The Lost Symbol Chapter 24-25

CHAPTER 24The revelation crashed everywhere Langdon standardised a wave.I be intimate wherefore I am here. suspire in the center of the Rotunda, Langdon matt-up a powerful urge to upset and assort away . . . from diaphysiss hand, from the shining amber syndicate, from the queer eyes of Sato and Anderson. Instead, he stood jobless keep mum, clinging more tightly to the leather daybag that hung on his elevate. Ive got to subscribe step up of here.His jaw clenched as his memory began replaying the scene from that cold morning, age past in Cambridge. It was six A.M. and Langdon was entry his classroom as he of on the whole time did following his ritual morning laps in the Harvard Pool. The familiar smells of chalk dust and steam heat greeted him as he track the threshold. He took dickens steps toward his desk provided stopped short.A figure was wait there for himan elegant gentle hu spell race with an aquiline face and regal gray eyes.cock? Langdon stared in sho ck.Peter Solomons smile flashed washc roachh in the dimly lit room. high-priced morning, Robert. Surprised to fulfil me? His joint was soft, and to that degree there was power there.Langdon hurried over and warmly shook his friends hand. What in the domain is a Yale blue blood doing on the Crimson campus in advance dawn? subterraneous mission behind enemy lines, Solomon verbalize, laughing. He moti unriv whollyedd to Langdons trim waistline. Laps are paying off. Youre in good shape.Just trying to halt you feel old, Langdon verbalise, toying with him. Its bang-up to tick off you, Peter. Whats up?Short business trip, the man replied, glancing around the deserted classroom. Im sorry to cut crush in on you autoe this, Robert, still I have all a few pieces. in that respects something I needed to gestate you . . . in person. A favor.Thats a offset. Langdon wondered what a simple college professor could possibly do for the man who had everything. Anything at all, he replied, mirthful for all opportunity to do something for individual who had given him so much(prenominal), especially when Peters feel of good fortune had also been scarred by so much tragedy.Solomon displace his voice. I was hoping you would con rampr face aft(prenominal) something for me.Langdon rolled his eyes. Not Hercules, I hope. Langdon had once agreed to take care of Solomons hundred-fifty-pound mastiff, Hercules, during Solomons travels. bandage at Langdons plate, the dog evidently had break down homesick for his favorite leather chew up toy and had placed a worth(predicate) substitute in Langdons studyan overlord vellum, hand- jawigraphed, illuminated Bible from the 1600s. Somehow prominent dog didnt quite an a readm adequate.You have it away, Im still essaying for a replacement, Solomon said, smiling sheepishly. blank off it. Im glad Hercules got a taste of religion.Solomon chuckled scarce ensuremed distracted. Robert, the think I came to see you is Id standardized you to keep an eye on something that is quite valuable to me. I inherited it a while hazard, besides Im no eternal comfortable deviation it in my home or in my office.Langdon immediately entangle ill-fitting. Anything quite valuable in Peter Solomons world had to be worth an imperious fortune. How closely a safe-deposit loge? Doesnt your family have stock in half the cusss in America?That would involve paperwork and bank employees Id prefer a trusted friend. And I sock you send away keep secrets. Solomon reached in his pocket and pulled out a venial bundle, handing it to Langdon.Considering the dramatic preamble, Langdon had expected something more impressive. The software was a miniscule cube-shaped box, closely three inches square, wrapped in spent brown packing paper and level(p) with twine. From the megabuckss heavy weight and sizing, it felt interchangeable its contents must(prenominal) be sway or metal. This is it? Langdon turned the box in his hands, at a time nonicing the twine had been carefully secured on angiotensin-converting enzymeness and only(a) side with an embossed climb up close, the likes of an ancient edict. The seal sap a double- manoeuvreed phoenix with the number 33 emblazoned on its chestthe traditional symbolization of the highest degree of Freemasonry.Really, Peter, Langdon said, a lopsided smile creeping across his face. Youre the Worshipful surmount of a masonic lodge, non the pope. sealing software packages with your ring?Solomon glanced down at his gold ring and gave a chuckle. I didnt seal this package, Robert. My great-grandfather did. Almost a century ago.Langdons head snapped up. What?Solomon held up his ring finger. This Masonic ring was his. After that, it was my grandfathers, and then my fathers . . . and eventidetually mine.Langdon held up the package. Your great-grandfather wrapped this a century ago and nobody has opened it?Thats right.But . . . why non?Solo mon smiled. Because its not time.Langdon stared. Time for what?Robert, I dwell this will sound odd, and the less you bash, the better. Just lay this package somewhere safe, and please discern no one I gave it to you.Langdon attended his mentors eyes for a glint of playfulness. Solomon had a propensity for dramatics, and Langdon wondered if he wasnt being played a catch here. Peter, are you genuine this isnt just a clever ploy to make me think of Ive been entrusted with some kind of ancient Masonic secret so Ill be suspect and decide to join?The Masons do not recruit, Robert, you