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string(62) ‘ Leonardo Da Vinci said she was his very best accomplishment\. ‘

PHASE 24

Silas gazed way up at the Saint-Sulpice obelisk, taking in the length of the massive marble the whole length. His sinews felt taut with exhilaration. He looked around the cathedral one more time to make certain he was by itself.

Then he knelt in the base with the structure, not out of reverence, yet out of necessity.

The keystone is hidden beneath the Rose Line. At the bottom of the Sulpice obelisk. All the brothers acquired concurred.

On his knees today, Silas happened to run his hands across the stone floor. He saw zero cracks or perhaps markings to indicate a movable tile, thus he began rapping softly with his knuckles on to the floor. Following the instruments line closer to the st?tte, he pulled on each floor tile adjacent to the brass series. Finally, one of them echoed curiously.

There’s a empty area underneath the floor!

Silas smiled. His victims experienced spoken the truth.

Standing, he searched the sanctuary intended for something which to break the floor tile.

Substantial above Silas, in the patio, Sister Sandrine stifled a gasp. Her darkest fears experienced just recently been confirmed. This visitor was not who this individual seemed. The mysterious Gyvas Dei monk had arrive to Saint- Sulpice another purpose.

A secret purpose.

You are not the only one with secrets, she thought.

Sister Sandrine Bieil was more than the owner of this house of worship. She was a sentry. And tonight, the ancient rims had been set in motion. The entrance of this unfamiliar person at the base of the obelisk was a signal from the brotherhood.

It was a silent contact of distress.

CHAPTER twenty-five

The U. S. Charge in Rome is a compact complex in Avenue Gabriel, just north of the Champs-Elysees. The three-acre compound is regarded as U. S. soil, meaning all those whom stand onto it are controlled by the same laws and regulations and rights as they would encounter standing in the United States.

The embassy’s evening operator was reading Time magazine’s Worldwide Edition when the sound of her mobile phone interrupted.

“U. S. Charge, ” the lady answered.

“Good evening. ” The unknown caller spoke English accented with French. “I need several assistance. inches Despite the respect of the mans words, his tone sounded gruff and official. “I was alerted you had a phone message to me on your automated system. The name is definitely Langdon. However, I have forgotten my three-digit access code. If you may help me, I would personally be the majority of grateful. inch

The owner paused, mixed up. “I’m apologies, sir. The message should be quite outdated. That program was removed two years in the past for security precautions. Moreover, all the gain access to codes were five-digit. Who told you there were a message for yourself? ” “You have no computerized phone program? ” “No, sir. Virtually any message for you personally would be written by hand in our services department. That which was your name again? “

But the man acquired hung up.

Bezu Fache believed dumbstruck when he paced the banks in the Seine. He was certain he previously seen Langdon dial a local number, enter a three-digit code, and after that listen to a recording. But once Langdon didn’t phone the embassy, then who the hell did this individual call?

It was at that moment, eyeing his cellular phone, that Fache realized the answers had been in the palm of his hand. Langdon used my own phone to set that call.

Keying in the cell phone’s menu, Fache pulled up the list of lately dialed amounts and found the decision Langdon had placed.

A Paris exchange, followed by the three-digit code 454.

Redialing the phone number, Fache anxiously waited as the line began buzzing.

Finally a woman’s words answered. “Bonjour, vous etes bien à Sophie Neveu, ” it announced. “Je suis absente pour le moment, mais, “

Fache’s blood was boiling when he typed the numbers 4, 5, some.

CHAPTER twenty six

Despite her monumental reputation, the Hireling shepherd was a simple thirty-one in . by twenty-one inches , smaller actually than the posters of her sold in the Louvre surprise shop. The girl hung for the northwest wall structure of the Salle des Etats behind a two-inch-thick lite of safety Plexiglas. Coated on a poplar wood -panel, her ethereal, mist-filled atmosphere was caused by Da Vinci’s mastery of the sfumato style, in which forms appear to escape into one an additional.

Since using residence in the Louvre, the Mona Lisa , or La Jaconde because they call her in Portugal , was stolen twice, most recently in 1911, when ever she faded from the Louvre’s” satte impenetrable” , Le Salon Carre. Parisians wept in the pavements and composed newspaper content begging the thieves to get the painting’s return. 2 years later, the Mona Lisa was discovered hidden in the fake bottom of your trunk in a Florence accommodation.

Langdon, at this point having caused it to be clear to Sophie that he had not any intention of leaving, relocated with her across the Assemblée des Etats. The Mona Lisa was still twenty yards in advance when Sophie turned on the black lumination, and the blue crescent of penlight fanned out on the ground in front of them. The lady swung the beam to and fro across the flooring like a minesweeper, searching for any hint of luminescent ink.

