'Angels Demons Chapter 24-27\r'

'24\r\nThe pledge technician held his breath as his air force officer leaned everyplace his shoulder, studying the bank of warrantor monitors forwards them. A minute passed.\r\nThe commanding officers silence was to be expected, the technician told himself. The commander was a man of rigid protocol. He had non risen to command one of the worlds roughly(prenominal) elite security forces by talking startle and thinking second.\r\n except what is he thinking?\r\nThe demiseeavor they were pondering on the monitor was a screwingister shot of some sort †a canister with downright sides. That much was easy. It was the rest that was difficult.\r\nInside the container, as if by some special effect, a sm totally droplet of tinny liquid seemed to be floating in midair. The droplet appe bed and disappeared in the robotic red blinking of a digital light-emitting diode descending resolutely, making the technicians skin crawl.\r\nâ€Å"Can you mitigate the contrast?” the commander asked, startling the technician.\r\nThe technician heeded the instruction, and the image lightened somewhat. The commander leaned forward, squinting closer at something that had just infer visible on the base of the container.\r\nThe technician followed his commanders gaze. Ever so faintly, printed next to the LED was an acronym. Four capital garner gleaming in the intermittent spurts of light.\r\nâ€Å"Stay present,” the commander said. â€Å"Say nonhing. Ill handle this.”\r\n25\r\nHaz-Mat. Fifty meters beneath ground.\r\nVittoria Vetra stumbled forward, virtually falling into the retina scan. She nose exposed the American boot to divine service her, holding her, supporting her weight. On the base at her feet, her takes eyeball stared up. She mat up the air grim from her lungs. They swing music egress his eye! Her world twisted. Kohler touch close behind, speaking. Langdon guided her. As if in a dream, she engraft herself gazing into the retina scan. The mechanism beeped.\r\nThe door slid open.\r\n even out with the bane of her nonpluss eye boring into her soul, Vittoria sensed an additional plague awaited inside. When she leveled her blurry gaze into the room, she confirmed the next chapter of the nightmare. Before her, the solitary recharging podium was change.\r\nThe canister was gone. They had extirpation fall out her contracts eye to steal it. The implications came also warm for her to richy comprehend. Everything had backfired. The model that was supposed to prove antimatter was a safe and viable energy source had been stolen. entirely nobody k sore this specimen even existed! The honor, however, was undeniable. Someone had found out. Vittoria could non imagine who. Even Kohler, whom they said knew everything at CERN, clearly had no idea active the project.\r\nHer induce was dead. Murdered for his genius.\r\nAs the trouble strafed her heart, a new emotion surged into Vittorias conscious. This one was far worsened. Crushing. Stabbing at her. The emotion was guilt. Uncontrollable, relentless guilt. Vittoria knew it had been she who convinced her perplex to acquire the specimen. Against his better judgment. And he had been killed for it.\r\nA shadower of a gram…\r\nLike every engineering †fire, gunpowder, the fire engine †in the wrong hands, antimatter could be deadly. real deadly. Antimatter was a lethal sleeve. Potent, and unstoppable. Once removed from its recharging political platform at CERN, the canister would count down inexorably. A runaway train.\r\nAnd when time ran out…\r\nA blatant light. The roar of thunder. Spontaneous incineration. Just the flash… and an empty crater. A big empty crater.\r\nThe image of her fathers tranquillise genius being used as a tool of destruction was worry poison in her blood. Antimatter was the ultimate terrorist weapon. It had no metallic parts to gaffe metal detectors, no chemical signature for dogs to trace, no fuse to deactivate if the authorities located the canister. The countdown had begun…\r\nLangdon didnt spot what else to do. He took his handkerchief and lay it on the base over da Vinci Vetras eyeball. Vittoria was standing now in the doorway of the empty Haz-Mat chamber, her expression wrought with grief and panic. Langdon moved toward her again, instinctively, precisely Kohler intervened.\r\nâ€Å"Mr. Langdon?” Kohlers face was expressionless. He motioned Langdon out of earshot. Langdon reluctantly followed, leaving Vittoria to fend for herself. â€Å"Youre the medical specialist,” Kohler said, his whisper intense. â€Å"I demand to shaft what these Illuminati bastards intend to do with this antimatter.”\r\nLangdon well-tried to focus. Despite the madness around him, his first reaction was logical. Academic rejection. Kohler was still making assumptions. Impossible assumptions. â€Å"The Illuminati are defunct, Mr. Kohler. I stand by that. This crime could be anything †maybe even some opposite CERN employee who found out about Mr. Vetras breakthrough and thought the project was too dangerous to continue.”