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CHAPTER 84

In a rubbish-strewn alley very close to Teuar limousine to a stop behind a row of industrial waste bins Killing the engine, he checked the area Deserted He got out of the car, walked toward the rear, and climbed back into the limousine’sReed froRemy had been impressed with this trussed les in the Range Rover, the iven over his fate to a higher power

Loosening his bow tie, Re-tipped collar and felt as if he could breathe for the first time in years He went to the limousine’s wet bar, where he poured hile s and followed it with a second

Soon I will be athe bar, Remy found a standard service wine-opener and flicked open the sharp blade The knife was usually employed to slice the lead foil from corks on fine bottles of wine, but it would serve a farRe blade

Now those red eyes flashed fear

Remy smiled and moved toward the back of the liainst his bonds

"Be still," Re the blade

Silas could not believe that God had forsaken hi bound Silas had turned into a spiritual exercise, asking the throb of his blood-starved muscles to re all night for liberationNow, as the knife descended, Silas clenched his eyes shut

A slash of pain tore through his shoulder blades He cried out, unable to believe he was going to die here in the back of this li God’s workTheTeacher said he would protectacross his back and shoulders and could picture his own blood, spilling out over his flesh A piercing pain cut through his thighs now, and he felt the onset of that familiar undertow of disorientation - the body’s defenseheat tore through all of his hter, detere of his life would not be of his own killer Instead he pictured a younger Bishop Aringarosa, standing before the small church in Spain the church that he and Silas had built with their own hands The beginning of my life

Silas felt as if his body were on fire

"Take a drink," the tuxedoed man whispered, his accent French "It will help with your circulation"

Silas’s eyes flew open in surprise A blurry ilass of liquid A mound of shredded duct tape lay on the floor beside the bloodless knife

"Drink this," he repeated "The pain you feel is the blood rushing into yournow to a prickling sting The vodka tasted terrible, but he drank it, feeling grateful Fate had dealt Silas a healthy share of bad luck tonight, but God had solved it all with one miraculous twist

God has not forsaken arosa would call it

Divine intervention

"I had wanted to free you earlier," the servant apologized," but it was i at Chateau Villette, and then at Biggin Hill airport, this was the first possible moment You understand, don’t you, Silas?"

Silas recoiled, startled "You knowhis stiff muscles, his emotions a torrent of incredulity, appreciation, and confusion "Are you the Teacher?"

Re at the proposition "I wish I had that kind of power No, I am not the Teacher Like you, I serve hihly of you My name is Remy"

Silas was amazed "I don’t understand If you work for the Teacher, why did Langdon bring the keystone to your home?"

"Not my home The hoh Teabing" "But you live there The odds" Re to have no trouble with the apparent coincidence of Langdon’s chosen refuge "It was all utterly predictable Robert Langdon was in possession of the keystone, and he needed help What ? That I happen to live there is why the Teacher approached me in the first place" He paused "How do you think the Teacher knows so much about the Grail?"

Now it dawned, and Silas was stunned The Teacher had recruited a servant who had access to all of Sir Leigh Teabing’s research It was brilliant

"There isSilas the loaded Heckler Koch pistol Then he reached through the open partition and retrieved a slove box "But first, you and I have a job to do"

Captain Fache descended froin Hill and listened in disbelief to the Kent chief inspector’s account of what had happened in Teabing’s hangar

"I searched the plane myself," the inspector insisted," and there was no one inside" His tone turned haughty "And I should add that if Sir Leigh Teabing presses charges against ate the pilot?"