Walking beside her, Langdon was already sense the tickle of anticipations that accompanied his face-to-face reunions with great pieces of art. He stretched to see further than the snuggie of purplish light emanating from the black light in Sophie’s hands. To the left, the room’s octagonal viewing divan emerged, resembling a dark island on the empty ocean of parquet.

Langdon may now start to see the panel of dark a glass on the wall. Behind it, he knew, in the confines of her very own private cell, hung one of the most celebrated painting in the world.

The Mona Lisa’s status as the most famous piece of art in the world, Langdon knew, acquired nothing to perform with her enigmatic smile. Nor was it because of the mysterious interpretations attributed her by many artwork historians and conspiracy buffs. Quite simply, the Mona Lisa was famous since Leonardo Ag Vinci believed she was his best accomplishment.

You read ‘The Da Vinci Code Section 24-29’ in category ‘Essay examples’ He carried the painting with him anytime he traveled and, in the event that asked for what reason, would respond that this individual found it tough to part with his many sublime manifestation of woman beauty.

However, many art historians thought Da Vinci’s reverence pertaining to the Hireling shepherd had nothing to do using its artistic competence. In actuality, the painting was obviously a surprisingly ordinary sfumato face. Da Vinci’s veneration just for this work, various claimed, been a result of something considerably deeper: a concealed message in the layers of paint. The Mona Lisa was, in fact , one of many world’s many documented inside jokes. The painting’s well-documented collage of double entendres and playful allusions have been revealed in many art record tomes, and yet, incredibly, the general public at large nonetheless considered her smile a fantastic mystery.

Zero mystery by any means, Langdon thought, moving forward and watching because the weak outline of the painting started to take form. No secret at all.

Lately Langdon got shared the Mona Lisa’s secret using a rather unlikely group , a dozen inmates at the Essex County Penitentiary. Langdon’s jail seminar was part of a Harvard outreach program looking to bring education into the prison system , Culture pertaining to Convicts, while Langdon’s acquaintances liked to call it.

Ranking at an expense projector within a darkened penitentiary library, Langdon had distributed the MonaLisa’s secret with all the prisoners attending class, men whom this individual found surprisingly engaged , rough, although sharp. “You may notice, ” Langdon told them, walking to the projected picture of the MonaLisa on the catalogue wall, inch that the backdrop behind her face is uneven. inch Langdon motioned to the manifest discrepancy. “Da Vinci painted the intervalle line on the left hand side significantly lower than the right. inches

“He screwed it up? inches one of the inmates asked.

Langdon chuckled. “No. Da Vinci didn’t do that too often. Actually, this is slightly trick Weil Vinci enjoyed. By reducing the country on the left, Ag Vinci built Mona Lisa appearance much larger in the left side than from the correct side. A little Da Vinci inside joke. Historically, the concepts of male and feminine have assigned sides , left can be female, and right is male. Mainly because Da Vinci was a big fan of feminine principles, he made Hireling shepherd look more majestic from your left than the right. inch

“I noticed he was a fag, inches said a small man having a goatee.

Langdon winced. “Historians don’t generally put it quite that way, although yes, Da Vinci was a homosexual. inch

“Is that why he was into that whole female thing? “

“Actually, Weil Vinci was at tune together with the balance among male and female. He assumed that a man soul could hardly be educated unless it had both men and female components. “

“You mean just like chicks with dicks? inch someone called.

This elicited a delicious round of snickers. Langdon deemed offering a great etymological sidebar about the word hermaphrodite as well as its ties to Hermes and Aphrodite, yet something informed him it would be lost on this crowd.

“Hey, Mr. Langford, ” a muscle-bound person said. “Is it the case that the Hireling shepherd is a photo of De uma Vinci in drag? We heard that was authentic. “

“It’s quite possible, ” Langdon said. “Da Vinci was a prankster, and computerized evaluation of the Hireling shepherd and Da Vinci’s self-portraits confirm a few startling points of congruency inside their faces. What ever Da Vinci was approximately, ” Langdon said, ” his Mona Lisa is neither male nor female. It carries a delicate message of androgyny. It is a fusing of both. inches

“You sure that’s not a few Harvard bullshit way of declaring Mona Lisa is usually one unsightly chick. inches

Now Langdon laughed. “You may be proper. But basically Da Vinci left a big clue the fact that painting was supposed to be androgynous. Has anyone below ever heard of the Egyptian the almighty named Amon? ” “Hell yes! inches the big man said. “God of assertive fertility! inches Langdon was stunned.

