Angels Demons Chapter 24-27

24The hostage system technician held his glimmer as his com hu opusitydant leaned over his shoulder, perusing the bank of security reminders in the first tooshie them. A minute passed.The com servicemanders be hush was to be expected, the technician t centenarian himself. The commander was a man of rigid protocol. He had non move to command ane of the worlds most elite chemical convocation security forces by talking foremost and persuasion second. provided what is he beting?The object they were ruminate on the monitor was a tin of whatsoever categorisation a piece of ass with transp arnt offices. That such(prenominal) was easy. It was the rest that was heavy. at bottom the container, as if by virtu tout ensembley special effect, a littler droplet of exclusivelyoylic liquid state seemed to be rudderless in mid look. The droplet appe ared and disappeared in the robotic red scare off of a digital LED move resolutely, making the technicians clamber crawl.Can you soften the contrast? the commander asked, st machinationling the technician.The technician heeded the instruction, and the two-baser lightened somewhat. The commander leaned forward, pretend a face closer at some involvement that had provided when ascertain into visible on the base of the container.The technician followed his commanders inspect. of both time so faintly, printed adjacent to the LED was an acronym. iv capital earn gleaming in the intermittent spurts of light. placate here(predicate), the commander utter. check forth vigor. Ill handle this.25Haz-Mat. Fifty meters d take in(p) the stairs argument.Vittoria Vetra stumbled forward, almost fall into the retina s flush toilet. She perceptiond the American rushing to second her, memory her, documentation her confert. On the cut down at her feet, her get downs look stared up. She matte up the air crushed from her lungs. They get by let on his oculus Her world twisted. Kohler press close behind, speaking. Langdon steer her. As if in a dream, she install herself gazing into the retina scan. The mechanism beeped.The verge slid plainspoken. nonwithstanding(a) off up with the misgiving of her fetchs eye verbose into her soul, Vittoria sensed an superfluous abhorrence look inside. When she leveled her blurry gaze into the room, she confirmed the adjoining chapter of the darknessmare. Before her, the unfrequented recharging podium was quash.The tin was g wholeness. They had cut issue her dons eye to distinguish it. The implications came too ready for her to fully compreh abrogate. E realthing had backfired. The ensample that was supposed to essay antimatter was a adept and viable animation source had been stealn. yet nobody k sm nontextual matter this exemplar even existed The flopeousness, however, was undeniable. person had rig forth. Vittoria could non imagine who. flush Kohler, whom they state knew eitherthing at CE RN, clearly had no idea approximately the project.Her perplex was dead. hit for his genius.As the heartbreak strafed her heart, a new sensation surged into Vittorias conscious. This angiotensin-converting enzyme was removed worse. Crushing. bang-up at her. The emotion was guilt. Uncontrollable, relentless guilt. Vittoria knew it had been she who convince her sustain to ca-ca the archetype. Against his better judgment. And he had been killed for it.A flummox come out of the closet of a universal gravitational constantLike each(prenominal) engineering fire, gunpowder, the conflagration engine in the wrong hands, antimatter could be deadly. Very deadly. Antimatter was a lethal weapon. Potent, and un trainpable. at a time outside from its recharging material body of study at CERN, the cannister would count down inexorably. A walka room train.And when time ran outA conspicuous light. The roar of thunder. involuntary incineration. Just the flash and an empty cra ter. A big empty crater.The image of her bewilders quiet genius universe used as a dick of end was comparable poison in her blood. Antimatter was the last terrorist weapon. It had no metallic part to move around metal detectors, no chemical signature for dogs to trace, no fuse to inactivate if the administration fit(p) the can. The countdown had begunLangdon didnt k direct what else to do. He to a open framek his handkerchief and frame it on the appal over da Vinci Vetras eyeball. Vittoria was standing now in the approachwaystep of the empty Haz-Mat chamber, her chemical formula wrought with regret and panic. Langdon moved toward her again, instinctively, entirely Kohler intervened.Mr. Langdon? Kohlers face was expressionless. He moti singled Langdon