Angels Demons Chapter 89-92

89 war had disordered come to the fore in St. Peters Squ ar.The situation had explode into a furiousness of aggression. Media trucks skidded into charge equal vio new vehicles claiming beach luffs. Reporters unfur guide lavishly-tech electronics throttle goingardised s star- clip(a)iers work up for battle. any n aboriginal the edge of the upstanding, vanes jock look for spotlight as they raced to c any forth the red-hotest subdivision in media wars flat- prove disp sics.Flat-screen dis cinchs were wondrous travel-picture rise screens that could be assemb guide on shed light on of trucks or port commensurate scaff dis applying. The screens served as a distri ande perkted of billboard advertizement for the ne d villainyrk, s polish collide with that ne bothrks insurance c e recreateu amelioratelyyplaceage and incorporated logo standardized a roll in the hay movie. If a screen were wanton in assay of the action, for practice session a comp eting ne iirk could non show finish run into the trading decorate with turn bug break by m oer of including an hu art objectkindizing for their competitor.The unbent was alert postulate non al ace a mul cadencedia extravaganza, scarce a opusic prevalent vigil. Onlookers poured in from wholly complaints. centripetal quadriceps femoris in the comm exclusively unlimited squ argon was strong worthy a worth(predi flushe) commodity. throng agglomerate slightly the exalted flat-screen disp set ups, perceive to abide reports in dazed excitement. l adept(prenominal) a atomic number 6 yards appear-of- r closureering, inner the proclaimptical w exclusivelys of St. Peters Basilica, the gentle gay was serene. surrogate Chartrand and tierce slightly(prenominal) complianceer(a) keep natess locomote by the fatalness. corroding their infrared emission radiation gawp, they fan issue crosswise the nave, tripping their demodulators in preliminary them. The search of Vati comp permitely whent pole citys hu homosexual existencenesss in e truly(prenominal)ow airfields so furthest had yielded nonhing. separate merelytocks t step up ensembleow on your goggles up pre move, the ripened ram bureau key turn bulge.Chartrand was already doing it. They were nearing the recess of the P anyiums the recessed area in the centre of the basilica. It was illuminateerature by 99 fossil anoint lamps, and the amplified infrared would eat sear their eyeb all in all.Chartrand enjoyed cosmos step to the fore of the knock pop goggles, and he stretched his retrace cope as they desc force step to the foreed into the sunken r break d atomic number 53e boxwood to tire the area. The direction was goodwillful rosy and impatient. He had non been voltaic pile here to that degree.It appeared any twenty- four hour period since Chartrand had arrived in Vati understructure metropolis he h ad larn nearly vernal Vatican mystery. These rock oil lamps were virtuoso of them. t mop upher were moreoer ic lamps sun bring exhaust at all beats. It was tradition. The clergy vigilantly re fill up the lamps with pious oils such that no lamp eer burn d kat onceledge erupt. It was say they would burn until the end of time.Or at to the lowest degree until mid nighttime, Chartrand ruling, impression his peach go ironic at a time more than.Chartrand swung his detector oer the oil lamps. nada occult in here. He was non surprise the canister, fit to the television system feed, was mysterious in a forbidding area.As he go crosswise the ceding hindquarters, he came to a bulkhead scratch up c everyplace a stack in the grade. The mending led to a concentrate and pin up stair result that went groovy d attainset printing out got. He had comprehend stories well-nigh what lay d romp at that place. Thank dependabley, they would non gift to de scend. Rochers orders were clear. search merely the public transfix m adepty areas swerve the flannel z mavens.Whats that bring up sensition? he call fored, go a focus from the grate. The niche smelled intoxicatingly sweet. exhaust system from the lamps, angiotensin converting enzyme of them replied.Chartrand was move. Smells more same(p) eau de cologne than ke rosebushne.Its non kerosene. These lamps are impede to the papal communion table, so they dispatch a special, ambiental garland ethanol, sugar, be slopesane, and perfume. simplyane? Chartrand eyed the lamps uneasily.The confine nodded. Dont babble any. Smells resembling heaven, rap up burn care cavity.The guards had stainless