The Lost Symbol

Time to move out. Sato could hear the whine of the helicopter blades at full pitch. She hurried back to the dining room, where Simkins had now ushered Warren Bellamy in from the helicopter and was gathering intel from him about the building to which they believed their target had gone.

House of the Temple.

«The front doors are sealed from within,» Bellamy was saying, still wrapped in a foil blanket and shivering visibly from his time outside in Franklin Square. «The building’s rear entrance is your only way in. It’s got a keypad with an access PIN known only to the brothers.»

«What’s the PIN?» Simkins demanded, taking notes.

Bellamy sat down, looking too feeble to stand. Through chattering teeth, he recited his access code and then added, «The address is 1733 Sixteenth, but you’ll want the access drive and parking area, behind the building. Kind of tricky to find, but — »

«I know exactly where it is,» Langdon said. «I’ll show you when we get there.»

Simkins shook his head. «You’re not coming, Professor. This is a military — »

«The hell I’m not!» Langdon fired back. «Peter’s in there! And that building’s a labyrinth! Without someone to lead you in, you’ll take ten minutes to find your way up to the Temple Room!»

«He’s right,» Bellamy said. «It’s a maze. There is an elevator, but it’s old and loud and opens in full view of the Temple Room. If you hope to move in quietly, you’ll need to ascend on foot.»

«You’ll never find your way,» Langdon warned. «From that rear entrance, you’re navigating through the Hall of Regalia, the Hall of Honor, the middle landing, the Atrium, the Grand Stair — »

«Enough,» Sato said. «Langdon’s coming.»

CHAPTER 116

The energy was growing.

Mal’akh could feel it pulsing within him, moving up and down his body as he wheeled Peter Solomon toward the altar. I will exit this building infinitely more powerful than when I entered. All that remained now was to locate the final ingredient.

«Verbum significatium,» he whispered to himself. «Verbum omnificum.»

Mal’akh parked Peter’s wheelchair beside the altar and then circled around and unzipped the heavy daybag that sat on Peter’s lap. Reaching inside, he lifted out the stone pyramid and held it up in the moonlight, directly in front of Peter’s eyes, showing him the grid of symbols engraved on the bottom. «All these years,» he taunted, «and you never knew how the pyramid kept her secrets.» Mal’akh set the pyramid carefully on the corner of the altar and returned to the bag. «And this talisman,» he continued, extracting the golden capstone, «did indeed bring order from chaos, exactly as promised.» He placed the metal capstone carefully atop the stone pyramid, and then stepped back to give Peter a clear view. «Behold, your symbolon is complete.»

Peter’s face contorted, and he tried in vain to speak.

«Good. I can see you have something you’d like to tell me.» Mal’akh roughly yanked out the gag.

Peter Solomon coughed and gasped for several seconds before he finally managed to speak. «Katherine. .»

«Katherine’s time is short. If you want to save her, I suggest you do exactly as I say.» Mal’akh suspected she was probably already dead, or if not, very close. It made no difference. She was lucky to have lived long enough to say good-bye to her brother.

«Please,» Peter begged, his voice ragged. «Send an ambulance for her. .»

«I will do exactly that. But first you must tell me how to access the secret staircase.»

Peter’s expression turned to one of disbelief. «What?!»

«the staircase. masonic legend speaks of stairs that descend hundreds of feet to the secret location where the lost word is buried.»

Peter now looked panicked.

«You know the legend,» Mal’akh baited. «A secret staircase hidden beneath a stone.» He pointed to the central altar — a huge block of granite with a gilded inscription in Hebrew: GOD SAID, «LET THERE BE LIGHT» AND THERE WAS LIGHT. «obviously, this is the right place. the entrance to the staircase must be hidden on one of the floors beneath us.»

«There is no secret staircase in this building!» Peter shouted.

Mal’akh smiled patiently and motioned upward. «This building is shaped like a pyramid.» He pointed to the four-sided vaulted ceiling that angled up to the square oculus in the center.

«Yes, the House of the Temple is a pyramid, but what does — »

«Peter, I have all night.» Mal’akh smoothed his white silk robe over his perfect body. «Katherine, however, does not. If you want her to live, you will tell me how to access the staircase.»

«I already told you,» he declared, «there is no secret staircase in this building!»

«No?» Mal’akh calmly produced the sheet of paper on which he had reorganized the grid of symbols from the base of the pyramid. «This is the Masonic Pyramid’s final message. Your friend Robert Langdon helped me decipher it.»