Back too~ the Lost Symbol
"Like any parent who had lost a child, Peter Solomon had often imagined how how old his boy would be now...
what he would be like...
and what he would have become.
Peter Solomon now had his answers...
The fact that evil could spring from an innocent child in a loving family remained one of the paradoxes of the human soul.
Peter had been forced to accept...
that although his own blood flowed in his son's veins,
the heart pumping that blood was his own.
Unique and singular...
as if ramdonly chosen from the universe.
My son...he killed my mother, my friend...and possibly my sister.
An icy numbness flooded Peter's heart...
The man's eyes...
although like Peter's, were those of a total stranger,
filled with hatred and a vengefulness that was almost other worldly."
"For an instant, Solomon felt like he was floating outside his body.
He no longer recognized himself.
He was missing a hand...totally bald...sitting in a wheelchair...clutching an ancient knife.
"finish it!" the man shouted...
"Killing me is the only way you can save Katherine...
the only way to save your brotherhood!"
Solomon felt his gaze move to the laptop and cellular modem on the pigskin chair."
SENDING MESSAGE: 92% COMPLETE
"There is still time"...
"You know its the only choice.
Release me from my mortal shell."
"Please," Solomon said.
"Don't do this..."
"Which will it be?
Will you kill your son to save your sister?
Will you kill your son to save your brotherhood?
Your country?
Or will you wait until's its too late?"
"Peter's heart ached.
You are not Zachary...
Zachary died long long ago.
Whatever you are...
and wherever you came from...
you are not of me.
And although Peter Solomon did not believe his own words,
he knew he had to make a choice.
He was out of time"
(TLS 452-3).
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"Find the Grand Staircase!
Robert Langdon dashed through the darkened hallways...
Simkins remained close on his heels...
Langdon turned and ran toward the sweeping marble staircase...
"This leads directly to the Temple Room,"
he whispered as the two men ascended as quickly and quietly as possible"
(TLS- 453).
************************************************** ********
Inside the Temple Room~
"Peter Solomon had risen from his wheelchair...
standing now, facing the alter, gripping the knife...
Mal`akh coaxed, luring him toward the alter...
laying his own body down on the white shroud...
"Do what you need to do."
Mal`akh reclined fully now on his back,
gazing up through the oculus...The secret is how to die.
This moment could not be any more perfect.
Adorned with the Lost word of all the ages,
I offer myself by left hand of my father.
Mal`akh drew a deep breath.
Receive me, demons for this is my body, which is offered for you."
"Standing over Mal`akh, Peter Solomon was trembling...
He looked one last time toward the modem and the laptop...
"Make the choice," Mal`akh whispered.
"Release me from my flesh...
Help me shed the body that clothes my soul."
Peter's tearful eyes seemed to be staring through Mal`akh...
He threw back and screamed in anguish as he raised the knife"
(TLS 455).
************************************************** *********************
"Robert Langdon and Agent Simkins arrived breathless outside the Temple Room doors as a bloodcurdling scream erupted from within.
It was Peter's voice.
Langdon was certain.
Peter's cry was one of absolute agony.
I'm too late!
Langdon seized the handles and yanked open the doors.
The horrific scene before him confirmed his worst fears...
Before Langdon could move, the man was driving the knife down towards the body that lay outstretched on the alter...
Mal`akh had closed his eyes...
his transformation had arrived.
Incredibly, he felt no pain...
A thunderous vibration filled his body, deafening and deep.
The room began shaking, and a brillant white light blinded him from above.
The heavens roared...
Mal`akh knew it had happened.
Exactly as he had planned."
"Langdon did not remember sprinting towards the alter as the helicopter appeared overhead...
Langdon saw a bright light sweep down through the oculus and illuminate the alter...
the helicopter's searchlights blazed down from above.
The chopper thundered in low, its skids practically touching the expansive wall of glass.
On front of the helicopter, a strange looking gun rotated, aiming downward through the glass.
The red beam of its laser scope through the skylight...
directly towards Langdon and Solomon.
No!
But there was no gunfire...an errie ripple of energy...
shimmered through his cells.
Behind his head, on the pigskin chair,
the laptop hissed strangely...
its screen suddenly flashed to black.
Unfortunately, the last visable message had been clear.
SENDING MESSAGE: 100% COMPLETE
Pull up! Damn it! Up!
The UH-60 pilot threw his rotors into overdrive,
trying to keep his skids from touching any part of the large glass skylight...
the six thousand pounds of lift force...
was already straining the glass to its breaking point...
Up Now!
He tipped the nose trying to skim away,
but that was all it took.
The temple Room's massive oculus exploded in a swril of glass and wind...
sending a torrent of jagged shards plummeting into the room below.
Stars falling from heaven"
(TLS 455-6).
As if ~a righteous symbolic glass-knife fell from the Heavens~
"Mal akh stared up into the beautiful white light and saw a veil of shimmering jewels fluttering toward him...
accelerating...
racing to shroud him in their splender.
Suddenly there was pain.
Everywhere...
His blood filled mouth cried out...
the pain ripped him from his trance.
Th white above transformed itself...
suddenly, as if by magic,
a dark helicopter was suspended above him,
its thundering blades driving an icy wind down into the Temple Room,
chilling Mal`akh to the core...
Mal`akh turned his head and saw the Akedah knife lying broken by his side,
smashed upon the granite alter...
covered in a blanket of shattered glass.
Even after everything I did to him...
Peter Solomon averted the knife.
He refused to spill my blood.
With welling horror,
Mal`akh raised his head...
his own body...
was to have been his great offering.
But it lay in tatters...
drenched in blood...
huge shards of glass pertruding from his flesh in all directions.
Weakly, Mal`akh lowered his head...
and stared up throught the open space in the roof.
The helicopter was gone now...
Wid-eyed Mal`akh lay gasping for breath...
all alone on the great alter"
(TLS 456-7).