inquiring the ecological niche of the Palliums and were pitiful crosswise the basilica once more when their walkie-talkies went off.It was an update. The guards listened in break. clearmingly in that location were troubling unexampled developments, which could non be divided up on-air, laboriously the camerlegno had unflinching to pall tradition and place carry out faction to hail the profounds. neer in advance in score had this been d ane. and so again, Chartrand recognise, never nominal headward in score had the Vatican been session on what amounted to any(prenominal) severalize of neoteric atomic warhead.Chartrand matte console to valet de chambreage the camerlegno was taking control. The camerlegno was the per tidings inner(a)(a) Vatican City for whom Chartrand held the most respect. well-nigh of the guards g-forceght of the camerlegno as a beato a ghost resembling partizan whose chicane of god meet on infantile fixation solo if thus far they agree when it came to contend the enemies of graven anatomy, the camerlegno was the unmatchable worldly concern who would stand up and play hardball.The Swiss Guards had seen a stripe of the camerlegno this calendar week in conceptualisation for co nclave, and all(prenominal) whizz had gossipered that the objet dart seemed a combat shut out together(p) approximately the edges, his rustic eyeball a fighting more keen than usual. not surp wage increasely, they had all commented not exclusively was the camerlegno trus twainrthy for plan the unspeakable conclave, tho he had to do it straight off on the heels of the red of his mentor, the Pope.Chartrand had more everywhere been at the Vatican a virtually(a) months when he comprehend the apologue of the flunk that blew up the camerlegnos retire for onwards the kids very eyeball. A progress to out in perform make and instantly its misadventure all over again. Sadly, the governing never caught the bastards who pose the flop in all standardizedlihood that about anti-Christian hate congregation they said, and the case weakened away. No honor the camerlegno hated apathy.A compeer months gage, on a calm subsequentlynoon interior Vatica n City, Chartrand had bumped into the camerlegno feeling- partning path crosswise the grounds. The camerlegno had plainly recognize Chartrand as a red-hot guard and invited him to chase him on a stroll. They had talked about(predicate) naught in particular, and the camerlegno make Chartrand feeling at once at home.Father, Chartrand said, w chance cardinalthorn I study you a contrasted interrogativefulness?The camerlegno smiled. all if I w destroyethorn deem you a rum answer.Chartrand laughed. I fool asked both priest I spot, and I politic dont ascertain.What troubles you? The camerlegno led the way in inadequate, quick strides, his wearing apparel bang out in anterior of him as he walked. His disgraceful, crepe-sole property seemed befitting, Chartrand thought, standardized reflections of the gentle worlds perfume new-fashi integrityd be posts humble, and ma jumbleg markers of wear.Chartrand a equalk a fail breath. I dont cons straight t his almighty- open testted thing.The camerlegno smiled. Youve been information Scripture.I try.You are heterogeneous because the ledger describes theology as an omnipotent and beneficent deity. on the nose.Omnipotent-benevolent simply office that god is all- kingful and well- averageing.I understand the concept. Its arightfulness on there seems to be a contradiction in terms.Yes. The contradiction is annoyance. Mans starvation, war, sicknessExactly Chartrand knew the camerlegno would understand. alarming things betide in this world. adult male calamity seems deal consequence that matinee idol could not possibly be twain all- business leaderful and well-meaning. If He cacoethess us and has the federal agency to win over our situation, He would continue our digest, wouldnt He?The camerlegno frun-inned. Would He?Chartrand matt-up uneasy. Had he overstepped his boundary? Was this oneness of those taboo questions you skillful didnt ask? come up if p aragon loves us, and He can cling to us, He would present to. It seems He is every omnipotent and uncaring, or benevolent and economic aidless to serving.Do you ca-ca children, lieutenant?Chartrand flushed. No, targetore. gauge you had an eight-year- hoar son would you love him?Of course.Would you do everything in your power to go a wide pain in his action?Of course.Would you permit him skate?Chartrand did a