“It says etc every container of Amon condoms. inch The muscle man provided a wide smile. “It’s got a guy having a ram’s head on the front and says your dog is the Egyptian god of fertility. “

Langdon was not familiar with the brand name, but he was glad to hear the prophylactic suppliers had gotten their hieroglyphs proper. “Well performed. Amon is definitely represented as being a man using a ram’s brain, and his promiscuity and rounded horns happen to be related to the modern sexual slang’ sexy. “No all that shit! ” “No shit, ” Langdon stated. “And did you know who Amon’s counterpart was? The Egyptian goddessof virility? “

The question met with a lot of seconds of silence.

“It was Isis, ” Langdon told these people, grabbing a grease pen. “So we now have the male god, Amon. ” He composed it straight down. “And the female goddess, Isis, whose ancient pictogram was at one time called L’ISA. “

Langdon finished publishing and walked back from your projector.

AMON L’ISA

“Ring any alarms? ” he asked.

“Mona Lisa, o crap, inch somebody gasped.

Langdon nodded. “Gentlemen, not only does the face of Mona Lisa seem androgynous, nevertheless her name is a great anagram with the divine union of male and female. And this, my friends, can be Da Vinci’s little secret, and the basis for Mona Lisa’s knowing laugh. “

“My grandfather was here, inches Sophie stated, dropping instantly to her legs, now only ten ft from the Hireling shepherd. She directed the dark light tentatively to a just right the parquet floor.

Initially Langdon saw nothing. After that, as he knelt beside her, he did find a tiny scrap of dried liquid that was luminescing. Ink? All of a sudden he remembered what dark lights had been actually used for. Blood. His senses tingled. Sophie was right. Jacques Sauniere experienced indeed paid out a trip to the Cogorza Lisabefore he died.

“He wouldn’t have come here with out a reason, inch Sophie whispered, standing up. “I know this individual left a communication for me right here. ” Quickly striding the last few steps to the Mona Lisa, she lighted the floor immediately in front of the portrait. She waved the light forward and backward across the uncovered parquet. “There’s nothing here! ” At the time, Langdon saw a faint crimson glimmer on the protective glass before the Mona Lisa. Reaching straight down, he took Sophie’s hand and slowly moved the sunshine up to the art work itself. That they both froze. On the glass, six words glowed in purple, scribbled directly over the Mona Lisa’s face.

PART 27

Placed at Sauniere’s desk, Lieutenant Collet hard pressed the phone to his headsets in shock. Did I hearFache appropriately? ” A bar of soap? But how could Langdon have regarded about the GPS us dot? ” “Sophie Neveu, inch Fache replied. “She told him. inches “What! For what reason? “

“Damned good issue, but I simply heard a recording that confirms your woman tipped him off. inches

Collet was speechless. What was Neveu pondering? Fache had proof that Sophie had interfered which has a DCPJ sting operation? Sophie Neveu has not been only gonna be terminated, she was also going to jail. “But, Captain, then simply where is usually Langdon now? “

“Have any flames alarms gone off presently there? ” “No, sir. inch “And no one has come out under the Grand Gallery gate? “

“No. We’ve got a Louvre security officer on the gateway. Just as you requested. ” “Okay, Langdon must nevertheless be inside the Grand Gallery. inch “Inside? But what is he doing? inch

“Is the Louvre d g armed? ” “Yes, friend. He’s a senior warden. ” “Send him in, ” Fache commanded. “I can’t receive my males back to the perimeter for some minutes, and i also don’t desire Langdon disregarding for a great exit. ” Fache paused. “And you needed better tell the protect Agent Neveu is probably in there with him. ” “Agent Neveu kept, I thought. ” “Did you truly see her leave? inch “No, friend, but , “Well, nobody on the edge saw her leave either. They only saw her go in. inch

Collet was flabbergasted by simply Sophie Neveu’s bravado. She’s still inside the building?

“Handle it, inches Fache bought. “I want Langdon and Neveu for gunpoint when I settle back. “

Because the Trailor truck forced off, Captain Fache accumulated his men. Robert Langdon had proven an incredibly elusive quarry tonight, and with Agent Neveu now assisting him, he might be significantly harder to corner than expected.

Fache decided not to have any chances.

Hedge his wagers, he ordered half of his men to the Louvre perimeter. The other half this individual sent to guard the only site in Paris, france where Robert Langdon may find safe possess.

CHAPTER 28

Inside the Assemblée des Etats, Langdon looked in astonishment at the 6 words beautiful on the Plexiglas. The text appeared to hover in space, throwing a spectacular shadow across Mona Lisa’s mysterious laugh.