\r\nKohler looked stunned. â€Å"You think this is a crime of conscience, Mr. Langdon? Absurd. Whoever killed Leonardo wanted one thing †the antimatter specimen. And no head they digest plans for it.”\r\nâ€Å"You esteem terrorism.”\r\nâ€Å"Plainly.”\r\nâ€Å" save the Illuminati were non terrorists.”\r\nâ€Å" sort out that to Leonardo Vetra.”\r\nLangdon snarl a pang of truth in the statement. Leonardo Vetra had indeed been brand with the Illuminati symbol. Where had it cum from? The sacred brand seemed too difficult a hoax for mortal trying to cover his tracks by casting suspicion elsewhere. There had to be another explanation.\r\nAgain, Langdon forced himself to consider the implausible. If the Illuminati were still active, and if they sto le the antimatter, what would be their intention? What would be their target? The answer equipped by his brain was instantaneous. Langdon dismissed it just as fast. True, the Illuminati had an obvious enemy, unless a wide-scale terrorist attack against that enemy was inconceivable. It was entirely out of character. Yes, the Illuminati had killed people, scarce individuals, carefully conscripted targets. stilt destruction was somehow levelheaded-handed. Langdon paused. Then again, he thought, at that place would be a rather majestic suaveness to it †antimatter, the ultimate scientific achievement, being used to aviate â€\r\nHe refused to accept the preposterous thought. â€Å"There is,” he said suddenly, â€Å"a logical explanation other than terrorism.”\r\nKohler stared, obviously waiting.\r\nLangdon tried to sort out the thought. The Illuminati had forever wielded tremendous power through fiscal means. They controlled banks. They owned gold bullion. They were even rumored to possess the single most valuable gem on earth †the Illuminati Diamond, a flawless diamond of enormous proportions. â€Å"Money,” Langdon said. â€Å"The antimatter could have been stolen for financial gain.”\r\nKohler looked incredulous. â€Å"Financial gain? Where does one sell a droplet of antimatter?”\r\nâ€Å"not the specimen,” Langdon countered. â€Å"The technology. Antimatter technology must be price a mint. Maybe someone stole the specimen to do analysis and R and D.”\r\nâ€Å"Industrial espionage? But that canister has twenty-four hours before the batteries die. The researchers would blow themselves up before they learned anything at all.”\r\nâ€Å"They could recharge it before it explodes. They could build a compatible recharging podium desire the ones here at CERN.”\r\nâ€Å"In twenty-four hours?” Kohler challenged. â€Å"Even if they stole the schematics, a recharger like that would take months to engineer, not hours!”\r\nâ€Å"Hes right.” Vittorias share was frail.\r\nBoth men turned. Vittoria was moving toward them, her yard as tremulous as her words.\r\nâ€Å"Hes right. Nobody could shiner engineer a recharger in time. The interface save when if would take weeks. Flux filters, servo-coils, power conditioning alloys, all calibrated to the specific energy grade of the locale.”\r\nLangdon frowned. The direct was taken. An antimatter trap was not something one could simply ballyhoo into a wall socket. Once removed from CERN, the canister was on a one-way, twenty-four-hour trip to oblivion.\r\nWhich left only one, very disturbing, conclusion.\r\nâ€Å"We fatality to call Interpol,” Vittoria said. Even to herself, her utterance sounded distant. â€Å"We need to call the proper authorities. Immediately.”\r\nKohler shook his head. â€Å" dead not.”\r\nThe words stunned her. â€Å"No? What do you mean?”\r\nâ €Å"You and your father have effectuate me in a very difficult position here.”\r\nâ€Å"Director, we need help. We need to suffer that trap and get it back here before someone gets hurt. We have a certificate of indebtedness!”\r\nâ€Å"We have a responsibility to think,” Kohler said, his tone hardening. â€Å"This web site could have very, very serious repercussions for CERN.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre worried about CERNs story? Do you know what that canister could do to an urban area? It has a blast universal gas constant of a half mile! Nine metropolis blocks!”\r\nâ€Å"Perhaps you and your father should have considered that before you realized the specimen.”\r\nVittoria snarl like shed been stabbed. â€Å"But… we took every precaution.”\r\nâ€Å"Apparently, it was not enough.”\r\nâ€Å"But nobody knew about the antimatter.” She realized, of course, it was an absurd argument. Of course soul knew. Someone had found out.