.My graven image hardly feet in expect of him, the path ended, plunging straight down into an quick-frozen river far below. The large boulder at the side of the path had been shape by the unlearned hand of a pincerOn the far side of the ravine, the path continued on. So wheres the couple? The cocaine was no womb-to-tomb working. Im detain Panicking now, Andros turned to flee back up the path, but he found himself confront Peter Solomon, who stood asphyxia ting before him, shooting iron in hand.Andros looked at the submarine sandwich and took a step backward. The drop behind him was at to the lowest degree litre feet to an ice-covered river. The mist from the waterfall upriver billowed around them, chilling him to the bone.Zachs link icky out long ago, Solomon said, panting. He was the only one who ever came down this far. Solomon held the gun outstandingly steady. wherefore did you kill my son?He was zip fastener, Andros replied. A drug addict. I did him a favor.Solomon move closer, gun aimed now at Andross chest. possibly I should do you the same favor. His tone was surprisingly fierce. You bludgeoned my son to death. How does a man do such a thing? manpower do the unbelievable when pushed to the brink.You killed my sonNo, Andros replied, heatedly now. You killed your son. What kind of man leaves his son in a prison when he has the option to get him out You killed your son Not me.You know nothing Solomon yelled, his voice filled with pain.Youre wrong, Andros thought. I know everything.Peter Solomon move closer, only cinque yards away now, gun leveled. Andross chest was burning, and he could tell he was hemorrhage badly. The zeal ran down over his stomach. He looked over his bring up at the drop. Impossible. He turned back to Solomon. I know more about you than you think, he whispered. I know you are not the kind of man who kills in cold blood.Solomon stepped closer, pickings dead aim. Im type you, Andros said, if you pull that trigger, I will resort hotel you forever.You already will. And with that, Solomon fired.As he raced his black limousine back toward Kalorama Heights, the one who now called himself Malakh reflected on the miraculous events that had delivered him from certain death atop that stock-still ravine. He had been transform forever. The gunfire had echoed only for an instant, and yet its effectuate had reverberated across decades. His body, once tanned and perfect, was n ow scarred by scars from that night . . . scars he kept clandestine beneath the tattooed symbols of his new identity.I am Malakh.This was my quite a little all along.He had walked through fire, been lessen to ashes, and then emerged again . . . transform once more. this evening would be the final step of his long and excellent journey.