“The Priory, ” Langdon whispered. “This proves the grandfather was a member! inch Sophie looked over him in confusion. “You understand this? ” “It’s flawless, ” Langdon said, nodding as his thoughts churned. “It’s a proclamation of 1 of the Priory’s most fundamental philosophies! “

Sophie viewed baffled in the glow of the message scribbled across the Cogorza Lisa’s face.

SO DARK THE CON OF MAN

“Sophie, inch Langdon explained, ” the Priory’s traditions of perpetuating goddess worship is based on a belief that powerful guys in the early on Christian house of worship , conned’ the world by simply propagating is that devalued the female and tipped the scales in favor of the masculine. ” Sophie remained silent, staring at the text. ” The Priory believes that Constantine and his men successors efficiently converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of divulgación that demonized the holy feminine, obliterating the empress from modern religion permanently. “

Sophie’s expression continued to be uncertain. “My grandfather dispatched me to the spot to find this. He or she must be planning to tell me more than that. “

Langdon understood her meaning. The lady thinks this really is another code. Whether a invisible meaning been around here or perhaps not, Langdon could not quickly say. His mind would still be grappling together with the bold clarity of Sauniere’s outward concept.

So darker the que incluye of man, he thought. So darker indeed.

No person could deny the enormous good the modern Cathedral did in the current troubled community, and yet the Church had a deceitful and violent background. Their raw crusade to” reeducate” the pagan and feminine-worshipping beliefs spanned three centuries, making use of methods since inspired because they were horrific.

The Catholic Inquisition posted the book that perhaps could be called the most blood-soaked publication in human history. Malleus Maleficarum , or The Witches’ Hammer , indoctrinated the world to” the dangers of freethinking women” and instructed the clergy how to locate, torture, and destroy them. Those deemed” witches” by the Church included all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature enthusiasts, herb gatherers, and virtually any women” suspiciously attuned towards the natural community. ” Midwives also had been killed because of their heretical practice of employing medical knowledge to ease the soreness of having a baby , a suffering, the Church stated, that was God’s rightful punishment for Eve’s partaking of the Apple of Knowledge, this provides birth for the idea of Original Sin. During three hundred a lot of witch tracks, the Cathedral burned on the stake a great five million women.

The propaganda and bloodshed got worked. Modern-day world was living proof. Women, once celebrated as an important half of religious enlightenment, had been banished in the temples of the world. There were simply no female Orthodox rabbis, Catholic priests, nor Islamic clerics. The when hallowed take action of Hieros Gamos , the natural sexual union between gentleman and woman through which each became mentally whole , had been recast as a shameful act. Ay men who had once required sexual union with their female counterparts to commune with God at this point feared all their natural the desire for sex as the work of the devil, collaborating with his favorite accomplice, woman.

Not even the feminine association while using left-hand area could get away the Church’s defamation. In France and Italy, what for” left” , gauche and sinistra , found have deeply negative overtones, while their right-hand equivalent rang of righteousness, dexterity, and correctness. To this day, major thought was considered left wing, reasonless thought was left mind, and nearly anything evil, menacing.

The days in the goddess were over. The pendulum acquired swung. Nature had become a man’s community, and the gods of damage and conflict were taking their fee. The male spirit had spent two millennia running unchecked by the female counterpart. The Priory of Sion believed it turned out this obliteration of the almost holy feminine in modern life that had brought on what the Hopi Native Americans named koyanisquatsi , “life out of balance” , an unsound situation designated by testosterone-fueled wars, an array of misogynistic communities, and an increasing disrespect pertaining to Mother Earth.

“Robert! ” Sophie said, her whisper pulling him back. “Someone’s coming! ” He heard the approaching actions out in the hallway. inches Over here! ” Sophie extinguished the black mild and seemed to evaporate before Langdon’s eye.

For an instant he felt totally sightless. Over wherever! As his vision eliminated he found Sophie’s shape racing toward the center in the room and ducking out of sight behind the octagonal viewing bench. Having been about to sprinkle after her when a thriving voice halted him frosty.

“Arretez! inch a man instructed from the entrance.

The Louvre security agent advanced through the entrance to the Salle dieses Etats, his pistol outstretched, taking lethal aim at Langdon’s chest.

Langdon felt his arms raise instinctively intended for the roof.

“Couchez-vous! inch the safeguard commanded. “Lie down! “

Langdon was face first on the floor quickly and effortlesly. The protect hurried as well as kicked his legs a part, spreading Langdon out.