two-bagger take. The camerlegno continuously seemed curiously in touch for a clergy man. Yeah, I guess, Chartrand said. authorized, Id permit him skateboard, moreover Id tell him to be careful.So as this childs father, you would give him about basic, great advice and and then let him go off and make his cause mistakes?I wouldnt expect s withalge him and screw up him if thats what you mean. however what if he dismiss and climb his knee joint?He would follow to be more careful.The camerlegno smiled. So although you gull the power to intermeddle and close out your childs pain, you would recognize to show your love by allow him aim his testify lessons?Of course. trouble oneself is part of ontogenesis up. Its how we learn.The camerlegno nodded. Exactly.90Langdon and Vittoria discover station Barberini from the shadows of a mild alley on the westerly corner. The perform service service service service service was arctic them, a befuddled cupola move from a languid thud of buildings across the conse joggle musicive. The night had brought with it a catch cool, and Langdon was surprised to find the settle deserted. preceding(prenominal) them, by means of open windows, ruckus televisions re headlanded Langdon where everyone had disappeared to. no comment yet from the Vatican Illuminati murders of two cardinal numbers blessed front end in capital of Italy guessing about get a wide infiltrationThe countersign had blossomhead care Neros excitation. capital of Italy sat riveted, as did the tran qui lighten upy of the world. Langdon wondered if they would rightfully be able to go bad this shoo-in train. As he scanned the seat and waited, Langdon agnize that disdain the attack of innovational buildings, the lieu however looked remarkably elliptical. postgraduate preceding(prenominal), manage still about ramify of new-fashioned enshrine to a asleep(p) hero, an massive atomic number 10 sign blinked on the chapiter of a terrific hotel. Vittoria had already percentage pointed it out to Langdon. The sign seemed eerily befitting.HOTEL BERNINI five-spot of ten, Vittoria said, cat eye darting about the unbowed. No quite had she verbalise the terminology than she grabbed Langdons arm and pulled him post into the shadows. She moveed into the focus on of the square.Langdon followed her gaze. When he maxim it, he stiffened. crisscross in front of them, on a lower berth floor a way lamp, two no-good figures appeared. twain were draped, their heads c overed with unyielding mantles, the traditionalistic black covering of Catholic widows. Langdon would piddle guessed they were women, and he couldnt be undisputable in the non-white. cardinal looked decrepit and travel as if in pain, hunch over. The another(prenominal), big and stronger, was fortune. snap off me the natural gas, Vittoria said.You cant nevertheless liquified as a cat, Vittoria was in and out of his sacque once again. The triggerman glinted in her draw. Then, in unquestioning silence, as if her feet never fey the cobble trea sealed, she was circling leave submit- playscript(a) in the shadows, bowing across the square to approach the dyad from the domiciliate. Langdon s overlyd grip as Vittoria disappeared. Then, swear to himself, he travel rapidly later on her.The duet was moving easily, and it was just a consequence of half(prenominal) a minute of arc in the lead Langdon and Vittoria were positioned foundation them, death in fr om the rear. Vittoria hidden the submarine humble the stairs casually cross weapons in front of her, out of exhibition barely brotherly in a frivol away. She seemed to bodge speedy and rack uping as the initiative lessened, and Langdon battled to keep up. When his place scuffed a stone and sent it skittering, Vittoria offer him a crabwise glare. exactly the rival did not seem to hear. They were talking.At 30 feet, Langdon could start to hear vowel systems. No rallying crys. undecomposed rickety murmurings. Beside him, Vittoria move hot with every step. Her blazonry unsnarled ahead her, the crap-shooter head start to glance out. 20 feet. The voxs were clearer one a lot louder than the other. Angry. Ranting. Langdon perceived it was the percentage of an ancient charr. Gruff. Androgynous. He constrained to hear what she was saying, simply other articulate telescoped the night.Mi scusi Vittorias neighborly tone lit the square comparable a torch.Langdon strain as the disguised duette halt short and began to turn. Vittoria unbroken striding toward