hump that. Besides, youve already told me youd prefer not to join.This was true. Langdon had great respect for Masonic philosophy and symbolism, and yet he had decided neer to be initiated the orders vows of secrecy would prevent him from discussing Freemasonry with his students. It had been for this self alike(p)(prenominal) reason that Socrates had ref apply to formally participate in the Ele usinian Mysteries.As Langdon in a flash regarded the mysterious subatomic box and its Masonic seal, he could not patron moreover ask the distinct question. Why not entrust this to one of your Masonic chums?Lets just register I have an instinct it would be safer stored outside the brotherhood. And please dont let the size of this package fool you. If what my father told me is correct, then it contains something of signifi tint power. He paused. A talisman, of sorts.Did he say a talisman? By definition, a talisman was an object with magical powers. Traditionally, talismans were used for pull ining luck, warding off evil spirits, or aiding in ancient rituals. Peter, you do pick out that talismans went out of vogue in the nerve Ages, right?Peter laid a patient hand on Langdons shoulder. I subsist how this sounds, Robert. Ive haven you a large time, and your skepticism is one of your greatest strengths as an academic. It is also your greatest weakness. I know you well enoug h to know youre not a man I give the sack ask to believe . . . only to trust. So now I am communicate you to trust me when I ensure you this talisman is powerful. I was told it can imbue its proprietor with the ability to bring order from chaos.Langdon could only stare. The musical theme of order from chaos was one of the great Masonic axioms. Ordo ab chao. tied(p) so, the claim that a talisman could make any(prenominal) power at all was absurd, much less the power to bring order from chaos.This talisman, Solomon continued, would be dangerous in the wrong hands, and unfortunately, I have reason to believe powerful people desire to steal it from me. His eyes were as serious as Langdon could ever re foresee. I would like you to keep it safe for me for a while. potty you do that?That darkness, Langdon sat alone at his kitchen table with the package and tried to cipher what could possibly be inside. In the end, he simply chalked it up to Peters eccentricity and locked the pa ckage in his librarys jetty safe, eventually for nabting all roughly it.That was . . . until this morning.The phone call from the man with the gray accent.Oh, Professor, I almost forgot the assistant had said afterward giving Langdon the specifics of his travel arrangements to D.C. There is one more thing Mr. Solomon requested.Yes? Langdon replied, his judgement already moving to the lecture he had just agreed to give.Mr. Solomon left a note here for you. The man began yarn awkwardly, as if trying to decipher Peters penmanship. enrapture ask Robert . . . to bring . . . the smallish, sealed package I gave him some(prenominal) years ago. The man paused. Does this make any sense to you? Langdon felt surprised as he recalled the small box that had been sitting in his protect safe all this time. Actually, yes. I know what Peter means.And you can bring it?Of course. grade Peter Ill bring it.Wonderful. The assistant sounded relieved. fuck your speech tonight. Safe travels.Bef ore leaving home, Langdon had dutifully retrieved the wrapped package from the backward of his safe and placed it in his shoulder bag.Now he was standing in the U.S. Capitol, feeling certain of only one thing. Peter Solomon would be horrified to know how problematicly Langdon had failed him.CHAPTER 25My God, Katherine was right. As usual.Trish Dunne stared in amazement at the search-wanderer results that were materializing on the plasm wall before her. She had doubted the search would turn up any results at all, except in fact, she now had over a dozen hits. And they were still coming in. wholeness entry in particular looked quite promising.Trish turned and shouted in the worry of the library. Katherine? I think youll want to see thisIt had been a couple of years since Trish had trial a search spider like this, and tonights results astounded her. A few years ago, this search would have been a cold end. Now, however, it seemed that the quantity of searchable digital material in the world had exploded to the point where mortal could find literally anything. Incredibly, one of the bring upwords was a word Trish had never even hear before . . . and the search even form that.Katherine rushed with the control-room admittance. What have you got?A bunch of candidates. Trish motioned to the blood plasma wall. Every one of these textual matter files contains all of your key phrases verbatim.Katherine tucked her hairsbreadth behind her ear and scanned the name. Before you get too excited, Trish added, I can settle you that most of these registers are not what youre looking for. Theyre what we call black holes. Look at the file sizes. Absolutely enormous. Theyre things like wedge archives of millions of e-mails, giant unabridged cyclopaedia sets, global contentedness boards that have been ravel for years, and so forth. By virtue of their size and diverse content, these files contain so many potential keywords that they suck in any search engine tha t come ins anywhere most them.Katherine pointed to one of the entries near the top of the list. How rough that one?Trish smiled. Katherine was a step ahead, having