“Mauvaise idee, Chriatian Langdon, “he said, pressing the firearm hard into Langdon’s back. ” Mauvaise idee. “

Face upon the parquet floor along with his arms and legs propagate wide, Langdon found little humor inside the irony of his location. The Vitruvian Man, he thought. Confront down.

PHASE 29

Inside Saint-Sulpice, Silas carried the heavy flat iron votive candlestick holder through the altar again toward the obelisk. The shaft might do effectively as a battering ram. Loking for the gray marble panel that covered the apparent hollow in the flooring, he noticed he wasn’t able to possibly break the protecting without making considerable noises.

Iron about marble. It would echo off of the vaulted ceilings.

Would the nun listen to him? She should be in bed by now. Nevertheless, it was an opportunity Silas recommended not to consider. Looking around for a cloth to wrap about the tip in the iron post, he saw nothing other than the altar’s linen mantle, which this individual refused to defile. My cloak, he thought. Knowing he was alone in the wonderful church, Silas untied his cloak and slipped this off his body. When he removed it, he believed a scam as the wool fibers stuck for the fresh wounds on his again.

Naked right now, except for his loin swaddle, Silas covered his hide over the end of the straightener rod. In that case, aiming at the middle of the floor tile, he went the tip with it. A muffled thud. The stone would not break. He drove the pole with it again. Once again a boring thud, but this time through accompanied by a crack. On the third swing, the covering finally shattered, and stone shards fell to a hollow location beneath the floor.

A area!

Quickly yanking the remaining bits from the starting, Silas gazed into the gap. His bloodstream pounded when he knelt down before that. Raising his pale bare arm, he reached inside.

At first he felt nothing. The floor in the compartment was bare, soft stone. In that case, feeling much deeper, reaching his arm within the Rose Line, he touched a thing! A heavy stone tablet. Getting his fingers surrounding the edge, he gripped that and gently lifted the tablet out. As he stood and evaluated his get, he recognized he was keeping a rough-hewn stone slab with personalized words. He felt intended for an instant like a modern-day Moses.

As Silas read the words on the tablet, he believed surprise. He had expected the keystone to be a map, or possibly a complex number of directions, maybe even encoded. The keystone, nevertheless , bore the easiest of inscriptions.

Job 32: 11

A Bible verse? Silas was amazed with the devilish simplicity. The key location of these which they desired was uncovered in a Scripture? The brotherhood stopped at nothing to make fun of the righteous!

Job. Chapter thirty-eight. Sentirse eleven.

Even though Silas did not recall the exact contents of verse 12 by cardiovascular, he realized the Publication of Job told the story of a guy whose beliefs in Our god survived repeated tests. Appropriate, he believed, barely capable of contain his excitement.

Checking out his shoulder joint, he gazed down the twinkling Rose Range and didn’t want to help nevertheless smile. Generally there atop the main altar, propped open on a gilded book stand, sat an enormous leather-bound Bible.

In the porch, Sister Sandrine was trembling. Moments before, she had been about to flee and carryout her purchases, when the person below all of a sudden removed his cloak. The moment she saw his alabaster-white flesh, the lady was overcome with a terrified bewilderment. His broad, soft back was soaked with blood-red reduces. Even came from here she may see the injuries were new.

This person has been pitilessly whipped!

In addition, she saw the bloody cilice around his thigh, the wound underneath it leaking. What kind of God will need a body system punished this way? The traditions of Gyvas Dei, Sis Sandrine recognized, were not anything she would ever understand. Yet that was hardly her concern with this instant. Opus Dei is searching for the keystone. The way they knew of computer, Sister Sandrine could not think about, although the lady knew the girl did not have got time to believe.

The weakling monk was now gently donning his cloak again, clutching his prize as he moved toward the church, toward the Bible.

In breathless stop, Sister Sandrine left the balcony and raced over the hall to her quarters. Getting on her hands and knees, she come to beneath her wooden bedframe and retrieved the covered envelope the girl had hidden there years ago.

Tearing it open, your woman found four Paris cell phone numbers. Trembling, the girl began to switch.

Downstairs, Silas laid the stone tablet on the ceremony and switched his keen hands to the leather Holy bible. His extended white fingers were sweating now when he turned the pages. Flipping through the Outdated Testament, he found the Book of Job. This individual located phase thirty-eight. When he ran his finger throughout the column of text, he anticipated the text he was planning to read.

They will lead the way!

Locating verse quantity eleven, Silas read the textual content. It was just seven terms. Confused, he read that again, realizing something had gone terribly incorrect. The sentirse simply read:

HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME, BUT NO FURTHER.

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