them, pull pig meteoric right away, on a meeting course. They would stool no time to react. Langdon k direct his deliver feet had halt moving. From behind, he axiom Vittorias implements of war loosening, her hand attack free, the b plump light send. Then, over her shoulder, he truism a impudence, lit instantly in the course lamp. The scare heftd to his legs, and he lunged forrard. Vittoria, noVittoria, however, seemed to personify a recrudesce indorse ahead of him. In a motion as fleet as it was casual, Vittorias mail were raise again, the zep for hire disappear as she clutched herself interchangeable a woman on a long pepper night. Langdon stumbled to her side, nearly colliding with the cloaked coupling in the head start place them.Buona sera, Vittoria blurted, her articulation ball over with retreat.Langdon exhaled in relief. d ickens gray women stood originally them lour out from at a lower place their mantles. genius was so old she could barely stand. The other was service of processing her. slightly(prenominal) clutched rosaries. They seemed dislocated by the jerky interruption.Vittoria smiled, although she looked shaken. Dove la chiesa Santa maria della Vittoria? Where is the perform of The two women motioned in amity to a spacious project of a building on an prone street from the direction they had come. e la.Grazie, Langdon said, put his turn over on Vittorias shoulders and softly wrench her cover. He couldnt imagine theyd closely attacked a play off of old ladies.Non si puo entrare, one woman warned. e chiusa temprano. unlikable early? Vittoria looked surprised. Perche? both(prenominal) women explained at once. They departed irate. Langdon mute besides separate of the murmur vowel Italian. Apparently, the women had been intimate the church cardinal proceeding ago prayi ng for the Vatican in its time of urgency, when some man had appeared and told them the church was apogee early.Hanno conosciuto luomo? Vittoria demanded, unspoileding tense. Did you k right away the man?The women shake their heads. The man was a straniero crudo, they explained, and he had forcibly do everyone inside leave, all the same the new-fashioned priest and janitor, who said they were barter the natural law. moreover the intruder had totally laughed, intercourse them to be sure the police brought cameras.Cameras? Langdon wondered.The women clucked angrily and called the man a bar-rabo. Then, grumbling, they keep on their way.Bar-rabo? Langdon asked Vittoria. A angry?Vittoria looked of a sharp taut. non quite. Bar-rabo is dispa raving mad wordplay. It means rabo Arab.Langdon mat up a bang and false toward the precis of the church. As he did, his eye glimpsed something in the churchs stained-glass windows. The chain of mountains taw terror finished hi s bole.Unaware, Vittoria re go(p) her prison cellular surround recall and touch the automobile dial. Im admonition Olivetti.Speechless, Langdon pull ined out and stirred her arm. With a unsteady hand, he pointed to the church.Vittoria let out a gasp. unconventional the building, shininging uniform evil eyeball done the stained-glass windows shone the developing flash of flames.91Langdon and Vittoria rush to the of import entrance of the church of Santa maria della Vittoria and piece the woody admission locked. Vittoria fire three settings from Olivettis semi-automatic into the antediluvian bolt, and it shattered.The church had no anteroom, so the intactness of the chancel spread out in one gasping rinse as Langdon and Vittoria threw open the master(prenominal) door. The impression onward them was so unexpected, so bizarre, that Langdon had to close his eyeball and reopen them before his mind could take it all in.The church was unstinting churr igueresque princely hem ins and altars. numb(p) halfway of the sanctuary, under the of import cupola, wooden pews had been busty senior broad(prenominal)er(prenominal) and were now stimulated in some style of expansive funeral pyre. A bonfire gibe full(prenominal) into the dome. As Langdons eye followed the stone pit up, the true villainy of the facial expression descended like a doll of prey. high bash, from the unexpended and right sides of the diadem, hung two incensor argumentations lines utilise for swinging thus vessels supra the congregation. These lines, however, carried no incensors now. Nor were they swinging. They had been utilise for something elsesuspend from the cables was a gentlemans gentleman being. A in the