The Da Vinci Code

Still unsure, Sophie sensed in Langdon’s patient smile that he empathized with her confusion, and yet his eyes remained earnest. "But if the Holy Grail is not a cup," she asked," what is it?"

Langdon had known this question was coming, and yet he still felt uncertain exactly how to tell her. If he did not present the answer in the proper historical background, Sophie would be left with a vacant air of bewilderment – the exact expression Langdon had seen on his own editor’s face a few months ago after Langdon handed him a draft of the manuscript he was working on.

"This manuscript claims what?" his editor had choked, setting down his wineglass and staring across his half-eaten power lunch. "You can’t be serious."

"Serious enough to have spent a year researching it."

Prominent New York editor Jonas Faukman tugged nervously at his goatee. Faukman no doubt had heard some wild book ideas in his illustrious career, but this one seemed to have left the man flabbergasted.

"Robert," Faukman finally said," don’t get me wrong. I love your work, and we’ve had a great run together. But if I agree to publish an idea like this, I’ll have people picketing outside my office for months. Besides, it will kill your reputation. You’re a Harvard historian, for God’s sake, not a pop schlockmeister looking for a quick buck. Where could you possibly find enough credible evidence to support a theory like this?"

With a quiet smile Langdon pulled a piece of paper from the pocket of his tweed coat and handed it to Faukman. The page listed a bibliography of over fifty titles – books by well-known historians, some contemporary, some centuries old – many of them academic bestsellers. All the book titles suggested the same premise Langdon had just proposed. As Faukman read down the list, he looked like a man who had just discovered the earth was actually flat. "I know some of these authors. They’re… real historians!"

Langdon grinned. "As you can see, Jonas, this is not only my theory. It’s been around for a long time. I’m simply building on it. No book has yet explored the legend of the Holy Grail from a symbologic angle. The iconographic evidence I’m finding to support the theory is, well, staggeringly persuasive."

Faukman was still staring at the list. "My God, one of these books was written by Sir Leigh Teabing – a British Royal Historian."

"Teabing has spent much of his life studying the Holy Grail. I’ve met with him. He was actually a big part of my inspiration. He’s a believer, Jonas, along with all of the others on that list."

"You’re telling me all of these historians actually believe…" Faukman swallowed, apparently unable to say the words.

Langdon grinned again. "The Holy Grail is arguably the most sought-after treasure in human history. The Grail has spawned legends, wars, and lifelong quests. Does it make sense that it is merely a cup? If so, then certainly other relics should generate similar or greater interest – the Crown of Thorns, the True Cross of the Crucifixion, the Titulus – and yet, they do not. Throughout history, the Holy Grail has been the most special." Langdon grinned. "Now you know why."

Faukman was still shaking his head. "But with all these books written about it, why isn’t this theory more widely known?"

"These books can’t possibly compete with centuries of established history, especially when that history is endorsed by the ultimate bestseller of all time."

Faukman’s eyes went wide. "Don’t tell me Harry Potter is actually about the Holy Grail."

"I was referring to the Bible." Faukman cringed. "I knew that."

"Laissez-le!" Sophie’s shouts cut the air inside the taxi. "Put it down!"

Langdon jumped as Sophie leaned forward over the seat and yelled at the taxi driver. Langdon could see the driver was clutching his radio mouthpiece and speaking into it.

Sophie turned now and plunged her hand into the pocket of Langdon’s tweed jacket. Before Langdon knew what had happened, she had yanked out the pistol, swung it around, and was pressing it to the back of the driver’s head. The driver instantly dropped his radio, raising his one free hand overhead.

"Sophie!" Langdon choked. "What the hell – "

"Arretez!" Sophie commanded the driver.

Trembling, the driver obeyed, stopping the car and putting it in park.

It was then that Langdon heard the metallic voice of the taxi company’s dispatcher coming from the dashboard. "… qui s’appette Agent Sophie Neveu…" the radio crackled. "Et un Americain, Robert Langdon…"

Langdon’s muscles turned rigid. They found us already?"Descendez,"Sophie demanded. The trembling driver kept his arms over his head as he got out of his taxi and took several steps backward.

Sophie had rolled down her window and now aimed the gun outside at the bewildered cabbie. "Robert," she said quietly, "take the wheel. You’re driving."

Langdon was not about to argue with a woman wielding a gun. He climbed out of the car and jumped back in behind the wheel. The driver was yelling curses, his arms still raised over his head. "Robert," Sophie said from the back seat," I trust you’ve seen enough of our magic forest?" He nodded. Plenty.

"Good. Drive us out of here."

Langdon looked down at the car’s controls and hesitated. Shit.He groped for the stick shift and clutch. "Sophie? Maybe you – "

"Go!" she yelled.

Outside, several hookers were walking over to see what was going on. One woman was placing a call on her cell phone. Langdon depressed the clutch and jostled the stick into what he hoped was first gear. He touched the accelerator, testing the gas.

Langdon popped the clutch. The tires howled as the taxi leapt forward, fishtailing wildly and sending the gathering crowd diving for cover. The woman with the cell phone leapt into the woods, only narrowly avoiding being run down.

"Doucement!" Sophie said, as the car lurched down the road. "What are you doing?"

"I tried to warn you," he shouted over the sound of gnashing gears. "I drive an automatic!"

CHAPTER 39

Although the spartan room in the brownstone on Rue La Bruyere had witnessed a lot of suffering, Silas doubted anything could match the anguish now gripping his pale body. I was deceived.Everything is lost.

Silas had been tricked. The brothers had lied, choosing death instead of revealing their true secret. Silas did not have the strength to call the Teacher. Not only had Silas killed the only four people who knew where the keystone was hidden, he had killed a nun inside Saint-Sulpice. She was working against God! She scorned the work of Opus Dei!

A crime of impulse, the woman’s death complicated matters greatly. Bishop Aringarosa had placed the phone call that got Silas into Saint-Sulpice; what would the abbe think when he discovered the nun was dead? Although Silas had placed her back in her bed, the wound on her head was obvious. Silas had attempted to replace the broken tiles in the floor, but that damage too was obvious. They would know someone had been there.

Silas had planned to hide within Opus Dei when his task here was complete. Bishop Aringarosawill protect me.Silas could imagine no more blissful existence than a life of meditation and prayer deep within the walls of Opus Dei’s headquarters in New York City. He would never again set foot outside. Everything he needed was within that sanctuary. Nobody will miss me.Unfortunately, Silas knew, a prominent man like Bishop Aringarosa could not disappear so easily.

I have endangered the bishop.Silas gazed blankly at the floor and pondered taking his own life. After all, it had been Aringarosa who gave Silas life in the first place… in that small rectory in Spain, educating him, giving him purpose.