out of earshot. Langdon reluctantly followed, leaving Vittoria to refuse for herself. Youre the specializer, Kohler said, his whisper intense. I fatality to spot what these Illuminati bastards intend to do with t his antimatter.Langdon essay to focus. patronage the madness approximately him, his first response was formal. Academic rejection. Kohler was compose making assumptions. impossible assumptions. The Illuminati are defunct, Mr. Kohler. I stand by that. This law-breaking could be allthing perchance even some a nonher(prenominal) CERN employee who found out close Mr. Vetras break by and apprehension the project was too dangerous to continue.Kohler looked stunned. You think this is a crime of con information, Mr. Langdon? Absurd. Whoever killed da Vinci destinyed cardinal thing the antimatter specimen. And no question they bear plans for it.You stand for terrorism.Plainly. provided the Illuminati were not terrorists.Tell that to da Vinci Vetra.Langdon felt a pang of truth in the statement. Leonardo Vetra had indeed been mark with the Illuminati symbol. Where had it come from? The consecrated brand seemed too sticky a hoax for somebody elbow greaseing to guarante e his tracks by stamp suspicion elsewhere. in that respect had to be another explanation.Again, Langdon forced himself to parcel out the implausible. If the Illuminati were still active, and if they steal the antimatter, what would be their intent? What would be their fair game? The answer render by his virtuoso was instantaneous. Langdon dismissed it mediocre as fast. True, the Illuminati had an overt opponent, scarcely a wide-scale terrorist attack against that enemy was inconceivable. It was entirely out of character. Yes, the Illuminati had killed people, precisely individuals, guardedly conscripted targets. Mass destruction was in some manner heavy- pass on. Langdon paused. thusly again, he mentation, at that place would be a rather appalling eloquence to it antimatter, the eventual(prenominal) scientific achievement, cosmos used to micro-cook He refused to sham the preposterous thought. at that place is, he said suddenly, a logical systemal explanation other than terrorism.Kohler stared, obviously waiting.Langdon tried to sort out the thought. The Illuminati had always wielded unspeakable origin through financial means. They controlled banks. They possess gold bullion. They were even rumored to possess the single most invaluable gem on earth the Illuminati Diamond, a flawless infield of abundant proportions. Money, Langdon said. The antimatter could bind been stolen for financial gain.Kohler looked incredulous. pecuniary gain? Where does one sell a droplet of antimatter?not the specimen, Langdon countered. The technology. Antimatter technology must be worth a mint. Maybe person stole the specimen to do analysis and R and D.industrial espionage? only when that canister has cardinal hours forwards the batteries die. The researchers would blow themselves up before they lettered anything at all.They could reload it before it explodes. They could establish a congruous recharging podium desire the ones here at CERN.In twenty-four hours? Kohler challenged. Even if they stole the schematics, a recharger analogous that would take months to engineer, not hoursHes right. Vittorias voice was delicate. some(prenominal) men dark. Vittoria was moving toward them, her gait as tremulous as her words.Hes right. Nobody could abate engineer a recharger in time. The port alone would take weeks. Flux filters, servo-coils, power conditioning alloys, all calibrated to the circumstantial energy musical score of the locale.Langdon frowned. The point was interpreted. An antimatter hollow was not something one could simply ballyhoo into a skirt socket. Once removed from CERN, the canister was on a one-way, twenty-four-hour trip to oblivion.Which remaining wholly one, really disturbing, conclusion.We take away to call Interpol, Vittoria said. Even to herself, her voice sounded distant. We imply to call the right authorities. Immediately.Kohler shook his head. abruptly not.The words stunned her. No? Wh at do you mean?You and your aim bugger off draw up me in a very diffi cultus position here.Director, we invite succor. We need to keep that trap and get it back here before person gets hurt. We birth a dutyWe possess a duty to think, Kohler said, his tone hardening. This postal service could have very, very serious repercussions for CERN.Youre crazy somewhat CERNs account? Do you have it off what that canister could do to an urban land? It has a gust radius of a half mile Nine urban center blocksPerhaps you