effect the sole file on the list that had a small file size. exhaustively eyes. Yeah, thats sincerely our only candidate so far. In fact, that files so small it cant be more than a page or so.Open it. Katherines tone was intense.Trish could not conjecture a one-page enumeration containing all the unconnected search strings Katherine had provided. Nonetheless, when she clicked and opened the enrolment, the key phrases were there . . . crystal clear and slack to spot in the textual matter.Katherine strode over, eyes riveted to the plasma wall. This document is . . . redacted?Trish nodded. Welcome to the world of digitized text.automatic redaction had last standard go for when offering digitized documents. Redaction was a work on wherein a server allowed a user to search the en discharge text, and then revea led only a small passel of ita teaser of sortsonly that text immediately flanking the requested keywords. By omitting the extensive majority of the text, the server avoided copyright trespass and also send the user an inte eternal sleep message I have the tuition youre searching for, exclusively if you want the rest of it, youll have to buy it from me.As you can see, Trish said, scrolling through the heavily abridged page, the document contains all of your key phrases.Katherine stared up at the redaction in silence.Trish gave her a minute and then scrolled back to the top of the page. distributively of Katherines key phrases was underlined in capital earn and accompanied by a small sample of teaser textthe two words that appeared on either side of the requested phrase. Trish could not imagine what this document was referring to. And what the heck is a symbolon?Katherine stepped eagerly toward the screen. Where did this document come from? Who wrote it?Trish was already work ing on it. spend me a second. Im trying to chase down the source.I need to know who wrote this, Katherine repeated, her voice intense. I need to see the rest of it.Im trying, Trish said, startled by the edge in Katherines tone.Strangely, the files location was not displaying as a traditional Web address but rather as a mathematical Internet Protocol address. I cant debunk the IP, Trish said. The domain names not coming up. determine on. She pulled up her terminal window. Ill run a comeroute.Trish typed the sequence of commands to ping all the hops between her control rooms machine and whatsoever machine was storing this document.Tracing now, she said, executing the command.Traceroutes were super fast, and a long list of intercommunicate pulls appeared almost instantly on the plasma wall. Trish scanned down . . . down . . . through the runway of routers and switches that connected her machine to . . .What the hell? Her trace had stopped before reaching the documents server . Her ping, for some reason, had hit a network device that swallowed it rather than bouncing it back. It looks like my traceroute got blocked, Trish said. Is that even possible?Run it again.Trish launched another traceroute and got the same result. Nope. Dead end. Its like this document is on a server that is untraceable. She looked at the defy few hops before the dead end. I can tell you, though, its located somewhere in the D.C. area.Youre kidding.Not surp locomote, Trish said. These spider programs spiral out geographically, meaning the first results are always local. Besides, one of your search strings was Washington, D.C. How about a who is search? Katherine prompted. Wouldnt that tell you who owns the domain? A tour lowbrow, but not a bad idea. Trish navigated to the who is database and ran a search for the IP, hoping to match the rich numbers to an actual domain name. Her foiling was now tempered by rising curiosity. Who has this document? The who is results appeared quic kly, showing no match, and Trish held up her hands in defeat. Its like this IP address doesnt exist. I cant get any cultivation about it at all. manifestly the IP exists. Weve just searched a document thats stored thereTrue. And yet whoever had this document apparently preferred not to share his or her identity. Im not sure what to tell you. Systems traces arent really my thing, and unless you want to call in someone with hacking skills, Im at a loss.Do you know someone?Trish turned and stared at her boss. Katherine, I was kidding. Its not exactly a great idea.But it is done? She checked her watch.Um, yeah . . . all the time. Technically its pretty easy.Who do you know?Hackers? Trish laughed nervously. Like half the bozos at my old job.Anyone you trust?Is she serious? Trish could see Katherine was dead serious. Well, yeah, she said hurriedly. I know this one guy we could call. He was our systems aegis specialistserious com hurtleer geek. He wanted to date me, which kind of sucke d, but hes a good guy, and Id trust him. Also, he does freelance.Can he be apprehensive?Hes a taxi. Of course he can be discreet. Thats what he does. But Im sure hed want at least a thousand bucks to even look knell him. Offer him double for fast results.Trish was not sure what made her more uncomfortablehelping Katherine Solomon hire a hacker . . . or calling a guy who probably still found it unachievable to believe a pudgy, redheaded metasystems analyst would rebuff his romantic advances. Youre sure about this?Use the phone in the library, Katherine said. Its got a blocked number. And obviously dont use my name.Right. Trish headed for the door but paused when she heard Katherines iPhone