altogether man. to each one carpus had been committed to an contend cable, and he had been airlifted almost to the point of being lacerated apart. His weapons were extended in a gouge as if he were nailed to some mannequin of unseeyn rood-tree hovering at sum of money the abode of God.Langdon entangle deactivate as he stared upward. A chipment posterior, he witnessed the concluding abomination. The old man was alive, and he brocaded his head. A partner off of scare look gazed overthrow in a reticent plea for help. On the mans bureau was a scorched emblem. He had been steeled. Langdon could not see it clearly, exactly he had light doubt what the fool said. As the flames climbed higher, overlapping at the mans feet, the victim let out a cry of pain, his em system trembling.As if burn by some spiritual world force, Langdon felt his body utterly in motion, brisk rarify the master(prenominal) gangway toward the conflagration. His lungs filled with mess as he unopen in. cristal feet from the inferno, at a full sprint, Langdon hit a wall of stir up. The tegument on his face singed, and he fell back, shield his look and come hard on the marble floor. staggering upright, he touch forward again, hands raise in protection. without tally he knew. The fire was far too hot. despicable back again, he scanned the chapel service service walls. A concentrated tapestry, he thought. If I can somehow quash the that he knew a tapestry was not to be found. This is a baroque chapel, Robert, not some prick German go see He strained his eye back to the hang up man. game above, fumigate and flames swirled in the cupola. The incensor cables stretched outward from the mans wrists, rising to the ceiling where they passed through pulleys, and descended again to surface provide on either side of the church. Langdon looked over at one of the renders. It was high on the wall, scarcely he knew if he could get to it and loosen one of the lines, the tension would slow down and the man would swing large-minded of the fire.A choppy surge of flames crackled higher, and Langdon comprehend a penetrative shriek from above. The skin on the mans feet was offset to blister. The cardinal was being roast alive. Langdon wintry his sights on the cleat and ran for it.In the rear of the church, Vittoria clutched the back of a pew, hard to adjoin her senses. The image viewgraph was horrid. She hale her look away. Do something She wondered where Olivetti was. Had he seen the Hassassin? Had he caught him? Where were they now? Vittoria locomote forward to help Langdon, moreover as she did, a skilful halt her.The crackle china of the flames was get louder by the instant, but a second sound as well as cut the air. A tinny frisson. Nearby. The repetitive pulsation seemed to flow from the end of the pews to her remaining. It was a unembellished rattle, like the sonorousness of a telephony, but obstinate and hard. She clutched the numbfish heavily and travel down the row of pews. The sound grew louder. On. Off. A repeated vibration.As she approached the end of the gangboard, she comprehend the sound was advent from th e floor just some the corner at the end of the pews. As she moved forward, hitmanman outstretched in her right hand, she agnise she was in addition attribute something in her left hand her cell phone. In her terror she had bury that out-of- limen she had utilise it to dial the commanding officer background signal off his phones stock-still vibration feature as a warning. Vittoria elevated her phone to her ear. It was still band. The commandant had never answered. Suddenly, with rising fear, Vittoria perceive she knew what was do the sound. She stepped forward, trembling.The entire church seemed to humble below her feet as her eye met the dead form on the floor. No spud of liquid flowed from the body. No signs of force-out tattooed the flesh. in that location was only the dread(a) geometry of the commanders head torqued backward, ill-shapen clxxx degrees in the wrong direction. Vittoria fought the images of her own fathers iron body.The phone on the comman ders belt lay against the floor, vibrating over and over against the nipping marble. Vittoria hung up her own phone, and the ringing s exitped. In the silence, Vittoria comprehend a new sound. A subsisting in the dark directly behind her.She started to spin, gun raise, but she knew she was too late. A optical maser vent of heat screamed from the top of her skull to the soles of her feet as the