explosions, and was stunned to see that only blazing stumps remained of his three guard towers. The commander of the KGB detachment raced down to him on his vehicle. Were under attack, the officer said unnecessarily, Get your men togetherright here. Pokryshkin looked up to see running men. They were dressed in Soviet uniforms, but somehow he knew that they were Page 379 not Russians. The General climbed into the back of the jeep and brought the machine gun around over the head of the astonished KGB officer. The first time h ray ban 3044 e pressed the trigger nothing happened, and he had to ratchet a round into the chamber. The second time, Pokryshkin had the satisfaction of watching three men fall. The guar ray ban 3044 d force commander needed no further encouragement. He barked rapid orders into his radio. The
Langdon pushed th ray ban 3044 rough the revolving door. Captain of the Central Directorate Judicial Police. His tone was fittinga guttural rumble... like a gathering storm. Langdon held out his hand to shake. Robert Langdon. Faches enormous palm wrapped around Langdons with crushing force. I saw the photo, Langdon said. Your agent said Jacques Saunière himself did Mr. Langdon, Faches ebony eyes locked on. What you see in the photo is only the beginning of what Saunière did. CHAPTER 4 Captain Bezu Fache carried himself like an angry ox, with his wide shoulders thrown ba ray ban 3044 ck and his chin tucked hard into his chest. His dark hair was slicked back with oil, accentuating an arrow-like widows peak that divided his jutting brow and preceded him like the prow of a battleship. As he advanced, his dark eyes
about? Princess... Her grandfathers voice cracked with an emotion Sophie could not place. I know Ive kept things from you, and I kn ray ban 3044 ow it has cost me your love. But it was for your own safety. Now you must know the truth. Please, I must tell you the truth about your family. Sophie suddenly could hear her own heart. My family? Sophies parents had died when she was only four. Their car went off a bridge into fast-moving water. Her grandmother and younger brother had also been in the car, and Sophies entire family had been erased i ray ban 3044 n an instant. She had a box of newspaper clippings to confirm it. His words had sent an unexpected surge of longing through her bones. My family! In that fleeting instant, Sophie saw images from the dream that had awoken her countless times when she was a little girl
night. As they ran across the plaza to Sophies car, Langdon could hear police sirens wailing in the distance. Thats it there, Sophie called, pointing to a red snub-nosed two-seater parked on the plaza. Shes kidding, right? The vehicle was easily the smallest car Langdon had ever seen. SmartCar, she said. A hundred kilometers to the liter. Langdon had bar ray ban 3044 ely thrown himself into the passenger seat before Sophie gunned the SmartCar up and over a curb ray ban 3044 onto a gravel divider. He gripped the dash as the car shot out across a sidewalk and bounced back down over into the small rotary at Carrousel du Louvre. For an instant, Sophie seemed to consider taking the shortcut across the rotary by plowing straight ahead, through the medians perimeter hedge, and bisecting the large circle of grass in the
Sophie and Langdon sat down on the metal floor. Langdon cradled ray ban 3044 the treasure wadded in his tweed jacket. Swinging the heavy doors closed, Vernet locked them inside. Then he got in behind the wheel and revved the engine. As the armored truck lumbered toward the top of the ramp, Vernet could feel the sweat already collecting beneath his drive ray ban 3044 rs cap. He could see there were far more police lights in front than he had imagined. As the truck powered up the ramp, the interior gate swung inward to let him pass. Vernet advanced and waited while the gate behind him closed before pulling forward and tripping the next sensor. The second gate opened, and the exit beckoned. Except for the police car blocking the top of the ramp. Vernet dabbed his brow and pulled forward. A lanky officer stepped out and
crackly. The bishops daily schedule showed him in New York this weekend, and yet he sounded a world away. The receptionist shrugged it off. Bishop Aringarosa had been acting very strangely the last few months. My cellular phone must not have been receiving, Aringarosa thought as the Fiat approached the exit for Romes Ciampino Charter Airport. The Teacher was trying ray ban 3044 to reach me. Despite Aringarosas concern at having missed the call, he felt encouraged that the Teacher felt confident enough to call Opus Dei headquarters directly. Things must have gone well in Paris tonight. As Aringarosa began dialing the number, he felt excited to kn ray ban 3044 ow he would soon be in Paris. Ill be on the ground before dawn. Aringarosa had a chartered turbo prop awaiting him here for the short flight to France.
Langdon had made this same point in a class lecture earlier this semester. Is it surprising we feel conflicted about sex? he asked his students. Our ancient heritage and our very physiologies tell us sex is naturala cherished route to spiritual fulfillmentand yet modern religion decries ray ban 3044 it as shameful, teaching us to fear our sexual desire as the hand of the devil. Langdon decided not to shock his students with the fact that more than a dozen secret societies around the worldmany of them quite influentialstill practiced sex rites and kept the ancient traditions alive. Tom Cruises character in the film Eyes Wide Shut discovered this the hard way when he sneaked into a private gathering of ultraelite Manhattanites only to find himself witnessing Hieros Gamos. Sadly, ray ban 3044 the filmmakers had gotten
noticed it immediately. Jacques Saunière was being bugged. He looked at the rest of the list again. How could anyone possibly manage to bug these prominent people? Have you heard any of the audio files? A few. Heres one of the most recent. Th ray ban 3044 e agent clicked a few computer keys. The speakers crackled to life. Capitaine, un agent du Département de Cryptographie est arrivé. Collet could not believe his ears. Thats me! Thats my voice! He recalled sitting at Saunières desk and radioing Fache in the Grand Gallery to alert him of Sophie Neveus arrival. The agent nodded. A lot of our Louvre investigation tonight would have been audible if someone had been interested. Have you sent anyone in to sweep for the bug? No ray ban 3044 need. I know exactly where it is. The agent went to a pile of old notes and