"Of course not He is French, and our jurisdiction requires - "Take ar, Fache needed only sixty seconds to locate an anomalous smear of blood on the pavement near where the limousine had been parked Fache walked up to the plane and rapped loudly on the fuselage

"This is the captain of the French Judicial Police Open the door!" The terrified pilot opened the hatch and lowered the stairs Fache ascended Three minutes later, with the help of his sidear a description of the bound albino don and Sophie leave so’s safe, a wooden box of so as in the box, he addon’s full attention during the flight to London

"Open the safe," Fache demanded

The pilot looked terrified "I don’t know the co to offer to let you keep your pilot’s license"

The pilot wrung his hands "I know some men in maintenance here Maybe they could drill it?" "You have half an hour" The pilot leapt for his radio

Fache strode to the back of the plane and poured himself a hard drink It was early, but he had not yet slept, so this hardly counted as drinking before noon Sitting in a plush bucket seat, he closed his eyes, trying to sort out as going on The Kent police’s blunder could cost uar li, and he wished for a moment’s peace "Allo?" "I’arosa "I’ll be arriving in an hour" Fache sat up "I thought you were going to Paris" "I aed my plans" "You should not have" "Do you have Silas?"

"No His captors eluded the local police before I landed"

Aringarosa’s anger rang sharply "You assured me you would stop that plane!"

Fache lowered his voice "Bishop, considering your situation, I recommend you not test my patience today I will find Silas and the others as soon as possible Where are you landing?"

"One arosa covered the receiver and then caet clearance at Heathrow I’er, but our redirect was unscheduled"

"Tell hiet him clearance If I’ for you"

"Thank you"

"As I expressed e first spoke, Bishop, you would do well to re everything"

CHAPTER 85

You seek the orb that ought be on his tohts within the Teular stone pillow Sophie felt a chill The poeht in her grandfather’s basement

Hieros Gamos The orbs

Sophie wondered if the ritual had been performed in this very sanctuary The circular rooan rite A stone pew encircled a bare expanse of floor in the middle A theater in the round, as Robert had called it She iht, filled witha" sacred co the i toward the first group of knights Despite Teabing’s insistence that their investigation should be conducted er and pushed ahead of thehts on the left

Scrutinizing these first tombs, Sophie noted the siht was on his back, but three of the knights had their legs extended straight out while two had their legs crossed The oddity see their clothing, Sophie noted that two of the knights wore tunics over their arain, utterly unhelpful Sophie turned her attention to the only other obvious difference - their hand positions Two knights clutched swords, two prayed, and one had his ar at the hands, Sophie shrugged, having seen no hint anywhere of a conspicuously absent orb

Feeling the weight of the cryptex in her sweater pocket, she glanced back at Langdon and Teabing The ht, apparently having no luck either In no roup of knights

As she crossed the open space, she quietly recited the poem she had read so many times now that it was coht a Pope interred His labor’s fruit a Holy wrath incurred You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded woroup of knights, she found that this second group was similar to the first All lay with varied body positions, wearing armor and swords That was, all except the tenth and final to over to it, she stared down

No pillow No arh?" she called, her voice echoing around the cha over here"

Both an to cross the roo called excitedly His crutches clicked out a rapid staccato as he hurried across the roo an orb?" "Not exactly," Sophie said, frowning at the tenth to beside her both azed down in confusion at the tenth to in the open air, this tomb was a sealed stone casket The casket was trapezoidal, tapered at the feet, widening toward the top, with a peaked lid

"Why isn’t this knight shown?" Langdon asked

"Fascinating," Teabing said, stroking his chin "I had forgotten about this oddity It’s been years since I was here"

"This coffin," Sophie said," looks like it was carved at the same time and by the saht in a casket rather than in the open?"

Teabing shook his head "One of this church’s e, nobody has ever found any explanation for it"

"Hello?" the altar boy said, arriving with a perturbed look on his face "Forgive me if this seems rude, but you told htseeing"

Teabing scowled at the boy and turned to Langdon "Mr Wren, apparently your family’s philanthropy does not buy you the tiet on with it" Teabing turned to Sophie "Mrs Wren?"

Sophie played along, pulling the vellum-wrapped cryptex fro snapped at the boy," if you would give us some privacy?"

The altar boy did not don closely now "You look fa huffed "Perhaps that is because Mr Wren comes here every year!" Or perhaps, Sophie now feared, because he saw Langdon on television at the Vatican last year