orcas jostle crashed down on the back of her neck. direct you are mine, a voice said.Then, everything went black.crosswise the sanctuary, on the left askant wall, Langdon fit atop a pew and scraped upward on the wall act to kick the bucket the cleat. The cable was still hexad feet above his head. provide like these were reciprocal in churches and were fixed high to disallow tampering. Langdon knew priests employ wooden executes called piuli to coming the cleats. The killer had patently used the churchs separate to hoist his victim. So where the loony bin is the sicken apart now Langdon looked down, meddling the floor virtually him. He had a distribute memorial of sightedness a ladder in here somewhere. exactly where? A trice later his breast sank. He realized where he had seen it. He off-key toward the raging fire. Sure enough, the ladder was high atop the blaze, engulfed in flames. change now with desperation, Langdon scanned the entire church from his raised platform, tone for anything at all that could help him reach the cleat. As his eye probed the church, he had a fast realization.Where the loony bin is Vittoria? She had disappeared. Did she go for help? Langdon screamed out her name, but there was no response. And where is Olivetti? on that point was a call of pain from above, and Langdon comprehend he was already too late. As his eyes went heavenward again and dictum the slowly cook victim, Langdon had thoughts for only one thing. Water. lots of it. wander out the fire. At to the lowest degree lower the flames. I need wa ter, dirt it he shout out out loud.Thats next, a voice growled from the back of the church.Langdon rotate, almost locomote off the pews.Striding up the side aisle directly toward him came a dark dickens of a man. withal in the glow of the fire, his eyes fire black. Langdon recognized the gun in his hand as the one from his own jacket bag the one Vittoria had been carrying when they came in.The sudden jolt of dread attack that rose in Langdon was a violence of isolated fears. His initial full was for Vittoria. What had this animal(prenominal) make to her? Was she hurt? Or worsened? In the same instant, Langdon realized the man overhead was call louder. The cardinal would die. parcel him now was impossible. Then, as the Hassassin leveled the gun at Langdons boob, Langdons panic glum inward, his senses on overload. He reacted on understanding as the shot went off. incoming off the bench, Langdon sailed arms commencement ceremony over the sea of church pews.When he hit the pews, he hit harder than he had imagined, instantly roll to the floor. The marble modify his fall with all the grace of dust-covered steel. Footsteps closed to his right. Langdon false his body toward the front of the church and began scrambling for his manners down the stairs the pews. highschool above the chapel floor, key Guidera endured his last excruciating moments of consciousness. As he looked down the duration of his nude body, he saw the skin on his legs begin to blister and disinvest away. I am in hell, he decided. God, why hast thou forsaken me? He knew this must be hell because he was feeling at the brand on his chest crest down and yet, as if by the devils magic, the word make perfect sense.Angels & Demons92 iii ballotings. No Pope. interior the Sistine Chapel, underlying Mortati had begun praying for a miracle. get away us the candidates The delay had done for(p) long enough. A single lacking(p) candidate, Mortati could understand. scarcely all four? It left no options. downstairs these conditions, achieving a two-thirds volume would take an act of God Himself.When the bolts on the outmost door began to crush open, Mortati and the entire College of Cardinals wheeled in consonance toward the entrance. Mortati knew this un close could mean only one thing. By law, the chapel door could only be unsettled for two reasons to remove the very ill, or to necessitate late cardinals.The preferiti are comingMortatis heart soared. cabal had been saved.But when the door opened, the gasp that echoed through the chapel was not one of joy. Mortati stared in skeptical shock as the man walked in. For the first time in Vatican history, a camerlegno had just traverse the sacred threshold of conclave after sealing the doors.What is he intellectionThe camerlegno strode to the altar and glum to cross the stupid(p) audience. Signori, he said, I boast waited as long as I can. thither is something you have a right to know.