\r\nVittoria had told no one. That left only two explanations. Either her father had taken someone into his confidence without give notice (of)ing her, which made no sense because it was her father who had sworn them both to secrecy, or she and her father had been monitored. The cell earphone maybe? She knew they had spoken a few times while Vittoria was traveling. Had they said too much? It was possible. There was also their E-mail. But they had been discreet, hadnt they? CERNs security system? Had they been monitored somehow without their knowledge? She knew none of that mattered anymore. What was done, was done. My father is dead.\r\nThe thought spurred her to action. She pulled her cell phone from her shorts pocket.\r\nKohler deepen toward her, coughing violently, eyes flashing anger. â€Å"Who… are you commerce?”\r\nâ€Å"CERNs switchboard. They can connect us to Interpol.”\r\nâ€Å"Think!” Kohler choked, screeching to a halt in front of her . â€Å"argon you really so naive? That canister could be anywhere in the world by now. No intelligence agency on earth could by chance mobilize to find it in time.”\r\nâ€Å"So we do nothing?” Vittoria felt compunction challenging a man in such frail health, but the director was so far out of withdraw she didnt even know him anymore.\r\n â€Å"We do what is smart,” Kohler said. â€Å"We dont risk CERNs re castation by involving authorities who cannot help anyway. Not yet. Not without thinking.”\r\nVittoria knew there was logic somewhere in Kohlers argument, but she also knew that logic, by definition, was bereft of virtuous responsibility. Her father had lived for moral responsibility †careful science, accountability, faith in mans inherent soundlyness. Vittoria cogitated in those things too, but she saw them in terms of karma. Turning away from Kohler, she snapped open her phone.\r\nâ€Å"You cant do that,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"Just try a nd stop me.”\r\nKohler did not move.\r\nAn instant later, Vittoria realized why. This far underground, her cell phone had no dial tone.\r\nFuming, she headed for the elevator.\r\n26\r\nThe Hassassin stood at the end of the stone tunnel. His torch still burned bright, the booby mixing with the smell of moss and stale air. Silence meet him. The iron door blocking his way looked as old as the tunnel itself, rusted but still holding strong. He waited in the darkness, trusting.\r\nIt was almost time.\r\nJanus had promised someone on the inside would open the door. The Hassassin marveled at the betrayal. He would have waited all night at that door to carry out his task, but he sensed it would not be necessary. He was running(a) for determined men.\r\nMinutes later, exactly at the found hour, there was a loud clank of heavy keys on the other side of the door. Metal scraped on metal as multiple locks disengaged. One by one, terce huge deadbolts ground open. The locks creaked as i f they had not been used in centuries. Finally all three were open.\r\nThen there was silence.\r\nThe Hassassin waited patiently, five minutes, exactly as he had been told. Then, with electricity in his blood, he pushed. The heavy(p) door swung open.\r\n27\r\nâ€Å"Vittoria, I will not allow it!” Kohlers breath was labored and getting worse as the Haz-Mat elevator ascended.\r\nVittoria blocked him out. She craved sanctuary, something known in this place that no longer felt like home. She knew it was not to be. Right now, she had to swallow the disquiet and act. Get to a phone.\r\nRobert Langdon was beside her, silent as usual. Vittoria had apt(p) up wondering who the man was. A specialist? Could Kohler be any less specific? Mr. Langdon can help us find your fathers killer. Langdon was being no help at all. His warmth and mentalness seemed genuine, but he was clearly hiding something. They both were.\r\nKohler was at her again. â€Å"As director of CERN, I have a respons ibility to the future of science. If you amplify this into an international incident and CERN suffers †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Future of science?” Vittoria turned on him. â€Å"Do you really plan to escape accountability by neer admitting this antimatter came from CERN? Do you plan to ignore the peoples lives weve put in danger?”\r\nâ€Å"Not we,” Kohler countered. â€Å"You. You and your father.”\r\nVittoria looked away.\r\nâ€Å"And as far as endangering lives,” Kohler said, â€Å"life is exactly what this is about. You know antimatter technology has enormous implications for life on this planet. If CERN goes bankrupt, destroyed by scandal, everybody loses. Mans future is in the hands of places like CERN, scientists like you and your father, written reporting to solve tomorrows problems.”\r\nVittoria had hear Kohlers recognition-as-God lecture before, and she never bought it. Science itself caused half the problems it was trying to solve . â€Å"Progress” was suffer Earths ultimate malignancy.\r\nâ€Å"Scientific advancement carries risk,” Kohler argued. â€Å"It always has. stead programs, genetic research, medicine †they all make mistakes. Science needs to survive its own blunders, at any cost. For everyones sake.”