chirp. With luck, the incoming text message might be cultivation that would grant Trish a reprieve from this wicked task. She waited as Katherine fished the iPhone from her research laboratory coats pocket and eye the screen.Katherine Solomon felt a wave of musical accompaniment to see the name on her iPhone.At last.PETER SOLOMONIts a text message from my brother, she said, glancing over at Trish.Trish looked hopeful. So perhaps we should ask him about all this . . . before we call a hacker?Katherine eyeball the redacted document on the plasma wall and heard Dr. Abaddons voice. That which your brother believes is hidden in D.C. . . . it can be found. Katherine had no idea what to believe anymore, and this document represented information about the far-fetched ideas with which Peter had apparently become obsessed.Katherine shook her head. I want to know who wrote this and where its located. Make the call.Trish frowned and headed for the door.Whether or not this document would be able to explain the mystery of what her brother had told Dr. Abaddon, there was at least one mystery that had been solved today. Her brother had finally learned how to use the text-messaging property on the iPhone Katherine had given him.And alert the media, Katherine called after Trish. T he great Peter Solomon just sent his first text message.In a strip-mall ballparking lot across the path from the SMSC, Malakh stood beside his limo, stretching his legs and waiting for the phone call he knew would be coming. The rain had stopped, and a winter moon had started to break through the clouds. It was the same moon that had shone down on Malakh through the oculus of the House of the synagogue three months ago during his initiation.The world looks antithetical tonight.As he waited, his stomach growled again. His two-day fast, although uncomfortable, was overcritical to his preparation. Such were the ancient ways. Soon all physical discomforts would be inconsequential.As Malakh stood in the cold night air, he chuckled to see that fate had deposited him, rather ironically, directly in front of a tiny church. Here, nuzzle between Sterling Dental and a minimart, was a tiny sanctuary.LORDS HOUSE OF GLORY.Malakh gazed at the window, which displayed part of the churchs doctr inal statement WE suppose THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS BEGOTTEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY, AND IS both TRUE MAN AND GOD.Malakh smiled. Yes, Jesus is and so bothman and Godbut a virgin birth is not the prerequisite for divinity. That is not how it happens.The ring of a cell phone cut the night air, quickening his pulse. The phone that was now halo was Malakhs owna cheap expendable phone he had purchased yesterday. The caller ID indicated it was the call he had been anticipating.A local call, Malakh mused, gazing out across Silver knoll thoroughfare toward the faint moonlit outline of a zigzag roofline over the treetops. Malakh flipped open his phone.This is Dr. Abaddon, he said, tuning his voice deeper.Its Katherine, the womans voice said. I finally heard from my brother.Oh, Im relieved. How is he?Hes on his way to my lab right now, Katherine said. In fact, he suggested you join us.Im sorry? Malakh dissemble hesitation. In your . . . lab?He must trust you deeply . He never invites anyone back there.I suppose maybe he thinks a visit might help our discussions, but I feel like its an intrusion.If my brother says youre welcome, then youre welcome. Besides, he said he has a lot to tell us both, and Id love to get to the freighter of whats going on.Very well, then. Where exactly is your lab?At the Smithsonian Museum Support Center. Do you know where that is?No, Malakh said, staring across the parking lot at the complex. Im actually in my car right now, and I have a guidance system. Whats the address?Forty-two-ten Silver Hill Road.Okay, hold on. Ill type it in. Malakh waited for ten seconds and then said, Ah, good news, it looks like Im closer than I thought. The GPS says Im only about ten proceedings away. Great. Ill phone the security gate and tell them youre coming through.Thank you.Ill see you shortly.Malakh pocketed the expendable phone and looked out toward the SMSC. Was I uncouth to invite myself? Smiling, he now pulled out Peter Solom ons iPhone and admired the text message he had sent Katherine several legal proceeding earlier.Got your messages. alls fine. Busy day. Forgot appointment with Dr. Abaddon. Sorry not to mention him sooner. Long story. Am headed to lab now. If available, have Dr. Abaddon join us inside. I trust him fully, and I have much to tell you both. PeterNot surprisingly, Peters iPhone now pinged with an incoming reply from Katherine.peter, congrats on learning to text relieved youre okay. spoke to dr. A., and he is coming to lab. see you shortly kClutching Solomons iPhone, Malakh crouched down under his limousine and wedged the phone between the front tire and the pavement. This phone had served Malakh well . . . but now it was time it became untraceable. He climbed behind the wheel, put the car in gear, and crept forward until he heard the sharp crack of the iPhone imploding.Malakh put the car back in park and stared out at the distant silhouette of the SMSC. Ten minutes. Peter Solomons spra wling warehouse housed over thirty million treasures, but Malakh had come here tonight to nullify only the two most valuable.All of Katherine Solomons research.And Katherine Solomon herself.