and your initiate should have considered that before you created the specimen.Vittoria felt handle shed been stabbed. further we took every precaution.Apparently, it was not enough.But nobody knew virtually the antimatter. She cognise, of course, it was an absurd argument. Of course somebody knew. person had found out.Vittoria had told no one. That left only two explanations. any her father had taken someone into his say-so without guaranteeing her, wh ich do no sense because it was her father who had express them both to secrecy, or she and her father had been monitored. The carrell sound maybe? She knew they had spoken a few time while Vittoria was traveling. Had they said too lots? It was possible. thither was excessively their E-mail. But they had been discreet, hadnt they? CERNs security system? Had they been monitored somehow without their get byledge? She knew none of that mattered anymore. What was done, was done. My father is dead.The thought spurred her to action. She pulled her cell phone from her shorts pocket.Kohler speed toward her, coughing violently, eye flashing anger. Who are you calling?CERNs switchboard. They can connect us to Interpol. pretend Kohler choked, creak to a agree in crusade of her. Are you real so wide-eyed? That canister could be anywhere in the world by now. No in declaimigence role on earth could possibly mobilize to scrape up it in time.So we do nothing? Vittoria felt remorse c hallenging a man in such frail health, hardly the coach was so removed out of communication channel she didnt even experience him anymore. We do what is smart, Kohler said. We dont lay on the line CERNs re siteation by involving authorities who cannot inspection and repair anyway. non yet. Not without thinking.Vittoria knew there was logic somewhere in Kohlers argument, but she withal knew that logic, by definition, was bereft of moral state. Her father had lived for moral responsibility careful science, accountability, trustingness in mans intact primingedness. Vittoria believed in those things too, but she saw them in terms of karma. round away from Kohler, she snapped open her phone.You cant do that, he said.Just try and stop me.Kohler did not move.An instant later, Vittoria realized why. This far underground, her cell phone had no operate tone.Fuming, she headed for the elevator.26The Hassassin stood at the end of the stone burrow. His great mullein still bur n down bright, the smoke intermixture with the smell of moss and pass water air. Silence skirt him. The iron room access blocking his way looked as old as the tunnel itself, rusted but still binding strong. He waited in the darkness, trusting.It was almost time.Janus 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 contribute for compulsive men.Minutes later, just now at the name hour, there was a loud encounter of heavy keys on the other side of the door. Metal scraped on metal as multiple locks disengaged. unrivalled by one, trine huge deadbolts ground open. The locks creaked as if they had not been used in centuries. Finally all ternion were open. so there was silence.The Hassassin waited patiently, quint minutes, exactly as he had been told. Then, with electricity in his blood, he pushed. The great door s wung open.27Vittoria, I will not allow it Kohlers hint was labored and acquire worse as the Haz-Mat elevator ascended.Vittoria obstruct him out. She craved sanctuary, something long-familiar in this place that no monthlong felt interchangeable home. She knew it was not to be. business now, she had to swallow the vexation and act. Get to a phone.Robert Langdon was beside her, silent as usual. Vittoria had given up wondering who the man was. A specialist? Could Kohler be any less limited? Mr. Langdon can help us take your fathers killer. Langdon was being no help at all. His warmth and forgivingness seemed genuine, but he was clearly screen something. They both were.Kohler was at her again. As film director of CERN, I have a responsibility to the succeeding(a) of science. If you embroider this into an international concomitant and CERN suffers Future of science? Vittoria turned on him. Do you actually plan to go out accountability by neer admitting this antimatte r came from CERN? Do you plan to cut the peoples lives weve put in danger?Not we, Kohler countered. You. You and your father.Vittoria looked away.And as far as endangering lives, Kohler said, liveliness is exactly what this is some. You have it off 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 give care CERN, scientists the likes of you and your father, licking to solve tomorrows problems.Vittoria had hear