\r\nVittoria was amazed at Kohlers ability to weigh moral issues with scientific detachment. His intellect seemed to be the product of an fixed divorce from his inner spirit. â€Å"You think CERN is so precise to the earths future that we should be immune from moral responsibility?”\r\nâ€Å"Do not argue morals with me. You get crosswise a line when you made that specimen, and you have put this entire facility at risk. Im trying to cherish not only the jobs of the three thousand scientists who work here, but also your fathers reputation. Think about him. A man like your father does not deserve to be remembered as the creator of a weapon of mass destruction.”\r \nVittoria felt his spear hit home. I am the one who convinced my father to create that specimen. This is my fault!\r\nWhen the door opened, Kohler was still talking. Vittoria stepped out of the elevator, pulled out her phone, and tried again.\r\nStill no dial tone. anathematize! She headed for the door.\r\nâ€Å"Vittoria, stop.” The director sounded asthmatic now, as he intensify aft(prenominal) her. â€Å"Slow down. We need to talk.”\r\nâ€Å"Basta di parlare!”\r\nâ€Å"Think of your father,” Kohler urged. â€Å"What would he do?”\r\nShe kept going.\r\nâ€Å"Vittoria, I havent been totally straight with you.”\r\nVittoria felt her legs slow.\r\nâ€Å"I dont know what I was thinking,” Kohler said. â€Å"I was just trying to protect you. Just tell me what you want. We need to work together here.”\r\nVittoria came to a full stop halfway across the lab, but she did not turn. â€Å"I want to find the antimatter. And I want to know who killed my father.” She waited.\r\nKohler sighed. â€Å"Vittoria, we already know who killed your father. Im sorry.”\r\nNow Vittoria turned. â€Å"You what?”\r\nâ€Å"I didnt know how to tell you. Its a difficult †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"You know who killed my father?”\r\nâ€Å"We have a very good idea, yes. The killer left somewhat of a calling card. Thats the reason I called Mr. Langdon. The company claiming responsibility is his specialty.”\r\nâ€Å"The group? A terrorist group?”\r\nâ€Å"Vittoria, they stole a quarter gram of antimatter.”\r\nVittoria looked at Robert Langdon standing there across the room. Everything began falling into place. That explains some of the secrecy. She was amazed it hadnt occurred to her earlier. Kohler had called the authorities after all. The authorities. Now it seemed obvious. Robert Langdon was American, clean-cut, conservative, obviously very sharp. Who else could it be? Vittoria should ha ve guessed from the start. She felt a newfound hope as she turned to him.\r\nâ€Å"Mr. Langdon, I want to know who killed my father. And I want to know if your agency can find the antimatter.”\r\nLangdon looked flustered. â€Å"My agency?”\r\nâ€Å"Youre with U.S. Intelligence, I assume.”\r\nâ€Å"Actually… no.”\r\nKohler intervened. â€Å"Mr. Langdon is a professor of art history at Harvard University.”\r\nVittoria felt like she had been doused with ice water. â€Å"An art teacher?”\r\nâ€Å"He is a specialist in cult symbology.” Kohler sighed. â€Å"Vittoria, we believe your father was killed by a satanic cult.”\r\nVittoria hear the words in her mind, but she was unable to surgical operation them. A satanic cult.\r\nâ€Å"The group claiming responsibility calls themselves the Illuminati.”\r\nVittoria looked at Kohler and then at Langdon, wondering if this was some kind of perverse joke. â€Å"The Illuminati?â⠂¬Â she demanded. â€Å"As in the Bavarian Illuminati?”\r\nKohler looked stunned. â€Å"Youve heard of them?”\r\nVittoria felt the tears of frustration welling right down the stairs the surface. â€Å"Bavarian Illuminati: New World Order. Steve Jackson figurer ventures. Half the techies here play it on the Internet.” Her voice cracked. â€Å"But I dont understand…”\r\nKohler shot Langdon a confused look.\r\nLangdon nodded. â€Å"Popular game. Ancient brotherhood takes over the world. Semihistorical. I didnt know it was in Europe too.”\r\nVittoria was bewildered. â€Å"What are you talking about? The Illuminati? Its a computer game!”\r\nâ€Å"Vittoria,” Kohler said, â€Å"the Illuminati is the group claiming responsibility for your fathers death.”\r\nVittoria mustered every bit of courageousness she could find to fight the tears. She forced herself to hold on and assess the situation logically. But the harder she focus ed, the less she understood. Her father had been murdered. CERN had suffered a major breach of security. There was a bomb counting down somewhere that she was prudent for. And the director had nominated an art teacher to help them find a mythical fraternity of Satanists.\r\nVittoria felt suddenly all alone. She turned to go, but Kohler cut her off. He reached for something in his pocket. He produced a crumble piece of fax paper and handed it to her.\r\nVittoria swayed in horror as her eyes hit the image.\r\nâ€Å"They branded him,” Kohler said. â€Å"They branded his goddamn chest.”\r\n'