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CHAPTER 10

Silas sat behind the wheel of the black Audi the Teacher had arranged for hireat Church of Saint-Sulpice Lit frohts, the church’s two bell towers rose like stalwart sentinels above the building’s long body On either flank, a shado of sleek buttresses jutted out like the ribs of a beautiful beast

The heathens used a house of God to conceal their keystoneAgain the brotherhood had confirendary reputation for illusion and deceit Silas was looking forward to finding the keystone and giving it to the Teacher so they could recover what the brotherhood had long ago stolen from the faithful

Hoerful that willthe Audi on the deserted Place Saint-Sulpice, Silas exhaled, telling himself to clear his mind for the task at hand His broad back still ached from the corporal mortification he had endured earlier today, and yet the pain was inconsequential couish of his life before Opus Dei had saved him

Still, the memories haunted his soul

Release your hatred, Silas coainst you

Looking up at the stone towers of Saint-Sulpice, Silas fought that faed his ain in the prison that had been his world as a young atory came as they always did, like a tee, the stench of death, huainst the howling wind of the Pyrenees and the soft sobs of forgotten hten

Incredibly, it was in that barren and forsaken suzerain between Spain and France, shivering in his stone cell, wanting only to die, that Silas had been saved

He had not realized it at the ti after the thunder

His nah he didn’t recall the naiven him He had left home when he was seven His drunken father, a burly dockworker, enraged by the arrival of an albino son, beat hiscondition When the boy tried to defend her, he too was badly beaten

One night, there was a horrific fight, and his ot up The boy stood over his lifeless uilt for per it to happen

This is my fault!

As if so his body, the boy walked to the kitchen and grasped a butcher knife Hypnotically, he moved to the bedroom where his father lay on the bed in a drunken stupor Without a word, the boy stabbed him in the back His father cried out in pain and tried to roll over, but his son stabbed hiain, over and over until the apartment fell quiet

The boy fled home but found the streets of Marseilles equally unfriendly His strange appearancerunaways, and he was forced to live alone in the base stolen fruit and raw fish froazines he found in the trash, and he taught hi When he elve, another drifter - a girl twice his age - mocked hiirl found herself pummeled to within inches of her life When the authorities pulled the boy off her, they gave hio to juvenile prison

The boy moved down the coast to Toulon Over time, the looks of pity on the streets turned to looks of fear The boy had grown to a powerful youngto one another A ghost, they would say, their eyes ith fright as they stared at his white skin A ghost with the eyes of a devil!

And he felt like a ghost transparent floating froh hi to steal a case of cured haht by a pair of crewan to beat him smelled of beer, just as his father had The memories of fear and hatred surfaced like aman broke the first sailor’s neck with his bare hands, and only the arrival of the police saved the second sailor from a similar fate

Two months later, in shackles, he arrived at a prison in Andorra

You are as white as a ghost, the inuards marched him in, naked and cold

Mira el espectro! Perhaps the ghost will pass right through these walls!

Over the course of twelve years, his flesh and soul withered until he knew he had becohost

I ahtless

Yo soy un espectropalido coma una fantasht the ghost awoke to the screams of other in the floor on which he slept, nor whatthe e boulder toppled onto the very spot where he had been sleeping Looking up to see where the stone had co wall, and beyond it, a vision he had not seen in over ten years The host found hi out into an expansive vista, and tu down a barren ht, always doard, delirious with hunger and exhaustion

Skirting the edges of consciousness, he found hi where train tracks cut a swath across the forest Following the rails, he ht car, he crawled in for shelter and rest When he awoke the train was ut Aain This ti hiht car Bloody, he wandered the outskirts of a s in vain for food Finally, his body too weak to take another step, he lay down by the side of the road and slipped into unconsciousness

The light ca he had been dead A day? Three days? It didn’t matter His bed was soft like a cloud, and the air around hi down at him I am here, Jesus said The stone has been rolled aside, and you are born again

He slept and awoke Fog shrouded his thoughts He had never believed in heaven, and yet Jesus atching over hihost ate it, al on his bones He slept again When he awoke, Jesus was still s You are saved, ain, he slept

It was a screahost froered down a hallway toward the sounds of shouting He entered into a kitchen and saw a large rabbed the large ainst a wall Theman in priest’s robes The priest had a badly shattered nose Lifting the bloody priest, the ghost carried him to a couch

"Thank you, my friend," the priest said in aard French "The offertoryfor thieves You speak French in your sleep Do you also speak Spanish?"

The ghost shook his head

"What is your nahost could not reiven hiuards

The priest sarosa I am a missionary from Madrid I was sent here to build a church for the Obra de Dios" "Where am I?" His voice sounded hollow" Oviedo In the north of Spain"

"How did I get here?"

"Someone left you on my doorstep You were ill I fed you You’ve been herecaretaker Years had passed since anyone had shown any kindness "Thank you, Father"

The priest touched his bloody lip "It is I who ahost awoke in the azed up at the crucifix on the wall above his bed Although it no longer spoke to hi up, he was surprised to find a newspaper clipping on his bedside table The article was in French, a week old When he read the story, he filled with fear It told of an earthquake in the erous cri The priest knoho I am! The emotion he felt was one he had not felt for so caught He jumped from his bed Where do I run?

"The Book of Acts," a voice said fro priest was sed, and he was holding out an old Bible "I found one in French for you The chapter is host took the Bible and looked at the chapter the priest had marked

Acts 16

The verses told of a prisoner na hyasped in shock

" And suddenly, there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and all the doors fell open"

His eyes shot up at the priest

The priest smiled warmly "From now on, my friend, if you have no other nahost nodded blankly SilasHe had been given flesh My name is Silas

"It’s tith if you are to help me build this church"

Twenty thousand feet above the Mediterranean, Alitalia flight 1618 bounced in turbulence, causing passengers to shift nervously Bishop Aringarosa barely noticed His thoughts ith the future of Opus Dei Eager to kno plans in Paris were progressing, he wished he could phone Silas But he could not The Teacher had seen to that

"It is for your own safety," the Teacher had explained, speaking in English with a French accent "I ah with electronic communications to know they can be intercepted The results could be disastrous for you"

Aringarosa kneas right The Teacher seemed an exceptionally careful arosa, and yet he had proven hi After all, he had somehow obtained very secret information The names of the brotherhood’s fourtop members! This had been one of the coups that convinced the bishop the Teacher was truly capable of delivering the astonishing prize he claimed he could unearth

"Bishop," the Teacher had told hiements For my plan to succeed, you must allow Silas to answer only to me for several days The two of you will not speak I will coh secure channels"

"You will treat hihest"

"Excellent Then I understand Silas and I shall not speak until this is over"

"I do this to protect your identity, Silas’s identity, and erness to keep abreast of progress puts you in jail, then you will be unable to pay me my fee"

The bishop smiled "A fine point Our desires are in accord Godspeed"

Twentyout the plane’sThe sum was approximately the sa so powerful

He felt a renewed confidence that the Teacher and Silas would not fail Money and faith were powerful motivators

CHAPTER 11

"Une plaisanterie nu at Sophie Neveu in disbelief A numeric joke?" Your professional assessment of Sauniere’s code is that it is some kind of mathematical prank?"

Fache was in utter incoall Not only had she just barged in on Fache without per to convince him that Sauniere, in his final ?