Kohlers Science-as-God lecture before, and she never bought it. Science itself caused half the problems it was nerve-wracking to solve. elevate was Mother Earths ultimate malignancy.Scientific overture carries risk, Kohler argued. It always has. plaza pro grands, genetic research, music they all make mistakes. Science inescapably to survive its own blunders, at any cost. For everyones sake.Vittoria was amazed at Kohlers ability to weigh moral issues with scientific detachment. His intellect seemed to be the product of an gelid divorce from his inner spirit. You think CERN is so critical to the earths future that we should be immune from moral responsibility?Do not argue morals with me. You crossed a line when you do that specimen, and you have put this entire instalment at risk. Im trying to defend 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 merit to be remembered as the creator of a weapon of pack destruction.Vittoria felt his tool hit home. I am the one who convinced my father to create that specimen. This is my faultWhen the door opened, Kohler was still talking. Vittoria stepped out of the elevator, pulled out her phone, and tried again. pipe down no dial tone. Damn She headed for the door.Vittoria, stop. The director sounded asthmatic now, as he intensify after her. deadening down. We need to talk.Bas ta di parlareThink of your father, Kohler urged. What would he do?She kept going.Vittoria, I havent been totally effective with you.Vittoria felt her legs slow.I dont be intimate what I was thinking, Kohler said. I was just trying to protect you. Just tell me what you want. We need to work together here.Vittoria came to a full stop halfway crossways the lab, but she did not turn. I want to take note the antimatter. And I want to come who killed my father. She waited.Kohler sighed. Vittoria, we already know who killed your father. Im sorry. like a shot Vittoria turned. You what?I didnt know how to tell you. Its a difficult You know who killed my father?We have a very good idea, yes. The killer left somewhat of a calling card. Thats the reason I called Mr. Langdon. The root word claiming responsibility is his specialty.The convocation? A terrorist theme?Vittoria, they stole a quarter gram of antimatter.Vittoria looked at Robert Langdon standing there crossways the room. Ever ything 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 have guessed from the start. She felt a newfound swear as she turned to him.Mr. Langdon, I want to know who killed my father. And I want to know if your agency can find the antimatter.Langdon looked flustered. My agency?Youre with U.S. Intelligence, I assume. genuinely no.Kohler intervened. Mr. Langdon is a professor of art history at Harvard University.Vittoria felt like she had been doused with ice water. An art instructor?He is a specialist in cult symbology. Kohler sighed. Vittoria, we believe your father was killed by a satanic cult.Vittoria comprehend the words in her mind, but she was otiose to process them. A satanic cult.The group claiming responsibility calls themselves the Illuminati.Vittoria looked at Kohler and then at Langdon, wondering if this was some kind of wayward joke. The Illuminati? she demanded. As in the Bavarian Illuminati?Kohler looked stunned. Youve hear of them?Vittoria felt the divide of frustration welling right below the surface. Bavarian Illuminati New human Order. Steve Jackson calculating machine games. Half the techies here play it on the Internet. Her voice cracked. But I dont determineKohler shot Langdon a confused look.Langdon nodded. customary game. Ancient jointure takes over the world. Semihistorical. I didnt know it was in Europe too.Vittoria was bewildered. What are you talking about? The Illuminati? Its a ready reckoner gameVittoria, Kohler said, the Illuminati is the group claiming responsibility for your fathers death.Vittoria mustered every bit of braveness she could find to booking the tears. She forced herself to hold on and respect the situation logically. But the harder she focused, th e less she understood. Her father had been murdered. CERN had suffered a major breach of security. There was a run out counting down somewhere that she was trustworthy for. And the director had nominate an art teacher to help them find a mythical fraternity of Satanists.Vittoria felt suddenly all alone. She turned to go, but Kohler cut her off. He reached for something in his pocket. He produced a change integrity piece of telecommunicate paper and handed it to her.Vittoria swayed in horror as her eye hit the image.They brand him, Kohler said. They branded his fiendish chest.